Missions

At Village Green, we’re committed to serving those who are less fortunate and sharing the love and good news of Jesus Christ. We support both individuals and organizations that are serving and sharing at the local, national and international levels, and we pray for them regularly.

Village Green has Missionary Partners in countries like Austria, Colombia, the Philippines, and Japan as well as our home country, Canada.

Our Mission Partners

Jacob and Leidy Paul– Armenia, Colombia

Jacob grew up in and was part of the Village Green community before moving to Armenia, Quindío Colombia in 2009. He met Leidy there and they were married in January of 2014. They currently serve and work in their local church (Iglesia Cristiana Shalom), as well as a Youth foundation (ZONA J). Under ZonaJ, they founded El Nido to help serve vulnerable pregnant teenagers. It is their prayer that through El Nido these new young mothers will become ready for motherhood, develop new skills, learn how to deal with various emotions and feel Jesus’ love for them so that it will give them hope for a better future. Jacob is also involved in teaching a leadership program and they are both involved in Reaxion, which is a biannual leadership conference. They continue to dream and hope to grow these projects as time passes.

The Flemings– The Philippines

Appointed in 2020 for mid-term service with LAUNCH in the Philippines.

Grady was born to missionary parents in Japan and Brittany grew up in a Christian home in Canada. After serving with Athletes in Action in Edmonton for three years, Brittany pursued a Master of Education to cultivate her teaching skills. Meanwhile, Grady completed a Master of Arts in Global Governance, where he learned that he enjoyed teaching. After much prayer about how God might use them for His Kingdom, God prompted the idea of teaching internationally.

As they were wrapping up their respective programs, Grady and Brittany contacted Faith Academy, an international Christian school that offers Kindergarden to Grade 12 education to children of missionaries, Christian, and non-Christians in the Philippines — the school that Grady attended as a high school student. When they learned that they could fill critical needs that the school had, Grady and Brittany applied as high school teachers and were accepted to Faith Academy.

As high school teachers, Grady and Brittany will be able to leverage their unique background and skillsets to teach, coach, mentor, and disciple high school students. By God’s grace they hope to advance the Great Commission and serve missionaries across Southeast Asia by providing a transformative, Christ-centered education.

The Flemings– Tokyo, Japan

Rob and Kathryn send these words: “We have spent over 20 years church planting in northern Japan, and moving to Tokyo for this three-year commitment is a significant change for us. We have always lived in a small rural city, where there are very few churches and almost no western expats. We will move to a city of 40 million people, with and a greater Christian presence. We have always enjoyed living in a house and weeding the backyard garden. Tokyo means a small Japanese apartment in a big building. We will spend our first few months discovering what ministry God has in store for us. We have been blessed to see a fruitful church planting ministry, focusing on evangelism and discipleship, with the goal of seeing our converts going on to become soul winners in Japan. There are churches in Tokyo that we would like to cooperate with. Over 95% of Japanese believers never get around to sharing their faith with anyone. We are praying that God would lead us to more “good fruit” during the next three years. Pray for us. Our travels over the past 10 months have taught us an important lesson. Many of you have been praying for us; some daily! Your prayers keep us in Japan, effectively reaching out to people there. As we transition back to Japan in July, please pray. We need to settle as a family of three in Tokyo, while Grady and Tess resume their studies in Canada. Pray for wisdom from God to make good life/work decisions that will affect us for at least the next three years, and pray that God would impact many in Tokyo for eternity. We have been slowly learning Psalm 16 as a family this summer as we anticipate many changes and separation again. “Keep me safe oh God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, You are my Lord; Apart from you I have nothing good.” Please keep us prayed for in these next few months.” Rob and Kathryn.

The Griffiths– Vienna, Austria

Jonathan, Bel and Luca live in Vienna Austria. Between raising an active boy, Bel works part-time, as an actuary with an Austrian Bank while Jonathan works as a freelance Media Consultant with his company Media524.

