Mary Sutherland

Mary Sutherland is currently serving the Lord through One Mission Society extended service after more than 40 years of full-time service. Her responsibilities include corresponding with the missionaries around the world by means of email and regular mail and praying for them. She sends birthday cards, anniversary cards, get well cards and words of encouragement to the missionaries both current and retired. Mary also has a ministry of encouragement called TEA Time. The Lord gave this to her after her husband, Bob, died in December 1998. She sends out messages several times a week via email and about every month and a half by regular mail. Mary shares what God is teaching her through His Word, how He is dealing with her in her own walk with Him, gems gleaned from reading and listening to the experiences of others, jokes that have brought her laughter, etc. It is all for the purpose of encouragement to walk more closely with Jesus. T – Truthful – tell it as it is from my heart – John 14:6; 8:31-32 E – Encouragement/Examination from God’s Word – Hebrews 3:13; 2 Corinthians 13:5 A – Affirmation/Application – Philippians 1:6; 2:13; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 An Asbury College graduate, Mary served with OMS in Colombia, South America, the summer of 1960. In August of 1961, Bob and Mary married, and in 1964, OMS commissioned them. They both taught at the Cristalina Vocational Bible Institute in Colombia until December 1980. They then served at the Bible Institute in Carboncillo, Ecuador; in Garagoa, Colombia; at the Bible Seminary in Medellin, Colombia; at Camp Horeb in Spain; and in Saraguro, Ecuador, until 1998. Through the years, Mary’s ministry mainly involved teaching, home schooling their children, classes in the Bible Institutes, women’s Bible studies, seminars on teaching and handcrafts. She was hostess in their area and did lots of cooking. Correspondence was high on her list of tasks as well. There were times Mary’s health did not allow her to be out much, so during that time she organized Sunday school materials collected for use in Colombia and Ecuador. She also gave a “listening ear” to the wives of students and pastors and other women, as they knew she was available most any time of every day. They talked, laughed, cried, prayed and grew together in their walks with Jesus.

One Mission Society is an evangelical, interdenominational faith mission that makes disciples of Jesus Christ through intentional evangelism, planting churches and training national leaders in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America. OMS then joins with those churches in global partnerships to reach the rest of the world.