Rebecca Miller. The SIM Effect. For Christ s Love Compels Us

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1 Rebecca Miller The SIM Effect For Christ s Love Compels Us

Compelled by the Love of Christ Message from our Board Chair Thank you for your faithful partnership with SIM Australia in 2018.

in communities where He is least known. On behalf of the Board, I invite you to keep SIM Australia in your prayers as we now look forward to our part in Christ s mission.

We are more connected than ever in a globalised world, yet remain divided by language, culture, ethnicity and values.

2 Compelled by the Love of Christ Message from our Board Chair Thank you for your faithful partnership with SIM Australia in At the SIM Global Assembly held in Pretoria, South Africa in February 2018, we celebrated our 125th anniversary year together and renewed the commitment of SIM to making disciples of the Lord Jesus in communities where He is least known. On behalf of the Board, I invite you to keep SIM Australia in your prayers as we now look forward to our part in Christ s mission. The demand on us as a ministry to be responsive to our times has never been more challenging. We are more connected than ever in a globalised world, yet remain divided by language, culture, ethnicity and values. Thank you for praying for the SIM Australia Board National Director Search Committee. On 30 November 2018, Dr Omar Djoeandy concluded the term of his ministry as National Director of SIM Australia. As we move into a New Year, the Board will continue to work through the important task of identifying and appointing a National Director. Malcolm Watts has accepted appointment as Interim National Director from 1 December Before arriving back in Australia in 2016, Malcolm and his family served with SIM in Burkina Faso for 13 years. More recently, he has been serving as the Deputy Director and Finance Director of SIM Australia. With these experiences, Malcolm will bring both stability and continuity to SIM Australia. We appreciate your prayers for SIM Australia as we continue to fix our eyes on Jesus and discern God s mission into the future! Serving in mission together, Jon Cheung SIM Australia Board Chair Message from OUR interim National Director Thank you for your partnership with SIM in demonstrating Christ s love to people living and dying without the Gospel. During 2018, in partnership with local churches and individuals, SIM Australia facilitated 204 Australian Missionaries and Associates to share Christ s love in over 30 countries! Thanks to your generosity, $6 million was contributed towards missionary support and $1.5 million to our projects. We praise God for His generosity through His people and the privilege of being part of this ministry! For Christ s love compels us was our 125th anniversary theme in Rooted in Scripture, these words reflect our Mission Statement. As we move into the next season, we continue to remember this love-motivation which compels us to make Christ known where He is least known. Our role as a mission has traditionally been to partner with local churches by facilitating missionaries to serve overseas. In recent times we have discerned that our role is evolving. As an organisation, we want to be responsive to our times and that the Lord is bringing the nations to our doorstep. Moving into the future, we are helping churches to think not just globally but to be equipped locally in cross-cultural mission. If our mission is motivated by love, we will prioritise caring for our workers. We are moving forward with a comprehensive Member Care plan that provides consistent care to our missionaries and equips churches for their part in providing care. The provision of Member Care is critical and one expression of the stewardship of our precious resources. Please continue to uphold SIM s ministry in your prayers because unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain (Psalm 127:1). Compelled by Christ s love alongside you, Malcolm Watts SIM Australia Interim National Director SIM is an international mission organisation... serving in mission for years workers nationalities countries

SIM Australia Missionaries October 2017 - September 2018 120 84 30 Long Term Missionaries Short Term Missionaries Countries Ethnic Focused Ministries in Australia The Lord is moving to bring least

