The teams of young people, aged between 18 and 23, will be serving in communities and church plants in places as diverse as Kolkata and Delhi, India; Guayaquil, Ecuador; São Paulo, Brazil; Kathmandu, Nepal; Rouen, France and in Busembetia, Uganda.
It’s the first time a team has gone to Rouen in France. “There is bad poverty here,” said Matt Wright, one of the France Action Team members, “even though it’s in a rich, affluent part of the Western world.”
It’s in an area of social deprivation and multicultural diversity that BMS church planters Reuben and Katie Martin are working. Their ministry is the subject of a series of reality TV-style programmes called L’Eglise, available from the BMS website.
The Action Team in France will also be filmed for the next episodes. “It’s very exciting. Who knows what could happen?” said Gareth Wilde, BMS Mission Education Co-ordinator and L’Eglise project leader. Click
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“Please pray that people will be open to hearing about God and what we have to say, and not just dismissing it as rubbish,” said Matt.
The Action Team members have just come to the end of a month’s training and preparation at BMS’ training centre, IMC, in Birmingham and in their training churches around the country.
They will spend six months overseas and then return to the UK for a two-month tour of British churches and affiliated schools and clubs, talking about their experiences.
“I just want to see God do some amazing stuff,” said Ellie Ansell from the India Kolkata Team.
“I believe he’s given me a heart for the people of Kolkata now” – a sentiment that was echoed by all the Action Team members.