Engage summer 2014

SUMMER

2014

REND COLLECTIVE, MISSION NEWS, 24 HOURS IN KABUL

ETHICAL FASHION Look and do good this summer

BLOOD, SWEAT AND BABIES Saving lives in Chad

FIONA CASTLE Remembering Roy

THE FREE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FROM BMS WORLD MISSION MISSION STORIES / PRAYER / NEWS / OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE

Highlights

Engage

Chris Hall

welcome Mission is not always easy and sometimes it is dangerous.

In this issue of Engage we explore the predicament some of our mission workers face when serving in a country becomes a life or death dilemma. Deciding whether to stay or go is a difficult decision to make. In Go Serve (page 24) we find out how BMS supports those working in hard places.

Share the Light, this year’s BMS harvest resource, is out now. To celebrate, many of our regular articles are inspired by the work of Ben Francis and his team in West Bengal, India. We hope this whets your appetite and encourages you to order and use Share the Light in your church.

Have a brilliant summer,

10 Mission in a war zone The world is an increasingly dangerous place for those working in overseas mission and aid. Is it worth the risk?

14 Blood, sweat and babies Stab wound surgery, praying with Muslim patients and delivering babies – an eyewitness account of how Guinebor II Hospital in Chad is saving lives.

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The Big Interview: Rend Collective BMS World Mission PO Box 49, 129 Broadway, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 8XA Tel: 01235 517700 Email (general): mail@bmsworldmission.org Email (editorial): magazine@bmsworldmission.org Website: bmsworldmission.org General director: David Kerrigan Managing editor: Jonathan Langley Editor: Chris Hall Regular contributors: Vickey Casey, Fiona Castle OBE, Nabil K Costa, David Kerrigan, Jonathan Langley, Aidan Melville, Sarah Stone Guest columnist: Roshan Mendis Design editors: indigoninja.co.uk, Pepperfish.co.uk and Ruth Povall at BMS World Mission Printed by: Halcyon Print Management, Tunbridge Wells, TN3 9BD The views and opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of BMS World Mission.

Baptist Missionary Society Registered as a charity in England and Wales (number 233782) and in Scotland (number SC037767) © Copyright 2014 BMS World Mission ISSN 1756-2481 Printed on material from sustainable forests

Chris Llewellyn, lead vocalist of indie folk worship band Rend Collective, talks about accidental fame, family dynamics and the power of joy.

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30

5 minutes with Ruth Mawhinney

24 hours in…

Kabul

Former Christianity magazine editor and Baptist Times journalist talks about excellence in Christian media.

The top places to visit in the Afghanistan capital according to a BMS worker.

Sign up to receive Engage magazine for free four times a year at bmsworldmission.org/engage

MISSION NEWS

/news

BMS

NEPAL

MAKING LEARNING MORE FUN Primary school students are having a lot more fun while they learn in Nepali schools thanks to new graduates of the Early Childhood Education Centre (ECEC) and BMS World Mission worker Cynthia Chadwell.

As administrator, music teacher and organiser for the ECEC students, Cynthia has helped develop and build this training programme for the last seven years. Now, ECEC certified teachers are in high demand. “The most amazing thing to see is how much they grow in confidence, both professionally and personally,” says Cynthia.

UGANDA

56 LIVES CHANGED WITH BMS HELP

In a massively deprived area of western Uganda, BMS World Mission funded skills training is transforming lives.

Drastic changes are happening in the lives of graduates from the BMS supported skills training course in Kasese, Uganda. In 2012, with the help of BMS funding and workers Bethan and Gareth Shrubsole, Pastor Alfonse of Kasese Baptist Church opened a centre to provide people with the skills they need to be self-sufficient. In the two years it has been running 56 students have been given the opportunity to earn a better living.

Graduates, Nzabake Lemez, Muhindo Azziz and Buluku Zepha, now operate small businesses and no longer have to worry about feeding themselves and their families. Not only did Azziz and Zepha open a carpentry business together, but they have moved into their own homes.

Lemez now runs a tailoring shop from her home and has been able to save enough to purchase her materials and pay her rent on time each month.

6 KILLED BY GUNMEN

IN KENYAN CHURCH

Six people were killed and 20 others were wounded by two gunmen on 23 March, as worship began in a church located in Likoni, a town near Mombasa.

KENYA

Among those injured was an 18 month old baby boy. A bullet lodged in his brain was removed and doctors believe he will make a full recovery. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and the gunmen are still at large. Al Jazeera and other news sources believe that the attack is linked to al-Shabab, a Somali al-Qaeda affiliated group, acting in response to Kenya’s military involvement in Somalia against the Islamist rebels there. [Al Jazeera] SUMMER2014 2014||Engage ENGAGE SUMMER

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MISSION NEWS

/news

UKRAINE

FOOD RELIEF ISRAEL-PALESTINE FOR UKRAINE CONFERENCE FOR PEACE FAMILIES Hundreds of Christians met in Bethlehem to explore peaceful and just solutions to the current political and theological challenges in Israel-Palestine.

In March, six hundred delegates, including BMS World Mission’s General Director, David Kerrigan, attended the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in Bethlehem. Here the social, religious and political challenges of IsraelPalestine were the topics of discussion. Under a theme of Your Kingdom Come, the attendants conferred how Jesus’ teachings contribute to the task of achieving peace and justice.

One session involved a discussion between Gary Burge of Wheaton College and Daniel Juster, a leading Messianic Jewish theologian, and was chaired by Yohanna Katanacho who spoke at Catalyst Live last year. “Here was a robust yet respectful engagement with the theology of Israel, the land, the covenant, the Church and eschatology,” said David Kerrigan.

“At times it was deeply uncomfortable to hear the pain of two hurting communities trying to reconcile the irreconcilable, but here too was the courageous sowing of seeds of hope for mutual understanding.” Now that the conference is over, David Kerrigan is hopeful that peace is possible.

“For a lasting peace we need both politicians and theologians,” he said in a piece for the BMS website. “A political solution of sorts may be in the hands of politicians. But building the kingdom of God is the task of the Church.”

About 160 families in Ukraine are being fed thanks to BMS World Mission and partner organisation, Russian Ministries.

Almost 100 people have died and over 1,000 more have been injured since the protests began in Ukraine.

Now that Crimea has been annexed

by Russia, thousands of Ukrainians have fled the region. “Local news sources estimate that about 20,000 refugees fled the Crimean peninsula after it was annexed by Russia,” says Sergey Rakhuba, President of BMS partner Russian Ministries. People are taking shelter in churches and other charitable institutions and there is a demand for food. Russian Ministries, with the help of BMS, has begun to fill this need.

WORLD READS GENESIS AFTER NOAH RELEASE Two online Bible sites announced dramatic increases of people wanting to read the story of Noah following the release of the film of the same name in cinemas worldwide (see review on page 28).

Those downloading and searching for Genesis 6–9 increased by 245 per cent on YouVersion.com and 223 per cent on BibleGateway.com. “Movies like Noah are an invitation into stories like Noah,” says the Editor-in-Chief of OnFaith (faithstreet.com), Patton Dodd. “It makes you go home and look up the story. [The film] doesn’t pretend to be delivering the story in a straightforward way, so you’re left wondering what the story actually says.” [The Christian Post] 4

bmsworldmission.org bmsworldmission.org

UK

PIONEERING MISSION COURSE

INCREASINGLY

POPULAR

More than 400 people have now attended an increasingly popular training course for pioneering mission today in the UK, supported

by BMS World Mission.

The Crucible Course, hosted by Urban Expression in partnership with BMS and others, has been equipping Christians over the last nine years to help those on the margins of society to engage with the gospel in a way that they can relate to. The course is held over three weekends each year at BMS’ International Mission Centre in Birmingham. For more information on joining the next course event in November visit cruciblecourse.org.uk

PAKISTAN

CHRISTIANS RECEIVE BLASPHEMY DEATH SENTENCES Three Pakistani Christians have been sentenced to death for allegedly committing blasphemy.

In Pakistan, blasphemy is a crime punishable by death. Sawan Masih in Lahore stands accused by a neighbour of using derogatory remarks against the Prophet Mohammed. A couple from Gojra, Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar, are accused of insulting the Prophet through a text message sent to their local imam. In each case, those standing with the accused believe that the trials were unfairly conducted. Both parties have maintained their innocence despite the accusations and will be appealing their sentences. [BBC]

EBOLA FATALITIES

PASS 150

The Ebola virus has killed 171 people in Guinea.

