Get in touch with our  team on 01235 517600 or at churchpartners@bmsworldmission.org for a friendly chat. We’ll set everything up for you and send you a welcome pack about your new partnership.

The first thing to say is that supporting BMS financially is not a prerequisite of being a Church Partner, though we would hope that supporting us in both prayer and giving would be a natural outcome. It’s a programme that’s open to all, regardless of your ability to give.

Church Partners can provides a focus and purpose for your giving to BMS. If you are keen to support your partners financially, you can designate your usual giving to help cover the costs of the mission workers in your partnership and the ministries they’re involved in.

To designate your gift, please donate as usual and then contact Winkins in our finance department at wlam@bmsworldmission.org to let her know it’s for the work of your partners.

The Church Partner Contact (CPC) is an important connection between the church and BMS. As CPC, you are the main point of contact for your church’s partnership with your mission partners, and so you’ll be key in helping keep your church family informed about how God is working in the world through them. You’ll receive the prayer letters, and any extra information from BMS about your partnership.

The CPC for your church will need access to an email address, which could be a church one.

We really appreciate the importance of personal contact with BMS. Most mission workers will return to the UK every other year (minimum) and will complete a home assignment period where they are available to request as BMS Speakers. The more partners you have, the more opportunities you have to request a visit.

Mission workers will aim to visit as many of their partner churches as possible, however we can’t guarantee a visit from your partner mission worker every time, as demand far exceeds their availability. Remember, at any time you are welcome to request a BMS Speaker, which may include staff members and regional volunteers.

Prayer letters are one of the best ways to get to know your partner mission workers. Every BMS mission worker writes a prayer letter every other month, which are sent to the Church Partner Contact within your church. However, anyone in the church can sign up to receive these letters, by post or by email, so this is a great way to keep the church family in touch with what your partners are doing!

Prayer cards are another way to keep your church family connected to your church partners. Great to stick on a fridge or keep as a bookmark, these are available to order from our resources administrator Pam Fitzgerald, by phone on 01235 517617 or at pfitzgerald@bmsworldmission.org

You are very welcome to be in touch with your partners personally by email or by post, however please be aware that any personal replies are within their capacity.

All of our non-sensitive mission workers have online profiles, where their latest updates and videos are posted. If you’d like to, you can sign up to get an email alert when new content is uploaded to their page. See more here: www.bmsworldmission.org/cpemails

Another feature that might interest you is our tailored Church Partner live feed, which you can pop on your church website and which pulls updates from your partners’ web profiles to your church website. Further information can be found here: www.bmsworldmission.org/partners-live-feed/

Thank you for being keen to partner with mission workers who are based in sensitive locations or working in sensitive ministries. Be assured that the amount of communication you receive from your partners will not change, they still do newsletters and will still complete home assignment visits.

They may have restrictions on the ways we can talk about and to them, but we’ll make sure you’re full briefed on these. These restrictions could include having a limited or no profile page on the website, using a pseudonym, and not using certain phrases when communicating with them. If you choose a region or ministry focus for your partnership, we would usually allocate three mission workers to you, and this might include mission workers from a sensitive country.

Yes, you can. Our heart is that your church feels connected to the work and workers you are partnered with, and so we want to help you get this right.

You are free to change your partnership at any time, although we would suggest that, in the interest of mission workers feeling supported and valued, you avoid doing this frequently. If you do want to make a change please contact our friendly team on 01235 517600 or at churchpartners@bmsworldmission.org for advice and guidance.

Fantastic – make sure you let us know! Be in touch with supportercare@bmsworldmission.org with the new Church Partner Contact’s details, and we’ll be delighted to welcome them and equip them for this role.