Global Action

Transcription

1 Global Action

2 Welcome to the 2017/18 edition of the St John's Global Action booklet. The members of the Global Action Team warmly commend this to you, and pray that it will encourage you as you play your part in the work of worldwide mission. Who are St John s Global Action Partners? St John s currently supports: Malcolm and Kerstin Gray and Amy (WEC Thailand) David and Janet Wilkinson, Joel and Isaac (Wycliffe/SIL Senegal) John and Sarah Gieske and Elizabeth (Wycliffe/SIL Senegal) Frank and Hennie Gray (Christian Radio) Ed and Laura Nelson, Nicholas, Samuel, Alexandre and Lucie (Church planting, Paris) Howard and Nora Norrish (OM, North Africa & Middle East) StreetLight Centre (Community Skatepark and Café, Wimborne) Tearfund (particularly the Shalom Project in Peru) Carlile Theological College, Nairobi, Kenya (fees for two students). Many of the people above have grown up in the church fellowship, received their calling while part of our community and all have a connection with St John s. We also give financial support to Zelyn Academy, Kibera, Nairobi, and to St John's young people on short-term mission placements. What does support look like? Our Partners keep in touch by sending regular news and prayer requests, and we encourage all church members to support one or more of them in prayer, in encouragement and, if appropriate, financially. They love to hear from people at St John s, so do use this booklet to find out about them and how to get in touch with them. In terms of financial support, through the generosity of God's people here at St John's, we have been able to pass on a total of around 60,000 during the past year. This all comes from specific gifts to St John's global action funds; none is allocated from general church funds. As well as the annual appeal each

3 November, some church members give monthly or quarterly, either to specific Partners or to general global action funds. Gift-aided donations by UK taxpayers mean that an additional 25% can be reclaimed from HMRC, so every 10 given under Gift Aid is increased to What does the Global Action Team do? As well as providing a contact point in St John's for each of the Partners, the Global Action Team (a sub-committee of the PCC) meets regularly to pray for them, to consider their financial needs and decide how gifts should be allocated. They also publicise the work of Global Action Partners, plan their visits to St John's, and encourage church members to consider how they could be involved in global mission. Current team members are listed below, so do feel free to talk to any of us about any aspect of the church s global action! David Morgan (Chair of Global Action Team) Global Action Team Please contact any member of the team if you would like any further information. David Morgan (Chair) Jeremy Hett Phil Jones Jean Morgan Jane Ough David Pascall George Sharpe Judy Skipp Fiona Wilkinson Peter Williamson Peter Breckwoldt (ex-officio)

4 Malcolm & Kerstin Gray (WEC) WEC International reaches out to people who have limited or no access to the good news of Jesus Christ, particularly where there is no church. They work to establish worshipping communities among these people. WEC ( has around 1,900 workers, from 55 countries, serving in multicultural teams among nearly 100 unreached people groups. We are the leaders of WEC s Thailand branch, responsible for about 35 workers from different parts of the world. The role consists of encouraging and supporting church-planting teams, working closely with national Thai church leaders, overseeing WEC's involvement in the ministry of Grace International School (for missionary children including our 14 year old daughter, Amy), and recruiting and orientating new missionaries. We endeavour to lead the team towards its vision: to plant churches in unreached parts of Thailand, and mobilise the Thai church for world mission. Leadership always has its challenges, ranging from vision and strategy to teambuilding and pastoral support. God has given WEC a big task for Thailand, and we are lacking workers to see it accomplished. The role of the missionary today is not the same as it was here 60, 30 or even 15 years ago, and the challenge now is to see how we can empower the Thai church and partner more effectively towards the goal. Want to get involved? Use your skills long-term: Bring what you have! We can use you, and so can God. ( English teaching: Assist church-planting teams build relationships with communities. Missional business: Establish a profitable kingdom business in the marketplace. Teaching: Grace International School ( Praying: Commit to praying for WEC Thailand, and receive the monthly 'Intercessors for Thailand' prayer letter. Kids work: Run a week-long programme for missionary kids. Link person: Phil Jones dieselhead47@gmail.com

