Thank you for joining us on this journey as our Family continues serving overseas among the poorest of the poor Mothers and Children in Ethiopia and Turkey.
In 2018, Our Family will be moving from Ethiopia where we have lived and served for 8 years in the Kore’ slum of Addis Ababa. The work in Ethiopia among over 250 families will continue in the hands of 60 Ethiopian staff who tirelessly serve the poorest of the poor every day. Now, we will move to Istanbul, Turkey to serve among poor Turks and Refugees, expanding Embracing Hope’s work in Jesus’ Name.
Why Istanbul?
The short answer is that this is where we sense God leading us as a family to 
engage in sharing the love of Jesus within a city that is over 99% Muslim. However, the longer answer is that there is great need for wholistic Gospel centered presence in Istanbul. Turkey has seen an influx of 5 million refugees over the past few years and Istanbul has become the bottleneck for them. Over 500,000 refugees call Istanbul home. They are displaced, desiring to be resettled and very much in need of practical love.
At the same time there are less than 10,000 Christian believers in the entire country of Turkey and there are huge sections of Istanbul where there is no Evangelical presence. Many of the church planting efforts have focused on the middle and upper class, but little has been done among the poor who have the greatest openness to seeing Jesus for who He is.
Here’s a very short introduction to Istanbul video that we put together…
The Shannons new season from Embracing Hope Ethiopia on Vimeo.
What will we be doing?
At first our focus will be on language learning – for at least the first 18 – 24 months. Our desire is to become fluent in Turkish so that we can successfully plant ourselves in a poorer neighborhood and do life there one-on-one for a long season. Our prayer is that God will make us an instrument of His Peace in that neighborhood.
At the same time we will be assessing what the greatest felt needs on the ground are. When we first started in the Kore’ slum of Addis Ababa Ethiopia, we identified that a key to doing wholistic Gospel ministry among the poorest of the poor 
families was to provide Day Care. We later added spiritual ministry, education, nutrition, basic needs, social work, etc. Among the poorer populations of Turks and Refugees in Istanbul we will again be looking for the greatest felt need that we can start addressing and then develop from there.
These values shape us and our outlook:
- We believe in incarnational ministry. We will look to live close to those we work with and become friends and family to them.
- We believe in empowering nationals. Like in Ethiopia, our hope will be to empower and equip locals to do ministry.
- We believe in simplicity. We will choose to live simply and use simple methods that convey Jesus’ love in action.
- We believe in contextualized solutions. We will become learners, searching for what might work within the given culture that can best convey the love of God.
- Like Queen Esther, we believe in “for such a time as this” seasons. We believe that God is Sovereignly leading – and He will reveal in His time the fuller picture.
Our Financial Needs.
We have both monthly needs and one time support needs
Please prayerfully consider partnering with us financially and through prayer.
As of August 16, friends have made pledges equally 100% of our Monthly Needs. Currently we need to raise an additional $589 for our Extra Start Up Fund which will be used for residency requirements and ministry in Turkey. Any amount you give will be used in our work among poor women with young children.
Could you partner with us in a Kingdom investment?
Please consider joining our support team by clicking this link and filling out the form.
We appreciate your willingness to partner with us in prayer, financial support and encouragement in this season!!
