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2021 Annual Report Cover

From The Director

Zachary King

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We’ve come through a difficult year—but with your support and the work of the Holy Spirit, we’ve accomplished a lot together. Your gifts and prayers made this possible!

Together, you and your Resonate ministry leaders are responding to Jesus’ call to mission in Acts 1:8. Thank you for partnering with us on this mission! “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” might seem like a tall order, but we can accomplish more when we work together. And as you will see in this report, your support and gifts have accomplished so much!

You are helping to encourage and equip Christians around the world through Resonate. Ministry leaders depend on you—as their sender, you walk alongside them, pray for them, and support them. And together with you, we work toward the day when every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord!

Around the world, your missionaries and church planters are encountering people who are searching for meaning and goodness during difficult times. Through your support for Resonate, you help introduce them to the true source of meaning and goodness! Your ministry leaders help them see the work of God all around them, and in their own lives.
I hope you will be encouraged to read a few examples of God at work through your life and your giving. Resonate is a ministry of both the United States and Canada, and on behalf of both our offices, I thank God for your partnership in 2021 and pray that he will continue to work through Resonate in the years to come!

Thank you for living out the gospel.

Serving with you,

Zachary King
Director
Resonate Global Mission

Traffic

You are spreading the gospel through Resonate

—and inviting others to share

Your support through Resonate is fueling a fresh vision for mission in the CRC and beyond. In the past year, you have helped grow three major initiatives that multiply our efforts! 

Glocal Summit 2021

Glocal Mission Summit

The Glocal Summit brings together people from across the denomination to learn together about how we can join God’s global mission by reaching our local neighbors. Since it began in 2014, this event has been a keystone in encouraging the new passion for mission in the Christian Reformed Church!

This year, you helped launch an online Glocal Mission Summit for pastors, lay leaders, and people who long to see their church rediscover God’s call. More than 440 attendees from 29 countries came together to listen and learn together. Thank you for helping these Christians reimagine mission and renew their faith in God’s call!

Witness Booklet

Witness Curriculum

How do we witness in a world where people are unfamiliar with Christianity, or even wary of our faith? This year, your support helped Resonate launch a new, free curriculum called Witness: Equipped to Share the Good News. This downloadable resource provides five sessions with short videos, small group guides, and a participant journal. 

Being a witness for Christ isn’t always easy, but you are helping equip the people in our own denomination to share Christ’s love with our neighbors. Read more and download the free digital booklet at www.resonateglobalmission.org/witness today!

Light Bulbs

Innovation Grants

You might associate the word “innovation” with new products and designs, but did you know that innovation plays an important role in mission? Joining God at work requires responding to local contexts where pastors, church leaders, missionaries, and other ministry leaders throughout the world are working. And that’s a vital area that you helped with this year!

Overall Resonate supported 29 innovation projects around the world over the past year through grants ranging up to $5,000. These include projects like working with churches that want to explore why their evangelism ministries aren’t working, helping parents discover how to instill a Christian identity in their children, or helping congregations reach immigrant neighbors in their community. Thank you for providing this effective and adaptable way to support God’s kingdom!

You made these testimonies possible

Discipleship and a tale of two men

The Table, a Resonate church plant partner that you support in Thorold, Ontario, is celebrating a young man’s new life in Christ—thanks to a discipleship encounter this spring that seemed to echo one six years ago.

Brian, a member at The Table, invited his neighbor Solly to church. Over time, God worked in Solly’s life and he gave his life to Christ! It’s almost the same story as when Brian first came to The Table and to faith in Christ. And it all started with you, who helped start this church plant!

Read more about The Table’s unique approach to church planting, and how you helped start the chain of discipleship that brought both Brian and Solly to Christ: 

The House for All Saints and Sinners

Nicknamed “The House,” the church plant Sean Taylor and Sonlight CRC started in Lynden, Washington, is a community of house churches. They gather weekly in small groups of people from all walks, stages, and ages of life. Their sanctuaries are living rooms, kitchens, and yards. 

