Into all the world

It was 1963 - Mother Basilea spent some weeks of prayer on Mount Sinai. There, the commandments of God came alive to her anew as a revelation of God's loving will - not as tablets of prohibition, but commandments of love, signposts to peace and joy.

A fire burned in their hearts to throw out these "lifelines" not only to our immediate surroundings, but to the world of nations - far across countries and continents, across language and denominational boundaries. We began to pray specifically for one or more countries that the Lord personally placed on our hearts. A few years later, when requests for Kanaan centers came from different countries, sisters were inwardly prepared and sometimes even sent to the very country for which they had been praying for some time.

... are wonderful opportunities to build bridges. Because we Germans have become so infinitely guilty of the Jewish people through the Holocaust, the first service was to Israel, God's chosen people. Since 1957, sisters have been there in the country, primarily to serve survivors free of charge who suffered greatly during the Nazi era. Other new Kanaan centers were established under great challenges - in Europe, USA and Canada, South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and Australia.

All Kanaan centers - sometimes the sisters were only two - went their own way of faith in the new country, where they were mostly unknown. Some beginnings were difficult, but to experience God's care in a very personal way was overwhelming for the mostly young sisters - these testimonies fill new reality books!

Young women from other peoples felt a calling to join our sisterhood and some are now serving in their home countries. In various countries, friends have taken over the distribution of the writings.

A Finnish theologian, former missionary to Japan, visited after years her beloved mission country where she had served for 22 years. She reports: