Neighbors & Nations July-September 2025

What's a Discovery Trip? A Discovery Trip is a simple way of describing an international mission trip, keeping the main goal at heart.  When we go on Short Term Mission trips, we are not going to be able to change the world in a week.  The posture we encourage is one of humility, where our team members arrive at their destination country well prepared to "discover" what God is doing around the world!  As we go with an attitude of humility, ready to learn with a willing spirit, God will always lead us to discover something we did not know before.  God's character and his heart for the nations becomes evident when we experience him outside of our comfort zones.  At Parkway, we have two types of Discovery Trips: Vision Trips and Care Trips.  An amazing group of ladies went on a Care Trip in August to Budapest.  This was the location of this year's Area Retreat where missionary families serving with Global Partners (Wesleyan) come to rest and recharge spiritually.  As the adults go through their sessions, our team pours into the kids!  This was the third area retreat that Parkway was invited to participate in.  We have discovered it is one of the most fruitful way to serve internationally because these families often come to this retreat broken by the difficulty of ministry in dark places.  Their kids need a lot of love and care, as many of them feel they will never fit into their home country or their country where their families serve. Our team of seven ladies had a blast serving these kids and their families.  They received tearful letters thanking them for investing into their children while they recharge. The truth is that missionaries cannot continue to do the work on the field unless they are healthy, not just physically but spiritually and emotionally.  Are you interested in going on a Missionary Care Trip?  Let us know.  Mgahima@parkwayroanoke.com

SOUTHEAST ASIA
Two ladies on our missions leadership team recently traveled to Southeast Asia to visit our amazing ministry partners there.  This Vision Trip took them across three countries in ten days.  It proved to be eye-opening to say the least!  This region of the world is home to billions of people with NO ACCESS to the gospel.  This means that in their lifetime, they will probably never have an opportunity to hear about Jesus, meet a Christian, or see a Bible in their language.  It's a spiritually dark and hopeless existence as people direct their worship and adoration onto idols of plastic, metal and wood.  They pray religiously to powerless gods, never having the opportunity to hear about the God who created them, loves them and has a plan for their life.  Because of these stark realities, Parkway is excited about supporting our ministry partners in these areas, maximizing their impact as they share the gospel and raise up others to do the same.  We believe we will see multiplying movements to Christ and in these areas in the next five years with new church fellowships spreading rapidly. The key to these partnerships is prayer and trusted relationships.  Our team was most encouraged about a Bible Institute that is training young people in Biblical studies.  Some of these youth are feeling a call to be missionaries to other areas of SE Asia!  We were able to witness the gospel work of Asian missionaries and pastors and how fruitful their ministries have become, even amidst the difficulties and persecution.  Stay tuned for more stories from this trip...

GROUPS
We expect our Neighbors & Nations culture at Parkway to take our faith to new levels!  Groups are jumping in already, excited about serving our neighbors and the nations together.  Each group will participate in at least one community outreach activity, as well as pray consistently for one missionary and unreached people group. Groups are coming up with some creative ideas to serve the community!  The Argabright Group has been packing snack packs for Preston Park Elementary school students.  This is our third school year providing these packs for 120 at risk students who might not otherwise have any food over the weekend. Groups can easily participate in this fun activity during their group times, as well as organize group serving times out in the community. To sign up for the snack pack program, click here:https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0848AAAA23A0FDCE9-44449020-preston#/