Ministry Report 2020 Union Ministry Report 2020
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Here we stand. ‘Unprecedented’ seems to be one of the buzzwords of the year. It usually describes the challenges and setbacks that we’ve all experienced these last months. The Union family hasn’t been unaffected by these challenges; however, I’m delighted that in this ministry report we can use that word in an overwhelmingly positive sense. Because in the Lord’s kindness, this year really has been one of unprecedented growth for Union. Our School’s enrolment this year is the highest in our history, our Mission ministry has nearly doubled the number of countries in which we support church planting, and our Publishing ministry has developed a major new series of resources to fuel the growth of Christ’s church. All this means that we have seen more and more leaders growing in Christ and deployed around the world to grow his church.
Union Ministry Report 2020
I hope this ministry report will offer a glimpse into how your support and prayers have enabled this to happen. As we press on, the challenges we face stem from this growth. With more students and Learning Communities come greater demands on our faculty and team; new publishing resources generate a need for better platforms; and with more graduates who have a vision for church planting comes more need for funding. Please stand with us in prayerful support so that we might meet these opportunities and see even more leaders raised up and churches planted for the glory of God. Dr Michael Reeves President
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We foster church growth through people and finances. Everything we do at Union is done to serve the church and see her grow. Even during the global pandemic, planters, churches and ministries are pressing on. Our students and graduates are answering the need for churches in underreached areas.
This year, we’ve distributed £165,000 from our generous partners to 28 church planting projects. Five of these are ongoing projects and 23 are new. We’ve also expanded the reach of Union Mission, and we have many more project proposals in the pipeline from Union students and graduates around the globe.
“Trinity Church Oxford has lived, with the rest of the world, through tumultuous times. However, we faced not only Coronavirus but also being evicted from our regular meeting place. The new venue is four times as expensive as our previous venue and so Union Mission has been a vital partner in providing financial support to enable this move. The funds we received have also meant we’ve been able to add an Operations Manager to our team. We are deeply grateful to God and our partners as we reach out to the lost people of Oxford.” Peter Comont, Pastor of Trinity Church Oxford and Learning Community Lead Mentor Union Ministry Report 2020
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We form men and women to grow Christ’s church. On all counts God has given our School remarkable growth at a time of enormous challenge in Higher Education. We’ve seen considerable interest from prospective students and churches, leading to the highest number of applications and enrolment in the history of our School. We are so excited to see so many wanting to be equipped to grow Christ’s church.
Providence During the Pandemic Although the global pandemic has affected education in countless ways, Union has been well positioned to respond to the new challenges and restrictions by God’s providence.
Union Ministry Report 2020
Last September we started work on creating a flexible, accessible study mode for our campus-based BA programme to give students the opportunity to blend oncampus study with interactive online study. Alongside Zoom classrooms enabling us to connect our campus and Learning Communities together, investment in e-books for core reading and our Union Cloud learning platform, we’ve been able to continue the vital work of equipping and raising leaders during this time of widespread uncertainty.
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Growing the Faculty In May we appointed Dr Dustin Benge as the new Provost of our School. He joined us from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was Senior Fellow of The Andrew Fuller Centre for Baptist Studies and Creative Director of the seminary. Dr Stephen Moore was appointed as Lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament. Stephen is a gifted teacher in biblical languages and joined us having completed his PhD at Universiteit Leiden. Our School has been recognised by external agencies and other academic institutions as having some of the very best biblical language teaching available, so we are thrilled to have strengthened these capacities ever further.
Union Ministry Report 2020
Paul Spear joined us as Pastoral Dean. He brings great wisdom and sensitivity to the role, having been a pastor for many years and lately the General Secretary of the Association of Grace Baptist Churches South East, UK. Dr Natalie Brand is our new Tutor for Women. Natalie completed her PhD with us and has since been teaching in our School. This new role will see her strategically encourage and enable our growing number of women studying theology to be equipped as gospel workers and scholars. In line with this vision we awarded four new Phoebe scholarships for women on our BA and MTh programmes.
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New partnerships and Learning Communities During this year we’ve added to our network of Learning Communities that enable students to study within the context of their local church. Two of these new communities have been formed through a significant new partnership with Commission, a sphere of the Newfrontiers family of churches. These new UK communities, one in Winchester and one at Westminster Chapel, London, will serve Commission to raise and equip leaders and church planters.
“I’ve really appreciated studying alongside one another in the loving fellowship of the Learning Community. The teaching has grown in me an everincreasing joy and passion for God’s word and his truth, and a desire to share that with others which I’m really grateful for! Learning with Union has given me the words to express coherently what I’ve always believed and known to be true.” Ben Ladd, church worker and GDip student in the Cambridge Learning Community
“We’re delighted to be partnering with Union. The depth and richness of Union’s theology combined with a compelling vision to see the local church strengthened in gospel centred ministry is captivating. The Learning Community model makes accessible to a wider audience the outstanding scholarship of Union, thus multiplying the potential for leaders to be rigorously trained in situ. In Commission we have a vision to see 1000’s of lives transformed, through 100’s of churches, in 10’s of nations - a big vision like this needs well trained leaders and we are very confident that partnering with Union helps ensure this.” Tim Blaber, Director of Training for Commission
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We fuel reformation in churches and lives. We produce and distribute resources to leaders and their churches to grow them in Christ and equip them to serve his church.
Our faculty have published several books this year, with some highlights being Professor Robert Letham’s magnum opus Systematic Theology and his second edition of The Holy Trinity, as well as Michael Reeves’ Following God Fully: An Introduction to the Puritans, co-authored with Dr Joel Beeke.
Union Ministry Report 2020
We’ve also been working on a major new series with our partners at Crossway. Each volume in the series will feature a book written especially for leaders, accompanied by a shorter book for the wider church. The first volume, Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord written by Michael Reeves, is due for release in January 2021.
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We fortify the Church’s mission through theological excellence. We nurture the theologians, authors and teachers of the future to ensure the ongoing mission of the church is healthy and robust. To do that we host various events and conferences alongside supporting our PhD students in research and writing projects. This year’s research conference was well attended by scholars and theologians from a number of international institutions and ministries.
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Finances Income
15%
Church Planting
42%
Fee Income
43%
General Donations
12%
Church Planting
43% Salaries
45%
Programme
Expenditure
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Serving Locally and Globally We operate in 11 countries. Our vision is to see the reformation of Christ’s church worldwide, and God is expanding our ministry around the globe.
In November 2019 we organised our first Preaching for Pastors conference. We formed the conference to strengthen the preaching ministries of leaders. We welcomed hundreds of delegates to our South Wales campus, with thousands more watching online. Dr Sinclair Ferguson preached, and Dr Eryl Davies and our President, Professor Michael Reeves, gave lectures.
Union Ministry Report 2020
In May our School’s Ministry Summer School was held online, and we had over 350 delegates join us from around the world for interactive seminars, discussions and workshops. Many people have also joined in various seminars and lectures we’ve held throughout the year. Michael Reeves preached at Ligonier’s national conference and at the Keswick Convention in July.
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We are so grateful to God for providing for us so generously this last year. With kind-hearted supporters and donors partnering with us, we have been able to strengthen our ministries to raise and equip more and more leaders to grow Christ’s church. This year has been one of unprecedented growth for Union. Would you consider standing with us in prayerful support as we press on to see God’s glory fill the earth? union-mission.org/donate
Union Ministry Report 2020
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