In response to the call of Jesus Christ to go into the world and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), we support a number of Christ’s servants who have been called to preach the gospel in Australia and beyond.
Richard and Annette Edlin
Richard and Annette serve with Edserv International, an organisation providing educational consultancy services to promote Christian Education internationally.
They are currently contracted to Kosin University in Busan, South Korea, a Christian university with over 6000 students. Part of the vision of Kosin is to reach out to the Christian community in areas of the world that are unable to afford training and education for leaders particularly in the areas of Christian education and ministry. Edserv has committed to helping with Kosin’s international program which has about 180 students, on full scholarships, from 26 nations.
Richard is involved in teaching worldview and education courses. Annette is involved in helping students with English. Many of these students come from Confucian based societies where the teacher’s role is to impart information and the student’s role is to learn it. Conversely, Richard and Annette are concerned to challenge the students to think through issues from a Christian worldview perspective, as there are often no prepared answers for the situations that they will face when they return to their homelands after two years of study.
In addition the Edlins open their home on Sunday evenings to overseas students. This is a challenging time when many of issues are discussed in the light of Scripture, such as persecution, commodification of marriage, cultural engagement, polygamy - real issues that these students face in their home countries.
Matt and Kiri VanderHeiden
Matt and Kiri VanderHeiden (children Mieka, Sofia and Joshua) are working in Portugal with Pioneers, assisting the Portuguese Bible Institute (PBI) in training pastors in Lisbon.
Matt lectures (in Portugese) in hermeneutics and preaching and heads up the Academic Department. He is currently helping the Institute to attain accreditation. He also enjoys investing in the lives of the students, who will become the future church leaders in Portugal.
They are also involved in their local church where Kiri teaches Sunday School (in Portugese).