3 Ministry Highlights For the past 125 years, SIM has been mobilising people to reach the least reached with the Gospel. We give thanks for our missionaries and that the Lord is faithfully raising up a new generation of workers for the Harvest. SIM Australia Missionaries October September Long Term Missionaries Short Term Missionaries Countries Ethnic Focused Ministries in Australia The Lord is moving to bring least reached people from around the world to our country! Praise God that some of these people are now within earshot of the Gospel for the first time! To be responsive to our times, SIM Australia has been engaging migrants and ethnic minorities in partnership with local churches. SIM Australia is facilitating workers from overseas to reach out to diaspora communities in Adelaide and exploring candidate appointments in NSW and VIC. In addition to this, SIM s internship program in South Australia has seen two more Celebrating 125 years of SIM SIM Australia rejoices that more than 550 people joined us at 125th celebration event around the nation in 2018! These events were a wonderful opportunity to give thanks to the Lord for His work through SIM - past, present and future! The growth of SIM s presence in Queensland through the work of Mission Mobiliser Jay Knight has been a source of great encouragement. Jay joined the Ministry Team in May 2017 after seven years of having no SIM representation in Queensland. Jay hosted two successful 125th events during the year with a large percentage of attendees having no previous connection with SIM. Please pray that the Lord would raise up workers for His Harvest from Queensland! Engaging our church partners and supporting their local outreach was a focus in Mike Wilson, Church Engagement Coordinator, encouraged and challenged pastors and church mission leaders in their preaching on mission. Mike provided advice to church contacts about the possibilities for crosscultural ministry within their own local context, and raised our profile with contacts and partners in mission. New Members The Lord is preparing a new generation of workers for His mission! This year has seen a mobilisation trend towards West Africa. One couple and a single woman arrived on the field with four additional couples in the process of applying to serve in West Africa. God has been gracious in answering the faithful prayers of many of our supporters for more workers in West Africa, including prayers through our Desert Tribe Prayer Guide. Other ministry highlights include Will*, a young man from NSW who arrived in the Middle East to serve as a youth pastor. Will is our first worker to be sent to the Middle East from SIM in Australia. Another young couple, Thomas and Joannah Crowe, are preparing for long-term service in Peru where they are hoping to do outreach and discipleship amongst university students. *Name changed to protect identity SIM s Home Ministry Team plays an integral role in connecting Australians with a heart for Christ s mission with people who are least reached with the Gospel. Explore mission with us by visiting sim.org.au/talktous or phone If you would like to sign up for our Home Ministry Updates or financially support this vital ministry please visit sim.org.au/homeministry or use the response form at the back of this report. SIM EFFECT SUMMER

SIMaid Project Highlights Women s vocational training - Children s Uplift Program in Bangladesh SIM Australia supports a wide range of projects in communities around the world where Christ is least

ministering to human need SIMaid projects demonstrate the love and mercy of Jesus by ministering to people s physical, intellectual, social and emotional needs.

4 SIMaid Project Highlights Women s vocational training - Children s Uplift Program in Bangladesh SIM Australia supports a wide range of projects in communities around the world where Christ is least known. We give thanks to God for providing over $1.5 million for projects for the period 1 October 2017 to 30 September ministering to human need SIMaid projects demonstrate the love and mercy of Jesus by ministering to people s physical, intellectual, social and emotional needs. Included below are some highlights from a selection of our SIMaid projects. girls off the streets (gots) Funds received: $218 K SIMaid s Girls off the Streets category is made up of two projects which are rescuing and rehabilitating girls from sex work and trafficking in South Asia. Bangladesh: Children s Uplift Program (CUP) CUP takes a holistic approach to working with children in high risk situations and recognises that to help them, they must also walk alongside their mothers. By providing support and vocational training to mothers, women are empowered to find alternative employment to sex work and create a more stable home life for their children. SIM Australia worker, Julie*, helped set up the CUP project in A social worker by background, Julie spent six months researching the needs of girls on the street. The women said they wanted to write their own names, have safe employment and someone to love them. These became the three guiding principles for the project. When we did the research, what was really touching was how the women talked about how no one had cared for them. People who should have cared for them didn t. So the motivation I had in starting CUP was to show these women that someone does care about them, someone does love them. Because God created and loves them, they have a dignity inherent in them. - Julie, SIM Australia worker in Bangladesh CUP has helped break the cycle for women like Aria*. Aria who first got involved with sex work when she was fourteen years old. Her mother had been a sex worker and ran away from Aria and her brother. Aria was married and fell pregnant, but life was very difficult as her husband was violent, addicted to drugs and unable to physically support her. Being pregnant, Aria had no choice but to beg for food. Aria s life was turned around when she heard about CUP and met with an outreach worker. Aria has now completed the two-year training and is in the process of transitioning to full-time employment with partner business Basha. She is one of 18 women who graduated in the reporting period. To date, there are 30 women enrolled in the training program and 44 children (aged 0-8) participating in the CUP program. You can help restore hope to survivors of sexual abuse and sex trafficking in South Asia by giving to Girls off the Streets (09340) at sim.org.au/girls or by using the response form at the back of this report.

Throughout the year, Radical Grace s care and support team have visited 11 homes and connected with 32 individuals on either a weekly or monthly basis.

