Good Land: one year on!

Good Land: one year on!

Abundant life in Ghusel village

Join us in celebrating a year of Good Land and the incredible impact your support of BMS World Mission’s 2022 Harvest appeal has brought to rural Nepal.

Doubled blessings

A father sits at his kitchen table, counting over his monthly earnings. He can’t quite believe it – they’re double what they used to be, and the change is down to training he received in his home village of Ghusel.

Think back to the Good Land appeal, and a key image that may come to mind is of adorable baby goats! As well as providing food for people in Ghusel, goats are an important source of income for farmers who loan them out for breeding. Sejun is just one of the people in rural Nepal making a living this way.

A man herds a flock of goats in the mountains of Nepal, against a blue sky.
Sejun's income doubled thanks to the support he received!

“Before participating in the training, we were doing agriculture and livestock in the traditional way,” Sejun explains. “But, after applying the knowledge received on the goat rearing, shed management and livestock training, my income level has doubled. The number of cattle on my farm and my vegetable production have also increased.” Sejun’s confidence has been hugely boosted by the changes he’s seen – and you’ve played a vital role in enabling him to build a secure and stable family life for his wife and two children. It’s been an incredible transformation, made possible by you!

The Good Land appeal – what you made possible:
  • 454 people trained in health awareness and clean water management.
  • Three breeding goats supplied to the community, and 49 people trained (25 in goat rearing and shed management, and 24 in veterinary skills, including treating common health issues, administering of medicines and vaccinations, and how to insure livestock).
  • Five schools helped to create child-friendly classrooms.
  • A safe birthing health post established in the Nepali village of Rukum and nine female community health volunteers trained.
  • And much more, including micro-enterprise training, and support to set up community kids’ clubs and self-help groups.

Ghusel's bright future

A group of children sit on a comfy carpet, singing along to a traditional Nepali song. It’s different to the copying out they used to do in their exercise books, and the smiles on their faces show how much they’re enjoying it. With breaks like this built in for arts and crafts, singing and story-time, even their teacher seems to be enjoying the lessons more. The child-friendly classroom is benefiting everyone, and it’s all thanks to you.

Your support of the Good Land appeal has established five child-friendly classrooms in schools serving Ghusel’s children, providing teaching kits, storage boxes for arts and crafts, carpets for story-time and singing sessions, and sanitation kits.

A Nepali man wearing a blue shirt and body warmer smiles at the camera. Overlaid in a pink bordered circle is a photo of teachers completing an art activity.
Nabin, a teacher in Ghusel village, dreamed of transforming his classrooms into welcoming, fun and creative spaces for pupils.

Thanks to your generosity, teachers are learning about child-friendly lessons and different learning approaches, including running indoor and outdoor activities. School attendance in Nepal is prone to dropping when times are lean or when children, especially girls, near their teens. With your support, parents in Ghusel are being given every reason to help their children stay in school.

Bringing new life

A lady waits expectantly for the birth of her first baby. From her sisters, aunties and friends, she’s heard what childbirth can involve… being carried for hours down a steep mountain path, then driving for miles to the nearest health post or hospital. She knows all too well the fear that’s caused by the arrival of the monsoon rains: they could block the roads with landslides, or wash them away altogether. She’s knows all the stories, but this time, she’s not worried. Because since the Good Land appeal launched, your support has stretched beyond Ghusel, equipping a similar rural village named Rukum with all it needs to help women give birth safely.

“When I was about to deliver, I was very scared,” says Anita, who you first met in the Good Land appeal. “A landslide was happening and they had to carry me through a risky road. Landslides happened in two or three places… they put me down and waited for it to be over. I didn’t know if I’d reach the hospital or not.”

Despite Anita’s worrying labour, her baby was born safely. And now women in rural Nepal don’t have to be afraid of going through what Anita did. Your generous support has established a safe birthing centre at a nearby outpost, providing medicine, medical equipment and healthy meals for the women, as well as course handbooks and stationery for teaching. Clean water management, a big focus of the Good Land appeal, has also really helped the outpost provide good, safe care.

