What’s in your hand?

What’s in your hand?

How can you use your gifts for the glory of God? BMS World Mission worker Sarah Brown shares her thoughts – and her baking!  Don’t miss your chance to join the BMS bake along by checking out Sarah’s video below.

When you think “mission worker”, you’d be forgiven for not immediately thinking about cake. Your mind probably turns to healthcare professionals in Chad, or agricultural workers in their native Uganda helping local farmers grow enough to feed their family. And yet where Sarah Brown is concerned, cake is just as important to God’s mission.

In fact, Sarah’s connection with cake is a perfect example of using your gifts for God’s mission. You might be familiar with the baking projects Sarah’s set up in Thailand over the last ten years of her service with BMS. Through them, she’s time and again used her gifts for creating delicious confectionary to help equip and empower vulnerable women to develop their skills and lift themselves out of poverty. And when she and her husband Paul began their new roles among BMS’ partner the Thai Karen Baptist Convention (TKBC), the TKBC’s women’s ministry knew that sharing her baking ministry was exactly where they wanted her to start.

Two women kneeling on a mat in a hut.
Sarah and the women of the TKBC are working together to help discern how God can use them in their communities.
Download the recipe!
A man and a woman smiling at the camera.
BMS workers Paul and Sarah Brown have been serving God in Thailand for over ten years.

But for Sarah, it’s not about teaching specific skills, it’s about equipping people to discover their own God-given gifts, to see how they can serve in their own unique way. And she’d love to encourage you to do the same! Sarah says:

Some people may not know what their gift or talent is, but we can see specifically from 1 Peter 4: 10-11, God has given each of us a gift, not to be used only for ourselves but to serve others.

Sometimes we may be scared to use the gift or talent that God has given us, but we’re reminded through Moses’ encounter with the Lord in Exodus 31 that Bezalel and Oholiab were used to rebuild the tabernacle and teach their skills to others – whatever the Lord has given us, he will then equip and guide us as to how we should use our gifts and talents.

The Bible also encourages us to be ‘faithful stewards’ of our God-given gifts and talents. We must surrender them to God, continually thinking “not my will, but yours be done.” The Lord will transform them for his glory and purpose, which enables us to glorify God and share God’s love with others. The power to use our gifts and abilities is not done in our own strength, but God’s power – and with God all things are possible.

So what’s in your hand? What has God placed with you in order to serve him? Maybe you could sign up to receive copies of our magazines and share about BMS’ work with others? Perhaps you have the capacity to give regularly as a BMS 24:7 Partner. Maybe you’re particularly athletic or artistic, and you could use those skills to do some fundraising for BMS. Perhaps you’ve felt a call to go out and serve yourself. Whatever resources you have available, whatever your skills and gifts are, there is some way that you can get involved, some way that God wants to use you to further his Kingdom.

You can find out more about the new baking project Sarah’s running with the TKBC in the next issue of Engage magazine. To go along with the story, we’re encouraging all BMS supporters to join us in a bake along to pray for Sarah’s work, and consider how your gifts can be used to support God’s Kingdom! Check out the video above to find Sarah’s own tiramisu recipe (much like one she’ll be teaching the women of the TKBC!) with some Bible verses you can use to reflect on your gifts. While you’re baking, why not pray for Sarah’s work, and spend some time considering how you can use your gifts as part of the BMS family?

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Words by Laura Durrant.
Video by Sarah Brown.

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.

Women around the world need you to pray

Women around the world need you to pray

Praying for this

Freeing women from the sex trade. Giving women a voice in Afghanistan. Equipping women to start their own businesses. These are just some of the ways that BMS World Mission is working to empower women around the world. And to thrive, these women and these projects need your prayers.

Empowering women to set up businesses in Guinea

Women in Guinea are underprivileged, often not having the same standard of living as men in society. BMS workers Caroline* and Victor* are helping these women to set up self-help groups, where around 20 women come together each Sunday to save money corporately, which can then be loaned to members of the group. This then lets women borrow money to set up small businesses, so they can provide for their families and the community around them.

Caroline and Victor’s prayer requests:

– Pray for the woman who is borrowing £80 every two months to finance a restaurant, so she can continue to provide for her family and those around her. Pray for success.

– We’re looking for four stakeholders to form a committee, who will then provide training so more self-help groups can be established. Pray that we would find the right people for the job.

Freeing women from the sex trade in Thailand

Paul and Sarah Brown are reaching out to survivors of sex trafficking and women who’ve been sexually exploited in Bangkok, Thailand. They’re empowering these women by teaching them how to make jewellery and cakes, as well as giving them opportunities to receive business training.

Their prayer requests:

– Pray for ways we can support, empower and enable women who are survivors of trafficking.

– Pray that more traffickers will be brought to justice and that Bangkok’s local authorities will become better equipped to find them.

