Stepping back and stepping out in faith

Church planting in Peru

Stepping back and stepping out in faith

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Would you take a 17-hour bus ride, a five-hour boat journey, and an hour-long hike through dense rainforest to talk to some pastors? For BMS World Mission worker Michele Mahon, all of that was worth it – especially when you’ve been asked to speak to them about proving the existence of God!

The Awajun people of north-central Peru have started to make use of kitchen gardens
BMS' partner in Peru have been working with the Awahun people for a number of years to help them improve their livelihoods.

In 2023, Michele, along with her husband Dave and their three children, moved to Trujillo on the coast of Peru, after serving with BMS in Iquitos for five years. Dave trains Peruvian pastors and Michele is a qualified youth pastor, but they also both teach at Trujillo Baptist Seminary. And in a mostly patriarchal culture, it’s significant to see Michele being given more opportunities to teach. “It’s been nice to be able to do more upfront ministry than when I was in Iquitos because the culture is more open in terms of how they treat women on the coast,” she says.

During their time at the seminary, God also gave Michele the opportunity to teach theology to the Awahun people in the Peruvian Amazon. The Awahun are an indigenous group of fishermen, farmers, hunters, and artisans who live near the border with Ecuador. They are a strong warrior tribe and are well known in Peruvian history for resisting the Incas and Spanish when they tried to conquer them. Sadly, the wounds left by years of colonial rule run deep, and the Awahun are still often marginalised within Peruvian society.

The Peruvian Baptist Convention invited Michele to serve alongside Raquel Leon, a Peruvian mission worker who spent years working with the Awahun. Raquel and her husband Angeles started a church 35 years ago dedicated to mission amongst the Awahun. Even though Raquel is now sadly widowed, she carries on serving the Awahun. She even sells delicious roast coffee and cocoa from Awahun farmers as part of her ministry!

When the ministry first began, the team from the seminary would bring food and second-hand clothes – without necessarily appreciating what the Awahun community need. But now, the ministry is unrecognisable. “It’s based on the needs of the community and on what they want us to teach,” says Michele. Rather than bringing stuff that they might not need, the ministry is solely based on teaching the Bible and helping equip the Awahun to provide for themselves. Now, the Awahun pastors are hungry for the Word of God, regardless of whether outsiders bring food or not. Whether it’s dealing with broken relationships or questions about the end times, the Awahun know that the Bible can give them guidance and wisdom.

Michele teaching Awahun pastors in Kuyumatak about proving God's existence.
Michele's hoping to have even more opportunities to teach with the Awahun in the future – and especially hopes to connect with the women of the community,

Despite the challenging journey, Michele, Raquel and a group of Peruvian mission workers were keen to make their way to the Awahun village of Kuyumatak. The heat and mosquitoes made it hard work – but they knew that God wanted them there. Some of the pastors had such a passion for the Word of God that they walked for four days through the rainforest just to hear Michele teach the Bible!

This time the pastors wanted the team from the seminary to teach them about proofs for God’s existence. Michele spoke about how creation reveals God’s glory, and about the knowledge of God in each of our hearts, even if sin sometimes makes us deny this truth. Living in the lush rainforest, with night skies covered in brilliant stars, the team was constantly reminded of our awesome Creator. And this inspiring teaching relationship is just the start of this abundant ministry.

“I would really like to get to know the women because the teaching is concentrated on the guys, who are pastors,” says Michele. “Most of the time Awahun women are involved in cooking and looking after the children.” Back in Iquitos, Michele could not do the youth ministry that she wanted to do, as she was only allowed to teach women and children. That’s why Michele admires the humble leadership of Raquel, who continues to preach the gospel without the status that comes from having a husband. She sees it as a privilege to serve alongside women like Raquel, as the Awahun hear the gospel and find abundant life in Christ.

Thank you for all your prayers and support for Dave and Michele during their time in Peru. They would love for you to keep praying for them and their children, Ruth, Jonathan, and Phoebe, as they settle into life in Trujillo. Please also pray that God will bless the Awahun with everything they need to live life in all its fullness. They are so grateful for your prayers, as it is only in God’s strength that Dave, Michele, and their Peruvian friends can share his love freely with those around them.

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Family photo of the Mahons with their three children
The whole Mahon family would really value your prayers as they continue to settle into life in Trujillo.

Words by Chris Manktelow

2023: A BMS Year in Review

2023: A BMS Year in Review

Reflecting on the impact you made possible

From conflict in Israel-Gaza and earthquakes in Nepal and Afghanistan, to the extraordinary faith, hope and love shown by BMS World Mission partners and supporters, 2023 has been a year of great highs and lows. God has been faithful through it all, and the new year gives us an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the BMS community. This is our review of 2023.

Transformed Lives in Thailand

A young man in a pool preparing to be baptised
Your support for Helen and Wit means believers like Thew are thriving in their faith.

In 2023 we launched the Thailand Spring appeal and were completely blown away by your generous giving. Because of you, lives across South Thailand have been transformed. You’ve empowered people to pursue their dreams, much like Thew and Suree with their new food stall selling fried chicken and sticky rice. You’ve equipped individuals like Ajarn Arreat to answer the call God has on their lives – Ajarn is one of our newest BMS-supported workers, and she’s faithfully dedicated herself to helping run the church in the village of Ban Dara. Most importantly, you’ve partnered in helping people discover how deep God’s love for them truly is, restoring and healing them. When Helen and Wit Boondekhun first arrived in Thailand over five years ago, there were no churches or believers in the region. Thanks to you, there are now three blossoming churches in the surrounding area, and the church in Wang Daeng is in the process of building a new church site, as they’ve outgrown their current one!

A Season of Change in Chad

Kalbassou and a number of hospital staff are standing around discussing the results shown on the paperwork Kalbassou is holding

It’s been a season of change for the Guinebor II (G2) Hospital in Chad. We waved goodbye to the Shrubsole, Chilvers and Spears families, who are leaving the G2 in the capable hands of Chadian staff and BMS mission workers Claire Bedford and Kalbassou Doubassou. The hospital has also installed new solar panels to replace the dirty and expensive diesel generators that it relied on for electricity during power cuts. Your donations provided 25 per cent of the funds for the solar panels, and we are so grateful for your generosity. BMS mission workers and Chadian staff at G2 and Bardaï hospitals would not be able to care for the sick and share Christ’s love without your prayers and support.

Bringing abundant life in Uganda

Barbara loves her children and wants them grow up happy and healthy. But drought and companies that force farmers to sell at low prices mean that she can’t always afford to pay school fees for her children. Your support for Days of Plenty, the BMS Harvest Appeal for 2023, helped Barbara avoid exploitative middlemen by selling her crops through the co-operative Cek Cam. She also received seeds and agricultural training from BMS partners. Now she can afford to send her children to school and train other women on how to kick-start an abundant harvest. You can learn more about Barbara’s story by checking out the video above!

Women on the Frontline

A compilation image of women from across the world.

At the end of the year, you joined us in praying for COP28, the United Nation’s annual climate conference, hosted in the United Arab Emirates. Sahara told us about how Nepalese women are bearing the brunt of natural disasters and Susan in Uganda shared about how conflict over scarce water is causing domestic violence. You also faithfully prayed for our gender justice champions and joined in with 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Your dedicated prayers help BMS partners come alongside women in faith and action as they both steward God’s beautiful creation, and boldly champion gender justice in their communities.