A Nepali family smile at the camera in front of an orange wall. Overlaid is a circular image of a group of people delivering some cardboard packages to a rural health post.
Anita survived landslides and monsoon rains to deliver her baby safely. Below, a delivery of medical equipment arrives at the new health post.

A ward president shared: “With this support, local people will get a quality health service and it ends the trend of going elsewhere for a simple treatment.” Finally, women like Anita can give birth somewhere familiar and safe, thanks to you.

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Thank you for your generosity!

BMS supporters raised an incredible £185,350.55 to help transform life in Ghusel and beyond through the Good Land appeal. We know so many of you have engaged with our Harvest materials for this year too, through the Days of Plenty appeal. We can’t wait to share with you in another year’s time the difference that your continuing generosity has made. Thank you for bringing hope to precious lives year on year – from Nepal to Uganda, and right across the world!

Words by Hannah Watson, BMS World Mission
Images: © Clive Thomas for BMS World Mission
All names of those featured in the Good Land appeal have been changed.

Your powerful prayers

Your powerful prayers

Answered prayers from 2022

As we gather again for the BMS World Mission Day of Prayer on 5 February 2023, take a look back at how God answered the prayers you lifted up to him this time last year. Spoiler alert: we’ve been humbled, surprised and filled with joy to see all he’s done – we hope you will be too.

Our prayer: BMS World Mission has a strong vision to highlight voices from the Global Church throughout our work. Pray for wisdom and guidance for BMS leadership as they seek to put this vision in to practice.

Bijoy Sangma, one of BMS World Mission's directors, stands in front of a leafy hedge wearing a chequered shirt.
God answered your prayers with the appointment of new director, Bijoy Sangma.

As we continue along a path of deeper connection with the Church in the Global South, the appointment of Bijoy Sangma as BMS’ Director of Intercultural Learning and Collaboration has been a significant marker – and a cause for real celebration. Bijoy comes from Meghalaya in northeast India, where his parents were missionaries with the Baptist Church of India. As the Communications Lead and Vice-President of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation for over two decades, Bijoy connects BMS with a network of 40,000 local churches and 65 Baptist conventions in 22 countries across the Asia Pacific regions. Thank you for the prayers which made this possible, and please continue to pray for Bijoy as he guides BMS into an approach of deeper humility and mutuality in all our partnerships.

Our prayer: There were over 82 million forcibly displaced people worldwide in 2020, largely due to conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan. Pray for wisdom for BMS as we identify the best routes possible to help those in crisis.

When the BMS team asked God to use us to help people on the move in 2022, we could never have imagined the scale to which he would answer our prayer. The invasion of Ukraine came as a devastation to people the world over, but in the midst of shock and sorrow, God was on the move. Through networks BMS had previously established in Ukraine and been working through over a number of years, we were well placed to respond alongside our European partners, especially our brothers and sisters in Poland, Estonia and Moldova. God worked among BMS supporters too, enabling your generous hearts to provide over £1.7 million in emergency relief. In all of this, you continued to support people in crisis fleeing other areas of conflict and fragility, such as Syria and Afghanistan. We’re so thankful to God for the way in which he used you to answer last year’s prayers, and for his wisdom in preparing routes for BMS to respond.

Our prayer: As we enter the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, please pray for a spirit of resilience among BMS mission workers. Pray that the Lord will guide us and our partners as we respond to changing contexts caused by the pandemic over the next year.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought home just how fundamental access to good healthcare is for global equality. That’s why we’ve been really excited to see how God answered this prayer for resilience and adaptability in a post-pandemic world. From the pioneering malaria prevention work by Guinebor II Hospital in Chad that took place this year (including drama workshops that showed people how to recognise malaria symptoms and seek help), to celebrating 70 years of BMS’ partner the International Nepal Fellowship (INF) and the incredible hospital care they provide, God is using BMS support to see the goal of global equality come one step closer.

The answers to this prayer have been joyful, unexpected, and they’ve been possible because of you.