GUINEA

The outbreak originated in the Forest Region where bush meat, such as fruit bats, is a delicacy. The virus spreads through contact with contaminated bodily fluids so health officials have recommended thorough hand washing, with soap, water and bleach. However, challenges continue. “There is a water shortage in Conakry and bleach is too expensive for most people to afford,” says BMS mission worker Solange Wood.

SUMMER 2014 2014 | ENGAGE Engage SUMMER

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postcard from

India

We visited the Sundarbans for two days as part of a BMS staff trip to India, travelling on the BMS boat with BMS Associate Team Leader for India, Benjamin Francis, as our guide.

On the second day Benjamin took Mat, Sam, Kat and me into a village where a family invited us to have chai with them. For some reason I asked them if they liked to sing and they responded by saying that they like it when people sing to them! So we did, choosing Our God is an awesome God. Sam and Mat were then asked to give their testimonies. Once they had finished, Kat shared her story and I knew that I would have to share mine. This is something I had said I didn’t want to do. But I did and, thankfully, it wasn’t too scary.

The whole trip was an absolute privilege.

The work BMS partners in India are doing is completely amazing. They provide medical care and share the word of God with those who might not otherwise have had the chance to hear it. Benjamin and his team are doing an incredible job and God is definitely moving in these places.

With best wishes

Charlotte Middlebrook

David Kerrigan General Director, BMS

Blessed are the

peacemakers After war, we can bring hope.

The first time I visited a war zone was Afghanistan in 1997.

The Taliban had been in power a year. The journey overland from Pakistan, though the Khyber Pass and across the searing heat of the desert to Kabul was hard going. Burnt-out Russian tanks littered the roadside.

Photographs were banned in those days, as were all images of living creatures. Books on sale in Chicken Street had pieces of cardboard glued to the cover to obliterate any faces.

Kite flying, dancing and music were banned too, cassettes confiscated, the tape ripped out of, and tied to posts and left fluttering in the wind. At the centre of the city was a gallows where criminals were hanged in public. There was very little crime in the city.

I visited the office of a Taliban official, a belt of bullets across his chest, and a Kalashnikov leaning in the corner. My presence needed to be registered, my visa extended and I explained that the visit was to enable my organisation to work here.

One day I was taken to the British Cemetery. It’s still famous today, not least because a Muslim man looked after it for years when there was no diplomatic presence in the country. Here a number of Christian workers lay buried, their lives given in service to the Afghan people.

All around were the signs of war. Buildings destroyed by shells. People walking on crutches with one or both legs missing – the legacy of land mines. It wasn’t hard to wonder how a country like this could ever improve. Would school ever be an option for children? Jobs for adults? Signs of living faith?

Our team is still there today and in this year of transition I ask you to pray earnestly that they will be God’s peacemakers in a land that needs peace desperately.

Supporter Services Team Member, Didcot David Kerrigan is General Director of BMS World Mission

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Info

LETTERS

Have something to say about Engage magazine?

Email us at magazine@bmsworldmission.org or write to us using the address on page 2.

Dear Editor,

Dear Chris,

William Carey would have been pleased with the ‘Who do you say I am?’ theme [Spring 2014]. He believed that the best way to bring the gospel to Indians was with understanding of their culture and religion. So he studied the Hindu scriptures in great detail, for which he was heavily criticised by the BMS Council in England.

Always delighted to receive Engage and the latest edition was another great read with a variety of interesting articles. Although I have found that each new edition seems to cost me money! I find myself buying some of the books that are favourably reviewed or mentioned in articles relating to the authors and I have just purchased Philip Yancey’s new book for my Kindle.

John R Hudson

I was pleased to see mention of Mission Aviation Fellowship coming to the aid of Andrew North – I have supported MAF for many years and know they do much to save missionaries having to take long dangerous road trips, along with all the other tasks they are able to fulfil with their small aircraft. Blessings Valerie Munro

Dear Sir, I refer to a letter in the Autumn 2013 issue from Brian Phipps. When Jesus said (in John 10: 16) “I have other sheep that are not of this fold”, he was referring to the Gentiles who would become Christians, not to other faiths.

Yes, we must certainly respect people of other faiths, but continue to tell them the wonderful saving truth of what Jesus did for all mankind.

Unless they put their faith and trust in him, they will not be going to heaven – Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14: 6).

Dear Editor, My husband and I only joined a Baptist church about three years ago, and recently started to support BMS and receive your magazine. We just want to thank you for such an excellent publication – over the years we have read magazines/newspapers produced by various Christian organisations and this really is one of the best – it must be the only magazine which we both read from cover to cover! It is set out attractively but is not too fancy and glossy, and every article is well written, very informative and interesting. Keep up the good work. God bless you as you serve him in this way.

Jean and Jimmy Battiwalla

Yours sincerely, Susan Downe

We do not have the space to include all readers’ correspondence that we receive and letters that are printed may be edited for publication.

More letters are online at bmsworldmission.org

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13/05/2014 10:31

SUMMER 2014 | Engage

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overseas partner

Jadab*

On the

run © Alex Baker Photography

Surrounded by enemies breathing murderous threats, BMS partner worker, PASTOR Jadab, was forced to flee for his life.

“M

ore than 200 people were making a plan to come and kill me.” Pastor Jadab was on the run. Christians had been blamed for a murder in the state of Orissa and Jadab’s life was in danger.

“I was in fear and in shock,” Jadab says. “They were blocking all the roads so no one could run. As a family we prayed and said, ‘let’s run into the jungle, if God wants us to meet again we will’.”

For 12 days, Jadab hid in the jungle without food or water. Eventually he met up with his family and they escaped to Mumbai. “I praise God that he kept me safe,” he says.

With all he had owned there destroyed, Jadab was adamant that he was “never going back to Orissa” again.

But God had other plans. Jadab felt God was calling him

back to Orissa to serve him. Whilst fasting and praying about it, he was given the number of BMS’ Benjamin Francis, so he went to Kolkata and spoke to Ben about his plans.

During the riots in Orissa which Jadab fled from, over 500 churches were destroyed. Since returning to the region, Jadab and his team, partnered with BMS, have planted more than 700 churches in the state.

“There are still people who want to kill me,” says Jadab. “After losing everything, now that I can work for the Lord it gives me great joy. The Lord has promised, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ I believe in that.

And I’m living for it.” * Name changed for security reasons

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KEEP

Fiona Castle

ENGAGED Find us on facebook BMS World Mission

Speaker and writer

Remembering Roy

After 28 years of ministry in South America, Margaret Swires has retired and returned to the UK. http://bit.ly/1c0wDRU

Have an attitude of gratitude, says Fiona Castle.

Like · Comment · Share

A

14 people like this

David Baker Every blessing as you make the readjustments to a different way of life. Praying for you.

BMS World Mission The Proclaimers sang they would walk 500 miles but a couple from Wales are running 2,722 miles to raise money for BMS’s work in Chad. Good on you, Louisa and Grant! http://bit.ly/P8fW1B Like · Comment · Share 14 people like this

Claire Bedford Fantastic Thank you so much! I know the BMS workers in Chad will be really touched that you are supporting G2 in this way

your Tweets Andrew John Openshaw

So pleased that @BMSWorldMission are doing @Catalyst_Live again this year with @MiroslavVolf. Tickets booked for Reading. #CatLive14

Steve Holmes

‘The Highest Goal’: impressive & inspiring vision document from @BMSWorldMission -well worth a look!

Chelwoodbaptist

9am prayer breakfast focusing on our mission projects such as @BMSWorldMission in particular Gemma Leadley in Bangladesh #chelwoodprayer

Keep engaged at facebook.com/BMSWorldMission

n anniversary is normally a time for celebration – weddings, birthdays and even coronations! However, there are more sombre occasions to remember, such as, this year, the start of the first World War. We remember those who gave their lives for this nation.

On a personal level, I am aware that this year it is twenty years since the death of my husband. Is this a cause for celebration? Well, not exactly! But it is certainly a time for reflection and intense gratitude.

I was privileged to have a wonderfully happy marriage, filled with laughter and blessing.

When Roy knew he was dying he insisted that we would not be We must sad or complain. never “We’ve had such a privileged life, we must grumble, never grumble, but only but only be be grateful,” he said.

Since his death I have grateful continued to remember that command!

When we embark on our Christian walk through life, we have no idea the route God will take us.

It’s as we look back we understand his purpose for our lives. As I look back, I can only be grateful as I realise God’s hand guiding me through many different circumstances in my life.

It was only because of a friend taking the trouble to tell me the truth about new life in Jesus that I could know such peace and security.

