engage issue 2 2012

2 issue

2012 ·

quarterly news & information from BMS

GREEN FINGERS P3

TOILETS FOR HEALTH P5

SKILLS FOR LIFE IN UGANDA P7

BRIGHTER FUTURES GIVING CHIlDrEN lIkE BINa THE HOpE Of a BETTEr lIfE Their smiles radiate and they exude boundless energy, yet the reality of life for street and slum children in Kolkata is far from joyful. The BMS India Action Team describes how one Christian project in the city is providing a group of poor kids with food, schooling and hope.

Bina and her brother Vetaal

Every weekday morning, the bus, already full of energetic children, picks us up on the way to the Good News Children’s Education Mission mobile school in Hatibagan. Once there, we help to wash and dress the children. School starts with singing and Bible stories, followed by a breakfast of milk and biscuits.

The oldest children are taught maths and writing, the middle group are taught how to speak and write simple English words, while the youngest (whom we usually teach) learn the alphabet, numbers and other simple English words. They finish the day with playtime and lunch, before being dropped back off where they live.

Several children are going to be moving up to the next stage of education and it is wonderful to see how they have this opportunity thanks to the school. Christian teaching and regular prayers means they are being brought up knowing about the

love of God. We have really got to know the children on a personal level: children like Bina Das. She has been at the school for two years and her brother Vetaal also goes to the school. Bina always greets you with a smile and a cuddle, and makes everyone laugh with her funny faces and infectious giggle. Bina, Vetaal and their parents all live under a small makeshift shelter on the street. Her clothes, like most of the other children’s, are always dirty and torn, as you would expect for a street child.

But it’s not all sorrow. In a couple of months Bina will be moving on from Hatibagan to a hostel, like a boarding school, where she will get an education and live in good, clean conditions. She is very excited. We asked Bina what she wants to do when she grows up and she told us she wants to keep learning.

She’s a very smart girl and we all believe that a life on the streets is definitely not on the cards for her. She is going to go far and we are all very proud.

The BMS Kolkata Action Team 2011/12 is Naomi Bridgeman, Ellen Pullin, Joshua Smith and Harriet Thayre.

For more information about our gap year programme go to www.bmsworldmission.org/actionteams

If you would like to support BMS work like this, visit www.bmsworldmission.org/support

STREET CHILDREN: HOPE FOR THE HOMELESS

Page 10

PEOPLE WANTED: BANGLADESH P8

FOCUS ON TUNISIA P11

david kerrigan “

a brilliant idea that can help galvanise your church

Lives have been changed. Not just individuals either but families, whole communities and even nations.

Some have grown so confident in the gospel that they are now prolific missionary sending countries themselves. Through migration, the phenomenon of mission from ‘everywhere to everywhere’ has become a reality even in our own towns and cities.

So we’re doing well, aren’t we? Taken overall, the worldwide Church is. But more locally, we know that in the UK today the tide is still ebbing. And with much to do to be effective witnesses in our own communities, it can be too easy to leave ‘the ends of the earth’ to others.

A little while back I came across a brilliant idea that can help galvanise your church into seeing how they can get involved in world mission themselves.

With acknowledgement to Hutton and Shenfield Union Church, Brentwood, here’s how it works: First, get a boxful of New Testaments (or some other suitable piece of Christian literature). Most in English of course, but see if you can get a few in French and

Spanish too. Next, invite your church members, all ages from the youngest to the oldest, to take at least one New Testament and see where they can take it in the world over the next year. If you do this before the summer, you’ll be amazed at how many people travel on holidays, some on business, maybe your young people are taking gap years, or people visiting relatives in Australia! But there are also workplaces, schools and universities here in the UK, and neighbours too.

And here’s the crunch: they have to find someone to give their New Testament to, and of course strike up a conversation about what being a Christian means to them. Then they have to take a photo of them holding the New Testament in the location, or better still with the person they gave it to, or at least send a postcard from the location back to the church.

And over the year, a map of the world, the UK or even your town, can gradually be populated with photos and cards from places where these New Testaments were given as a gift. You can give prizes for the furthest distance travelled, the copy given out nearest to the church, best photo, the most New Testaments given away, the best story and so on.

Build up the maps over the year and tell the stories week-on-week.

It’s a simple idea, but it serves to remind us that we have a personal responsibility to be evangelists.

“

“And you will be witnesses… even to the ends of the earth”. With these words from the lips of Jesus, the mission of the Church began. And over the last 2,000 years, the mission of God has grown and adapted, and found creative expression in so many ways.

So, here’s my photo, in Rio de Janeiro, with my New Testament, which I gave to one of the Englishspeaking hotel workers where I stayed. See where you get to this next year.

David Kerrigan is General Director of BMS World Mission

BMS World Mission PO Box 49, 129 Broadway, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 8XA Telephone: 01235 517700 Fax: 01235 517601 Website: www.bmsworldmission.org Email Editorial: magazine@bmsworldmission.org Enquiries about overseas service: opportunities@bmsworldmission.org Email Other departments: mail@bmsworldmission.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/bmsworldmission Twitter: twitter.com/BMSWorldMission Baptist Missionary Society

Registered as a charity in England and Wales (number 233782) and in Scotland (number SC037767)

© Copyright 2012 BMS World Mission

ISSN 1756-2481

mission statement

credits

As a Christian mission organisation, we aim to share life in all its fullness with the world’s peoples by:

general director managing editor editor regular contributors

enabling them to know Christ alleviating suffering and injustice and improving the quality of life with people as our primary agent of change – motivating, training, sending and resourcing them.

