While all believers are on mission, the how and where look differently. Some are called to leave homes, land, and families and go to distant places. This usually requires learning a new language and adapting to a new culture. If you’ve never tried it, this is not an easy task! It can be quite humiliating and overwhelming even for those who enjoy the challenge; and not all do. This definitely requires the Holy Spirit’s power! I would suggest that it is also a perfect opportunity for the Body of Christ to respond to Jesus’s command by offering support to the cross-cultural missionaries’ language and culture learning.

When Rev. John Charles Odeke speaks about education, he does not do it casually. For him, the opportunity to study was never guaranteed.

“I was a school dropout,” he says.

Today, Odeke is a priest serving in Achukudu Parish in Napak District, northeastern Uganda. Heis also a theology student at Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mbale University College, through the support of UCU Partners. But his path to priesthood and theological training was marked by long periods of waiting.

I have had the privilege of attending two New Wineskins for Global Missions conferences in my years of being part of the Episcopal/Anglican Church. What makes my experience unique is that I attended the very first conference (1994) and the most recent conference (2025) and none in between! My perspective of the two events carries, for me, both wonderful memories and a vision of God’s faithfulness both to me and to the enduring influence that the New Wineskins movement has had on the Anglican Communion and the Great Commission movement throughout the world.

A Diocese with a Global Vision— Under Bishop Mark’s leadership, the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes has cultivated a deep commitment to mission—both locally and globally. The Diocese supports a sister diocese in Burundi, missionaries serving in multiple regions around the world, and several Anglican mission partner agencies, including Anglican Mission Africa, Church Army Africa, Ekklesia, United Adoration, and New Wineskins Missions Network. A Global Mission section in the diocesan newsletter regularly highlights this ongoing work and encourages engagement. Yet the heartbeat of this mission is not limited to diocesan leadership—it is reflected in the life of local parishes.

The Anglican International Student Ministry Network (AISMN) exists to mobilize, connect, and resource Anglicans to love, serve and learn from international students and scholars.

Since the birth of this first New Wineskins Missions Network in 2017 (during the ACNA Provincial Assembly at Wheaton College), we have sought to discover which churches—and who within ACNA—are involved in mission among international students.

From the very beginning, Trinity has been committed to providing orthodox theological education that would impact the practical daily ministry of the local church. Our first Dean and President, the Rt. Rev. Alfred (Alf) Stanway, served as a missionary to Kenya for several decades prior to coming to Ambridge. During that time, a primary focus of his ministry was training up indigenous clergy and laity, to carry out the work of the Gospel in East Africa.

To honor his ministry and vision, the Stanway Institute for World Missions and Evangelism was established in 1989 to equip church leaders from around the globe alongside future missionaries and church planters from North America. Over the years, the Stanway Institute has ensured that the Great Commission of our Lord is never far from the hearts and minds of Trinity’s faculty, staff, and students.

What if one simple course could ignite a deeper passion for global missions across your entire diocese? Discover how the Anglican Introduction to Missions course (AIM) can be used not only in person but as a Zoom-based initiative to help Anglicans see the bigger picture of God’s work among the unreached.

When I first arrived in Southeast Asia, I longed for connection—someone who understood not just my language, but me. God answered that prayer through an unexpected friendship with my coworker Asma, a refugee from Myanmar. What began as shared conversations about culture and life soon deepened into honest discussions about faith, as we began reading the Bible and the Qur’an together, exploring stories of prophets like Adam, Noah, and Moses. Along the way, I’ve been challenged by her perspective, humbled by our differences, and reminded of God’s holiness, mercy, and pursuit of humanity. This journey has become more than a friendship—it is a prayerful hope that, through curiosity and trust, she might one day come to know Jesus more fully.

The Gulf Atlantic Diocese is cultivating new pathways for global mission—connecting parishes, deepening partnerships, and exploring shared opportunities across the Anglican Communion. Discover how collaboration, vision, and small beginnings are opening doors for greater Kingdom impact.

I got to see what most people never see: Transformation That Multiplies— Timothy, orphaned at age six, is now a Coordinator in a Father’s Family program at another church in the diocese. He is strengthening families so the children in those families are not orphaned as he once was. In other communities, we see these families become role models, informal marriage counselors, and trusted advisors on how to save, invest, and build healthy families.

This is how transformation happens. It is not quick or always visible—but over time, it multiplies.

You may know by now that the Anglican Persecuted Church Network and the Anglican Freedom Network are planning a regional conference on global Christian persecution and human trafficking in September. I hope you will consider coming to this important conference at All Saints Anglican Church, Woodbridge, Virginia!

At Niños con Valor, our ministry is about more than just providing a safe home for children. It’s about providing an opportunity for children to experience God’s grace and reclaim a sense of value. We specifically specialize in supporting children with complex medical needs and disabilities—little ones who have been neglected or rejected because their care is seen as too difficult or expensive. We believe these children deserve to know they are loved, and they deserve a second chance after the hardships of abuse, neglect and abandonment early in their life.

The kingdom of God is a great harvest, and through the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS), believers are invited to join in their global work. SAMS supports and sends missionaries to share the Gospel across cultures and contexts. Together with global church leaders, missionaries serve as co-laborers, strengthened through shared wisdom and purpose. As the harvest remains plentiful, SAMS calls the Church to pray for and raise up new workers to bring the hope of Christ to every nation.

Celebrate Eastertide with us as we share 50 blogs in 50 days highlighting all of the wonderful work happening in global missions through our New Wineskins Anglican Partners. You will hear stories from sending agencies, non-profits in the mission fields, our Rolecall cross-cultural apprentices and our networks. We invite you to journey with us this Eastertide. Read these stories. Share them with others. Celebrate God’s faithfulness and the work He is doing around the world.

When you attend the upcoming 2025 New Wineskins Global Mission Conference: Hope for the Nations this September, we highly encourage you to visit our mission bookstore. Mission education is crucial to Christian discipleship, church growth, and our active participation in the Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19a). From time-tested missional resources to recent publications that provide new insight into the complexities and realities of global mission, our mission bookstore offers a wealth of collected knowledge and experience.

As we look to 2025, it seems appropriate to focus on Evangelistic Mission. What better time than the beginning of the Season of Epiphany to stir up one another to love in good deeds towards those outside the community of Faith?

Registration is now open for our eleventh triennial New Wineskins Global Mission Conference, which will take place at Ridgecrest Conference Center in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, September 17-20, 2025. The theme is Hope for the Nations. All the conference details and the registration links are available on our conference website: newwineskinsconference.org.

Hope. I don’t know an individual, a church, or a nation that couldn’t use more hope. As we look at our world, we see what appear to be hopeless situations all around us from our own lives and communities to global conflicts and strife. But, God… As Christians, we know that our hope is not in ourselves or any entity other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is not only the hope for every person in the world, but, indeed, the hope for all nations!…For this reason, God has shown us that our theme for the 2025 New Wineskins Global Mission Conference is to be Hope for the Nations!

New Wineskins Missionary Network is excited to announce the launch of our first global mission curriculum: An Anglican Introduction to Missions (AIM)! The course AIMs to highlight the rich theological, historical, cultural, and strategic aspects of global missions with a focus on the Anglican Communion. The purpose, intention, or AIM of this training is for every Jesus follower in the Anglican Church in North America to be meaningfully engaged with the frontiers of missions by praying, welcoming, sending, supporting, or going to those who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We serve a global God with a boundless heart for each of the 17,000 people groups on the globe. Through awareness, networking, training and resources, the Global Mission Initiative is here to help you find your place in God’s global mission until all have heard!