Introducing FMC’s New Executive Directors, The Papuzynskis

Sheila Papuzynski (then Agresta) joined Family Missions Company in 2005. John-Paul Papuzynski joined three years later. They married in 2010 and have been working and serving with FMC as a family (with now six kids) ever since. They have a combined 37 years of missionary experience with FMC and have served in Mexico, Spain, Ecuador, Ghana, Peru, and the Philippines before stepping into the official role of Missions Directors in 2018.

What did you think and feel after saying ‘yes’ to this new role and the responsibility it comes with?
JPP: First, this is such a tremendous honor! Second, we feel grateful for everyone else in leadership, for their support, and for all that has been accomplished at Family Missions Company leading up to this moment. I’ve been thinking back to when founders Frank and Genie Summers retired and their son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Brooke, took over: it was a simpler time, but in some ways it was much harder for them than it will be for us. We are bigger and more complex than back then but, at the same time, more focused on where we’re headed. I feel more at ease seeing FMC grow and develop slowly. Now, I’m thinking, “Okay, we’re up next!” So we have a lot of excitement! There’s some trepidation not knowing the challenges that lie ahead in our tenure, but we are just trying to give all of that to the Lord.
SP: It is such a great privilege to lead this amazing organization. I will admit to feeling a little daunted by the new responsibility. But after we officially said ‘yes,’ I went on a long walk and talked to Jesus and gave all of my insecurities to Him.

Can you describe what it means that you will be the first Executive Directors of FMC who aren’t members of the Summers family?
JPP: The Summers family were heroes to me in my walk as a disciple. They inspired me so much as a young Catholic! They had heroic faith to become foreign missionaries as a family with basically a small fraction of the support that FMC provides missionaries now. So for us to step into this new position leading FMC, it’s kind of surreal. The family possessed a fearless Catholic faith and radical abandon for Jesus, and so I really want to live up to that and carry on their legacy.
SP: I believe wholeheartedly, along with the Summers family, that FMC is the Lord’s possession. It was conceived and birthed in Frank and Genie, and it matured with their family. But with the lot falling to us, it gives me added confidence that this is His work, not simply the Summers family’s.

As you prepare to begin your tenure, what are some of the unique challenges and opportunities you see facing FMC?
JPP: One of the things I hope to see in our tenure is a deepening of our organization’s relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is the principal agent of mission. If we can do that, He’s going to put us in places that we might now struggle to imagine.
A big challenge we face is how to effectively engage the Catholic laity. This world is loud, and breaking through that wall of noise is harder now than ever. And we need more vocations to lay missionary life! There are undoubtedly society-wide factors at play, because many organizations are reporting vocation shortages, particularly among young men. So figuring that out is important, because there are more than 3 billion people in the world who are still unreached! But we believe that if we do our part, God will do His part.

And then once missionaries are sent out, we need to continue identifying the best ways to support them during their time on the field. The more support the better, and it doesn’t all need to come from FMC. I’d like to get the parishes and pastors who send new missionaries to us each year to get more fully engaged in supporting those missionaries. If we can be catalysts for that and help missionaries build a wide base of support, they will be healthier on the field, more stable, and it should translate into increased longevity and fruitfulness.
SP: We have some inklings of ideas of how God will lead us and the organization during our tenure. The world is changing rapidly, but the Lord is always the same. So the main thing we have on our hearts is for FMC missionaries to dwell deeply in the heart of God, to find security in Him and what He’s saying to us.

Leading up to the transition of leadership in early August, what are you asking of the Lord in prayer?
JPP: “Help me to remain in You, Lord.” If I have one fear, it’s that we can get into thought patterns of working for God instead of with Him. And that’s an important distinction. His invitation to all of us is to partner and collaborate with Him, and the only way I’m going to do that well is to be dependent on Him more and more. That’s what is going to be the best thing for everyone and everything in my life: John-Paul plus Jesus—not just John-Paul.
SP: What I hear the Lord saying to me is that every grace I need is readily available and free. Not only can we be saints, He wants us to be saints! And we have to receive that from Him. I’ve also been renewed in my faith that He’s with our missionaries in a very particular way, because where they go, the Light goes. And of course, we pray constantly for more laborers and for more long-lasting rootedness in the call to mission.

Can you reflect briefly on the Summers family legacy on FMC?
JPP: The first phrase that comes to mind is that they set the bar really high. At the same time, I don’t want that to be taken that they made it look unattainable. So many people have benefitted from their openness. It allowed other people to see what a family chasing after the Lord looked like. Seeking the Lord’s voice and following wherever it leads. Not that they are perfect, but their witness as a family provided a model for all families. I see them as beautiful, open, and vulnerable—welcoming people into the heart of their lives. When I joined FMC, community morning prayer was in their living room. They literally opened up their family and their life to me, and that’s a beautiful place for growth in discipleship to take place.
SP: I’ve always been impacted by every little ‘yes.’ The Lord is expansive in His nature. He takes our small yes and multiplies it a thousandfold. What we give in our limited way, He explodes in a limitless way. The Summers family is a witness to the power of a life given to the Lord in a big YES and a series of small yeses over time.

What do you want most for FMC?
JPP: Hopefully, we’ll have some opportunities to be a force for good and change in the Church.
SP: More missionaries!

You’ve heard it here first, folks! Help the Papuzynskis’ wish come true by attending our next Discernment Week, visiting us on a Come & See, or going on a short-term mission trip! You too can be a force for good and change in the Church!