Charlotte missionaries make a difference in Belize

WORLD WORSHIP CHURCH

Members of Charlotte-based World Worship Church partnered with Iglesia Getsemani church in Belize on infrastructure upgrades to the sanctuary as well as home visits, vacation Bible school and sports program July 27-Aug. 1.

Missionary work can start at home.

From July 27-Aug. 1, nine people from World Worship Church in Charlotte served people in the Central American country of Belize as a part of a mission trip. Missionaries Fred McGhee and Jameela Ewell took part in the six-day mission, which included partnering with a local church, Iglesia Getsemani, upgrading the sanctuary’s infrastructure, as well as home visits and leading vacation Bible school and sports programs for neighborhood children.

“Missions to me means service,” Ewell said. “It’s a way that I can serve outside the four walls of the church. … Missions means you go to serve, and in every aspect of that, you serve with excellence. You lay aside all of your comfort; you leave behind all your issues and focus on serving. Every time I go on these trips the intent is to be able to bless them, but I end up getting blessed exponentially. … It is really indescribable and is something I always tell people they have to experience for themselves.”

McGhee said there is a mischaracterization of how missionaries should look and act. Anyone can do the work if they have a heart for service. 

“We all have this ideal or this picture of what we think missionaries look like,” he said, “and that comes from television and all sorts of other things that we think we a missionary is someone who goes into a foreign country and they live for a certain amount of time and they do these things, right? And there are missionaries that are like that. But in our case, we are getting the opportunity and the honor of being able to go to these people’s villages and their homes. … A lot of times we get a lot more out of being there than they get from us being there.”

Ewell and McGhee each launched their mission work in Charlotte. There’s poverty in the United States, which means there is work to be done on the homefront, and both agree it is a great place to start. 

“Fred and I did a lot of work with the [homeless] here in Charlotte for many years,” Ewell said. “We ran back-to-school drives where we gave out hundreds of full backpacks to kids. We had times where we would pack bag lunches and take them downtown to serve the hungry. In addition to that, here at this church we serve at men’s and women’s shelters. This church has a 501c3 called A Giving Heart Project, and they are doing a lot of great work in Charlotte.”

McGhee and Ewell have simple messages to anyone considering mission work but are hesitant.

“Sometimes I think our own misconceptions of missions is what holds us back,” McGhee said. “Until you get there and become boots on the ground and experience what you get back from it yourself, that is what drives you to do more. Whether that is in Center City or if it is in Belize, once you see the energy you are getting back and the blessing it will drive you even more.”

Said Ewell: “I would say, if you’re a believer in Christ, the word tells you to go and make disciples of the nations,” Ewell said. “So, that for me is the foundation of everything that we do that is mission related. Everybody should be disciplined. Everybody should be doing some kind of service for others and that is really what missions are about.”

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