Growing Church in India: Women leading the way

Growing Church in India:

Women leading the way

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There’s no space to sit down, shoes are piled high at the door. That’s the scene when you arrive at a house church in rural India.

People have travelled for hours to share the Word together, to worship and pray for one another. And, wonderfully, many of these house group leaders are women, boldly stepping out to share their faith in spite of the dangers they might face. It was a privilege to visit and meet some of these women on a visit to India with a BMS World Mission media team back in February – and it’s a privilege to share some of their stories with you.

Devika*

“When I first found Jesus, my brothers and my father told me:
‘If you’re going to accept Jesus, you’re going to get out of the house. We don’t want you living here.'”

I found Jesus as my Saviour in 2011. I had suffered with sinus issues since childhood and I had a lot of problems breathing. I couldn’t go through a day without medication.

During that time, I worshipped every God I thought could heal me. I tried almost everything – but I was never healed. But in 2011, my auntie told me about Jesus. So I went to a fellowship and prayed, and I got healed. And since then, I’ve not taken any medication. The Lord has kept me absolutely healthy.

But when I first found Jesus, my brothers and my father told me: “If you’re going to accept Jesus, you’re going to get out of the house. We don’t want you living here.”

I told my brother: “The one who has saved me, I cannot go against him. I will walk with him till the end of my days. So you can do what you want.” I used to hide and pray, so that my family would never see me. And, miraculously, my mother and father, and my brothers, they all found Jesus as their personal Saviour.

From then on, I’ve gone out and shared about Jesus, that others may receive him and find eternal life. I started my first fellowship in my father’s house, we run Christmas outreaches and we started some children’s ministry.

Please pray that the Lord gives me capacity to continue to make disciples among women who will run these fellowship groups in their homes. As long as I live, I will continue to share the love of Christ with others.

A photo showing the shoulder of a woman in a pink sari. The photo has been taken to obscure her face, but you can see she's sat with some other women at a house church in India.
Devika was thrown out of her home when she became a Christian. Your support has helped her access support and training to help her share her faith.

Anza*

“I will tell my story to every person I meet and tell them what Jesus has done for me.”

My name is Anza, and I run a fellowship in my home. When my husband ran away with another woman, I was very broken. I used to worship a million different gods. I’d been given gospel literature before, but I never believed it. But one day, I was in the market and I met this husband and wife, and I started talking to them about my life.

When I spoke to them, they said to me: “Your life has not finished here. We want to tell you the good news of the Lord’s love – which is unconditional.” That’s the first time I went to the fellowship – and I received Jesus. And I started walking with him.

went to a fellowship in another village, because in those days we didn’t have a fellowship here. But then I decided that I’m going to open my home to do this, and I will tell my story to every person I meet and tell them what Jesus has done for me.

The Lord has really guided my life and I’m doing well. My son has just graduated and I have my own business now, selling stationery. This is the reason I do this, because of the joy that I’ve experienced in the Lord and I pray that others around me should also experience that joy.

A photo of a woman in a red, yellow and green patterned sari with her back to camera. She has her face obscured to protect her identity but you can see she is with a group of other believers at a house church in India.
Anza is excited to share with more people how God has changed her life. Your prayers are crucial to making her ministry possible.
Keep praying for India!

Praise God that more and more people are coming to know Jesus in India! If you’re keen to hear more about the growing Indian Church, then why not sign up for prayer letters from BMS mission worker Ben Francis and stay on top of all the ways you can be praying for this exciting ministry.

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*Names changed and faces obscured to protect the identities of the believers mentioned in this story.
Words and interviews by Laura Durrant, Editor of Engage magazine.

A passion for passionfruit: ending poverty in Uganda

A passion for passionfruit:

ending poverty in Uganda

When it comes to passionfruit, Siwako Muhindo knows exactly what he’s looking for. Ripe fruits are heavy and firm, with smooth purple skin. If you cut one of them open, you can see the orange flesh inside – sweet, fragrant and perfect for lifting your family out of poverty.

Siwako Muhindo and his wife Jane Biira earn 60,000 Ugandan shillings a month from selling passionfruit – more than enough to buy food for their seven children and pay for their school fees. But back in 2021, life looked very different for Siwako and Jane.

“I always looked down on myself, and the community around me could not value me because of my poor financial situation,” says Siwako.  “Most of the time my children would not attend school because I could not afford to provide them with enough materials, and I failed to pay the fees. I used to wake up early in the morning to find work in other people’s gardens to be given food to feed my family. Sometimes when I failed to find work my family would starve or have one meal a day – a bad situation that troubled me for many years.”

A group of people standing in front of a Baptist church in Kasese district with blue sky in the background.
Village savings groups that meet in churches are empowering people across Kasese District.

One day, Yofeli Muhindo, who works for a partner of BMS World Mission in Uganda, told Siwako and Jane about a local village savings group. People living in poverty often can’t afford the interest rates on loans from a bank, and banks aren’t prepared to risk lending to them. Village savings groups bring people together every week to save up small amounts of money so that villagers can take out affordable loans. The total money saved is then shared between group members at the end of the year. Siwako was so inspired by Yofeli’s message and he knew that a village savings group was the way to raise himself and his family out of poverty.

After only five months, Siwako could take out loans. Each group member also received 130,000 Ugandan shillings at the end of the year, which Siwako and Jane used to start a food stall. In 2022, the group shared 160,000 Ugandan shillings, which helped Siwako start his passionfruit business.

Now, Siwako and Jane have enough food to eat and can afford to send their children to school. Last year, the group even shared enough money for Siwako to buy a goat!

“The village savings group has really changed our life from a helpless situation where we could fail to provide food and other needs for our family,” says Siwako. “We are now respected in our community, and people have seen a big change in our lives. We are greatly encouraged to save more as we see a bright future ahead.”

A green passionfruit being held in someone's hand.
Not all passionfruit are purple – some are green!
Joshua addressing church-based trainers and village savings group leaders inside Bwera Baptist Church.
Our partners are training people to run village savings groups in churches like Bwera Baptist Church.

But Siwako knows that none of this would have been possible without God working through the local church. “We praise God for the wonders he does in our lives through his people. God bless the Kasese Association of Baptist Churches Development Committee, Justice Livelihoods Health, and BMS for the good work and support they have offered to transform my life and my entire family.”

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Your generous giving and faithful prayers have made such a difference to the lives of people like Siwako and Jane. They are so grateful for your support, and for the love shown to them by our partners. If you would like to keep giving to the work of BMS’ partners in Uganda, then why not consider becoming one of our 24:7 Partners.

Words by Chris Manktelow 

International Women’s Day: Jesus cares for details

International Women's Day

Jesus cares for details

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This International Women’s Day we’re praying for all women and girls to experience justice and equality. Take a look at how some BMS World Mission partners are championing just that.

Her documents had finally arrived. It was time to leave the Greek island of Lesbos and seek a better future in another country. On her last morning on the island, she walked into the community centre for women where she had been volunteering and spoke to BMS partner worker Haniele.

“Since I met you,” she told Haniele, “I’ve been asking myself questions like ‘why are you so worried about offering the best for the women?’ and ‘Why are you caring for the details like keeping everything organised and clean?’”

“I am here because God has called me to leave my country to share my love with women like you,” Haniele said. “I also believe that Jesus, the Son of God, would be here doing this for you nowadays. And Jesus cares for details. He cares for you, so in the same way we care for you and all the women that come here.”

Dani and Hani standing outside the community centre on the Greek island of Lesbos.
The community centre on the Greek island of Lesbos seeks to welcome refuge women and treat them with dignity.

The woman was speechless. She said, “now I understand why you do this. In my life, I’ve met a lot of bad people. I didn’t believe that good people exist anymore. But here, all of you are good. You treat me like family, like my sisters, and I would never imagine that I would meet people like you in Lesbos.” Those were her last words in the centre. They hugged each other and cried together.

Friday 8th March is International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate the strength and resilience of women and girls around the world. It’s also an opportunity to raise awareness of gender discrimination, and to pray and call for gender justice. According to the United Nations, women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours and produce half of the world’s food yet earn only ten per cent of the world’s income and own fewer than one per cent of the world’s property.

A few thousand miles away, our partners in Bangladesh are empowering women by raising up the next generation of women leaders in churches. Thanks to your support, our partner Asia Pacific Baptist Aid (APBAid) have encouraged the Bangladesh Baptist Church Federation to train eight female volunteers out of 20 to lead Bible study groups. Women were not allowed to join in with ministry in rural churches, but now they have started preaching on Bible topics.

Volunteer wearing a red All4Aid T-shirt bathing a child at the community centre.
Refugee women are empowered through volunteering at the community centre on the Greek island of Lesbos.
A women reading the Bible at morning prayers.
Our partners in Bangladesh are encouraging women to teach the Bible in churches.