Hope amid Disaster

A crowd of people stand around a large lorry in the mountains of Nepal as it unloads relief aid for the village
A recent earthquake in Nepal has had a devastating effect in the districts of Jajarkot and West Rukum. Your support is bringing vital, long-term relief to people in desperate need there.

War broke out this autumn in Israel-Gaza, and in Armenia. It was tragic to watch these conflicts unfold on our TV screens, but your prayers and generous giving do make a difference. Our partners in the Middle East and Europe are deeply grateful for your prayers, and your support is helping displaced Armenians rebuild their lives. We would also like to thank you for how you gave so generously after earthquakes struck Türkiye and Syria, Afghanistan and Nepal. Your prayers and donations meant that communities received the food, shelter and mental health support that they need in the aftermath of disaster.

Thank You!

Thank you so much for the difference you’ve made in 2023. Without your generous giving, faithful prayers and dedicated volunteering, our work would not be possible. As 2024 begins, you can be sure that your support will help even more people across the world hear the good news about Jesus and experience fullness of life through Christ.

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Words by Chris Manktelow and Ed Axtell
BMS World Mission

Forging a path

Forging a path

The next generation of Christian leaders

From Cambodia to France to Israel-Palestine, meet three incredible young people serving in some of the least evangelised places in the world, thanks to your support.

Jérémie

Being a Christian in France is tough. Being a young person training for ministry in France is even tougher, as BMS World Mission-supported student Jérémie Lockel can attest. You last heard from Jérémie in Issue 52 of Engage, the BMS magazine. Then, Jérémie was watching his country go through the Covid-19 pandemic, encouraged by the questions his friends and neighbours were asking about the meaning of life and whether answers could be found in the Bible. Jérémie’s hope was that the disruption of lockdowns would change the ways in which French people sought purpose, and that the new openness he saw might lead people to Jesus.

Two years on, Jérémie’s in his final year studying to become a Baptist minister. Post-pandemic, he’s little less convinced that mindsets have really changed – but is no less passionate about evangelism and church planting.

A man smiling in a brown jacket.
Jérémie is so excited to see how God works through him to further his Kingdom in France!

“I’ve started to really enjoy all the practical courses on mission and evangelism – it’s then that my heart gets full. We had an exercise where we had to study a town and look at how you would go about planting a church. It involved talking to lots of people, from the town’s mayor to its Catholic priest, to understand what we could bring to the town, and how that would benefit the people living there. Mostly people were really warm and positive towards us – we explained we were students – if we’d have said we were really planning on planting a church, I think they might have reacted more in fear.

“You need to be intentional, to go towards people, instead of imposing things on them. It all comes down to really understanding people. The challenge is always to look outwards.”

Jérémie’s studies have enabled him to learn how to properly read and understand Scripture, how to be a Christian leader, how to connect theology with anthropology and sociology, and how to become a church planter. That’s all thanks to you.

Pisal

Despite the fact that fewer than one per cent of the Cambodian population is Christian, people are still coming to faith. Pisal first heard about Jesus as a child when missionaries came to his village, but it wasn’t until he moved to Phnom Penh to study that he met BMS-supported worker Pastor J and his relationship with Jesus blossomed.

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A man working with cows in Cambodia.
Please pray that the Lord works to bring more people to his Kingdom in Cambodia.

“I am from a Buddhist family but there are Christians in my village, so I used to go to church during Christmas because they gave us good food and good gifts,” Pisal explains. “But I never listened to the Word of God, I never touched a Bible. When I came to Phnom Penh to join University in 2019 [and met Pastor J], it was the first time I sat for Bible study.

“I learned many things about Jesus, but I still didn’t believe in him. I often had bad dreams and couldn’t sleep most of the night, but then I remembered the Bible study and Jesus came to mind. One night, I prayed to Jesus for a good night’s sleep, and that night I slept peacefully. I kept praying every night and whenever I had a problem I prayed to God. I began to believe that Jesus is real. After more Bible study and fellowship, I decided to give my life to Jesus and got baptised in 2021. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. I am happy to be a follower of Jesus.”

Pisal is now one of the leaders at the dormitory led by Pastor J, and is living out Christ’s example in all he does there.

Ayman

When you search for the words ‘Christian’ and ‘Palestinian’, a host of online articles will tell you that this demographic is one that’s been declining for years. Only a very small minority of the population in the area Ayman lives now identify as Christians. Despite this, Ayman feels that his Christian identity is in his bones, enshrined as a living, breathing presence in his hometown not far from Bethlehem. “So many of us carry religion deep in our own identity and with much appreciation for being the living stones that Jesus Christ left as a testimony of his work,” he explains.

Having been raised in a Christian family, Ayman was keen to build on the faith of his childhood by studying for a degree in Biblical Studies as an adult. BMS’ long-standing support of Bethlehem Bible College has been crucial for helping students like Ayman through the years to access their studies. “I was aware that Bethlehem Bible College was one of the best institutions where I could pursue a theological programme and grow as a person at the same time,” Ayman explains.

A photo of Bethlehem with an insert of a man in a red top.
Ayman wants to teach his community about God to help them overcome the challenges they face.

Ayman’s got dreams for his future – he’d love to preach on what he’s learned about God in this community and share his faith. “We, Christians, are a minority,” Ayman adds, “but I believe that thanks to the college, I can guide and teach about God to my community and help them overcome these challenges.” Thank you for your support for Bethlehem Bible College, bringing a future filled with hope to people like Ayman in Israel-Palestine.

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You can hear more about what God is doing in France and Cambodia in the latest issue of Engage, the BMS magazine. Why not subscribe today to receive three free issues a year?

Words by Hannah Watson.

Life at the edges

Life at the edges

Lessons in joy from the Bangladeshi Church

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The Christian message has always found a home in the margins. Louise and Peter Lynch, mission workers in Bangladesh, share a truth they have been wrestling with – and a corrective to our comfortable Christianity – that it is on the edges of Bangladesh society where the joy of the gospel flourishes.

Fragility

Fragile communities abound across the fault lines of Bangladesh. They survive at the edges — at the edges of the pandemic, of natural disaster zones, and of a state that is increasingly discriminatory towards Christians.

These fragile communities survive and, where the local Christian Church has taken root in the margins of these communities, there are signs of thriving, against all the odds. “So much of the work of the Church has been successful amongst the poor and probably least successful in the wealthier cities,” explains Louise Lynch, BMS World Mission worker in Bangladesh. “When we refer to the Church, [and this is something we wrestle with], what we are talking about is just a whole group of poor, really marginalised people. No-one economically is going to make their own way out of this situation.”

River in Bangladesh
Rivers cover almost 80 per cent of Bangladesh, making yearly flooding inevitable.

Part of BMS’ ministries in Bangladesh is to come alongside those who work on the margins, supporting localised church-based initiatives aimed at community transformation. Over the last few years, this work has taken Louise, and her husband Peter, into the northern region of Rangpur, a district right on the fault line of extended unseasonal monsoons.

“We are part of network that means the church leaders in this district can reach out to the rest of the churches in Bangladesh for aid and for prayer,” adds Louise. “But it’s not the only poor area, and it’s not the only flood affected area, and so there’s not enough to go around.”

Flourishing

It’s Louise and Peter’s visits to and engagement with one particular village, Balapara, that have stayed with them though, demonstrating the flourishing that is possible when we can work in partnership with local churches grown in local contexts – and when they work in partnership with each other. Louise and Peter are pragmatic, however, about the fact that as long as they work in Bangladesh, in villages like this, need will always outstrip resource.

Gospel sharing Bangladesh
Much of Louise and Peter’s work is supporting pastors sharing the gospel in remote communities.

