As Head of Communications and Engagement, my focus is on sharing the work that God is doing through SIM and encouraging people to be more engaged by praying and serving.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
Everyday can be different and ranges from creating videos, updating our website, designing new brochures, meeting people at events, to creating strategies and managing the communications team. Each week brings new opportunities and challenges, as well as meeting lots of people who are passionate about mission.
What makes you passionate about your work?
As we look at the world around us and the challenges there are to the spread of the gospel, we have to realise that this is a mission that can only be undertaken and achieved by prayer. This is what excites me about the role – to try and get many more people praying each day for global mission.
There are so many stories of how God is transforming lives and communities. We need to hear them to stoke the fires for more prayer, and build our faith that God can indeed work even in the most hopeless of situations.
I’ve always been impressed by how SIM is focused on the task of seeing least-reached peoples come to faith in Christ.
How have you seen God working through your job?
In the communications team you have the privilege of hearing mission workers’ stories, so we are hearing the excitement and joy they have in seeing God work in many contexts around the world. Working for a Christian Mission, we are so dependent on God for his guidance, protection and provision and I’ve seen God at work week-by-week as he leads us.
In what ways do you continue your ministry in life outside of work?
As I’ve journeyed in my relationship with Jesus, I’ve found that one of the main areas that excites me and brings me great joy is when I’m following him and helping others to learn to do the same. I’m very involved in my local church in Portadown, Co. Armagh and serve in different ways to support the work of the church.
How can we pray for you?
One thing I would love to happen is to see groups of people springing up across the UK to pray together for global mission. Please pray that God starts stirring people to gather with others to pray in twos and threes to contend together in prayer for the world in which we live in.
Pray for us as we think of ways to provide resources and information so that people can pray in really informed ways.
Sarah with her two sons, Edson and Danny
Read how God is using teacher Sarah to help disabled children in Bolivia overcome their challenges and to support their parents.
“Thirteen- year-old Landi* has cerebral palsy and finds it hard to speak clearly, but alternative means of communication aren’t commonplace here, so he’s been left without a voice and it’s clear how frustrating he finds that. We’ve been testing out low-tech communication devices and were able to have a great 10-minute conversation for the first time ever!” says Special Education Needs teacher Sarah Allen, who’s helping disabled children and their families as she serves in Bolivia.
“Children with disabilities in Bolivia face widespread stigma and their parents often feel guilt and shame,” she explains. “Families need the help of their community the most, yet often find themselves ostracised. An ongoing issue is that kids with a diagnosis are either rejected from schools or are accepted and shunned and unsupported.”
Sarah works with Landi as she supports a centre a few says a week, called Luz y Esperanza (Light and Hope) that’s run by a Christian couple.
“I met the couple who founded the centre about a year ago, as we were all trying to start support groups for parents of kids with disabilities,” she recalls.
“They offered to give me one of their spare rooms to work with kids with disabilities and provide some academic support and early intervention to kids who otherwise would have no way to afford it. Some of these kids are in school, but others have been rejected from various ones and don’t currently attend. So far, there are about six kids coming regularly, with numbers increasing weekly!
“‘Another boy I work with is Javier* who also has cerebral palsy. He’s fully verbal, and incredibly intelligent, but has only been accepted by special schools that do little academic work, so he ends up bored and frustrated.
“We’ve been working once a week to get him more and more fluent and he’s now reading well, despite having never been in a school that saw the point in teaching him how.
“His mum has managed to find a mainstream school near their home that’s open to accepting him with an assistant and has asked if I’d come along to help train up the staff in how to teach him, so I’m excited to see how we can help him to reach his full potential.”
Sarah has also built relationships and gained the trust of parents of disabled children through the support groups she helps run. “Over time, the parents begin to ask why we’re doing it and why we care – both about them and their kids and it’s opened up conversations about Jesus and the gospel.”
Recently, Sarah has begun teaching a group of disabled children who live in the local women’s prison with their mums.
“The law in Bolivia states that children are allowed to live in prison with their incarcerated mothers until one day before their seventh birthday,” she explains. “In the women’s prison, there are about 35-40 kids, ranging from newborns up to those who are almost seven. Once old enough, they go to daycare or school, but are bussed back into the prison, where they sleep in cells with their mothers, and up to 60 other people, depending on the type of cell they can afford to rent.
“One day, the director sent me a message with a number for Loida, who’s in charge of the programme that brings the kids from the prison and out to school. She invited me to go to the prison with her to meet the mums, which I jumped at the chance to do!
“After Loida shared a devotional, the lady at my right turned to chat with me and said, ‘I need you to help me, because I lived on the streets – and I think it has affected my brain and I struggle to parent my daughter. Sometimes I just lose my temper and I don’t know how to parent her differently – but I want to because I love her so much.’
“He daughter is one of the kids I was asked to observe – a child suffering with a variety of learning issues, as well as speech and behavioural problems. Another morning, I sat with three parents of kids who are really struggling in school, including this lady, and we discussed parenting and how to help our children with all the things they’re struggling with. We talked about where we can go from here, what would be helpful, and what might work and what doesn’t.
“And as I stood in that Bolivian women’s prison and we prayed to an omnipresent God, it was so obvious that he was right there with us. I’m now planning to train and equip the teachers how best to help the kids from the prison and pray that as the mothers receive support in school – and as we try to support them in parenting – that we’d also see them start to overcome some of their struggles.”
*Names changed
Please pray:
For parents as they struggle to raise their children in a society that doesn’t value them and has few resources for them.
For the mums in prison to trust Sarah as she shares the gospel with them, and that this might then impact on how they parent their children.
For upcoming training to teach from a trauma-informed perspective to help support those with learning differences, behavioural issues and more – and that this would allow for more effective learning in the classroom.
“It’s so hard to summarise my time here – so many stories kept coming to my mind; which to pick? When I came here in 2005, I had no idea of what God would use me to do: I was just a teacher coming to work with children,” says Nicky Brand, who’s set to finish 20 years of faithful service on the field in Nigeria.
For many years, Nicky, who’s supported by Gateway Baptist Church, Sussex,served as part of the City Ministries project that works in cities across Nigeria, offering the hope and love of Christ to the marginalised.
She first worked with boys who were orphaned, or had been thrown out of home and were living on the streets, or run away from an abusive situation, and they were looked after at our Gidan Bege care home, which means House of Hope in the Hausa language.
“It’s a place where children can escape from a harsh life of begging on the streets and an endless struggle to survive. They’re provided with food, shelter, an education, and most importantly, are shown the love of Christ,” explains Nicky.
“It was a privilege to be involved in this work and to see first-hand how God can rescue hopeless situations; restoring children, who are sometimes damaged, sometimes unloved, turning them around so they can be reconciled with their families and impact their communities for good.”
Nicky helped set up more care centres throughout Nigeria, where vulnerable children are given shelter, education, and nurtured spiritually. In 2007, God worked through Nicky to start a girls ministry to equip disadvantaged girls and educate them in life skills, as well as academically and vocationally.
“God has blessed this ministry to grow from nowhere and we now have our teenage girl centre in Bassa, complete with its own secondary school,” she says. “Four of our girls have graduated with degrees from university and more are following behind them. Quite a few are now married and are mothers; others are making a difference in the communities where they live.
“Pictured here are our five graduate girls Prisca, Grace, Happiness, Jennifer and Janet, who are back from serving for five months in our other centres, giving something back to the ministry they grew up in. Two of them have been with the ministry for 13 years!
“Two are leaving to go to extended family, one has a scholarship to university, and the other two will move to our half way home to begin skills training. All their lives have been transformed because of being in our ministry and they now have hope and a future.
“It’s been a joy to train them to be Nigerian women ready to impact their societies for good. Please pray for them as they step into the world and make their way.”
Over the years, God gave Nicky new visions and the passion to carry them as she took on leadership roles, including coordinating education initiatives, training staff, and running a trauma-healing group and writing a life-skills programme.
“As I look back, I can see how God prepared me in my ‘previous life’ for the variety of ministries I’ve been involved in, and I’m amazed at what God has done in meand through me. He’s grown my faith and shown me miracle after miracle in the way he’s provided. I can only marvel at God’s faithfulness to me and how much he’s shown his love to me in so many ways.
“I’ve learnt such a lot living and working cross-culturally and for several reasons, it would be much easier to stay in Nigeria! But I know my time here is coming to an end and the ministry will continue as the structures and staff are now in place for others to be Christ’s vessels – helping those they can and shaping the next generation to shine as lights to their communities across Nigeria.
“Being in transition is never easy; there are many emotional goodbyes to come and things to think about, like how will I live back in the UK that’s changed a lot in the past 20 years? But I know that God goes before me and he’s behind me; he’s taught me that his timing is right and often differs from my own and I trust him to guide me in the days ahead.”
Please pray:
Join us in celebrating what God has done through Nicky’s faithful service in Nigeria and for a smooth transition as she returns to the UK.
That God would comfort all Nicky’s girls and the City Ministries family she’s leaving behind.
For the girls who’ve graduated and left the ministry to make good choices and stay strong in their faith.
For God to equip at least one of the new mission workers recently arrived, or soon to come, with the passion to disciple teenage girls.
For God to send an experienced teacher to be a consultant and help train teachers to maintain a high level of children’s education.
As a schoolgirl, Karen Hicks would’ve liked to have been adventurous, brave, and fearless, but was told by her teachers that she’d no sense of adventure.