A family from Ukraine sits around a table eating Polish food.
Your prayers were answered as Ukrainian families found shelter.
An engineering team made up of two Nepali workers and one German worker pore over architectural plans at a BMS-supported hospital in Chad.
Last year saw us celebrating 70 years of BMS partner INF Nepal.

Our prayer: Pray for BMS work sharing the gospel among communities who haven’t heard the Word of God before. Pray especially for BMS-supported worker Pastor J in Cambodia, that he will be able to bring people living in rural villages to know Jesus.

BMS-supported worker Pastor J was called a long way from his home in Mizoram, India to the rural communities of Cambodia. There is one village that is particularly on Pastor J’s heart – Trapeang Run, where there is no Christian presence as yet. He has visited several times and has started building relationships with local people. Because of the pandemic, progress has been slow. And yet your prayers have been sustaining Pastor J through these challenges. “Sometimes I give up hope,” he says. “But my heart asks me: maybe the Holy Spirit wants to work over there?” Excitingly, this year, he and his church plan to focus on this unreached area. Praise God that they have produced a leaflet explaining the gospel in Khmer, which they hope to gather funds to print and share.

Our prayer: Pray for BMS work improving livelihoods in marginalised communities across the world. Pray especially for our work in Nepali villages, that we would be able to work in partnership with local people to create an environment where all can thrive.

A group of schoolgirls in Nepal run together down a hill, laughing and holding each other by the arm.
Thank you for supporting vulnerable communities in Nepal.

Last year, we prayed that God would bless our work in Nepali villages. We’re so thankful for the tangible ways in which that prayer was answered: notably in the incredible sum that BMS supporters raised for Good Land, the BMS Harvest appeal for 2022. You raised a total of £168,761 to support work in villages like Ghusel, high in Nepal’s Himalayas. Partnership became the beating heart of Good Land, guiding who would be at the centre of this appeal. It wasn’t BMS workers with our ideas, aspirations and dreams, but the people of Ghusel themselves who knew exactly how to improve life in their community. Thank you for making that change possible, bringing amazing improvements to education, livelihoods and clean water practices in Ghusel – and transforming lives forever.

Our prayer: The Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing threat of climate change and international conflicts have led to many tragedies over the last few years. Pray that people will feel called to give to the BMS disaster recovery fund so that we can support people who need it most when disasters strike.

BMS supporters didn’t just restrict their support to help those affected by the war in Ukraine. Thanks to your prayers and giving to our disaster recovery fund, we’ve also been able to reach those affected by crises and hardship across the world. Your support has reached people in Sri Lanka and Lebanon struggling to make ends meet because of the global cost of living crisis, and you’ve helped provide emergency relief to people affected by devastating floods in Bangladesh and Uganda.

Our prayer: Thank God for the willingness of our mission workers to serve across the world. Please pray that God will call more people to serve overseas, and that they will share BMS’ vision of bringing fullness of life to all.

In 2022 we were blessed to welcome BMS worker Leena* to our team in Guinea! It’s been wonderful to see the BMS team in Guinea expanding over the last few years (we welcomed Holly* to the team back in 2021) and to see their dedication to showing God’s love and empowering justice to marginalised communities there. Rejoice with us in Leena’s appointment, and please continue to pray for her, that she will build relationships with people in the community and live out her faith among them.

*Names changed.

A woman in Bangladesh struggles to keep produce afloat in rising flood waters.
Thank you for remembering people in Bangladesh.
A busy village market scene in Guinea.
We give thanks for our growing team in Guinea.
Thank you!

Thank you so much for your prayers over the last year. It’s so amazing to look back and see what God has done through you. We’re so heartened by the dedicated prayers of BMS supporters – and we can’t wait to see what you’ll make possible through your prayers on this year’s Day of Prayer on Sunday 5 February. It’s not too late to join us, so head to the Day of Prayer page to find all the resources you’ll need to pray!

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Words by Laura Durrant, Matty Fearon and Hannah Watson.