Life in the village is marked by uncertainty but, as Louise explains, light reaches in through the cracks. “The church is bringing good news because it’s telling people about Jesus, and therefore they’ve got someone to pray to and someone to hope in, which replaces hopelessness and uncertainty. But it’s worth emphasising that they’re not expecting God to lift them out of their poverty.”

God, it seems, is at work in other ways. “Some of it is just supernaturally amazing in that God appears in dreams to people and they ask us, ‘Who is this Jesus?’” Peter says. “I’ve met him in my dream, and I want to know who I am now going to follow.’”

Louise and Peter experienced a church “full of vibrancy and life” on their last visit. “What’s wonderful when we go is that you see the church springing to life. Christians there love to sing. The church is full of people and we have such a joyful day and a good time worshipping and training, and the people feel blessed and are so grateful.”

Economic recovery for so many Bangladeshi Christians can seem very far off in the aftermath of floods and Covid-19. But incredibly, there is still so much good being done by the church. A local pastoral superintendent organised for school children to receive replacement books and bags after school equipment was lost to flooding. Louise says acts like this can seem small, but seeing a village prioritising education in this way has been really inspiring.

"What’s wonderful when we go [into the villages] is that you see the church springing to life," says Louise.

“There was a whole group of 14 to 16-year-old girls who’d been going off to coaching with their new bags and all their books in their bag,” adds Louise. “They all have aspirations to become nurses and are desperately asking everyone to pray that they’ll get better at their studies because they struggle. Bengali is not their first language, so they’re working in their home tongue and then they’re working in Bengali.”

Girls with bags Bangladesh
Praise God that girls have been able to receive replacement books and bags after devastating flooding.

“We had helped to distribute money as part of the relief response to help pay school fees, with schools closed instead they used that money for extra coaching. We weren’t expecting that but that news just made us so happy. They could have used that money for so many other things and they chose to use it to remain engaged in education throughout the lockdown.”

With the need so apparent all around them, Louise and Peter wrestle regularly with the idea that the joy surrounding their visits masks a more sombre reality. “We struggled. We asked the local pastors, ‘Is this happiness genuine?’ And their reply was, ‘Yes, they’ve just sang songs with you and you’ve played games with them. For them it is a moment of respite and that lasts for quite a long time.’”

At the centre of all this, it really is the vision of church leaders and local Christians that shines light into what seems like darkness. When asked what motivates these Christian leaders, Louise and Peter say it is the hope of flourishing communities that keeps them going. “Their hope is really that for the young people in their journey into faith, that these moments of joy stick, that this will provide a sense of belonging to the church family.” Joy at the margins produces more joy. And when it does, villages like this grow and thrive.

Read more about Bangladesh

You can read much more about Peter and Louise’s work bringing hope to villages devastated by floods in the next issue of Engage magazine. And if you’re not already, it couldn’t be easier to subscribe! Just sign up here to receive Engage three times a year, free of charge!

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Words by Matty Fearon.

Are you willing?

Are you willing?

What God has in store when you say yes to his call

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Countless cakes, two BMS World Mission workers and one journey: Paul and Sarah Brown look back on ten years serving in Thailand, and share how they’ve learnt to always say ‘yes’ to God’s plans.

Sarah Brown never imagined baking would help her reach the women of Bangkok’s infamous red-light district. And women like Mam* trapped in their work there never imagined that baking would be able to bring them out of it. “It still seems very bizarre to me,” Sarah says laughing. “Using cake decorating to win people to Jesus. But you know, nothing is bizarre to Jesus, and he can use whatever skills you have.” As strange as it seems, when Sarah traces God’s hand in her call to overseas mission all the way back, it did begin with baking a cake. Unbeknownst to Sarah and her husband Paul, that was the first step on a journey that took them all the way to Thailand. Though initially sceptical about how God could use their skills, the past decade of serving him has taught Paul and Sarah to keep saying yes to the plans he has in store.

A mission worker couple pictured against a leafy green background.
Paul and Sarah Brown have served in Thailand since 2012.

After Sarah agreed to bake a celebration cake for a colleague going on maternity leave, the requests kept rolling in. “I just couldn’t see the beauty of it,” she explains. “I thought everybody’s mum taught them baking on a Saturday!” Soon she was working part-time, running a cake decorating business and being asked by organisations working with homeless people, vulnerable women and children with learning disabilities whether she could share her baking skills with them. Sarah feels very strongly that God was preparing her heart for what he had in store for her next: using these skills to help vulnerable women even further afield, in the red-light district in Bangkok. And having said yes to God’s call to serve overseas, she soon found herself saying another yes – after she met Paul during her training year with BMS and they decided to get married!

The lights and sounds of Bangkok, Thailand.
God's plan for Sarah and Paul brought them to Bangkok.

Sarah and Paul began serving with BMS in Thailand in 2012. Both felt amazed that God had work in their skillsets prepared for them there – Sarah, working with the vulnerable women supported through BMS’ partner at that time in Bangkok, and Paul strengthening the skills of the accounting department and teaching the women IT skills. It was a far cry from what Sarah had envisioned as mission work, but, really, it made perfect sense. “I didn’t realise I could use my creative skills on the mission field, so I thought I would have to teach English,” she says. Instead, she was supporting vulnerable women every day, just as she had been in the UK. She met women who had been trafficked from Africa, Eastern Europe or South America, believing they would be working in hotels, and women from Thailand who saw no other choice but to work in the sex industry. Paul and Sarah’s roles were designed around giving those women another choice. “As a team, we used to go into bars to meet with the women. To befriend them, really,” Sarah says. For the women that did want to come out of their situation, the team was on hand to help them into alternative employment and training, such as baking, jewellery making or IT classes. “I could honestly say there was spiritual warfare in those places,” Sarah explains. “It was very, very dark.” But for women like Mam, meeting the volunteers changed everything.

Mam is just one of the people Paul and Sarah supported over the years, first through the centre in Bangkok and later working with vulnerable young boys and girls through BMS’ partner in Chiang Mai. After leaving her old life behind, the mother-of-one became a Christian through the daily Bible studies and witness of the Christian workers. “She had a really beautiful heart,” says Paul. “And she came to love God. Her wish really was to become a missionary.” Mam was desperate to share how her life had changed, and she began to accompany the team on outreach visits to the red-light district, sharing her story of salvation with women still trapped in it. Mam now works for an NGO in Thailand and is still engaged in evangelism. After Paul taught her bass guitar, she also leads in a worship band.

Decorating a cake
Baking, jewellery making and IT classes provided alternative employment for vulnerable women.

Seeing such incredible fruit from your work can make it hard to say goodbye, but after serving in Bangkok and Chiang Mai for ten years, Paul and Sarah know that God is preparing new roles for them in Thailand. They move in January to being working with the Thai Karen Baptist Convention, strengthening BMS’ support of the Karen people and using their skills to equip and serve the vulnerable. But, after ten years in Thailand, they’ve learned it’s pointless to pretend they’re the ones deciding how best they can be used. It’s God who opens all the doors. “Keeping God in the picture and following his leading as to what he wants us to do next is paramount, really,” says Paul. “God equips the people he calls, rather than calling the equipped.” His advice for anyone wondering about mission work? “I would say don’t worry about what gifts you’ve got. It’s about being willing. Are you willing to answer the call? And then God will do the rest.”