Giving women a voice in Afghanistan

Women in Afghanistan often don’t have a say in what goes on in their village, where men are generally the key decision makers.

BMS partners in Afghanistan are working to change this by creating a women’s council in every village they work in. Making sure that the council is representative of all women in the village, it regularly meets alongside a men’s council which often already exists. This allows women to have a say in important decisions that will affect them, like where the water pipelines and latrines should be built.

BMS workers Catherine* and Rory* are part of our team in Afghanistan.

Their prayer requests:

– Pray for women-headed households in these villages, where men are away working and send money back when they can. Food shortages are predicted this year, and these families will be the ones hit the hardest.

– Give thanks for the local female staff that work with us in Afghanistan – they’re amazing role models. They are showing that women can work and empower people.

Empowering women in France

It’s dangerous to be a homeless woman in France, as many face abuse or are at risk of being forced into prostitution. Christine Kling, alongside a group of volunteers, set up a day shelter for these women. It gives homeless women a place to stay, rest and eat a meal, and it’s a place of dignity and respect.

As a pastor, Christine also wants to see more women in France step into Christian leadership. Through training and mentoring, more women are becoming confident in their gifts and calling.

Christine’s prayer requests:

– The homeless shelter requires many volunteers to keep it running. Give thanks for the people currently volunteering, and pray for new volunteers to come forward to join the project.

– Pray that more women in the new generation of Christians in France will feel confident and supported in their calling as pastors.

Providing employment for survivors of sex trafficking in India

Thousands of women from rural villages in India have been trafficked into Kolkata to work in the red light district. BMS works alongside local partners offering employment to those wanting to leave the sex trade. The women also receive training – including learning how to read and write – as well as one-to-one counselling.

Prayer requests:

– Pray for the health and safety of foreign staff in India, as they do what they can to help empower women in challenging conditions.

– Pray for wisdom and guidance as our partners look to create a further 200 jobs over the next three to four years for women wanting to leave the sex trade.

– Pray for BMS volunteers Annette and Ron Salmon as they work alongside vulnerable women in India.

We have many more workers and partners who are involved in empowering women. From projects in Uganda and Mozambique that work to educate women on their legal rights, to workers in Nepal who provide teacher training, leading to better education for girls. Please continue to pray for our workers all over the world as they help women see their God-given value. Let us know you’re praying by hitting the big blue button!

*Names changed to protect identity

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Top 5 stories of 2017

Looking back:

Top 5 stories of 2017

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Last year was filled with inspirational stories of lives being transformed through your giving. Here are our top five most-read articles from 2017.

Students being baptised in barrels. Young French Christians finding community. Nepali children excelling at school. These are just a few of the incredible things your gifts and prayers have made possible this year, through BMS World Mission. There were so many stories to choose from, but only five could top our news story charts! We hope you’ll be inspired as you look back at what we achieved together in 2017.

1. Big thinking for little minds

Millions of children in Nepal are getting the opportunity of a better education, thanks to your support for BMS worker Annie Brown.

With her teacher training programme being adopted by the Nepali Government, every teacher of students aged between five and 13 in all government schools will have the chance to receive Annie’s training. They’ll be better-equipped to teach, and Nepal’s children will face brighter futures!

Read the full story here

2. Pray for our new mission workers

James and Ruth Neve, who are preparing to move to India to work with us.

Tucked away in our centre in Birmingham, new BMS mission workers are busy preparing for overseas service. For them, it’s daunting, but also exciting, as they get ready to serve God abroad in different ways. From a family heading to Nepal to help with disaster relief, to a couple heading to Albania to teach children of mission workers, there are plenty of things we can be praying for.

Loads of you loved catching up with our new mission workers’ prayer requests, making this our second most popular story last year.

Pray for them today by clicking the link below.

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Read their prayer requests here

3. 5 ways you're fighting violence against women

For thousands of vulnerable women and girls around the world, gender based violence is a daily part of life. But, thanks to your support, BMS is taking a stand against it. From helping girls know their rights, to freeing women from prostitution, you’re helping to empower women and prevent trafficking, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Find out more by reading the story.

Learn how you're empowering women around the world

4. Baptised in a barrel in Phnom Penh

Students are meeting Jesus in Cambodia! We loved witnessing the amazing moment when Srei got baptised in a barrel and by our stats it looked like you did too. Read about how she and Chan came to find God at a BMS-supported Christian hostel in Phnom Penh, and how, thanks to your support, more and more people are finding Jesus.

Read more here

5. Feeding of the 400

You’re helping to build Christian community in France – where young Christians often feel isolated and lonely.

Connexion 2017, an event put on by BMS worker Sue Wilson and her team, helped young French Christians realise they’re not alone. Watch the video above to find out about what it meant to the people who were there, and click the link below to read how you’re helping bring young French Christians together.

