Read letters from Charles and Diane Wonnenberg
November 17, 2004
October 20, 2004
March 2004
October 27, 2003
September 4, 2003
June 23, 2003
Charles and Diane Wonnenberg
Email: Charles and Diane Wonnenberg
Charles and Diane ended their term of service in June 2005. They are available to speak as their schedule permits. Email them to extend an invitation to speak with your congregation or organization.
Charles and Diane were commissioned in June 2000 at the 212th General Assembly in Long Beach, California, to work as evangelism facilitators in partnership with the Igreja Presbiteriana de Moçambique (Presbyterian Church of Mozambique or IPM). They enrolled in a course in Portuguese language training through December 2000 in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. They relocated in January 2001 to Chimoio, a small city in the central plateau of Mozambique, in order to work with a fledgling congregation in that city. Upon arrival in Chimoio, they were commissioned as evangelism facilitators in the provinces of Sofala, Manica, and Zambezia by the president of IPM and the president of the synod council.
After a 14-year civil war, the IPM seeks to draw back into the worshiping community former refugees with a Presbyterian and Reformed church heritage. “The IPM also has another vision,” says Charles, “of reaching out to peoples who have never heard the gospel in their tribal language.” The Wonnenbergs have supported this effort by holding regional seminars to identify, equip, and encourage members within their communities who are called and gifted by God to serve as evangelists. A good part of this ministry has taken place in the Milange district of Zambezia, which borders on Malawi. Though trips to Milange involve long and arduous travel, they have been blessed in working with the pastor of the Milange parish. The Wonnenbergs witnessed 20 IPM churches formed in three years.
Diane and Charles received their Master of Divinity degrees from Bangor Theological Seminary in Bangor, Maine. Charles has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Dakota. Diane has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Thomas Edison College in New Jersey. They met and married in seminary and were both ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1985, Charles with the United Church of Christ and Diane with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Diane is a minister member of the Presbytery of South Dakota, in which she is validated as an evangelist.
From 1985 to 1994 they co-pastored United Church of Christ congregations in Pennsylvania and South Dakota. In 1994, after the birth of their fourth child, they felt called to an independent traveling ministry. They chose the name “Hill of Joy Ministries” from the translation of Charles’s German surname. They feel blessed to have ministered in more than 25 states in the United States and four states in Mexico. In addition, Charles has done renewal ministries in the Philippines and Poland.
They have four children: Micah Charles, Jonah Carlson, Anna Lena and Isaiah Mark. Micah, the eldest, completed his senior year of high school as an exchange student in Germany before joining the family in Mozambique during the summer of 2001.
After three and a half years as missionaries in Mozambique, the Wonnenbergs were called back to the United States because of a severe health crisis suffered by Isiaih in February 2004.
Birthdays:
Charles - April 19
Diane - March 26