As Paul and Sarah prepare for their new roles in January, they’ve asked BMS supporters to pray with them:

  • Please pray for the Covid-19 situation in Thailand, where so many are still waiting to be vaccinated. Pray for comfort for people who are struggling to support their families due to lost work. Ask God to protect people in a nation where suicide rates are sadly rising.
  • Please pray for our transition to the new organisation – that our relationships with the Thai Karen people would develop and flourish. Please pray too for good health.
  • In Thailand, only one per cent of people would call themselves Christians. Please pray for creativity in our outreach as God uses us to witness to those we serve. Pray also for Christian groups living amongst the hilltribes where we’ll be working to have the confidence and courage to share the gospel powerfully with others in their own mother tongue.
Illustration of J - one of the Christians in hard places who shares her story
Will you stand?

If you’d like to stand with courageous Christians like those Paul and Sarah will be supporting in their new role, take a look at our Harvest appeal for 2021, I Will Stand. This year, we’re raising money for Christians living the gospel in hard places, no matter the cost. Find out more here.

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*Name changed
Words by Hannah Watson, Editor of Engage, the BMS World Mission magazine.

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.

Tech for mission

Tech for mission:

how cutting-edge tech is transforming lives

Supporting this

You heard it here first. BMS World Mission is harnessing the powers of science and faith to transform mission, thanks to your giving.

Technology is transforming mission. Evangelists are using social media to reach those who want to know Jesus in places where it’s too dangerous to ask about faith. Scientific advances and faithful BMS supporters are improving antenatal care for South Sudanese women in Uganda. What if science and faith were not arch-enemies but actually long-lost friends?

Your faithful prayers and generous giving are supporting BMS in bringing science and faith together across the world to transform lives. Bidi Bidi refugee camp, Uganda, now a settlement the size of Birmingham with over a quarter of a million people, is one of those places.

A woman sitting in a plastic chair with her baby in Bidi Bidi refugee camp, Uganda.
Aya Joska arrived in Bidi Bidi refugee camp fighting for a future for her and her unborn baby.

South Sudanese refugees have fled a terrifying and brutal civil war, with hundreds of thousands arriving at Bidi Bidi camp. Aya Joska is one of the conflict survivors living there. She was pregnant when she ran from men armed with guns and machetes, escaping with the clothes on her back and her unborn baby.

Arriving at a refugee camp may have meant safety for some, but it wasn’t total security for Aya. With 99 per cent of maternal deaths occurring in low-income areas, the odds were overwhelmingly against her. “As a pregnant woman, you’re literally hundreds of times more likely to die from conditions such as pre-eclampsia, infections and haemorrhages in low-income countries,” says Dr Andrew Shennan, Professor of Obstetrics at King’s College London. “Often, it’s not because of a lack of sophisticated treatment, but because, in places like the UK, vital signs are regularly checked, and symptoms are discovered early on.”

A blood pressure monitor called the Cradle Device being used in Bidi Bidi camp.
Bidi Bidi camp needed an early detector that could be used by untrained people, that’s easy to use and understand.
A man with a blood pressure monitor smiling at the camera from an ante-natal care room.
A key component to antenatal care in the UK is to be seen regularly and have your blood pressure checked.

That’s where technology stepped in. Dr Shennan spent the best part of a decade developing a highly accurate, easy-to-use blood pressure monitor called the Cradle Device. Not only does it measure blood pressure, but it also identifies symptoms. It tells the user if action needs to be taken using a simple traffic light system. If a woman’s vital signs trigger a red light, then health work volunteers can get her to hospital as soon as possible. “By detecting these conditions earlier, than you can prevent the mother from dying,” says Dr Shennan. “Her other children are 50 per cent more likely to die if she dies.” So when you protect the mother, you’re also protecting her children.

The Cradle Device is relatively cheap and charges with a simple micro-USB charger which most people use to charge their phones and, cleverly, it also can be plugged into a solar or car battery. It’s a device perfectly suited to refugee situations. And your support for BMS has delivered 700 of these Cradle Devices to go into UNHCR camps in Uganda. Thanks to your prayers and giving now 7,000 women are having their blood pressure checked regularly by health work volunteers. It’s a life-saving measure for mothers and their unborn babies.

A baby sleeping wrapped up in cloths in the arms of her mother.
With the power of technology, Aya was given the antenatal care she needed to give birth to her beautiful baby, Blessing.
Keep supporting tech for mission Give today
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And there’s more exciting news ahead for BMS’ South Sudan’s Conflict Survivors appeal. We’re exploring ways to help displaced people within South Sudan. So look out for an update soon! Right now, though, please consider taking a special offering in your church or making a donation now. Why not join churches across the country on 20 October, 27 October and 19 January who will be gathering to take a special offering as part of Survivor Sundays? Your giving won’t just help South Sudan’s conflict survivors. You’ll be helping to share the fullness of life in Christ among the powerless and poor, with those who never had a chance to hear Jesus’ name, all over the world.

#TECH FOR MISSION

There are even more ways that technology is being used for mission at BMS. In the next Engage magazine you’ll learn how social media is being used in evangelism. Live streaming platforms are being used to reach out to people in places where it’s too dangerous to ask about Jesus. You heard it here first, so watch this space.

BMS has always pioneered in mission. And technology is just one of the exciting tools we use to pioneer today.

Words by Melanie Webb. 

Director for Mission appointed

BMS announces new Director for Mission

BMS World Mission appoints new Director for Mission.

BMS World Mission has confirmed that Rev Dr Arthur Brown has been appointed to succeed Rev Peter Dunn as Director for Mission.

General Director Dr Kang-San Tan commented: “The selection panel of four, led by me and including two BMS trustees, was unanimous in reaching the decision to appoint Arthur to this crucial role within BMS.”

He went on: “Arthur has substantial missional experience from his 13 years of service with BMS in Lebanon, with our partners at the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD), where his contribution was highly valued. He was selected from a strong list of candidates both from within and outside BMS.”

Rev Dr Arthur Brown, wearing a blue shirt and standing in front of greenery, is appointed as Director for Mission at BMS World Mission.

Rev Dr Brown has a background in youth and community development, cross-cultural Christian ministry, multi-faith work and higher education. He is committed to social and racial justice and to peace-building. He is passionate about seeing the local Church fully engaged with its local geographical community, ‘here on earth as it is in heaven’.

The date for when he will take up his new role is still to be confirmed.

Mark Craig, Director of Communications

Mission: it’s so much more than you expect it to be

Mission:

It’s so much more than you expect it to be

We all learn about mission in different ways. But many of us come to it with the same preconceived ideas of what it’s all about. Part of our work at BMS World Mission aims to change that. So even (and perhaps especially) if you think you know what it’s all about, read on. We might just surprise you!

Where do you expect mission work to happen?

An illustrated map of the world

When we imagine mission workers overseas, we often imagine them being sent to far-flung places we would never be able to visit. We think of people flying off to Africa or India and doing things we could never do at home.

Where does mission work actually happen?

A woman stands with a microphone and a Mozambican man stands outside a building.
Our mission workers serve all across the world – from France to Mozambique!

We do send mission workers to places like Mozambique, India and Peru – but we also work much closer to home! Christine Kling serves as an associate pastor in Paris, about two hours away from London.

And we support work in Southend, helping fight modern slavery. In fact, we’re also helping UK churches learn from and with our brothers and sisters in the world church, changing theologies and learning to minister better – and all that is mission too!

Who do you expect mission workers to be?

Illustration of a woman in brown clothes standing in a desert

Who do you picture when you think of a mission worker? It’s easy to imagine western Christians who have worked overseas for many years. It can be difficult to imagine anyone other than ‘white saviours’ with imperial attitudes and insensitive approaches maybe?