“I was the only one in my class who didn’t want to live in an upturned boat on a beach!” she recalls. “However, a Bible verse that I learned at school has stayed with me ever since – as well as the boat! ‘It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.’ Deut. 31.8
Karen didn’t know that years later, God would take her on an adventurous experience to serve a least-reached people group in South Asia for more than 40 years.
“After coming to faith, I told God I’d follow him anywhere – as long as I didn’t have to fly in a plane, go to Bible college, or live abroad! I wasn’t so keen on being obedient to God when it meant travelling into the unknown, but all three were to be part of my SIM adventure!” she reveals.
In September 2024, Karen retired as SIM UK’s longest-serving member, exactly 47 years since she stepped on a plane as a short-termer for a two-year assignment!
“I was on the plane, delayed and stuck on the runway, thinking it was a sign I should stay at home,” she recalls. “I wasn’t allowed off the plane and was travel sick, however, by the time we finally landed, I knew this was the place I should be.”
However her doubts resurfaced while travelling on a narrow road with 72 hairpin bends to the remote mission school, where she was due to begin her teaching ministry!
“I said to God, ‘If I’d known this school was up a mountainside, I wouldn’t have come and maybe the upturned beach boat would have been preferable!’”
Praise God that Karen’s passion for the gospel led to many years of faithful service, during which she endured constant water shortages, power cuts, freezing winters, limited heating and heavy monsoon rains.
She also survived after the old Morris Minor she was travelling in, careered over the side of the road: “God answered my short prayer of, ‘Help Lord’ as we tumbled about 100 feet and landed on a small piece of ground before a sheer drop. The good hand of the Lord was upon us.”
Karen enjoyed many happy times at the school, spent with the ‘amazing’ children and staff. She also found the mountain people friendly, generous, and remarkably resilient.
“I’d been told it would take more than 12 years to learn about the country’s rich culture, but even after living there for so long, there was still so much more to learn!”
Karen moved to the plains in 2001 to teach adult refugees and many challenging years followed after 9/11, including a terrorist attack on the mission school and her church, local bombings, and a devastating earthquake.
“We cried out to God for his mercy, healing, help and protection many times during these years and both staff and students cried together when our refugee centre had to close,” she says.
“But all the challenges never took away from the privilege of serving the Lord and the peace of knowing I was where God wanted me to be. I also learned to trust a wonderful, creative God, knowing he was with me and going before me in all situations. He’s led, forgiven, restored, picked up the pieces, and protected me.”
While serving in relief and refugee ministries Karen was evacuated back to the UK and for the past 13 years supported the South Asian leadership from afar.
“Now as I retire, I’m so thankful to Stopsley Baptist Church; SIM; friends; and family for the tremendous support and prayer I received during all the unusual, challenging and amazing situations!” she says.
“God’s ways may not have been my ways, but they were definitely the best ways.”
Please pray:
Give thanks as we celebrate Karen’s 47 years of faithful, prayerful service.
Praise God for all that he’s done in and through her life.
That God will continue to guide Karen as she continues to serve as an Active Retiree with SIM.
Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples from ‘every nation’ and for more than 130 years, SIM workers have carried the gospel to nearly every corner of the globe, travelling to far-flung places to share their faith with least-reached communities.
But the location of mission has changed and today in 21st Century Britain, there’s a growing number of people, who haven’t heard Christ’s message of salvation, on our own doorstep.
With *16%* of people born overseas, there are now Great Commission nations embedded in UK communities and churches recognise the need to become an integrated part of their multicultural neighbourhoods in order to effectively share the gospel with them.
SIM UK’s pioneering Engage programme recruits and places gospel workers from around the world in local UK churches to help them respond to this changing context, and to reach out to their multicultural communities strategically.
“The UK has become a melting pot with the emergence of a multi-ethnic society with a wide variety of people groups,” explains Engage coordinator Tim Barrow. “We can give UK churches the knowledge, skills, and confidence to help them proclaim the gospel to people who haven’t heard, by mobilising overseas workers to serve alongside them.
“God is using our cross-cultural Engage workers in powerful ways, with many opportunities for ministry and outreach to significant diaspora communities, through activities or groups like sports, language teaching, music, or discussion,” adds Tim.
Four years ago, Inspire St James Clerkenwell partnered with our Engage programme and welcomed mission worker Mary, from Ethiopia, to help communicate the gospel faithfully and relevantly within one of the world’s most diverse cities – London.
St James Inspire Clerkenwell is five minutes’ walk from Farringdon Station and serves communities where people from different ethnicities are often living next door to each other
Originally a church plant, it merged with St James Clerkenwell in 2018 to help it fulfil its vision to be outward-focused and build bridges with people from diverse and multicultural backgrounds.
“We started running free football lessons with a ‘gospel coaching corner’ that the Lord grew up,” explains Rev Mark Jackson.
“One guy who came to the very first session, wasn’t actually too interested in football, but what we were doing in his local football cage. And once trust was established, he wanted to find out more about Jesus and four years later, gave his life to Christ. One year later, his whole family started coming to church!”
Mark Jackson, who’s been vicar at Inspire St James Clerkenwell for more than 11 years, encourages everyone in the church to be missional
After the first year of planting the church, Mark and the team noticed how 20 languages were being spoken amongst the church family and this led to them offering free English lessons, which, in turn, led to an annual holiday club bringing hundreds of kids through their doors, from a wide range of backgrounds.
“I think there’s a sinful bent in the human heart to want to hang out with people like yourself and be somewhat fearful of people who are different to us, or from different backgrounds to us,” suggests Mark, “and that can be a challenge to an authentically united and diverse community.
“It’s easy to stay within your comfort zone; within your people group, within your city or within your country and of course, this is where we need the gospel – to remember that we’re made in God’s image and so there’s an inherent beauty in the different ways the Lord has made us all – and also a humility to recognise our own cultural blind spots, and so be open to learning from others.
“Ultimately it’s in Jesus that we grow together as the one body in Christ. And so the more that we have Jesus’ vision for unity and diversity, the more we’ll embrace it.
“It’s been fantastic to partner with SIM UK to help us facilitate Inspire St James’ vision to be a truly united and diverse church in one of the most diverse cities in the world.
“Mary brings such a love for the Lord and such a desire to reach people for Christ – it’s been infectious for us and the church family – she’s also helped us appreciate the richness of the Ethiopian culture!”
Mary is sent by Eastridge Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Mary says she’s seen God at work in remarkable ways since she joined Inspire St James and like our other existing Engage workers, has been able to cross cultural and linguistic barriers to respond to needs and build relationships, while sharing the gospel through different ministries.
“Mary found people in our church family who were happy to join her in a door-to-door ministry and regularly knock on doors in the nearby estates,” says Mark.
“We’ve made many great connections,” says Mary. “One lady eventually accepted an invitation to our carol service and that one event opened the door to her coming to our guest dinner and now agreeing to read Mark’s Gospel! She’s so eager to learn the Bible and even plans to bring her kids to church. It’s been incredible to witness her spiritual hunger and God’s perfect timing.”
Mary also runs life skills courses for low-income families that naturally allow for conversations about faith.
“Juli and Mani* came from a Muslim country and they both grew up in that faith although they were not practising it here in the UK,” says Mary, “We’d built a great relationship with them for eight weeks of the course, hosting them in my house as well, but they disappeared from church. After not hearing from them for two years, Juli sent me a message asking, ‘How can we be christened?’
“They were all baptised last month and now attend church regularly! Juli has even started Christianity Explored to deepen her understanding and it’s such a powerful reminder of how God continues to work in hearts even when we don’t see it.”
“Mary also came up with the idea of an International Café that’s exploded!” adds Mark.
“Last term, we had 12-18 people from all over the world attending every week and what’s even more exciting, is that in the last four weeks, up to nine people stayed for our church services!”
Mary adds: “One beautiful story is of Hannah and Persie, two college students from China, who came to the café and heard the gospel for the very first time. They started attending church, joined Bible studies, and even brought a friend along. They loved the community so much that they volunteered to help with one of our carol services and celebrated their first ever Christmas with me in my home.
“Their excitement for the church and their willingness to invite others has been so inspiring and there’s much joy and rejoicing in my heart as I see all the fruit through these ministries over the past four years.”
Can we help you find the right person to help build bridges into your multicultural communities?
To find out more about Engage and talk through how it might work for you, please email our Engage coordinator Tim Barrow ([email protected]) or call 01223 788288.
Please pray:
Give thanks for Mary and our existing Engage workers faithfully sharing the gospel cross-culturally in the UK.
Give thanks Mary is helping Inspire St James to not only reach others for Christ, but also, to bring them together into a united and diverse gospel community.
That the Lord will put Engage on the hearts of more UK churches to partner with us in 2025.
*Office for National Statistics (ONS)
*Names changed
From Glasgow to London, Engage welcomes gospel workers into the UK to bring the love and truth of Jesus Christ to their local communities.
With people right here in the UK in need of hearing the good news, our Engage programme enables workers from across the world to help evangelical churches connect with their multicultural and diverse neighbours.
Our Engage workers are experienced in sharing the gospel with multi-ethnic communities – like married couple Ram and Keshari, from South Asia, serving in Greater Manchester.
“Worshipping with the nations and studying the Bible with people from different cultures has been a taste of heaven for me,” shares Engage worker Mary.