Baptist Assembly 2022

And yet…

Speaking signs of hope at the 2022 Baptist Assembly

As Baptists from across the UK gathered in Bournemouth for the Baptist Assembly 2022, BMS World Mission workers from near and far addressed the pain of Ukraine and the shockwaves felt far beyond.

If there was theme to BMS World Mission’s presence at this year’s Baptist Assembly, which took place in Bournemouth last weekend, it wasn’t planned. And yet one made itself known on the lips of those who took part.

Those two words – “and yet” – marked many of the conversations that began on stage during the BMS presentation on Saturday and continued in the network zone and around the interactive Geoguessr game that formed the centrepiece of the BMS stand. The theme culminated in the words of Sarah Anthony, Communications Director, during the Sunday worship as she focused our gaze on higher things:

“We wake up each morning and we witness 24/7 despair on our news screens and yet, and yet, and yet, we celebrate an unchanging God who has raised up mission workers around the world to be his hands and his feet to take his good news and his fullness of life to people everywhere.”

The wider collateral damage

Sarah spoke of the work of the Baptist churches in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries and yet, she told us, “We’re also starting to understand the wider collateral damage of this war. Those who weren’t born in Ukraine and have never been there, and yet find themselves at risk from the impact of rolling tanks and falling bombs in a whole new way.”

Sarah Anthony at the Baptist Assembly.
Sarah Anthony drew our attention to the impact of the war outside of Ukraine.

In a phrase that underlined the damage to the world caused by the conflict, Sarah reminded us that, “Russia and Ukraine between them supply a quarter of the world’s wheat.  And yet now instead of growing wheat they’re growing armies.”

Watch the Baptist response to the Ukraine war

Download the video

Living in an interconnected world

It was at the 2021 Baptist Assembly that BMS launched a Covid relief campaign to combat vaccine inequality. For BMS General Director Kang-San Tan, the work on vaccine inequality that our supporters made possible “was a real highlight and demonstrated the reality of living in an interconnected world.”

Interviewed by Sarah on stage, Kang-San reflected that, “The experience of the challenges of Covid has given us a new connection of solidarity.” He shared that, “I lost my mum last year while I was away in Chad. I arrived there from Britain with three boosters into a country where less than one per cent of our fellow Chadian Christians are vaccinated.”

Not a place to be alone

From vaccine inequality in 2021 to the disaster of war striking in 2022. BMS’ long-standing partnership with the European Baptist Federation (EBF) provided the platform for UK Baptist churches to respond immediately when Russia invaded Ukraine. As EBF General Secretary Alan Donaldson shared during an interview with BMS Director of Strategy Steve Sanderson, “There are about 2,500 Baptist churches in Ukraine. Within one day of the war starting, 600 of them had been designated places of refuge.”

Alan continued, “We’re in the middle of the largest Baptist response ever, and that is not a place you want to be alone. BMS came alongside us straight away, [BMS Overseas Team Leader for Relief] Rachel [Conway-Doel] was seconded to us… and I think we have a bit more of her time than BMS realises!”

Alan Donaldson at the Baptist Assembly
Alan Donaldson shares how BMS and EBF came alongside each other when war broke out in Ukraine.

Hopes for the year to come

Also making guest appearances on stage during the BMS presentation were Peter Oyugi, BMS Director of Intercultural Learning and Collaboration, and Ttendo Miller, BMS Gender Justice Co-ordinator. Earlier, Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) General Secretary Lynn Green had asked the audience to consider what call God has put on their lives for this year and it was a question Sarah posed to Peter and Ttendo.

Peter answered, “My hope for this coming year is that God will enable us to see how we can come alongside our brothers and sisters in the majority world and learn from them – and what a journey and privilege it will be for BMS to play a small part in what God is doing.”

Ttendo’s response pointed in the direction of her new role, “I have been praying for the last few years since we came to the UK from Uganda that God would open a door, that he would show me how he is going to use my skills and experiences. What really excites me now in this new role as gender justice champion is that this door is opening. I strongly believe that God has called me into the justice mission to be the voice for the voiceless. This is not just a job; this is a calling.”