The views and opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of BMS World Mission

Printed on material from sustainable forests

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connecting with world mission

design editors printed by

David Kerrigan Jan Webb Andrew Dubock Sally Buchan, Nabil K Costa, Andrew Dubock, David Kerrigan, Jan Webb and Grace Pepperfish.co.uk, Worthing, West Sussex Halcyon Print & Design, Heathfield, East Sussex

engage magazine is free to anyone in the UK who would like to receive it. Just send us your name and address either by email to engage@bmsworldmission.org or subscribe online at www.bmsworldmission.org/engage or phone us on 01235 517638 or by post to BMS World

Mission, PO Box 49, Didcot, OX11 8XA

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PRE-ORDER NOW BMSWORLDMISSION.ORG/THIRSTY

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If you would like to support BMS work such as this, visit www.bmsworldmission.org/support

GREEN FINGERS why creAtion-cAring christiAns need to get their hAnds dirty “A lAndmArk Achievement” or “An empty shell of A plAn”? there wAs mixed reAction to the legAlly-binding deAl struck by the world governments lAst december to reduce greenhouse gAs emissions.

environmental partners Climate Stewards, said that he feels

of doing their part. On average, every 50 kilogrammes of

the UK Church has a general concern about such issues, but

recycled paper saves one tree from being cut down. “Each

doesn’t always know how to take action.

tree that remains standing is shelter for birds and other

Whilst negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change

Christians have “more reason to care than the rest of

Mark and Suzana have been introducing new ideas on the

Conference in Durban felt they had reached “a common

society”. “However,” he goes on to say, “I don’t think

Bible college campus where they live. One student leads a

purpose”, green campaigners criticised the lack of urgency

Christians are ahead, and in fact, some people’s theology

project that socially and spiritually reintegrates men who

and ambition shown. The targets set for 2020 are not, critics

has tended to mean that they don’t think about worldly

have been rehabilitated from drug and alcohol abuse. They

“I think one of the things that environmentally-conscious,

says Mark. “Recycling also decreases the need to extract

take the first step and bring their friends along with them,”

resources from nature and decreases the quantities of

Brendan says.

rubbish collected in municipal dumps.”

He adds that, in loving God and loving our neighbours,

say, enough to prevent “catastrophic climate change”.

things at all. I think [green issues] are moving into

Far away from the political rhetoric are people within all sections of society who are taking environmental issues seriously. Green matters are not just something for enthusiasts anymore – the last decade has seen a significant shift in popular opinion and action taken.

But how can Christians be better stewards of God’s creation? And is it really a serious mission issue? In a

Kate Holt/IRIN

recent interview, Brendan Bowles of BMS’

creatures that depend on a balanced ecosystem to survive,”

‘creation care’ Christians can do is to show others how they

the churches in an encouraging way: it is an

it is an ordinary part of being a christian to care for creation

ordinary part of being a Christian to care for creation.”

The actions of those in the West have a huge impact on people in the

Recycling is, however, still in its infancy in Brazil, so

are the workforce behind the recycling initiative. As well as separating rubbish they are preparing an herb garden, which will use compost produced with organic waste from the seminary’s kitchens. They are also impressively producing sofas from plastic bottles.

Mark says, “As the college students and workers separate

developing world. “The real suffering

the waste for recycling daily, they are able to reflect on our

is taking place where there are

role as carers for God’s creation. We pray that this reflection

fewest resources to cope with climate

will bring to their hearts a deep understanding of the

change,” states Brendan. “You get

Church’s ability to act in this way and will bear fruit in their

floods in West Africa and drought in East Africa. They’ve always had these conditions but now people are saying ‘this is bigger than it used to be’. South America is

future ministries as pastors and missionaries.” top left: A man walks through a flooded rice field in the Philippines top right: Are you sitting comfortably? A plastic bottle sofa left: Drought in Somalia

experiencing floods and mudslides, and drought in the Amazon. And they say: ‘we’ve never had it like this’.”

As one of those countries seeing the devastating effects of a changing climate, should inhabitants of Brazil be

watch the short video interview with brendan browles at

www.bmsworldmission.org/futureshape

taking practical action themselves? BMS workers Mark and Suzana Greenwood believe so. “Rio de Janeiro is a place where the beauty and the strength of creation meet,” says

did you know…?

an understanding that the earth has life, and that our well-

carbon emissions from all bms staff travel is offset, with the money going to support climate stewards’ projects and to our own grassroots eco challenge fund. in 2011, we supported five such green initiatives in peru, chad, brazil, nepal and across latin America. find out more at

being is closely connected to the planet’s well-being.”

www.bmsworldmission.org/ecoprojects

Mark. “We have witnessed the damage floods and mudslides cause but, better than worrying, the Church can act. In Brazil this means raising awareness of our responsibility to care for God’s creation. Exercising this care is a privilege and implies

The Greenwoods have identified recycling as one way

connecting with world mission

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world news BMS making news

news in brief

A new home for El Puente

Brazil In just one generation Brazil has gone from being an importer to an exporter of missionaries. Today there are 3,700 Brazilian missionaries serving in over 100 countries including not only the Latin-speaking countries but also North Africa and the Middle East. The growing missionary conscience has grown hand in hand with a growing Protestant population in Latin America: the 2000 census showed that Brazilian Protestants now form more than 20 per cent of the population. (WEA)

El Puente, the church planted by BMS workers Scott and Anjanette Williamson in August 2009, recently celebrated a move to larger premises in the ancient city of Cusco in Peru. Back in 2009, its core membership consisted of Scott and Anjanette and their two children, Jessica and Samuel. Over two years and two new premises later, the membership stands at 39.

Egypt

Magdi Abdelhadi, latitudenews.com

On New Year’s Eve 2011, between 5,000 and 10,000 people joined in worship as the congregation from Kasr El Dobara Church proceeded peacefully from their church to Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

As one church member put it, “We have always been protected under the ceiling of the church. The day [came] for us to leave our chairs to share with those who need to understand our hope more fully.”

BMS’ partner in the region, SAT-7, broadcast the service live to millions across the Middle East and North Africa. (ANS)

In a time when church attendance figures in Britain can make depressing reading, such growth is exciting. “We’re feeling a mixture of excitement and exhaustion,” said Anjanette.

“God was very active in the way he helped us to move the church. In the same week, we returned from our church’s first-ever weekend away, conducted a medical campaign in a poor community outside the city and started a new schools project. Somehow God gave us the energy to get everything done in time!”

Jessica (8) believes the reason for the growth is simple. “God is sending more people, people are telling others about Jesus and bringing their friends and family to church”.

