As we move into 2019, Divine Word Missionaries are delighted to share some big news: we are launching a new website known as Mission Impact.
For many years, Divine Word Missionaries has supported the missions in the field by sharing stories in print publications such as Mission Update magazine and by raising awareness of the missions around the world. Through this ministry, we have been able to connect missionaries in remote corners of the world with prayers and financial support from you, our community of friends.
Now, we are spreading the Word through a new online presence. Keep reading for a brief history of Divine Word Missionaries, some facts and statistics about our mission work, and a close look at the NEW Mission Impact website.
A Quick History of Divine Word Missionaries
For the last 144 years, Divine Word Missionaries have been living among the poor and marginalized and working to bring the Gospel, healing, hope, and dignity to those in need. Over the decades, our religious order has become the largest Catholic missionary presence in the world, with over 6,000 missionaries serving in over 80 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
Divine Word Missionaries established a missionary and fundraising presence in the United States in 1895, just 20 years after the founding of the order. In 1899, Divine Word Missionaries settled in Techny, Illinois and quickly built a large community, including St. Norbert parish, a trade school for orphaned teenage boys, an elementary a high school, a printing press, a home for the elderly, and, in 1909, St. Mary’s Seminary, the first seminary in the United States dedicated to training candidates to serve as missionary priests and Brothers in foreign lands.
We Are Called to Spread the Word
News of Divine Word Missionaries in action was first delivered to readers by our founder, St. Arnold Janssen, through our magazine The Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart, which St. Arnold began publishing in 1874. Today’s Mission Update magazine, published by the Mission Center in Techny, continues to share stories of missionary activity around the world and raise support for missionaries and their works.
Our call to spread the Word has always been twofold. Through our missionary activity, we spread the Word of God to communities around the world who have not encountered the Gospel, and we spread the word about our missionary activity to friends and supporters around the world who want to make an impact on the lives of those in need.
What is Mission Impact?
The life works of our missionaries deserve the widest possible audience. Mission Impact is our response to today’s call to spread the word about our missions and to spread the word about how together we can make an impact on the lives of people who are continents away—but close to our hearts.
Now, the Mission Impact website brings together powerful stories of service to the poor, the touching photos that tell those stories, and a new way for you to connect to those in need. Through this new website, we hope to share the good news of the Gospel and the good work of the mission fields through our photos, our impact reports, our stories, and our resources for prayer and learning.
Our goal for Mission Impact is to be the conduit between those in need in the most remote corners of the world and those whose hearts are moved to support a change.
Mission Impact shows Divine Word Missionaries, in action.
Your Partnership with the Divine Word
Mission Impact is a global call to join in making an impact—with us!
Divine Word Missionaries run universities, colleges and seminaries. We staff hospitals, clinics and specialized communities to care for lepers and those with HIV/AIDS. We operate trade schools and shelters for street kids. We help local communities build chapels. We serve the poorest parishes in large cities of the developing world and in the farthest jungle reaches of the Amazon, Papua New Guinea, and other remote areas.
Here's how you can help make an impact today:
- Tell at least one family member or friend to check out the new website.
- Share a link to the new website on social media to help spread the Word.
- Sign up for our monthly email newsletter for news, mission updates, and more.
Our work continues because of you, our faithful friends, who support us with your prayers and your monetary gifts.
We have always been encouraged by the faithful support of our friends and co-missionaries in the Divine Word. We are delighted to launch of Mission Impact, our new way to serve our community of supporters and spread the Word.
Thank you for your friendship with Divine Word Missionaries.
We are beyond grateful for your interest in and support of this mission work. Join Mission Impact by subscribing to our weekly blog, The Mission Post!
