CMS Mission Update Online

Braving the gangs of Brazil

A mission partner’s daring journey into a dangerous favela near Olinda resulted in a young rape victim receiving vital care.

On a visit to the family of one of the boys staying at My Father’s House, a home for boys in high-risk situations, CMS mission partner Andy Roberts and his colleague Jefferson discovered that one of the daughters had been gang-raped a few days earlier.

“They hadn’t taken her to the doctors, as the gang had threatened to kill them all if they told anyone,” said Andy.

Andy and Jefferson found the girl crouched in a dark corner of the cardboard hut where the family live. “She didn’t talk to us but we prayed for her,” Andy said. Later, Andy and Jefferson arranged to smuggle the girl and her mother out of the favela so the daughter could have necessary treatment and inform the police. “Please be praying for them and for protection,” said Andy.

Andy and his team also recentlydiscovered three young girls, ages 8, 10 and 13, whose mother was encouraging them into prostitution.

“The 13-year-old girl had been held for a few days in a guy’s room and raped repeatedly,” said Andy. As girls are usually coerced into prostitution by dangerous gangs, “we had to go ‘undercover’ – we met the girls’ aunt who had already reported the situation to the local authorities, but the mum and girls had denied the accusations.”

Andy and Jefferson covertly took the aunt to the state prosecutor’s office to get an official order to remove the girls from their abusive situation.

My Father’s House, in Olinda, Brazil, currently provides shelter and a chance at a new life for dozens of at-risk boys. Part of the work involves visiting the boys’ families, who often live in dangerous locations.

Andy and the team are praying about how they might directly help more vulnerable girls, too.

World Aids Day drama in Nepal

DHADING, NEPAL - CMS partners were on the streets for World Aids Day, campaigning against the stigmatisation of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Bhibin Shakya, a CMS co-mission partner and director of Grace Community Services, reported how his NGO joined forces with local schools, organisations and health workers to hold a marketplace rally on 1 December.

They organised street drama to get the message across that people living with HIV and AIDS should not be discriminated against.

In the district capital of Dhading district, Dhading Besi (just to the north-west of Kathmandu), Bhibin facilitated a seminar on the church's response to HIV and AIDS for 55 local church leaders.

"Pastors, leaders and young people strongly realised the need of such education to our congregation and young people in the church," said Bhibin.

Meanwhile at Lalitpur, a southern suburb of Kathmandu, Grace Community Services organised an awareness-raising programme with 10 other Christian organisations including United Mission to Nepal and Micah Network.

Some 350 church members, including pastors and leaders, heard speakers including a representative from UNAIDS and Mr Kamal Sirmal, who shared his testimony of living with HIV since 2000.

Please pray for Bhibin and Grace Community Services as they continue this great work.

Not too late for babies in Zambia

Liz Hosegood is a nurse and midwife, helping to combat maternal and infant deaths in Zambia, where some don't even expect their babies to live. Produced and presented by Jenny Rawden.

Listen: Not too late for babies in Zambia

[ Format: mp3 | File size: 3.37MB | Length: 3m41s ]

Grace behind bars

Thirty young prisoners in Thailand have become followers of Jesus, after a visit by CMS mission partner John Robinson to their prison in Korat, three hours north of Bangkok.

John said: “I spoke about hope and God’s grace as well as sharing my story and 30 young people made a commitment to Christ. I was moved to tears as some of them may never leave prison but are free in Christ.”

It is often hard to gain entry into Thai prisons but John’s book, Nobody’s Child, has opened the door for him. Translated into eight languages, including Thai, Nobody’s Child tells the story of John’s difficult childhood and his introduction to Jesus.

In 2008 John and his wife Gillian and their three children were invited by a Thailand prison ministry to do long-term mission work with prisoners, as well as working on the
streets. The family has been in Thailand since January 2010.

Chilean miners’ miracle: the inside story

Five of the 33 Chilean miners descended with a close relationship with God, but 22 received Christ whilst trapped underground, says mission partner Alf Cooper (right, with miners), who played an integral role during the miners’ 69-day ordeal.

NEWSFLASH: Alf will be touring the UK in January along with José Henriquez, one of the miners.

As Protestant chaplain to Chile’s president, Alf led the country’s prayers for the miners as the search and rescue played out in real time across the world’s media.

“I had the honour of standing beside the President when the last miners were brought out. I preached to the assembled town of Copiapó that night,” Alf said.

“That evening in the hospital, the miners’ main spiritual leader, José Henriquez (they now call him pastor) told me that when the mine collapsed and the miners panicked, God spoke to him that they would survive.

“Jose called them together and got them praying. They all received a sense of peace, but then despaired as they heard the drilling operations bypass them. Still, they prayed.”

Finally, the drill struck a rock, was deviated and hit their chamber.

“Joy rang all over Chile when we heard them say ‘we are alive and well,’” said Alf, adding, “We believe this is a miracle that will speak to the world of the love of God.

“The President himself has given God the glory continually.... The one or two attempts at cynicism from the press have crumbled rapidly before the gigantic testimony of the miners who say that Jesus was the 34th man down there with them.”

1,000 Mission Resolutions the target this New Year

CMS is looking for 1,000 people to make a Mission Resolution this New Year.

The campaign has just officially launched - but relies on people like you to pass it on!

It's an ambitious target - but your resolution can be as simple as you like. The simpler the better. There are loads of ideas on our mission-action website www.wearesayingyes.org - or you can create your own.

• Pray for people ahead of you in the supermarket queue
• Join a campaign
• Make friends with someone of another faith
• Go on a fast from impulse buys

…and many more. You get the idea.

So give up making resolutions you'll never keep and make just one that matters this New Year.

Join us on facebook - www.facebook.com/1000resolutions - or at wearesayingyes.org/1000 to make your resolution. Upload a pic or video of you making the resolution if you like. We'll send you a reminder to get into action in the New Year and share what happens...

We're excited - hope you are too. And don't forget - pass it on.

Samaritan Strategy helps churches transform slum

Amazing transformation is happening in the Kisumu, Kenya slum area, thanks to people who are generously supporting CMS Africa’s Samaritan Strategy.

Bishop Simiyu of the Assemblies of God Church in Kisumu attended a Samaritan Strategy Vision Conference (right) last year, along with other local church leaders.

As the government provides no services for the 250,000 residents of the Kisumu slum, the pastors learned how they could work together to transform their community themselves.

Bishop Simiyu said, “At the Vision Conference, all the pastors from this area agreed that we would organise community clean ups. We now do this regularly.”

Other much-needed improvements include collecting and giving food to hungry children, 20 women’s groups started, income-generating projects, clearing roads, helping people repair their houses, creating urban community gardens for nutritious food, HIV education and growing churches.

“This holistic biblical training has transformed my ministry,” the bishop said. CMS Africa held this Samaritan Strategy Vision Conference and two more in cooperation with the Viva Network in Africa.

Life-changing Vision Conferences are held across Africa throughout the year for hundreds of African Christians, who then use the holistic training to transform their communities.

The Samaritan Strategy was the subject of a recent appeal by CMS.