Situated in a residential community, across the road from a pre-school, the new church building will offer many opportunities to reach out to the new community. “We aim to set up a mums’ and babies’ group for mums who are dropping their children off at pre-school,” said Anjanette. “We are also thinking about starting some other new groups in the church building like a homework club, English club and maybe a group for retired people.”

The longer-term vision is for El Puente to buy its own property in the future. “We have signed a two-year contract, during which time we hope to raise enough money to buy our own church building,” said Anjanette. She explained that this aim was important because she and Scott have a vision for the church in Cusco one day becoming independently sustainable without support in the form of rent or mission workers.

“Eventually, we would like to see Peruvian Christians run the church.”

El Puente celebrated their move with a ribboncutting ceremony and cake-eating inauguration party, to which the surrounding community was invited. About 40 people attended and, if past form is anything to go by, we hope that will mean a rise in church attendance.

Pakistan The Pakistani Telecommunications Authority is reported to have told mobile phone companies to block text messages containing “obscene” words. Among the words and expressions that are to be blocked are: athlete’s foot, back door, flatulence, bewaquf (foolish), bakwaas (nonsense) and Jesus Christ. Wilson Chowdery, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association said, “It beggars belief that Jesus Christ could be considered a word offensive to Muslims as he is written about as a great prophet in the Qu’ran”. (ANS)

Sign of the future: a new home for El Puente in Cusco

Joni B Hannigan/FBW

Kurdistan

bms responding to disasters In recent weeks BMS has sent grants from its Relief Appeal to help in the following situations:

Unicef Pakistan/Warrick Page

Baptists have been given two acres of land valued at £1.3million for a project which will include a medical clinic, school, athletic facility, church building and college in the town of Simele in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Duhok Province. Gurgis Shlaymun, the deputy governor and an Assyrian Christian, pledged his support. “This is our duty to introduce the land for this project,” he said, “You understand this project is from God. We must all be united to glorify God.” (Baptist Press)

pakistan £23,000 Severe flooding in August 2010 damaged agricultural land, making it impossible to grow crops in 2011. Some places still have standing water which have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The makeshift living conditions and stagnant water have made families more vulnerable to diseases, especially dengue fever.

This grant has been used to buy food packages, soap, mosquito repellent and nets for over 450 families.

World The world’s first solar-powered printing press, created to increase the ability to provide Bibles and resources throughout the world has made its debut at a conference for pastors and leaders of the world’s denominations and fellowships. “This year we will showcase a global solarpowered press, on which we will print the first books from Latin America, West Africa, India and United States, [along with] other resources, right on the premises while the conference convenes,” said a spokesman. (ANS)

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connecting with world mission

sri Lanka £4,400 More than 66,000 people have been affected, across the country, by the aftermath of cruel weather which hit in late November 2011. Floods and wind damage killed 22 people and left at least 19 missing. Power lines were brought down and agricultural lands destroyed.

Infrastructure was demolished and roads were impassable.

This grant has been used in conjunction with BMS partner, A woman rescues her possessions from rising floodwaters

news in brief Niger

International Potato Centre

In a country where literacy rates are low, the Hausa Old Testament in audio format is soon to be distributed by local believers, pastors and Bible college students in an effort to grow the Church. The Old Testament is of particular interest to those of the national religion – Islam – and gives opportunities for conversations about the historical context of the Old Testament. Although Christians make up only 0.3 per cent of the population, the distributors do not anticipate challenges. (MNN)

The pits: good sanitation has a profound effect on poor Nepali communities

Toilets for health BMS World Mission has for a long time been involved with sanitation projects.

A recent project has been providing thousands of toilets to people in rural parts of Nepal. This project has been headed up by Tlana Hnamler, a BMS worker in Nepal, along with his team of Nepali Christians.

Building latrines is crucial in communities where no latrines exist, and where local religious purity laws mean that human waste is disposed of in a different place every time. Without latrines, not only does walking around become complicated, but diseases are spread quickly and dangerously. Before the digging and building starts, Tlana and a team from BMS’ partner the Multipurpose Community Development Service (MCDS) – which is also an arm of the Nepali Church that provides practical help to Nepal’s poor – must identify a community that is most in need of clean water and sanitation.

This team works with the community for a number of years, assessing the needs and building relationships with locals who might at first be suspicious of Christians.

Only once the community leaders and the village as a whole are in agreement, will Tlana and his team proceed to dig latrines. Two latrine pits are dug per household, to allow for a rotation of use when one pit is full.

The effect of these latrines is profound. A remote village high in the mountains, accessible only by foot, was the site of what BMS Regional Team Leader for Asia, Margaret Gibbs, calls “a triumph”. After months of negotiation and consultation between MCDS and local leaders, the latrine team, who had been living in the village, set to work. With functional toilets, health in the village has greatly improved, relationships between Christians and Hindus have been transformed and the love of Christ has been expressed in a practical way.

Mozambique An orange-coloured sweet potato – specially bred to have a high beta-carotene content, a compound rich in vitamin A – is helping to save lives in Mozambique. It has been estimated that in Mozambique, 2.3 million children under the age of five are vitamin A deficient. The project distributed vines bearing the beta-carotene enhanced potato to more than 10,000 households.

Once grown, the potato provides over 70 per cent of all dietary vitamin A. (IRIN)

World North Korea has for the tenth year running topped the 2012 World Watch List of countries where it is hardest to be a Christian. This was followed by Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan. “Persecution globally is increasing dramatically,” said Carl Moeller, CEO of Open Doors USA. With the persecution has come an increase in church growth… We see the visible Church being pressured and the growth of Muslim-background believer churches and cell groups.” (MNN)

Polynesia Water shortages have led to the closure of schools on the island of Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean. Breadfruit, banana and coconut trees – a main source of food for the islanders – are withering and dying because the roots are being poisoned by saltwater. As a result of a recent visit, the Bishop of Polynesia has issued a call for prayer for this immediate situation and for a way to deal with climate change which has contributed to rising sea levels. (Christian Today)

Kuwait

THailand £1,100

Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Society, to deliver basic recovery commodities, including food and shelter, to 140 families.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country scarred by war, unemployment and poverty. As, over the past year, the country has been without a government, no budgets have been proposed or approved.