What does a mission worker actually look like?

An 80-year-old woman sits on a sofa and a Ugandan woman stands outside a building.
Anyone can be a mission worker, no matter what you look like or where you come from. In fact – every Christian is!

Mission isn’t restricted to a single age group. Whether they’re 18-year-old Action Teamers or an 80-year-old BMS volunteer like Ann Bothamley serving in India, all our mission workers are an important part of God’s work across the world.

And mission isn’t just sending people from the ‘West to the rest.’ We have mission workers serving in their own countries, and crossing borders. People like BMS lawyer Annet Ttendo Miller, who was born in Uganda but who is currently serving in Mozambique, or like Ben Francis, planting churches in his homeland, India!

What do you expect mission work to be?

An illustration of a teacher and a doctor

It’s easy to imagine that the main thing mission workers do is preach. Or provide traditionally ‘missionary’ things, like medicine or teaching. We imagine them distributing Bibles to local people or setting up health clinics, and it can be difficult to see them doing anything else.

What does mission work actually look like?

A woman in a blue top sits outside and a woman in a white top sits outside.
Our mission workers want to serve the communities they’re working with in the best way they can, which is why their jobs aren’t always what you would expect them to be!

Mission work can be almost anything. Healthcare and education are a big part of what we do – but even that isn’t constrained to teaching English. Take the BMS supported Siloam Bible Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Many young Karen people enrol there, so that they can study the Bible in their native language. Or our many training programmes to develop crucial skills in local Christians around the world!

Mission today is about responding to the World Church’s needs. Laura-Lee Lovering is an environmental scientist working on a number of different sustainable horticulture initiatives in Peru. And Lois Ovenden is serving as a speech therapist in Uganda, helping those who struggle to communicate. We have physio therapists, chief executives, HR professionals and computer geeks – all serving God alongside local Christians, bringing life in all its fullness to people in Jesus’ name. And it happens because people like you support it. And because people like you go.

We’ve hopefully shown you how much amazing work is done under the umbrella of mission across the world. If you want to help us keep changing expectations of mission work, share this story with your friends and family, and show them what mission actually looks like.

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Words by Laura Durrant.

The frontline is everywhere

The frontline is everywhere:

nine encounters with the realities of mission

Our mission workers are doing inspiring things in incredible countries around the world. And their blogs definitely show that! We’ve picked nine that we’d love for you to read today.

1. When a rock the size of a sofa tumbles towards you

Ever hit a pothole or been held up by roadworks? It won’t seem so annoying after you’ve read what BMS World Mission teacher trainer Annie Brown went through in Nepal. Thick mud, monsoon-flooded roads and steep hillsides were challenging enough. But then came the landslide.

Read Annie's blog

2. The French church that needs your prayers

BMS mission worker Christine Kling gives a sermon in France
Christine Kling is taking on scepticism and a secular nation as she shares the truth of God’s love.

Church planting in secular France is very hard, and often lonely. But BMS pastor Christine Kling is giving all she’s got to try and help people get to know Christ, and God is with her. Please read Christine’s latest blog in which she shares some of the amazing opportunities she has to share the gospel, and please keep her church in your prayers.

Read Christine's blog

3. How a sewing machine can spark dancing and hope for a better life

Sara’s husband is unemployed, just as her four adult sons are. Many others in her neighbourhood in Maputo, Mozambique, struggle to find work too. Your support for BMS worker Susanna Barrell means something is being done to help not only Sara, but others who want to learn a new skill to bring in money.

Read Susanna's blog

4. The day dozens of soldiers showed up at a hospital in the desert

BMS pharmacist Claire Bedford at Guinebor II Hospital as soldiers walked the grounds
The day when soldiers turned up at Guinebor II Hospital to do some gardening, captured by BMS pharmacist Claire Bedford.

It was turning out to be a relaxing Saturday for BMS pharmacist Claire Bedford at Guinebor II Hospital in Chad. She’d chilled out with a friend over lunch, watched a film and arrived home before dark. And then her phone rang. Claire’s weekend of peace and rest was no more… the military were on their way for an important visit. It was a memorable affair. We’ll let Claire complete the story.

Read Claire's blog

5. Bringing a whole lot of joy to some amazing mothers

Songs, games, gifts, and a lot of smiling. What a great celebration of mothers this was in the village of Wang Daeng, northern Thailand. BMS workers Helen and Wit Boondeekhun will explain the rest.

Read Helen and Wit's blog

6. Home assignment in numbers: ten facts from the Judkins family

BMS church planters Claire-Lise and David Judkins
BMS church planters Claire-Lise and David Judkins travelled over 5,000 miles during their recent UK visit.

Did BMS church planters Claire-Lise and David Judkins visit your church over the summer? Aren’t they great?! Even if you didn’t get to hear about their work in France, we think this set of important, interesting, and slightly quirky facts will give you a taste of their time visiting churches in the UK was for them and their four children. Check it out!

Read the Judkins' blog

8. A sermon in the jungle, an exhilarating boat ride… and dolphins

As family trips go, the one taken by the Mahon family into the Peruvian jungle is certainly unforgettable. Find out what Baptist ministers Dave and Michele, and their three children Jonathan, Ruth and Phoebe, experienced when they left the city behind them and went up the mighty Nanay River, heading for the village of Santa Rita.

Read the Mahons' blog

9. ‘These poor people work literally until they drop’

Two female tea pickers in Bangladesh
It is a very hard life being a tea-picker in Bangladesh.

Your tea of choice may well have been produced ethically. But it’s not the case for all the tea on the market, as BMS workers Louise and Phil Proctor document in their powerful blog post about the backbreaking work many tea-pickers in Bangladesh endure.

Read the Proctors' blog

Thank you for your incredible support for our mission workers. Of course, there are so many other blogs that we could have included above. We do our very best to feature as many as we can on our Facebook page, where you can also keep-up-to date with the latest BMS news, stories and prayer requests.

Please check the page out today and share this story as another way to show your support for the Christians you’re partnering with around the world. They inspire us every day, as do you.

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The top 10: Action Team photo competition 2018

The top 10:

Action Team photo competition 2018

We bring you the finalists in the annual BMS World Mission Action Team photo competition.

Be warned, you’re about to be bitten by the gap year bug. We certainly were as we looked at the Action Team photos submitted by the class of 2017/18, though sadly most of us are beyond our gap-year years! If you know anyone who isn’t old like us and might want to do a Christian gap year in places like these, share this story with them! They could be our next crop of Action Teams. 

We loved judging these photos. And, after much debate (it went on for hours), we finally picked our top ten. They are beautiful.

Tenth place: Nepal

A mountain isin the distance, while in the foreground is a bench, with sunlight shining on it
What a stunning sight this is. We adored this photo of the Annapurna Himalayas the moment we saw it.

Rachel Paton will never forget this view from a five-day trek in the Annapurna Himalayas.

“As we got ready to begin our descent early in the morning, the sun filled the valleys with a golden haze,” says Rachel. “I was overwhelmed with a sense of how privileged I’d been to see sights such as these.”

Ninth place: Nepal

A woman in red clothing, crouches behind a statue, pinching a cigarette in her fingers
This candid shot of a woman smoking a cigarette was taken when the Nepal Action Team were visiting a temple.

This woman was begging at the foot of a temple staircase in Bhaktapur, a town east of Kathmandu. And then for a moment, she retreated behind an enormous stone statue just as Rachel Paton took her picture.

