MISSIONS
At Conover Evangelical Free Church, our mission statement of Making, Maturing, Multiplying for Christ expresses our primary biblical responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ from Matthew’s Gospel 28:19-20. CEFC is committed to making disciples by sharing the hope for all mankind that is only found through the Good News of Jesus Christ. We do this by going out into the world with the promise of salvation and redemption offered by grace through faith in the atoning sacrifice and promise found alone in the death and resurrection of Jesus. CEFC is committed to maturing followers of Jesus Christ by being a disciple-making church which purposefully invests in the spiritual growth and nurturing of believers. CEFC is committed to multiplying disciples by taking our faith in the Gospel message seriously, training and equipping others for ministry, and affirming that CEFC has been set aside by God for both the preaching of the Gospel message and as a witness to the Northwoods. Scroll down to meet the missionaries we sponsor at CEFC and connect with them!
The Ellenwoods
Serving the Lord in Czech Republic
Meet the Ellenwoods
We have been serving on the mission field for over 21 years now. Our passion for the nations began when Mel was leading short term trips with our youth. We knew we were called to equip and disciple the next generation of leaders and felt called to stateside ministry. But on these trips, Mel and our youth were often serving in children’s ministries or working on building projects. Mel began to develop a holy discontent as he saw a great need among the youth, yet didn’t see much ministry happening among high school students. Until we heard about Josiah Venture. Their vision and mission resonated with our hearts, as they sought to “equip young leaders in central and Eastern Europe to fulfill Christ’s commission through the local church.
Our target demographic is young people between the ages of 15-25 who live in the former Communist bloc. We are located near our EU headquarters in the Moravian region of the Czech Republic. We moved to Czech in 1998 with three small children and are still here 21 years later. We began as model makers, growing and developing a healthy thriving youth ministry in a local church. This grew into a more national role as we led the evangelistic camp ministry for Czech, and then an international role as we led the evangelistic camp thrust for all of JV. Then, 15 years ago, we moved into leadership of our organization as we shepherd and care for national leaders and teams.
We serve in the leadership of Josiah Venture- a missionary team that serves in 14 central and eastern European countries. Our prayer is to see a movement of God among the youth of central and Eastern Europe, that finds its home in the local church and transforms society.
Would you pray for our team? We are undergoing a season of exponential growth and we can feel the enemy’s displeasure. We don’t want to be unaware of his schemes and we want to stand firm under spiritual opposition. We are also in transition with our leadership team and need for some key roles to be filled. In the meantime, Mel is picking up much of the slack and carrying a heavy load. Please pray for him as he relies on the Lord to be his wisdom and strength.
The Doriots
Serving the Lord in Chicagoland, IL
Meet the Doriots
Jon and Rachel spent 12+ years serving in Indonesia focusing on discipleship training of the local church and direct outreach to Unreached People Groups. Through the use of chronological Bible stories in MP3 format on cell phones and other media, God has raised up believers from Muslim backgrounds and believers from Christian backgrounds who are better equipped to pass on the Good News and to nurture growth of local believers. Jon grew up in Irian Jaya with Bible translator parents. He and his wife Rachel have 4 sons – Jadon, Brendan, Joshua, and Asher.
Jon and Rachel currently serve in the greater Chicagoland area training/coaching Disciple-makers and reaching out to students, families and groups from the regions of South Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.
We currently serve with Pioneers. Learn more about them by clicking the button below.
- Men and women who will choose to “go for it” after hearing the challenges presented at local church trainings and grasping the relative simplicity of reaching Muslims through group Bible studies.
- Our team to have clear focus, comraderie and to stay on mission in the midst of a personnel change.
- Creativity and togetherness for all of us as the kids are home from school for the summer. Also we will have 3 kids in 3 different schools in the fall – Jadon in 9th grade, Brendan in 7th, and Joshua starts 1st grade!