Millions faced a hard winter, with limited incomes and food and fuel shortages.

A grant was sent to assist the EBAid Winterhelp project which provided basic foodstuffs and firewood to a number of impoverished people last winter.

Thaddeus Stewart

Bosnia and Herzegovina £2,570

After the extensive flooding in November 2011, around 430 people lost their lives and thousands were evacuated. The outer areas of Bangkok were also badly affected with a fifth of the city underwater, leaving homes and livelihoods destroyed. A relief grant was sent to BMS’ partner NightLight to assist in rebuilding and restoring homes. The funds have been used to cover the cost of replacing floors, painting, repairing doors and providing basic furniture.

When disasters happen, BMS is only able to respond quickly with your support.

Help us continue to make a difference.

Visit www.bmsworldmission.org/relief or call our donations hotline on: 01235 517641.

“I’m satisfied with whatever they do to me. The truth in the Bible has guided me to the right way.” These were the words of Kuwaiti prince Abdollah Al-sabah in an audio broadcast attributed to him. The Iranian Christian news agency Mohabat News has reported the prince as having converted to Christianity. Some independent Shi’ite websites contradicted this report and quoted another Kuwaiti prince as saying “There is no one in the Kuwaiti royal family by that name”. (ANS)

Burma Burma’s government signed a ceasefire in January with the Karen National Union, the country’s oldest ethnic rebel group, bringing a possible end to 60-plus years of fighting.

The Karen group is the only one of Burma’s major ethnic groups never to have reached a peace with the government. For many years the Karen people have been the target of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and, as a result, thousands of Karen have been forced from their homes, many seeking refuge in neighbouring Thailand.

(Baptist Press)

Life was tough this winter for elderly people in Bosnia and Herzegovina

connecting with world mission

5

engage THROUGH

prayer

IDEAS ON NEW WAYS TO PRAY FOR MISSION IN OUR WORLD

MEET BMS ENTHUSIAST

FIONA & IAIN CRAIGHEAD In 2008, after five years as mission workers with BMS World Mission, we swapped the tropical heat and beauty of our home in Nepal for Scotland’s Orkney Islands: a major change! Looking back, our time with BMS had been a tremendous experience and we recognised that it had been made possible through the prayer and sacrificial giving of BMS supporters throughout the UK.

Personal Do a trawl through the Yellow Pages phone book for ethnic groups in your area. Pray for them and ask God how you can be a good neighbour to them.

Group

Student Christian Movement

Have a creative prayer service. Set up a number of tables to help people pray in different ways eg • news station (newspapers, marker pens) • arts station (drawing materials) • drama station (Christian drama and poetry books) • liturgy station (copies of worship and prayer books) • quiet space (blank paper, stones, water) People visit the tables in turn and present offerings from each table at the end the service. www.praywithoutceasing.org.uk/ideas.htm

Before leaving for Nepal, our year spent in study and preparation at the International Mission Centre in Birmingham had been a time of great blessing. In Nepal, we were privileged to work alongside local Christians whose boldness in proclaiming the gospel was both an inspiration and a challenge. The close Christian fellowship we enjoyed was beyond anything we had experienced before.

During home assignment visits in Britain, we built up relationships with people in our link churches and they felt like extended members of our own family. Our move from mission workers to UK supporters was motivated by a wish to give something back and to allow others to see the exciting way in which God is changing lives throughout the world. It gives us great pleasure to see large numbers of mission personnel in training but also a sense of responsibility to ensure that BMS has the prayer and financial resources to see them supported through training and in their work overseas.

Joining Kirkwall Baptist Church – with its long history of support for BMS and an active mission support committee – made that aspiration easy to achieve. The link group system has its frustrations but it does give churches a tangible sense of involvement. Since becoming home supporters, we have experienced the sadness of

the untimely passing of a mission partner through illness and also felt the anguish of our next mission partner as she finished her much-loved work and returned home.

Being personally involved in the lives of the mission workers keeps the reality of the joys and hardships in our minds and helps bring mission alive. On one recent visit, Margaret Gibbs, BMS Team Leader for Asia, shared an urgent prayer need. The fellowship prayed and God answer the prayer just 24 hours later. It is good to know that despite returning to the UK we can still play an active part in God’s mission for the world.

The Craighead family being commissioned at the 2004 Baptist Assembly

Meditation “Take courage and work, for I am with you,” says the LORD God Almighty. “My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.” (Haggai 2: 5) My king and my friend, head of the Church and Lord of the angel armies, help me to remember as I go about my life today that you are with me.

I owe you everything and sometimes I forget.

I would get lost without You – the Way. My thoughts are scrambled without You – the Truth.

My very existence a subsistence without You – the Life.

Give me a jumping, skipping, giddy-with-joy desire to share you, my Advocate, my Saviour, my Rock with those I meet today.

Face to face or virally, with words on paper or screen.

Words of encouragement, blessing or surprise.

A whispered prayer or a need to give or receive.

Lord of all, give me courage to do your work and so extend your Kingdom today.

(Jan Webb)

The new-look engage magazine, launching in June, will include a reflection page – and we’d love to include your prayers and meditations. If you have an idea for personal or group prayers that we could use, please email us at

magazine@bmsworldmission.org

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connecting with world mission

editorial The smell of home-cooked food, a cosy sofa and a roaring fire: for most people, the home is a place to feel relaxed and comforted.

But what happens when this safe place turns into one of danger? As a ten year-old, my wife spent a night cowering under her bed during the Great Storm of 1987. As the chimney stack of their Kent home was lifted and twisted by the wind’s powerful force, she and her family genuinely feared for their lives.

And a friend spent most of her last Christmas clinging onto doorframes and other sturdy objects as she experienced almost-daily earthquakes and aftershocks in Christchurch, New Zealand.

We take for granted places of protection until we face events like these. The truth is though that many people in the majority world don’t ever have somewhere to really take refuge.

Unicef estimates that there are approximately 100 million street children worldwide. These youngsters

don’t choose to live in alleyways and doorways – feelings of hopelessness and desperation drive them there, and the cycle of street life is hard to break.

