Hello friends! Greetings to you from Torrevieja, Spain, where I am currently serving as a General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) missionary and pastor of La Siesta Evangelical Church. My work here has been challenging and exciting, as we move further from Coronavirus restrictions into a fully-active international Protestant church community in a majority Catholic country. It is fulfilling work and I would love to share it with your church communities as a covenant partner. But I need your help to develop and nurture relationships with local church communities within my home conference of California-Pacific Conference and beyond.
Covenants are statements of relationship: mutual care and witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ who calls us to love one another in our local community and around the world. Covenants take what we treasure most and transform it into acts of love in missions, where we can join into the activity of the holy spirit through our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. I have attached the Covenant Partner form as a resource for you to communicate what it means to be in partnership with a missionary.
Some information about me, my work and the GBGM Missionary program:
I am an ordained elder from the Cal-Pac AC, having served churches in Kailua and Kona, Hawaii as well as Westchester and Walnut, California. I also served as a GBGM missionary in Hamburg, Germany from 2007-2012. My Missionary bio is here: https://umcmission.org/missionary-bio/15184z/
My missionary work is centered in the international church network, providing an English-speaking church home for immigrants, expats and “strangers in a strange land.”
The GBGM encourages each missionary to partner with churches for support and United Methodist missionaries depend on financial support to sustain their livelihoods as they fulfill God’s call to mission service. Missionaries are charged with raising $25,000 USD annually. Your financial gifts and relationship help provide for the salary and benefits of the missionary you support.
I have a missionary blog that is updated (at least) monthly, a printable newsletter produced quarterly, and am available via Zoom for committee meetings, gatherings, worship services, etc.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me. I am excited about the possibility of partnering with you.
Blessings,
Rev. Dr. Krista S. Givens
Pastor, La Siesta Evangelical Church
Missionary, General Board of Global Ministries