Moving out of comfort zones

And speaking of calling, Kwame Adzam, Overseas Team Leader for Evangelism and Discipleship, was invited to deliver a PechaKucha presentation on the subject that makes up his job. As Steve Tinning, BUGB’s Public Issues Enabler, said while introducing Kwame, “The Baptist values have this phrase in them, ‘embracing adventure, being serious about discipleship, willing to take risks and pioneer, to move out of our comfort zones and familiar ways of doing things.’ Making disciples, evangelism, these are central to what it means to be part of the Baptist family.”

A PechaKucha gives you 20 seconds to talk to 20 slides, no more no less, and as Kwame reached his crescendo, he left the audience with this final thought, “Making disciples is not rocket science… neither is it a silver bullet for solving all church challenges. It is not a programme, neither is it a method. It is a missional lifestyle. And yet, it is a joyful, intentional re-positioning and re-purposing of Christ’s church, or followers of Christ, so that they can bear fruit that abides to the glory of God.”

Kwame Adzam at the Baptist Assembly
BMS' Kwame Adzam shares the joy of a "missional lifestyle" of disciple-making.
What were your Assembly highlights?

What did you make of the BMS presentations, talks and stand at the Baptist Assembly? Why not get in touch with us via our Facebook or Twitter pages to let us know. We’d love to hear from you!

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Words by Matty Fearon
Head of Creative Content, BMS World Mission
Photos by Mat Gale
Creative Design, Baptists Together

Pray for Chad

Heightened tensions

Pray for Chad

Please pray for Chad after the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises British nationals to leave the country due to conflict over the weekend.

An armed convoy belonging to an opposition group has been engaged in fighting with Chad’s Government security forces over the past week, leading to the death of Chad’s president, Idriss Déby. On Saturday 17 April the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advised all British nationals to leave Chad.

We are in touch with all BMS World Mission workers in Chad, and all UK-based workers have left the country safely, in close co-operation with the FCDO.

We are also in careful discussions with our partner, Guinebor II hospital, as to how best to maintain the safety and well-being of all its staff and patients.

Map of Chad

Please join us in prayer for:

  • a peaceful resolution to this situation.
  • the safety and well-being of the staff and patients at Guinebor II. Pray that the hospital would be able to stay open, with minimal disruption to its activities.
  • all affected BMS mission workers. Pray for their continued safety and well-being during this turbulent time.

BMS World Mission has been working in Chad since 2010, delivering life-transforming health ministries through Guinebor II hospital in the capital, N’Djamena, and more recently further north, in Bardaï.

A partnership of promise

A partnership of great promise:

BMS World Mission and Spurgeon's College

Everywhere BMS World Mission works, we work in partnership. In the UK, that’s no different. 2020 marks the beginning of a new partnership between Spurgeon’s College and BMS, combining over 250 years of missional expertise with the college’s academic rigour and reputation.

Rising to the challenge of modern mission

Modern mission is becoming more and more complex as our UK context transforms and develops. We find ourselves in an era of increasing globalisation, making new partnerships and resource-sharing necessities for our fast-changing age. Tackling this change, BMS and the London-based Spurgeon’s College have decided to join forces, offering a ministerial training hub at BMS’ site in Birmingham and expanding the college’s reach to the Midlands and beyond.

It’s a partnership which was inspired by last year’s event, “How to Mission”, a conference hosted by BMS for UK Christians exploring what mission looks like in our modern era. Exciting discussions began between Mark Ord, BMS’ Director for Mission Training and Hospitality, and Reverend Professor Philip McCormack, Principal of Spurgeon’s College, with much support for the venture from the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Heart of England Baptist Association.

BMS' training centre in Birmingham against a blue sky with a green lawn.
BMS' training centre in Birmingham will be the central hub for this new partnership.

An innovative approach

“There’ll be a real connection between the Global South, Majority World Church and our British context,” says Mark Ord. Spurgeon’s College brings an innovative approach to theological training, stemming from their history. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who began the college in 1856, had a pioneering approach and started hundreds of churches.