Many of our mission workers, both Engage and further afield, use English classes as an opportunity to share the gospel. In Greater Manchester, Engage worker Ram teaches English through Bible stories. During a recent class, Sophie* came in suffering with pains in her arm and neck and was unable to move her arm.
When Ram asked to pray for her, she agreed – even after sharing that she didn’t believe in God, and claiming she was a ‘witch’. After sharing his faith, Ram began to pray for Sophie.
“I touched the hand and prayed, moving my hands from finger to shoulder, rebuking the spirit of pain to go away in the name of Jesus,” he says. “After I prayed, I asked her to move her hand, and she said: ‘Yes, I don’t have pain anymore.’ We praised the Lord.”
Not only was Ram able to show Sophie healing through faithful prayer (James 5:14-15), but it was also a wonderful opportunity to show the power of prayer to the other English class students. “While I was talking to her, all the students were watching very inquisitively,” he adds.
God’s not only been at work in English classes. Our Engage workers are seeing God move in the lives of people they meet in a range of ministries: from street evangelism to book shops and family fun days.
“SIM UK continues to see God work in remarkable ways at every level of the Engage programme, whether it be for a one-to-two-year placement for a single person, or a longer-term placement for a couple or family,” says Engage coordinator Tim Barrow.
Find out more about how God’s using our UK Engage programme at www.sim.co.uk/engage
Do you feel called to serve?
Talk to us
Email [email protected] if you’re interested in serving through our Engage programme, or if your church would like to be involved.
*Name changed
What do you do at SIM UK?
My role at SIM UK is Engage Coordinator, which involves working with the Engage team to receive gospel workers into the UK (primarily from the majority world) and placing them with a carefully selected receiving church.
Engage workers help resource the church they’re placed in, to reach out cross-culturally with God’s love and truth to local multi-ethnic communities.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
The job involves working with several entities – the UK receiving church, the potential gospel worker, the SIM global entity under which the worker’s being sent, and very often, the main sending church of the gospel worker in their home country.
My work with these entities helps to discern the compatibility of the worker to the receiving church, and then to discern the mutual call of God, so all involved are convinced that the placement of the gospel worker with the receiving church is God’s will.
This is a fundamental step that cannot be rushed and may determine whether there’s an open door to proceed. Once we’ve established the compatibility and call, work begins on the practical arrangements for the worker to come; such as support budgeting, partnership agreement, visa arrangements, orientation, housing, schooling (if receiving a family), initial objectives, and strategy.
What makes you passionate about your work?
I’m passionate about Engage because I believe first and foremost that it’s a part of God’s vision for mission – not just to send out gospel workers from the UK, but also to receive workers into the UK. The Great Commission nations are quite literally on our doorstep, and many UK churches are echoing the Macedonian call saying ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’. Acts 16:9. At the same time, God is working in many of the majority-world partner churches, moving and maturing them to become fully-fledged sending churches.
How have you seen God working through your job?
I’ve been privileged to see God work at every level of the Engage initiative, from provision of resources to approval of visas, to the successful placement of gospel workers and to the abundant spiritual fruit of the worker’s ministry.
These aspects and many more besides, have been against the odds and seemed impossible at the time, but God has, and continues to be faithful, as we look to him in faith. It’s his work, and it’s exciting to be a part of what he’s doing.
In what ways do you continue your ministry in life outside of work?
To use every opportunity to share and inform others of what God is doing through Engage and how they can be a part of this.
How can we pray for you?
For the active Engage workers: Ram and Keshari, Lawrence and Elizabeth, Mary, and Haroon and Mariam.
For potential Engage workers Kirubel, Andrew, and Sharon.
For SIM UK leadership to discern the Lord’s direction and leading for Engage and UK ministry, and to move hand in hand with Jesus.
Calling all the artists, carpenters, teachers, engineers, accountants, techies, nurses, or administrators! Calling singles, couples, and families. Calling everybody who loves Jesus: Bring your tools to the table and embrace whatever God has for you on a short-term mission trip with SIM UK.
“All of us have gifts, talents, resources and experience given to us by God, which we can use to glorify him and to serve others,” says SIM UK Director Alex Hawke, “and he asks us to be faithful with what we’ve got and to bring it to the table and let him put them to use!”
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10
But what do you do when you feel called to serve in cross-cultural mission but don’t know where to begin?
We’d encourage you to explore a short-term mission trip with SIM UK and let us help you find ways that God can use you. We have hundreds of placements across the world, where you can use your training and experience to meet real gospel needs, alongside experienced cross-cultural workers, and gain a new perspective on mission and what it means to serve.
Serving In Mission is passionate about reaching people anywhere and everywhere with Jesus’ message of hope and we have opportunities to make Christ known in every possible walk of life.
Currently, we’re helping 60 people enquiring about mission, and so far, 25 have been accepted to serve overseas in 2025 – some of whom plan to serve short term.
For many, a short-term placement also offers the opportunity to deepen their relationship with God as they join in what he’s doing and get a better understand of his calling for their future.
Trainee teacher Daniel says his life was radically changed after helping at a children’s camp in a North African country where it’s difficult to be a Christian.
“I found my trip challenging, yet inspiring, especially when I had a meal with two local believers and heard about their obedience to God’s call and their work in the region, amidst governmental oppression and heightened tensions,” he recalls.
“During my stay, these song lyrics rang in my head: ‘What my eyes have seen my heart can’t ignore’ and I’m no longer okay to take a back seat. Short-term missions open your eyes massively to the need around the nations and how God’s moving in ways beyond our imagination.
“My trip gave me an increasing passion to play a part in God’s worldwide mission and whetted my appetite to use my teaching skills to serve him. I’m now really excited about the future and how God will use me in the long-term, wherever that will be!”
For many people in their 20s and 30s – a season of searching and testing the passions God’s given them – it’s an ideal time to consider serving in mission before entering the workplace.
Medical student Lizzie served short-term with SIM at a mission hospital in South Asia that’s committed to showing God’s love by offering free care for those unable to pay.
“I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity I had at the end of my medical school degree to experience healthcare in an alternative setting and was very excited about the opportunity to be a part of the hospital community for seven weeks,” she says.
“The hospital is committed to showing God’s love by serving the poorest in the region and I found it very inspiring that the team relies heavily on prayer that the funds will be there for the patients and that the medical staff also contribute their pay towards this fund.
“It was very impactful for me as I experienced first-hand a close sense of God’s presence and had many prayers answered during my seven weeks there.”
Like many short-termers, Lizzie returned more committed to local and overseas missions.
“Before my trip I didn’t think exploring cross-cultural mission was something I’d want to do long-term, but now I’d definitely be open to doing long-term overseas mission,” she adds.
“I discovered that as Christians, we plant seeds and it’s God who does the main work. Mission can be very relational — showing God’s love, praying for people, and being honest when questions arise.
“I also think our mission field is wherever God has called us now, so I don’t need to wait until I reach a certain stage in my career to be a mission worker.”
SIM UK can also help if you want to combine a short-term placement with your vocation and make the most of tentmaking opportunities.
When teacher Joanne successfully applied for a two-year post to teach missionary children in Liberia, she turned to us to help her prepare for the challenges ahead: “I didn’t have any previous mission experience and SIM has decades of helping people engage in many different ministries around the world,” she explains.
“SIM helped me to prepare for this journey and to learn more about what I was getting into!
“I wouldn’t have been prepared for the new cultures, the big changes and all the practical stuff without SIM’s help.”
Joanne arrived in the summer and although her main job is teaching, the Lord is providing opportunities for her to share her faith with people she meets in the community.
“I talk with the guards every day and share the gospel with them. I’m looking forward to the day when I know the culture better and feel more able to share the wonderful news about Jesus Christ with people I meet,” she adds.
If you have a skill, experience, or an area you’re passionate about, SIM has a large network across 80 countries to help you find a place to serve.
And short-term mission isn’t just for young people. For six weeks, retired nurse Barbara, worked with an NGO team in Greece to provide support, friendship, and activities for refugees.
Many refugees on their way west, were getting “stuck” in Greece and Barbara had become passionate about their plight in response to the harrowing events that were constantly unfolding on the TV news.
“The moment I set foot in the camp, I knew I was in the right place as even though many were passing through, God was working in their lives. I saw terrible things, but the joy came from conversations with the refugees as I tried to listen, show kindness, and share the gospel whenever I could.
“I feel God used my age and experience as I couldn’t have done it when I was younger,” she admits.
Following a conversation with your church leaders, it’s time to start talking with SIM UK about how together, we can help make that happen as short-term mission isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.
Our Forged programme draws on SIM’s vast experience and network of the countries where we operate, to find suitable placements, depending on your availability.
Once you’ve filled in an enquiry form, our team of people are experts in finding the ‘right fit’ for you, whatever your age, skill set, or gift mix.
This results in embarking on a short-term mission – that can last from a few months, up to two years – where you’ll get the chance to have a kingdom impact and get a taste of what a life serving in cross-cultural mission could look like.
“Maybe God is nudging you towards a new way of using your vocation where you are, or maybe in another part of the world,” says Alex. “Our mobilisers would love to connect with you to discover how best to use your gifts and skills in cross-cultural mission.
“Our approach is prayerful and relational, seeking Christ for where he’s leading. It might feel daunting, but please get in touch. We’ll do the journey in partnership with your church so that you’re supported and surrounded in each step you take.”
