World Focus Sunday is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about our mission partners, their work and support them in prayer. The church hall was filled with a buzz of excited conversations as St Mary’s mission links and some mission partners in person spoke to us in table groups as we tucked into a ploughman’s lunch.
Our table had the privilege of speaking first to Wayne Dixon and his wife Joyce who I hadn’t met before so good to connect the dots there. It was encouraging to hear about how God is reaching into kids’ lives in Maidenhead and all the opportunities Wayne has to go into schools and talk about Jesus. Having him there in person meant we could ask all our burning questions. What does he do when leading assemblies? How did Covid impact his work? Who wrote his raps and what to search for on YouTube to listen to them? We were treated to a little rendition of the now legendary ‘Zac rap’, which was very cool, and given that none of us grew up in a Maidenhead school we were hearing it for the first time. It now makes a little more sense why it might be a request at a prom! He had a quiz and it was a surprise that Wayne has for over forty years been planting seeds, sharing Jesus with respect and being willing to listen and support students.
Then we swapped and Brian Jones came over to share with us about the work of Jo Clifford with Wycliffe Bible Translators/SIL. He brought a world map and we had to calculate the air miles Jo is going to clock this year with her planned engagements. Brian connected us on a WhatsApp call to Jo (who is currently in Germany) to put us out of our misery for the answer. It turns out only Adam Curtis can count, the rest of us got different numbers. Jo shared that for some people the cost of a Bible is three days wages so her work with phone apps is so important to help God’s word become accessible for everyone. A reminder to not take access to the Bible for granted here. We also made a card for the mission partners we focused on to encourage them, whilst we did not have children on our table I very much enjoyed making the most of the stickers and colouring pencils.
The time flew by. It is so helpful when praying for our mission partners to have had this connection with them as people and better understand the challenges they are facing, but equally the joys they experience working for God’s kingdom. I recommend you come along to the next lunch and in the meantime have a chat to those that went this year and I am sure they will have also interesting encouraging conversations to share.
Ruth McElhone
One of the reasons I like to worship at St Mary’s in Maidenhead is the passion ‘to know Jesus and make him known’. One of the ways that this becomes possible is through the mission partners supported by St Mary’s.
On Sunday 1st February I had the privilege of attending the World Focus Sunday lunch and had the opportunity to meet the mission partners or their links if they could not make it in person.
We started with a lovely ploughman’s lunch consisting of a baguette with a choice of filling such as ham and cheese. We also had fruit such as apples and grapes.
After lunch we had a chance to meet some of our mission partners or links. I was interested to hear about Juan Carlos and his work in Peru. I learned of the good work supporting Anglicanism in Peru and Bible teaching despite constant political instability.
I also enjoyed a chance to speak with Mark Meynell about his work teaching and training in Türkiye and Ukraine. I am fascinated by his knowledge of the history and politics of these areas. I also appreciated hearing about the difficult situation with the ongoing war in Ukraine and that Mark intends to visit.
I can see the work of the Holy Spirit flowing through all of our mission partners and will continue to pray for all of them. I highly encourage anyone passionate about spreading the word of Jesus to attend an event like this in the future.
Joe Hulbert