SIM Connect 2021 Issue 4

For SIM workers, by SIM workers

NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

MAKING OUR CORE VALUES SIM Core Values MORE MEMORABLE

Dependent on God

Disciples

Diverse

who make disciples

Community

Church centred

3 Ds and 3 Cs

Compassion

Meet Watson Rajaratnam, Asia Director 3 Ds SIM andEast 3 Cs Gospel conversations in the barber’s chair Core Values: The same but different

CONTENTS How the Bible helps us embrace diversity .............................................. 2-3 New Harvest Workers ......................... 4-5 News ....................................................... 6 Q&A with an SIM leader: Watson Rajaratnam................................. 7 Core Values – the same, but different.... 8-9 Called: Tawanda Masango................. 10-11 Leader appointments ............................ 12 Heart-to-heart with a barber................. 13 Giants of Covid-19............................ 14-15 Faithful Witness.................................... 16

EDITORIAL

SIM'S MISSION

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Convinced that no one should live and die without hearing God's good news, we believe that He has called us to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in communities where He is least known.

© SIM International 2021.

Connect is an internal publication of SIM for the encouragement and information of its workers.

SIM International Director: Joshua Bogunjoko International Communications Director and Editor of Connect: Tim Allan Design: Pilgrim Communications Email: connect@sim.org • Web: www.sim.org

HOW THE BIBLE HELPS US EMBRACE DIVERSITY

BY JOSHUA BOGUNJOKO, SIM INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR

There is a very good reason why SIM’s first core value states we are committed to biblical truth.

We recognise this truth as the foundation for our faith, the guide for our lives and the ultimate truth for living. Nothing else in the world could take its place in the life of a believer, community, society or church.

In the summary of our Core Values, which we have been working on this year and about which you can read more on pages 8 and 9, that commitment Out of a desire to read to biblical truth remains God’s word for ourselves, central. my younger brother, It is why we Ezekiel, and I decided to are committed work and earn money to to teaching the Bible in all buy our first Bible. contexts and ministries, and also translating it into people’s heart languages. It is exactly one of those translation efforts that made my own love story with the Bible possible.

I was raised in a small village in Nigeria, in a nominally Christian family. My parents attended church, but also worshipped idols. Although I was active in church, I did not know that I needed Jesus or could have a personal relationship with God. Out of a desire to read God’s word for ourselves, my younger brother, Ezekiel, and I decided to work and earn money to buy our first Bible. We obtained this Bible when I was 11 years old. Two years later, we earned enough to buy a second one. These were very precious to us, and I have always loved the Bible.

Something amazing about my Yoruba Bible was that it was the inspired, infallible word of God, just like the English Bible of the first SIM WWW.SIM.ORG

Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile from Pexels

NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

context where my language was spoken, were a legitimate place to gain knowledge of God’s revelation and pursue a relationship with him.

The same gospel principle that deemed my Yoruba Bible to be the inspired, infallible word of God is the principle that calls all people worthy of dignity and participation in a gospel community.

Whether or not our founders could have imagined welcoming such a diversity of people into SIM, the gospel intends this. It is in the DNA of the gospel. And so, by SIM’s faithful and humble pursuit of the gospel, we have become increasingly diverse.

If our God commissions his eternal, holy word be preached in every language, to be studied and interpreted by diverse peoples with the help of the Holy Spirit, how much more can we freely welcome diverse peoples to sit at the table of SIM and influence our organisation, which is merely temporary and created by humans?

As a child of God worthy of God’s revelation in my language, I, along with every worker, am worthy to participate in SIM because we all have access to the same biblical truth that daily and relentlessly shapes our lives and our journey.

EDITORIAL

missionary, Guy Playfair, who came to my village in 1912. In fact, his English one was a translation from the Greek and Hebrew, yet it was also inspired and holy. My Bible even used the Yoruba term “Olorun” for the creator God. By contrast, in my family and village were those who practised Islam. Muslims believe the true revelation of God in the Qur’an can only be accessed in Arabic, and all translations of the Qur’an are considered commentaries. The Arabic word for God, Allah, is used by all Muslims, regardless of their own language.

Although our Bibles were precious, I did not commit my heart to Christ until I was a teenager in a boarding school run by SIM and now run by the ECWA Church. From my time of conversion, I was absorbed into a vibrant Christian student fellowship on the campus. Coming to faith in a mission school meant I was immediately discipled, prepared for baptism and trusted into active participation in ministry in my campus fellowship.

