New Wineskins
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New Wineskins
for Global Mission 2010
April 8-11, 2010
Ridgecrest Conference Center
Western North Carolina
(Near Asheville, NC)

"Pray Today For..."

Kenya
  • Guy and Susan Rainsford (Serving in Mission); tribal conflict is increasing, Chief Abi to continue as a strong witness for the Lord, fruit from discipleship efforts, safety.
  • Yvonne North (Global Teams), clinics for nomadic Turkana and Somali refugees; divine appointments, healing power, provision, protection, reliable vehicle, funds for Bibles, cloth for clothing, school, and medical supplies.
  • Bob and Joyce Carlson (Wycliffe Bible Translators), teaching translation at Nairobi Evangelical Grad School of Theology (NEGST); praise her heart is functioning well, PhD students to complete their dissertations on time, progress for translation team in Burkino Faso, their ministry at church.
  • Getachew and Bethlehem (Global Teams); funds for land for a mission training center, pray the owner becomes a Christian.

Miao - brown

Anglican Frontier Missions                                                 October 2009
 
Director's Message
 
Julian Linnell, AFM Director, with wife KimWhat does October 1st mean to you? For 1.3 billion Chinese it's the 60th birthday of Chairman Mao's Peoples' Republic of China!  For me personally, it's the date in 1988 when I asked my wife, whom I had met in China, to marry me!  We've spent 5 years of our marriage living in China so China has a special place in our hearts.
 
So, October seems a fitting month to turn our attention to China. This month we're praying for the Miao People of Southern China.  It's also a fitting month for me to introduce my wife, Kim.  She'll be starting a new monthly column in the AFM-Connect! called "Shaking Hands With the World". We hope this will inspire you to take small steps to enlarge your interest in the world.
Peace to you,

Julian Linnell, PhD
AFM Executive Director
 
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Mission Focus
Miao People of China 
 
  Miao woman 

Miao Quick Facts

·    Population over 10 million

·  Over 180 different types of Miao people(s) in SE Asia 

·  Some like the Baishi Miao worship ancestors

·  Few Yunnan Miao are Christian

 

*Sources: World Christian Database, Operation World/China, Joshua Project

 

Read more at AFM Online

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AFM's Vision

Anglican Frontier Missions' vision is to reach the 25 largest unevangelized ethnic peoples on earth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

AFM is an independent mission agency founded in 1993 as a non-profit 501c3. AFM is supported financially through churches and individuals.

AFM, PO Box 18038 Richmond, VA 23226
(804) 355-8468
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YTD Financial summary

Income
Budget         $126,384
Actual          $147,979

Expenses
Budget         $176,258
Actual          $179,282
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Connect with the Miao of China

Miao woman, JoshuaProject.net

Li Mei is a forty something Miao woman who has been working for the Christians in a small town in East Asia. She comes to their house once or twice a week to bring them the beautiful handwork that they buy from her. Here she has heard the gospel stories that have been recently translated into her heart language but she had been very resistant, even to the point of persecuting some Christians from her home village. Li Mei is a divorced woman who has worked the streets, both during the day when she would shine shoes, and at night when she would "entertain" many men friends.
 
Her resistance broke down recently when she found herself spiritually broken. She was so tired and felt sure that part of her soul had been stolen. She went to the local shamans and fortune tellers, but they were unable to help her. Finally, one morning last month she went back to the Christians' house seeking help from them. Once more she heard the story of Jesus Christ and His redemptive power and, this time, she prayed to receive Christ. With some spiritual counseling on the part of the Christians, she was reassured that her soul was safe with Christ and that He loved her and had given her new life in Him. They prayed for healing and for restoration. Just last week she showed up again at the Christians' house with a big smile on her face and the peace of the Lord on her countenance.

Li Mei is a new creation in Christ, but she needs teaching in her heart language. Pray that she can grow strong in her new faith and for the Miao Christians who can teach her.

Many Miao are waiting to hear the Gospel for the first time, but haven't been able to because they don't read and there is no Bible in their language anyway. But there are now Bible stories in their heart language.