5 The core [of Radical Grace] is investing in relationships. We are connecting with these young people in ways so they come to trust us and there is a relationships of love that allows us to speak into their lives, Jacqui said. Throughout the year, Radical Grace s care and support team have visited 11 homes and connected with 32 individuals on either a weekly or monthly basis. As the team visit, they seek to deepen relationships, mentor, pray with, and support the needs of each individual or family. Radical Grace Team in Thailand HOPE FOR LIFE Funds received: $168 K SIM s Hope for Life category includes several projects in Africa and Asia which work with people infected and affected by the HIV pandemic to improve quality of life. Hope for Life Thailand (Radical Grace) With a focus on HIV issues, the vision of Radical Grace is to see Broken people and families experiencing new life in God, healing, and right relationships with others as the church understands and lives out the radical grace of God in communities and society. Research in Thailand has revealed that those aged years have the highest rates of sexually transmitted disease but are least likely to access support. Radical Grace s prevention work has focused on reaching this at-risk demographic through initiatives such as Looking for Love workshops and connecting with young people through teaching English and music, weekly school ministry and other community outreach activities. When Radical Grace first met sixteen-year-old Em*, he reminded them of a zombie. Void of emotion, the expression on his face was always unreadable and he did not utter more than a word at a time. Em was burdened by growing up in a dysfunctional family characterised by brokenness and violence. Em s life took a turn when he attended Radical Grace s family camp and Looking for Love course. As a young man entering adulthood and considering a potential relationship, this was timely for him. Radical Grace provided the safe space Em needed to ask questions and be empowered to make informed and wise decisions. Jacqui Croxon is a SIM Australia missionary and the point person for SIM s Hope for Life Ministries. COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION Funds received: $224 K SIM s Community Transformation projects around the world seek to alleviate human misery and suffering through transformational community development in areas such as education, health, agriculture and clean water. West Africa: Sowing seeds of change in the Sahel The Sowing Seeds of Change (Sowing Seeds) project seeks to facilitate the transformation of physical, social and spiritual life through agriculture and community health in one of West Africa s poorest nations. The project was started as a response to traditional farming methods that had left the farms totally denuded of trees and the soil infertile. Sowing Seeds helps train farmers in sustainable agroforestry systems with natural regeneration of native trees with field crops in between. This leads to increased food security, nutrition and income generation. In addition to this, Sowing Seeds runs a health training program with an emphasis on nutrition, prevention of disease and birth attendant training. The two villages where two team members settled in 2017 have seen encouraging results from the Sowing Seeds project. Crop yields have increased significantly after just one year of cultivating. The team rented a field that was considered unproductive and harvested 1,215kg per hectare of millet. For comparison, a good cropping season is roughly 550 kg per hectare. The past year has seen two plant nurseries started in the two villages. SIM Australia worker, Susan*, has served with the health side of the Sowing Seeds project for 28 years. She pours her energy and heart into the country by training and equipping local midwives and encouraging pregnant women to call these attendants before delivery. Susan says, Pregnant women are now more likely to request or accept care in the village than they were in the past and there is an improvement in the number of women calling the birth attendant at the beginning of labour instead of during or after delivery. We support priority projects that demonstrate the love and mercy of Jesus through aid and mercy of Jesus through aid and development by giving to our tax-deductible Where Most Needed Fund (68011). If you would like more information about any of these priority projects, visit sim.org.au/projects or contact Partner Relations: partner.relations@sim.org.au. Note: All figures represent Oct 2017 to Sept 2018 fiscal year outcomes. SIM EFFECT SUMMER

SIM Project Highlights Funds received: $444 K SIM Australia Reaching the Least Reached projects contribute directly towards Christian evangelism and discipleship ministries making Christ known

6 SIM Project Highlights Funds received: $444 K SIM Australia Reaching the Least Reached projects contribute directly towards Christian evangelism and discipleship ministries making Christ known amongst people living and dying without hearing the Good News of the Gospel. The projects are run in partnership with churches, Christian organisations and SIM missionaries. Below is one example of our Reaching the Least Reached projects: Fulfulde Ministry Training Centre The Fulfulde Ministry Training Centre (FMTC), now in its ninth year of operation, is providing ministry training to men and women from different regions of remote West Africa. The students come from farming communities as well as nomadic and semi-nomadic clans. FMTC is helping to equip these students to live out the Gospel and to return to their communities to share what they have learned! A refresher course was held mid-year, bringing back previous students who desired further training. Seventeen students participated in the two-month course. A local church in the east of the country sent a young couple for training at FMTC because they recognised their potential as committed followers of Jesus. This was an important step for this couple in their faith as they moved 600kms away from their people. The couple faced the challenge of learning to read and an unfamiliar sedentary lifestyle however they graduated with joy after four modules over a four-year period. You can support priority projects that partner with churches to help make Christ known where He is least known by giving to our Reaching the Least Reached Fund (09310) by visiting sim.org.au/leastreached. MESSAGE FROM OUR FINANCE DIRECTOR SIM Australia s approach in financial management is to be a responsible steward that facilitates funds for ministry. This principle leads us to encourage timely utilisation of missionary support and ministry funds. This financial year reflects a corrective period of SIM Australia s balance sheet in terms of mission and ministry resources being applied from reducing designated balances held. SIM is thankful to God that He continues to sustain our ministry by providing a total income of $7,826k during 2018 (down 6.3%): Donations $7,460k (down 1.9%) - contributed to our missionary support and projects. Legacies & bequests $41k (down 88%) - no significant bequests for the 12 months. During this year of correction, retained ministry balances have been used: Distribution of $5,386k (up 13%) in missionary support funds. This increase reflects the higher costs of missionaries, and also includes ministry and missionary expenses making use of retained funds. Distribution of $1,485k (up 4%) in project support funds via SIM Australia and SIMAID. As a result of being a year of lower than expected income and a higher utilisation of missionary and ministry support funds, SIM Australia s consolidated net worth is $9,135k down 5.75% with a resulting deficit of ($557k). We give thanks to the Lord for the resources he has provided and our ability to meet all our financial commitments and obligations. We look to Him for His ongoing provision in making Christ known around the world. Malcolm Watts SIM Australia Finance Director (during 2018)

