Charles & Tahnya Porter
We never expected to go to Sudan, but felt the Lord’s leading, and off we went! When circumstances forced a change, we landed in Nairobi, Kenya. There, we helped another missionary launch a university ministry called “The Journey”. This ministry is expanding to multiple campuses, and even launched a church. We also adopted our oldest while there.
Back for furlough, we were asked to go to Tanzania and plant an urban youth church. The Ocean Church is now a vibrant, dynamic church. During this time, two biological children were born, and we realized our oldest had muscular dystrophy. After serving as the Missionaries in Residence at North Central University, another opportunity arose: leaders from AGWM and Canada were discussing engagement from the American side in areas of unreached people in French-speaking areas.
When asked, we were reluctant. But we visited Montreal, and leaders showed us a city of 4 million, with 1.8 million immigrants. Fewer than 1% of the city attend church. We were asked to get involved in mentoring pastors, coaching church planters, and helping launch university ministries. Our family decided to say yes to this new adventure and will be the very first residential AGWM missionaries in French-speaking Canada. Our plan is to move our family at the end of the school year. We pray our budget is raised by then.
We see the hand of God in preparing us. I (Charles) grew up in a missionary home, and French was our language of ministry. I’ve been fluent since age 7. Tahnya also spent some years in a French-speaking country as an MK. We’ve worked with Muslims, university ministries, and church planting. Now we’ll invest in all three of these areas.
Thank you, Minnesota, for taking this journey with us: for sending us, praying for us, and supporting us. This is also one of the most inexpensive short-term missions trips a team from the US could take—come join us!
You can connect with the Porters by email at or on their Facebook group, “The Porterhouse”.