What might this have to do with SIM and our diversity today?

What I realise now is that my own language, my people who spoke this language, and the

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NEW HARVEST WORKERS Melissa

New harvest workers

Church: First Baptist Church, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Where will you serve? Middle East.

What will you be doing? Working as a teaching assistant at a refugee education centre.

Pray: For strength and wisdom in teaching, that great gospel relationships will be made and that I will be able to share my faith with others.

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Church: Sydney, Australia.

Where will you serve?

Africa.

What will you be doing? Teaching at a university and making friends with women, neighbours and other people in the campus community.

Pray: Thank God for tremendous encouragement from our supporters in Australia as we prepare to leave. Pray for logistics as we prepare to go and good relationships as we start learning about the language, culture and the health and education systems.

Lorenzo and Liliana* *name changed

Penny Flaro Church: Sanctus Church, Ajax, Ontario, Canada.

Where will you serve?

Toronto, Canada.

What will you be doing? Serving as the Spiritual Care Coordinator for Lifeworthy, an SIM project which provides support for sex trafficking survivors and their families in the Toronto area and beyond.

Pray: For wisdom and discernment as I start my new role and that I might have a gospel impact on the people I serve.

Church: Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

Where will you serve? International Leadership and Services, Nairobi.

What will you be doing? As the International Finance Systems Analyst, I will support treasurers around the world to resolve international accounting systems issues.

Pray: For successful planning and implementation of the new financial system.

Pray that the SIM implementation team will learn fast and that the entities will be able to adapt quickly to the change.

Machocho Kilalama WWW.SIM.ORG

Natán Martínez Sandoval Church: Iglesia La Gran Familia, Ciudad Arce, El Salvador.

Where will you serve?

Ayutthaya, Thailand.

What will you be doing? Working with Sports Friends and other local ministries as part of the Faithful Witness team.

Pray: For my support-raising to go well so that I can join the team in Thailand as soon as possible.

Imli Mar Ao and Amenla,

Church: Westover Church, Greensboro, North Carolina.

Where will you serve?

Niamey, Niger.

What will you be doing?

Teaching mathematics at Sahel Academy; serving in health care.

Pray: For us and our kids to settle well, especially as they are all changing schools.

Church: Ao Baptist Church, Impur, Nagaland.

Where will you serve?

Indonesia.

What will you be doing?

Teaching in a Bible college.

Pray: That international borders may be opened quickly and safely, so that we can continue our ministry.

Church: Christ Apostolic Church, Jos, Nigeria.

Where will you serve?

Galmi Hospital, Niger.

What will you be doing? Managing the guest house and preparing accommodation for the shortterm volunteers who come to serve at Galmi.

Pray: That the Lord will bring people who will be willing to support and pray for me.

Evelyn Yakubu NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

New harvest workers

Matt & Karen Jackson, with children Jacob, Lydia, Grace and Nathanael

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NEWS

events

| resources | updates

Hope for Life to mark World AIDS Day

Gospel art exhibition in Côte d’Ivoire

Our Hope for Life ministry will be marking World AIDS Day on December 1 with a new social media campaign.

The campaign will run through many of SIM’s social media channels and on sim.org, focussing on this year’s theme, which is: End inequalities. End AIDS. End pandemics.

SIM has been responding to HIV since the early 1990s through its Hope for Life ministries, living out the love and compassion of Christ by addressing underlying inequalities for the most vulnerable. Our workers have seen many ways in which God has worked through SIM to cross the barriers of inequality and transform lives. They now have these experiences to draw on as they look to move through the current Covid-19 pandemic, bringing hope and giving life.

Please do follow, like and share our social media content through your own channels and encourage your teams to do the same. For more on Hope for Life visit www.hopeforlife.net or contact international.hopeforlife@sim.org.

SIM’s Arts Ministry point person Pete McCarthy will exhibit some of his work in Abidjan next month.

The exhibition at La Rotonde des Arts will explore the notion of suffering, incarnation and the suffering of Jesus as the place we meet God. Pete hopes it will be the catalyst for gospel conversations and inspire other Christian artists. For more information please email pete.mccarthy@sim.org.

From General Education to Transformational Teaching One of SIM’s key ministries has a new name!

General Education, led by Megan Patterson, will now be known as Transformational Teaching.