APBAid not only encourage women to teach in Baptist churches, but also raise awareness of gender discrimination. On Mother’s Day and International Women’s Day, women will be sharing in churches about how to prevent child marriages. Several churches are also organising a health and wellness programme to provide healthcare services tailor

The Indian social reformer Sarojini Naidu once said that if you ‘educate your women, your nation will take care of itself.’ Across the border from Bangladesh, our partner the Baptist Church Trust Association in India are putting her advice into practice by starting literacy groups for marginalised women. Many of these women live in extreme poverty because they are from ‘untouchable castes,’ and are not included in mainstream education.

The project is called ‘Jagriti,’ which means ‘awakening’ in English. Women are taught to read and write, and they learn skills like sewing, which they can use to start small businesses and earn an income. God is awakening the women to the talents that he has given them. Through your prayers and support, Indian women are not only lifting themselves out of poverty, but also their families and communities.

A woman worshipping in a church in Kolkata, India.
Marginalised women in India are awakening to their God-given potential.

Whether it’s keeping a community centre organised and clean, or providing healthcare services that are tailored to the needs of women and girls, our partners know that Jesus cares for details. It turns out that the long journey towards gender justice starts with little acts of kindness.

Your faithful prayers and generosity help our partners treat refugee women with dignity, amplify women’s voices, and empower women with the education they need for a better future. If you want to pray for BMS’ gender justice work, then why not download the BMS Prayer Guide today?

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Words by Chris Manktelow 

We see God’s love every day: Ukraine, ten years on

Ukraine update

We see God’s love every day: Ukraine, ten years on

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Ten years, not the two that most news outlets will be marking this weekend. That’s how long it’s been since Russia invaded Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine. And it was 10 years ago that you first supported Ukrainians suffering the twin devastation of war and winter. You have stood with Ukrainians and their neighbours for the last ten years – and you stand with them now.

Julia and her two children, Maxim and Angela, standing in front of snow patches in a field.
Churches have been supporting Ukrainian refugees during the bitter winter months since the war began ten years ago.

Imagine fleeing from shelling to the safety of temporary shelter, relying on the kindness of strangers. Everything you knew left behind, blitzed. And then winter. Winter bites hard in Ukraine. But your support is bringing warmth, help and hope to Ukrainians.

Since the end of December, the Russian bombardment has left 3,000 families homeless. Millions of Ukrainians have no access to clean water and electricity, and one third of the poorest Ukrainians are unable to heat their homes during a winter where temperatures have dropped as low as -15°C.

Thanks to your support, Baptist churches are aiming to meet the needs of 100,000 people across Ukraine this winter. Churches are opening their buildings so that people have a warm place to stay when they can’t heat their homes. They are providing hot meals and hygiene items, as well as a safe space where people feel welcomed and cared for. Even in the depths of this terrible war, your faithful giving and prayers are helping Baptist churches bring hope to the people of Ukraine.

Your generosity hasn’t just helped those that stayed behind but also those forced to flee across borders. For example, churches in the neighbouring country of Moldova have welcomed many refugees. Two years ago, Good News Baptist Church set up a hall with food and hygiene items, providing humanitarian aid to up to 370 families a day. There are still 150 people who receive weekly support from the church.

They now offer refugees Bible studies, themed sessions covering various topics, and language lessons, as well as humanitarian aid. One mother took a Bible study book after a session and said that she wanted to read it with her family. “If people live according to what the Bible teaches us,” she said, “it would be like heaven on earth.”

BMS World Mission also supports a refugee assistance centre in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau. One of the women who attended was 71-year-old Valentina, who fled the city of Kherson after two missiles destroyed her home. If she hadn’t been at the store buying food, she likely wouldn’t have survived. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she shared her story with the volunteers, expressing a deep sense of hopelessness.

Valentina suffered from serious health issues, had no appetite, and struggled with insomnia. As the war continues, Baptist churches are providing refugees like Valentina with psychological and spiritual support, as well as food and shelter. Inessa, who leads the women and families’ ministry at her church, now runs a support group for Ukrainian women.

“We now have five groups of women that we meet with regularly,” Inessa said. “Each group has 12-15 women, and we spend a couple of hours together,” she said. “It’s not just about sharing useful information; it’s about genuinely impacting their lives through building friendships and being there for them when they need us. It’s a soul-to-soul connection. Some have even started attending church and other meetings we organise.”

People in a line in the snow, unloading boxes of clothes, with a van parked behind them with the doors open.
This winter, Baptist churches in Moldova are putting their faith into action by providing Ukrainian refugees with hot meals and clothing.

Inessa and her team were able to offer Valentina a listening ear, comforting words, and prayer. They also directed her to a Christian counsellor who could guide her on her journey of healing. Despite her challenges, Valentina finds strength in living with her granddaughter and grandchildren. She left the refugee assistance centre encouraged, with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

Our partners in Moldova are deeply grateful for the vital help and support you have provided. Your faithful prayers and generous giving enable them to reach out to hundreds of families every month. Please pray for churches and volunteers who selflessly dedicate their time to minister to refugees, for those who hear the gospel to become followers of Jesus, and for peace to prevail in Ukraine.

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Inessa and the women in her support group standing in front of a stage at the Church Without Walls refugee assistance centre.
Inessa and the women from her support group are finding hope as they share life together.

Photos by ©Chris Hoskins/BMS World Mission, Words by Chris Manktelow and Matty Fearon

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

BMS at The Big One

Hope for the world:

BMS at The Big One

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Last week, BMS World Mission joined with Christians across the UK at The Big One climate pilgrimage. BMS’ Writer, Laura Durrant, shares thoughts on why The Big One left her with hope.

A purple banner with the words 'Hope for the world' on it in front of a church

The day began with a service of worship at St John’s Church, Waterloo. Hundreds of Christians from all walks of life were packed into a church hall to sing together in worship, give God the glory for all he has given us, and ask forgiveness for the ways we’ve sinned against creation.

There was a sense for many of us that we wished church could always be like this: so many of us packed in the sanctuary that there was only room to stand, knowing that despite your different backgrounds, you’re united together in Jesus. Buoyed spirits from the service spilled out to the streets once it had finished, and, despite the threat of rain, we began our pilgrimage into the centre of London.

A crowd and a purple banner protesting in front of a building

The crowd mingled together as we walked, people caught up with old friends and introduced themselves to new ones. We came to the office of oil company Shell, to hand in a letter from Christian Climate Action highlighting their lack of action against phasing out fossil fuels, and to raise our voices in a chorus of Amazing Grace.

Around the BMS banner, supporters, staff and former mission workers marched together, taking shifts at holding our banner which proclaimed that we still have hope for the world. I spoke to BMS supporter Sara Simms, who is the head of creation care at her church in Guildford, about why she thought it was important for us to be there. “I see God’s mission as threefold: to reconcile us to himself, to each other and to the planet that we live on,” she explains. “If we’re to serve the poor, we need to look at this issue that has made people poorer.”

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A purple banner with the words 'hope for the world' on it waving with Big Ben in the background.

As the crowds converged in Parliament Square, I was fortunate enough to snap this photo of the BMS banner waving boldly in front of Big Ben. I asked BMS staff member Ruth Whiter what she thought about the message on the banner. “A lot of messages at climate protests are, understandably, angry, but at BMS we’re all about hope,” explains Ruth. “We’re all about positive change.”

A group of people stood in front of a purple banner.

One of my favourite things about the day was the community feeling that came with it. Being able to reconnect with former colleagues and meet BMS supporters, and knowing we were all together for the same cause, made me really resonate with the message on our banner. Thousands of people coming together to share fellowship in the Lord and fight together for his creation must be some reason to have hope!

A woman holding a sketch in front of a blue banner.

As the day came to a close, I asked Ruth and Sara what they would ask for prayer for – and wonderfully, they both ended up saying almost the same thing: that our leaders would listen. That they would get the message, that they would hear the voices of those crying out to them, and listen to God’s wisdom as they determine how to act.

Words by Laura Durrant, Editor of Engage, the BMS magazine.

There is love here

Inspirational church ministry from Uganda

There is love here

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Jimmy and Phionah Okello are an amazing and faithful couple. And their student ministry in Gulu, Uganda, is a clear example of abundant life, blessed by God. BMS World Mission’s Writer, Laura Durrant, caught up with them on a recent trip to Gulu, where she got to experience this wonderful ministry that you support, first-hand.

There is love here. That’s what I think when we pile out of the car and hurry into the building of University Community Church (UCC) in Gulu. It’s a building I know well, having seen it in photos many times during my time at BMS World Mission, and I’m a bit overwhelmed to be here experiencing it in real life. Even more exciting though is being greeted by Phionah Okello on the door as we rush in to take our seats – the service is about to start. Phionah, and her husband Jimmy, are well known in the BMS office back home. To meet them in person and experience their ministry first-hand is such a privilege, and I’m excited to learn more about how God is leading them.

A church building in Uganda made out of half brick wall and half bamboo walls.
Jimmy and Phionah planted University Community Church eight years ago.

