Stanley and Bessie Kruis

Vision

Stan grew up in the U.S., and Bessie in the Philippines. They were married in 1989, a few years after Stan began serving with Resonate Global Mission (then Christian Reformed World Missions) in the Philippines. They worked together in the Philippines for over 15 years in a variety of ministries, including church planting, seminary and Bible college teaching, church planter training, and diaconal-stewardship ministry.

From 2011 to 2013 they served in another Asian country, where they led a flourishing small group, trained small group leaders, and discipled new Christians. They were amazed by the receptivity of local people to the Gospel.

In 2014, Stan and Bessie returned to the Philippines, where Stan taught in the Missions department at the Asian Theological Seminary in Manila, preparing Filipinos and students from other countries to serve in cross-cultural mission work. Since July, 2021, Stan has been serving as Missionary-in-Residence at Calvin Theological Seminary. Through online consultation, Stan and Bessie remain connected with ministries in the Philippines, especially the Coffee Break small group Bible study ministry of the Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines.

Mission

As Missionary-in-Residence at Calvin Seminary, Stan teaches courses in Missions and Evangelism and challenges students to consider God’s calling to cross-cultural ministry. He is seeing momentum develop in terms of student interest in missions, and continues interacting with students to encourage that interest to grow. He especially challenges students to consider being used of God to reach the approximately 25% of the world’s population that still have virtually no exposure to the Gospel.

Together, our vision is to see Christians – especially in North America and the Philippines – living out a credible witness as followers of Jesus, and participating in the great task of proclaiming the good news of salvation and transformation through Christ, especially to those millions in our world that have no opportunity to hear that good news.