In John 17 we read that Jesus prayed, not only for his disciples, “but also for all who will believe in me because of their testimony.” I am therefore indebted to all those who have gone before and have faithfully continued to share this wonderful message, because of the testimony of the disciples.

So let us pray earnestly for all the BMS mission workers, who continue to make Jesus known all over the world. What a gift! What a cause for celebration!

Fiona Castle OBE is an international Christian speaker and writer. Her late husband Roy was an entertainer and TV presenter.

twitter.com/BMSWorldMission and @bmsworldmission

SUMMER 2014 | Engage

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BULLETS FLYING JUST METRES AWAY, BOMBS DROPPING FROM THE SKY BEFORE YOUR EYES, FIGHTER PLANES CIRCLING OVERHEAD – LIFE IN MISSION CAN BE FRAUGHT WITH DANGER. IS IT WORTH THE RISK? “We were lying on the bedroom floor under a mattress,” says Gill Jones, former BMS World Mission worker in D R Congo.

“There was a sniper holed up on the corner of the compound.

We could see all the soldiers fighting. Mortar fire was going over us, and you’d wait for the bang.”

Crossfire, carjacking, IEDs, kidnapping, riots, robbery, explosions, raids – working in mission can be hazardous.

A bomb went off at the front door and gun fights took place outside the windows of houses that Robert and Miriam stayed in while working with BMS in Afghanistan between 2004 and 2008. “You hide under the bed and you pray,” says Robert. “In every house there was a safe spot, away from windows so no stray bullets could get you. My safe spot was in the arms of my wife.”

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The world can be a dangerous place for those working in overseas mission and aid. Despite stringent safety precautions, 338 national and international aid workers were attacked in 2013. Of those, 119 were killed*.

BMS mission workers are living in dangerous locations all over the world. Even countries that seem relatively safe can explode into violence at any moment. There’s a point when every mission worker says, ‘here I am God, wholly available, send me’ – but what does that look like when conflict breaks out and their lives, and the lives of their children, are in danger?

When trouble strikes, every mission worker is confronted with this question: should they stay or should they go?

Staying shows solidarity, but the cost could be your life.

THE SAFEST PLACE YOU CAN BE IS WHERE GOD WANTS YOU TO BE

Leaving keeps you safe to serve again, but it is heartbreaking to leave friends and colleagues in danger, not knowing if you’ll ever be reunited.

Ultimately, it is down to mission organisations like BMS to decide where to place workers and when to pull them out. But there are those in the West who would say that some countries are just too dangerous for mission workers. That the potential cost of living in a war zone, especially for mission workers who take their children overseas, is just too high.

Mission workers and organisations are confronted with these issues daily as they serve in some of the world’s most dangerous places. This is life when you do mission in a war zone.

Nicky Magahy was living in a fairly rural community in Guinea with her husband Arthur and their two daughters when violent clashes between unions and the government broke out. Gun shots were fired into the air, roads were blocked and tensions were high. Every day they discussed as

a team whether they should stay or go.

“The people we were closest to weren’t in a position to leave,” says Nicky. “That’s what made it so difficult.”

Eventually they decided to get out, for the sake of their children. “There was news going around the capital city that people were coming into houses and raping the women and children, and we have two girls,” says Nicky.

“That, for me, was time to get out.”

When they left, they thought Guinea was just 24 hours away from civil war.

Nicky didn’t know if she would ever get back in again.

“Evacuating is quite a drastic step, but sometimes it is one of the only ways,” says Steve Penny, an Independent Consultant in security, crisis and humanitarian response.

“We’ve got to be clear that the risks we’re taking are proportionate to the benefit received.” If someone is doing life-saving work, staying in a crisis might well be worth the risk. But if the work’s not urgent, you arguably don’t need to be there in the height of danger.

According to Steve, there are three options for mission workers caught in crisis – to evacuate, to relocate to a safer

AS I WATCHED THE BOMBS DROP, LEBANON BECAME MY HOME

SUMMER 2014 2014 || ENGAGE Engage SUMMER

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part of the country, or to hibernate in a safe place until the conflict comes to an end.

Louise Brown and her family chose hibernation. She and her husband Arthur had been BMS workers in Beirut, Lebanon, for just a year when, in 2006, the Israeli military began dropping bombs on the city. They had arrived back in the country less than 24 hours before the airport was bombed. When they heard the first explosions they rushed to their balcony to see what was happening.

“As I was watching the bombs drop, Lebanon went from being a country I had been sent to, to being my home,” says Louise. The family restricted their movements, sticking to the safer parts of Beirut, but they never thought of leaving. “I got the pictures out that I’d brought back from England and started putting them up on my wall,” she says. “Because this was my home. I wasn’t moving from it.”

Their staying had a profound impact on Louise’s relationship with her local colleagues, friends and neighbours.

When Louise met her old Arabic teacher a few weeks after the bombings, her teacher came and hugged her, saying, “you’ve been my friend, but now you’re my sister.”

For others, escaping danger would mean permanently relocating to a safer place. Rory† works with BMS in Afghanistan. Day to day life is hazardous; you have to be constantly aware of security protocols and gunfire. Attack helicopters and military checkpoints are not just something you read about in the news. Living in that environment can be very stressful, and people cope with it in different ways.

“There’s no condemnation if it’s too much for people,” Rory says. “You know that you won’t be forced to stay.”

But, while living there has its tensions and Rory and his family have relocated within the country to give their children more freedom, they chose to go to Afghanistan knowing it was dangerous – and they have chosen to stay.

“The safety level is not the first thing I think about in terms of where I’m being called by God to work,” Rory says. “At some point you have to trust God that you’re going to be alright, or maybe you’re not, but that this is something that should be done.”

From training women to safely deliver babies in a country with the highest infant mortality rate in the world, to working with HIV patients, and fighting for the rights of women and 12 12

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children in conflict contexts where land grabs and rape are rife – it’s hard to overstate the impact of the work being done by mission workers in conflict areas. It’s also difficult to understand the possible ramifications of never having sent them.

Nicky says she would go back to Guinea tomorrow, without a second thought. Despite the dramatic evacuation and brink of civil war she and her family lived through, Nicky thinks life in Guinea was no more risky than the life her family now leads in Birmingham. If anything, living in the UK is much more complicated. “Danger is all relative,” she comments.

“You can see it so clearly somewhere else and you imagine home is safe.”

Steve agrees that it is often not the most high risk countries, where security protocols are ingrained into everyday life, which we should be worrying about. “The ones that worry me the most are the low risk countries that suddenly go out of control, like Mali,” he says, “where people get caught out – that’s probably more dangerous.”

That’s what happened to Gill. Although Congo was not a safe country at the time, the explosion of fighting that happened on the compound where she lived came without warning, so there was no time for her and her husband Kevin to get out. The fact that they stayed after the fighting stopped and they could go home meant a lot to their local colleagues. “They knew we were there because we wanted to help them and stand alongside them,” says Gill. “And that does make a big difference.”

But of course, while sudden outbreaks of fighting cannot always be predicted, it’s important to assess all the foreseeable risks before sending mission workers into any potentially dangerous situation.

“Holding true to a strategy of working with the least evangelised and most marginalised is inevitably going to lead you to places that are conflict affected,” says Steve Sanderson, BMS Manager for Mission Projects. “We do a lot of risk assessment – ensuring that we don’t put people in a situation where there is a clear foreseeable harm, and where there is a foreseeable harm we take every step we can to mitigate that risk.”

Steve Penny agrees that preparation is of vital importance.

“The key thing for any organisation to do is to assess the

YOU HIDE UNDER THE BED AND YOU PRAY risk,” he says. “We’re told in the Bible that before building a tower you have to calculate what you need.”

Yet, whether you’re a development worker in Afghanistan or a teacher in the UK, no one can be guaranteed safety. All life involves risk.

“The world isn’t a safe place,” says Louise. “Just because I’ve got a British passport doesn’t mean I have a right to safety. The idea that I wouldn’t be sent somewhere dangerous, when other people are living in these situations, to me just doesn’t make sense of the gospel.”

Some people at home felt that Louise and Arthur made a bad decision by keeping their children in Beirut during the 2006 Lebanon war, but Louise disagrees. “If we escape with our kids because we’ve got a British passport, it’s kind of like saying that our kids are more important than our Lebanese friends’ kids,” she says. “Like saying God loves them more because he’s getting them out.”

Nicky made the opposite decision for equally good reasons – when she felt that the risk had grown too great she and her children got out of danger. But just a few short weeks after leaving, the family returned to Guinea. In the same way that Louise’s staying had a profound impact, the fact that Nicky came back when she could have gone home meant a lot.

