A ‘thank you’ video with images from WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) activities during the month of May through CWEF (Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation).
Thank you for your prayers for our family during a very unique season of life. We know we are not alone in this sense of upheaval. Surely, many of you have experienced loss – of family members, of employment, of income, of a sense of security. Many of you need prayer, so please write back to share your prayer requests. We do have some extra time and space to pray during this season, and we would love to pray for you.
In the midst of it all, we thank God for your desire to show and tell about the light, love, hope, and peace of Jesus Christ to a world that is hurting.
HELPING COMMUNITIES PROTECT THEMSELVES
In light of COVID-19 and all the changes it has brought, I (Josh) have been spending a lot of time working with our CWEF team in Asia to consider how we should pivot and where to place our focus in the coming year. We have concluded that one thing we can do now is to re-commit ourselves to health-related work popularly known as WASH (standing for “water, sanitation, and hygiene”). We have been doing this type of work with rural communities for many years, and it is even more crucial for people living in underserved communities now.
To that end, we have adjusted our plans for the coming year to prioritize WASH activities, and we ran an online fundraising campaign called “WASH Week” at the beginning of May. By the grace of God, we were able to reach our goal of raising over $10,000 to complete funding for three WASH projects in China and Cambodia. As part of the campaign, I shared more about these projects on a Facebook Live video, which you can watch here. You can also watch a ‘thank you’ video with images from WASH activities during the month of May here.
We won't stop there. We want to show and share the love of Christ by doing everything we can to help children and families know how to protect themselves from virus and disease. In Cambodia, we are doing this in direct partnership with the local church. Thank you for joining the communities we serve in this important work.
CWEF colleague Panhary shares about critical hygiene behavior for protection against COVID-19 during a food relief distribution at a Lutheran church in rural Cambodia.
PRAYING, PREPARING, WAITING
Our family of four is still here at our temporary ‘shelter’ in Edwardsville, IL (just outside of St. Louis) with my brother and family. We expect to be in the U.S. for at least a few more months. China continues to restrict entry to nearly all non-Chinese. With their Chinese travel documents, Coco and the kids would be able to enter the country, but it is not possible for me right now. In addition to this barrier, we are still working to re-build our family’s network of financial partners after the recent transition to MCN (Mission of Christ Network).
At the beginning of May, we were thankful to make a ‘virtual visit’ with a congregation in Missouri. They sent us a recording of our presentation, which we would love to share with you. Some of the stories are sensitive relative to where we live and serve, so if you would like to see the presentation, please send an email to Joshua.Lange@missionofchrist.org, and I will be more than happy to give you access.
We would love to do more of these visits!
Please contact us to set up a time to visit with your congregation or family, either online or in person. We have a lot of availability between now and the end of August, on Sunday mornings and also on weekdays for Bible studies, LWML group meetings, etc. You can contact us by email at Joshua.Lange@missionofchrist.org or call/text 314-669-5745.
Sharing about God’s mission in Asia through CWEF during a ‘virtual visit’ with Campus Lutheran in Columbia, MO via Zoom.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Pray for God to send just the right partners at the right time to provide the prayer and financial support needed for us to return and continue serving in Asia.
Pray for a miraculous reduction in coronavirus spread and improvement in U.S.–China relations, so that we might be allowed to return home.
Pray for our CWEF team, as we continue to adjust strategies and plans for the coming year.
Pray for the light, love, justice, mercy, and peace of Christ to reign in our hearts, families, and communities here in the U.S. and in the places where CWEF serves in Asia.
Remember our CWEF team members as you pray: Li Ying, Maggie, Jenny, Kanhchana, Panhary, Buntha, Adam & Renee. Ask God to grant them faith, courage and wisdom.
Finally, for an extra measure of faith, hope, and love from the Lord, for our marriage and our vocation as parents to John and Sophie.
CWEF colleague Jenny with a student she is helping to train to be a local health advocate at his school in Yunnan province.
REFLECTION: Enemy Love
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
I’ll never forget Doctor Steve, another student in the same cohort during the first year of my master’s degree program. We met at a small Christian university in the countryside outside of Cap Haitian in rural northern Haiti, the site of that year’s classroom session for our program and the place where Steve and his family had invested the better part of their lives to serve and witness to the people of Haiti. Doctor Steve was way ahead of me in life experience and wisdom, so I listened when he spoke. He had a beautiful, winsome way of speaking about the Christian faith. When he talked about Jesus, he kept repeating a phrase that has stuck with me ever since: “Enemy Love.”
What about us? As the Body of Christ in this world, are we a people that loves our enemies? Or are we a people that loves to make enemies? This crazy year of 2020 seems to be a perfectly designed test of this question. Trade war, coronavirus, lockdown, economic collapse, George Floyd, protests, riots, election, what’s next?
As Christians, how are we to respond during such times?
Let us remember how Jesus responded to his enemies, to sinners, to us. Enemy Love. Let us follow Paul’s encouragement to the Christians in Rome:
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…
If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink…
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Sophie reminds us of The Most Important Thing: "He Has Risen!"
Thank you for walking together with us as we walk with Him on this journey of faith. He has used you in a wonderful way to bless the people CWEF works with, and to sustain us as we serve. We are so grateful for your partnership in the Gospel, and for your many prayers and gifts through the years.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
In His Love,
-Josh, Coco, John and Sophie