In this engage, we have two articles about street children. The front-page feature focuses on a project in Kolkata giving opportunities to slum kids, whilst page ten’s Special Report looks at how a documentary film is promoting issues and campaigning for change.

I’d encourage you to not only read these pieces, but also make a pledge to take action. That might be by supporting BMS in a new way or by buying the Street Kids United DVD. If nothing else, please do pray: for the children, for initiatives helping them and that those in political power would change things.

In Psalm 16: 1, King David urges, “Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge”. May we, and those far more vulnerable than us, continue to trust in the Lord for our protection.

Left: Carpentry students make a bed – which they have now already sold!

Above: Tailoring trainees use a manual Singer sewing machine Below: Daycare children eat posho (maize) and beans for lunch

The power of Partners!

Bethan and Gareth Shrubsole thank 24:7 Partners for the life-transforming work they are enabling in an impoverished community in Uganda.

When we arrived in Uganda, the situation in Acholi Quarter, the poorest neighbourhood of Kasese in the west of the country, seemed desperate. Community meetings confirmed that the biggest challenges were high unemployment (worsened by a chronic lack of skills or education), daily neglect of young children and a general sense of despair amongst young men, often leading to drink, drugs or crime.

It is easy to feel helpless but Pastor Alfonse has been working hard in this community for years, providing an affordable nursery and primary school in the heart of the community, resettlement of orphans with other family members and assistance with medical expenses.

Pastor Alfonse’s ministry and the local Baptist church work in partnership, sharing land and buildings. The ministry’s

school hall becomes the church building on Sundays and the church’s Sunday school provides two school classrooms during the week. Alfonse’s vision was that this site, in the heart of Acholi Quarter, should have a wider impact on the community, serving people of all ages and denominations.

With the help of the BMS Development Committee, this dream is being realised. There is now training in carpentry for young men, tailoring for women and a new day care centre where young children of women on the course, or looking for employment, receive food and learn and play in a safe environment.

The men and women also get weekly training in business skills and lifefocused Christian discussion/Biblestudy sessions led by local pastors and clergy.

It has been so exciting to see how these projects have progressed.

The day care children play happily together. The young men, so often the subject of criticism and blame here, are already proving themselves in carpentry – last week two of them made a bed that

has been sold, followed by more orders! The women are producing different items of clothing that can be used or sold. In addition to learning valuable skills, the trainees are also developing confidence and building friendships.

Without the grace of God and other local and international partnerships, these projects might have been beset by the endless difficulties and delays we faced.

We are grateful to God for his guidance and sustaining us through the many challenges and also to BMS 24:7 Partners, people here in Uganda, the UK and elsewhere whose generosity of time, skills, prayers and resources have made it possible to serve the people of Acholi Quarter, Kasese.

24:7 Partners

is a way in which you can join BMS in reaching out to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the world by committing a regular donation by direct debit.

Please pray and consider becoming a 24:7 Partner. Phone us on 01235 517606, visit www.bmsworldmission.org/partners or write to 24:7 Partners at the address on page 2.

MEET BMS WORKERS

CHRISTINE AND GEOFF HOLDER God’s calling to Mozambique came for us in very different ways. Geoff, with his heart still in Uganda where he’d set up and run a charity, was definitely keener to embrace an adventurous overseas lifestyle than Christine, for whom the word ‘reluctant’ doesn’t quite come close enough.

But with God providing not so much a quiet wind gently calling but more like a bellowing foghorn impossible to ignore, we decided it was time to make the move with BMS World Mission.

With Isaac only 18 months old, a new house that needed gutting and redecorating, and with Naomi due to be born any day, we left our teaching jobs in Kent and threw ourselves into the 101 jobs we needed to finish before moving (again) to start our training at BMS’ International Mission Centre in Birmingham. Whilst we were there we were really excited to discover that we had an invitation from the Baptist Convention of Mozambique.

We arrived here in June 2011 and are based in the coastal city of Beira where we’re currently dividing our time between studying Portuguese, learning about Mozambican culture, building friendships and laying a foundation for the future direction of BMS work in Mozambique.

Whilst we two older members of the family continue to get into terrible muddles with Portuguese verb endings at language school, the children are learning with effortless ease through everyday life!

We’re still finding it strange being the pupils and not the teachers we were in our previous jobs, but we all feel settled and know that this is where

God wants us. There’s so much to do here but our challenge is to seek what God would have us do in this beautiful country and simply follow in his footsteps, seeking his Kingdom in whatever direction that might take us.

If you would like to know more about using your skills overseas with BMS, visit:

www.bmsworldmission.org/opportunities

connecting with world mission

7

COUNTRY FOCUS

WHOM IS GOD CALLING? It was one of the first places where BMS sent missionaries and Margaret Gibbs explains why, more than 200 years later, we are still recruiting in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh

The locally-led Christian Church in Bangladesh continues to represent a very small percentage of society in this majority Muslim country. It has some freedom to operate within its own boundaries, but finds it difficult to reach out. BMS has good relations with different church groups in Bangladesh and they are asking for help, especially with pastoral mentoring at grassroots level, theological education, and also in equipping churches with practical skills to help raise the economic level of Christians and others, many of whom are particularly poor and marginalised within society.

Bangladesh suffers year on year from natural disasters which make lasting development difficult to sustain, and challenges us as God’s people to be long-term travellers with God’s people there – not just motivated by finding quick-fix, practical solutions, before moving on to another issue in another country.

On the other hand there are unique opportunities in Bangladesh to meet and reach out to those who do have some say in society, particularly those who own the many

WHY SEND PASTORS? Fifteen years ago BMS took the decision that it was no longer appropriate for a Western mission worker to be the pastor of a church in Asia. But that isn’t to say there is no role to play, writes David Kerrigan.

Our fervent hope is that two or three pastors might come and form a small team in Bangladesh, committing for at least five years. They might go together, learn the language together and be deployed to work alongside a local pastor as part of their initial learning phase.

Then they might work with a more experienced regional pastor, giving and receiving insights that each has to offer, training and equipping, and enabling others to do the same. There are opportunities too in a Christian theological college, working to shape the next generation of young leaders.