Media524 was established in September 2018 after, TWR closed its Vienna office to relocate to Cyprus but as a family felt that it was best to stay in Vienna due to ministries, jobs and family. After 25 years of working “directly for TWR,” he is now working in “partnership with TWR” as a Media Consultant. Establishing Media524 allows Jonathan to now freelance back to TWR Women of Hope, a ministry of TWR seeking to bring hope in Jesus to women around the world and across generations.

As a Consultant for TWR Women of Hope, Jonathan will be working in the development of new material that the team of writers will be using to address the issues women are facing around the world. He will also be developing Standards for Training, Programme Quality and helping with Followup. Jonathan will also be coaching new projects along in targeting audiences facing specific issues and discussions around the world.

Jonathan and Bel, met in Vienna when Bel felt called back to Austria, after working six years with the OM Ships Ministry. They were married in 2008. Bel is still active in missions, as a member of the OM Austria Board and providing regular missions focused inputs at church. Both Bel and Jonathan are involved in coaching and mentoring, seekers in the neighbourhood, and believers through church and work. 80% of the 8.4 million Austrians are “Christians,” with 75% Catholic and 5% Protestants. Within that 5%, the majority is Lutherans, with less than 0.5 per cent as Evangelicals. Many Austrians associate their “religious” affiliation based on family heritage with little or no understanding of what a Christian is. Though this affiliation is very strong, there is a lot of wounds, scepticism and questioning of the “old beliefs.” Much of our time is spent walking with along their “Emmaus Road,” while we share our lives with them.

Sara Leggett– Calgary, Canada

Sara grew up and was part of Village Green. She has worked full-time in ministry to students through the work of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship since 2003, mentoring staff and students first in Central Asia, then in Toronto, and most recently in Calgary. Leading a multi-cultural staff team to plant International Student Ministry at the University of Calgary, her present role includes hospitality, modelling and deepening of cross-cultural friendship, and the leading and training of students and staff in Bible study, in prayer, in leadership and in reaching out to others with the good news of life in Christ. Students from around the world have come to Canada to study, and are longing for community, safe places to explore questions of faith and spirituality or alternatively to continue growing in their Christian Faith, opportunities to learn about other cultures and build cross-cultural friendships, to develop leadership skills and celebrate life together. Sara and her colleagues are excited about the ways God has been laying the foundation for their International Friendship Club, which seeks to meet these needs on campus, and are praying for students in the coming year who will begin to partner with them in investing deeply in this growing community. Likewise, at Olds College Sara’s (part-time) work with undergraduate students has her focusing on the training, discipleship and spiritual development of these young leaders, with the vision of influencing this smaller campus and their communities in the name of Christ Sara is grateful for the opportunity to continue to partner with the global Church through working with sister student movements connected to the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES).

Sam and Hanni– London, Ontario

Our names and Sam and Hanni. We serve with ABWE (Across Borders for World Evangelism) Canada. We are originally from the Middle East. God spoke to our hearts many years ago, and we left our religion and embraced Christ, the Light of the world, and ever since we have devoted our lives to Him. we left our country back in 1998 and lived in England for many years before coming to Canada in 2006. We have a strong passion to share the gospel with the unreached. We are currently involved in:

Translating and preparing Christian literature and resources (sermons, Bible commentaries, tracts,..) and sending them to the Middle East, Europe, and North America to make sure Persian churches and individuals are properly resourced,
Facilitating a workshop called Building Bridges,
Ministering to international students,
TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) missionary training through courses, seminars, and workshops,
Teaching, preaching, and fundraising,
Broadcasting Persian worship songs,
One-on-one evangelism
Church planting

We have spoken in many churches and small groups. We love to explain how effectively to connect with, minister to and share the Good News with our neighours. we have also trained ESL missionaries and are planning to continue doing so for the purpose of ministering to people through the medium of the English language. By God’s grace, we are now planting a Persian church at Village Green.