This, coupled with BMS’ missional expertise, will enrich their academic courses, bringing learning from the World Church. “We’ll gradually explore together what kind of mission material we can develop,” says Mark.

An exciting new programme

Opening the hub in September 2020 is just the beginning. The aim is to create a joint programme where Spurgeon’s College can take BMS’ missional experience and turn it into learning and training for their students. “The partnership enables us to bring what we do well and do it better together,” says Mark. Philip McCormack, Spurgeon’s College Principal agrees, “BMS brings an enormous wealth of missional experience and expertise, and Spurgeon’s brings a wealth of academic and ministerial expertise.” The programme will begin next year.

Hear Dr Kang-San Tan and Rev Prof McCormack share their thoughts on the new partnership

Going global

The new missiological material could go global, being used across the world by BMS’ partners who already deliver ministerial training in their home countries. “We will feed in more robust, cutting-edge content for the UK and at the same time we can develop material for where it is needed for partners overseas,” says Mark. “Spurgeon’s College are looking to grow and have more of an impact,” he explains. “They’ll be able to reach more contexts with their training.”

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Transforming congregations

The new partnership is an investment in the UK Church and its call to mission. Those undertaking ministerial and missional training will have access to global material and will benefit from context-driven training. “The strengths of both institutions can be harnessed in an even more intentional manner with the vision of transforming congregations and missional communities,” comments Philip.

Spurgeon’s graduates will be able to enrich their congregations and communities with the latest thinking adapted to a rapidly changing, multifaceted and multicultural UK context. It’s a move which aims to transform missional thinking and action across the UK. And, with this vision of transformation, the partnership is an incredibly exciting start to the new decade.

Words by Melanie Webb.

Think deeper: why we handed over our magazine to Europe

Think deeper:

Why we handed over our magazine to Europe

The World Church is not just situated in Africa and Asia. We have much to learn from Europe. And there’s an easy way to start.

It’s 2019. We’re handing over control to Europe

It’s becoming almost fashionable to talk about listening to the World Church these days. And that’s a good thing. It’s not virtue-signalling or PC gone mad, it’s just wisdom and humility. The World Church is growing and we in the UK are experiencing contraction and a loss of privilege. We’d be arrogant or delusional to think we had nothing to learn from Christians in the Majority World. And we’d be spiritually and intellectually poorer if, in this connected age, we didn’t make use of emerging opportunities to hear voices we are not used to hearing. Voices from beyond the heartlands of our established western theology like Britain, Germany and the USA. That’s why BMS World Mission is committed to helping our UK family hear from Christians in places that don’t usually influence us. The God-given blessing that is the World Church.

So, we’re all agreed that we need to listen to the World Church, right?

But, are we limited in our thinking? There’s a danger in our automatic imagining about who (and where) the World Church is. Too often, we limit it to warm climates, different races or minority communities of evangelicals. In short: Africa, Asia and Latin America. BMS is committed to learning from the Church in these places as we do mission alongside their churches, and to bringing what we learn back to the UK. The countries and cultures we generally think of as the Majority World can teach us fresh practice and challenging, new theology, it is true. But, so can Europe.

An illustration of the EU flag, with people hanging off the stars, with the Mission Catalyst logo in the corner.
Find out the connection between Brexit, Second Corinthians and Baptists by subscribing to Mission Catalyst today.

And often we forget that fact – and in doing so we forget our brothers and sisters across the channel and the continent. We need to build an awareness of a Europe beyond our reflexive imagining.

BMS has long worked in Europe – in places where the physical need is greatest and the Church is most marginalised. And we also believe that we can learn much from our sisters and brothers there.