“It is a very powerful statement to go back,” says Nicky.

“You don’t feel it though. You feel it’s a very weak statement to have left. They [the locals] said, ‘we always believe people are stupid enough to come once, if you’re stupid enough to come back when you know what it’s like then you must love us.’”

And that’s exactly why our mission workers are there – not because of stupidity but because they love their new communities, co-workers and neighbours. Because they want to help them. That doesn’t make it any easier for loved ones at home, who are watching the news and hearing reports of

another attack in the town where their relatives or friends are working.

Gill’s daughter heard gunfire down the phone when she called her mum right in the middle of the conflict she was caught in in Congo. “It was much more scary for people back home,” says Gill. She and Kevin knew they weren’t the targets, their presence was entirely accidental, but their family had no idea what was going on.

“Those who stay at home have the hardest time,” agrees Robert.

While their family worried, for him and Miriam serving in Afghanistan was a thrill, because they knew it was where they were meant to be.

“I always asked the question, where is the safest place that you can be?” says Robert. “And my answer was this: the safest place you can be is where God wants you to be. I believe that God calls people to go to places like Afghanistan and therefore we trust.”

Danger exists and terrible things do sometimes happen, but while there continues to be need BMS will send mission workers to countries where their skills can best be used to bring hope and a future to some of the world’s poorest people. People who God has created and who he loves. And we will also continue to do everything possible to minimise the danger to our workers, so that they come home to their loved ones knowing they have done what God called them to do.

“Jesus said, ‘Go into all the world’,” says Rory, “not ‘go into all the world as long as it’s 100 per cent safe.’” And so our workers go – sharing God’s love through the fire.

DANGER IS ALL RELATIVE. YOU CAN SEE IT SO CLEARLY SOMEWHERE ELSE AND YOU IMAGINE HOME IS SAFE

* aidworkersecurity.org † Name changed Words: Sarah Stone SUMMER SUMMER 2014 2014 || Engage ENGAGE

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Guinebor II Hospital in Chad is one of the most inspiring examples of world mission Chris Hall has ever seen.

P

eople get ill and go to a hospital for help. That’s what happens at hospitals around the world and Guinebor II Hospital (G2) in N’Djamena, Chad, is in many ways no different. But there is something special about G2, something that when you visit it, as I did recently, stands out and stays with you. Something that makes me proud of what BMS World Mission is doing there and excited about the hospital’s future.

What really impressed me was the extraordinary commitment of the staff, the sensitive but bold way the Christian faith is shared in a Muslim community, the high regard the hospital is held in and the ambition to provide an even better service in the future.

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t G2 they will stop at nothing to help their patients get the best care they can. A man stabbed several times was dropped off by the police one night when I was staying there. While I slept peacefully, from midnight to six in the morning BMS doctors Andrea and Mark Hotchkin were operating to save this man’s life. With barely

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two hours sleep, Andrea and Mark were back up at the hospital the next morning starting a new day of work.

Mariame Bizhara is another example. Mariame tragically lost her baby after giving birth at home.

That was only the beginning. She came to G2 suffering from anaemia and needing a blood transfusion.

She then became so seriously ill that waiting for a blood donor was not an option. “She needs blood now,” was Mark’s prognosis when Andrea asked him for advice.

a patient. Local bureaucracy can be frustrating and cultural differences between ex pat and Chadian staff and patients can be problematic.

I ask Mark how he copes with all these challenges. “I don’t have to try,” he says with conviction. “I am very fortunate and very blessed.

This is the sort of job I always wanted to do. God gave me an appetite for it and sustains my appetite for it. I just have an enthusiasm for being here.”

Having the same blood type as Mariame, Mark gave his own blood immediately and in so doing saved Mariame’s life. A life that was threatened again when the anaemia affected her kidneys and created fluid in her lungs, preventing her from breathing. Mark and Andrea’s medical knowledge and resourcefulness, alongside much prayer, led to Mariame making a full recovery. When I met her, two months on, she was completely healthy with no lasting effects from what she had been through.

Working at G2 is not easy for the BMS staff (Andrea and Mark Hotchkin, Malc and Sue White, and Rebecca North). “The environment is very tough to work in, it can be very hot and dry,” says BMS nurse Rebecca North. “Language is a difficulty too – it can be quite frustrating when I can’t communicate with the patients [some speak a form of Chadian Arabic] without having to go through a translator. That’s really hard.”

Another challenge the BMS staff face is isolation. The hospital is in the desert and you have to drive on dirt tracks to get to the centre of N’Djamena, 15 kilometres away, a journey that can be impossible during the rainy season. They regularly work evenings and weekends and, as they live on site, they will often go days without leaving the hospital grounds. Staff also don’t have the diagnostic tests the NHS has in the UK, so often they cannot be certain as they’d like to be about what is wrong with

Being a Christian hospital in a Muslim area is another challenge G2 staff are taking on with enthusiasm. Every morning the staff have devotions metres away from where the Muslim patients are waiting for triage to open and, on Tuesdays, they pray for patients by their bedside. Bibles are available in Arabic and French on the wards and are often read by the patients.

The BMS supported chaplain, Pastor Djibrine, holds regular film nights. While I was there the Jesus film was being shown in Arabic, projected on one of the outer walls of the hospital compound. I was encouraged by the turnout of over 50 people.

“In the context we are in, straight forward evangelism would not necessarily be the best way forward,” says Mark. “It would probably more vaccinate people against the message than be useful. However, by living and working here and witnessing by the things that we do, I think people can see we are here to serve them, we are here to love them. We are doing it in the name of Jesus and that can stimulate interest as that raises questions.”

The countries that surround Chad, Central African Republic, Libya, Sudan, the north of Nigeria, have all been in the news for hostility and sometimes violence against Christians.

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It blows my mind that the G2 staff are able to build positive relationships and show the love of Christ in a part of the world where this is incredibly hard to do.

“Those we look after will accept prayer when it is offered but will also ask for prayer,” says BMS nurse Sue White. “We are respected because we have a faith.”

improved my life tremendously.”

Life had been bleak for Ahmat after he had been injured in an accident and had his leg amputated.

He was jobless and begging on the streets. Turning to the hospital for help, BMS worker and G2’s chief financial officer Malc White gave Ahmat a job. He also has a new prosthetic leg and the hospital is paying for language lessons so he can learn to read and write.

The respect the hospital enjoys in the local community is clear when we meet the village chief for the G2 area. Village chiefs are people of huge importance across Africa and having them on board can make a huge difference. The blessing of Chef Djibrine Fane helped enable G2 to be built, and speaking to him it was clear he was hugely supportive of what the hospital is doing.

“Because of G2 hospital, our area Guinebor is well known in Chad,” he says. “Everything is good in that hospital. We are really happy.”

Although G2 is highly valued by its patients, it wants to do more for them. Staff want to give better care, particularly in regards to maternal health. In March the midwives helped deliver 101 babies, a record for the hospital. I saw a beautiful little baby girl an hour after she was born and met the proud second cousin and the exhausted mother. The one room, four bed maternity ward is cramped.

While it and the adjoining room where babies are delivered are better than having no maternity facilities at all, conditions are not ideal.

The vision is for a new maternal health unit to be built. With more space and more beds, G2 would be able to provide a better level of care to its patients. BMS is running an appeal this summer to raise the £100,000 needed to make this new unit a reality – go to bmsworldmission.org/chadappeal or call 01235 517641 to make a donation.

This will address not just better care but also go against the awful tide of maternal health statistics.

Chad is one of the worst countries in the world both for children dying before they are five and women dying from a maternal related cause.

The staff at G2 are doing all they can to turn this around.

Guinebor II Hospital is providing healthcare to a poor community who would otherwise not receive any, sharing a Christian message they would not otherwise hear, and is dedicated to doing more for its patients in the future. It embodies what world mission and the work of BMS is all about. I’ll be keeping it in my prayers. Join me.

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Speaking to the patients it was clear to see how grateful they are for the service the hospital provides.

Healthcare is not free in Chad, but G2 charges its patients more affordable rates than other hospitals and has a benevolent fund for those who can’t afford their treatment.

Brahum Malloum Goni was in for a bladder stone operation and was thankful for what the staff were doing for him. “I went to different hospitals and they weren’t able to tell me what the problem was,” he says. “But I came here and they were able to remove what was giving me the pain.”

It is not only the patients that are grateful. Some of the staff’s lives have been turned around too, like that of Ahmat Maurice. “I am very happy with what the hospital has done for me,” says Ahmat. “It has

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The Big Picture

This Quechua woman, dressed in traditional costume (which is still worn by many on a day to day basis), is hand weaving a ‘manta’ (blanket).

