Quick Update

Hello! We just wanted to give a quick update on where we're at in this process of support-raising.


For the past couple of weeks, we have been busy sending letters and information to our friends and family to let everyone know about our coming involvement with Village Missions, how we got here, and what this journey will entail. We are now working on wrapping up this process of sending out information, and in the coming weeks will be working on contacting everyone to answer any questions there may be and to meet with anyone who would like more information about this ministry.

This past Sunday Chris had the opportunity to preach at our church, CIAR, and to then present the information about Village Missions to our church body. We are excited to have begun this process! We are currently pursuing opportunities to present at a few more churches and will post more information as it comes.

We have tried to make sure to send letters to any of our family or friends we feel would be interested in this new update, but I'm sure there are people we have missed. If you have not received anything by mail for whatever reason, here is a copy of the letter we have sent out:

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year from the Cleland family! We hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday season that left you rejuvenated for the upcoming year. We are excited to share with you what God has been doing in our lives and where we have felt His leading as we begin not only a new year, but also a new season in our lives.

Many of you know that, since getting married in 2009, we have felt impressed on our hearts the growing desire for full-time ministry, and specifically missions - ministry aimed at reaching out to those who do not know the Lord. Our pursuit of ministry has looked different during different seasons of our lives, but there has always been a growing drive to share Christ with others. We began our married life working with the youth group at New Harvest Church of the Nazarene in Warsaw; left in 2011 to study abroad for a semester in Argentina; and came back with a desire to pursue missions more intentionally - seeking out a Spanish-speaking church and moving to Fort Wayne in order to more purposefully pour into our families and younger siblings while we had the chance. We didn’t know how long we would be here, but felt that there would be no better time to invest in our families than while our siblings were still in high school and we were in the area finishing our studies at Grace College. At the beginning of 2012 we arrived at Centro Internacional de Alabanza Renovacion (CIAR) - a Spanish-speaking Missionary church plant in which we have again worked with youth and spent time learning from the pastors there. Since we have now both graduated, we have been praying about where God would have us and what He would have us doing. We assumed that, due to the amount of student loans we had accrued over our years in college, it would be years before we would be able to be involved in missions, but increasingly felt that we should begin looking for ways in which Chris especially could use his degree through full-time ministry.

Only days after we had that discussion and agreed to prayerfully begin seeking God’s will in this area, we received in God’s perfect timing a newsletter in the mail from Village Missions describing their ministry, the need for missionaries to help keep North American churches alive, and a description of the candidates they were looking for. Although we had been receiving their newsletters for about a year at the point, never had it even crossed our minds to consider ourselves being a part of this organization; but at exactly the right time, the Lord provided that newsletter that pulled at our hearts in a way that seemed to tell us both, “This is where I want you.” That was a few months ago now, and our conviction of God’s leading has done nothing but grow since that time.

It is with great joy and anticipation that we can now announce our acceptance into the ministry of Village Missions. We are beginning the process of raising the support necessary to begin a year-long intensive training internship under an experienced pastor from the organization, and to then be sent into the mission field of rural North America.

More than anything, we would appreciate your dedicated prayer as we begin this journey, for we know that nothing is possible apart from the Lord’s provision and intervention. We would love to sit down with you to share more about this opportunity, and look forward to contacting you sometime in the next couple of weeks if you are interested. We will also be posting updates on our blog at AdventuresinCleland.blogspot.com.

                                                                          Thank you for your continued love and support,

                                                                                                  Chris & Ronae

                                                                  Josiah and Baby Girl (due in May)

                                                                                   Cleland

If you would like more information about the organization and what our involvement will look like, please don't hesitate to let us know and we will get that information to you.


Thank you so much for stopping by! We will do our best to keep you updated.

God Bless,
Chris & Ronae