Same, but different: former BMS volunteer couple Charles and Rachel Fadipe compare their modern-day mission to that of 50 years ago.
We were your typical modern, Western Christian couple: mid-30s, two young children, mortgaged in the London suburbs and commuting daily to work. By day, we worked eight to 12 hours for big multinationals - Rachel in program management, Charlie in IT - and by night we spent time with our children, watched TV and tried to squeeze in the odd homegroup or church meeting.
We are now mission workers seconded by BMS to SAT-7, an Arabic Christian satellite TV station which aims to provide the churches and Christians of the Middle East and North Africa an opportunity to witness to Jesus Christ through inspirational, informative, and educational television services.
And before you ask, no, we have never worked in television before - and no, we don't speak Arabic. We're based in Cyprus, and no, we don't speak Greek either. Doesn't God work in mysterious ways!
In the 1950s Rachel's grandparents went to the Far East, where they travelled into distant villages and preached the gospel. You can visualise what Rachel's grandparents did in the Far East - but at first sight it's harder to class what we do as mission work.
So, what do we do for SAT-7? (Watch out, this is the tecky bit!) We're developing a project management system, codenamed Rainbow, to make the running of the offices more efficient. It's a project that draws upon all our years of experience in IT and project management. ItÍs all very exciting stuff: we are learning how you make TV programmes; travelling to Lebanon and Egypt; working in an office where seven different nations are represented; and living in Cyprus, occasionally going to the beach, juggling the housework and kids.
" It's mind-blowing being part of SAT-7's amazing ministry. A recent independent survey reported that at least ten million people in Arab nations are aware of SAT-7, including two to three million who are regular viewers. SAT-7 receives over 1,000 e-mails, letters or phone calls every month from viewers who have been impacted by its ministry.
Whilst our contribution is behind the scenes, it's an important part of helping SAT-7 achieve its goals. This couldn't be more different from our image of 'traditional' mission work, yet it is still undeniably God's work and we are following his calling and helping spread his word.
Charles and Rachel worked with BMS partner organisation SAT-7 in Cyprus for two years. They have two young children, Hannah and Jacob and their home church is Bromley Baptist Church, Kent.
This article first appeared in World Mission magazine, November/December 2005