Megan explained: “Only the name has changed! General Education – that is classroom life around the globe – has always been about helping Christian teachers shape the content and method of

their teaching in accordance with their core identity as followers of Christ. That is possible in even the most sensitive environments.

“But the name General Education isn’t very inspiring so we’ve changed it to Transformational Teaching.

“The teacher is transformed as he or she learns to see God revealing Himself through the school subjects.

The classroom is transformed

as the Holy Spirit enables the teaching and learning.

“The children are transformed as they are nurtured by their compassionate teacher.

“Their families are transformed as the message of God’s love reaches them too.”

For more information about Transformational Teaching, contact Megan (megan.patterson@sim.org).

News

BOOKS

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Images of Leadership,

by Dave Bremner (Oasis Publishing) No one in leadership thinks their job is easy – but a new book by SIM’s Dave Bremner hopes to make it just a little less difficult!

Images of Leadership is based on the material for the leader development programme Dave has pioneered and led in SIM. The book is beautifully illustrated, skilfully laid out and guides the reader through several biblical portraits of leadership.

There are chapters on the leader as shepherd, servant and steward, before discussions about what sharing leadership in the body of Christ and leading the ethnic diversity of the kingdom might look like.

The foreword, written by former SIM International Director, Jim Plueddemann, sums up the impact of the book and the leader development programme when he writes: “I’ve watched as Dave taught concepts from Images of Leadership to newer, growing leaders and have been awed by how these leadership principles have begun to permeate the ethos of the mission.”

Available on Amazon and Shop the Word.

Effective Intercultural Evangelism, by Jay Moon and Bud Simon (IVP) We live in a multicultural society but Christians often do not know how to engage those of other faiths. As a result, many Christians hesitate to talk about Christianity with others in any kind of evangelistic way.

Jay Moon, who served with SIM for 13 years, mainly church-planting in Ghana, and Bud Simon unpack the intercultural dynamics Christians need to understand as they try to share their faith.

Sharing one's faith does not require attacking other religions; rather, we can engage at the worldview level in order to address people's deepest concerns.

Greater understanding provides us with better skills for relational connection, empathy, and effective witness.

Available on Amazon and other online booksellers.

WWW.SIM.ORG

Q&A WITH AN SIM LEADER: WATSON RAJARATNAM, SIM EAST ASIA DIRECTOR Tell us a little about your background.

My father came from India but settled in Singapore just after World War Two, when he was working for the British Royal Air Force. I was born in Singapore but a trip back to India with family played a key role in my coming to Christ.

I accepted Christ as my saviour when I was a teenager and have had mission on my heart since then. Immediately after my postgraduate studies, I travelled to North India and served as a “tentmaker academic” in Lucknow. I intended to become a career missionary there but visa issues brought me back to Singapore, where I continued work, first as an academic and then as a journalist.

Tell us a little about your family.

I am married to Vijaya, whom I met in India. She is as passionate about mission as me and has been a pillar of support. We have a daughter, Sangeetha, who is a sociologist, and a son Santhosh, who graduated in Policy Studies and Business Management and is now an intern, doing student outreach in Singapore.

What key things do you hope to achieve in your time/your role with SIM? We have a five-year plan focussing on four key ministries, all of which come from SIM’s mission statement. The first is

What inspires you when life gets difficult?

My understanding of God’s abundant love for me and knowing he has called me, even though I am not worthy.

I have two spiritual mentors, with whom I meet regularly for accountability.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I enjoy morning walks, as time allows. I like to read, watch TV with my children, and spend time with my family.

What is your favourite Bible verse?

“So, you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:10).

What piece of technology could you do without/ never do without?

My phone and my computer are both necessities, but I never want to become a slave to them. I want them to be my servants.

How can we pray for you?

That my decisions would bring glory to God’s name and help in the advancement of his mission. Pray I will abide in Christ, remain connected to him, and rely on him always.

That I would have discernment and wisdom as I walk with my SIM East Asia colleagues. I know not everyone moves at my speed, so pray for patience as we listen to God and walk behind him, not ahead of him.

That I would get the balance right between ministry and sabbath, especially that I would make quality time for my wife and children.

