Walking Through a Season of Transition

 

Our Member Health Team at WGM celebrating Marlene's birthday!

Ministry Update – Ned and Marlene McGrady

In this ministry update, we want to share a meaningful season of transition in our lives and where we see God leading us in the future. Certainly Lord has graciously allowed us to serve Him in marvelous ways, with the prayers and support of folks like you.

Walking Through a Season of Transition

Change is outward. It is what happens around us and to us, and it can come quickly.

Transition, by contrast, is inward and is somewhat slower paced as it is the work God does in our minds and hearts as we walk through change. This journey shapes our trust, surrender, and understanding along the way.

Like many of you, we have walked through seasons of significant change. For us, this season means slowly stepping away from leading a department devoted to the care and well-being of global workers—cross-cultural missionaries serving around the world.

 

Over the next nine months, we will begin transferring leadership of the Member Health Department at World Gospel Mission to our colleagues and dear friends, Rev. Greg and Teresa Leeth. Beginning July 1, we will step into a support role as they take on the day-to-day leadership of the department. Marlene and I will continue to serve as through consultation, crisis response, and ministry support as needed. After 16 years of walking closely with missionaries in this work, this transition is deeply significant to us, and we are trusting the Lord to guide each step.

 

What will this transition mean for us? Over the next nine months, we plan to visit churches and ministry partners whose faithful prayers, encouragement, and support have sustained us through the years. We want to thank you in person! Our missionary journey began in 2005 in with the Wesleyan Church and took us first to Costa Rica in 2008 for language school and then on to Ecuador in 2009, where we were blessed to plant a Wesleyan church while providing pastoral care to missionaries serving south of the U.S. border. In 2010, we joined World Gospel Mission and helped build a member care team that has served ministry in 37 countries as the good news of Jesus has gone out around the world.

 

For us, the transition is learning to step away from the day-to-day leadership of the department while remaining available to serve where the Lord gives opportunity.

Change can feel like leaving one bank of a river and crossing to the other side. Everyone who walks through major changes in life or ministry experiences transition along the way. Yet these threshold seasons can become sacred places where God meets us, steadies us, and teaches us to trust Him more deeply.

 

As we trust the Lord in this season, we plan to visit churches and supporters in 14 states between now and March 2027. One of our deepest desires is simply to thank, encourage, and reconnect with those who have prayed for us and walked with us so faithfully over the years. If you are reading this update, please know how much your partnership has meant to us. We would truly love to hear from you and, if possible, see you when we are in your area.

 

Some have asked about our future plans.  We expect to retire from active service with WGM in March 2027, yet we sense the Lord is still leading us into what comes next, and we look forward to sharing more in the months ahead. For now, we would be grateful for your continued prayers as we walk through this transition. If you have supported our ministry over the years, please know how deeply thankful we are. Your prayers, encouragement, and financial partnership have sustained us and made this ministry possible. We also ask that you continue to give faithfully and if the Lord leads you, consider a special gift to support these travels over the next months. You can give through www.wgm.org/mcgrady or by check to WGM Box 948 Marion, IN 46952.

 

As we prepare for this special Home Ministry Assignment with World Gospel Mission, we would be so grateful for the opportunity to reconnect, visit, and share more about what God is doing in this next season of ministry. Thank you for standing with us through the years. Your partnership has been a gift from the Lord to us personally, and we carry deep gratitude in our hearts for each of you.

 

We pray we will see you soon!

 

Sincerely,

 

Ned and Marlene

Missionaries with WGM