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Read how you're helping young French Christians find community

Thank you for supporting us in 2017. Your gifts have helped people find God, and have transformed countless lives. With your continued support, we can’t wait to start doing even more in 2018!

Other great stories made possible by you

Five stores aren’t enough to sum-up how much you did last year. So here are a few extra ones we’d love you to read too.

  1. Meet the inspiring Mozambican Christians you’re supporting: they’re bringing justice to abused women and teaching communities their rights.
  2. From witch doctor to church planter: the story of a witch doctor who found God, and then started planting churches.
  3. Baptist church brings light in Uganda: one simple action is raising money, helping people’s lungs and introducing people to Jesus.
  4. Refugees are like you and me: BMS worker Ann MacFarlane has seen God at work in the lives of refugees in Italy.
  5. This is what a life transformed looks like: meet Joshua. You helped give him a reason to smile.

Freedom from the sex trade: Yim’s story

Freedom from the sex trade:

Yim's story

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From despair to glory, our hearts are filled with joy to share Yim’s amazing journey.

You leave school aged 13, are pregnant at 15 and by the age of 16 are working halfway across your country as a prostitute in Bangkok’s notorious red light district. Barely more than a child, you spend half a decade coerced into selling your body to strangers to earn money to send back to your village for your grandmother and your little boy. You contract HIV. You’re overcome with depression. You have no hope. You contemplate ending it all.

Six years later, you’re a worship leader, a talented guitar player, fluent in English, and a translator for foreign teams coming to serve in the red light district. You’ve gone back to school and got your secondary diploma, and you’ve just accepted a well-paid, full-time job. You’re providing for your son, who now lives with you. And you spend your evenings going into the bars you used to be trapped in, sharing your story with women who feel hopeless – like you once did.

You’re free.

“If you met Yim*, you would never ever think she’d gone through such a traumatic time of her life,” says BMS World Mission worker Sarah Brown. “When she comes into a room, she lights it up. She has so much vibrancy, so much laughter.”

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If you met Yim*, you would never ever think she’d gone through such a traumatic time of her life. When she comes into a room, she lights it up. She has so much vibrancy, so much laughter.

Sarah and her husband Paul have been walking alongside Yim for the last five years, as she’s been learning that she is a loved and valued child of God.

Yim’s transformation began one night when she had reached rock bottom. Contemplating suicide, she called out for help to a God she had heard of, but didn’t really believe in. “God, please help me,” she remembers pleading. “If you’re real, help me.”

Soon afterwards, Yim found herself walking into a church. As she entered, an overwhelming joy gripped her. “She said a love poured over her that she had never ever experienced before,” says Sarah. A Christian Yim met at church invited her to come to BMS-supported NightLight, where Sarah works. NightLight is an organisation that exists to help women like Yim find freedom from sex work, and the invitation Yim received was the one she needed to leave her past behind.

Since joining NightLight, Yim has overcome the enormous challenges she has faced, but her path has been marked by doubt and insecurity. She’s had to accept herself, her past and her HIV status. She’s also had to resist her family’s pressure to go back to more lucrative sex work. But her faith in her God and in herself has grown and grown and she’s unrecognisable from the hopeless, traumatised woman she once was.

khao San Road Bangkok Thailand 2017

“The list of what she’s achieved is endless,” says Sarah. “It’s been a joy to watch her progress.” Over the last five years, Yim and Sarah have become close friends – Sarah mentoring and encouraging Yim to go back to school, to pursue her potential, to live as the beautiful, valuable person she was created to be.

Sarah and her husband Paul will continue their friendship with Yim as she moves on to her new job – a position she has earned through her own hard work and the gifts God has given her. They’ll also see her at church every Sunday – often at the front of the service, leading worship, or playing bass guitar after getting lessons from Paul.

“I feel very honoured to be part of Yim’s life,” says Sarah. “It’s a pleasure to see her fly.”

Yim’s is just one of the stories of transformation you’re helping to make possible in Thailand. The team at NightLight continues to help women who desperately want to leave the sex industry. Women who have been taught that they are worthless and that their bodies are things to be sold for a price. For Sarah, and for BMS, the work we’re doing in Bangkok’s red light district is not just about compassion for hurting women. It’s about justice – justice for humans who are being stripped of their dignity and their self-worth by an industry that traps far too many women every year.

“We meet women who don’t realise who they are. They’ve lost their identity,” says Sarah. “God has so much purpose for their lives. They think they have no potential at all – we’re showing them that they do. And it’s great.”

Sarah describes walking with Yim and the other women at NightLight as like watching flowers bloom. God has seen their value and potential all along. It’s our job to help them see it, too.

Thank you so much for supporting BMS and being a part of Yim’s story.

*name changed

Help us do more

We’re passionate about our work bring freedom to women trapped in the sex industry in countries like Thailand and India. If you are too, you can help us do more. Become a 24:7 Partner today, or give a one-off donation.