The photo was taken at Awanakancha in Peru at a collaborative project set up by 14 different rural communities to try and increase the income of the Quechua people and preserve traditional ways of life. “The Quechua are often very camera shy – they believe that taking a photo can steal the subject’s soul – so it seemed like a good opportunity to get a photo of someone in traditional costume,” says photographer and former BMS World Mission worker James Henley.

The Quechua people are an ethnic group who live across the Andes, including the Cusco region of Peru, and have often faced marginalisation. BMS mission worker Anjanette Williamson has been building relationships with Quechua people who she helps at her health clinic in Cusco.

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Top Ten:

ethical summer fashion items Want a cool summer look that also helps people? Here are fashion items that do just that, modelled by BMS staff and made in countries where BMS and partners are changing lives.

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2 Turquoise beads, cream, brown and bronze fresh water pearls and copper coloured shell beads form this band.

Green fresh water pearls, small turquoise beads, purple Swarovski crystals and amethysts connect above the butterfly link. Two Swarovski beads and a turquoise stone form a dangling pendant.

title title title

These pieces of jewellery have been made by women who have escaped from Bangkok’s red light district. Every penny from jewellery sales goes to these women’s salaries, ensuring that they are able to support themselves and their families in a way that they can be proud of. While the pieces in this shoot are no longer available, stunning jewellery and accessories from their current collections, including some designs by BMS mission worker Sarah Brown, can be ordered from store.nightlightinternational.com

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Turquoise and Swarovski crystal beads form these dangling earrings.

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A necklace of chocolate fresh water pearls combined with turquoise and copper glass beads.

Every t-shirt is made from organic cotton and screen printed by hand.

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Lunar Act Justly Plimsoll: this patterned bag reads “Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly”.

All Freeset products are made by women who were either rescued or escaped from prostitution in Kolkata and many of them are 100 per cent organic cotton.

This BMS partner organisation provides these women with skills, work and security. Read the women’s stories at freesetbags.co.uk/womens-stories.aspx and order their beautiful work from globalseesaw.co.uk

Haiti green beads BMS mission workers, Andy and Jutta Cowie, help Haitian men and women build businesses; and these beads are part of that. These pieces, made by Michelle and Rachelle, took 30 minutes to create.

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Each set is a combination of recycled paper, glass and wooden beads.

This jewellery is not available internationally but the two sets featured here can be won by entering our fashion competition (see below).

Competition

Wish you had a Haitian bead set (8) or a Ugandan kitenge skirt (10) to look good in this summer?

Your wish could come true if you enter our competition.

For a chance to win, email magazine@bmsworldmission.org telling us your name, postal address and whether you want the skirt, bead set or both. Each entry emailed to us before 30 July will be entered into a draw.

The winners will then be contacted by email.

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Territory Act Justly Satchel: a canvas bag with a laptop pocket and a clear message of love, justice and mercy wrapping around both sides of the flap.

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Headband and skirt: both of these are made from kitenge, a soft textured fabric that is printed with a traditional African design.

Creations

By Noeline Noeline graduated from BMS’ skills and business training course in Kasese, Uganda, in 2013. Since then she has opened a small international business called Noeline’s Creations. Like the pieces here? Check out her blog, creationsbynoeline.blogspot.co.uk, and contact her for more information.

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Q&A

THE BIG INTERVIEW

Northern Irish Christian worship sensation, Rend Collective, are choosing celebration in their latest album and talk to BMS.

CHRIS

Rend Collective’s

Llewellyn Rend Collective’s fresh expression of worship – their indie-folk sound, weird and wonderful instruments, and energetic performances – has won them huge popularity. The band’s lead vocalist Chris Llewellyn talks about accidental fame, family dynamics and the power of joy.

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Rend Collective started out on the edges of the mainstream – but now you’re incredibly popular.

How does it feel to have ended up in the mainstream?

I would never have pictured where we are now. We started off as a prayer movement and a Bible study that didn’t really have anything to do with music, and then about five years later we started a worship band and here we are. It’s crazy. I think if God wasn’t in it we would never have got here, because we would never have tried. That’s the encouraging thing. I’d probably start to have a lot of doubts about it if I’d tried to pursue this dream – I would probably doubt my integrity if I had chased after it. But as it’s happened by accident I’m okay with it!

You describe yourselves as a family, what does that look like now you’re touring the US? Do you argue? Or get along well all of the time?

Actually we get on really well. There’s been family squabbles for sure, but less than I would have thought, given the close quarters we live in.

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And are you like the Rend Collective dad looking after everyone, or an argumentative sibling…? Which member of the family are you?

It’s so important that we try to push past our superficial feelings and reach for the thing that remains which is God and his goodness.

You can go pretty much anywhere in the world now and hear Christians singing Western worship songs.

What do you think about Celebration is our globalised worship music?

Oh I definitely don’t look after everyone, that’s Ali. I don’t know, maybe I’m like a middle child? Maybe that’s about right. I get looked after and I have some small responsibility.

You recently got married – congratulations! What has marriage taught you about yourself?

It’s definitely taught me that I’m not as nice a guy as I thought I was: that was a blow. I also think it’s shown me how fundamentally selfish I’ve been when there’s been no one else living in my life to that extent. I guess it’s taught me a lot about grace too – there’s a lot of fighting and making up in marriage and I think that’s kind of how my relationship with God goes, for better or worse.

gift, our calling and our unique message to the Church

When you’re on stage do you all have as much fun as it looks like you do?

I think we really do. We’ve come to the conclusion recently that we’re not really an indie-folk band and we’re definitely not a rock band, but we’re probably more of a celebration band. And that’s more an outlook on life.

We feel that celebration is our gift, our calling and our unique message to the Church, and we try to practice it as much as possible.

So do you think joy is something the Church has lost a bit?

Yeah, I suppose I do. I think we’ve got really good at a very intense form of worship. We sing prayer songs that sound like power ballads, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But the thing we’ve probably lost is part of the hundreds of calls to joy and celebration that are throughout Scripture.

When it’s your job to worship God, how do you keep praising when you just don’t feel like it? Is it hard not to slip into pure performance?

It’s really difficult, whether or not it’s your job. Before we worship it is always a choice – we have to choose celebration every night. We have to choose to engage with God rather than just let the time float by us. We all come into worship with various bits of baggage we need to leave behind.

The fact that the Bible says the joy of the Lord is your strength gives you a clue to the fact that we all need strength. We all go through seasons of sorrow and doubt and trouble, but joy is actually the solution to that if we can reach beyond our circumstances and grab hold of it.

I imagine we’re probably losing something. The Church is all about unity but it’s definitely not about uniformity. It would be a huge mistake to think that other cultures don’t have something to offer in terms of the arts. It seems a bit crazy that the Western Church, for the first time in the history of the Church, could have a monopoly on worship music. If anything, we should be coming very humbly towards a faith that we only found out about relatively recently.

It’s always beautiful when a church raises up a song which is unique to itself, I think the most special times of worship come out of that.

Should UK Christians be involved in overseas mission, or focus on the many problems we have at home?

I think everybody realises there’s probably a dual call on all our lives – to be missional in our living at home and then to reach out beyond that. I guess that’s a large part of the Great Commission. At the beginning of Acts, Jesus is talking about being witnesses in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, which is fundamentally saying act locally, nationally and internationally.

It’s so enriching for us to do overseas mission. A lot of people in church at the minute complain about not seeing God move and I guess sometimes that’s because they’re not standing in places where God really needs to. We need to be on the front lines if we want to see God move like that and feel his connection.

Chris Llewellyn was talking to Sarah Stone

Rend Collective’s latest album The Art of Celebration is available to purchase now and is reviewed on page 28.

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If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

(John 14: 14 NRSV) We would encourage you to photocopy this page, or to cut out the sections to use in your regular prayer times.

Places: Chad One of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world.

That’s quite a reputation, and it’s one that Chad could do with losing. Many of the 12.45 million people who live there do so in poverty, with over half not being able to access clean drinking water. Malaria, cholera and meningitis are big killers and malnutrition is a common problem.

BMS is involved in running the hospital at Guinebor II near the capital N’Djamena. We currently have five workers based there including surgeons, nurses and administrative staff. Conditions are harsh, with temperatures often reaching 50C, but their work is saving lives and demonstrating the love of Christ in a practical way.

Projects: Share the Light

Pray for: • The work of the hospital as it ministers to the health needs of some of the poorest people in Chad.

