Sorry!  We wrote this update back in October but are just now getting it posted on the IM site!!

AN UPDATE FROM DUANE AND MARCIA BINKLEY

OCTOBER, 2011

 

Dear Friends,

The summer months have come and gone and here it is the fall season already!  We had a busy summer of traveling as we attended three conferences here in the US and also visited our son Sean in Egypt, as well as the Chin refugees in Malaysia and the Karen refugees in the camps in Thailand.  We were thankful for safety as we traveled and grateful for all that we learned and were able to accomplish.

We are now “empty nesters”.  Our youngest daughter Shannon started college as a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan University in Sept.   Our older daughter Erin is a sophomore at Judson University and our son Sean is still living in Cairo, Egypt where he works for a media design company.   

We are anticipating a move to Kansas City, KS.  by the end of this year.  We are moving to Kansas to be closer to the Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas.  Our role will be to direct a new program, with the Seminary’s endorsement, to organize classes for theological training for Karen and Chin pastors who are serving refugee congregations around the US.  We aim to organize classes at different locations around the country where pastors and church leaders can attend  on  weekends and do further study at home.  Most of the pastors and church leaders are bi-vocational and have full or part time jobs to support their families.  The Seminary would supervise the course curriculum that will be used for the classes and the classes will be taught in the Karen, Chin and Burmese languages, by Karen and Chin instructors and/or by English-speaking instructors with translation. When they complete the course, the pastors will receive a certificate from the Seminary. There will also be another level of classes for pastors who already have theological training.  If interested, Central Seminary has posted an article about us joining them on their web site at https://www.cbts.edu/topic/global-christianity/binkleys-join-the-central-team/. 

While we’ll be partnering with Central for at least the next three years, Central Seminary is not paying our salary.  We are still under the American Baptist Churches system that requires missionaries to raise 90% of their own support and also still jointly appointed with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  With a new fiscal year starting October 1^st, you’ll be hearing from us about our continued support needs soon.

We will continue to serve on the Burma Refugees Task Force of the ABC denomination.   The most recent Task Force meeting was in Washington DC on September 12 & 13 where in addition to the regular meeting, visits to the US State Department’s offices of International Religious Freedom and the office of Population, Refugees and Migration were held.  The Task Force delegation totaled thirteen people representing denominational leaders as well as Karen and Chin church leaders.  It was a great opportunity to let these government offices know more of the role that Baptist churches are filling in helping former refugees adjust to life in the US as well as to advocate for change in the refugee program both internationally and within the US.  If interested in more information on the Task Force’s visit to the State Department and to see a list of the recommendations made during these visits, see the most “Recent Update” at the top of the home page of our web site at www.karenkonnection.org.

This is the time of the year when the “World Mission Offering”  is taken in our ABC churches. The theme for the 2011 World Mission Offering (WMO) is:  “Live the Word-Proclaim the Word –Be Transformed”.  The largest portion of the WMO will be used to help with the support of more than 100 missionaries.  The remaining portion will be used to support the programs of IM’s global partners in 76 countries around the world.  Gifts to the WMO may also be “directed” for the support of a particular missionary or project.  We encourage you to prayerfully support this offering.

 

We value your partnership with us and we appreciate your continued support for us and our ministry.

 

In Christ,

 

Duane & Marcia