African Adventure

Today our assistant parish priest requested our prayer support for a short term mission visit to Kenya due to commence after the weekend.


CMS SHORT-TERM MISSION TEAMS

Are you willing to face the uncertainty of stepping into another culture and to learn from the lives of Christians there? Are you willing to be inspired, challenged and changed and to grow in your faith? In order to connect more deeply with our brothers and sisters in the multi-cultural Body of Christ we need to step into another’s shoes and step out of our own, to risk being vulnerable, and to see things from another’s perspective.

By joining a CMS short-term mission team you will a have an opportunity to connect with Christians who are seeking to make a difference in often challenging situations around the world. We seek to nurture pilgrims, not tourists, through team experiences which enable people to get behind the headlines of another country’s news and find out more about what is going on at a grass roots level. Each visit allows participants to be immersed within a different culture for a brief but intensive period with the opportunity to reflect upon and learn from the experience.

Who can join a team?
Christians who have a spirit of adventure; who are fascinated by other countries and cultures; who are keen to get more than a tourist’s view of a country; who are interested in seeing how being a follower of Jesus works out in other places; and who are interested to learn from the experience of Christians throughout the world.

Who will I go with?
You will be part of a group of up to 12 people. All teams have a leader with experience of working in a mission context within another culture.

What will I do?
Each visit provides an opportunity to share in the lives, worship and witness of Christians in another culture, seeing and learning about mission at a grassroots level. The activities with which a group engage will vary depending on the type of visit, the age group and the duration.
Visits are usually 2 weeks in length and teams may have a diverse age group of people. The focus of these visits is interacting with local people, learning and reflecting. The teams are not task or work groups. You will have the opportunity to visit a variety of projects, meeting people and learning about what is happening in mission at a grassroots level. A couple of days are usually allocated for relaxation, and an opportunity to see sights of historical and cultural interest. Time is made for teams to meet together daily, where possible, for prayer and reflection.

All our teams are hosted by local people and the local church and our longer term aim is to develop and sustain these relationships. Our mission is to encourage the church in its mission and to allow you to discover more of what it means to be a part of a global family.

What preparation is provided?
Our briefing programme helps you to explore cross-cultural situations sensitively and effectively, allowing you to engage more deeply with the issues of cross-cultural mission.
A briefing day is held for each team a few weeks prior to the visit taking place. This is an opportunity to meet your team members and leader, to explore cross-cultural issues, and to be briefed with regard to all aspects of the visit.

What happens after the visit?
It is important that you have an opportunity to reflect upon and apply what you have learnt from your cross-cultural visit. All participants therefore attend debriefing days. A debriefing day is held a few weeks after returning from the visit. You will have opportunities to reflect further
on your cross-cultural experience so that you can apply what you have learnt to other mission situations, and we seek to encourage and equip you to share your experience and learning with your home church and elsewhere. There is also an opportunity to reflect on how your experience
connects with your own lifestyle, and to consider your ongoing involvement in mission, both locally and globally.

How much will I have to raise?
Approx £1400. Costs are based on location and length of visit, and include the briefing and debriefing days and accompanying resources, visa, health information and your cross-cultural team visit (flight, in-country travel, accommodation and meals). Your travel costs to briefing/debriefing days, travel insurance, medical/vaccination costs and spending money are not included. Travel in these regions is at participants’ own risk and participants are required to obtain their own travel insurance. CMS can provide fundraising ideas and advice.

How do I join a team?
Complete and return an application form along with a deposit for £100. Please make cheques payable to the Church Mission Society. Further payments are made in instalments, allowing you time to raise funds. CMS will then contact your referees and send you a medical form to complete.
Participants aged 65+ will be required to visit their doctor and have an additional health form completed.

CMS SHORT TERM MISSION TEAMS 2007/2008

Kenya contains a rich variety of cultures and a landscape which ranges from tropical vegetation on the coast, to mountains in the Rift Valley and arid semi desert in the north. More than half of the population survive on less than $2 a day.

