(April 11, 2016 - by Harold Goerzen)  What’s red hot at Reach Beyond? Think CHILI. And it’s more than just a “small pepper with a very spicy flavor.”

CHILI—Community Health Intercultural Learning Initiative (a name birthed during a brainstorming session at a Mexican restaurant)—is a two-year program for adults of all ages with a passion for missions that launches on Sept. 1.

Participants will take six months of community development training in the Amazonian town of Shell, Ecuador, followed by 18 months of service in an unreached area of another country.

“I am very excited about CHILI,” says Sheila Leech, Reach Beyond’s vice president of global healthcare. “Almost every week we hear of opportunities opening up for us to serve as the hands of Jesus among unreached people groups. Our greatest limitation has been a lack of human resources. CHILI will help prepare dynamic, passionate servants to go into the fields that are ripe for harvest. I can hardly wait to see what God will do through CHILI-prepared workers.”

The mission is seeking people who have the heart of a servant and a passion to reach the lost—not necessarily a long list of qualifications or experience, added Jenna King, a recruiter at the Reach Beyond Ministry Service Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“We would much rather have one person with a heart for Jesus than a dozen people just looking for a cross-cultural experience,” she noted.

Wim de Groen, team leader of clean water projects in Ecuador and national coordinator of CHILI, says the program’s focus will be spreading the gospel to “closed, hard-to-reach places.”

“Community development and primary healthcare are our tools—our wheelbarrows rolling into those places so we can create opportunities to share the message of Jesus Christ,” he explains. “Though the years we see more and more Christians who are very good at their jobs, have a passion for Christ and are willing to commit for a couple of years.”

De Groen says the program will be used to “equip and empower participants to reach into those unreached places…. Community development is the approach we take to interact in a healthy way with communities to address their needs. It’s not bound to any profession.”

The first annual training sessions will incorporate “experienced trainers from around the world who will guide students in our new leaning center. Each lesson will be followed up with practical real-life applications in the field.”

Participants will learn the biblical basis of missions and learn practical skills ranging from blacksmithing to horseback riding, drilling water wells, doing first-aid, cooking with a wood fire “and even making espresso in the barest circumstances!” de Groen exclaims.

“We’ll form them into a team, teach them how to receive and give feedback, show them when to lead and when to let go, explain how to set goals and teach them how not to lose the big picture.”

Source: Reach Beyond