VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 6/27/14)—American Baptist International Ministries (IM) is pleased to announce the return of Rev. Dr. Eleazar Ziherambere to serve as Area Director for Africa, effective June 1, 2014. This increases IM’s Area Director home staff from four to five individuals.
Rev. Charles Jones, who previously served in the role of Area Director to Africa, Europe and the Middle East, will continue to serve as Area Director for Europe, Middle East and Liberia. Previously, Ziherambere served as Area Director to Africa from 2004–2009. In 2009, he moved to a full-time role as Director for African American Mission, a role he will continue to carry.
Presented with opportunity to return to this particular call to ministry, Ziherambere cannot agree more with the affirmation: “there is no place like home.” After nearly five years away from the home office, he has encountered both old and new faces and is eager to work with such an anointed team. “The only place you can see God’s image is in your neighbor; therefore, we have the opportunity to see God everyday,” Ziherambere reflects.
“We have increased the Area Director staff because of the growing number of missionary appointments and our increased number of partnerships. Praise God!” explained IM Executive Director Reid Trulson. “It simply is no longer practical for one Area Director to maintain partner relationships and support our missionaries serving in Africa and Europe and the Middle East.”
In addition, IM welcomes Ms. Imani Barbarin to IM’s home staff as Ziherambere’s Administrative Assistant. As a 2013 graduate of Eastern University with a degree in English and a minor in French, Barbarin has studied abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris and speaks and writes French fluently. Barbarin grew up as a member of St. Paul’s Baptist Church in West Chester, Pennsylanvia and currently lives close to IM’s home office in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
“I am blessed to be working with Rev. Ziherambere,” commented Barbarin. “I searched for work that would not only allow me to use the language skills that I had acquired, but that would also give me the chance to do God’s will. I look forward to furthering the work of God’s kingdom alongside the dedicated and passionate staff of IM.”
American Baptist International Ministries is celebrating 200 years of ministry in 2014. Organized in 1814 as the first Baptist international mission agency in America, it began its pioneer mission work in Burma and today works in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas serving more than 1,800 long-term and short-term missionaries. Its central mission is to help people come to faith in Jesus, grow in their relationship with God, and change their worlds through the power of the Spirit. It works with respected partners in over 70 countries in ministries that meet human need.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.