5 1.5 billion people around the world are still waiting for a Bible in a language they understand well. Wycliffe Bible Translators works with churches, organisations and individuals around the world in order that all people might engage with the Bible in their own language and hear God speaking to them. We have two families as partners working for Wycliffe s partner, SIL, in Senegal, West Africa: David and Janet Wilkinson and John and Sarah Gieske. David & Janet Wilkinson We have been living in Ziguinchor in the south of Senegal since January David is working with the Gusilay, a nearby unreached people group, with the long-term goal of helping them to translate the Bible into their language. In order to do this, he has been learning the language and building relationships with different partners in the community. In February 2017 he organised a major workshop to help create a dictionary for the community which will also be a very useful resource for translation. He is currently very busy working on preparing it for publication. Janet is helping David part-time with some of the Gusilay linguistics. The rest of her time she is looking after Isaac (18 months old) and also Joel (4 years old) when he s not at French pre-school. We hope, God-willing, to be ready to start translating portions of the Bible in about a year s time. Before we can reach that point, Janet needs to finish off a linguistic paper, David needs to do more research into the culture and attitudes towards written and spoken language, and he needs to identify Gusilay people to be involved in the translation work. We would greatly value your prayers for all these things, particularly that we would make good decisions for the next steps in the project and wisdom for meeting the spiritual needs of the handful of Gusilay believers. Pray with us that God would reveal himself to people here, open their hearts and enable us to speak into their lives. Link person: David Morgan david24morgan@gmail.com

6 John & Sarah Gieske New Testaments have been completed in three Senegalese languages in the past five years, while another is in the final stages before publishing. As part of the Scripture Use team, John is helping Senegalese Christians think through ways to make these translations a vital part of everyday life. This year he will be training local Christians to record and distribute Scripture-based material using their phones. He is also involved in recording, editing, duplicating and distributing audio versions of local-language Scripture passages and Scripture-based songs. Pray with us that God's Word would have a deep impact on all those who hear or read it. Sarah works at home, raising Elizabeth (2 in November 2017) and anticipating the arrival of our second child in May She also proofreads newsletters and articles written by our expatriate team members, enabling them to communicate clearly and effectively. Pray that our family life would clearly communicate the life and love of our Heavenly Father in every detail! Link person: Fiona Wilkinson fiojwilk94@gmail.com

7 Frank & Hennie Gray (FEBC) Frank and Hennie live in Yate near Bristol. Frank has now retired from Far East Broadcasting (FEBC) but is still involved with FEBCambodia, serving on their board. He is also a board member of FEBA- UK as well as First Response Radio. Hennie is quite busy as a local preacher with the Bristol Circuit of the Methodist Church. Frank is also quite involved in ministry at St John s Church, Chipping Sodbury. Challenges for the coming year: Frank has been busy writing his memoirs of the past 48 years and is looking into publication options. There are very few others who can remember how FEBC s ministry grew and adapted during the great changes at the end of the last century. Catch up on his writings via web page at He is currently publishing chapters on-line - one each month - and has written 20 chapters already. Stay tuned! Hennie and Frank are also enjoying visiting their eight grandchildren and their parents. Link person: David Morgan david24morgan@gmail.com ****************************************************** Ed & Laura Nelson (Church planting, Paris) Laura is from Dorset (baptised at St John's 39 years ago) and Ed has a French mother and an American father. Since moving to Paris in 2002, they have been joined by Nicolas (13), Samuel (12), Alexandre (8) and Lucie (6). When we came to Paris in 2002, we worked with the Groupes Bibliques Universitaires (French equivalent of UCCF). In 2006 we were involved in planting an evening congregation in central Paris which grew to 100 or so and we handed it on. In 2007 we were able to plant a church in our area of central-west Paris a wealthy, traditionally Catholic area with very little evangelical witness. In God's kindness the Eglise Protestante Evangélique des Ternes

8 has grown slowly from 20 adults to about 90, with a high proportion coming from the local area. We have seen 18 baptisms, and have had a series of ministry trainees/gospel workers who go on to serve elsewhere. Every Sunday we have visitors who do not yet know Jesus. Our priorities remain local evangelism, training gospel workers and encouraging church-planting. We have had the privilege of being involved in launching Eglise Connéxion at Châtelet two years ago, which is thriving. And a new church plant in the St Lazare area (9th arrondissement) just started weekly services in September, while two other former trainees are working on projects in the 20th and the 10th arrondissements. We feel that at last our vision of a network of church-plants in central Paris is become a reality! We need God's wisdom and grace to know how best to support and encourage each other. At the same time we pray on for growth at Ternes church where we are still renting a bigger meeting room for the morning service although our numbers have stayed around the same. We keep trusting and praying, longing for more friends and neighbours to come, not just once or twice, but to join Jesus' family. Increasingly Edward has responsibilities at a national level, on the committee of the evangelical council (CNEF) where he has a particular mandate for encouraging church-planting initiatives across France. Thank you for your support in financing the training of French workers and churchplanting in Paris. Most of all, thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying for us: please pray for us to be godly parents, wise and faithful gospel ministers and humble friends of God. We ll keep praying for you too! If you are interested in partnering in our ministry in a different way, friends here are often looking for exchange families. It would be great to put them in touch with a Christian family! We also lead on a bilingual Christian summer camp which needs leaders, cooks and friendly English kids too Link person: Jane Ough isabel142@btinternet.com

