Mentoring and training from Asia to the world

Editor’s note: Al and Mary serve with Entrust in Asia, where, as in the rest of the world, they have had to modify much of their ministry work due to the pandemic. Following is a sample of their ministry highlights from the second half of 2021.

Mary helped launch the first online Entrust training in this region. Eight women from six countries participated in Facilitating Relational Learning from August through November. They learned and practiced small group facilitation skills while also discovering fresh truths in God’s word. “What an incredible journey these women have been on,” Mary writes. “Their commitment to a 3-hour Zoom call every week for 15 weeks, doing assignments, using new skills in facilitating discussions, trusting God as they've been thrust out of their comfort zones ... it’s been a joy to have been a part of making this happen.”

Mary and her regional Entrust women’s ministry hub leadership team are prayerfully looking into what might happen next. “Our options are to offer another online training in the fall or to see if it may be possible to meet in-person for our typical 8-day intensive training next November,” Mary writes.

Al continues meeting weekly with a gentleman from France who took the Alpha Course earlier in 2021. He and Al are going through the gospel of John chapter by chapter. Mary sometimes eavesdrops (they meet by Zoom), as their discussions are, as she says, quite interesting! Al also meets with two groups of men every week in person to provide mutual encouragement and share prayer requests.

“These groups have been a lifeline during these crazy COVID times,” Mary says.

Another type of meeting, bringing great joy to Mary, is her weekly Zoom call with a young woman who was a member of a Bible study group with Mary in Romania some time ago.

Whether nearby or far away, in person or online, Al and Mary’s mentoring and training ministry goes forward, from Asia to the world.