A pastor in this role would need to have the skills, and the self-awareness, to be an enabler. Yes, there is the opportunity to teach and preach, but the deeper goal is to develop the skills in people so they can work out their own indigenous theology.

It can be hard at times but that’s the case everywhere and BMS families have lived and thrived

8

connecting with world mission

here for many years. Children too, and the younger the better, as good schooling is available and there’s nothing like the experience of growing up in a different culture. We’re looking for men and women of humble courage, mature in their faith, young at heart, and passionate about seeing the gospel spread.

David Kerrigan is BMS General Director and was a mission worker in Bangladesh during the 1980s

garment and other manufacturing businesses in Bangladesh, who are looking for meaning in life and are ready to respond to some of the creative access options we have there.

So whom might God be calling to serve in Bangladesh with BMS? People who value relationships and communication and who are willing to learn a new language. People who are patient and willing to acquire another way of seeing things. People who are in it for the long haul.

People who are creative and able to spot what God might be doing in another culture, so they can get involved. Could this be you?

Margaret Gibbs is BMS Regional Team Leader for Asia, and a former mission worker in Nepal and Albania Left: How bright is the future for the next generation in Bangladesh?

Above: There are opportunities to support small business ventures

Jyoti Ratna (right) teaches at the Christian College of Theology of Bangladesh and recently spent a term at BMS’ International Mission Centre in the UK. It was an experience, she says, that has given her a new view of mission.

“I am getting some idea about cross-cultural mission. I saw the UK Church trying to support others and I realised in my country this is a problem. The Bangladesh Church really loves God, and worship touches our hearts but, maybe, we’re just not helping others.

“People from BMS can come and help our pastoral ministry and our theological colleges.

Please send people on the development side too.

We suffer from flooding: people lose their houses and don’t have clean water. Farmers lose crops, which is very painful for them.”

If you’ve been moved and challenged by the possibility of serving in Bangladesh, call us on 01235 517653 or email opportunities@bmsworldmission.org to explore it further.

Above: Help is needed to bring more people to a faith in Christ

A MISSION MODEL FOR ALBANIA Albanian pastor Ylli Beqiraj shares his perspective on life and Church in that country – and explains why ministers from the UK are still needed.

Left: Many Albanians live in poverty, particularly in rural areas

Our church in Vlora, in the south of Albania, prays regularly that God may send workers into the world to bring about his harvest. But as our senior pastor and BMS worker Graham Sansom constantly reminds us, it’s important not to forget the last place we prayed for when a new need arises.

On occasions, Albania features in world news. One of the reasons that Albania’s reputation is constantly tarnished is that old European Mafia-type groups are recruiting its young emigrants into unlawful activities. Such groups and corruption dominate Albania’s politics. In general, people have given up thinking about right and wrong because of the extreme poverty that has assaulted the country. All they want is a job, even if this means being involved in the underworld of political parties.

The majority of evangelicals in Albania are young people but as they finish their studies they either move to the capital or emigrate. Most of them then lose connection with their home churches. Apart from in the capital, Tirana, most evangelical churches are small and poor, and dependent on outside financial help.

Right: Tirana: Albania’s capital city is developing quickly

Vlora is not an exception to the general situation.

The only advantages that we might have are our tourist and commercial ties with Italy, but the majority of local investment focuses too much on money laundering rather than on prioritising regional development.

Locally we are very fragmented in our witness because the first missionaries come from many different theological backgrounds. Out of a total of possibly 200 believers whom we have in Vlora, each of the churches has no more than five to ten local believers who could be considered as fully-committed. The rest are students, visitors or seekers.

I cannot stop expressing my gratitude to BMS for the support that you have given to us. You have enabled Graham to be here in Vlora to carry on the next phase of mission in Albania, which is the pastors’ work of building up the churches. We are thankful too for regular visits from Philip Halliday, BMS’ Regional Team Leader for Europe and the Middle East, and together with him we share the conviction that the work in Vlora must go on.

To paraphrase the apostle Paul: how will the Church grow and people hear the gospel without someone preaching to them, living amongst them and modelling the Christian faith before their eyes and loving them?

Ylli Beqiraj is a BMS supported partner worker, and co-leads the Baptist church in Vlora alongside BMS pastor Graham Sansom, who is retiring this autumn after 12 years in Albania.

BMS is seeking Baptist ministers from the UK to church-plant from scratch or to build up a small congregation in Albania.

Find out more by emailing us at opportunities@bmsworldmission.org or calling 01235 517653

ALEX ANDERSON

Saints and pilgrims

Coming from diverse backgrounds…

Bringing different experiences…

EASTER IN THE REGIONS OF APULIA AND BASILICATA IS AN INTRIGUING MÉLANGE OF COLOURFUL FOLK FESTIVALS AND SOLEMN HOLY RITES THAT MARKS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN THE ITALIAN CATHOLIC CALENDAR.

And all committed to transforming lives through world mission

BMS speakers are trained, resourced and equipped to share with you the good news and challenges of taking God’s love to a needy world.

They are available for a range of Sunday services, midweek prayer meetings, special events, youth and children’s groups, and more.

To book a speaker, please use our request form, which you can complete online at www.bmsworldmission.org/speakerrequest Do ensure you give us as much notice as possible when booking.

One of our team will then be in touch to discuss your needs.

You can also get in touch with us on 01235 517600, at speakerteam@bmsworldmission.org or by writing to us at Speaker Team, BMS World Mission, PO Box 49, 129 Broadway, Didcot, OX11 8XA.

The whole city of Taranto is transformed into one great Easter pageant, which involves almost every citizen in some way or other.

In the early afternoon of Holy Thursday, 80 men dressed in hooded gowns file out of the Church of the Carmine and run barefoot through the streets carrying leather whips to signify the flagellation of the Christ. These men, ‘La Perdúne’, commemorate the pilgrims of old who would travel to Rome on foot (often barefoot) to obtain pardons for their sins from the Pope.

That evening, at midnight, the Addolorata (‘Our Lady of Sorrows’) sees more hooded men parade barefoot through the streets,

this time wearing a crown of thorns on their heads. Mary’s statue is carried from church to church as a theatrical re-enactment of her imagined vain search for Jesus. This torchlight procession is to the solemn sound of a brass band and lasts until daylight breaks.