“She seemed to be hiding; weary, perhaps, of being visible but often ignored by so many people passing by,” says Rachel.

Eighth place: Guinea

Children sit behind desks as a teacher writes on a chalkboard
Children fill a classroom in Guinea, though just like in classrooms around the world, concentrating all the time is not possible for every child.

There are over 80 young children packed into this preschool classroom in Guinea. Teaching assistant and Guinea Action Team member Eleanor Hyde found space somehow to take this photo of the children’s eagerness to learn.

“They jump up to show you their work, and with huge smiles encourage you to keep teaching them,” says Eleanor. “These are God’s children, gifted and purposed.”

Seventh place: Nepal

Small blue boats on a lake with mist in the distance
This picture from Nepal captured our attention because of its beauty and the sense of tranquillity.

The serenity of Phewa Lake in the Pokhara Valley was captured by Rachel Paton (she really did take a lot of great photos!), with its stillness contrasted by what was happening behind her.

“There were tourists out for a stroll, locals using the lakeside footpath, Tibetan refugees selling handcrafted jewellery, and women washing clothes at the edge of the water,” says Rachel. “It is a wonderful place to visit.”

Sixth place: Nepal

Children in blue clothing smile and laugh as they pull on a flag
It is play time at a Nepal school, with these young children having the time of their lives.

Children couldn’t contain their excitement when this parachute was brought out at a rural school in Nepal. And Action Teamer and gifted photographer Rachel Paton was there to capture the joy.

“We had to work hard to convince them that this particular parachute was not to be used for flying, just for playing with on the ground!” says Rachel.

Fifth place: Guinea

Children in the distance wade through water
Children on a small island off the coast of Guinea head into the water in search of fish to catch.

Guinea Action Teamer Mhairi Cole was on a small island off the African nation’s coast when she saw a group of children being given a fishing lesson.

“They proudly presented their huge catch,” says Mhairi. “And then later on, we had the opportunity to try some. I would give the fish a five-star rating!”

Fourth place: Mozambique

A young child peers behind a tree in Mozambique
This adorable scene during a game of hide-and-seek was captured in Mozambique.

Who doesn’t love a game of hide-and-seek? The children Action Teamer Rhiannon Cleghorn met in Mozambique clearly do. And though this boy had only trees to hide behind when Rhiannon was playing, it meant an adorable photo of him could be taken.

Third place: Mozambique

A man and a woman walk on a beach at sunset
Along with great need and a history of conflict and colonial oppression, Mozambique has glorious beaches enjoyed by local people every day. They are even more stunning as the sun sets, as this image shows.

Living by the coast was one of the biggest blessings for the Action Team in Mozambique, says Rhiannon Cleghorn.

“Sunday afternoons were spent at the beach playing football and making some of our best friends,” she said. “To top it all off, the sunsets were always serious ‘creation appreciation’ experiences.”

Second place: Nepal

Bells of different sizes hang from a pole, with a mountain range in the background.
These prayer bells in Nepal were wonderfully captured with the contours of the valley in the background.

This is a photo that makes you want to stand where photographer Rachel Paton did. She took this photo at the iconic Buddhist temple, Swayambhu, which is on top of a hill in the Kathmandu Valley.

“We were up there as the sun was setting, and the evening light striking this row of bells caught my attention just before we started to head down,” she says.

And the winner is: Nepal

An elephant with a trunk painted with colours looks at the camera
This photo, taken in Nepal by Rachel Paton, caught our attention straight away.

What a striking photo this is, and an obvious first place in this year’s Action Team photo competition. It was captured in Nepal by Rachel Paton (who else?!), and shows the beauty of God’s work in the form of this majestic elephant, Mayabhati.

“Three men were responsible for her around-the-clock care,” says Rachel. “It was amazing to see her, just as it was amazing to learn about the unique relationship that people in Nepal have with these parts of the country.”

Congratulations not only to those in the top ten, but to everyone who submitted a photo. You’ve inspired, moved and challenged us, and reminded us all of how magnificent God’s creation is.

Do you know a future Action Teamer?

Our Action Teams programme is one of the best Christian gap year programmes out there. If you know anyone aged between 17 and 23 who wants to serve God overseas then encourage them to get in touch with us today. You never know, they might just make next year’s photo competition top ten!

The seven must-read chapters of an extraordinary mission worker’s life

The seven must-read chapters of an extraordinary mission worker’s life

Praying for this

“Is this going to be short-term, or for life?” For BMS World Mission worker Ann Bothamley, there was only one answer.

She stared down the devil when she was weak. Overcame dysentery, major spinal surgery and crushing loneliness. She founded a hostel for children of mission doctors, helped thousands of people through her nursing service, and returned to work after retirement to give pastoral care to patients. Ann Bothamley has been an ambassador for Christ in India since 1968. We’re inspired by all that she’s done in the past, and all that she continues to do. We know you will be too. This is Ann’s story.

Chapter one: The beginning

I gave my heart to the Lord when I was nine years old. After Sunday School one day I went to the superintendent and said, “I’ve decided I want to follow Jesus.”

I then went in for a Bible quiz and won a Bible. It had, ‘Presented to Ann Bothamley’, and at the bottom was the verse from Matthew 28: 19, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel”. I remember saying to my mother, “I think that means me. I think I have to go.”

So even then, I knew in my heart that God wanted me to go out as a medical missionary somewhere.

A black and white photo of Ann Bothamley smiling in her nurse's uniform
Ann in 1967, months before leaving for India, where she has been serving with BMS for over half a century.

Chapter two: The call

I was quite sure that God wanted me to be a doctor, but I didn’t do terribly well at school. I went to work in the microbiology department of St Thomas’ Hospital, and one day the professor said to me, “why don’t you go in for nursing?”

Within six weeks, I was in. I really enjoyed it and knew I was in the right place. I wanted to have more qualifications, so I did a ward sister course, but twice during my training I slipped a disc in my back. After the second time, the matron said, “I think you might have to give up nursing”, and I thought, ‘no way’.

I ended up having a laminectomy [the removal of part of a vertebrae] after my fourth year. There was a lot of waiting and I wondered what God was saying to me. But I got through all that and got better very quickly. I did midwifery in Glasgow, and then did a year as a night sister in a large hospital in Croydon. I decided then that it was the time to go to BMS.

Chapter three: The journey

I think God planted it in my heart that I was going to India. I knew, too, that it was going to be for life. I was asked at the candidate board, “is this going to be short-term, or for life?” That was how it was put in those days. I said, “no, for life”. And so I was accepted by BMS.

The journey to India was a very long one. We travelled across Europe to Venice, where we boarded a boat to Brindisi, and then went on to the Canary Islands, and down to Cape Town where we boarded the boat to Mombasa.

You can’t send me home. My God is greater than you.

From Mombasa we went to Karachi and on to Bombay, as it was then. I got on the train about 2 pm and arrived the next afternoon, about an hour from Vellore. I was met by someone called Miss Thompson. We were sitting squeezed up on the front seat of the car and she said to me, “well, I hope the Lord has brought you here. Because if not, you might as well go back now.”

A view from high up on a hill of a city in India, with homes and many trees in view.
Vellore has been Ann Bothamley's home since she arrived in 1968, after a gruelling journey that began at Victoria Station in London.

Chapter four: The attack

There was no question of going back. I was where God had put me. I had quite a few problems to begin with. I had dysentery and it was a very horrible thing.

I also remember being sent up into the hills after suffering sunstroke. I was sitting in a garden and it was as though the devil was saying, “I’m going to get you home.” I can remember telling him, “no, God is with me and I am not going home, and don’t think you can send me because God is greater than you.”