Jimmy and Phionah knew from their university days in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, that God was calling them to minister to students – and for Phionah in particular, it’s a beautiful completion of her own journey to faith. When she first went to university, it felt like her first experience of real freedom after spending most of her education at boarding school. She planned to work in a bank and make lots of money – but that all changed when she met some Christians on campus. “I felt like they came at the right time and I came to know the Lord at the right time,” Phionah says. “Imagine if no-one had come to me, I would be lost, completely lost forever.” Phionah and Jimmy met at their church in Kampala, and remained involved in the campus ministry for a number of years. That’s until they felt the Lord calling them to move up north and plant a church at Gulu University.

Two photos put together of a Ugandan woman and man smiling at the camera.
Jimmy and Phionah followed God's call to minister to students in Gulu.

Eight years later, they’ve built a warm, strong community at UCC – but ministering to students isn’t without its challenges. “It’s so transient and it can be discouraging,” explains Phionah. “Because every three years almost half of the church is gone and you have different people.” But despite the impermanence of the context they’re in, they’re able to offer a safe space for these young people experiencing a huge change in their lives to share their struggles and find hope. “What we’ve seen is that because of our stability, we’ve become a light in that community,” says Jimmy. And that light doesn’t just touch Gulu. The university isn’t just a mission field, it’s also a mission base. Jimmy and Phionah are able to disciple the students they meet to become disciple-makers, so they can continue to share the gospel in their new communities once they leave university.

Many churches in the UK struggle with engaging with young people, but Jimmy and Phionah don’t have a secret formula when it comes to their student ministry. They simply spend their time building strong relationships with the young people in their community, and are available to help them whenever they can. “If you build a relationship of trust, [the students] can listen to you and bring their issues to you,” Jimmy explains. It’s a principle Jimmy and Phionah take to their work outside of UCC with BMS World Mission partner Justice Livelihoods Health (JLH), where Phionah helps with administration and finance, and Jimmy runs outreach and training for local church leaders. “I get the opportunity to share some of my skills and abilities in leadership, which I use at UCC to equip other pastors in different churches,” says Jimmy. “Being able to share with them from what I have so that they’re able to lead more effectively and be equipped is really a beautiful thing.” For Jimmy and Phionah, emulating God’s love is the foundation of their ministry.

People praying in church in Uganda
A woman speaking in church in Uganda. She's wearing a pink top.
The community is thriving at UCC and many students have come to faith and grown in faith thanks to the ministry here.

There is love here. Not just at UCC, but in this community, in this city. I see love in the worship and welcome we receive at UCC. And I see it throughout the rest of the week we spend in Gulu, in the devotions shared between colleagues at JLH, in the worship of a church savings group, in the laughter shared between a mother and her children, the stories shared between a grandmother and her granddaughter. It’s my main take away from our visit to Gulu: that with God’s unfailing love abounding, any life can be lived with abundance.

Jimmy and Phionah would love for you to pray with them, for UCC and their wider ministry.

  • Please pray for a permanent building for UCC, so they can continue to provide a safe and stable environment for the students they minister to.
  • Pray for students to have open hearts to the gospel message and that they would develop personal relationships with God.
  • Pray for the Lord to bless Jimmy and Phionah with wisdom in their ministry, so that they can continue to bring people to faith and create disciple-makers in Uganda.
  • Pray that God will raise up more leaders within UCC to help share the load of the ministry.
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Words by Laura Durrant, Editor of Engage, the BMS magazine.

Osinachi’s cry

Osinachi's cry

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Friday 25 November begins the annual 16 Days of Activism campaign, now in its 31st year, to end violence against women and girls. As the Gender Justice Co-ordinator at BMS World Mission, these are 16 days I cannot ignore.

Through my role, I work with our partners across the continents to combat the scourge of gender-based violence. It is work that this year has been haunted by song lyrics, sung in northern Nigeria’s Igbo dialect. It is a resounding battle song – a war cry, an outcry calling for the world’s attention – ”Can you hear my voice this time?”

Ala di Mara nma, obu ebe di anya (There is a beautiful home far, far away)
Ebe ndi-nso bi ona enwu ka ihe (Where the saints are living it is like a shining light)

The voice behind this popular song of ‘The Cry’ is Osinachi Nwachukwu, a 42-year-old Nigerian gospel singer and a mother of four children. Her story was reported on BBC news in April. Osinachi had been in an abusive marriage for years and was allegedly beaten to death on April 8 2022 by her husband, Peter Nwachukwu.

Women in Mozambique walking along a dusty path.
Almost one in three women have experienced some kind of gender-based violence.

In the wake of Osinachi’s death, her family members and colleagues accused Nwachukwu of domestic violence, and it came to light that pastors and members of Osinachi’s church knew about the situation but did not speak out Osinachi’s mother revealed that her daughter had left her marriage for over a year but returned when her husband came with pastors to beg her to come back. She advised her daughter to leave her husband, but Osinachi insisted on returning to him, claiming that the Bible doesn’t allow divorce.

The news of Osinachi’s murder jolted me out of any sense of complacency regarding gender-based violence. Before I joined BMS, I worked as a lawyer for one of BMS’ partners, the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity (UCLF). Recently, my former colleagues told me about a case that they pursued all the way to the Ugandan High Court. Without their persistence and Christ-inspired determination, there is no way in a patriarchal society like Uganda the case would ordinarily have made it so far.

A woman smiling
Annet Ttendo-Miller is passionate about bringing liberating justice to women across the world.

The victims, a young a girl called Alice and her friend Sifa, were poisoned, and strangled to death by Alice’s boyfriend. On a visit to his house, he served Alice and Sifa fizzy drinks and pork that contained rat poison. Once they were incapacitated, he strangled both Alice and Sifa to death.

Once the matter came to court, UCLF lawyers followed the trial to its conclusion, traced witnesses and provided the family with legal assistance in making statements and testifying. Counselling was also offered to family members of the deceased. Following evidence provided at trial by the witnesses, the accused was convicted of the murders of Alice and Sifa. As Christian lawyers, UCLF were able to play an important part in responding to the outcry following the violent murder of these two young women.

Before working for UCLF, I worked in a similar role in Mozambique with the Mozambican Association of Christian Lawyers (AMAC), another BMS partner with a strong history of tackling gender justice issues. In the last year alone, AMAC has handled 12 domestic violence cases and 500 beneficiaries in the community have received trainings on topics related to domestic violence, child marriages, Children’s rights and protection, land rights and marriage laws.

Education is such a powerful tool in the fight against gender-based violence and AMAC’s legal education officer António Chico Gouca Manuel has been a key figure behind a revolutionary new app used by hundreds of Mozambicans in the last 12 months. The app, called Juris, offers access to up-to-date information on subjects such as the legal age of marriage and marital rights and duties to a section of society long denied such knowledge.

I hear examples of this gender distortion in so many of my conversations with BMS partners, including recently with Dil Bahadur Karki, the head of KISC EQUIP in Nepal. He told me that, “parents invest more on the boys’ education than the girls’ because they think girls get married and go away… Parents even have the tendency to send their sons to private schools and daughters to public schools because they think private schools provide better education.”

Dil’s solution aims to improve girls’ attendance and long-term commitment to school by ensuring 60 per cent of their scholarships are awarded to girls. All the school’s activities are co-educational, a rarity in Nepal, and they seek to address the gender gap through education seminars for parents of all their children.

A banner stand advertising an app called Juris
BMS' partner AMAC hope their app, Juris, will teach women about their rights.

Sometimes, like in Nepal, awareness raising and awakening needs to be of the educational variety. Other times we need to be hit between the eyes. And that is exactly what Valérie Duval-Poujol did in 2018.

Valérie works with BMS’ partner the French Baptist Federation. Four years ago, she launched ‘Une Place pour Elle (A Place for Her)’, an activist movement built around symbolic acts. As Valérie explains, “the acts are so that we never forget these hundreds of murdered women and all the victims of psychological, physical and sexual violence… We cover a chair with red fabric to make visible the place that should have been occupied by this woman, this neighbour, this friend who is no longer there. Through this strong symbolic gesture, speech is freed; passers-by, of all generations, all those who see the ’place for them’ are made aware of this tragedy, encouraged to help the victims of this violence, the taboo is broken.”

School girls run down a dirt path in Nepal.
Your support is helping make sure girls in Nepal get the cherished education they deserve.

As a Christian, I believe the right to life is God-given and no one has the right to take away a life. When the story revealing the circumstances around Osinachi’s death broke out, the public were shocked and queried how such a gifted and well-known singer could suffer domestic violence for so long without respite or redress. Sadly, Osinachi, Alice and Sifa join a catalogue of cases of women across Nigeria, Uganda, and the world, whose untimely death and injuries were because of domestic violence.