Pray for more Christians who speak Miao to use the stories for evangelism and discipleship. Pray that God would raise up leaders for Miao house churches and for the church to grow and multiply one hundred, even one thousand fold.

shaking hands with the worldShaking Hands with the World 
Kim Linnell 
 
Unfortunately, many of us are numb to missions.   We've been worn down by pleas for money, images of remote and unfathomable human need, as well as by some seemingly out-of-touch missionaries making their perennial plea to church congregations.  The inundation leads to indifference. Christine Pohl, in her book Making Room, says, "A steady exposure to distant human need that is beyond our personal response can gradually inoculate us against a particular action.  It can also delude us into thinking that by simply knowing about it we are somehow sharing in the suffering of others.  Isolation from local need, and overexposure to overwhelming but distant need, make our responses to strangers uncertain and tentative at best"(pg. 91).
 
However, our inaction and indifference robs us of much that God has for us.  So, how does one soften and warm to missions without being overrun by it?  When I was a college student, I had an opportunity to hear the dynamic preacher, Luis Palau.  Given it was almost 30 years ago, I don't remember much of his message-but I do remember one thing.  I remember him asking how we go about getting a heart for missions and then answering his question by making the hilarious gesture of hugging the world.  In his inimitable way, he challenged us to love.
 
He suggested that we start simply by praying quietly for those who cross our path in any given day-as we push through a crowd at the airport, walk the halls of our schools or neighborhoods, and shop at our local grocery stores.  A steady diet of prayer gradually warms a callous heart.
 
I have found this to be true.  In fact, so true that I have purposely started frequenting places where I am most likely to encounter immigrants and internationals.  For me, that has been a local Walmart and the local library.  As I push my cart down the produce aisle, I overhear two Africans meeting for the first time.  The short, petite man from Sierra Leone stares up at the towering Sudanese gentleman who works in the produce department.  As I glance over the melons at the encounter, I pray.  I pray for peace in the respective countries and in their individual lives.  As I stand in line behind a Chinese family, I try out a few phrases of Mandarin with the children who are waiting for their mother's turn.  I pray for a Christian in their lives who might welcome them as Jesus asks us to.  In these snippets of time, eternity seems to press in on the ordinary and one's heart begins to thaw.  Only God knows how these prayers are answered.  Maybe someday we will know as well.
Connect  with AFM in Action 

Missions Conference with Diocese of TN, Sept 2009

AFM was welcomed by the Diocese of Tennessee in September by Bishop Bauerschmidt, and by several rectors.  AFM led a seminar on "Building a Global Vision in your parish" for St Peter's Church, Columbia.
  
coffee chats with AFM
AFM Coffee Hour 
Please join us on Wednesday, October 28th, 1pm at the AFM Office in Richmond for some coffee! If you'd like to invite some friends over for an AFM Coffee Hour in your office or home, then please contact Jim Ward  to schedule a time (804) 355 8468 or jwardintl@gmail.com .
 
 
Additional Events
  • Oct 3 Woodbridge, VA: AFM representatives at Anglican District of Virginia mission day
  • Oct 4  Alexandria, VA: Christ Church Mission Committee "visioning process" with Cynthia Darling (board member) and AFM Director
  • Oct 4 Sewickley, PA: Jim Ward at St Stephen's Church mission weekend
  • Oct 15  Bedford, TX: AFM Director speak on frontier missions at St Vincent's Cathedral 6pm
  • Oct 16-17 Dallas, TX: AFM director speak on frontier missions at Diocesan Convention
  • Oct 22-24 Herndon, VA: AFM at Anglican Global Mission Partners
  • Oct 28  Richmond, VA: Coffee Hour Open-House at AFM Office 1pm. All welcome!
  • Nov 6-8 Palm Bay, FL: AFM Director to speak at Church of Our Savior during their Harvest Missions Weekend
  • Nov 13-14 Falls Church, VA: AFM Board Meeting
  • Nov 18  Richmond, VA: AFM Coffee Hour 1pm at our office. All welcome!
  • Dec 27-31 St Louis, MO: AFM at Urbana Missions Conference
Connect in prayer for the Miao of E. Asia
 

Miao people

 
O Heavenly Father, Lord of the harvest, have respect, we beseech thee, to the prayers of thy people, and send forth more labourers into thine harvest. Fit and prepare them by thy grace for the work of thy ministry; give them the spirit of power, love and a sound mind; strengthen them to endure hardness; and grant that thy Holy Spirit may prosper their work among the Miao People, and that by their life and doctrine they may set forth thy glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Interested in AFM praying for you? Send your prayer request to us.
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Anglican Frontier Missions | PO Box 18038 | Richmond | VA | 23226