One of the amazing things in those first six months was that every so often Miss Thompson would hand me a little note with a verse of Scripture on it. It was quite amazing, and always seemed to me that God was saying, “I am with you.”

Chapter five: The loneliness

There have been times when I have known great loneliness. Sometimes one can be in a huge institution and still be very lonely.

But every so often God would send somebody I could pray with. I’d be tremendously encouraged and God would say to me, “I want you to rely on me more. Just keep relying on me.”

A mature woman with grey hair sits at a table in a hospital cafe with an elderly man on one side, and an elderly woman on another.
Ann Bothamley catches up with friends at the Christian Medical College in Vellore. Friends back home support her too, ringing her to chat and ask for her prayer requests.

Chapter six: The blessings

God has blessed me through some of the experiences I’ve been through. Three years ago, when I had major surgery on my spine, two families I didn’t even know were amazing to me, absolutely amazing.

God has been so faithful to me over the years, and blessed me so much in enabling me and giving me the privilege to meet such a diversity of people and patients.

Watch the moment when Ann is presented with a gift to mark her 50 years’ service with BMS.

Chapter seven: The support

I could not be here, but for the support and prayers of people at home. I have two friends who phone me about every two weeks and jot down all the things I would like them to pray about. And there’s a church too that does the same thing.

Prayer makes a difference, a huge difference. I’m sure there have been difficult times when I’ve been carried by the prayers of people at home.

If you're praying for Ann Click here
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Could you be the next Ann Bothamley?

BMS has mission workers all over the world showing people what following Christ looks like, just as Ann is doing today. If you’re sensing God calling you overseas, you need to read the article 10 reasons why you should serve with BMS.

You can confront injustice. Free women from trafficking. Teach children robbed of an education. And you can introduce people to Jesus. We’ll be with you every step of the way. Start by getting in touch here. We would love to hear from you.

Pray for Peru: our workers need your prayers today

Pray for Peru:

our workers need your prayers today

Praying for this

The land of Machu Picchu, rainforests and stunning mountains is loved by God and served by faithful Christians. All of BMS World Mission’s workers in the beautiful and diverse country of Peru will value your prayers this week.

Local Peruvian BMS workers America and Jorge are running social and recreational projects, as well as discipleship programmes for children and families in the town of Chincha.

• Pray that America and Jorge receive fresh energy when they are feeling tired.

• Pray they are encouraged in their work, and pray for the children they are serving. Pray they experience joy and form strong friendships.

Denise and Melany run an after-school club at the BMS-founded El Puente Baptist Church in Cusco. We rejoice that a church founded by BMS is now being led by Peruvian Christians and we give thanks for the privilege of partnering with them.

• Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in Denise and Melany’s lives and ministry. Pray they would feel guided in making decisions, and every day they would sense the joy that knowing Christ brings.

• Pray for Pastor Amilcar at the church. Pray for continued wisdom in his work, and that he would feel God’s strength in his meetings and conversations.

Children wave at an after-school club in Peru
Children at the after-school club at the El Puente Baptist Church.

Daniel and Regiane Clark are based in Lima, working at the Baptist Seminary. They also support children and adults in deprived areas, helping to organise medical check-ups with a team of volunteers that includes a doctor, nurse, dentist and a psychologist.

• Pray for Daniel’s teaching at the Seminary to be blessed and for Regiane to sense God’s presence in her administrative work and with student placements.

• Pray for the medical work they support. Pray that God would provide the resources needed to help people who are sick.

Pastor Luis is serving at the BMS-supported Nauta Integral Mission Training Centre, where Christian leaders from river communities in the Amazon region are taught theology and biblical literacy, as well as practical skills in caring for their land.

• Pray that Pastor Luis senses your encouragement today. Pray that he feels a fresh sense of conviction in his teaching, and that doors are opened for him to show the love of Christ.

• Pray that supported partner workers Judith and Pedro feel lifted up today, with fresh enthusiasm and energy, and discernment in their work.

• Pray for all the students who have attended the training programme. Pray they would lead their communities wisely, reflecting God’s love for them.

Pastor Luis Alvarado Dolly looks at a camera
Pastor Luis is strengthening pastors in rural Peruvian communities.

Baptist ministers Dave and Michele Mahon and their three children are based in the city of Iquitos, in northern Peru. They work with nine churches in their region and support the running of the Nauta Integral Mission Training Centre.

• Dave, Michele and their children Jonathan, Ruth and Phoebe, arrived in Iquitos last month. Pray that they settle in well.

• Pray that Dave and Michele find local people to come alongside them in their work, and that Dave builds strong relationships with pastors.

Show this video in your church to inspire prayer for the Mahon family

Laura-Lee Lovering is helping to develop the Nauta Integral Mission Training Centre. As an environmental scientist, she’s teaching community leaders sustainable ways to care for their land.

• Pray for Laura-Lee to find extra strength this week as pastors from river communities are trained at the centre. Please pray that more pastors attend the training, and that they arrive safely.

• Pray for the pastors training at the centre. Pray they would be inspired by what Laura and her colleagues teach them, and that they would encourage others to come forward and learn.

Life on the Amazon: a behind the scenes tour of Laura-Lee Lovering's workplace

Lori and Neil Brighton are BMS volunteers serving at the Nauta Integral Mission Training Centre. Lori is helping with the centre’s finances, and Neil is helping to redevelop the training course for pastors.

• Pray for their Spanish language development so they can become more effective in their roles.

• Pray the Holy Spirit would guide them in their work, and they would sense the support of people around the world praying for them.

Thank you so much for praying with our mission workers today, and for your continued support of them.

For daily prayer updates, please follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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10 reasons why you should serve with BMS

10 reasons why you should serve with BMS

Praying for this

Choosing to serve with BMS World Mission could be the most incredible, life-changing step you ever take, and it might just be around the corner. If you’re wondering if God can use you overseas, here are ten reasons why you should push that door open right now and find out more.

1. You'll help transform lives around the world in the name of Jesus

A woman uses a sewing machine at skills centre in Uganda.
When you serve with BMS, you’ll witness the incredible joy that a transformed life brings.

When you serve with BMS, you get the chance to show people what Christ’s love feels like, and looks like, and it will be one of the most beautiful things you’ll ever do.

From accountants and doctors to development specialists, our workers are helping bring life in all its fullness to some of the world’s least evangelised and most marginalised people – and you can join them. You can confront injustice. Teach children robbed of an education. Alleviate poverty. Free women from trafficking. Introduce people to Jesus. This is what we do at BMS, and we’ll be with you every step of the way.

2. You won't be going alone

People stand and worship at the Baptist Assembly in 2017
During your challenges overseas, remember that Christians back home are praying for you.

BMS has been supported by Baptist churches across the UK for hundreds of years, and we still are today.

Christians you may never meet will pray for you every day, lifting you up to God, because when you serve with BMS, you’re part of a big, beautiful family.

The training is second to none and is of vital importance for preparing you for long-term overseas service

3. You don't have to be rich

Money is not everything. But it’s not nothing, either. Being able to take care of your family and think about your future are not things you need to sacrifice to serve with BMS.

That’s why we cover housing costs, living expenses and even pension contributions for our workers.

4. You’ll get to work in some amazing places

Afghanistan is beautiful. Seriously, seriously beautiful. Just take a look at the photo below, at those magnificent colours, and remind yourself how stunning God’s creation is.

An aerial view of mountains in Afghanistan

Well, you could be in Afghanistan, making a very real difference to people’s lives.