Do you feel called to go?
Go to www.sim.co.uk/forged to learn more about a short-term mission trip with SIM UK.
Talk to us
Email [email protected] to arrange a ‘no-pressure’ conversation to explore how God might want you to learn, grow, and serve, through a short-term mission.
In 1990, Ruth Guinness visited Malawi for the first time whilst studying at university. Ten years later, she arrived in Malawi with Serving In Mission and is still based in the city of Blantyre in her role as SIM’s Ministry Point Person for Theological and Missiological Education.
Since childhood, Ruth has felt God speaking to her in different ways: “He gave me a love for his Word and grew the desire in me to serve him in whatever way I could,” she says. After graduating, Ruth spent a year in Kenya as a short-term mission worker and then followed advice to complete her training and get teaching experience in the UK before going into mission long term.
“It would have been very easy to settle down in the UK, but I began to feel God was pushing me, nudging me and saying: ‘Don’t forget’. So, after much prayer and talking with my church, I went to All Nations Christian College to train in cross-cultural mission. Following that, I joined SIM and was sent to Malawi.”
Ruth has witnessed many changes during her time serving in Malawi. With the population having nearly doubled and huge rises in mobile phone usage, the opportunities to connect with people have also shifted and grown. However, “although there have been outward changes, many needs are the same as they were 25 years ago,” she adds.
Worldwide, more than 90% of pastors have had no formal theological training. “There’s a huge need for the church to grow in their depth of knowledge and understanding of God’s word; to walk with the Lord in day-to-day discipleship; and to reach out to others with God’s love – to look outward rather than inward,” Ruth explains.
Through her current role supporting theological education, Ruth was given the opportunity to help create a resource that explained the story of the whole Bible from beginning to end: from creation to new creation, suitable for the Malawi context.
“I jumped at the idea”, she recalls. “It sounded really exciting to me!”
The course is called The Story of God and His World and after spending the first few months of 2024 designing the course with a colleague, Ruth also helped run three pilot courses and gather feedback.
“Each of those groups went really well,” she says. “They were all different, but I could see that God had been at work: both in the creation of the course and in the participants themselves.”
One participant told the group about a conversation he’d had at work. Using ideas from the course, he was able to share the gospel with his colleague who’d been questioning many things following the death of a loved one.
“It was wonderful to see him putting into practice what he’d learned and being able to use it to talk to a non-Christian friend.”
Another member used what he’d learnt to share the good news with a group of doctors visiting from the UK. During their evening meal together, he gave thanks to God for the meal, and quickly realised that none of the doctors knew what he was doing.
“When asked if they were Christians, the doctors said ‘No’. This was quite surprising for my Malawian friend, who’d assumed that people from the UK were Christian,” Ruth recalls.
Having started the conversation, he was able to carry on and share the story of the Bible with them, going through the six parts of the story he’d learnt on the course.
“It’s really exciting to see that this resource has given people a tool to be able to explain the gospel to people they meet. And it’s exciting to think of the potential that it can have, especially in training church leaders.
“By giving them a better foundational knowledge of God’s story, they can then help others in the church to understand the Bible themselves and play their part in God’s mission.”
Throughout SIM there are many people serving in theological education. Our vision is to see competent and equipped disciples of Jesus bringing the gospel to communities where Christ is least known, and Christ-centred churches led by missional leaders teaching and preaching God’s word faithfully.
Please pray for:
Finalising The Story of God and His World course so it can be used by many to the glory of God.
For everyone involved in the training of pastors and church leaders.
For personal relationships and opportunities for discipling and mentoring.
Inspired by Ruth’s story and want to get involved in mission? Whatever your skill-set, availability, or where you’d like to go in the world, discover where God might be calling you on our Opportunities Search.
It’s my privilege to be SIM UK’s Prayer Coordinator. I first took on this role in May 2015, so that’s 10 years ago!
What does your job look like day-to-day?
Each day is different. As part of the communications team, I have various administrative responsibilities, but the part of my role I most love, is getting to read and pray through the letters sent by our mission workers each week.
It’s amazing to see God at work in some of the world’s least-reached communities and to play a part in that – from lamenting and longing for God to break down spiritual barriers, to rejoicing with the angels in heaven when someone we’ve been praying for embraces the gift of salvation!
What makes you passionate about working for SIM?
SIM’s motto is by prayer. I passionately believe in the power of prayer and the importance of prayer in the spiritual battle our mission workers face daily.
In 2019, SIM launched its Faithful Witness programme, focusing on taking the gospel to the least-reached parts of the globe and it’s been amazing to pray with these teams each month, and to see spiritual strongholds broken and gospel seeds planted.
There are still so many globally who’ve yet to hear the name of Jesus. I love being able to share even a small glimpse of what I read and learn with our faithful prayer supporters around the UK, hopefully encouraging them in their prayers and helping them to see all the Lord’s doing.
How have you seen God working through your job?
As a UK team we meet to pray every day. It’s immensely encouraging to pray with people all the way from when they first make contact with their Mobiliser and work through the discernment process; as they face the challenge of support-raising; as they see the Lord’s hand of provision and then, as they head out to wherever God’s called them.
We continue to pray with our workers through culture shock and language challenges and as the Lord walks with them each step of the way until they have the words to start basic conversations about Jesus with those around them. It’s an amazing privilege to journey with them and then see God at work in, and through them, as they serve, striving to make his name known.
In what ways do you continue your ministry in life outside of work?
We’re all called to make disciples of Jesus where he’s placed us. At the moment, I feel called to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the parents and grandparents in the school queue and in my relationships with my friends, who don’t yet know Jesus. There’s so much pain and heartache in many of their lives and I do my best to point their eyes to the one who can bring them true hope, peace, and joy.
How can we pray for you?
When I first took on the role of Prayer Coordinator, the current director prayed over me that I would be like Epaphras. Pray that I would be faithful in wrestling in prayer* for God’s people serving around the world and for all those who don’t yet know him globally, and on my doorstep.
Pray I’d be a faithful servant, walking closely with the Lord, constantly listening for his still small voice, prompting, guiding, and moulding.
In the heart of London, Engage worker Mary is bringing the hope of the gospel to the streets of Islington through her work with Inspire St James Clerkenwell.
Having grown up in Ethiopia, Mary followed God’s call to move to London to bring the good news to those who’ve never heard about Jesus.
Sent via SIM’s East Africa office, Mary realised she was the answer to her new church’s prayers, as with a congregation of 60% immigrants, Inspire had been praying for new ways to connect with its local community.
“God has been at work in the past four years, first and foremost in my own personal life.” she says. “Living in Ethiopia and worshipping in my church was amazing, but being in London in a super diverse church, worshipping with the nations, and studying the Bible with people from different cultures, has been a little bit of a taste of heaven for me. Seeing how they love Jesus in their own way, hearing them praise God and interpreting the gospel … has grown me so much.”
Mary’s main ministry is estate outreach, where she meets people from many ethnic and religious backgrounds.
“As an African and as an immigrant myself has been amazing! God has redeemed my background and who I am, because people are able to relate to me.”
This common ground helps Mary to develop friendships as part of her ministry, she’s knocked on 1,000 doors and had hundreds of gospel conversations. As a result, many have come to church and attended different evangelistic events, such as Christianity Explored.
Through teaching English, Mary sees around 20 different people each week – two of whom have since given their life to Christ.
Her third area of ministry, Life Skills with CAP, has run six times with 100 people taking part. The church is now excited to be baptising its first three people who came to Christ through the life skills group.
“In heaven there is great joy over one sinner repenting. There is much joy and rejoicing in my heart seeing all the fruit through these ministries in the past four years” adds Mary.
Our Engage programme places gifted cross-cultural workers from overseas into UK churches. There are many opportunities to reach significant diaspora communities, through outreach ministries, activities, or groups, such as sports, language teaching, music or discussion. Find out more about Engage.
What do you do at SIM UK?
I am Lead Mobiliser and Safeguarding Lead, and I’ve been with the Mobilisation team for about five-and-a-half years.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
I line-manage two of the mobilisers, which involves overseeing their workload, supporting them, and answering any questions they have. I also support Hannah Boxall however she needs.
As a Mobiliser, I’ll answer enquiries from anyone interested in serving with SIM UK, meet with them and invite them to apply if we want to go ahead. Then, I’ll research placements, help the applicants through the process and keep in touch with them once they’re sent out.
When the mission workers come back, we’ll debrief together, making sure everything went well. I’ll attend to any issues, such as sending them for health checks in case they picked anything up. If it’s been a stressful time, I’ll help them process that.
As Safeguarding Lead, if any safeguarding issues come up, I’m the first port of call and I’ll look into the situation.
There’s no normal day!
What makes you passionate about your role?
I love mission. I want to see people come to know the Lord, people to go deeper with the Lord and for them to experience the Lord in new ways. I used to be a mission worker – I spent five years in Spain doing evangelism and church planting, and then 12 ½ years in Costa Rica doing biblical counselling – so helping people and getting to still be part of that is what motivates me.
How have you seen God working through your job?
When I first started with SIM, and I joined a meeting with a couple, who’d come back from Liberia. The husband was a dentist, and he said to me: ‘How many dentists are in Liberia?‘
Liberia has a population of five million, and there were five or six dentists, so you can imagine the patients’ problems he’d dealt with: not the extractions or fillings, but serious health issues like tumours, because they hadn’t had regular check-ups to catch problems early.