9 Transforming lives and communities Howard and Nora Norrish Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Area We thank you for your prayers for us and the Muslim World throughout another year. We are very conscious that what we have been able to do has only been possible through the faithful prayers and support of our partners. Our Mandate: to help God s Kingdom come in the Arab/Muslim World. After time in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus and London, we are now in Cambridge. We belong to a Mahabba Group praying for Muslims in Cambridge. We love to invite international friends to our home. It is our prayer that some will come to faith in Jesus and become His ambassadors when they return home. Our work with the leadership of MENA continues. Over the last months we have been sorting out training materials written over the years to discover which are still relevant. Once updated, we pass them on to those who can make them available in different formats for today s generation. We have just completed a revision of Forming a Biblical Basis for Transformation. It is 18 Bible studies for those involved in development work. We are happy to share this digitally with anyone interested. Please just ask us. There are ~1400 OMers specifically reaching Muslims somewhere in the world. Many are involved in relief or development and all indications are that the need for more development workers will continue to grow. We produce a quarterly journal Crescent that goes to all our workers among Muslims. It is a forum to share encouragements and problems and discuss what we are all learning from area to area. Recent lead articles include: Sin and atonement as seen by Muslims and believers in Jesus Predestination: a contrast of Islamic and Christian views Let us know if you would like a copy of either of these as a PDF or in hard copy. Recruiting pray-ers and workers We have many opportunities to share the needs of the Muslim World. Pray with us for more who will commit to praying and/or going.

10 And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come. (Mt. 24:14) This is God s promise to us. He has given us the privilege of being His workers. Every one of God s children has a part to play. God will place us where the gifts He has given us can best be used at different times in our lives. There is no retirement on God s team! Please pray that we will know the focus God has for us in 2018 and will look to Him for His strength to do His will day by day. Reports coming in from summer teams are very encouraging. Here is just one: A worker took a taxi home from the airport. As always she began sharing the Gospel with the taxi driver. When she tried to change the subject he said, No, tell me more about Jesus. Arriving home she asked him to wait a moment and quickly fetched a DVD of the Jesus Film and information about websites where there were helpful discussions in his language. They said goodbye. Twenty minutes later she saw his car was still there. He was watching the Jesus Film. Her comment, I can t remember when I last saw such interest! Prayer points: Pray for those who responded to the Gospel during the summer outreaches. Pray for refugees and displaced people in their disillusionment with Islam and search for truth. Pray that workers will make time spent with God a priority so He can guide them to those He is calling (Jn. 6:37) Pray that God will call more pray-ers and go-ers. Team visiting Bedouin tent in the desert Pray for many of our brothers and sisters in very difficult circumstances of imprisonment or starvation etc. that God will be very real to them and meet their needs. Link person: David Morgan david24morgan@gmail.com There are many opportunities for long and short-term service in OM.

11 StreetLight (Andy Putt) The vision of StreetLight is to work with local churches, schools, other organisations and individuals in Wimborne to be a community resource, initially focused around an indoor skate park and café, which provides a local facility that did not previously exist. StreetLight is an outreach project, seeking to share the gospel with young people, adults and families by actively demonstrating the Christian message to those who do not engage with church, and training others to do the same. The story started in 2010 as a group of Christians going out into the community on a Saturday night with food and hot chocolate. In 2013, Andy felt that the time had come for the vision God had given him many years before to come to reality. This vision was to reach people through a Christian-run community centre, café and skate park. After a lot of prayer, seeking God and some pinpoint guidance, Andy stepped down from his role as youth leader at St John s and started making that vision reality. It s been an amazing journey so far: a massive amount of work resulted in an industrial storage unit on Stone Lane being transformed into The StreetLight Centre, which opened its doors in March 2014, complete with indoor skate park, café and children s play area. We have seen 5,000 individual riders on the park and thousands others using the café and soft play, encouraging conversations about Jesus have taken place; a team of volunteers has been established to help in the skate park and to run the café; many events have been held, such as Carols by StreetLight, ladies and men s events, children s parties and a skaters Bible study. A number of churches and community groups are also now using it as a resource for their ministry and sharing Jesus. Our heart and prayer is that people would call StreetLight home. We have had a great chance to pray for people and share Jesus with them, and there are many stories of how StreetLight has changed people s lives. Much of our work is about building relationships; creating a secure, family environment where young people feel safe, valued and supported. Many face difficult situations at home and come to see Streetlight as their second family. Many of the young people have never been to church. Through our Skater's bible study, Alpha sessions and frank