Watson family

NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

Q&A with an SIM leader

How did God lead you to SIM? That is a long story! Back in 2000, I was working as an editor in Singapore and I came across a little advertisement in the Methodist Message magazine, inviting missionminded people to contact SIM. Thus began my seven-year journey with SIM leaders, including Dr Stanley Ling and Dr Andrew Ng. They invited me to various events, including a trip to India in 2007 to set up the SIM north east India office. February 2, 2008 was my last day with Media Corp and my first day with SIM! First, I served as SIM Singapore Director for three years, then as mission mobiliser in Zambia and Malawi for nine years, until God called me back to succeed Stanley as East Asia Regional Director.

frontline mission, sending more workers to unreached communities; the second is disciple-making, which is key to making long-term followers of Christ; the third is producing missional churches, which can send workers into the harvest field; the fourth is turning the mission fields into mission forces, empowering the old receiving entities to become sending entities as well.

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CORE VALUES: THE SAME

BY TIM ALLAN, SIM INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

SIM Core Values

Core Values

For most of this year, a small team has been looking at SIM’s Core Values and working out how we can make them more memorable.

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Under our governing articles, we are supposed to re-examine our Core Values every decade and this is the first time we have done it since 2006, so it was long overdue.

The Board and the International Leadership Team realised from the start that our Core Values do not need to change. They lie at the heart of what binds us together and are held very dearly by many of us.

But what we also realised is that very few of us can bring all 10 Core Values to mind when we’re put on the spot and asked what they are!

So the central challenge of the Review Team was to come up with a new way of expressing our Core Values which would be more memorable.

We want these values to underpin everything we do; we want to see them referred to often, not just in orientation meetings for new workers; we want to see them used as starting points for discussions in meetings.

We believe it is important that all our workers - be they members, associates, trustees or staff - know our Core Values and feel inspired by them.

We very much hope that what we have arrived at helps us all do exactly that. Those of us who read and understand English, have been calling this summary ‘Three Ds and Three Cs’ – the graphic alongside demonstrates why we came up with that!

We recognise that title will not work in all languages, although it does in some! However, we hope that this new way of summarising our Core Values is short enough to be memorable in for everyone, no matter what your first language is.

You should have received an email with this Core Value summary, with translations in French, Spanish and Portuguese. It was emailed to the whole of SIM in early November.

Because the summary is much shorter than the 10 Core Values, some people may feel that we have lost something. That is not the intention, the summary is intimately linked to the 10, and is just that - a summary, to make the 10 more accessible and memorable. If you prefer using the full 10 Core Values, you are very welcome to do so.

However, we hope you will find much to celebrate in this new summary.

We pray you will enjoy learning the Three Ds and Three Cs and living out our values in your daily relationships with others.

Dependent on God

D

Diverse

isciples who make disciples

Community

Church centred

Compassion

THREE DS 3AND...

3 Ds and Cs

We are:

D

ependent on God – We are people of prayer. We trust in our faithful God and affirm the truth of the Bible.

D

iverse – We are one in Christ. We embrace, and are strengthened by, the international, interdenominational and multi-ethnic diversity of His church.

Disciples of Jesus who make

disciples – We cross barriers to fulfil God’s global, urgent and unfinished mission.

WE ARE GOD-DEPENDENT, DIVERSE, DISCIPLES OF JESUS...

WWW.SIM.ORG

BUT DIFFERENT! SIM’S 10 CORE VALUES COMMITTED TO BIBLICAL TRUTH

We are committed to biblical truth and joyfully affirm historic, evangelical Christianity. With courage, we declare to the nations the good news of new life in Jesus Christ.

DEPENDENT ON GOD

‘By Prayer’ and in faith we depend on God for the provision of all our needs. We will demonstrate diligence, integrity, sharing, and accountability in cultivating and using the resources God provides.

A PEOPLE OF PRAYER

Prayer is foundational in our life and ministry. ‘By Prayer’ we praise God, seek his direction, request resources, and call upon the Holy Spirit to empower our ministries.

MISSION­ FOCUSED

...THREE CS

We are committed to the urgent and unfinished task of making disciples of Jesus Christ in all nations. We desire to work in loving, trusting, interdependent relationships with churches and other partners who share our vision.

CHURCH­ CENTRED

We are committed to being a mission that begins, nurtures, and equips churches to be the expression of Christ in their communities and to reach out with cross-­cultural missionary vision and action.

CONCERNED ABOUT HUMAN NEEDS

We humbly acknowledge that the ultimate human need is to know God. We also believe that he has called us to compassionate, holistic service in this broken world by alleviating suffering, fostering development, and effecting change in society.

