Costa Rica

Thank you for wanting to learn more about our ministry! For even more information please visit us at www.jonandmaggie.org


Here's what we're up to...

We’re preparing to join up with a team with ReachGlobal whose focus is on discipling those in San Jose. Specifically, Jonathan and I will be directors of a youth group discipling Missionary Kids, other international students, and English speaking Costa Ricans. San Jose is a hub for missions in Central America, so there are a lot of missionaries. Hence, there are a lot of missionary kids. There are about 50-60 middle and high school students who attend this youth group. The youth group provides a necessary means of fellowship and discipleship that does not exist elsewhere. Basically, the youth group functions like one in the States. One neat aspect is that by ministering to these youth, we’re also providing support to their families. Thus, by extension, we provide a support for over 30 different ministries in Costa Rica!

We are currently asking individuals and churches to partner with us in ministering to these youth. We want to help people catch the vision for international missions and also provide a means of being involved.

Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. You can also click on our give tab to find out how to partner with us in helping these students mature in Christ.

Tell me more about the youth group.

The International Youth Group (IYG) is a ministry of AMCA (Association of Christian Ministries to English Speakers). The youth group was started many years ago and now has about 90 students made up of Missionary Kids, Expats, and Costa Ricans. The youth group provides a means of fellowship, Bible teaching, and worship in English. In the past, the youth directors were missionaries with another primary ministry. We’ll be the first youth directors whose sole purpose for being in Costa Rica is to disciple these students. It is our desire that they would come to know Christ and mature in their relationship with Him (Colossians 1:28).

How did you decide to go?

Both of us wanted to be missionaries, but we knew God wanted us to care for Jonathan's grandmother in Oxford, OH. In November 2010, a friend who serves in Honduras told us about the position in Costa Rica. At that time, we felt like God wanted us to stay in Ohio, but we both hoped that we would later find a similar ministry position. In February of 2011, we sensed that the Lord was beginning to leading us out of Ohio. God led us very clearly to begin communicating with the organizations and leaders involved with the youth group. We formally applied to ReachGlobal in April 2011. God has been guiding our steps and confirming His leading every step of the way, and we're on the edge of our seats to see how He will work in these student's lives!

Why would you go and minister to missionary kids?

Missionary Kids (MKs) are often one of the forgotten ministry fields. We’ll let one of our youth-groupers speak to that: “Just because we're missionary kids doesn't mean we quite understand what it is that our parents preach!  In fact, there's a very good chance that, having heard the message of Salvation preached all of our lives, we've grown entirely numb to its message; it's just a part of our lives, nothing more—we don't really know what it means.  Sadly, that means that while the Good News of Salvation is being preached all around us, we silently ride shotgun and never get to absorb the message that is being taught, because it isn't being taught to us.” 

While the youth group is open to other international and Costa Rican English speakers, our primary purpose is to work with MKs. We can’t wait to love on them, attend their basketball games, have them over to our house, and disciple them for the purpose of helping them mature in Christ!

How long will you be in Costa Rica?

We plan on serving in Costa Rica indefinitely. We’re headed into career missions –that means we’ll pack our bags and will be calling Costa Rica home. We don’t know how long God will have us serve with the youth group, but we know we’ll be living with visas the rest of our ministering lives.

When do you plan to leave?

We’d love to be in Costa Rica by November 2012. All of this is contingent on us reaching 100% support. We need to have 100% of our monthly support pledged in order to leave. In great faith, we hope to have all of our funds pledged by then. Please view our give page for more information about helping us get there.

Visit www.jonandmaggie.org for even more information!