The gallery “Edit:” is a project of Hillside Missions and World Horizons, two Christian missions organizations who are working together to establish Christian community in nations that have no access to it. Many artists believe that there is no place for them in the mission world and, likewise, many missionaries are not sure how art can effectively serve a purpose in the work they do. Our vision for “Edit:” is to begin to build connections between the art world and the mission world.

Every month during Richmond’s “First Fridays,” our gallery will feature new work from a different artist. Each of the featured artists will include a statement about what it means to be a Christian artist creating art for the glory of God. The gallery is meant to serve as a model for this idea of “art as mission,” as well as a conversation starter for how we, as Christian community, can work together to use creativity and innovation to glorify God.

Edit Gallery is located inside the Hillside/Horizons headquarters at 8 East Broad Street in the arts district of Richmond, Virginia. Stop by every first Friday of every month to see new work, meet the featured artist, and chat with Hillside crew.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there are better ways to host special events that belong in a venue made for special events. “Edit:” is now available as that space.

Book signings, guest speakers, lectures, debates…all are possible events you may not want to host in your church’s multi-purpose room, sandwiched between the women’s breakfast and the missions committee meeting. “Edit:” is able to comfortably seat 40 people for an intimate guest lecture or Calvinism debate, with expansion into the Hillside Missions and World Horizons office space reaching into the mid-200′s for extra-special events. (We’ll call this the “We booked John Piper to come speak, and we don’t want the stale smell of craft paste to linger in the air” zone.)

We want “Edit:” to continue to evolve into a space where art and conversation inspire people to see Christ glorified in the nations. We want it to be the backdrop for events that want to do the same.

Drop by, call or email us with your event idea, and we’ll be happy to set it aside for you. Your guest speaker will be happy you did.

Read more the art gallery Edit:

Meet the teamworking at our headquarters in Richmond, VA.

The organization works to fulfill its purpose by:

• Promoting Christ centered missions principles within the church community in order to make contagious God’s passion for the unreached
• Training and sending teams for short-term missions trips
• Coordinating the help of internship participants for whom we provide discipleship and training
• Establishing and collaborating with long-term projects aimed at developing Christian community in unreached people group areas.
• Providing care and support for full-time mission workers
• Administering a School of Missions Mobilization (Instituto de Movilizacion Misionera) to train and send teams of missionaries to unreached people group areas.

The Hillside Missions Organization Statement of Faith

The sole basis of our belief is the Bible, which is uniquely God-Inspired, without error, and the final authority on all matters on which it bears. As the Bible teaches, there is one God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – each possessing all the attributes of Deity. God created humans to have fellowship with Him, but they defied God by sinfully going their own way. As a result, we need God’s saving grace to end our alienation from Him. Salvation comes only through God’s saving grace – not human effort – and must be received personally by repentance and faith.

Jesus Christ, second Person of the Trinity, lived a sinless life on earth and voluntarily paid for our sin by dying on the cross as our substitute. This accomplishes salvation for all who receive grace by trusting in Him alone. He rose from the dead and is the only mediator between us and God. He will return to earth to consummate history. The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ and equips believers for personal growth and service to the church. The church’s role is to glorify God and serve those in need. At the end, everyone will experience resurrection and the judgment. Those forgiven through Christ will enjoy eternal fellowship with God.

Support Elizabeth

Meet the team working at our headquarters in Richmond, VA.

The organization works to fulfill its purpose by:

• Promoting Christ centered missions principles within the church community in order to make contagious God’s passion for the unreached
• Training and sending teams for short-term missions trips
• Coordinating the help of internship participants for whom we provide discipleship and training
• Establishing and collaborating with long-term projects aimed at developing Christian community in unreached people group areas.
• Providing care and support for full-time mission workers
• Administering a School of Missions Mobilization (Instituto de Movilizacion Misionera) to train and send teams of missionaries to unreached people group areas.