A CHRISTLIKE COMMUNITY

Church-centred – We are part of Christ’s church and together we plant, nurture and equip churches.

love. We humbly offer compassionate, holistic service and eternal hope, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Community – We live a life of integrity

in obedience to God and in relationship with each other as we listen, learn, grow, and innovate together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

...IN A CHURCH-CENTRED AND COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITY. NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

A LEARNING, GROWING COMMUNITY

We believe in the worth and giftedness of each person in SIM and of those we seek to serve. We practise the giving and receiving of discipleship, life-­long learning, consultative leadership, mutual development, and training as enduring disciplines.

STRENGTHENED THROUGH DIVERSITY

We are intentionally interdenominational, international and multi-ethnic because we believe this expresses the unity of the body of Christ in the world. We believe we will be more effective in ministry as we incorporate the richness of cultural diversity in SIM and celebrate our oneness in Christ.

COre Values

Compassionate – We are people of

We desire to be a transforming community dedicated to becoming like Christ in love, servanthood, holiness, and obedience to the Father. We believe following Christ’s example means sacrifice, sometimes hardship, and perhaps even death.

RESPONSIVE TO OUR TIMES

We will respond with creativity and courage to evolving needs and opportunities under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

To be effective and relevant, our ministries, priorities, and structures are subject to on-­going evaluation and adaptation.

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CALLED:

TAWANDA MASANGO HAD TO GROW UP FAST INTO A LIFE OF MISSION

BY TIM ALLAN

CALLED

Aged just 15, Tawanda Masango was thrust into both the frightening cultural spirituality of his Zimbabwean homeland and the overwhelming responsibility of adulthood.

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Violet, was, and still is, a devout struggling. When she came back, she told us she had found some Christian and took her children well-wishers who had committed to to church each week; his father, Wellington, identified as a Christian, pay our fees.”

That was when God really stepped but faced the pressure of syncretism, which saw him sometimes consult into Tawanda’s life, by giving him traditional healers. two good friends at school, Antony Mercifully, by the time and Peter. They too were nominal Wellington died he had come to a Christians but, as they searched their The schoolboy and his five full understanding of who Jesus is. hearts and heads for answers, they sisters had just suffered the trauma

By God’s grace, Tawanda’s home decided to start reading the Bible and of losing their father when his was only a few minutes’ walk from praying together. uncles gathered round him.

Rusitu Mission, the very place Tawanda recalled: “It was that As is traditional in his Ndau July – July 2000 where some culture, the death of his father – that I made a of the pioneer I always thought meant Tawanda would have to commitment to mission workers ministry was for people follow Christ, take his father’s name and all the who first came responsibilities that came with that. to Zimbabwe who had failed to make as did Anthony Tawanda, who is now serving in 1897 had it in professional careers and Peter. Every with SIM Zimbabwe reaching out lunchtime, we met established a but my year in Australia to read the Bible to students in Bulawayo, explained: Bible college, “There is a ceremony after a and pray. At first, a school and a opened my eyes. I saw father dies which makes clear the hospital. Tawanda people who had given up we did not want responsibility is now passed to others to join us was blessed to the son. It used to be that a staff attend the Baptist secular jobs and realised but we spoke with was handed over but now it is our church pastor boarding school I could do the same sometimes an umbrella. and he showed us as a day boy, “That was done to me and soon returning home each evening to help how to share the gospel. after that, I was asked to join some “By the time I left school in his family with subsistence farming. of the extended family members 2002, more than 40 people were He said: “When my father for a trip to consult a witch doctor, died it was doubtful that I would joining us in the prayers and to find out why my father had died. studies. Looking back, I can see God even be able to stay at school, They thought it must have been was training me even then, helping but my then class teacher, Mrs caused by bad spirits. me into ministry leadership.”

Warrington, was going back to the “You can imagine that I was very Those schooldays were UK on home assignment. frightened by this, and very confused.” instrumental in Tawanda hearing “She took my report cards Tawanda had been brought up in with her, together with those of God’s call to mission. He may not a Christian household. His mother, have called it mission back then but some other students who were now, 20 years later, he can see it was.

From school, Tawanda went to university in Bulawayo, studying PLEASE PRAY forestry and wildlife management, • For God to send more workers into ministry alongside Tawanda and and then found a job in South Shupi so they can form a team to reach more university and college Africa.