SIM AUSTRALIA FINANCE OVERVIEW 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018 Income Statement 1 Oct 2017-30 Sep 2018 Consolidated 2018 2017 $(000 s) $(000 s) INCOME Donations 7,460 7,319 Bequests 41 355 Other

7 SIM AUSTRALIA FINANCE OVERVIEW 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018 Income Statement 1 Oct Sep 2018 Consolidated $(000 s) $(000 s) INCOME Donations 7,460 7,319 Bequests Other Income TOTAL INCOME 7,826 8,356 EXPENSES Missionary Support 5,386 4,747 Project 1,485 1,429 Personnel 758 1,008 Administration and Fundraising Other TOTAL EXPENSES 8,477 8,052 SURPLUS / (DEFICIT) (651) 303 OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE (557) 337 INCOME INCOME Balance Sheet As at 30 Sep 2018 Consolidated $(000 s) $(000 s) ASSETS Cash 1,738 1,855 Receivables Financial Assets 6,658 7,148 Property, Plant & Equipment 1,398 1,439 TOTAL ASSETS 9,826 10,516 LIABILITIES Provisions Payables Loans TOTAL LIABILITIES EQUITY FUNDS AND RESERVES Missionary & Projects 5,104 5,363 Designated Funds SIM Australia Operations Non-Expendable: Bequests 1,962 1,883 Non-Expendable: Fixed Assets 1,398 1,936 EQUITY FUNDS 9,135 9,693 AND RESERVES EXPENDITURE Donations [95%] Bequests [1%] Other [4%] Missionary Support [64%] Project [18%] Personnel [9%] Administration & Fundraising [4%] Other [5%] SIM Australia is a registered charity with ACNC. The accounts are prepared in accordance with the Australian accounting standards and are independently audited. For a copy of our audited financial statements, please contact our Finance Director at finance.director@sim.org.au or call SIM EFFECT SUMMER

8 Partnering with SIM in 2019 I m interested in exploring mission; please contact me me your monthly enews Post me newsletters Send me information about leaving a bequest Remove me from your mailing list Project Code Amount TAX-DEDUCTIBLE^ SIMaid Where Most Needed Fund (aid and development) $ Girls off the Streets Fund $ Hope for Life Fund $ Community Transformation Fund $ Other: $ NON TAX-DEDUCTIBLE SIM Home Ministry Fund $ Reaching the Least Reached Project Fund $ Other: $ $ TOTAL $ ^SIMaid is the aid and development arm of SIM Australia. Donations over $2 to SIMaid projects and funds are tax-deductible. All donations will receive a receipt. MY DETAILS *required fields Code AR19 *Title Mr / Mrs / Ms / Miss / Dr / Rev /Other_ *First name *Surname *Address *Suburb *State *Postcode *Phone payment DETAILS Please debit my: Visa Mastercard Amex Name on card Signature Card no. / / / Expiry / Please make all cheques payable to SIM Australia. Give to SIM Australia through Steer Inc - visit services or information. Any personal information you provide will be managed in accordance with SIM Australia s Privacy Policy which can be viewed at sim.org.au/info/our-policies who we are SIM Australia mobilises people, prayer and funds to make Christ known. We facilitate missionaries from anywhere to everywhere to reach the unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to partner with local churches to evangelise, disciple and share the love of Christ. We support a wide range of projects to minister to human need, including aid and development initiatives through our tax-deductible arm SIMaid. Contact Details PO Box 42, Penshurst NSW (P) (E) partner.relations@sim.org.au SIM Australia ABN SIMAID Ltd ABN

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