World Mission matters!

Last Updated on Friday, 17 February 2012 12:13

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For those who already have Traidcraft Fairtrade refreshments the Standard Resource Pack has all the promotional materials you’ll need for a successful event, including Traidcraft Big Brew ‘Event’ guide, quiz, game, factsheet, posters, stickers, campaigns activity sheet, CD and a collection box to help with fundraising. Ref: 59400 Free.

Big Brew packs can be ordered from www.traidcraftshop.co.uk

The Emergency in the Horn of Africa is spreading westwards. Please add the Sahel region which includes Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Fasso and Mauritania to your prayers for the consequences of the drought in Somalia and northern Kenya. Please pray that an adequate response is made by international agencies, governments and individuals to the desparate needs of so many.Also pray for calm and hope within refugee camps.

Christian Aid have launched an appeal which follows on from that of the East African crisis. Details can be readily accessed by clicking on their logo below.

 

As parishes are engaging Mission Action Planning, a remark of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s (made in Letters and Papers from Prison) rings true: “Our being Christian today will be limited to two things, prayer and doing justice among men”. That statement is surely as pertinent for us today, with all our uncertainties, as it was in Nazi Germany of 1945. So as we look at our immediate communities and their needs we will be drawn to examine the relationships we and they have with the wider world. As part of the MAP process many have been looking at the places of work of our people, the webs of relations those link us to, the raw materials they use, and perhaps even manufacturing processes and markets they sell to. Our prayers for the communities and people we care about will then be properly informed and purposeful as we discover what God is already doing and engage with it so that Christ’s Kingdom of Peace and Justice may be extended. 

The “Five Marks of Mission” which Christians of many countries and cultures have affirmed as a way of finding a common focus as they share in God’s mission in the world are:  

To Proclaim, the good news of the kingdom 
To Teach, baptise and nurture new believers 
To Respond, to human need by loving service 
To Seek, to transform the unjust structures of society 
To Strive, to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

 

Here are some resources relating to some of that Kingdom-building work. (Left click your mouse on the picture logo or the web address):

 

Agencies working on our behalf include:

 

       or   www.cms.org.uk
 

         or    www.uspg.org.uk  

 

 

         or   www.christianaid.org.uk

 

 

 tearfund   or   www.tearfund.org

 

 

         or    www.leprosymission.org.uk

 

        or   www.barnabasfund.org

 

          or    www.oikocredit.org

 

        or    www.shared-interest.com

 

 Further links:

 

         The Anglican Communion - www.anglicancommunion.org

 

         The Church of North India - www.northindia-derbyshirechurches-partnership.org.uk

 

 

 

 

The World Mission Adviser, Richard Henderson Smith, is a retired GP and a Reader, with 4 years experience of working in Bangladesh in a General and Leprosy hospital with community outreach.

 “I passionately believe that in building the Kingdom we cannot preach to the poor unless we also share God’s love in practical ways. Bearing one another’s burdens by informed prayer and action for those who work on our behalf is a way for us to engage with that building work”.

I am available to resource parishes, Deaneries and MMAs as they seek to support others around the world in sharing in God’s mission.
 
Contact details: e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Tel:0115 9460395