12 conversations about faith, we have seen young people become Christians and go on to attend local churches or continue to grow and develop through Streetlight. It's by first building strong relationships and creating a loving environment that we have been so blessed in our ministry. Over the last year particularly, we've seen God transform the lives of many young people - developing resilience in difficult home situations, overcoming anger, anxiety and depression and helping them thrive in an environment that's giving them a real sense of purpose and family. For some young people this has led them to come to our regular Bible study - attended by between 15 to 20 young people every week. We explore the bible together, followed by question and answer sessions. Over the last year, we've seen 20 young people become Christians - you can imagine how this gives myself and the team amazing encouragement! Although there are times when finances are tight, God has always blessed and provided. That's why we are so grateful to you as a church and individuals who give generous. It enables us to focus on our mission to build relationships and share the gospel with young people. I would ask that you pray for the project; that we can reach those that don't know Jesus and for the team to take StreetLight forward. Thank you for joining the journey Andy Putt Want to get involved? There are many needs and many ways to help this project! StreetLight is looking to increase both its team of volunteers and the number of regular monthly supporters. If you d like to offer practical, prayerful or financial support to StreetLight, contact Andy Putt on or andy@streetlightproject.org.uk

13 Tearfund is a Christian relief and development charity which works in the poorest countries in the world, following Jesus where the need is greatest, as their strap-line says. They seek to meet people s material and spiritual needs by working through church-based partners and operational teams to tackle the world s biggest challenges: poverty, disease, water and sanitation, disasters, climate change and injustice. St John s has supported Tearfund ( for many years. Over the last five years, as well as donating to their general fund and to special appeals, we ve developed a more personal link by supporting and keeping in touch with the Tearfund-linked Shalom Project in Peru. Shalom has a programme of integral mission, working with local churches in two main regions in the Andes and Amazonas to bring physical and spiritual help to communities living in poverty and at risk of environmental disaster. Tearfund receives our special offerings at Christmas and Harvest, plus designated gifts throughout the year (not including the Global Action weekend). While the major support goes to Shalom, we are also able to donate to wider needs: in 2016/17, this included gifts towards Tearfund s appeal for the crisis in Yemen. Link person: Jean Morgan jean24morgan@gmail.com ****************************************************** Carlile College, Nairobi, Kenya Our vicar, Peter Breckwoldt, who is a visiting lecturer at Carlile College, writes; I was very pleased to go again in the early summer of 2017 to Carlile College. The college is a strategic hub that is helping to train men and women for ministry across East Africa. In

14 comparison to the colleges in this country they are always short of resources and support. However their passion for Christ and the gospel is evident to anyone who meets the staff and students. I believe this is a vital work that we at St John s can get behind with our prayers, interest and financial support so that a new generation of ministers can be equipped across God s church in East Africa and beyond. In the past we supported Broma Bashir, who completed his training and is waiting the opportunity to travel from northern Kenya back to his home country of Sudan. He is so grateful for Carlile College and for our support for their work. During my visit I met for the first time two new students who we are now supporting through sponsorship. Their names are John and Mark. They are being trained at Carlile College under the leadership of Rev. Capt. Patience Wanzala. Many of you will remember her visit to us in June 2017 when she spoke about the Trinity. Her husband Rev. Capt. Richard Mayabi is the General Secretary to Church Army Africa, who works in close partnership with the college. I am pleased to report that the college want to deepen our relationship with St John s and have very kindly invited me to go and lecture there in I would ask you to consider how this link provides a deep strategic impact for God s church across a sizable part of Africa. Please pray for Patience s leadership and for the other staff at the college. Pray for the students, who are often over 1000 miles from home, and for whom English is their second language. Pray for students and staff who find it hard to make ends meet. Rejoice over the impact that graduates from the college are having across East Africa. Pray especially for John and Mark who have come from war torn South Sudan. Link person: Peter Breckwoldt pjbreckwoldt@gmail.com