Meet our Team

Photo of Abi and Helene Penner

Abi & Helene Penner

GERMANY

What a privilege it is to be able to share the good news of God with others! We have been serving in full-time ministry in different roles since we were in our teens, but our favorite has to be leading people to know our Savior. We never tire of it. We began teaching the Bible chronologically to unbelievers more than a decade ago. Seventeen people attended the first course and by the end of it, many of them put their faith in Christ for salvation.

Those new believers wanted their friends and family to also learn who God is and they invited many to come. For over more than a decade, we started course after course and have had the privilege of teaching many hundreds of people in small groups. What a joy it was to see many precious people come to know God and what an honor it was to have had the opportunity to disciple them. We have built such beautiful friendships from these groups over the years. It is just amazing to see what God has done in all their lives and in ours also.

We are often asked how we conduct these Bible classes so we readily accept invitations from churches and other ministries all over Europe to help them start their own evangelism and discipleship courses. How good it is when all of us as the body of Christ can help each other to make disciples of all nations.

  • Currently, we teach Come and See and Interlocked in German in live classes.

  • We conduct seminars upon invitation and are happy to be part of Bible and church conferences sharing on evangelism and discipleship.

  • We work directly with churches and ministries on starting evangelism small groups.

  • Personal relationships are very important and we are very intentional in spending one-on-one time with men and women whom God brings into our lives, both for evangelism and discipleship.

We are faith supported and responsible for raising our own financial support. If you would like to come alongside us in our ministry, please support us via DMG.

Spendenkonto der DMG:
Volksbank Kraichgau
IBAN DE02 6729 2200 0000 2692 04
BIC GENODE61WIE
Stichwort: P10930 Penner + Deine Adresse (bei Erstüberweisung)

Or you can use the following links. Our partner name that you need is “Penner” and our partner number is P10930. Thank you.

Johannes & Agata Maryniok

GERMANY

When someone has a message to communicate, it is so important that we receive the message in the way the person intended. Many years ago, both of us learnt the message of the Bible chronologically, just the way it had been presented in the Bible. It made so much sense and it changed our lives totally. We both put our faith in Christ for salvation.

As we grew in our faith, we felt that we really needed to spend as much time as we could sharing the gospel with others, especially those who have never heard. So we left our professions to go into full-time ministry.

But as we shared the gospel with others in Bible studies and as more people began to put their faith in God, we realised that these new believers also needed to be nurtured in a gentle and careful way. Many had not grown up knowing God and His Word. Many had challenging early lives. The kind of spiritual life and growth the Bible speaks about was unfamiliar to them.

So, even as we spend much time evangelising, our hearts are with discipling those who have come to know and love our Savior. This involves creating an environment where these new believers can feel comfortable and can thrive as they grow in their faith. We teach them the Bible, we pray with them and engage in life-on-life chats over coffee about life matters. It also involves preparing specific Bible devotions and messages to minister to them one-on-one or in groups. It is a great joy to walk life with them. And it is a great joy when we see God work in their lives and transform them.

  • Today, we continue to teach mixed (Johannes) and women’s (Agata) evangelistic Bible studies.

  • We disciple new believers by ensuring they are comfortable in church and are learning Scripture in an organised way. We teach discipleship Bible studies as well.

  • We work on translating Interlocked and other Bible study materials developed by the Anchored team into German.

  • We give messages and share at seminars and conferences on missions, evangelism and discipleship.

We are faith supported and responsible for raising our own financial support. If you would like to come alongside us in our ministry, please support us via DMG.

Spendenkonto der DMG:
Volksbank Kraichgau
IBAN DE02 6729 2200 0000 2692 04
BIC GENODE61WIE
Stichwort: P10929 Maryniok + Deine Adresse (bei Erstüberweisung)

Or you can use the following links. Our partner name that you need is “Maryniok” and our partner number is P10929. Blessings on you.

Russ & Karyn Smyth

USA

We both grew up as missionary kids, living in different places as we followed our parents in their ministries. Then we too, joined full-time ministry early in our lives. For years, we organised and led short-term mission trips to different tribes.

As we observed the missionaries in the various tribes teach the Bible chronologically to different people groups, we noticed what an impact it had on the tribal families. We would also hear accounts from other missionaries working with other tribes how teaching the Bible chronologically was making a difference in the way people understood Scripture. We were intrigued. We wondered if this same chronological approach to teaching the Bible would be helpful for unbelievers in the States. We wondered if people would willingly come for 15 weeks of once-a-week Bible study to go through the gospel message chronologically.

One couple in the States agreed to do this Bible study with us. And at the end, they decided to put their faith in Christ! They asked if we would teach their friends and family as well. This led to more Bible studies and more new believers.

Over the years, we have come across more than 40 different chronological teaching curricula. Many of them were written for specific people groups or targeted demographics. These curricula are not well known or easily available to the general Christian audience. But many would be so useful in ministry, if only others knew about them.

It is our passion to connect ministries and Christians to these chronological Bible studies so they can see which ones would best fit the people they are reaching. But beyond that, we actively and intentionally network between churches, ministries, Christian organisations and local community organisations to reach both the unbelievers with the gospel as well as to encourage believers in their spiritual growth.

  • We teach Interlocked and Come and See online and live as well as lead ladies’ Bible studies.

  • We intentionally engage with the local community through the hospitals, prisons, pregnancy care centres and benevolence charities.

  • We conduct seminars upon invitation and are happy to be part of Bible and church conferences sharing on evangelism, discipleship and missions.

  • We spend a lot of time on one-on-one discipleship and nurturing.

We are faith supported and responsible for raising our own financial support. If you would like to support us in this work, please use the following links.

Amos & Jen Kwok

SINGAPORE

Hello everyone. We are the husband and wife writing team for Anchored International. Ever since we got married and became parents, we’d been intentional about training our children in God’s Word. It was our deepest desire that our children would come to have a personal and intimate relationship with our Creator-God.

As they grew up, we realized that our children were being bombarded with the unbiblical worldview. Could we, as parents give them a biblical foundation so strong that they would be able to stand against all that is coming against them?

Thank God for older, more mature brothers and sisters in the faith whom God led us to. Through their Bible teaching, modelling and life examples, we were able to teach and guide our three boys to have a strong foundation in the Word and secure relationship with their God.

They are all adults now and we happily share with you what we had originally written for them. Feel free to use Interlocked in your discipleship journey.

  • We continue to write for Anchored International. Aside from Interlocked and Come and See, we are working on the Interlocked Children’s Edition and other Bible study materials.

  • We teach Interlocked and Come and See online year-round.

  • Feel free to connect with us if you are interested to find out more about these curricula, Christian marriage and parenting or connect with our boys on how they lead small groups through the curriculum.