• People that are affected by food shortages and malnutrition.

• Wisdom for the leaders in the country, that they would have integrity and govern justly.

bmsworldmission.org/sharethelight

“Millions have yet to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.” That’s what motivates Benjamin Francis, BMS’ Associate Team Leader for India, to go and plant churches in the villages of the Sundarbans in West Bengal. Parts of the area are so remote that Benjamin and his team have to travel for hours by boat to get around.

Through their ministry, thousands have come to know Jesus and many have been healed. Benjamin and his team have already planted over 10,500 churches, but there is still much more to be done. Please pray that Benjamin and his team would continue to have good health and strength as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission.

Pray for: • The millions of people in India and around the world that have not yet heard the gospel.

• God to provide the resources necessary for this work to continue and expand.

• A renewed passion within the UK church – that we would follow his example and share the light with our communities.

People: UK staff Behind the scenes, there is a lot going on. At our offices in Didcot and our training centre in Birmingham, BMS employs close to 60 people in the UK. Whether it is managing the recruitment of new mission workers, providing up to date information for churches or overseeing the finances, all our staff are involved in supporting the work of BMS overseas. Please keep them in your prayers.

Pray too for the various mission workers who are on home assignment in the UK. Pray that churches would be inspired by their stories and would be encouraged to engage in world mission.

Get regular prayer points and resources from BMS at bmsworldmission.org/prayer

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please pray for: • BMS General Director David Kerrigan as he leads the organisation.

• The trustees who shape the vision and strategy of BMS. • All staff involved in the day to day work which keeps BMS up and running.

Aidan Melville is sub-editor for the BMS Prayer Guide

From the

Archives

CAREY DAY

light

Share the

The Word

This summer, if you go on holiday, you will most probably see vibrant, beautiful places. Life will be good and you will not see much of the darkness.

But it is there.

Sometimes the darkness is tucked away, down a dark alley or hidden away in a home or office. You occasionally catch a glimpse of it, by seeing something unexpected in the street or in the eyes of a stranger.

You sometimes see it in yourself.

We are called by Jesus to share the light which he has given us. This is not easy and can be at our personal cost. If you have read the story of Jadab (see page 8) or Tapan (see Autumn 2013 Engage), this could mean losing your home or your loved ones. But Jesus has promised never to leave us or forsake us, and by trusting in his unfailing light we can overcome difficulties and shine like stars in the universe.

Whether it be West Bengal, Westminster or Weston-Super-Mare, we are called to share the light of Jesus wherever we are and slowly start to make the darkness less dark.

Verse In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1: 4-5

Prayer Thank you, Father, for the light of your son Jesus Christ.

Help us to share the light with those who need you in our communities.

And, through our support of BMS brothers and sisters, to shine your light throughout your precious and complex world.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen

William Carey’s birthday is a day to celebrate in West Bengal.

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ot only in 1961, but every year, the anniversary is celebrated at Serampore College of the birth of William Carey on 17 August 1761. The Christian Church in many lands is debtor to the humble cobbler whose vision was the spark to the great modern missionary movement, yet we at Serampore College are in a unique way his heirs, continuing witnesses to what God did through his obedience to the heavenly vision.

Before classes open you will find the college gardeners sitting between the great pillars of the old college building, binding wreaths – one a garland, one a cross – with flowers gathered from the very garden that Carey loved.

By one o’ clock the time has come to gather in the Great Hall for a meeting. Each year some distinguished leader or scholar will be invited, who can speak with authority on some facet of Carey’s life and work.

The meeting over, we go in procession through the streets of Serampore,. We sing a hymn in Bengali so that onlookers may understand. When we have arrived and crowded into the cemetery, two prayers are offered and then wreaths are laid on Carey’s grave.

A birthday football match is played later in the afternoon and then in the evening there is a meal followed by musical items and speeches. At the end, most moving of all, ‘the Chain of Verses’ – a selected verse read first in the classic languages of East and West, then every one of the living languages represented of chuches among us whose members have come to Christ. Here we see proof of the Gospel which Carey believed and preached and translated. Here is living witness to Dr Carey’s Saviour.

This is adapted from an article which first appeared in Missionary Herald, October 1964 (p147).

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serving in

hard places Overseas mission is not always easy but God and BMS are there to support you.

If you choose to serve with BMS World Mission, you will be supported through the good times and the not so good times.

When Simon and Solange Wood began as mission workers in Guinea in 2008, the first challenge they faced was civil unrest.

“On the Boxing Day of our first Christmas here, there was shooting from six at night to eight in the morning.

We saw bullets go by our window but we were not harmed.

God protected us and we got through it,” says Solange.

Another challenge they have faced is health. Their daughter Beatrice was seriously ill with malaria when she was very young, with the nearest hospital six hours away. Solange remembers Beatrice singing the Matt Redman song You never let go, while she was ill.

“Beatrice was only two years old and she was feeling God’s presence,” recalls Solange. “She recovered, it was fine and God was with us. At the time it was hard as there were no medical personnel or hospitals near us. We were totally trusting in God and people’s prayer.”

BMS has helped with other health challenges the Woods have faced, such as arranging for Simon to take their son Raphael back to the UK for eye tests and to have new glasses. BMS has also supported them with the education of their children, from initial home schooling to moving them to the capital of Guinea, Conakry, so they could attend a French school there.

“They really are there for you as a family and they really care for the children,” says Solange. “We really value the support we get from BMS.” Despite the challenges, including being surrounded by extreme poverty, an unpredictable electricity supply, a shortage of clean drinking water and bad roads, Simon says there are great opportunities.

“Living in Guinea is really hard, but working in Guinea is fantastic, just because there are so many opportunities here,” he says. “Guinea is not very developed so that means that whatever you’re doing, you are starting at a very low base and you are making a difference.”

TUNISIA Steve and Ismay have been serving with BMS in Tunisia for several years. They are training up doctors and nurses in basic palliative care, enabling them to help seriously ill patients and their families. Like the Woods, they believe they are making a difference by being there.

“We are really starting to get somewhere. People are really being supported through difficult times in a very holistic way,” says Steve.

The challenge they have encountered working in Tunisia is how culturally different it is to the UK. They have

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© Antoni Traver - Fotolia.com

GUINEA

Current Opportunities

© Gabriele Maltinti - Fotolia.com

BMS remains committed to sending people to work in some of the most difficult and remote parts of the world amongst the most marginalised and least evangelised people. We will train, equip and support you both practically and pastorally.

valued the support of BMS and have experienced the importance of relying on God. “With all the limitations we have where we are, I think the support from BMS is excellent. We have had regular visits,” says Ismay. “They are visits from people who actually understand so you don’t have to go through an explanation of the conditions here. It’s very practical, it’s very realistic.”

They have also found that knowing you are called by God to be in the hard place you are serving can really help you get through the tough times.

“I think it helps to be very clear why you are here, to be very clear about your motivation for being here,” says Ismay. “There is something in being very sure that it is his work and not ours. The difficulties don’t go away, but you have a slightly different perspective and that’s a real strength.”

Before anyone serves in a hard place, BMS takes great care to evaluate the risks of sending them there and to mitigate them where possible. All mission workers receive training at our International Mission Centre (IMC) in Birmingham. Every aspect of serving in mission is covered, from the spiritual to the practical. You can never fully understand a mission situation until you get there, but at IMC common things which you might face like cultural differences and health and security risks are discussed with suggestions on how you can best handle them.

Bangladesh Gemma Leadley moved to Bangladesh in January to serve with BMS as a teacher at Grace International School. Being a single woman on the mission field is not

If you are someone who is up for a challenge and an adventure and who feels God may be calling you to serve him on the margins then we are desperately looking to fill some of these roles in hard (but rewarding and fulfilling) places: Experienced doctors and surgeons to serve in a frontline hospital in Chad Palliative care professionals, social workers, teachers and development workers to work amongst the unreached people of Tunisia Development, health and education workers to work amongst marginalised communities and vulnerable people in Afghanistan TEFL teachers and academics to be salt and light in a closed and unreached country in East Asia Experienced minsters, development workers, teachers and business leaders to serve in Bangladesh

To find out more go to bmsworldmission.org/opportunities

fazing her. Before she left the UK she had three months’ training at IMC which included a session on being a single woman in Asia and the kind of things to expect in a male dominated culture.

She believes God can prepare us for service in hard times.

“God has prepared me in advance to face some of the things that have been difficult and that perhaps will be difficult as I go along,” Gemma says.