While he was there, his old students with the gospel. friend Antony, who had gone to • For continuing good relationships with church pastors and that they theological college in Cape Town, would embrace the vision of partnership with SIM, for their good, encouraged him to consider a the good of the students, the good of SIM and the glory of God. role as a ministry trainee with • That Tawanda and Shupi would have wisdom about what to take the Australian Fellowship of on, so they can guard against the possibility of being burnt out and Evangelical Students (AFES). overwhelmed by the workload.

Tawanda said: “I always WWW.SIM.ORG

Shupi and Tawanda with their children sanele (left) and unathi

NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

volunteers. Their passion is to work with local churches to reach university and college students.

Tawanda, who is sent by the Presbyterian church in Bulawayo and supported by three churches and many friends in Australia, said: “The church in Zimbabwe is not rich but it can give support.

“One of the churches lets us have office space and use their internet for free, while another has found housing for two of our apprentices.”

Of course, Covid-19 has cast a long shadow over their time with SIM but things are gradually opening up in Zimbabwe.

Tawanda is praying for more opportunities to reach students with the good news of Jesus and so transform their lives, just as his has been transformed.

CALLED

thought ministry was for people daughter was born and Shupi has who had failed to make it in other just given birth to their fourth professional careers, but my year child although, sadly, their first son in Australia opened my eyes. I saw was stillborn in 2018. people who had given up secular Tawanda said: “Everyone jobs to do ministry and realised I expected us to stay in Australia could do the same.” and work, which is what our He returned to Zimbabwe and families wanted. But we felt God began working with the local IFES calling us back to Zimbabwe, so we came home group, reaching and started work out to students Those schooldays in Bulawayo. in Harare. were instrumental in That was where By this time, Tawanda hearing I heard about he was married SIM’s need for to Shupi and God’s call to mission. a university the couple were ministry coordinator and we planning for long-term ministry eventually took this role at the end together. They knew they needed of 2020.” more theological training and were Tawanda and Shupi are the blessed by a scholarship to a fouronly full-time student workers year course at Moore College in Sydney, Australia. in the SIM ministry, but they are builiding up a small team of It was there that their first

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LEADER APPOINTMENTS Bob Cramer

Sports Friends International Leader Start date: February 7, 2022 Bob has been involved with Sports Friends from the very beginning and has faithfully served the ministry as a donor, prayer partner, short-term team member, and ambassador.

He has been responsible for key client relationships in a global law firm and lives with his wife Ann in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ministry Point Person for Theological and Missiological Education Start date: January, 2022 Ruth has been a Christian since childhood. She joined SIM in 2000 and, after a year of language learning, she started teaching at the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi and remained there until 2020, serving as academic dean for a time. She will remain in Malawi.

Leader appointments

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Intern Programme Coordinator Help launch an exciting two-year programme designed to engage interns in global mission. You will work closely with interns and leaders to help the programme run well.

Strong communication and administrative skills needed. Contact Paula Beaton (paula. beaton@sim.org).

KENYA

International Data Protection Adviser Start date: July 6, 2021 Randy has vast IT, project management, leadership and SIM experience. He and his wife Wanda have recently moved back to Wisconsin in the US, having spent eight of the last 20 years serving in Niger. Randy will concentrate on making SIM International’s systems data protection compliant.

Brad Farquar

Ruth Guinness

ASIA

Randal Potratz

Appointed to SIM International Board of Governors Start date: January, 2022 Brad comes from an SIM family – his grandparents served in Nigeria in the 1940s and his parents served as volunteers at SIM’s retirement home in Sebring, Florida.

He has built agricultural businesses and has been a member of the SIM Canada board since 2010, chair since 2013. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, and has three children with wife Lynette.

OPPORTUNITIES INTERNATIONAL

Faithful Witness media coordinator We are looking for someone to capture and share the stories of how the Faithful Witness initiative is taking the gospel to places where there is no, or very little, Christian witness.

You will need excellent written and verbal English and the ability to work well with the FW teams around the world. Communications experience is preferred, as is experience with Adobe Suite and video. Contact Global Director of Mission Engagement Andrea Wilson (global.missionengagement@sim.org) for more details.

Chief Operations Office, Director for Ministries, Diretor for Resource Mobilisation These three key leadership posiions will ensure the smooth running of the office and compounds; that ministry teams are functioning well and are pursuing their ministry vision and strategy; and that ministries and projects acquire adequate funds which are used accountably. For more details, email Kenya director Peter Okaalet (kenya.director@sim.org).