The Hillside Missions Organization Statement of Faith

The basis of our belief is the Bible, which is uniquely God-Inspired, without error, and the final authority on all matters on which it bears. As the Bible teaches, there is one God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – each possessing all the attributes of Deity. God created humans to have fellowship with Him, but they defied God by sinfully going their own way. As a result, we need God’s saving grace to end our alienation from Him. Salvation comes only through God’s saving grace – not human effort – and must be received personally by repentance and faith.

Jesus Christ, second Person of the Trinity, lived a sinless life on earth and voluntarily paid for our sin by dying on the cross as our substitute. This accomplishes salvation for all who receive grace by trusting in Him alone. He rose from the dead and is the only mediator between us and God. He will return to earth to consummate history. The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ and equips believers for personal growth and service to the church. The church’s role is to glorify God and serve those in need. At the end, everyone will experience resurrection and the judgment. Those forgiven through Christ will enjoy eternal fellowship with God.

We are thrilled to say that the School of Missions Mobilization in Matachi is growing! This year will mark our third generation of students. There are a handful of new applicants and we’ve recently welcomed Andy and Lora Stouder as the new on-site directors!

For those of you who are new to Hillside, we administer a School of Missions Mobilization in Matachi, Mexico. The primary vision there is to equip and prepare Latin Americans for one year cross-cultural missions to areas of the world with limited or no access to Christian community.

Maybe you’re looking to teach? We are always looking for more teachers to travel to Matachi short term (or long term!). Below we have listened a generic list of classes that our students take. If you are interested in any of these subjects and would like to visit our school in Matachi, send us an email! We’d love to talk.

Maybe you’re looking for training? Yes, our school is in Mexico, but we also offer this destination as a training opportunity for English speakers. Whether you take our training program here in the  US, in Mexico, or in the UK, you’ll leave the same amount prepared!

Maybe supporting a student is something that your family or home group at church could get excited about? Many of the SMM’s students come from low-income families in places like Honduras, Cuba, and Mexico. Through the generous support of individuals who share in the school’s vision we have been able to provide some of the students with a scholarship. A fully monthly scholarship is $140 and includes academic costs, room, and board. We are currently looking for people who are interested in partnering to create two scholarships for incoming students. We welcome any questions and pledges toward that effort here. Donations can be made online, or through the Hillside office.

Our vision for this gallery is to create a link between the art world and the missions world. We do not agree with the mindset that there is very little room for art and creativity in missions. In fact, creativity and innovation are exactly what we need to be able to establish Christian community in every nation of the world. This is by no means boring!

So, contact us at hillside@reachthenations.org. We’d love to see your work!

People with disabilities make up about 12.3% of Turkey’s total population. I am no expert on the subject, but I suspect that both disability awareness and rights and services offered to these individuals is much different than in the United States. After doing a bit of investigating, I found more out out about what disability looks like in Turkey. For a long time it was seen as something to hide and be ashamed of. In the year 2000 a community based rehabilitation approach was implemented throughout the country.  This encouraged more interactions between individuals and institutions with the disabled population. It has also began to get disabled people more involved within the community and raise their autonomy. In recent years the language describing disability and people with disabilities has also improved to be more positive. As far as services provided, there seem to be a number of different groups and organizations who fight to work for access, acceptance, and rights for the disabled population. but it seems they are still a population that faces many challenges within Turkish culture.

In all honesty, these findings did not surprise me much. I always kinda figured that accessibility/disability awarness was less in other nations. This has always made me very motivated to work in some way to help change that. I believe that all people with disabilities regardless of their culture need to be shown their worth. Not because of who they are, but because of Christ created them to be. Just like he died for their able-bodied counterparts, he took the cross form them to. Is it that truth that motivates and inspires me to go. As I think of traveling as a missionary to a place like Turkey, there are a lot of obstacles that often seem too big or too hard. There is a lot of work and planning to get any missionary to the field, add a physcal disability to that and I often think i’m crazy, and need to be more realistic. But I wanna be crazy and unrealistic because nothing about following God would suggest otherwise to the world. I’m blessed to know the truth about my identity through Christ, nothing excites me more than the thought of watching other people’s faces light up when they realize the same things.

How would you react to the idea of being served by a person with a disability (ex. me the missionary) as opposed to a more traditional role of you serving me? I’d like your thoughts!