The shores of Lake Victoria were first settled 3,000 years ago but Kenya’s first the major cities grew up on the coast, thriving on Arab merchant trade. During the 19th century the Masai rose to prominence inland, but were devastated by a plague which wiped out their cattle herds, their
source of wealth and power. At the end of the 19th century the British took control of Kenya until after an often violent struggle, Jomo Kenyatta led the Kenya people to independence in 1963.

CMS missionaries were central to the early growth of the Anglican church in this part of Kenya. Today it seeks to work with local church leaders in training people to minister to their own communities. The Bungoma Diocese in western Kenya bordering Uganda has been in existence since 1997. Under the leadership of The Rt Revd Dr Eliud Wabukala, the church has continued to grow steadily from 18 parishes with 88 churches in 1997, to 49 parishes with over 250 churches in 2007. The Diocese is staffed by just 55 clergy many of whom are part time and paid up to £40
per month at most. 700 lay readers and evangelists assist in the nurture and growth of the church which includes anything up to 300,000 people.

Literacy levels are low with only a handful of clergy with degree level theological education. However there is great openness to learn and grow, despite the lack of educational opportunity.
The Wycliffe Centre for Mission, Theology and Development at Siritanyi near Bungoma town is an ongoing vision, overseen by Bishop Wabukala. Over the last 2 years The Revd Phil White has been developing a relationship with the Bishop, firstly undertaking a 3 month sabbatical
in 2006 involving a programme of day training sessions around the diocese. He subsequently spent 3 weeks in the summer of 2007 teaching at the Wycliffe Centre itself, helping to initiate the ‘Harvest School of Ministry’, which is the project that this group has been invited to lead.
This visit will provide an opportunity for you to experience rural Kenya, to live with a local community and to explore what being a Christian means in their context. You will engage with their challenges, be inspired by their work and encourage each other on your faith journey.
There will be almost two weeks spent providing training to both lay people and clergy from the Bungoma Diocese. This training will range widely from biblical exegesis, to pastoral skills, to preaching and addressing other needs expressed by the local church. However the teaching
schedule is flexible and if you have a particular gift to offer, then you would be welcome to contribute this to the overall programme. Seminars will be delivered both in the Wycliffe Centre and around the Diocese. Accommodation will be basic. Meals will be taken at the guesthouse, or a packed lunch will be provided.

After spending time in Bungoma, the team will have time to rest and reflect while embarking on a safari in the Masai Mara for 2 nights. The safari will include comfortable accommodation and tour guides at all times.

Dates: between 25th August – 12th September
Cost: £1400 approx
Initial enquiries to:
The Revd Phil White, St James Vicarage, 24 Seamer Road, Scarborough YO12 4DT.
01723 361469. E-mail: phil_07@btinternet.com. Website: www.stjamesscarborough.co.uk
Applications to:
Jade Staiano, Crossing Culture Advisor, CMS, Watlington Road, Oxford OX4 6BZ.
Switchboard: 0845 620 1799/01865 787400. Direct Line 01865 787493. E-mail: jade.staiano@cms-uk.org Website: www.cms-uk.org

Kenya – Encounter Bungoma
In co-operation with York Diocese - Network for Ministry Development
“…the scholarship programme is absolutely vital for the
ongoing work of the church… I believe it is one of the
most effective ways in which the church in Britain can
invest in the church in Africa.”
Revd Dr Beverly Haddad
University of Kwa Zulu Natal

SAMS

SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY

The story of the beginning of SAMS took place 150 years ago and centers around the Yaghan Indians of Tierra del Fuego. After the studying the Yaghans, Charles Darwin had concluded that they were "the lowest form of humanity on earth." Among other distinctions, the Yaghans were known as a violent people.

