In February, church leaders traveled to remote areas of Southern Africa’s Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Among them were Pastor Dale Peterson, representing 8,500-strong Eagle Brook Church in Hugo, Minnesota; and Pastor Mike Coglan, who leads Community Covenant Church in Kearny, Missouri with an average Sunday attendance of 165. Both traveled to Africa as part of World Vision’s C2C Pastors Vision Trips, which are designed to introduce United States church leaders to the realities of poverty and the devastating impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic throughout Africa.

The trip, Pastor Peterson said, “brought a problem that ‘others’ are dealing with halfway around the world and dropped it right in my lap …. It’s not enough to simply pray for starving people in Africa, we need to love them enough to go and help.”

Part of Something Bigger Than Our Back Yards

A Supernatural Blessing

Pastor Coglan said that he never wanted to go to Africa until a series of events revealed clearly to him that God was calling him to step out and see the needs beyond the United States. In February, he found himself in a remote mud hut with a grass roof, praying for a man who was dying as a result of AIDS.

“His face stirred more compassion in me than all the statistics I had read,” said Pastor Coglan, senior pastor at Community Covenant Church. “I felt something very powerful, even supernatural, when I prayed for him. I prayed a blessing for him, but I’m sure I was the one who was blessed.”

While both churches are involved in ministry in their communities, the opportunity to expand their reach into some of the world’s poorest regions is igniting new excitement. Pastor Peterson, Eagle Brook’s executive director of ministries, said his congregation has woven this new externally focused initiative into the church’s three-year campaign. “Why not raise money to help people in Africa while we raise money to pay for building projects?” he said.

Already Eagle Brook Church has raised funds to underwrite training for 2,500 pastors serving in World Vision’s Mozambique community development areas, and has sponsored more than 1,000 children.

“We can help financially. We can help through prayer. We can love children through letters and sponsorship,” Pastor Peterson explained. “It is not our job to fix Mozambique, it’s our responsibility to offer assistance and extend our love.”

No Problem Too Big for the Church

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