ASIA

Personnel & People Care Coordinator Provide administrative coordination of placements and people care for workers. An experienced mentor is available, if needed.

To start as soon as possible, 20-25 hours a week. Location negotiable. Contact Paula Beaton (paula. beaton@sim.org) for more details.

PARAGUAY

Dorm Parents We need people to manage a loving and stable dormitory on the SIM premises in Asunción. The dorm is for the teenage children of workers serving in the interior, but whose children attend high school in Asunción. It would a help if you could speak Spanish, but not essential.

For more information contact Greg Cameron (paraguay.personnel@sim.org).

WWW.SIM.ORG

HEART-TO-HEART WITH A BARBER

BY ROLAND CLARKE

Seeing that I needed a haircut, my son referred me to a barber named Kal.

At The Barbershop by riza licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

so I plan to continue our conversation the next time I visit him.

I’ve also left him a note, some of which reads: Peace be with you Khalid, My wife liked the haircut! Of course, I will be happy to recommend you to various friends. Did you enjoy the wise saying of Solomon from Ecclesiastes 3:11? Interestingly, the Bible and the Qur’an acknowledge that God gave Solomon exceptional wisdom!

A couple of other sayings by Solomon from Proverbs 4:16; 11:28 read as follows: “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. ... In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.” I trust you enjoy meditating on these proverbs :) God willing, Kal will also one

PLEASE PRAY • For Khalid and others of his community to come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

• For our workers to have a spirit of boldness as they seek to share the gospel with those who do not know who Jesus is.

• For more doors to be opened in surprising ways, so that gospel conversations can be part of everyday life.

NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

day come to know Jesus, but this encounter calls to mind Paul’s advice to the church at Colosse, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity [to] let your conversation be seasoned with salt.”

Clearly, the apostle believed God would open doors, not only in his life but also in each of our lives, as we rub shoulders with neighbours in the daily routines of life. Therefore, as disciples of Jesus and called to be his witnesses, let us all be more prayerful and alert to openings to share a reason for our hope. Bear in mind, this heartfelt longing for eternity as encapsulated in Ecclesiastes 3:11 (cf. 7:1-4) pertains not only to Muslims like Khalid; it resonates with everyone.

People across the world have a deep longing for eternity. That is why I usually carry Ecclesiastes 3:11 in my pocket and offer it to people I meet, even strangers.

Often I ask a question, “Do you like solving a good riddle? Followed by, “Here’s a brainteaser I think you’ll enjoy.” In my experience, 99 per cent of people accept it.

Heart to Heart with the barber

I had a lively conversation with Kal covering many topics, including how he came to Canada from Lebanon four years ago and how badly the lockdown had impacted business. I was curious to know if ‘Kal’ was an abbreviation, to which he replied, “Yes, it’s short for Khalid.”

Spontaneously, I said, “I love your name. Someone told me it means ‘eternal’ which calls to mind a wise saying of Solomon, “God has planted eternity in the human heart.”

Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a piece of paper with Ecclesiastes 3:11 written on it: He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

I’d earlier shared with Khalid a personal experience about the way God had answered prayers.

My immuno-compromised relative contracted Covid-19 and almost had to be hospitalised because of severe dehydration. Kal agreed wholeheartedly with the idea of answered prayer, acknowledging that he too believed in God. Then he added, “Unfortunately no one lives forever.

We all have to die some day.”

A few days later, I returned to Khalid and told him who composed the wise saying about eternity. He was curious to learn it was Solomon, a man endowed by Allah with exceptional wisdom.

Fortunately, hair keeps growing,

13

GIANTS OF COVID:

THE IMPACT ON MIGRANT AND IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES

BY GINNY FELDMANN, PETER SAMIR, SARAH SCOTT WEBB AND SUNDAY BWANHOT

Some of the harshest stories from the Covid-19 pandemic have unfolded far from the gaze of mainstream journalism – but so have some of the most uplifting.

The pandemic has hit the most vulnerable communities

Learning new skills

the hardest, communities which are hidden from the more stable neighbourhoods around them and which often have large migrant and immigrant populations.

Typically, migrants and refugees have suffered more because they lack a supportive, protective network which can help alleviate a lot of the physical and spiritual isolation, and the mental health challenges that can develop as a result. The disproportionate access to vaccines and care is a common narrative in majority world settings and among migrant communities.