Osinachi, Alice, and Sifa’s blood and the blood of millions of women cry out demanding justice. The words of Psalm 10 come to mind:

“Why are you far away, Lord?
Why do you hide yourself
When I am in trouble?
Brutal people
Hunt down the poor
Strike and murder some innocent victim.
They say, “God can’t see!”
He’s got a blindfold on.”
“God won’t punish us!”
Do something, Lord God,
And use your powerful arm to help those in need.
But you see the trouble and the distress, and you will do something.
The poor can count on you and so can orphans.
Now break the arms of all merciless people
Punish them for doing wrong and make them stop.”
(Poverty and Justice Bible, CEV)

Together, we can change this. You are your sisters’ keeper. Will you come forward and stand with those who are in this fight and not allow the women who have been killed to be forgotten?

Rest in peace our sisters, a prayer and demand for justice and dignity for all.

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Words by Annet Ttendo-Miller, Gender Justice Co-ordinator, BMS World Mission

An update from Afghanistan

What’s changed?

An update from Afghanistan

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The past year has held a multitude of tragedies and challenges for the nation of Afghanistan.

The global cost of living crisis, a dramatic change in government, natural disasters, all on top of an already fragile nation have led to much change in the lives of ordinary people. We spoke to BMS World Mission worker Ruby* about some of the differences she’s seen to life in the country over the last year – and some of the things that have stayed the same, thanks to the constant faithful prayers of BMS supporters.

What has changed?

The hustle and bustle…

Whether due to the cost of living crisis or the new political reality in Afghanistan, when Ruby arrived back in the country, the first thing she noticed was that there was much less traffic in the capital city. “It was much, much quieter. A lot fewer people on the streets generally milling around,” she says. “It was a normal busy city that was just chaotic traffic-wise before… but when we came back, it took us not a long time at all to flow through everything.” But despite there being fewer people on the streets, Ruby knows there are still so many communities which need her help – it’s why she committed to returning to work there despite the challenges.

A photo of a street in Afghanistan.

The clothing…

The change in government means that women in Afghanistan now have to be much more careful with the clothes they wear. “We have to wear more layers now than we ever used to,” Ruby says. “We used to be able to just wear long dresses with trousers on… but now we’re having to wear full length jackets or wraps over our heads down to our feet.”

Ruby is used to wearing culturally appropriate clothing, but wearing more layers doesn’t make it easy for her in her work on agriculture projects. But she knows that if the communities she works with can do it, then she can too.

Access to work…

When the Taliban first took over, one of our partner’s main priorities was making sure it was safe for women at the organisation to go back to work. Thankfully, female staff members have been able to return to their jobs, but it’s not been an easy process. “When we arrived, we had to go and ask for permission to work; especially me because I work with men rather than women, which is very unusual,” explains Ruby.

Women have to carry paperwork with them at all times to prove they’re allowed to work, and even then, some authorities won’t let women go to work at all. All of this further reinforces for Ruby and her team just how crucial it is to keep working with and empowering women where they can, despite the challenging context.

A photo of women walking in Afghanistan.

The need…

“Prices are a lot more expensive. Some things have doubled in price,” says Ruby. “There are a lot more beggars on the street now than there ever was, so obviously poverty is on the rise.” We’re all experiencing challenges as the cost of living crisis goes on, but countries like Afghanistan, where people were already struggling, will be feeling the strain the most.

What hasn't changed?

Our partner’s commitment to helping those in need…

“All [my female colleagues] have come back [to work] – and they love their work and they love the fact they are helping people,” shares Ruby. Despite the challenges Afghanistan is facing right now, BMS and our partner have not given up hope of reaching people there. We’re working as hard as we can to get as much of our work back up and running, and even expanding, so we can make sure we can reach people in desperate need.

A photo of a man working a field in Afghanistan.

The commitment of BMS supporters to praying for Afghanistan…

BMS supporters have been lifting Afghanistan up in prayer so faithfully over the last year, and your prayers really have opened doors for BMS work to begin again. Thank you so much for your dedication and faithfulness – please do keep praying for this nation.

“Please pray for peace, mainly within people,” says Ruby. “I think there’s so much stress and so much uncertainty, people need to have peace within themselves, that they’re doing what they can. And pray for the new government, to be able to actually help its people.”

The opportunity to help…

You can keep supporting BMS work in Afghanistan through prayer, but also by giving regularly as a 24:7 Partner. Your monthly gifts can help Ruby in her agricultural work with vulnerable families struggling to feed their children, and make sure we can keep reaching people in need in Afghanistan. We’re also planning further opportunities for you to step in and help later on this year, so watch this space.

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*Names changed.
Words by Laura Durrant.

Pray for refugees this World Refugee Week

Q&A:

Pray for refugees this World Refugee Week

Praying for this

As we commemorate World Refugee Week this week, we sat down with BMS World Mission-supported worker Will Cumbia to learn more about his crucial work supporting refugees at BMS’ partner the European Baptist Federation (EBF).

What drew you to your work with migrants and migration issues?

My heart broke watching the 2015-16 refugee crisis in Europe and I wanted to help in some way. I have always had a heart for hospitality and was the one in a room who wanted to make sure no-one was left out. I wanted to be part of that tangible welcome for those who had been pushed out of their homes or who were displaced for other reasons. Once I found out about the good work of Baptists across Europe and the Middle East who were extending welcome, I knew I had to come and support the work!

What is the best thing about your job?

I love how my job is extremely cross-cultural and allows me to interact with people from dozens of countries and different cultural backgrounds. I am constantly astounded by the breadth of diversity of the Church and yet how God’s consistent character is woven into that diversity. I love that I get to witness God’s Kingdom breaking through in such unique and unexpected places.

A man in a beanie
Will works with BMS partner the European Baptist Federation as Coordinator for Migration Issues.

What is the hardest thing about your job?

I am constantly faced with the reality that the number of displaced people continues to grow and not decrease. I have had the privilege of walking alongside many refugees and hearing their stories and it is crippling some days to realise that their reality is the reality of millions around the world. My work often feels like throwing a cup of water on a forest fire.

A man and a woman washing up
BMS World Mission supporters raised an unprecedented £1.6 million to support a Europe-wide Baptist response for refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. Image: © Chris Hoskins/BMS World Mission

How has your faith informed your work?

This line of work is challenging and seemingly endless. I have to trust that, despite the harsh realities, God is good and he is still at work. Without this hope that comes from my faith, the pain and darkness would be all consuming. My prayer is that I will be able to, in a small way, shine light and hope into these dark spaces.

How has your work informed your faith?

Reading the Bible alongside refugees completely changed my whole understanding of faith and of Scripture. The Old Testament in particular came alive in a new way for me as I saw that Scripture consistently told the story of people displaced, cast out and persecuted, and God walking in solidarity with them. It also shifted my concept of home and what it means for Christians to abide in Christ and Christ in us. I no longer see church as just a place to gather and worship, but as home; a space where we invite all in to experience God’s abiding love.

Helle Liht, Assisstant General Secretary at EBF, shares a message for World Refugee Day

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How have you seen God at work during the last six months?

The first few days after the war broke out in Ukraine were some of the most stressful of my life. Yet, I have never felt more hopeful as I witnessed the monumental movement of Baptists around the world who rapidly came together to respond. To see such a massive show of solidarity, I can only attribute it to God’s Spirit moving in a powerful way. And of course, experiencing the faith of Ukrainian Baptists in the face of unimaginable hardships is further testament to the fortitude of God’s grace. Despite our flaws as Baptists, I’ve never been more proud and thankful that this is the family God has called me to work alongside.

Collage, a woman putting some clothes into a washing machine; a man and woman with their two daughters and son
Alongside Ukraine, BMS work this year has supported people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan, the two most represented countries in asylum claims.

As we commemorate World Refugee Week this week, what is your hope and prayer for the future?

My hope and prayer is that the Church would mobilise to be a force of welcome and hospitality for people on the move. Practically, this looks like preparing our churches to welcome the stranger well, but it also means advocacy at all government levels, financially supporting organisations working in refugee camps, and praying deeply for the needs of displaced people. I believe that the Church has an incredible witnessing opportunity to mirror the hospitality that God extends to us, through a robust and co-ordinated welcome of displaced peoples.

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Persistence pays

Persistence pays

Praying for this

Annet Ttendo-Miller is passionate about God’s calling for justice and empowering people to speak up for their rights and liberties.

You might have met Annet before – she has served overseas with BMS World Mission as a lawyer in both Uganda and Mozambique and we’re excited to welcome her back as our Gender Justice Co-ordinator, taking on a crucial part of our new strategy: facilitating gender justice in all the work we do. Read on for Annet’s reflections on the parable of the persistent widow and how God calls us to cry out for justice, which is an edited extract from the upcoming issue of Mission Catalyst, BMS’ magazine for delving deeper into issues of faith.

Uganda and Mozambique both have laws that allow widows to own land. However, an illiterate woman who lives in a village, and has no resources to fight for her rights is at a distinct disadvantage. In such patriarchal societies, it is commonly believed that women should not own property. Women are not allowed to inherit land – not even the house that they live in. If her husband dies, a woman is often left having to fight against family to reclaim her land. Many women simply lose hope and give up. Most people in the community are not aware of laws and do not know their legal rights.

