When God spoke to Abraham, the first word He said was “Go”.
“And the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” Genesis 12:1-3
If you’ve read the Old Testament, you know that the people of Israel (Abrahams family) did not always follow God’s call to be a blessing to the world. So God sent His son Jesus, not only to show us what it means to be a blessing, but to empower us with the Holy Spirit so that we can bless others in a way that transcends our human capability. Jesus flips human nature on its head when he tells us to love our enemies. That’s not something that comes easily! It can be hard to love people who hurt us, or people who we disagree with, or people who are so incredibly different from us. Jesus invites us to become a part of the family of God, regardless of how broken we are, and then enables us to love others like He does. We are a part of the family, so that we will be a blessing.
The most recent group of interns at the EMI Uganda office, as well as some other staff members.
Photo: Nicole Kent
But it doesn’t stop with just our neighbor across the street, we have been tasked with sharing this blessing with all of the nations:
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” Matthew 28:18-2
The last thing Jesus said before ascending into the heavens was to “Go”. Go to the ends of the earth and be a blessing, so that all the families of the earth shall be blessed! Christ gives us the Holy Spirit so we can love like He loves. So we are going. We are going to love and to serve to the best of our ability, strengthened and emboldened by the Holy Spirit. In Acts we see how the church responds to the calling to “go”.
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” Acts 13:2-3
This act of being “sent out” is called commissioning. This summer, we have had the honor of being commissioned by our three home churches: Love Church in Manassas, VA, Victory Highway Wesleyan in Corning, NY, and Trinity Lutheran Church of Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, MN. Each of these congregations have had an incredible impact on our lives, and have prepared us for ministry each in different ways. We are grateful for the prayer, wisdom, and accountability that we receive from our churches and individual supporters, as well as the financial support that makes our ministry possible.
Commissioning at Love Church in Manassas, VA. We are so excited to be the first missionaries sent from this congregation!
Commissioning at Trinity Lutheran Church of Minnehaha Falls, our home church in Minneapolis
Commissioning at Victory Highway Wesleyan church, our home church in Corning, NY
This commissioning is vital to our ministry, because just like the Israelites, there will be times where we struggle to love as God has called us to love. So we ask you to continue to pray for us. Pray hard. Pray that God would use us to extend His heart to the nations. Pray that we would be a blessing!
Project Highlight
Amazima Day School
Amazima Ministries International (AMI) envisioned a Primary School programme as a means to begin the first step of discipleship within underserved communities around Jinja, Uganda. The school provides nurturing and healing for young, vulnerable children while introducing a quality, Christ-centered education.
EMI Uganda provided site planning, architecture, engineering and construction management for phased development on a 06-acre site in Buzika. Groupings of classrooms climb the green-scaped hillside, offering a progression of connected learning environments with increasing perspective and responsibility in correlation to each level of the student’s development. Work on Amazima continues as EMI works to complete further phases of the project. We both have had an opportunity to work on Amazima, contributing site design expertise and mechanical engineering solutions at different phases of the project!
EMI team onsite at Amazima
Some of the finished work!
Photo: Adam Gordon
Arensen Update
The month of July was one filled with the encouragement of family and friends. We spent the majority of the month in Minnesota connecting with our home church in Minneapolis and soaking up time with Bruce’s parents and sister. While we were there we were able to meet up with the Propsts and the Koskis, who we will be serving alongside in Uganda! Later in the month, we took a break from our preparations and dedicated time to our immediate families. This meant going to two different lakes and spending our time fishing, swimming, and eating. We are so grateful for the time we were able to spend with our parents and siblings all together!
Dinner at the lake house with the Arensen family!
Knowles family at Cayuga lake!
Pray With Us
We are so grateful for your prayers and support! Please join us in prayer for the following:
- Continue to pray for Bruce’s health and that we’ll be able to get details figured out before we move.
- Pray for logistics as we prepare to move and that all of the necessary pieces will fall into place.
Praises!
- We are on track to move to Uganda in the next month! More details to come on that as soon as we have them!
- We are so grateful for all of the family time that we were able to spend this past month.
- Praise the Lord for all of the safe travels that He has blessed us with!
Stay Connected
Each year, EMI’s people complete over 100 development projects which serve the poor and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To keep these design services affordable for Christian ministries, professionals like the Arensen’s on EMI’s staff are responsible for raising their own salaries. We are so grateful for God’s provision through the generosity of donors. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with the great things God is doing through the Arensen’s ministry at EMI?