At 5.00pm on Good Friday, the ‘Procession of the Mysteries’ starts out from the Church of Carmine, bearing the coffin of the dead Jesus.

Following are a series of enormous wooden and papier-mâché statues symbolising the various saints, as well as people dressed as characters from the Easter story.

There seems to me to be too much attention paid to the suffering part of the Easter story and not enough to the joyous message of hope that the resurrected Christ brings into every Christian heart. By contrast, my hope is that the simple gospel message that we bring, despite its lack of pomp and ceremony, will have an effect that lasts well beyond a week on those who hear it.

Alex Anderson, along with her husband Huw, serves in Italy with BMS, in church planting and pastoral work

connecting with world mission

9

SPECIAL REPORT Far left: There’s now greater hope for the street children of Durban Left: Street Kids United poster

Dan McDowall

Dylan Thomas

Below: A makeshift bed outside a car showroom in Durban

Street

StarS They’re branded ‘pivetes’ (little criminals) in Rio de Janeiro, known as ‘balados’ (wanderers) in Congo, and in Nicaragua given the name ‘huelepegas’ (glue sniffers).

But whatever the language and wherever the country, one thing is clear: there are tens of millions of children worldwide struggling to exist on street corners, in dark alleyways and outside shops who simply shouldn’t be there.

Now a documentary feature focusing on the harsh realities of life for street children in South Africa has been produced to raise awareness and campaign for change.

Street Kids United focuses on a group of homeless young people from Durban as they represent the host nation at the 2010 Street Child World Cup. This inaugural football tournament was organised by BMS World Mission’s partner Amos Trust, with BMS sponsoring Nicaragua, one of eight participating teams of street children from around the world.

The 75-minute film gives an access-all-areas view of why these children leave home, what their street life is like and how the Durban-based charity Umthombo supports them. Following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2011, Street Kids United toured several cities, arriving in London last November.

Engage editor Andrew Dubock was at the screening and caught up with Umthombo’s Vuyani Madolom, nicknamed ‘Biza’, who is the team coach. “As a former street child myself, going to the premiere in Berlin was like a dream come true”, he says.

“We had the Durban film festival in May and when the street children saw themselves in the video, they couldn’t believe it: they loved it!”

Biza wants people who see the film to be inspired enough to take action. “I hope everyone doesn’t see it only as a movie, but actually helps do something about [the problem]. Street children are all over the world.

It’s not just an African thing – it’s everyone’s business.”

The Street Child World Cup has been a catalyst for a change in attitude by authorities in Durban. Instead of rounding up street children, police are now assisting charities like Umthombo. “By putting the kids on a platform where everyone could notice them, the Metro police couldn’t [abuse them] anymore. Now, they are actually working with us and bringing them to the centre at Umthombo,” says Biza.

“There used to be over 1,000 street kids in Durban.

Every year it is dropping, and is now at 150. My hope would be to see numbers drop more.”

Street Kids United director Tim Pritchard has won awards for his television documentaries, such as ‘Ross Kemp on Gangs’, but this is his first time directing a feature documentary for cinema. “TV quite often produces celebrity-obsessed, easily digestible films for a mass market,” he says. “What I liked about the concept of the film was that the stars are street kids who have no power, no resources and, through the power of the film, you can make them into the stars.

“The film is by no means about showing how bad it was living on the streets because for some it’s a better life than living in some of the townships. It is about the reality of life without too many twists and turns, without too much commentary, or without persuading the audience what to think.”

Tim describes directing Street Kids United as “one of the best experiences of my life”, adding, “I think it gave me reassurance that life is very bad for lots of people, but that

the stars are street kids who have no power, no resources

10

connecting with world mission

Fighting for the rights of homeless children humanity can find a way to live their lives where they can get joy and meet challenges.”

In 2012, the Street Child World Cup is launching a worldwide roadshow called The Road to Rio ahead of the next tournament in Brazil in 2014. The focus will be on ensuring partner projects care for street children after the event and, as Joe Hewitt of the Amos Trust says, nations can learn from each other.

“Countries like South Africa have dealt with issues of round-ups by the police, for instance, while others are still suffering,” says Joe. “It’s about how we can bring together a global network to give street children the rights they deserve. It’s our belief that each street child has potential and they just need the right support.”

Street Kids United is now available on DVD by emailing

joe@streetchildworldcup.org

Above: The Nicaragua team at the Street Child World Cup, sponsored by BMS Left: ‘Biza’ of Umthombo with director Tim Pritchard at the London Premiere

Introduce important issues about street children to your youth group or school by using our Onside youth video series.

Presented by the BBC’s Dan Walker, it also includes testimonies from top Christian footballers. Watch and download it at

www.bmsworldmission.org/onsideyouth Listen to a BMS podcast about the film at www.bmsworldmission.org/streetkidsunited

10

inSighTS fROM gRaCE

top

Public transport used to be reliable, but now you need to check if a) the train is running today and then b) if it’s going to cover the whole route. And then, even if the answer to those two questions is yes, you can’t assume that it will stay that way after the journey has started.

A few weeks ago our driver decided to go on strike. Fortunately (for him) he stopped in a small station where some of his friends were hanging out with freshly-made coffee. Unfortunately (for us) this small town didn’t have other forms of transport going to the capital, so we had to wait until he decided that his cause had been heard and he was ready to complete the journey.

There have been a number of changes here since the Arab Spring. The Salafists are

able to actively push for a return to ‘Islamic values’ and there are opportunities for Christian believers too. In these months of transition from dictatorship to democracy, our brothers and sisters are also seeking to have their voice heard – in legislation, in the media, in business opportunities and in conversations.

Pray for them. The future is uncertain but God is at work. Pray that we would keep in step with him in this land, and for some of us as we plan to move to a neighbouring country.

The last column from grace, our special correspondent in north africa. We are grateful for her reflections these past five years.

frOM OUr Own

COrrESPOndEnT Different faces from Bms

speak out

PHILIP HALLIdAY

ThingS EaTEn By MiSSiOn pERSOnnEl 1

in peru, guinea pig is eaten for a special occasion. it is put in the oven, complete with teeth and claws, and cooked till tender.