In the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18: 1-8), a poor, powerless widow comes before a judge who did not fear God and did not care what people thought of him.

A woman smiling

As he did not acknowledge God or other men, this judge was clearly a law unto himself, and acted without accountability. He dismissed the widow and her pleas for justice multiple times without concern. Yet somehow, poor and powerless as she was, the widow found the patience to tolerate this situation without losing hope. More than that, she acted boldly in approaching the powerful judge after already having been dismissed. And she even persisted the more, coming back again and again to put her request before him.

A woman sat at a desk
Annet is passionate about helping women across the world understand their rights.

The widow did not remain silent when there was no man to defend her. She found her voice in the court room and advocated for her rights. This widow was bold and unwavering, though she understood the oppressive structures that determined her place in society. With persistence, strength, resistance, at last her voice was heard! Judgement was given in her favour; here we have a story of an unnamed widow being celebrated. This passage has a great lesson for us to learn, what it means to keep faith and never give up. The parable ends with Jesus accrediting her faith and asking whether he would find (such) faith on earth when he returns (Luke 18: 8).

Jesus focuses the parable on the point that we are “to pray always and to not lose heart” (Luke 18: 1). The purpose of the parable is to encourage Christians to persevere in their faith against all odds. At the heart of that persistence lies the truth that God is faithful. Because God is faithful, we can endure suffering and frustrating situations with an expectant hope that God will see us through. Because God is faithful, we can boldly come before him to ask for help. We can even boldly approach those who do not know God, those who are powerful, who are cruel, or corrupt, knowing that God is for us. Because God is faithful, we can persist through rejection after rejection, knowing that our faith in him will pay off.

A group of people sitting down.
The team at AMAC help people in Mozambique to know what rights they have.

BMS partners Uganda Christian Lawyers’ Fraternity (UCLF) and the Association of Christian Lawyers in Mozambique (AMAC) are providing legal aid services to the poor and marginalised. Christian lawyers play a vital role in helping widows to enforce their right and training communities about the laws that protect women and representing vulnerable clients. These Christian lawyers fellowships are responding to the biblical call to do justice, with compassion, for the poor.

A woman in front of a building
Annet's work as a lawyer in Uganda and Mozambique has shown her how important God's calling for justice is.

With God, persistence pays. Because of this, the parable of the persistent widow has been a comfort and an inspiration as I took part in God’s justice mission in Mozambique and Uganda. The parable shows that God’s will is at work even in a corrupt world. We see that as Christians our role is to work toward that hope at all times. We cannot right every wrong in the world in our lifetimes. But we must never give up hope, and never stop working for the greater good in the midst of the imperfect systems where our work occurs.

As I look back on the work of Christian lawyers, I am assured that we must pray and never give up in our God-given mission. With God, persistence pays. Please persist in your prayer and support of the justice ministry that BMS, the Christian lawyers and indeed each of you, are involved in. Do not just speak up for yourself. Speak up for those who are heard the least. And let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry (Amos 5:24).

You can find even more from Annet and from other challenging contributors in the upcoming issue of Mission Catalyst magazine, BMS’ magazine for delving deeper into issues of faith. This issue is focused on decolonising Christianity, and contains contributions from Nana Natalia Lester-Bush, Dr Renie Chow Choy and Rev Wale Hudson-Roberts. If you haven’t already, why not subscribe today?

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Words by Annet Ttendo Miller, BMS’ Gender Justice Co-ordinator,
for the upcoming issue of Mission Catalyst magazine.

Ukraine: how to pray

Ukraine: how to pray

Praying for this

Join us in prayer for Ukraine as Russian troops advance across the country and millions flee to safety.

Help communities crushed by the conflict

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Reports from Ukraine of intensified fighting, of the shelling of major cities by Russian forces and of fierce Ukrainian resistance continue to fill our screens daily. As Russian President Vladimir Putin continues the invasion, civilian casualties rise and millions of refugees leave Ukraine, please continue to pray for those affected, and for the work of peace, aid, relief and refuge being carried out across the nation.

We remain in contact with our partners at the European Baptist Federation (EBF), who are instrumental in establishing and resourcing centres of refuge in neighbouring countries, and with Ukrainian church leaders on the ground as we closely monitor the escalating situation.

Map of Ukraine showing surrounding countries and Kyiv

The response among Baptist churches in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries has been beyond inspiring to see. In the face of the largest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War, Baptist churches in Poland, Moldova and Hungary have been crucial in providing a safe beds and warm food for hundreds of refugees every night.

A woman serving lunch for herself
Churches in Poland were among the first to welcome refugees fleeing Ukraine.
Beds on the floor in a church.

Please keep Ukraine, and those across the world affected by this devastating conflict, in your prayers.

  • Pray for the people of Ukraine as they grieve for their country, for loved ones lost and for the loss of their livelihoods. Pray that God will comfort them and sustain them.
  • Pray for BMS World Mission’s partner EBF as they respond to the conflict and support refugees. Pray that God will give them wisdom for how best to respond in this challenging context.
  • Pray for nations across the world such as Lebanon, Bangladesh and Tunisia who are at risk of major food insecurity as a consequence of the Ukraine war. Pray that God will provide for them.
  • Pray for those fleeing Ukraine, that their paths will be clear. Pray that they will find warm welcomes and safe refuge wherever they go.
  • Pray for church leaders on the ground in Ukraine and neighbouring countries providing safe havens for refugees. Pray that the Lord will sustain them and that many people will find respite and refuge through their hard work.
  • Pray for leaders in Russia, Ukraine and across the world. Pray that the Lord’s love, compassion and mercy will fill their hearts and that peaceful solutions to this conflict will be reached.

Thank you for giving to help Ukraine

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Photos: ©Chris Hoskins/BMS World Mission

A Q&A brings news from a much-changed, muted Afghanistan

“My hope is that God will turn this around:”

A Q&A brings news from a much-changed, muted Afghanistan

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Lament. That’s what comes to mind for many of us when we think about the recent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. We lament for what this nation has lost, but also pray for its future, that God’s comfort and light might be seen there in unprecedented ways. To get to the heart of what we can be praying for, we spoke to Mary*, a BMS World Mission worker who served in Afghanistan until the recent evacuations, about how life has changed in Afghanistan, and her hopes for the nation.

Afghanistan has obviously been very much on everyone's hearts over the last few months. Could you tell me a bit about what things were like before the evacuations?

Leading up to the evacuation, we realised that things were starting to go faster than we’d hoped in the Taliban’s favour. Our concern was to make sure that the work being done by BMS’ partner could carry on. And our concern was for the people that we work with, those who don’t have foreign passports and so couldn’t get out the country, as we knew that we would be able to.
We started to notice [in our area of the country] that the women were less visible on the streets. The ones that were on the streets were more covered up. The women are very covered up anyway, but the colours were more muted. It was summer, usually you see a few more bright colours. The men started to grow beards. And there was a real atmosphere of fear and hopelessness. It was very hard to know what to say to people because it became obvious that it was likely that the Taliban would take over a large part of the country, you don’t want to give platitudes or say I understand because, as foreigners, we don’t.

How did it feel seeing all those changes?

I think sadness, of feeling that there were limits. Not knowing what we could do, wanting to help, and knowing that help was limited. We always think we want to do something, that there’s some sort of physical action. Actually, all we could do was pray and try to encourage and to listen. But for our friends who were struggling for food and for money and living in a society they hadn’t really chosen, that was forced on them, that’s just very sad. Very heavy.

What are you hearing from colleagues in Afghanistan about the current situation?

People have said that there is some kind of normality, certainly for the men and for the children. The men are back at work, the children are back at school. A lot of the women are still at home. But it’s a very uneasy normality. People are waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting to see what actually happens. We’ve heard what the [new Government of Afghanistan] have said about allowing women to do various jobs and so on. But this happened last time. There are people who remember when the Taliban were in power before. We need to see what they actually do rather than what they say they’re going to do.

Doves flying over barbed wire
Photo taken in 2019.

You’ve spoken before about how Afghanistan has almost always been in between two foreign powers, could you maybe expand a little bit on that and why that might have led to the situation we're seeing today?

When there was a Russian empire and a British Empire, the Brits were involved in India, the Russians wanted to be, so there were three Anglo-Afghan Wars [at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century] because Britain wanted to be ruling Afghanistan to prevent the Russians getting to India. So, you feel that the Afghan people are collateral damage really to that.
And then obviously after 9/11, the US and allies were involved in Afghanistan. It hasn’t all been bad for the Afghan people, there have been some positive results of having foreign influence.

A man walking past a mural
Photo taken in 2020.

What would your hope be for Afghanistan?