But even in those communities, SIM workers and others have been finding creative and novel ways of sharing the gospel.

In Chicago, “Emily”, a South Asian immigrant lived in fear of Covid-19 for much of 2020. She and her two sons did not leave their house and refused visits. Now, several months later, she is fearful of the Delta variant. Even so, this

has been an opportunity for an SIM worker to talk with her about fear and how we can pray and trust God. Immigrant pastors and churches have struggled with constantly changing public health protocols and the inconsistency of response.

But a church in Cape Town, South Africa, has seen the congregation grow through the pandemic. Where once it was a small, older, white congregation, it is now vibrant and multicultural with lots of migrant and refugee families. The church has even established a community garden to help migrants.

Some migrant ministry teams have felt both the pain and the joy of moving everything online in the face of the pandemic.

Many invested much time doing evangelism, discipleship groups, conferences, and meetings online, to the point that they were busier than before. But this has also led to some confusion and a drop in the

Giants of Covid

CLOUD OF WITNESSES

14

SIM’s former International Director, Ian Hay, and his beloved wife, June, died within six months of each other this year.

Ian died at the age of 92 on March 2; June, who was also 92, died on August 31. They were married for 70 years and had lived for many years at SIM’s retirement village in Sebring, Florida.

Their son, Bob, who works with SIM USA, said: “Second Corinthians 5:9 says, ‘Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.’ “The words, ‘whether at home or absent’ were often translated in my house, ‘wherever we are’,

and accurately reflected how my parents lived their lives.”

Ian and June (above) served in Nigeria from 1952 to 1965, before Ian became North America Director. He became the first Deputy International Director in 1972, before becoming International Director from 1974

to 1992. Fuller obituaries of Ian and June are on the Cloud of Witnesses page on Port, as are other recent obituaries, including: JULY Ray Neil (British Columbia, Canada) served in Ethiopia.

Muriel Hiron (Saskatchewan, Canada) served in Nigeria.

AUGUST Esther Husband (Alberta, Canada) served in Niger and Nigeria.

Doris Dehart (USA) served in Nigeria.

SEPTEMBER Betty Miiler (Alberta, Canada) served in Sudan.

Carol Rutt (Ohio, USA) served in Nigeria.

WWW.SIM.ORG

Migrant Workers by Rex Pe. licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

NOV 2021 • VOL 3 ISSUE 4

PLEASE PRAY • For the pandemic to end, so that workers can return to the places where they are able to earn a living.

• That the workers would be treated fairly by their employers and kept free from exploitation, abuse and poor working conditions.

• For the SIM workers serving migrant and immigrant communities, that they would be able to share the love and knowledge of Christ with those they serve. discipleship group in Arabic under the care of a German local church.

Sadly, the pandemic has seen a significant increase in human trafficking. Many migrants were forced to go back to their home countries when employment opportunities dried up.

But the traffickers followed them home and then recruited them with false job offers and promises of a better life.

As well as the increase in migrant workers being trafficked with the promise of jobs that are not real, many children have been forced into child labour.

There have also been many cases of girls being forced into early

marriage because their families cannot afford to keep them.

The low-skilled migrants who were able to stay often had to continue living in crowded dormitories, the perfect breeding ground for Covid-19. In places like Singapore and Saudi Arabia, a huge percentage of Covid-19 infections happened in settings like that.

So, this giant of Covid is the reality that the most vulnerable have suffered disproportionately more than other groups in society.

While there are pockets of hope, these communities are likely to remain marginalised for years to come – an often unseen impact of the pandemic.

Giants of Covid

quality of teaching. Sometimes, after the lifting of lockdown, migrant believers no longer wanted to attend church services. Instead, they were satisfied to do church via TV in the refugee camps or watch an Arabic church in Iraq or Syria. As a result, relationship development suffers.

On the other hand, when discipleship groups started online, refugees who had become Christians began to invite their family members and friends in their native country, or in other refugee camps, even in different countries.

This opened up a completely new networking opportunity!

A refugee woman invited her sister and her son in Turkey, and they both joined the online group.

The sister was open, but not the son.

However, in the second week the son joined and had lots of questions.

After four sessions, he decided to be a follower of Jesus. He kept coming to the group online and, two months later, logged in from Greece. Finally, he made it to Germany where he was baptised in a local church. He continues with the

15

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FAITHFUL WITNESS

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