News from A's desk (24/04/24)

THREE THINGS I DO

There are a few activities that I spend quite a bit of my time doing that I have not in the past said much about. In this short news update I hope to say something new about what being a missionary means to me.

PRAYER

As time goes by I have been dedicating more morning time to intercessory prayer. I believe that being a missionary means, above-all, doing what it takes to remain connected to God. My prayer times are a way of saying, “I know that I cannot do any good work apart from the presence of God”. It is also a personal therapy that helps me greatly dealing with my own challenges (fear, anxiety, issues requiring God’s help with the family and ministry). In recent years I have been using a method based loosely on Jeanne Guyon’s “Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ” where I sit before the Lord and slowly count up to 100, pausing for each subject I need to be praying about, as I go. The counting part helps prevent me running off into the business of the new day without dedicating the first precious part of my day to the Lord (and it helps returning to prayer after an interruption).

PACT

WEC receives a large amount of funding every year from an anonymous foundation in Switzerland. These funds are managed by a committee of WEC workers who monitor the 10 to 15 projects that receive the funds and report back every 6 months to the foundation. Most of the communication (email, whatsapp etc), reporting (written financial and activity summary reports), project application and evaluation work is done by me. PACT takes up to 3 weeks of my annual time. The projects are more-and-more social, such as the one in Mongolia which cares for street people who have no one else caring for them. If you happen to know a wealthy committed believer who wants to invest in such projects I am well placed to funnel their gifts in a hugely meaningful direction.

STORY CHANNEL

Believe it or not it is possible to run a satellite TV channel with just a handful of workers. I am part of a small team running such a channel for the Amazigh peoples of North Africa. For most of the languages on our channel it is the first time their language has appeared in a major way on any Christian TV channel. Our satellite covers practically all of west-Africa and the vast majority of the 30 million Amazigh speakers. We are hoping this year that the fellowships which are supporting us might consider taking up a love-offering for Story Channel. It would be a worthy gift.  Contact me if you want to do this.

Thank you so much for your partnership in prayer and support.

Warm greetings,

Andrew