Mission Catalyst: The contributors
  • Rev Dr Mike Pears

    (The Netherlands)

  • Walter Klimt

    (Austria)

  • Andrea Klimt

    (Germany)

  • David Bunce

    (Austria)

  • Ksenija Magda

    (Croatia)

  • Jan Martijn Abrahamse

    (The Netherlands)

  • David McMillan

    (The Netherlands)

  • Denys Kondyuk

    (Ukraine)

  • Henrikas Zukauskas

    (Lithuania)

Guest-edited in the other Europe

That’s why we’ve dedicated an issue of our immensely popular magazine, Mission Catalyst, to hearing voices from Europe. We are very proud to announce that it will be guest-edited by Mike Pears, the Centre Director of the International Baptist Theological Study Centre (IBTSC), based in Amsterdam. IBTSC’s roots are in Prague and they serve Christians from all over the world, with a large number coming from the Europe most of us never hear from.

Croatia. Ukraine. Lithuania. If you’ve not recently read much Christian thought from these countries, subscribe to Mission Catalyst today to be sure to get our Europe-focused issue next month.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Church in parts of the World that often get overlooked, where the most marginalised and least evangelised people are in need of Christian witness, this issue is for you. And if you’re excited to make 2019 the year you deepen your engagement with the World Church, so are we! We’ve all got some distance to travel, but God is good. And even a small starting point can lead to a great journey.

Why not start today?

This is your chance to challenge yourself with the difficult topics facing Christians today. Subscribe to Mission Catalyst today to hear from the greatest Christian minds of the modern day, three times a year, completely free!

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The cover of Mission Catalyst issue 3, 2019, an illustration of a sleeping English bulldog next to a gramophone.
Subscribe to Mission Catalyst now to get your copy!

Words by Jonathan Langley, Editor of Mission Catalyst magazine.

BMS World Mission and Spurgeon’s College announce major new partnership

BMS World Mission and Spurgeon’s College announce major new partnership

BMS World Mission and Spurgeon’s College have developed a significant new partnership to enable a joint theological and mission training hub to open in September 2019, located at BMS’ campus in Birmingham.

Warmly welcoming the innovative development, BMS General Director Dr Kang-San Tan comments: “The strategic case for the partnership is strong. Spurgeon’s academic discipline and administration offers potential for course development and reach, as well as quality assurance. The remote learning capabilities that Spurgeon’s will bring to the partnership will enhance the BMS learning and training opportunities for mission workers, both pre-departure and ongoing. Spurgeon’s academic reputation and knowledge will be of great value as we develop BMS for the future.”

Echoing Dr Tan’s comments, Rev Prof Philip McCormack, Principal of Spurgeon’s College, says: “Having opened a successful hub in Cambridge last year, we are delighted to mirror that in Birmingham. This new partnership with BMS is strategically important to the future of the College and our governors have accepted a plan to invest towards growth.”

A white building with a car park in front.
BMS' campus in Birmingham will be the home of this new project.

BMS and Spurgeon’s intend to move quickly towards the College offering a whole range of courses from the Birmingham hub. Those may include, over time, BA, MA/MTh and DMin programmes, as well as the Equipped to Minister (EtM) programme which is delivered on Saturdays. An option within the BA programme would be a new pathway in pioneering or missional leadership currently being developed by Spurgeon’s with support from the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

Spurgeon’s Cambridge hub already successfully offers the EtM course, but a hub of the size envisaged for Birmingham is a significant new venture for both partners.

Philip McCormack adds: “We are both delighted to have support for the venture from the Baptist Union of Great Britain and from the Heart of England Baptist Association. This is a really exciting opportunity for mission and theological formation in the Midlands and far beyond, through online learning opportunities.” There is much to do, with a range of developments to complete prior to courses beginning, including a new library, software to enable online and remote learning and a range of other academic infrastructure.

But, as Kang-San Tan notes: “Hopes for our joint partnership are high, and there is a shared commitment in our primary aims to see leaders, churches and wider communities transformed through the good news of Jesus. There is a growing sense that this partnership could make a significant impact in the area of mission and theological formation in the UK and further afield.”

Further information:

BMS World Mission:

Mark Craig, Director of Communications
mcraig@bmsworldmission.org

Spurgeon’s College:

Simon Jones, Vice Principal (Director of Ministerial Formation and Training)
s.jones@spurgeons.ac.uk