You couldn’t even train to be a dentist in Liberia, they didn’t have anything. But in the past couple of years, the couple received funding that enabled them to establish a dental school, with a course that’s recognised by a university in the UK. Having people able to train to be dentists there is making a huge difference in Liberia.
Another story where I’ve seen God at work is about a young lady who went to Ghana to live in a place where many people can’t read or write. So, she brought the gospel to them in a new way.
Through her love for art, this gifted mission worker depicted the story of grief in the Bible and displayed the pictures around her house. She then invited people to come to her house and explained what emotions were represented in each picture and inviting them to come to God with these emotions. It was incredible how she took this idea and thought, ‘How do I help these people?’
She brought the gospel to people – not in a traditional way like a sit-down Bible study – but by explaining about how Jesus is the one who can heal this sorrow, grief, sadness and anger in their hearts.
How can we pray for you?
For more people in Scotland to respond to the Lord’s call – I would love to see more people come through longer term.
That I continue to serve the people I look after well and equip them well so they are able to see others come to know the Lord.
Training coaches is an integral and expanding part of SIM’s Sports Friends ministry and now hundreds of coaches across the globe can be trained at the click of a button.
More than 20 years ago, Serving In Mission knew that in most countries they served, populations were very young, and they didn’t have many youth-focused ministries; nor did their local church partners.
SIM needed to develop ideas that worked on the ground, and God provided the answer in the shape of two men, from opposite corners of the world. He gave them the vision to start a global movement of churches using sport to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Sports Friends began in Ethiopia in 2002 and today, more than 14,000 godly volunteer coaches serve more than 280,000 young people in 19 countries.
In some places where Sports Friends works, churches and coaches are frequently threatened, cheated, or attacked. Yet, despite this persecution, God’s church is growing and our teams in these areas draw strength from God’s faithfulness and from knowing other Christians are praying for them and standing with them from afar.
Here in the UK, SIM workers Somchai and Cat Tongkao – who are sent by Holcombe Brook Methodist Church, Bury – are training and equipping churches across Manchester to replicate the Sports Friends model in their local communities.
One of those is Bridge Community Church in Radcliffe – a town grappling with the weight of fractured families, poverty, and crime. As their pastor, Tom King, observes, “Jesus shared life with people where they are. And if you want to know where people are in Manchester, they’re in sport; they’re in football.”
When asked what they loved most about the church’s football coaching the kids responded: “Some adults can be a bit mad and scream at you when you do something wrong, but Tom tells you in a really kind way.”
“I like that Somchai is always in a happy mood and is very welcoming. When people start messing around, he just tells them, ‘Come on, let’s keep going’ and they just do it.”
“Every time when we’re playing football and we do training, we always have a talk and Tom tells us about Jesus.”
“I’m really grateful they spend all their free time with us being kind when they could be on their phones or laptops.”
This year, the ministry has launched a new online training programme to help coaches as they invest in their team technically, physically, socially, psychologically, and spiritually. Here, Communications Intern DK Roy, shares her conversation with SIM UK’s Ben Wildman, who works to enhance the training and equipping of Sports Friends coaches.
Ben Wildman is full of energy, an insightful communicator, and a bold bringer of new ideas. I had the chance to chat with him about how he’s implementing innovation in the training of Sports Friends’ coaches – what he calls the “bread and butter” of the ministry.
Innovation is starting with something you already have and improving it. For more than 20 years, coaches from local churches have been trained to use sports as the platform to share the gospel with young people in their communities.
In his role as Sports Friends Director of Training, Ben is using new technology to take this to the next level. What was previously done through manuals is now communicated online and available to coaches anywhere in the world.
The online training platform has various levels and types of training: Level One is all about the coach and how to start a church-centred sports ministry and the new Level Two is directed toward the player, with a deeper focus on ministry.
Ben, who is sent by Holy Trinity Jesmond Church in Newcastle Upon Tyne, is hoping to initiate Level Three soon, which will focus on the community and the local church.
One positive of this plunge deeper into the digital world is that language becomes less of a barrier. Ben shares that at a recent global conference, a Sports Friend’s worker told him, “Because of this online translation option, you have saved me nine months of translation work!” and he can now share this training with coaches in their heart language.
While Ben reminds me that face-to-face training will always play a vital part in the Sports Friends ministry, he says it must also make the most of the online tools and platforms at its disposal.
“We’re excited about what the future holds. The world is ever-changing with AI and various other developments. We’re open to seeing how we can, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, leverage the ever-changing world of technology to continue to make disciples and advance God’s kingdom.” he adds.
Please pray
Praise God for how he has moved powerfully through the Sports Friends ministry for more than 20 years.
Pray God will open doors for Sports Friends to move into new areas that are least reached with the gospel.
Pray for coaches where sharing the gospel message could mean putting their lives, homes, and families at risk.
The digital space is not only a means of enabling exploitation, it’s also an effective tool to protect the world’s most vulnerable people and create a space where the gospel can be heard and Christ can be known.
Today, tens of millions of people are trapped in human trafficking and exploitation in every country of the world. In response, SIM established For Freedom, its anti-trafficking and exploitation ministry.
Serving In Mission workers are currently serving in more than 70 countries and many are in communities where people are vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.
For Freedom offers training and resources to equip our mission workers so they can conduct their ministries to address some of the risks vulnerable people face and to care for them holistically.
The latest *global report on human trafficking reports that child trafficking; trafficking for forced labour; and forced criminality; are all on the rise as poverty, conflict, and climate change leave more people vulnerable to exploitation,
The number of men, women and children, who are exploited for labour, services, and commercial sex, is increasing: partly due to rapid advances in digital technology that make it much easier for traffickers to find and exploit their victims.
Sarah Scott Webb, Serving In Mission’s For Freedom ministry co-lead says traffickers have become adept at using internet platforms, including social media channels, to amplify the reach, scale, and speed of their exploitation of victims.
She recently attended a Global Summit on Technology and Exploitation in the USA, where more than 600 movement leaders and advocates from 15 countries, gathered to learn more about Artificial Intelligence (AI), emerging technology and its impact on exploitation.
At the summit, Sarah heard disturbing accounts of how traffickers are using popular online platforms to groom and exploit new victims.
“It was shocking to hear that most trafficking is now occurring on social media — especially on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook,” she says, “and it’s teenage boys who are being targeted the most.”
Sarah advocates some simple tips for keeping safe on social media and building a ‘healthy cynicism’ when online: “Make sure your privacy settings are always on, and location is always turned off — and don’t ‘engage’ with, ‘like’, or comment on anyone’s posts unless you know them in real life.”
Sarah adds: “We heard many examples of tech companies that are developing new platforms and protections to keep us safe online. This reinforces the need to teach our young people how to be aware of the dangers online, and how to use technology safely.”
While speakers at the summit discussed the dangers of new technologies, they also concluded that it’s also our greatest weapon to fight exploitation and restore dignity to survivors. Today, social messaging apps can be used by For Freedom workers and partners to prevent trafficking from happening in their communities.
During the opening months of the Ukraine war, For Freedom partners used social media channels, websites, and WhatsApp groups to share information and help many displaced people avoid traffickers and find safe passage.
For Freedom workers in Zimbabwe are also using WhatsApp groups to learn about local trafficking trends and to teach others what to watch out for. They belong to a local WhatsApp group that regularly posts stories of people who’ve been trafficked.
“This WhatsApp group is a powerful way that people are keeping safe from traffickers,” says Sarah. “People hear about where traffickers are operating and how they’re trying to trick them with false job offers. With this knowledge, they can keep safe.”
Making people aware of online dangers and sharing how to use technology safely are important ways of protecting the vulnerable and preventing trafficking and exploitation.
“Because SIM is serving in so many communities — in many practical ministries, including health, sports, church planting and education to name a few — we’re in a prime position to share this information, put some practical protective measures in place and keep our communities safe,” she adds.
“Sharing God’s love in this practical way opens doors to be able to share the good news of Jesus.”
For Freedom ministry co-lead Karine Woldhuis became aware of a trafficking case in Loja, Ecuador, where she was serving with her family. Despite the whole town immediately responding and searching for a young girl who’d been taken, sadly she was killed by her traffickers.
“I could see the need for us as Serving In Mission to grapple with the issue, whether it was in southern Ecuador, or somewhere in Africa or Asia,” she shares.
“Everywhere we work, we can be responding to people at risk of being trafficked as part of our mission call.
“Since For Freedom began, there’s been a steady increase of understanding of how modern slavery exists in the places where we serve and we have an opportunity to take simple, yet effective measures, to prevent human trafficking across many different ministries.”
*2024 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Report on Trafficking in Persons
Please pray
Please pray that Sarah and Karen may know the Lord’s direction and leading as they finalise a new five-year For Freedom strategic plan.
Pray the Lord will reveal himself to the millions of human trafficking victims in the midst of their suffering.
For the Lord to give SIM workers wisdom about how to keep vulnerable and desperate people safe in the communities they serve.
Living in a rural area of Ghana where it’s common for people to farm for their year’s food, Yvonne worked faithfully to change the idea that work was a curse. Centred around Genesis 3, it’s common to think that because the ground is cursed, the workers must be also.
