Partnering with Missionaries Around the World
Missions and Outreach are important to our Zion Church community! We strive to be a people informed and involved in missions at Zion so that we all feel connected to God’s work across the globe. Find out more about the missionaries we support!
John & Marian VanderMeer
Serving the Democratic Republic of Congo with Wycliffe Bible Translators
John and Marian VanderMeer and their family, members of our church community here at Zion have been serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for over 20 years. Together, they work with Wycliffe to help provide for the needs of the community, and to help ensure that they have access to the Bible in their native language so that they can read and listen to it! John’s recent work has him working to bring God’s word to people using many forms of new technology. While John and Marian are completing many projects from a home base in Ontario, John continues to travel back and forth to the Congo to help with translations, media projects and technology upgrades.
Find out more about John and Marian and their work and donate towards their ministry here:
https://www.wycliffe.ca/projects/vandermeer-johnmarian/
Mwikali Wambua
Serving Eastern Africa with Resonate Global Missions
Mwikali Wambua is a new career missionary with Resonate Global Mission in Eastern Africa, residing in Kenya. She is a wife; a mother of three adult children; grandmother of one and nurturer to many vulnerable children. In her role as a Christian Education Specialist in Eastern Africa, Mwikali is raising up leaders in Christian Education in three major ways. One, connecting and partnering with schools and churches to support Christian education for all children. Two, providing Bible-based professional development for teachers and other children educators using a resource known as Educational Care. Three, coaching and mentoring some of the trained teachers to become Educational Care facilitators. Mwikali’s enthusiasm for teaching and learning has inspired open channels for faith formation among students and educators across Eastern Africa.
Find out more about Mwikali and her work, or donate towards her ministry here:
https://www.resonateglobalmission.org/missionaries/mwikali-wambua
Derek & Katie McDonald
Serving Northern Canada with Northern Canada Evangelical Mission
Derek & Katie McDonald and their three children (Haven, Ezra, and Heath) moved to the Nipawin, Saskatchewan, area in late 2023 to begin serving as career missionaries with NCEM’s Aviation Department. It had been a desire of Derek’s heart since a child to serve the Lord and the church through aviation. Derek attended Millar College of the Bible and completed his flight training at Prairie Bible Institute. Since getting married in 2017, Katie joined Derek in this journey towards full-time ministry. They previously resided in Flin Flon, Manitoba, where Derek worked as an aircraft maintenance engineer, and Katie as a casual Registered Nurse.
The McDonalds appreciate prayer as they continue to build their prayer & financial support team. Find out more and donate towards their ministry here: https://ncem.ca/missionaries/derek-katie-mcdonald/
Joseph Bowman
Serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators
Joseph was born and raised in the Niagara Region of Ontario. He has been a lover of words and languages all his life. He has undergraduate degrees in French-English translation and linguistics, bilingual professional writing, and much later on, a Bachelor of Education degree in Adult Education. Joseph spent 14 years working for the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) while simultaneously completing a Master of Theological Studies. While still at WSIB, he began serving as a licensed lay minister in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), providing pulpit supply at many CRC congregations. He continues to serve CRC in this capacity to this day.
With his theological and linguistic studies, work in both Greek and Hebrew, and being an English grammarian of the top degree, he felt called to join The Bible Translator’s Assistant (TBTA) team at Wycliffe. Working with TBTA will allow Joseph to use his language and grammar skills to help develop software that allows minority language groups to more rapidly complete first drafts of translated Scriptures. By hastening that process, translators can focus their efforts on ensuring the accuracy of translation and equipping people for deeper Scripture engagement.
Find out more about Joseph’s work and donate towards it here: https://www.wycliffe.ca/member/bowman-joseph/