“If he asks you to go to somewhere hard or difficult or to do something hard or difficult, he doesn’t leave you to flounder. I really believe we can thrive in difficult places and not just survive. We have to let go of ourselves and our own strength and to rely on God who is so much more reliable and so much more powerful.”

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ideas for

your church HARVEST

Share the Light: harvest in India Share the Light is a beautiful new DVD about the work of BMS church planters and evangelists working in the Sundarbans region of India.

It’s packed full of exciting and useful materials to use in your church, from small groups and youth activities to ideas for sermons and services.

For an all-age service, show the main feature video and use the PowerPoint quiz about India. Follow that up with the specially recorded fundraising appeal video from Chris Duffett to inspire and encourage

your church to raise the money that will help brave church planters like Benjamin Francis share the light in the Sundarbans and beyond. You can also print a fun kids’ activity sheet from the DVD and use it to engage the little ones with the message of sharing the gospel in India. There’s so much to use.

Get Share The Light now!

All these resources can be found on the Share the Light DVD or downloaded from bmsworldmission.org/sharethelight

Meet a new staff member…

Menna Machreth Mission Co-ordinator for Baptist Union of Wales and BMS World Mission About yourself I live in Caernarfon, North Wales, I’m newly married to Rhys and I attend Caersalem Baptist Church. I am passionate about justice issues, campaigning, and I studied literature for a long time in university!

About your role I encourage churches to get involved in mission – local and global! The aim is not only to help people partner with BMS mission workers and ministries but also to look at their own community and how they can develop their mission. There’s always a variety of things to do and lots of travelling around Wales.

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I love talking to people about mission, exploring their gifts and how to use those gifts for reaching people with the gospel. I hope churches will learn from global mission initiatives and that this will be a catalyst for their own mission thinking and activities.

Your advice for a church wanting to be more engaged in mission For their own mission, I would encourage them to look at which skills they already have within their church and how to use them to reach the wider community.

For global mission, I would advise churches to explore fully the possibilities of BMS Church Partners.

SUPPORT

How does BMS use your money?

Supporting your mission worker

There may be people in your church asking how their donations to BMS are used.

We are delighted to report that 95p in every £1* of your gifts is spent on BMS’ charitable activities, supporting church, development, education, health, justice and leadership ministries and promoting mission. Only 5p in every £1 is used for governance and generating funds.

Supporting a mission worker can be an exciting and rewarding opportunity. It provides personal stories and helps define your generous giving to BMS World Mission. Your church can also be an invaluable support and encouragement to those working on the front line of world mission.

Here are some helpful ways to make an active partnership:

Pray for them

95%

• T he most important thing you can do is to pray. Pray for their ministries, for them personally and for the people they are serving. Ask what your mission worker’s hopes and aspirations are for their work to enable your church to share their vision • Keep a prayer card on your fridge as a reminder and read their updates for more specific things for you to pray for

4%

Encourage them • L et them know you are praying and thinking of them. Living in a new culture is challenging and messages from home can really make a difference

1%

Compassion, Partner, Church & Mission mobilisation ministries

• P lease be patient if you don’t get a quick reply from your mission worker. Their internet connections can be poor and sending individual replies can be challenging

Generating funds

• S et up a support group of people or appoint an individual to take responsibility for ensuring good communication.

You could even set up a rota for this

Governance

• K eep an eye on their profile pages on the BMS website bmsworldmission/people By donating to BMS you are engaged in world mission and bringing the love of God to people in desperate need. Thank you!

• T ry a cultural evening based on your mission worker’s location • A sk if your worker wants to receive sermon podcasts.

This can provide much needed spiritual refreshment

Please feel free to share this information in your church.

• T ry to organise a live telephone link during a service

Support them

• I f you individually want to support someone you can by becoming a 24:7 Partner and designating your giving to them. For more information visit bmsworldmission.org/ partners or telephone 01235 517609

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• A nother way to support your mission worker is financially.

As a church your giving is enabling them to serve overseas.

We are proud of the way BMS fully funds our mission workers, lifting the individual burden of fundraising

*BMS finance accounts 2012/13

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Arts

Reviews

Deep Magic, Dragons and Talking Mice: How Reading C.S. Lewis Can Change Your Life Alister McGrath Book

ISBN: 978-1444750300

Hodder & Stoughton £14.99 (Hardcover)

Sound Bites: Seasonal sketches with punch and wit for instant performance Richard Everett Book

ISBN: 978-0857213570

Monarch Books £10.99 (Paperback) Rating:

Rating: The ink has hardly run dry on his 2013 biography, C.S. Lewis: A Life, and Alister McGrath is back on the bookshelves with his new reflection on how reading C S Lewis can change your life.

Deep Magic… is a more personal and subjective narrative than the biography and asks the question, what if you could ask C S Lewis about the meaning of life itself? McGrath uses Lewis’ reluctant journey to faith as a platform to address weighty questions about friendship, education, God and suffering through a series of ‘conversations’ with the enigmatic author and apologist.

I found the imaginary ‘lunches with Lewis’ unnecessary, but if you want a succinct introduction to Lewis’ theology then this is a great start, as McGrath pulls together central arguments into a wellresearched and cohesive narrative.

McGrath explores some of the deeper meanings and values in Lewis’ works, highlighting the figure of Aslan who illustrates that storytelling is vital to the understanding of Christ. This is far more effective than abstract exposition and is exactly in line with what Lewis was all about – adding imagination to theology.

Review by Lucy Vallance, PA to the General Director at BMS World Mission

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It seems to me that there was a time when churches performed a lot more sketches in their services than we do now: drama seems to have become a bit of a forgotten art. When I was asked to review this selection of seasonal sketches I was a little sceptical. Is it passé?

Perhaps the best way of answering my own question is to say that I will be buying a licence for us to perform some of these pieces in our church. I can visualise the sketches and how they might fit in a service or another event at our church, which gives you an idea of how well written they are. There are novel approaches to some of the major seasons, providing a new way of exploring age old themes.

And there are sketches for some of the less obvious ‘festivals’ like making New Year’s resolutions, Father’s Day, and even creation.

The sketches are written so that they can be read in the style of a radio play or performed with full theatrical effects. They will make people laugh, wince and think. All of those are commendations in my book.

Time to dust off the actors and rediscover the forgotten art, me thinks.

Review by Nick Lear, Senior Minister at Colchester Baptist Church, Essex

The Art of Celebration Rend Collective Album Integrity Music Rating: The spirit of Delirious? is upon Rend Collective. Coming from the fringes of the worship scene, sounding more like moderately cool bands in the secular charts than the Worship mainstream and suddenly becoming leaders in that mainstream: their story is familiar. Rend are, to quote Zoolander, so hot right now.

Blending the best and most accessible elements of Mumford and Sons, Jars of Clay and Worship superstars like Redman and Tomlin, Rend do that most difficult of things: making catchy sound cool. Hipster folk-fans will appreciate the nerdily eclectic instrumentation. Hands-in-theair megachurchers are going to love the stadium-sized choruses.

Grumpy Christians will like the original lyrics that avoid excessive reliance on ‘glory’, ‘majesty’ and ‘glorious majesty’ and similarly eschew Jesus-ismy-boyfriendisms. Lyrically, this album focuses, unsurprisingly, on celebration, simply and without guile. Musically, there is more than a passing similarity to the ubiquitous Mumfords, but that’s the zeitgeist. And one could argue that Rend got there first. Established fans will find a more polished, less kooky, more focused Rend on this album. The more negative might even resent this high-production-value Rend with its perfectly constructed songs. But what did you expect?

They’re the establishment now.

Long may they reign.

Review by Jonathan Langley, Editorial Team Leader at BMS World Mission

Noah Director: Darren Aronofsky Film Paramount Pictures Rating: Director Darren Aronofsky unabashedly labels his new film Noah as Midrash, an addition to the ancient Jewish interpretive tradition that imaginatively goes beyond the accounts recorded in the Hebrew Bible while never consciously contradicting them. You should know this lest you think the film is filled with ostentatious flights of fancy.

That said, familiar interpreters – such as your Sunday school teacher – have been going beyond Midrash with Noah for a long time, imagining him as a charming zookeeper with a slick and trusty seafaring vessel in a pastel-tinted universe.

Aronofsky’s vision is rougher around the edges; should we expect anything different from the director of Black Swan?

Aronofsky’s Noah takes place in an enchanted antediluvian world where humankind really has become a curse upon the ground, a world where one man and his family have been chosen by the Creator to protect what is innocent while the rest of humankind is washed away.

Noah (Russell Crowe) listens to God – but from there, he is as susceptible to self-deception as anyone else. This is the film’s most moving innovation: Noah, like the groaning creation, is in need of redemption.