But throughout her many years serving in Ghana, Yvonne saw the exciting change that can result from sharing more about God and his love for them. She collaborated with a growing team of Ghanaians in a local Bible school and in surrounding churches, to teach pastors and church leaders what the Bible says about business, money, and work.
“Amongst all the things we teach them about business, we teach them that God was the first farmer. When he put Adam in the garden in Genesis 2 v 15 the garden was already flourishing and all Adam had to do was pick the fruit.
“When farmers realise that what they’re doing is an honourable business and the same as what God did, it just changes them! They want to work, and they want to follow God.”
Alongside her teaching ministry, Yvonne set up a social enterprise with a pastor – which they hope will one day be a profitable business. Buying the land from people who knew little about God gave her amazing opportunities to discuss the Bible and pray for them as they work together on the land.
The connections Yvonne built over the years are ones she still values today and something that goes two ways. Forming close relationships with local women in Ghana is not something she found happened quickly, but Yvonne says being accepted by the women she was living close to was highly valuable to her.
“It can be years before they think ‘Yes I can trust this person and I will tell them things close to me’ … so that’s greatly rewarding when it happens.”
Whilst living in Tamale, Yvonne lived in a Muslim community, which always visited when passing through.
“I visited the men outside the mosque, I visited the women in their houses, the children came to play… and said to me: ‘Yvonne, you have never forgotten us. You always come and visit us.”
Continuing to build these connections gave Yvonne the time to share the gospel message with them, even if she didn’t always know how initial conversations would turn to talking about Jesus. But God worked through her and gave her the opening she needed to share about why Christ died on the cross for them. “These guys heard the whole gospel … and asked me lots of questions.”
Yvonne is now back in the UK, but continues to support the work in Ghana and would love to see new people join the team. SIM Ghana needs a treasurer and the social enterprise needs a food production manager – find out more about opportunities in Ghana.
Enquire here if you would like to find out more about the production manager opportunity, mentioning Yvonne Mildred and the Zuru project.
What do you do at SIM UK?
I’m the Families Adviser for SIM UK, which is part of the People Care team. My role involves resourcing and supporting parents in educational issues and offering pastoral care as they serve overseas. I also connect with TCKs (Third Culture Kids) to help them navigate the joys and challenges of growing up between different cultures.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
No day is the same, and it varies, depending on the time of the year. During the summer months, many families return on Home Assignment and so I’m much busier doing debriefs with the children and checking in on families, with time to chat through any concerns they might have and to try and support them in whatever way they need. There’s a lot of preparation involved as I create bespoke material for each family’s needs in order to support them in the best way possible.
Throughout the rest of the year, my time is spent checking in on families via email, or Zoom, and answering questions they might have about education, or anything else they need help with. I’ll also send them any resources that might be helpful.
Tell us more about your time overseas and how it impacted your current job?
Before joining the team as the Families Adviser, I served with SIM overseas with my family short-term. After this, it was clear God was leading us to serve him long term. We felt that SIM was an organisation we could get on board with and felt like a family where we’d be supported well.
When we came back from serving overseas, it never felt right to cut ties with our SIM ‘family’ that we’d been a part of since 1994! The transition back to the UK wasn’t an easy one for us, and because it was a rocky re-entry for my own children, I ended up doing a lot of reading and research into what it meant for them to have left the country they grew up in and return to their ‘passport country’, alongside considering the impact all on TCKs and this sense of longing and identity. As I did this, I became passionate about sharing what I’d learnt and wanted to ensure other families also had this understanding and information.
How have you seen God working through your job?
I’m sure there are times when we all wonder whether what we do makes a difference to those we’re serving or working with, and I’ve definitely wondered that sometimes! So, it’s really encouraging when families have been in touch with comments such as, ‘We didn’t know we needed you until we spent time with you. And because of you, we’re able to remain where we are.‘ That’s a huge encouragement and spurs me on in my role.
Having the opportunity to meet with TCKs and to see God working in their own life and in their family’s lives is really encouraging to see.
How can we pray for you?
For the families that serve with SIM: that I’m able to serve them well. For wisdom in knowing how to interact well with them, and for me to support them in the best way I can.
For our TCKs as they live a life that’s incredibly different from their peers in this country. For God to work in them, and for opportunities for them to go on and to serve him later in their own lives.
On a sunny afternoon in September, mission workers Steve and Mary visited the SIM UK office and encouraged the team with stories of God at work during 33 years of overseas mission work.
After completing a short-term assignment in Bolivia during his university studies, Steve felt led back to the country to serve long-term. Serving for so many years allowed them to see a shift in mission work:
“The most exciting thing to see is a country that’s received missionaries for a century, now starting to send their own missionaries. … There are now Bolivian missionaries serving in Kenya, Indonesia and a number of places that are not as open to granting visas to Western countries – but Bolivians can go.”
The Hawthornes used the skills God has given them in medicine and education to further his kingdom. Steve worked 15 years in a rural hospital and Mary used her gifts in education to do Sunday school training. Both were also involved in leadership development among the Quechua churches.
In 2012, they faced new opportunities and challenges after relocating to Potosí, in Bolivia, where there’s a need to share Christ’s love with the mining communities. As one of the highest cities in the world – at 4,090 metres (13,420 ft) above sea level – Potosí was once the largest and richest city on the planet. The sprawling Cerro Rico (literally ‘Rich Mountain’) towers over the city and has been mined for silver for 500 years.
The miners of Potosí work in some of the darkest places on earth, physically and spiritually, and most have never heard God’s good news of salvation.
“Because of the work they do underground, the miners feel like they’re working in the devil’s territory and so make sacrifices to an image of the devil at the entrance to every mine. … If anyone didn’t participate in the offerings to the devil, the miners thought they could bring bad luck to the whole crew.”
Image by SeetoPhotography
Getting access into the mines to share the gospel wasn’t going to be easy, but God used Steve and Mary to shine his light through the darkness.
Every week, a lady would bring her children to the local church the Hawthornes attended. Her husband, Luis*, who had been a miner since his teenage years, didn’t join them. One day, while working in the tunnels far underground, Luis was unaware that NOx, a colourless, odourless gas, which forms after the explosion of dynamite, had collected. Overcome with fumes, he fell backwards and broke his neck.
Luis spent two months in the hospital, with his neck immobilised. One afternoon, a woman from another local church made her regular visit to local patients.
“He still remembers seeing her enter his ward sort of silhouetted – there was a window with the sun setting behind her, lighting her up where her profile was dark but there was this glow around her. She came over and shared the gospel with him, and that’s how he became a Christian.”
This gave Steve the opening he needed to get inside the mines, and he became an occupational health and safety worker for the mining company. Luis, now recovered, invited the Hawthornes and other miners to his house for Bible study, and Steve and Mary were able to help them understand the Scriptures and to help them share the gospel message.
Work with miners in Potosí (made by SIM)
In 2022, Steve and Mary relocated to the States and continue their mission work as part SIM’s Health Ministries Team. They recruit, prepare and journey with healthcare workers, helping them flourish as they make disciples of Jesus Christ in communities where he is least known.
The connections made after many years of faithful service are continuing to bear fruit. Steve and Mary’s background working in South America have enabled them to link Esther, a dentist from Bolivia, with an SIM family in Peru who make trips out into the countryside to give dental treatment in Quechua villages. As a native Quechua speaker and with a heart to use her profession for mission work, Esther will make a valuable addition to the trips.
“That’s what I like about my job – being able to network people that we’ve known, people that we’ve discipled in the past in Bolivia with people who are using their vocation in healthcare ministries to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Join them up to see even more fruit from what they do.”
Pray for Steve and Mary
As Steve shifts from working overseas to an office-based role supporting those going on mission.
For the set of guidelines the Health Ministries team are creating for how to do Healthcare Ministries well – that field testing goes well, and these can be implemented soon.
That the document will be useful to those working in many countries around the world.
*pseudonym used. Featured image: by SeetoPhotography
Serving short-term with SIM turned into a life-changing journey for friends Lizzie and Katie.
“My faith is the cornerstone of my life, and my desire is to use the skills I’ve gained through my medical degree to serve Jesus,” says Lizzie, who went on a six week placement with SIM in South Asia.
Lizzie was able to share the joys and challenges of navigating unfamiliar and unexpected situations with her great friend Katie, whom she first met at university: “We met through various Christian freshers events and ended up going to the same church and living on the same road… and here we are five years later!” she says.
“We both wanted to explore mission abroad and go with another person, so it was a perfect fit!” she adds.
“We didn’t feel called anywhere in particular,” recalls Katie,” our general approach was to explore options and pray and see which doors God closed, and then to pursue the ones which were open.
“It was interesting as we never felt a particularly strong calling to South Asia, however, after being there, we can definitely see how that was exactly where God wanted us to be!”
The medical students served at a mission hospital committed to showing God’s love by offering free care for those unable to pay.
“It gave us such a perspective about the purpose and importance of the hospital and seeing the love and care for each individual patient and staff member. To see people following God’s calling on their lives, and the joys, triumphs, and challenges in that was also really encouraging,” says Katie.
Although their plans often didn’t go the way they expected, the pair say God was always in control and worked things out, particularly when they faced their first challenge early on.
“Lizzie was turned away at the airport due to a damaged passport (which she had had checked and was told was fine to fly with), so I flew alone,” recalls Katie. “Once landing, I had to spend a few days alone before travelling into the hospital and so was grateful for the contacts I had with SIM.
