Register for a Free Account (Optional)
Name
Email
Choose Password
Confirm Password

Please login to continue
Having Trouble Logging In?
Reset your password
Don't have an account?
Sign Up Now!

TWR Africa welcomes missionaries Stephen and Teresa Murray

By TWR Staff
Africa, Canada, South Africa, S&E Africa, W&C Africa

It was with a joyful mood the TWR Africa staff in Johannesburg took time after their morning devotions to welcome Stephen and Teresa Murray among their staff. The Murrays have joined TWR Canada as missionaries, and started their stint in Johannesburg, South Africa late November 2021. They will be serving alongside fellow TWR Canada missionaries, the Dunlops in South Africa, and the Clarkes in a neighbouring country, Eswatini, to speak hope to the people of Africa.

Brief Background

Both Stephen and Teresa have long winding roads that led to each other, to God, and to the mission field. Stephen was born in the town of Pickering, Ontario, and Teresa was born in post-World War 2 France. Their paths crossed later in life on a boat in Montreal where they fell in love. Now that their two sons Ben and Sam have grown up and moved out, they have felt God calling them to a different mission.

Teresa said, We always said that our mission field was our children. We wanted to raise them up in the Lord as best as possible, and when they moved away from home, we weren’t sure what to do next. We’ve always talked about doing missions for the past 20-25 years, so now seemed like a great time to do it. We’re not grandparents yet, and the Lord presented this window of opportunity for us.”

They heard about TWR Canada through their church in Alberta, where they heard TWR Canada missionary Greg Clarke speak about his service in Eswatini. They applied to be missionaries in Europe, but God had other plans for them.

Stephen shared, “We applied to go to Europe, and TWR Canada came back with the idea of Cyprus. We were happy to serve anywhere, but Teresa didn’t want to go to Africa at the time. But then TWR Canada asked about Johannesburg, South Africa, and we trusted that God knew where he wanted us. Over the past year, we’ve learned three things to understand if you’re in the will of the Lord: You’re going someplace you’d never want to go, it takes a long time to get there, and you know that you’ve overstayed your welcome at home!”

In his service

The Murrays hit the African ground running. “We were thrilled by the warm welcome, warm weather and the love from the people on our arrival. It is our first time to be in Africa and we look forward to interact with many different people from various language and ethnic backgrounds in reaching the world for Christ. The first few weeks have been an experiential learning for both of us as the environment is very different compared from where we come from. The scripture comes alive when living a missionary lifestyle, when seeing it all happening around you. This change in lifestyle has allowed us to understand the world and God’s everlasting love and power,” Stephen shared.

In mission

Both Stephen and Teresa will be impacting the lives of Africans in different ways and are excited about how their roles will shift people’s eyes to Jesus. Stephen serves as Africa Technical Director, while Teresa fills the role of Member Care Coordinator - Africa Human Resources.

While Teresa is still learning what her new role entails, her skills and experience as a qualified social worker will be of great value. With Stephen’s extensive background in communications, he will be doing a lot of work on the ground and through the airwaves as Director of Technical Services, where he will mostly cover three broad areas.

Stephen explained, “The first area is to support the chief engineers at our two main transmitter sites in West Africa and Eswatini, which cover about 75 per cent of Africa. The second is as the regional coordinator for information technology, which essentially means I coordinate the management of IT. The third, and what I’m most excited about, is being the liaison and being in an assistant consulting role with our national partners who help to produce the content that is broadcast across Africa.

“I am also quite excited about a possible new transmitter site some place in Central Africa. It will broadcast into the horn of Africa, in countries like Ethiopia and Somalia. It will entail everything from buying the transmitters, to finding the site, and putting up antennas that I’m really interested in. We’re also going to be able to focus our signal up into areas of Mozambique and Tanzania where other religions are dominant, and help support the Christians there.”

Teresa added, “In my role, it’s just so exciting for us to be here. We get to meet people on the ground and learn about their backgrounds and skill sets. It’s just been mind-blowing to see the calibre of people that work here. It was hard to talk about my faith openly in my social work background because I wasn’t allowed unless asked. But in this role, I can speak freely about my faith and the hope that is in Jesus, and that’s so exciting.”

During the first quarter of 2022, the Murrays have visited the two TWR Africa transmitting stations, one in southern Africa and the other in West Africa. They have also attended the West and Central Partners Conference in Côte d’Ivoire and visited the office of the upcoming Evangile FM station that is being prepared to go on air soon. This gave Stephen the opportunity to familiarise himself with the technical setup at the stations, and Teresa was able to personally meet many of the staff members she will be working with.

We praise God for His provision of sending workers into the harvest field of Africa, where millions of people still need to hear the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Please Pray:
  • Praise God for the Murrays and the skills and expertise that they bring to our ministry in such a humble but enthusiastic manner.
  • Continue to pray for them as they settle into their new roles and the African culture, and that God would give them strength and wisdom to point people’s hearts to Jesus.

Photo: Stephen and Teresa Murray [photo courtesy of TWR Canada] 
0 25 50 100 250 500 1000 More
Choose your gift!
You could reach 10,000 people
with this gift
See Calculation in:
USD
EUR
RAND
SGD
AUD
Give Now
Give Now