Be reinvigorated: choose BMS Ministers Teams

It was contact through my BMS area co-ordinator that made me want to go. The church paid for the trip – it was as if they were investing in me. Plus, we had links with Kolkata, having had an Action Team member and Church Team there in the past.

We laughed and cried together – and encountered God in both. I believe that if God hadn’t called us together, we wouldn’t have gelled so well. There was a respect amongst us. For me, the strongest thing that came out of the trip was the committed, daily prayer.

Benjamin Francis’ Big Life Ministries was very inspiring. We went out with him to the villages and Benjamin told all of us that we would have opportunities to share Jesus with people, and that in years to come they would remember us – they would remember me! What a privilege it was!

Ministers Teams has reinvigorated me. It’s given me a deeper understanding of the on-the-ground issues in other countries, and a real cultural awareness.

Rev Paul Lavender – Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Northampton

I did a lot of talking about overseas mission but wanted to engage more, so that I had more to say. I first saw information about the Ministers Team on the BMS website.

We travelled around villages with an evangelist called Benjamin Francis, who leads Big Life Ministries. There was a momentum about it. It was like a fire burning and no matter what was in the way, God was moving through. Benjamin is facing the biggest challenge in India – the focus is usually on the cities, but 80 per cent of Indians live in villages. He’s rising to meet that challenge.

The trip has underlined the issues that have mattered to me. Mission has to be holistic – it has to be about working with the underprivileged, with compassion and justice. If we are to see the good news of Christ worked through, then deed must go with word. ‘The hope of Christ’ is something I’ve always talked about but it’s something I have seen for people in India.

Rev Ashley Lovett – Gilgal Baptist Church, Porthcawl

My church is good at supporting those who go, but there was a desire for me to become more mission-focused too. I wanted first-hand experience and it was a BMS talk at the Heart of England Baptist Association ministers’ conference that inspired me to go.

Going to a Hindu temple with the team was a challenge. It was chaotic, confusing and messy. It’s where Hindus worship the god of death and destruction. As I waited to go down to the idol, I was saying, “Lord, I want to get out of here” and “I’m sorry Lord”. But I sensed in this, God was saying he knows that it doesn’t mean anything to me. But what it did challenge me on, very powerfully, was about the false things in my life.

The experience reiterated to me that mission matters. I saw the difference Jesus is making – and also the challenge that people have to follow him in that culture. There is a passion and urgency in India that I need to be able to have in my own ministry in the UK.

Rev Mark Simmons – Selly Park Baptist Church, Birmingham