“But God was very gracious and kind to both of us in those days we were separated. We were also so grateful for all our church family, friends and family praying and that Lizzie got a new passport quickly and joined me at the hospital only one day later than planned!”
During their mission trip, both students say they grew in their faith, as they developed a greater appreciation for global health challenges and enhanced their medical skills in a resource-poor environment.
“We were sad to leave the hospital and the community. Six weeks is so short, and some connections felt like they were just starting to form and flourish. The country, lifestyle, community etc, were so beautiful and we miss it!” admits Katie, “but we also acknowledged our need to progress in our training and that we couldn’t stay any longer.”
Lizzie recalls: “I developed the habit of turning to God in prayer in all circumstances — big or small — rejoicing when things don’t go to my plan, and confidence in my identity as a child of God. I gained a love and appreciation of God as a good father who provides, and awe at the fact that he is the God of all nations, and yet he cares about me personally.”
Now they are back in the UK, the young medics say they’re grateful for the relationships formed, the lessons learned, and the ways in which this experience has shaped their perspective on medicine and mission. And while their futures remain quite open and they don’t know what God has in store for them, they’re prayerfully consider all their options.
“Out trip has given me more appreciation of skills that I can develop over the next few years that would be helpful in overseas medical work, and how living abroad could look like. I’m not sure if God has/will call me to overseas mission, so we’ll have to see!” says Katie.
However, Lizzie is typical of many who go on short-term mission and invariably return more committed to local and world mission.
“Before our trip I didn’t think exploring cross-cultural mission was something I’d want to do long-term, but now I’d definitely be open to doing long term overseas mission,” she says.
“I’ve discovered that as Christians we plant seeds and it’s God who does the main work. Mission can be very relational — showing God’s love, praying for people, and being honest when questions arise. I’ve learned that this can be hugely impactful, even though it isn’t overtly sharing the gospel. I also think there’s a need in many places, and our mission field is wherever God has called us now, so I don’t need to wait until I reach a certain stage in my career to be a mission worker.”
Let ourForgedprogramme help you explore how your skills and experience connects with opportunities and needs across the world.
What do you do at SIM UK?
I am a Mobiliser and I have been part of the mobilisation team for the past eight years.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
A lot of my role is connected to people who want to work overseas: walking with them through the application process, finding them placements, making sure they’re doing well on the field as well as when they return back. Coming back brings its own challenges, so I try and make sure they have what they need by doing debriefs to help them readjust to life back in the UK.
I’m also part of a team of people from different mission organisations that go into universities and speak to groups of students throughout the year.
What makes you enthusiastic about your work?
Having gone overseas for 15 years out of conviction that it was where the Lord was leading us, then it becomes part of who you are and you recognise that the gospel isn’t just for us – it’s for every person on the planet. Taking the transforming gospel to the corners of the earth is so important and motivates me in all I do.
How have you seen God working through your job?
It can be hard to define the fruits in ministry sometimes because we don’t always see how God moves, we just know that he does. Sometimes, you see things lining up so well when people go and serve. Other times, it can be supporting people who’ve crashed and you’re helping build them up again so they continue to serve. Or, it’s answered prayer on numerous occasions.
How have you been involved in mission in the past?
My family and I served overseas for 15 years. From 2000-2015 we worked in West Africa, first doing church planting among the Fulani people, then in the last five years, we were involved in theological education, training Fulani-speaking Christians in ministry.
How can we pray for you?
For wisdom – when people come to SIM exploring, it’s not only seeing if the Lord is leading them into mission, but finding the right placement for them.
Helping enquirers to discern whether this is where the Lord is leading them, and what shape their ministry will take.
Liffy Gorton has previously served in West Africa, where she taught English and worked with street women. This summer, she returned to her birth country to work with a project called Talitha Cumi, which aims to teach vulnerable girls in rural Zimbabwe about the Lord Jesus and to provide funds so they can complete their schooling. Here she shares how the Talitha Cumi project began:
In 2011, Violet Myambo, a teacher at a Zimbabwe mission high school, was approached by two young sisters whose father had died and whose mother was unable to work.
They were left with responsibility for their two smaller siblings and needed help. Violet’s friendship with the two girls led to practical and financial support for them to continue at school and eventually find work.
This was the start of Talitha Cumi and it later became one of SIM Zimbabwe’s ministries.
There are many more girls in need of help, such as Rosemary, Vimbai, and Brunette, who were kidnapped and abused by a man pretending to be a businessman, who offered them shopkeeper jobs.
Eventually, they all escaped and were helped by Talitha Cumi and their story has a happy ending: Rosemary learned how to cut and design clothes; Vimbai started a vegetable business and Brunette found a proper job.
Today, Violet continues to give practical help and to be a strong advocate for young girls who through poverty, bereavement, abuse, child marriage or a host of other reasons are trapped in circumstances not of their own making.
Talitha Cumi teaches the Bible to help girls discover their value in Christ and their worth to family and society.
As well as enabling them to stay in school, they develop vocational and life skills so that they can make good life choices. Today, 25 young girls are currently receiving support: seven girls are in higher education, 15 are in secondary school and three are in primary school.
An extension of the Talitha Cumi work is helping women to start small businesses in order to provide an income that help them to send their girls to school and to care for them better.
Violet says, “I desire that these girls and women may know Christ and his power to change their lives.”
Talitha Cumi needs your help to raise funds, and support more young girls, expanding their impact in the community. Here are specific things your gift can help with, so these girls can keep learning:
A gift of £25 will buy a school uniform and provide personal hygiene items.
A gift of £50 will pay for a girl’s education for one term at a primary school. £150 will pay for a full year.
A gift of £100 will pay for a girl’s education for one term at a high school. £300 will pay for a full year.
A gift of £616 will pay for a girl’s education for one semester at a university. £1,232 will pay for a full year.
A gift of £200 will give a micro-loan so a mother can set up a business to support her children.
Please go to sim.co.uk/respond/ if you would like to support Talitha Cumi, and mark your gift Overseas Project 96397.
Please pray
Pray that God will continue to encourage and protect the girls supported by the Talitha Cumi ministry that they may mature and become the young women God created them to be.
Pray that the Talitha Cumi ministry will receive the support needed to continue rescuing young girls from vulnerable situations.
Pray for Liffy’s work on a manual to help the girls have a better biblical perspective of their place in the world and their value in Christ.
What’s your role at SIM UK?
I’m SIM UK’s Engagement Officer, based in Cambridge. It’s a new role at SIM that I started in 2024.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
Day-to-day, I create social media posts, write newsletters, update our website and anything else that helps engage people with our work.
A key part of my job is building relationships with our supporters, donors, mission workers, and staff, to help connect them into the SIM community. I work closely with the rest of the communications team to help share the amazing work God is doing through SIM.
What makes you enthusiastic about your work?
I love that my work allows me to be so creative. Seeing ideas come to life and playing a part in shaping the direction of them is an exciting process to be a part of. The fact that I can use the skills God’s given me to further his kingdom — particularly through sharing amazing stories from our mission workers — is wonderful.
How have you seen God working through your job?
Even though I only started at SIM in June, I’ve already seen God at work so much. Getting to join a team God has clearly placed together is such a privilege. Not only is God at work through those serving in different countries, but he’s at work through all the behind-the-scenes work too – in the prayer meetings, the calls with supporters, and even in the spreadsheets!
How do you continue your ministry outside work?
I’m involved in serving at my church on the communications team, youth team, and serving on a Sunday morning. I love any opportunity to have conversations about Jesus with people who are curious to know more, and I’m always up for reading the Bible with them too.
I’ve been involved in youth work at my church for the past six years, because I think investing in young people is important. I lead on youth camps twice a year, and seeing young people’s hunger to know Jesus and desire to put him at the centre of their lives is so inspiring. I definitely learn a lot from them!
How can we pray for you?
Please pray that I can build good relationships with everyone in the SIM UK community and communicate well with them.
Pray for a deeper knowledge of God’s love and his good plans for me.
After five years living in a remote Central Africa community, Sam Knight spoke to SIM UK’s Engagement Officer, Hannah Penwright, about why he’s now serving in a new role to help strengthen the church in France.
After previously serving in Africa, Sam Knight continues to follow God’s call to mission as the Head of Mobilisation at SIM France Belgium. When asked how his new ministry came about, Sam shares:
“My wife Katie and I felt God was leading us to be part of a change that needs to happen in the church in France. Having received great blessings, it now has the opportunity to be a great blessing to others and the rest of the world.”
Sam was recently invited to meet a group of young Christians excited to pray about opportunities for their generation to get involved in mission.
“Young people are both an important part of the church of today and the church of tomorrow and it was so encouraging to see how God is working through them. I can’t convince people to be involved in mission in my own strength, but God can bring people into something that will allow them to serve people in other places.”
Throughout our interview, Sam’s passion for building up and equipping churches for mission shone through. When asked what he finds most rewarding and challenging about mission work, he says:
“One of the most rewarding things is being able to see God working in people’s lives and communities transformed. Being de-rooted from our lives can bring challenges, but it can also bring rewards.
While it’s hard being far away from family and friends, and not having a home in any particular place, it means we can invest and build our lives in a new place which can be incredibly rewarding – and it’s so good to see God at work!”
There are two French teams currently looking to expand their ministries: In Strasbourg, where SIM workers are sharing the gospel with international students, particularly those from a Muslim background; and in Toulouse, where SIM France is sharing the good news with refugees and immigrants.