2

in north east Brazil, fried ants or tanajura are caught in flight by clubbing them. they’re delicious but taste a bit like squashy peanuts.

3

i was served caterpillar stew, with funghi from the trees for lunch one day. i confess i left before lunch that day. (angola)

4

nettles! Vegetables are scarce in some of the remote, poor areas of nepal i travel to. nettles make a green, somewhat slimy mush, and are very popular.

5

Visiting an akha village in thailand, we were given a special curry that we were later informed was dog intestines.

6

in Guinea i ate frogs along with a peanut sauce and rice. the meat is all on the legs and tastes like electric fish.

7

i was offered – but declined – a half-head of lamb, given to an honoured guest, which contains the delicious brain and tasty fat behind the eyeball. (Albania)

8

When working in Zaire (D r congo) we once had elephant’s trunk for christmas dinner. this was reserved for honoured visitors (incredibly chewy and hard to swallow!)

9

a bowl of pineapple and banana chunks, topped with potato and carrot pieces, smothered in mayonnaise.

On TUnISIA

It is a little over a year since mass street demonstrations in Tunisia prompted President Ben Ali to step aside, inspiring uprisings across the region that became known as the Arab Spring. The first elections to follow also took place in Tunisia, in October, when more than 90 per cent of those registered turned out to vote. Hopes are high that something new is emerging – an indigenously rooted, Arab democracy.

In terms of Christian faith, Tunisians are the fourth biggest unreached people group in the world (according to the Lausanne classification). Muslims outnumber Christians by about 22,000 to one, with only an estimated 500 believers in Tunisia today. However, the BMS partnership began: gospel is progressing faster than 1996 in the previous millennium, with personnel as at March 2012: media giving many people their 4 long-term personnel first-ever opportunity to be exposed to Christianity and to have access to the Bible. Tunisians are beginning to follow Jesus as a result of dreams, miracles, or the testimonies of changed lives. So hopes are high for spiritual progress as well as political advances.

Yet, I reflect on the experience of Eastern European friends who grew up under Communism and then found themselves living in post-1989 freedom. Politically, it was almost inevitable that

Szymon Szymon

Workers can go on strike noW. Before the revolution it Was unheard of for someone to complain puBlicly aBout their joB. going on strike Was something the ‘french’ did. noW, everyone’s at it.

MOST OBSCURE

(Thailand)

10 What move next for Tunisia?

reality would fail to match up to the high expectations. Spiritually, an initial thirst and rapid Church expansion has now cooled somewhat, as people increasingly focus their attention on economic and political matters. Under Communism, preachers called on their congregations to have hope and to believe that God would bring about change; since 1989, believers are less clear about what they should hope for.

Let us pray that political leaders in Tunisia will act on their promises to uphold the freedom and rights of their people, especially women, and to give rights to minority religious groups. Let us pray too for the tiny but growing Church and for those who are seeking. Pray for the Church in follow-up, discipleship, leadership, dealing with division, and as it seeks to be light.

in nepal, none of the chicken goes to waste when making a curry. one day i found myself looking at the cockerel’s head and comb on my plate.

Thanks to Lynne Brown, Martin Butterworth, Ian Chadwell, Mark & Suzana Greenwood, Vivienne Hatton, Lizz Maycock, Amanda roper, Graham Sansom, Scott williamson and Simon wood.

Jenn Forman Orth

Christian Schuit

changes

philip halliday is BMS Regional Team leader for Europe and the Middle East/north africa

connecting with world mission

11

the big picture

Cholera outbreaks are frequent in this Haitian rubbish dump where dirty pools are the only source of drinking water.

Photo: Jonathan Clark, BMS Creative Co-ordinator

NEXT TIME IN

ENGAGE

MAGAZINE… WE’RE REVEALING AN EXCITING NEW-LOOK! INCLUDING • • • • •

More features and interviews New regular items to dip into Latest music, film & book reviews Fresh ideas for church Plenty of ways to pray, give and go

AND A RETURN TO A4 SIZE TOO!

LAST WORD FROM

Nabil K Costa

Seeking acceptance In January, a leading local TV station, MTV Lebanon, put together a documentary on children with special needs in Lebanon.

My wife and I were among the parents interviewed for this programme and we shared our journey as a family since we discovered that our younger son has special needs. Our major challenge was not that he is different, but rather finding local appropriate resources that can help him and us. In Lebanon, most children with learning differences suffer from inadequate support and understanding.

Very few schools here accept students with learning differences. Most often, the school asks the parents to take the child to another school (meaning a specialised institution) because the teachers cannot allot the time needed to help the child learn. In some cases, the school simply tells the family that their child is a hopeless case.

If a school agrees to keep a child with learning differences, in all likelihood the child will repeat the class and frequently ends up being asked to leave the school because of failing.

Socially, most children and adults with special needs and learning differences in Lebanon lead isolated lives; developing friendships is difficult or impossible because of the degree to which other people misunderstand them. They often get caught in a negative cycle in which they are estranged due to their differences, and then skip school because

they do not have friends. Teachers mis-label and sometimes mistreat them. This leads to more difficulties in learning and further jeopardises their academic performance.

Since the documentary we’ve been receiving endless phone calls from friends and acquaintances cheering us for taking the courage to share, and also from families of children with special needs desperate to find help for their children.

The Lebanese Baptist Society’s journey in this area started four years ago at the Beirut Baptist School, and less than a year ago at the SKILD (Smart Kids with Individual Learning Differences) Centre. This project offers a variety of services, including assessment, speech therapy and community awareness.

We have a long way yet to go – and a very important element along the way is spreading the news that there is hope for now-marginalised children and individuals whose only fault is that they learn differently.

Nabil K Costa is the executive director of BMS partner LSESD, vice president of the Baptist World Alliance and a trustee of BMS World Mission. Find out more about SKILD at www.skild-edu.org

We’ll broaden your view of the Christian world We’ll motivate you for world mission We’ll deepen your relationship with BMS

www.bmsworldmission.org