Visually striking, the film will generate plenty of discussion despite being unevenly paced and drowning in portent.

Review by Phillip Johnston, Divinity student at Covenant Theological Seminary (USA)

Arts

5

Five minutes with...

RUTH Mawhinney Former editor of Christianity magazine Ruth Mawhinney talks about challenging evangelical sub cultures and the importance of Christian media.

In your time as editor of Christianity magazine the magazine has changed a lot. How would you characterise the changes?

I think we became more focused on what was happening outside the evangelical sub culture. A lot of people buy and read the magazine because they are interested in the evangelical ‘scene’. We just felt it would be a useful thing for Christians to look beyond that as well. As part of that there was more of a deliberate emphasis on world issues, so we would explore what Christians are saying about the situation in Ukraine and Russia, or a Christian perspective on Syria and so on.

How has that been received?

I think people have appreciated it, definitely. There is a tendency, especially if you are a Christian working in full time Christian ministry, or you are very involved in your church, to get sucked into a bubble where all your friends are Christians, a lot of your colleagues are Christians and a lot of your social life revolves around your church. Your Christianity becomes your hobby basically. So anything that helps that section of people push outside of that, I think is really useful.

You are just about to become Editor at ChristianToday.com.

What can people expect? What do you hope to bring to it?

I think it is already one of the go-to places for Christians looking for news, comment or reflection. I want it to become more known as a credible Christian voice in the

online world. We really want to develop the comment and debate elements, so I will be looking for people to write spirited opinion pieces that will get discussions going.

You started off at The Baptist Times as an intern. Did you ever imagine you would be where you are today?

I suppose it is an obvious trajectory but I never thought I would stay in Christian media. That just seems to be where God has put me. Every career move I have made, it has been really obvious that is the move I should be making.

At its best, what can Christian media do?

I think it provides that intersection between the ‘real world’ and your faith. It’s one of the places – just as your sermon at its best ought to do on a Sunday morning – where it brings those two things together.

It also provides digestible, bite-sized, accessible articles on things which traditionally have been inaccessible. People might not particularly want to read a 500 page theological tome about substitutionary atonement, but they would be quite happy and interested to read 2,000 words explaining the basics. For want of a better phrase, getting ordinary ‘punters in the pews’ engaged at a deeper theological level. I think Christian media is uniquely placed to do that.

Ruth Mawhinney was talking to Jonathan Langley

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24 hours in…

Kabul

If you visited the Afghan capital, here is where Lily* would take you. *A BMS worker in Kabul whose name has been changed for security reasons

Appreciate Afghan artefacts A trip to the Kabul Museum is definitely a must for any visitor.

This is the only place where you can see a train in Afghanistan!

The museum holds a limited but interesting selection of national treasures including Buddhist artefacts and different regional costumes.

Explore the palace ruins Just opposite the Kabul Museum are the remains of Darul Aman Palace. The palace was built in the 1920s and was home to the king. It was damaged by two fires in the 60s and 70s but became the shell it is today during Mujahedeen times. It is a great vantage point to look over the city and if you are lucky the guards will give you a guided tour inside!

Nabil K Costa Lebanese Baptist leader

O

ngoing for three years now, the Syria crisis has led to three million Syrians seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. A quarter of the Lebanese population are now Syrian, meaning we have the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world.

So many of our partner churches are trying to help Syrian families, blessing others and being blessed in the process. Relationships are being built and refugees are truly recognising that “you really care for us.” Yet the number that we are serving (slightly over 15,000) cannot be compared with the one million plus Syrian refugees

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shop in Chicken Street In the days of the hippy trail, Chicken Street was THE place to go souvenir shopping. Somehow these small shops selling everything from Persian carpets to Lapis Lazuli earrings are still going strong.

You can get a real bargain and, even if you don’t want to buy, a fun time can be had looking through the trinkets and treasures available.

Eat Qabuli pilau Afghanistan’s favourite dish is Qabuli pilau. This is a rice dish with carrots, raisins and meat and as with all Afghan meals is served with naan bread. A delicious meal which every visitor should sample.

see the country Outside of Kabul there are mountains, the lakes of Band-e Amir and the area where the Buddhas of Bamiyan once stood. Afghanistan in the spring offers much beauty.

Both within the city of Kabul and outside can be found projects that are supported by BMS World Mission. See how community development work, mental health programmes, eye care projects and education projects are changing the lives of Afghans.

Visit the work

Taking its toll One million needy Syrian refugees are changing Lebanon, says Nabil Costa in Lebanon. Hundreds of families are on church waiting lists, desperate for monthly food aid, medication, and other support. Families who left everything behind and are without an income, with no chance of making it on their own. We cannot turn them down. We shouldn’t need to.

The influx of Syrian refugees is taking its toll on a considerable percentage of the Lebanese who are having to compete with a Syrian workforce, not to mention sharing the nation’s limited resources with them, leading to a higher cost of living. As a result, our churches need to start considering support not

only for vulnerable Syrian families, but for Lebanese ones too.

These are very challenging times and, though the future looks bleak for both Syrians and Lebanese, we trust in God and rely on the prayers and support of the global body of Christ that we may reflect faith, hope and love to the broken, the weary, and the hopeless.

Nabil K Costa is the Executive Director of BMS partner LSESD, a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance and a trustee of BMS World Mission. Read the full version of this article at bmsworldmission.org/engage

© Jason Gutierrez IRIN

Out of

Afghanistan

What will happen when the troops leave, asks Roshan Mendis.

T

he photo of the Afghan girl on the The question today most asked of cover of the National Geographic Afghanistan, from government to civil way back in 1985 was one that society, business to development, military grabbed my attention and also that of to religion, is about what will happen so many readers worldwide. Seeing when the International Security Assistance her again on the 2002 edition entitled Force (ISAF) pull out this year? The ISAF “Found” was equally intriguing. Her has thus far been the primary source of eyes tell a story of a help to the government land amazingly and in maintaining peace and Every family hauntingly beautiful rebuilding the country, a and of a people role now being handed in Afghanistan who have witnessed over to the Afghan has tasted the and experienced National Security Forces time and again bitterness of war (ANSF). In a nation that the trauma of war largely comprises of in some way and the repeated several people groups of betrayal of at least 34 tribes, including leadership and governments with each four major and 30 minor tribes, scattered change of rule. That every family in throughout this vast expanse of land, this Afghanistan has tasted the bitterness will be no mean feat to achieve. of war in some way or other is not In our society, where risk and risk surprising. As I have come to realise, management are analysed and sought to her story is not uncommon as one looks be mitigated to the last detail, this kind of at the figures: 30 or more years of war, uncertainty is perhaps the most disturbing over 1.5 million killed, over 3.5 million and we may prefer to leave rather than refugees. This is the story of Afghanistan stay amidst such circumstances. Life in over the past few decades. these villages – built of mud and earth,

Roshan Mendis BMS Regional Team Leader for Central and South Asia

the path a mere thread on the mountain, where a thin stream flows from the snow on the mountains (except at times of drought), no schools, no clinics, no tarred roads, poor sanitation, no water on tap; a few terraces with walnut trees, some corn and perhaps one or two vegetables – is close to survival or mere existence, nothing more. In contrast to the comforts in our homes, to me the resilience evident in the people is as rugged as the mountain ranges and the topography of Afghanistan.

To the majority of Britons used to predictable life situations, dependable train, tube and bus times, fairly accurate weather forecasts and where the axiom ‘if anything is certain it is that things will change’, is more the exception than the rule, faith in God is perhaps simply a quiet inner conviction. But to Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl, when she was asked how she had survived all these years, the answer came wrapped in unshakable certitude.

“It was,” she said, “the will of God.”

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“Millions have yet to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Ben Francis, BMS worker in India

It doesn’t have to be this way.

SHA

R E T H E .L.I..G...H...T.

This harvest, discover the amazing way in which BMS World Mission is sharing the light of Christ in India and around the world.

Check out the trailer and order your free resources at bmsworldmission.org/sharethelight Baptist Missionary Sociery: registered as a charity in England & Wales (number 233782) and in Scotland (number SC037767)

AS A CHRISTIAN MISSION ORGANISATION WE AIM TO SHARE LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS WITH THE WORLD’S PEOPLES BY: ENABLING THEM TO KNOW CHRIST, ALLEVIATING SUFFERING AND INJUSTICE, IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE WITH PEOPLE AS OUR PRIMARY AGENTS OF CHANGE – MOTIVATING, TRAINING, SENDING AND RESOURCING THEM.