Dear Friends,

Sunny greetings from the Dominican Republic. We pray all is well with you. We realize that it has been quite some time since you have received a newsletter from us. For this we apologize. It is our goal to write you on a more regular basis so you will be informed on the ministry here in the Dominican Republic as we work in partnership with our brothers and sisters of the Dominican Evangelical Church.

Since it has been a while since you’ve heard from us, let us refresh your memories. We are Ben and Shannon Langley, coordinators of U.S. teams. We live in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Our focus is to be a bridge in assisting our stateside churches in forming relationships or partnerships with our brothers and sisters of the Dominican Evangelical Church. How we all do this takes on many forms, but the most common form is working together in building new churches, schools, clinics, or latrines, providing water, repairing homes in extremely poor areas, providing medical clinics in poor areas around the D.R. And by doing evangelism, by providing vacation Bible school, and participating in worship services.

We would like to share with you what a pastor wrote after his mission experience. This pretty much summarizes our mission goal. Dr. Kent Ingrum, pastor of Kilbourne Park in Columbia, South Carolina, wrote:

Before we left God had been speaking to me about my need to have the attitude of a servant toward Pastor Cancu and the church in Saboneta. Upon my arrival I discovered the possible reason for God’s leadership in this area. I discovered that the church in Saboneta is a 65-year-old congregation of at least 300 committed believers. This congregation of 300 sponsors a school, numerous community relief ministries, and five missions in the surrounding communities. These people did not need us to show them how to do church; they where giving us an opportunity to join their life as the body of Christ.

I saw the church at Saboneta fulfilling the Great Commission. I saw a church being used by God to make a difference in the lives of people who need Jesus. I saw the power of God and the potential for Kilbourne Park as we fulfilled God’s mission.

God is calling us to love God and love people in such a way that people exchange ordinary living for an extraordinary life through the power of Jesus Christ as we share the heart of Christ, are shaped by the mind of Christ, serve with the hands of Christ, and shine with the light of Christ.

Friends, this is what mission is all about. You have helped us realize that doing mission is not necessarily what we (North Americans) can do, but what we can do together through Christ. It is Christ that brings us all together to fulfill the Great Commission. It is Christ that can unit two groups from different cultures and languages. It is Christ who can tear down the walls that divide so many of us. This is what being one in the body of Christ is all about. This is one of the many paradigm shifts or "Ah ha!" moments that we have had over the past four years serving with you and our partners in the Dominican Evangelical Church.

We both feel extremely blessed to be here! We often say that is it you (Dominicans and North Americans) who are missionaries to us. So I guess the focus of this newsletter is just to sincerely express our Christian love to each of you, your families, your congregations, for supporting this ministry with your prayers, your teams, and all your many letters of encouragement. To see the lives that are changed through the power of God’s Spirit is powerful and so encouraging to our daily walk with God. One of our teams—from Westminster Presbyterian Church of Greenville, South Carolina—describes their yearly mission as "A Week of Sundays"! But for us, it has been four years of Sundays.

So as we bring this long over-due newsletter to a close we ask for your prayers as we all continue working together in carrying out the Great Commission into all the world.

Peace of our Lord—Que Dios les Bendiga!

Rev. Ben and Shannon Langley

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 238