Shoveling snow for elderly neighbors likely steered Mary Brunn into God’s mission.
In Brunn’s childhood, she, her dad and her siblings walked up and down their street in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, after snowstorms, serving Christ by shoveling driveways for widows and widowers.
Several years later, when Brunn felt called to ministry, she saw several options during her studies at Moody Bible Institute. But the ministry she didn’t find reconnected her to those cold days in Sheboygan.
“Is anyone doing ministry to the elderly?” she wondered in college. “There’s not many people who are specifically wanting to do elderly ministry so I’m going to do that.”
And she is doing it through Converge’s partnership with the Alliance for Transatlantic Theological Training. Converge International Ministries and AT3 have the same goal: to make disciples among the least-reached people groups.
Related: Read how another American global worker grows and contributes in the UK
A home for hard workers who don’t have the hope of heaven
Brunn has been serving the people of Derby, a blue-collar town 45 minutes north of Birmingham, England, since August. Rolls Royce has a facility in the town where the world’s first fully mechanized factory opened in 1724.
She is the first AT3 apprentice in that community because Woodlands Church has a vital ministry among the elderly. One in four people in Derby is elderly in Allestree, the neighborhood where Woodlands worships and serves.
The congregation is doing well, considering most of the nation’s older adults left Christianity behind decades ago. Those people were familiar with the Christian faith. But, the younger generations mostly grew up outside the church’s influence, resulting in people with little to no knowledge of Christ.
Related: The people missing out on Christ motivates the UK & Ireland Initiative.
God is actively helping Brunn and Woodlands Church share Jesus in a way that makes a difference. Brunn visits homebound older adults and welcomes those who can travel to the church for a cup of Yorkshire black tea with a bit of milk and some biscuits.
These gatherings have started a dialogue between Brunn and an elderly British man who’s clearly seeking truth. The man will argue with Brunn that the Bible isn’t God’s word, yet he knows the Bible well enough to spot hypocritical Christians.
That experience has turned him away from the Lord, even as God pursues him through Brunn’s friendly, deep faith and regular Yorkshire teas and biscuits.
Everybody needs their snow shoveled and their soul saved
As a girl walking up and down the streets of her Wisconsin neighborhood, she knew everybody’s driveway needed shoveling. The same is true on a spiritual level. She sees the value in ministering to the next generation and every people group.
But God, through the girl’s father, directed her into serving widows, older people or homebound couples. So too, her heavenly father now calls her to the least-reached people of England, especially those in their final years.
“Statistically, [they’re] going to be more likely to meet God sooner versus later,” she said. “Why don’t we reach them while we’re still here?”
Converge is asking God for a gospel movement among every least-reached people group – in our generation. Learn how we are playing a role in accomplishing the Great Commission and how you can be involved.