“Hearing first-hand how the work you have been involved in has helped change lives is both humbling and rewarding,” says BMS development worker in Afghanistan, Tim*. “You also experience amazing hospitality, and share in the joy and the heartache that your local friends, colleagues and neighbours are going through.”

And if you don’t find yourself in Afghanistan, you could be in Chad, where BMS is making a huge impact on the health of local people, and where the sunset over the River Chari is stunning:

The sun sets over the River Chari in Chad.

Or, you might be in Guinea, working on projects to empower women and children, and you’ll get to see scenery like this:

A tree in Guinea

Mission isn’t tourism. But it is an opportunity to see parts of God’s creation most of us never encounter. We should also mention that your annual travel costs to and from the UK are covered, you receive a generous leave allowance, and when you return home we will help you travel round UK churches telling people about what God has done in and through you.

5. You’ll join an amazing, global team

Members of the BMS-supported legal team in Mozambique stand in front of their office entrance
The BMS-supported legal team in Mozambique speaks up for the poor and needy, and is made up of BMS workers from the UK, Uganda and Mozambique.

This is one of the very best parts of serving overseas with BMS. The people you work alongside are some of the most passionate, wonderful Christians you could ever hope to meet. They are our fellow workers and partners overseas. They’re the World Church. They’re our brothers and sisters, and you will learn so much from them.

Want to find out more?

Just click here to get in touch and find out more about serving overseas with BMS.

6. You'll be well prepared

Language studies. Living in community. Biblical and mission training. We will help you with it all, in the field and at our mission training and hospitality centre. You’ll learn about God, you’ll learn about yourself, you’ll be discipled for service in another culture. Tempted yet? Let pharmacist Claire Bedford tell you more.

“The training is second to none and is of vital importance for preparing you for long-term overseas service,” says Claire, who is serving at a BMS-supported hospital in Chad. “Many months of UK training gives time to adjust to the fact that you’re going to be leaving the UK for quite a while, as well as learning how to live in community.”

Unconvinced? Let our very own Mission Bros address your concerns

7. You'll make history

Albania was a closed communist state until 1991. Nepal, a Hindu kingdom hostile to the gospel. When they opened to mission, BMS was there. And you’ll be serving in countries where we have faith that God has more exciting plans in store.

8. We take security and your welfare very seriously

We have someone on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ready to answer your call in an emergency.

We have protocols for evacuation and kidnapping should either situation ever arise, and measures to protect your identity in sensitive countries.

Mission can be dangerous, but we’re risk-aware, not risk averse.

You’re looked after so well, with all aspects of your life cared for

9. Worried about your children? We care about them too

We pay for your children’s education overseas, help them learn the local language, and take care of any medical needs they have, just as we take care of yours.

And some of the happiest kids we know grew up with mission families, learning first-hand what it means to serve the least of these. Take Graeme in the video (above), he grew up as a mission kid – and just look how much good work he is doing now!

10. We've always got your back

You’ll always have someone to turn to at BMS. We pride ourselves on our pastoral and professional support, no matter where our workers are. And we want you to thrive.

“BMS is great to work for,” says Sophie*, who is helping to run the communications of a BMS partner organisation in Tunisia.
“You’re looked after so well, with all aspects of your life cared for, not just the job you signed up to do.”

Click here If you're praying for people to serve with BMS
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Do you feel God could be calling you?

We are urgently looking for people to serve in Afghanistan, Chad and Guinea. We also have other exciting mission vacancies all over the world. If you would like to find out more, email opportunities@bmsworldmission.org or call 01235 517651 and speak to Tom, our Mission Personnel Organiser.

Don’t put off the new adventure God has waiting for you. If you feel God is calling you, and if you have the skills we’re asking for, get in touch today!

* Names changed

Meet the Vokuhls

Nepal bound:

Meet the Vokuhls

Supporting this

Pippa, Toby, Jakey, Ella and Millie Vokuhl fly to Nepal on Saturday with BMS World Mission. Find out why they feel called to mission and what they’ll be up to overseas.

After months of preparation, Pippa and Toby Vokuhl are ready to begin an exciting new chapter of their lives, serving God in Nepal. They are part of Headington Baptist Church in Oxford and have three children: Jakey (nine), Ella (seven) and Millie (three).

Amidst packing up their house, saying goodbyes and doing other last-minute tasks, Pippa and Toby sat down with us to talk about the adventure they’re getting ready to embark on.

Have you always wanted to work overseas?

“I would say yes for both of us – since our teenage years we’ve felt called to work overseas,” says Pippa. “We both worked in separate places overseas before we got married. I worked as a physiotherapist in Uganda and Toby worked as a carpenter in Nazareth.
“Toby and I actually met at All Nations Christian College,” Pippa continues. “So even from the start of our marriage, mission was very much on the agenda.”

How did you decide to move overseas?

“When we started to consider whether an overseas assignment might be right for us as a family and if that was something God might be calling us to,” says Toby, “it led us to start having conversations with BMS.”

“We had a Skype call with someone in Nepal telling us about the project and whether Toby would consider taking this role,” says Pippa. “As we got off the call, we both looked at each other and went, yes! This is the right one! So we both had a deep peace about this being the right thing to do.”

I’m looking forward to being able to encourage Nepali Christians and likewise them to encourage us

What will you be doing in Nepal?

“My background is in construction management,” says Toby. “I will be working with a local BMS partner as part of their disaster response and resilience department, based in Pokhara – there’s still a lot of ongoing work in terms of the reconstruction of housing that was damaged in the 2015 earthquakes.

“I’ll be working with local colleagues to help with the construction of houses, as well as training craftsmen, giving people the necessary skills to build a better future for themselves by teaching them how to improve the quality of their own homes.”

“For me, it’s a bit less clear at the moment,” says Pippa. “Initially when we get there it will be about settling the family in.

“We’ll both be doing some language study for a couple of months, and then after that I’ll be praying that God will give me the right role.”

How did your children react when they found out they were moving?

“We were really encouraged by their response – they were really up for it and excited,” says Toby. “They’re now working through the sort of thoughts of losing friendships and how they can maintain them in Nepal, but in general they took it really well.”

What are you looking forward to when you go?

“Getting to know local Nepalis,” says Pippa. “Getting to know Nepali Christians and learning from them, being able to encourage them and likewise for them to encourage us – to be part of that global Christian family. I’m also looking forward to seeing my kids having new cultural experiences as well.”

“For me,” says Toby, “I’m really looking forward to meeting local colleagues, meeting with local Christians and joining in with the ongoing relief efforts, as well as the cross-cultural experience and the chance to learn new things.”

Even from the start of our marriage, mission was very much on the agenda

What can people be praying for?

“If you could pray for the kids,” says Pippa. “Toby and I have had experience overseas, so we know what to expect. But if people could pray for them with the transition, that they would just feel really settled and happy.”

“I think pray for general health really, that would be great,” says Toby. “It would be a shame to catch the flu just as we’re getting ready to go out!

“You can get tired and weary with all the work involved in a move, so also pray for energy, calmness and for peace. And please pray for the journey to Nepal and our stay in Kathmandu, before our journey to Pokhara where we will then settle ourselves in.”

If you’re an individual and want to commit to giving regularly to support the Vokuhl family, you can become a 24:7 Partner by clicking the box on the right.

If you’re a church and want to support the work they’ll be doing out in Nepal, you can become a Church Partner with us by clicking here.

Want to support the Vokuhls? Click Here
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Could you be called to mission overseas?