My hope is that people will remember from this past 20 years that life can be different and that they will keep working to that. That in the day to day, the women will be more respected than they seem to be under the [current Afghan Government], that they will be treated more fairly, and that people will be able to use the skills and the knowledge that they’ve acquired to be able to prepare for a better Afghanistan. It feels like a lot has slipped back. But I don’t think this past 20 years have been wasted at all. I think they’ve been building the people up. They’ve shown them a different way. I think with the influence of the internet, there is that link with the outside world and there is a link with something that’s very different. My hope is that God will turn this around. Because I don’t know anybody else who can. And for that we desperately need people to pray and to keep praying for Afghanistan.

Afghan flags
Photo taken in 2018.

What can people be praying for?

There are many things. We’re told to pray for those who are in government and a few of us on our team felt really convicted to pray for the Taliban. Praying for the people, our colleagues that we’ve left behind, people who have been working to help others to serve their countrymen, for them to be able to continue. For the men, most of them have been able to go back to work, but it’s basically under [government] control and the [Afghan Government] are the bosses now in most places. Pray that that work will be able to continue and that the women will find ways of being able to help as well. Please pray for the women. Pray that they will not completely lose heart, but that God will be their comfort and that in all of this people will turn to God. To the real God as their only source of hope.

Keep Afghanistan in your prayers

Please do use the prayer points given by Mary above to guide your prayers for Afghanistan. Please do pray for BMS and the ministries we support in Afghanistan, that God will grant wisdom on those who are navigating how best to we can support this nation.

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*Name changed.
Interview by Laura Durrant

Pray for Afghanistan

Pray for Afghanistan

Join us in prayer for Taliban-governed Afghanistan

All BMS World Mission workers in Afghanistan have now left the country.

The Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan in a ten-day advance following the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops in June and July. We have evacuated all BMS workers in Afghanistan from the country. Please continue to pray for our Afghan partner at this time, as we actively explore how we can respond and meet the needs of people in Afghanistan.

BMS World Mission has worked in Afghanistan since 1997, partnering with organisations that serve the people of Afghanistan through training and capacity strengthening. Areas of work include community development, mental health support, agricultural training and palliative care.

map of Afghanistan

Please pray:

  • For wisdom for NGOs and charitable bodies working within Afghanistan, as they seek to support the communities they work with through this incredibly difficult time
  • For BMS workers who have left the country, and seek to continue their vital work remotely
  • For BMS’ commitment to the nation of Afghanistan, and for discussions taking place as to how best to shape an ongoing response to an ever-changing situation
  • For strength for people in Afghanistan now feeling under threat and worrying for their futures, and for protection for those who feel forced to leave the country or to move their families to a safer region
  • For lasting peace and stability to be found in the nation of Afghanistan
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The Beirut blast: heartbreak and hope

The Beirut blast: heartbreak and hope

You stood by Lebanon in a year of mourning

Last August, a deadly explosion ripped through the port area of Lebanon’s capital city, shattering a nation already at breaking point. On the anniversary of the Beirut blast, you’re standing with a heartbroken people who are still picking up the pieces.

I'm praying for this

On 4 August 2020, the Beirut blast’s engulfing power devastated Malak and Walid’s lives. Although a generation apart, they discovered the source of their healing in the same unlikely place: a new playground built with funds donated by BMS supporters to help children suffering from psychological trauma.

Walid’s struggles were those of so many Lebanese graduates. His dreams of working for a news station in Beirut had crumbled against the hard reality of unemployment, economic struggle and feelings of shame.

Walid’s trip to visit his parents in Beirut on that fateful day should have been a time of encouragement. Instead, he found himself clearing the debris of his family home off his own body so he could reach his injured mother.

“Carrying my mother to the hospital and running through the wreckage was the hardest thing I had to do in my life,” he says.

Two girls and a woman looking at a colourful book in the playground
Alia estimates that 600,000 children in Lebanon risk long-term negative psychological impacts after the blast.
A small boy learning to do push-ups in the playground
As children enjoy the playground you helped support, they’re healing deep wounds.

But Walid feels hopeful again thanks to his time volunteering at the children’s playground. He’s seen little ones like Malak, whose instant developmental regression so worried the adults around her, become more like their happy chatty selves again.

Walid has regained a sense peace helped by seeing children go from being silent and withdrawn to cheerful and smiling, and all through the activities put on by psychologists at the playground. “The children got me out of my state of stress. I finally found a purpose,” he says.

Like a passenger in a car with no brakes

Malak and Walid lives were altered beyond imagination on that August day. Over 200 people lost their lives and an estimated 300,000 others were left displaced and, one year on, people in Lebanon are still asking questions. Some have been immediate and practical: how should you commemorate an anniversary like this? Some run much deeper, threaded through with feelings of anger, injustice, loss of hope and despair.

“Some groups have been calling for demonstrations to take place,” says Alia Abboud, Chief Development Officer for LSESD, BMS World Mission’s partner in Lebanon. “Some people said it’s better not to hit the streets on 4th August. ‘Stay at home’. Others are saying we need to go down to the port to show solidarity with the families who lost loved ones.”

Smashed cars and buildings on a Beirut street
The shock of an unexpected yet devastating explosion has left people in Beirut fearing the worst.

Not everyone is ready to revisit the port, though. Reminders of the damage remain graven into the cityscape after 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded there last year. Shockwaves ripped indiscriminately through the city, with the impact felt as far away as Cyprus.

The blast was one of the planet’s biggest ever explosions and one of its most horrific industrial accidents. The many broken silos had been full of grain that was meant to feed a nation. That grain remains rotting in mounds at ground zero, a potent symbol of a crippled country still coming to terms with the aftermath of the explosion.

The answers many feel they are still waiting for makes the process of healing harder. Alia describes it as being like a passenger in a car with no brakes, careering into rocks as it hurtles down a steep hill.

The rocks that Lebanon is navigating are huge: forest fires and Covid-19, a population where one in three is already a refugee in a foreign land, and an economic and political crisis, where the cost of basic household items like sunflower oil has risen by over 1,000 per cent. Vital medicines are out of stock, there is not enough fuel to supply the electricity sector and the country’s central bank is running out of money. Alia’s friends, family and neighbours live in expectation of the worst.

Planting seeds of hope

BMS World Mission’s partner in Lebanon is not immune to this crisis. Its staff are living through it: some experienced the blast themselves, and now all exist in its aftermath, doing what they can to get by. Last year, Alia and her team chose a theme for the year ahead: planting seeds of hope.

“We try not to keep our eyes as much as possible on the bad things that are happening around us, but on what God is doing both through us and within us,” she explains. And as a BMS supporter, you’ve enabled Alia and her team to keep their eyes on the good their Heavenly Father is doing amidst it all.

Your generous gifts to the BMS Beirut appeal last year have brought hope back to the child given an emergency meal so they don’t go hungry, to the family given shelter after the blast destroyed their home, and to the church given food vouchers so they can distribute them amongst those in need.

Thank you for standing by people like Walid, Alia and Malak during one of the hardest years of their lives. One year on from the Beirut blast, it’s still making all the difference as the seeds of hope begin to grow. “We are grateful,” says Alia of BMS supporters. “We thank God for your generosity. That enabled us to stand by our people in the hour of need and plant seeds of hope. So, thank you so much.”

Three women set off down a street carrying brooms
Despite the destruction, Alia hopes people will remember Lebanon as she does: as hospitable, fun-loving and community-focused.

Thank you for your incredible response to the 2020 Beirut relief appeal. Because you and many other Christians gave over £110,000, you’ve been part of providing:

  • 40 families with emergency accommodation
  • 2,200 vouchers for households in need
  • 7,800 hot meals for affected families
  • 200 children with a new playground
  • 18,000 hygiene kits
Please keep praying for the nation of Lebanon:
  • Pray that Christians in Lebanon would be agents of hope and transformation, and that members of the church in Beirut would be encouraged to stay despite the current brain drain as many working people leave Lebanon.
  • Pray that families who have lost loved ones would feel justice is being done and that their questions are being addressed. Pray that they would finally be able to heal after the blast.
  • Pray that families in Lebanon are sustained through the current crises, and that aid agencies can effectively support people in need.
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Words by Hannah Watson

They are not alone

They are not alone

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Over ten years ago, Christians fled their villages. Their homes were destroyed. Some were even killed. And now, despite ongoing persecution, people are opening their hearts to Christ.

Many of you will remember hearing the stories of horrific violence that took place against Christians in Odisha (formerly Orissa), India, back in 2008. Christians in the district were blamed for the murder of a prominent Hindu leader, which sparked a string of violent attacks against hundreds of villages. At least 50 people were killed, 4,000 homes were damaged or destroyed and around 30,000 people were affected by the violence – many of them having to flee to the cover of surrounding forests and refugee settlements. But, mercifully, they weren’t alone.

Destroyed house
Destroyed church
A broken statue

Thanks to the generous giving of BMS World Mission supporters at the time, families forced to flee weren’t abandoned. We were able to help distribute food parcels and hygiene packs to people who had nothing. BMS supporters provided a lifeline for people whose lives were irreversibly changed. After a few months, the violence began to subside and people began to leave the camps and return to their homes – or at least, they tried. Because they were Christians, some of their neighbours refused to let them move back in. Some people found themselves living in tents on the outskirts of their former villages. Or being prevented from drawing water from the well. Some places were too dangerous for people to return to at all. And yet, in the face of such persecution, God was – is – still at work.