Along with generous donors like you, parent church Sonlight CRC provides support for The House—including prayer, finances, holding Sean’s credentials in their church, and more—but the partnership goes both ways. The House has helped to strengthen Sonlight in return.

Read more about how Sonlight CRC asked Sean to plant a church right in their own back yard:

"We would not let our children lose their school year"

Liamary has a learning disability. When she started school three years ago at Espacio de Gracia (Space of Grace) Christian Reformed School in the Dominican Republic—a school you help support through Resonate—she received personalized attention that empowered her to thrive in the classroom.

But then Covid-19 created a crisis that put her father out of work and the school in a dire financial crisis. With your help, teachers from Espacio de Gracia were able to visit students, including Liamary, and Liamary received a scholarship so she could complete her school year!

Read more about how you made a difference Liamary’s life: 

Pastors and local leaders at a Timothy Leadership Training event

A story of lost sheep

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a parable about a shepherd who leaves his flock of 99 sheep in search of one sheep that has gone missing. That’s what Pastor Robert Echeru and Job Epiru did when members stopped showing up to worship at Deliverance Church Soroti in Uganda.

Your Resonate missionary Anthony Sytsma is working to train church leaders like Pastor Robert and Job through Timothy Leadership Training. With your support, Anthony helped them make a plan to visit their lost sheep and listen to their stories. Already, two church members have decided to commit to the church again!

Read more about how you helped Pastor Robert and Job become more intentional about caring for their church members: 

People in Village

You, your church, and God’s mission

When Jesus tells us to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, he doesn’t simply mean for us to go “everywhere.” His command paints a picture of what living out God’s mission means. 

Acts 1:8 Diagram

In your community

Jesus begins with Jerusalem, where his disciples lived, showing us that God’s mission starts at home. Next, Jesus reminds his disciples to proclaim his gospel to Judea, the entire region. 

Then Jesus’ disciples would have taken note at being sent to Samaria, a place in their backyard populated by people different than them—and we should, too. In giving us these assignments, Jesus was careful to explain the importance of spreading the good news in our own communities. 

Around the world

Our work as part of God’s mission isn’t done until all people worship Jesus! That’s why Jesus sends us to the “ends of the earth” in his final instructions on earth. 

Together we help build God’s church—planting churches and supporting ministry in North America as well as sending missionaries around the globe to share the good news. Sending people to share the gospel is part of God’s plan for your congregation! That’s why Resonate exists—to serve your church in living out that mission, no matter where God has called you.

Thank you for your passion for God’s mission, and for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth!
 

Your gifts are vital to the mission

Ministry shares don’t cover the whole cost of mission

Our denomination’s faithful ministry share giving—including money you give through your church—provides a strong foundation that makes mission possible, but the ministry shares program only provides around 30% of the revenue Resonate needs to do our work. Donors like you are so essential to provide stability and sustainability!
Your gifts make ministry possible

Your undesignated gifts go to where they are most needed. Domestically, this includes covering the cost of North American regional teams that consult, coach, and coordinate with CRC churches, church plants, campus ministries, and ministry leaders as well as their program costs. It covers the grants that are given to church plants and campus ministries and also covers the cost of ministry support staff and administration. Internationally, Ministry Shares help to cover missionary program expenses, travel, retreats, staff development, and grants to partner missionaries and partner organizations. It also helps to make up the difference in the case of a shortfall in a missionary’s fundraising goal.

Missionaries and church planters are just one part of Resonate

Your giving through Resonate supports ministry around the world in a variety of ways. In addition to sending missionaries and church planters, we partner with national organizations, offer grants to partners, and support other ministry initiatives that align with our mission.

Thank you for your generous support of ministry around the world.

2021 financial charts

By the Numbers

You are answering God’s call to send. Thank you.

God is working to reach every nation, tribe, and tongue through the people that you send on mission. You play a vital role—
thank you for helping accomplish so much in 2021

Infographic