If you have a heart for working with international students or refugees and immigrants and are interested in finding out more, enquire about serving.
Pray for Sam
As he supports pastors and individuals who want to see more people have a heart for mission in their churches.
For a new era of mission workers sent from churches across France.
That there would be people praying and supporting those sent out as mission workers.
After almost 30 years of serving God in south-west Africa, the highs, lows, and stories of ways God is working in Paul and Hilary’s lives are humbling to hear.
Paul and Hilary Gunnings’ many faithful years in Namibia have allowed them to walk alongside young people growing up in Namibia — like Tom*, who didn’t let having to canoe over a crocodile-infested river stop him from attending school, which he finished in seven years.
His education didn’t stop here either. Tom then went on to attend NETS, a Namibian Bible seminary set up to train pastors and church workers — and where Paul works.
As long-term mission workers, Paul and Hilary were able to witness Tom grow up, as he chose to follow the Bible rather than conform to his culture and paved the way for others after him. Stories like this echoed Hilary’s words: “The longer you’re there, the more you see it: long-term plans that you look back on and say: ‘Wow! God’s amazing.’”
Paul and Hilary not only shared stories about the lives of individuals, but also about how they have seen Namibia change as a country.
As a teacher at St Paul’s College, a Catholic school for children from Reception age through to sixth-form, Hilary has been able to walk with the children through significant changes. St Paul’s was the first school in Namibia to accept black students before independence, resulting in being banned by the government from taking part in school activities and sports. When Namibia became independent however, the school band was invited to march down independence as part of the celebrations, as a picture of an integrated society.
When asked what they find rewarding about mission work, Paul shared:
As a theological educator, I enjoy seeing students wrestling with the Bible and culture, as they not only understand the Bible better but also address cultural issues with biblical truths. They have to be critical of their cultures, asking: ‘As a Bible-believing Christian what can we keep from our culture? What in our culture do we have to stop doing and rule out?’ Seeing students go through this battle is an amazing process. I see it year after year, and it’s fascinating as God challenges people’s beliefs and cultures.
The opportunities to do mission in Namibia are currently focused on two key areas: discipleship and youth/children’s work.
For discipleship, mission workers are helping Christians grow in the way the gospel challenges their way of life, following God’s will for their lives and becoming more like Christ. NETS plays a key role in this, as it disciples students who, in turn, become pastors and church leaders and disciple others.
There is also a need for youth and children’s workers, as mission workers help churches with their youth and Sunday school programmes and show them the value in building up children and young people.
Pray for Paul and Hilary:
For growth in the Namibian SIM team. With six overseas mission workers, and a similar number of Namibians associated with SIM, we pray for some younger members and short-term workers to join the team.
For energy as they work in hands-on roles.
For support to continue.
*Pseudonym used
What do you do at SIM UK?
I am the Irish Mission Mobiliser at SIM UK, working in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
It can look different day-to-day, which I love. Every day I’m in contact with somebody, whether that’s a missionary helping them sort things out, or an enquirer who wants to go out and serve short term. Or I could be in contact with a church, chatting through things with them.
What makes you enthusiastic about your work?
Getting to play a part in somebody serving short term, and what it looks like for them to fulfil the call that God’s put on their life. Also, the privilege that I get to stand alongside long-term mission workers who’ve decided: ‘I’m going to give my whole life to this.’
I love working for SIM because I love the fact that it’s sharing the good news of Jesus with those who are yet to hear it, which is a really important thing and something which we need to focus on.
How have you seen God working through your job?
In the past two-and-a-half years, I’ve seen the next generation of mission workers coming through and God stirring their hearts to go on to the mission field. This is definitely not a dying thing – God is still sending and using people. I haven’t necessarily had to do anything: I haven’t had to go to lots of youth events or conferences, but instead God keeps sending them, which is really exciting.
I got to see one of the young people that I led leave for a mission trip recently, and it’s amazing seeing how God is still speaking to people and using people in mission.
How have you been involved in mission in the past?
When I was 16, I was at a conference, and I felt like God was asking me to go to China. There’s no way I could go when I was 16, but it wasn’t something that I just threw away, it was something that I held very close to my heart. I consulted my youth leaders and pastors at the time, and they helped me work through it. I had the opportunity to go to China in my gap year, during which I worked with vulnerable women and trafficking.
In what ways do you continue your ministry in life outside of work?
Outside of work, I’m involved in youth ministry. I think it’s really important to talk to young people about mission from an early age and making it normal that people are being sent onto the mission field. I recently went to France with a church mission team and I took four young people with me. The youngest was 16, which shows the younger ones in church that this isn’t a far-off concept for them either.
How can we pray for you?
For balancing work and life outside of work, involving youth and church. To know that God is sustaining me.
To rely on the wisdom of God in situations and areas that I’ve never been in before.
Tell us a little about your background
I grew up partly in Sweden (I’m half Swedish) but mostly in northwest London with loving Christian parents and my older brother. I can’t remember a time I didn’t believe in Jesus. Though I gave my life to him as a child, as a teenager I didn’t really live out my faith.
Going to university had a huge impact on my journey with God and my commitment and passion grew massively when I joined the Christian Union and then became its Outreach Coordinator. I have been involved in some form of ministry or leadership ever since.
It was at university that I felt a calling to world mission and to serve the poor and broken-hearted and I participated in short-term mission in Peru, Mozambique, and Romania.
My first job was leading a personal development programme for young homeless men with the YMCA in Norfolk.
Tell us a little about your family
The other very important thing that happened at university was falling in love with Ellie! After getting married, we embarked on an amazing journey together of living by faith and seeking to make Jesus known.
Along the way, our wonderful sons, Isaac and Joshua were born; now aged 15 and 13. Since moving back to the UK, we’ve been based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Ellie works part time as a teaching assistant for children newly arrived into the UK and has been teaching English to refugees and asylum seekers through our church.
How did God lead you into SIM?
It has been a long road, and, in many ways, it feels like my life up to this point has prepared me for joining SIM and serving in this role. This includes serving as a mission worker in West Africa, Mozambique, and Cambodia; leadership experience, including being Country Team Leader for Interserve in Cambodia; and church leadership in the UK; along with Bible college and other training.
After more than 20 years of either being overseas or in between overseas assignments, we felt led to return to the UK in summer 2022 for family reasons. God opened a door for me to work with CAP (Christians Against Poverty) as their Mission, Evangelism and Discipleship Lead and alongside that, I kept up my concern for world mission.
I have known and respected SIM for many years and when I heard the role of Country Director was vacant and saw the job description, I felt stirred in my spirit and really hoped to get the role! I resonate deeply with SIM’s vision, mission and values.
What are you looking forward to in your role as Country Director?
Getting to know our mission workers, hearing their stories, encouraging them in the challenges of mission and ministry, and celebrating what God is doing around the world.
Serving alongside the gifted and passionate team that God has brought together to lead SIM UK as we look ahead and participate in God’s plans and purposes.
Fostering a strong sense of community and helping to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, depending on him to lead us and sustain us.
Developing our friendships and partnerships in the UK church and doing what I can to enthuse, inspire and challenge the church about making disciples and to engage in cross cultural mission.
Helping us build on the work we are already doing to create more opportunities for gospel collaborations with churches and helping to mobilise and equip ordinary Christians to participate in the challenges of local and global mission.
Enjoying fellowship with, listening to, and learning from, brothers and sisters from around the world.
What do you do when you’re not working?
Outside of work, you’ll find me having a bash on the drums, being a taxi driver for our boys (who have a busier social life than us), fixing things, keeping up with tennis but not playing as much as I’d like, enjoying the Suffolk countryside and keeping in touch with friends around the world. I also love good music, summer evenings, dark chocolate, and mangoes!
Has following Jesus been easy and what supports you when life gets difficult?
Following Jesus is not the easiest or safest option! There are definitely some tough experiences that I could have avoided if I weren’t following Jesus.
Many others have suffered far more than I have following Jesus, but Ellie and I have experienced bombs, the loss of colleagues and friends, a serious bout of malaria and other difficult health issues, the heartache of sharing in other’s pain, along with disappointments and discouragement.
Of course, God and his Word are my strongest support. I have also come to hugely appreciate the family of God and the support we bring each other. Ellie has been a massive source of encouragement and help in hard times and I have been blessed with very supportive and caring parents and parents-in-law and a few close friends I can be real with.
What inspires you from Scripture as you follow Jesus?
I have often found encouragement to persevere in following Jesus from Hebrews 12:1-3 where we find both stunning reasons to keep running our race and some ways to do that. It has been fuel for my journey, as among other things, we see that Jesus is worthy and that Jesus understands what it means to live and suffer here and we’re exhorted to throw off sin and whatever hinders us, fix our eyes on Jesus, and keep an eternal perspective.
Also, we’re to run with perseverance, indicating that this is a marathon, not a sprint and we’re to run together as shown by the references to ‘we,’‘us’ and ‘our.’
How can we pray for you and your family?
That I will grow in love for God. That I will listen well. For wisdom and insight and to be like the men of Issachar who understood the times.
For our family, as we mourn the loss of my mum, who passed away in June. Also, that we live as a family on mission where we are, be bold witnesses, and bear much fruit.
Happy for us to track your visit using Google Analytics (they may set tracking cookies), purely to understand how you use the site and improve it for future visitors?