“Fellowships are still running. That means it’s a victory for the gospel.” Many of you will also know about BMS worker Ben Francis, and the amazing work that our partner Biglife does, sharing the gospel in hard-to-reach places. Even in places like Odisha. “Odisha, it’s still not a place where you can go out and preach like that,” says Ben. “All of them are in danger when they are sharing the gospel.” But these brave, bold Christians knew that God wanted them to be there, to share their own stories and testimonies of how God has transformed their lives. And, miraculously, despite the historic and ongoing persecution in the area, people are opening their hearts to Jesus.

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BMS worker Ben Francis
BMS worker Ben Francis supports disciple-makers across India and south Asia.

People like Raakhi*, Supriya*, Praanvi*. All three of them were brought up in Hindu families, but all three of them found themselves searching for more. Raakhi longed for peace in her life. Both Supriya and Praanvi struggled with health issues. They couldn’t find the solutions to the problems weighing them down, until they found the Christian fellowships running in their area. And despite the risks, despite the persecution, all three of them gave their lives to Jesus.

Three women in a church.
Raakhi, Supriya and Praanvi have all opened their hearts to Jesus – despite the dangers.
Will you stand with Christians like these?

Across the world, bold Christians are living out their faith in hard places – no matter the cost. This harvest season, you and your church can stand with them. We’ll be releasing our 2021 Harvest appeal on our website on 23 July. It’s called I Will Stand. Sign up for the BMS email update to be the first to know when it drops.

But this isn’t the end of their stories – for these women, and for the many other people turning to Christ across Odisha. “That area [where these women are] is a dangerous area. You could be killed over there for being a Christian,” says Ben. Christians in Odisha will still face persecution because of their faith. People haven’t forgotten the violence from 2008. But they weren’t alone 13 years ago – and they’re not alone now. They have their brothers and sisters at the fellowships in their villages. They have a loving Father upon whom they can lay their burdens. And they have you, UK Christians, remembering them in your prayers and supporting them from afar.

*Names changed for security reasons.
Words by Laura Durrant.

The disease the world forgot

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Andrea and Mark Hotchkin on fighting an ‘orphan disease’ in the Chadian desert.

Orphan disease /ˈɔːf(ə)n /dɪˈziːz/ noun

  1. A disease whose treatment or prevention has seen little investment by pharmaceutical companies, because any financial incentives for manufacturing new medications to treat or prevent it are small.
  2. Orphan diseases may also include neglected tropical diseases, defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a group of diseases concentrated almost exclusively in poor populations in the Global South. Among these diseases, which affect more than one billion people, are dengue fever, leprosy, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and leishmaniasis.

If you haven’t heard of leishmaniasis before, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Think of malaria, and you’re getting close, except that this microscopic parasitic disease is restricted to a much narrower geographical region, populated by the particular species of sandfly that transmits it. “In world-terms, it’s not an important disease,” says Mark Hotchkin, who, alongside his wife Andrea, has served as a surgeon in Chad for the past ten years. “Visceral leishmaniasis kills something like 20 to 40,000 people in the world every year, whereas malaria will see something like 10,000 deaths of children in Chad alone.”

And while the problem is of a totally different order in terms of numbers, when you live in an area that is affected by leishmaniasis – and patients start showing up to the hospital with worrying symptoms – it becomes less about the global statistics, and entirely about what you can do to help this person. “Really, you could argue that in terms of numbers, you should focus on malaria and forget about leishmaniasis,” adds Andrea. “But, I suppose, we’ve been in the right place at the right time.” Mark vividly remembers the day he was called to see his first leishmaniasis patient. It was 18 March 2018, and a child with a high fever had been brought to the hospital. It was an unusual case that left the staff team puzzled, but Mark was reminded of the leishmaniasis patients he’d only ever come across three or four times while working in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena. The little 12-year-old boy who had been brought to Mark was already extremely ill, and while Mark was confident of his diagnosis, he didn’t have access to any of the tests or medications he needed to treat the child.

A man and a woman talking outside a Chadian hospital.

The difficult truth

Because leishmaniasis has been categorised as an ‘orphan illness’ – restricted to the poorest parts of the world and not financially lucrative to create up-to-date medications for, you might be led to think its prognosis isn’t serious. And while eight in ten people will be naturally inoculated against the disease, visceral leishmaniasis (one form the disease can take) attacks the internal organs of the 20 per cent who aren’t.

Those who do go on to show symptoms will start to experience them a couple of months after being infected, as the disease infiltrates their bone marrow, liver and spleen. Sufferers become anaemic, feverish and eventually immunodeficient, unable to make new blood platelets and at risk of severe bleeding. Without treatment, it’s a slow, inevitable decline towards death.

Faced with this knowledge, and in an awful race against time, Mark and Andrea quickly sent out a call for the medication to everywhere they could think of, even going so far as to contact suppliers in England in case it could be found in time. A rare supply of drugs was frantically sourced by BMS pharmacist Claire Bedford and paid for by BMS World Mission – but – “It arrived shortly after he’d died,” says Andrea. “It was really very sad.” And while the medication did arrive, another patient had since passed away less than a day after arriving at the hospital. Time went by without any other leishmaniasis patients coming to the hospital, but, unbeknown to Andrea and Mark, echoes of the tragic deaths had found their way to Chad’s Ministry of Health. God had truly been at work, and it was with real surprise that Mark and Andrea found themselves being offered a large donation of leishmaniasis medication by the Ministry of Health’s own pharmacist, who wanted to know if Mark and Andrea had the skill to roll it out in the hospital in Bardaï.

A group of people in a Chadian hospital

“We got the drugs, we got the tests, and then… we started getting patients,” says Andrea. Ironically, the news that tests are available has made life more complicated when chatting to anxious parents, coming to the hospital with a feverish child. “The trouble is that these tests will give you a positive reading, even if you’re one of the eight in ten who is immune to leishmaniasis,” says Andrea. A positive reading means the team have to think hard about whether to start someone on the treatment plan of daily injections, which can span from 17 days all the way up to 30. This is because the treatment plan has lots of negative side-effects, partly due to leishmaniasis’ status as an orphan disease. Little research has gone into creating newer, more effective drugs, and with Andrea’s rough estimate that around five per cent of those who go on the treatment plan could die from those side effects, you start to appreciate the enormity of the decision Andrea and Mark have to make.

A doctor playing with a child.

To make that crucial decision, they’ve developed a rigorous protocol to follow with each patient. They begin by taking on board what the patient says, ascertaining whether they’ve had a fever and how long it’s gone on for. Then, they’ll admit them to the hospital and monitor them, using a test to rule out malaria and treating them with antibiotics. Without any improvement from that, they’ll do the test for leishmaniasis and start them on the medication. Wonderfully, because the Ministry of Health has been involved since the beginning, the expensive treatment course is free for patients. A cohort of doctors has also been sent to examine Mark and Andrea’s work and suggest how it could be replicated across the country. “They were really impressed,” explains Andrea. The WHO has come on board too, and samples of the leishmaniasis strain have been sent to Cameroon for testing, so the most effective medication might be found. When the treatment plan is rolled out, affected areas of Chad will have the possibility of treating people with leishmaniasis for free, including, hopefully, at the BMS-supported Guinebor II hospital in N’Djamena. Andrea and Mark estimate that without the treatment hub they’ve created at the hospital, most patients they see would end up seeking help in Libya.

“Lots of things have fallen into place that have allowed us to do more than we would have ever imagined we could do,” says Andrea. Another positive consequence of the programme has been a huge increase in confidence in the hospital, with the wards filling up and patients staying for the whole course of their treatment, something that wasn’t a given previously. Two things are undeniable though: Andrea and Mark are quite clear that this astounding achievement would not have been possible without God’s provision and without your support.

“It is such a joy to see a child who has come in so sick go home laughing and running around,” reflect Andrea and Mark. “Thank you for enabling this to happen.”

Make pioneering healthcare and lifesaving work like this possible. You can enable Andrea and Mark’s crucial work when you support them regularly as a 24:7 Partner. Go to www.bmsworldmission.org/247 today, and support healthcare in northern Chad.

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Words by Hannah Watson, Editor of Engage, the BMS magazine.

Pray for Chad

Heightened tensions

Pray for Chad

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

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

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

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

Map of Chad

Please join us in prayer for:

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

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

A tale of two crises

Ten years on:

A tale of two crises

Ten years of fighting. Ten years away from home. Ten years with the constant threat of danger and death. But also, in spite of the heartbreak, ten years of God’s incredible love. This is the Syrian civil war, ten years on.

It may have largely disappeared from our news feeds, but the Syrian civil war and subsequent refugee crisis are still raging on – and in many ways, are worse than ever. According to the Lebanese Society for Education and Social Development (LSESD), BMS World Mission’s partner in Lebanon, the number of Syrian families in Lebanon now living in poverty has increased from 55 per cent to 90 per cent over the last year. But even in the midst of these devastating crises, our partner has seen God at work.