Allen Gardiner, the founder of SAMS, felt a call from God to reach out to the Yaghans with the message of God's love that had transformed his own life. However, the survival of their missionary band was jeopardized as the Yaghans pilfered their limited supplies. Gardiner knew their only hope of survival was to withdraw to an uninhabited island and wait for the already overdue supply ship. In the process they lost one of their two launches, leaving Gardiner and his six companions stranded. Over one hundred and fifty years ago this month, Gardiner's mission party was stranded, starving and waiting to be rescued. Tragically, the rescue ship arrived weeks after Gardiner and his six missionary companions had succumbed to starvation.

As Gardiner was in the final stages of starvation, he was focused on the future and came up with a new name for the mission society. In his journal, he proposed that the Patagonian Missionary Society should expand its field of work to the entire continent and be renamed the South American Missionary Society. As he died, his heart seemed to overflow with thanksgiving for God's many mercies. "Great and marvelous are the loving kindnesses of my gracious God. He has preserved me hitherto, and for four days, although without bodily food, without any feelings of hunger or thirst." September 5, 1851.

Dr. Richard Williams, the physician of the missionary team, described the same peace that passes understanding, "Let all my beloved ones at home rest assured that I was happy beyond all expression . . . and would not have changed situations with any man living . . . that heaven, and love, and Christ . . . were in my heart . . ."

When news of the missionaries' deaths reached England, The Times carried a blistering editorial decrying the loss of life and resources for so foolish a cause. The missionaries' deaths caught the attention of the nation, and a book on their mission, which included Allen Gardiner's journal, enjoyed wide circulation. Biblically-minded churchmen responded to the criticism of the mission with contributions, and new missionary recruits made it possible to launch a second mission, this one better planned and equipped.

Using the Falkland Islands as a base, the missionaries learned the language from three Yaghans that Darwin had taken to England 25 years earlier as examples of this primitive people. Safely transported to a Yaghan Island in November 1859 on a schooner christened in Allen Gardiner's memory, catechist Garland Phillips was now ready to continue the mission to the Yaghans. As Phillips, Captain Fell, and six crew members came ashore, they found themselves suddenly under attack. Within minutes all eight were speared to death.

The field director of SAMS, George Despard, was crushed by the loss of the second missionary team. He returned to England, along with his family and the remaining missionaries. Two missionary teams had gone out with high hopes, and the results were 15 dead, 7 by starvation and 8 murdered by the Yaghans. All was lost, and apparently for nothing.

In the darkest moment, a seventeen-year-old boy came forward and asked Despard's permission to stay behind and carry on the work. His name was Thomas Bridges, a surname he was given because he was found as a baby, abandoned on a London bridge. The Despards had taken him in and given him a place in their family.

When Paul prayed for his "thorn in the flesh" to be removed, God's reply was, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is perfected in weakness." It was in complete weakness and vulnerability that Bridges, often alone, would visit the Yaghan settlements, many of whose inhabitants had murdered the second missionary team. But unthreatened by his vulnerability, and moved by the forgiveness that he embodied, the Yaghans were finally able to hear the Good News. In fact, Bridges baptized many of the same people who had killed his friends.

The most dramatic demonstration of the change in the people Darwin had labeled the "lowest form of humanity" took place when an Italian ship was sinking offshore from Yaghan territory. Formerly the Yaghans would have most likely killed the sailors and helped themselves to their belongings. But as followers of Christ, the Yaghans risked their lives to rescue these complete strangers.

The King of Italy was so impressed by their heroism that he had a medal struck in their honor, and in honor of Bridges and SAMS, with a Latin inscription signifying "Religion has brought safety to the mariners rescued from a watery grave". Darwin himself was so impressed with the change that he became a supporter of SAMS for the rest of his life. And a new annotation was added to navigational charts, "A great change has been effected in the character of the natives . . . the Yaghans . . . can be trusted."

Through the Gospel, the Yaghans were transformed from a lost cause to being a people whose heroism and altruism were internationally acclaimed.

Today SAMS Great Britain, SAMS Canada, SAMS Ireland and SAMS-USA carry on the legacy and work of the early SAMS missionaries.