Tim & Colleen Stevenson, missionaries to Uganda. Under Global Missions, they are serving the church in the area of project development in Uganda, Rwanda, Congo (DR), and South Sudan. They manage the TAPP (AIDS ministry) program. As they work with Kinderhilfswerk, they are expanding building programs, well drilling and sponsorship programs. Both are serving on the board of Heritage International School, an international school located in Kampala. The Stevenson’s began serving in Uganda as special assignment missionaries, initially working to build and develop a single educational institution. Since then, they have developed 163 Church of God schools in Uganda, as well as starting others in neighboring countries. They assist children in sponsorship programs, either within the schools or in personal networking through programs such as Children of Promise (United States), Furaha (Canada), Kinderhilfswerk (Germany), or Compassion International and Samaritan’s Purse. Tim and Colleen, both missionary kids, came to Africa as young children and have been part of the developing continent since the 1950s and 1960s respectively. Their four children—Tiffany, Natasha, Jesse, and Logan—continue as the third generation of their family who have enjoyed the beautiful continent and the hospitality of its people. With years of experience, a passion for the work of God and the African continent, Tim and Colleen are an example of what missionary life is—sacrifice, dedication and teamwork. To support the Stevensons, go here. 

The Church of God in Uganda has developed and grown through a strategy of integrated community engagement: congregations that are partnered with schools, housing, AIDS programs, and five medical clinics, among other services. While Ugandan nurses and doctors have been meeting people’s needs, there has been a desperate need for a medical coordinator for the clinics.

Kaitlin will be developing relationships within the church and medical community, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the church’s clinics, developing and implementing plans to bring each clinic up to government standards and connecting them to resources within the local and global community. Kaitlin’s ministry will enable them to grow and improve their standard of care, and help clinic staff ensure that patients are cared for spiritually as well as physically in partnership with local congregations.

The love of Jesus Christ is a holistic love, one that he demonstrated time and again meeting the felt needs of people and addressing their spiritual needs. As a registered nurse with an ever-deepening faith, Kaitlin Smith has been meeting patients’ needs in the emergency room, in surgery, in critical care, and in hospital administration. Now she is connecting through Global Strategy to partner with the Church of God in Uganda as she continues to follow Christ’s example, meeting medical and spiritual needs.

Kaitlin was captivated by Jesus early on, experiencing his love in the example of her parents and her church community while growing up on the east side of Indianapolis, Indiana. And at a young age, she yearned to be baptized. Though she was active in youth group and youth missions trips, by the time she graduated from high school and pursued nursing at Anderson University, she had begun to drift spiritually, experiencing a growing emptiness in her life.

As a senior in college, Kaitlin was again overcome by the love of Jesus Christ and committed herself to walking with him. That same year, her heart was captivated by Uganda and its people while serving on a missions trip with nursing classmates from Anderson University. She dove into the culture and the experience, and came home wanting more, persuaded that God was leading her to missions work in the clinics of the Church of God in Uganda. But first she needed some experience.

For the past three years, God has opened door after door, providing her with experience across the wards of a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, one that is both multicultural in staff and in patients. Not only have her nursing skills broadened, preparing her for the unique position working with the clinics in Uganda, but this experience has further prepared her for cross-cultural work. Two additional extended missions trips to Uganda have affirmed God’s call on her life to this country.  To support Kaitlin, go here.

Dave & Barbara Miller, Regional Coordinators to Latin America. Discipling the nations of Latin America in cooperation with local Church of God assemblies. Equipping Latin Americans for bi-vocational ministry and tent-making missions. Providing pastoral care and professional guidance to Church of God missionaries and their families in the region. The Millers first went to South America with the Missionary Board of the Church of God in 1980. After a year of language study in Costa Rica, they moved on to Bolivia, where they stayed and ministered for the next twenty-one years, during which time the Bolivian church expanded at a steady pace from 82 to more than 230 local congregations. Barbara spent her early years in the Belgian Congo and Zimbabwe as the daughter of United Methodist missionaries. Of her call to missions, she says, “From an early age, I felt the call to be involved in cross-cultural ministry. This was confirmed in1974 when I attended the Urbana Missions Conference at the University of Illinois.” Dave’s call to missions came during his first semester at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. A speaker had shared that 94 percent of trained Christian workers serve in North America, which represents only 7 percent of the world’s population. He was disturbed by the facts and felt that “somebody ought to do something about it.” God heard him, and Dave heard His voice saying, “Okay, you’re somebody, Dave. What are you going to do about it?” Dave’s family first began attending the Church of God in Akron, Indiana, when he was 7 years old, but it was while attending camp meeting in Anderson that he accepted Jesus Christ at the age of 16. To support the Millers, go here.

As the child sponsorship ministry of the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana, Children of Promise partners with Church of God congregations in 29 countries across the globe to provide food, schooling, health care, and spiritual nurture to children in need. Begun in 1992, the ministry now reaches children in poor, isolated villages as well as those in teeming, urban slums. Wherever children need help, Children of Promise wants to be there.  Go here for more information on sponsoring a child.