It's estimated that one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee.

Crises within crises

BMS World Mission has been supporting Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2011, when we first provided vital food and hygiene kits to families in desperate need. Over the last decade, we’ve continued offering crucial food support, and have also helped get Syrian children back in education at BMS-supported learning centres. But since the Syrian crisis began in 2010, the situations in both Syria and Lebanon have grown more and more desperate with each passing year. Today, around one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. And Lebanon itself has faced a financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the tragic Beirut blasts, all over just a couple of years.

Our partner tells us that these challenges mean that both Syrian and Lebanese families are struggling more than ever to find work so they can afford basic necessities like food and rent. Rabih*, a Syrian man, told our partner that, “I believe that the refugee crisis has worsened the economic crisis… If I make any money, I feel that a Lebanese person is more deserving of it.”
In the midst of such tragedies and despair, it’s hard to see how this situation could come to any kind of positive conclusion. But that’s where you come in.

A father stands in the centre surrounded by his two young sons and daughter in a camp supported by BMS partners LSESD.
"If I make any money, I feel that a Lebanese person is more deserving of it.,” said Rahib, a Syrian man supported by LSESD.

Your faithful generosity

Throughout these crises and tragedies, BMS supporters have responded with incredible compassion and generosity. You might remember our Syria’s Forgotten Families harvest appeal back in 2016, which raised an incredible £435,479.90 – the biggest response to any of our harvest appeals to date.

Because you refused to forget Syria, you’ve made a real difference to people like Nour*. Nour and her family regularly struggled to get enough food on the table, and in the tough economic climate, her husband often can’t find work. But thanks to your generosity, her seven-year-old daughter Samia* was able to start school at a BMS-supported learning centre back in 2019. Even though the Coronavirus pandemic struck a few months into her schooling, Samia was still able to keep learning with lessons sent over WhatsApp. “I thought they would not care about our family much,” said Nour. “I was surprised when […] the teachers actually called to help with the lessons.”

Not only is the centre providing Samia with the education she deserves, it’s also a lifeline for Nour herself. She receives food parcels from the centre every week, and it’s also become a place she can go to unburden herself of her worries.

“I eagerly waited for one of the staff to call me because I can cry and laugh and vent to someone,” said Nour. “My husband is burdened already, I cannot add to his sorrow, so whenever the teachers called, I felt relieved.”

Nour’s is just one story from among many who have received vital help from the centre. And without your support, that just wouldn’t have been possible.

*Names changed

Thanks to your support, we were able to get food parcels to struggling Syrian families.

Another decade of despair?

  • Despite the light of God clearly shining in the lives of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the conflict in Syria and the fragile situation in Lebanon are both far from over. Please keep praying for Syria, and for the work of our partner in Lebanon, that we might see God’s powerful justice at work.
  • Pray for the many families receiving relief from the BMS-supported learning centre. Pray that the Lord will provide for both Syrian and Lebanese people involved in this project. Pray also that they wouldn’t struggle to find work or put food on the table, like Nour’s family did.
  • Pray for the children receiving schooling at the learning centre, that the ongoing economic crisis wouldn’t cause children to drop out of school in order to find work.
  • Pray for our partner in Lebanon, that they would feel God’s presence with them as they work through so many challenges.
  • Pray for the ongoing situation in Syria, that discussions with the UN would be constructive and that peace would soon become a reality.
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Words by Laura Durrant
Photos: MERATH

Our God who hears

Our God who hears

A testimony to answered prayer in 2020

I'm praying for this

We stand at the beginning of a new year, more aware than ever how little our country, our global neighbours and our world leaders know about what lies ahead. So, what better way to begin 2021 than in prayer, with the BMS annual Day of Prayer on 31 January? And what better way to come to prayer than to come encouraged by this story, all about how God answered our prayers in 2020!

Last week, we asked BMS World Mission’s General Director Kang-San Tan to pen a prayer for the year ahead. It was a big ask. What do you pray for when faced with a year as uncertain as 2021? And where do you begin, with a world still in the grip of the Coronavirus pandemic?

Thankfully, our General Director was more than up for the challenge, and we shared his beautiful prayer in our email update (if you don’t receive them, sign up here!) And as we did so, we knew we weren’t asking without basis or confidence. We’ve been so privileged to see firsthand how our prayers for our world, our work and most importantly, for those we work with and for, have been answered.

Kang-San Tan

Kang-San’s prayer for 2021 asked for three things: flourishing for new communities, for our workers to be the fragrance of Christ in everything they do, and for God’s Kingdom to come, his will being done on earth and in heaven. Let’s take a look at how we saw God working powerfully in each of these ways in 2020 and allow this to give us confidence as we ask again for his provision in 2021.

Flourishing communities

CHURCHES AND SUPPORTERS

This past year has undoubtedly posed extreme challenges for churches, seeking to livestream services, record online talks and set up ‘Zoom coffees’ in place of meeting together. It seemed impossible to replace the easy fellowship we enjoy from mingling in our church halls or working together on a Harvest offering table. So it was wonderful to hear that, across the year, so many had found ways to adapt and meet the challenges. Over 230 churches found ways to raise money for the BMS Harvest appeal, Operation: Chad, many of them remotely. Some churches organised online collections, and many superstar fundraisers set themselves unique sporting challenges they could do within their four walls to raise money – you can check out Will and Tom’s achievements on our Facebook page, or Ana Sophia Clark’s garage 10k in Issue 48 of Engage!

Will and Tom, two fundraising heroes

PROVISION AND PROTECTION

From our mission workers to our UK staff team, across our supporters and in churches, so many have faced serious challenges to health, disruptions to normal working conditions and difficulty in travelling throughout 2020. It would be wrong to overlook how difficult it has been for all of us in each of our individual ways, but in all this, it’s also been remarkable to see God’s provision and protection. Whether it’s been upholding people in their physical needs, putting loving community around the lonely or sending his Spirit to sustain and to guide, we’ve heard some wonderful stories of God’s strength keeping people throughout this year.

Sharing Christ

A woman holding her baby.

THE CHRISTMAS PRAYER CAMPAIGN

In the midst of lockdowns and social distancing, outreach events seemed like an impossible dream. That is, until four BMS partners across Asia came forward with a plan to reach their neighbours across India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand with the gospel at Christmas. You joined us in prayer for these Christmas outreach events, and we’re now hearing exciting testimonies about the fruit of this incredible endeavour. There have been baptisms, gifts and Bibles handed out and the proclamation of gospel hope in a time of real crisis. We hope to share more in the upcoming issue of Engage, the BMS World Mission magazine, so subscribe here to ensure you don’t miss it!

ONE MILLION LIVES

A huge answer to prayer in 2020 was seeing that the faithfulness and generosity of supporters has enabled us to reach our goal of transforming one million lives worldwide!

Back in 2016, BMS launched an ambitious plan. We wanted to transform the lives of one million people by the end of 2020. The last of those five years posed challenges none of us could have foreseen, but with God’s guidance and your support, we amazingly saw that target achieved. You equipped the global Church to reach out and share Jesus’ love with one million people in some of the world’s least evangelised, most marginalised and most fragile places. Stay tuned to hear more over the next few months about all you’ve achieved!

Four BMS workers engaged in evangelism and church planting across India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand gathered in a group montage against a blue background.

Doing God's will

CORONAVIRUS AND BEIRUT

In 2020 alone, we handed out more relief grants than ever before – and it was all down to the generosity of BMS supporters. In moments of real trial, nations around the world dealt with the devastating effects of Covid-19, many on top of other political, economic or humanitarian crises. Thanks to your gifts, over 36,000 people received practical aid and spiritual support, all in the name of Jesus. You helped build a satellite Covid-19 hospital in Bardaï, Chad and shored up other hospitals across Chad and Nepal. You handed out face masks, PPE and soap, and provided psychological support to those in despair. After the blast in Beirut last summer, you rebuilt broken homes, enabling 40 families to be rehoused, and gave out emergency meals. We praise God for your joyful obedience to his will and calling to give, even out of hard personal circumstances for many in the UK.

Food distribution in Beirut after the blast

Last but not least, we’ve also had the privilege of praying with you, our supporters. As the UK entered its first lockdown back in March of 2020, it became clear to the BMS team that asking for requests and praying for the things on your hearts would be an absolutely essential part of our work this year. Our weekly prayers for supporters and churches have been a real time of encouragement and blessing. And if you saw prayers answered this last year, we’d love to hear how you are doing.

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We pray that seeing these answers to prayer in 2020 has encouraged you for the year ahead. Please do join us in prayer for our Day of Prayer on Sunday 31 January 2021. Follow the link to our Day of Prayer page  for all the information you’ll need, as well as for handy resources like a PowerPoint and PDF download, designed to be easily shared in your church service.

Words by Hannah Watson