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Mission 2025 Resources

In January 2025, almost 200 people gathered in Orlando, Florida, for a celebration of mission and a closer look at the roots and branches of mission in our denomination and beyond. Over 21 missionaries and partners traveled and shared stories from places like Juarez, Mexico, Rome, Italy, Cusco, Peru, Bangkok, Thailand, and many places in between. They joined with attendees who gathered from across the U.S. and Canada, to stand as witnesses to God’s work in the world. Speakers brought their life experiences and stories of impact during main-stage storytelling gatherings, workshops, and dinner conversations, and invited participants to learn more about what our loving, patient, miracle-working God is doing globally through the support of RCA churches and individuals.

Whether or not you attended Mission 2025, we’ve gathered videos, resources, and snapshots here for you so that, together, we can continue to root deeper into God’s call to follow God in mission and branch out wherever God might be leading us next.

Mission 2025: Roots and Branches

Watch the highlights of the weekend.

Keynote:
Roots and Branches  

Chuck Van Engen and Angel Lopez, RCA missionaries, shared their joint story born out of an historic RCA mission site, Chiapas, Mexico. While Chuck grew up in Chiapas as a missionary kid and later, joined by his wife, Jean, returned as a missionary himself, Angel, a native of Chiapas, was a child of the church that was started by the RCA. 

They related the roots and branches of mission in the RCA, and migration across the world, to the great banyan tree–the trees branches grow out and down, back into the ground to form roots for new branches to grow and thrive. 

“As a picture of God’s mission, God moves people and then a new tree emerges… Migration is a vehicle for evangelization in the hands of God,” said Van Engen. “The size of the banyan tree and [the vastness of] migration has been a story of the earth for as long as we know it, but it is an increasingly large opportunity and challenge for us in this century, in fact, if you look back over 20 centuries . . . you will find that migration has been the primary instrument or vehicle of God’s mission in the evangelization of the earth.” 

“We’re all part of the same banyan tree,” Lopez reiterated, “we are all connected.”

Story Gathering Videos

During Mission 2025, 21 missionaries and partners, 7 staff, and 6 special guests led attendees from the mainstage and through workshops by sharing devotions, inviting attendees into their stories, providing key and inspirational information, and hosting genuine, life-giving sessions. In all, our speakers traveled from and shared stories from their experiences in 20 different countries, bringing a wealth of knowledge and diversity to the event. You can watch–or re-watch–our story gathering sessions here. Then, be sure to check out the next steps section below to discover ways you can get involved. 

Mission 2025 Photo Album

The nature of the event cannot fully be captured in photos, but we tried anyway! Click through to see friendly faces and snapshots of Mission 2025.

View photo album

Next Steps

Each story gathering speaker shared with attendees action steps following our time together at Mission 2025. Here are a few of them: 

Lesson of Peace and Reconciliation from our South Sudanese Sisters and Brothers

Home Away from Home: Reflections on the International Church

  • Become a church planter (in Debrecen – we’re hiring!), send a team to help out a new or long-standing international church, or come to church planting week in Europe this May 2025. Email shortter@rca.org for more info.
  • Become a financial partner with church planting projects around the globe or join the Europartnership as a partnering church.
  • If part of a church, invite an international congregation to use your facility.
  • Join – If you move to a new city, join an international church
    • To extend your reach
    • To enhance your discipleship
    • To promote unity in the body

Roots and Branches

  • Read two of the short chapters in Called to Serve and consider what is going on in that area of the world now in mission.
  • Consider local and global connections of the members of your congregation. How might you create new mission initiatives through these connections? 
  • Select an area of the world and become more informed about that area and about your call to possibly engage in mission in that area.
  • How could your congregation join other churches in your city, area, or another part of the world together in mission?

From Rock Climbing to Church Plant: Holistic Mission in Romania

  • Write a list of your passions, then write a list of the needs you have in your community. Identify where these two lists can be connected and put into practice.  
  • How can you personally use your resources to bless people in your community? How can your church use its resources to benefit the community outside of the walls of its sanctuary? 
  • Community development begins with love and compassion. Pray God will give you compassion and love for the lost and for the injustices you see in your community so that you, and your church, will be moved to action.

How I Ended Up as a Missionary

  • Pray and meditate on Matthew 9:36-38. What group of people whether locally or globally has God led you to see a need and feel compassion for them?
  • Reflecting on Romans 12:1, what gifts (passions, resources, and/or time) has God given you to offer as a living sacrifice of worship, expressed as love toward those who need the hope of Jesus Christ? Consider how you might use your gifts.
  • As Paul was set apart for the purposes of God (Romans 1:1), we who are disciples of Christ are also set apart and called to serve others for the sake of the gospel. How is God inviting you to go, support, and/or advocate for those who need to hear and be transformed by the good news of Jesus Christ?
  • If you have questions or feel God moving your heart toward going or supporting missions and need spiritual direction, please contact Rawee at rawee@rca.org

Waiting for Refuge: What is the Church’s Calling to Care for People on the Move?

  • Contact JJ TenClay to explore how you, your church, or your community can provide compassionate, Christ-like care for people on the move, locally AND globally

Short-term Mission

  • Plan a short-term trip with us! Whether you’re looking to customize a trip for yourself, join an experience we’re planning, or hoping to take a small group from your church to visit your mission partners, we’ve got all of the tools and resources to help you do this well! Visit www.rca.org/short-term to get started.
  • If you’re a young person who is interested in church planting or have a desire to engage the European church context to understand what the North American church can learn from our global sisters and brothers, join us in Europe May 2025. Scholarships available for young people. Email shortterm@rca.org to learn more.