Here is a brief overview of our current global and national ministry partners that Holy Trinity Anglican supports financially. Be amazed, touched and inspired by these ministries that are faithfully serving God through the building up of his church in their respective cities and countries. Pray for them and rejoice in what God is accomplishing. We are privileged to be a part of their good work.
Akiba School was founded in 1993 to serve vulnerable students and families living in the informal areas around Kangemi, a settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. The majority of Akiba’s students come from extremely poor families who live in slum areas surrounding the school. The school currently serves about 200 students from pre-school through 8th grade. Akiba aims to provide a nurturing environment for children to escape the challenges of slum life and to learn and grow spiritually, as well as socially and academically. Children receive meals in addition to education in core and elective subjects within the Kenya curriculum of studies. The school has a partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Nairobi, which provides some pastoral care, as well as Kenya Connection.
Graduates of Akiba School have successfully gone on to complete studies at colleges and universities across Kenya and Eastern Africa, and many now serve as youth leaders and mentors. There are significant opportunities at Akiba School to strengthen education and Christian formation and to provide positive interventions to encourage healthy development. https://www.akibaschools.org/
Prayer Requests:
Students at Akiba School come from a variety of very challenging backgrounds and conditions of poverty. Many students are orphans or from single parent households. The average income for families in these communities is often less than $2 per day. Water-borne diseases, Malaria and lower respiratory infections are widespread. In addition, HIV/AIDS affects about 10% of the population.
We encourage you to pray for Akiba students and staff regularly. Please pray that students would know that their Heavenly Father loves and delights in them.
Please pray that God would protect students from illness and abuse and deliver them from temptations and traps common to life in the slums. Please pray that the children would stay focused in school and grow strong in character, spirit and wisdom. Please pray that God would work in the lives of families and that he would draw each into a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Please pray that God would nurture their faith, inspire them with hope, grant them grace to endure difficulty and hardship, and provide opportunity for a brighter future. Please also pray for the faculty and staff of Akiba School, that God would protect them from danger and that they would be equipped and encouraged to share the love of Christ and to teach with dedication and commitment.
The Anglican Diocese of N. Western Australia, under Bishop Gary Nelson, is an extremely vast area of small remote towns, and it is very challenging to oversee. Over the past several years, Western Australia has experienced a significant economic downturn that has had drastic consequences in the life of their small-town churches. Some towns have had a considerable drop in population and hence the churches have suffered a consequent loss in congregation numbers. The Diocese of N. Western Australia has had to rely on outside areas for 60% of their support.
The diocese has put together this wonderful prayer diary – complete with photos, praises and prayer requests for each area of its ministry. Will you join them in prayer?
The vision of Anglican Frontier Missions (AFM) is to see viable, biblically-based, indigenous churches multiplying in all the 6,000 plus unreached people groups of the world (approximately 1.75 billion people). To accomplish this vision, AFM travels to churches, youth meetings and conferences to educate, challenge and train both short- and long-term missionaries to go where the need is greatest (where the church does not yet exist).
AFM targets only unreached peoples and unchristianized areas. They do not send missionaries to areas where the church is sufficiently numerous to evangelize and minister to their own (i.e., South America, Central America, Uganda, Rwanda). One of the annual strategic objectives is to raise up five new missionaries to go serve in a city or region where the church is not.
Please take a moment to read their June Call to Prayer.
Holy Trinity Anglican partners with ARDF in order to connect with those in need around the world. Through a holistic, high impact and proven community development approach, ARDF seeks to strengthen and encourage believers, rescue and restore lives, and glorify Jesus Christ. As a part of a global church, these efforts connect us in a powerful way with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world and enable us to partner in proclaiming the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth. Find out what projects ARDF is planning.
ARDF has put together these 2020 videos that highlight and celebrate four completed projects, thanks in part to Holy Trinity’s donations to ARDF. Watch now!
Please take a moment to read June’s newsletter.
Our present mission of ministering to graduate students at Oxford University and helping to catalyze graduate student ministries elsewhere in Europe is very much a ministry of developing future global leaders. More than half of all graduate students at Oxford University are international students, some of the world’s best and brightest. Imagine a world in which these future global leaders now studying in Oxford saw their education not as a “passport to privilege” but as equipment for service. These young men and women are often encouraged to pursue credentials without regard for character, to develop skills without a higher purpose and to promote narrow national or personal interests without regard for God or neighbor. But what if these students instead chose to follow Christ? What if these gifted students—the world’s future doctors, lawyers, artists, scientists, leaders, educators and innovators—followed Jesus, giving their lives to the resolution of the crises and challenges of our time out of love for God and for our global neighbors?”
Our primary local ministry partner here, the Oxford Pastorate, is a leader in this strategic mission field, both serving graduate students through fellowship programs and collaborations with local churches here in Oxford, and also serving as a key partner in resourcing and networking ministries to graduate students throughout Europe. We believe that as missionaries, our specific gifts and past work experiences have primed us to help the Oxford Pastorate in significant ways. First, through developing programs and initiatives that help graduate students 1) to discern the ways God is uniquely calling and equipping them to serve, 2) to integrate their faith with their academic and professional disciplines, and 3) to mature as Christian leaders. Second, we feel uniquely positioned to help support the Oxford Pastorate’s development as an organization 1) to act as bridgebuilders between often segmented or siloed parts of the Christian ecosystem within Oxford as a university city, and 2) to catalyze graduate student ministry in university cities beyond Oxford through strategic partnerships.
January Update
Dear Prayer Intercessors,
Happy New Year dear friends! Despite the intensity of this past year, we hope and pray that the final days of 2020 were filled with the Lord’s peace and comfort for you and your family. We have several praise reports to share as we start the new year. Once again we treasure your prayers and are so grateful to have your companionship on this journey!
Christmas Day 2020: We had a time of socially distanced fellowship with graduate students on Christmas Day! Since we were here in Oxford this year we were able to extend hospitality to other international students stuck in town over the holidays. We made homemade cookie samplers, and we mulled wine and apple juice that we served in festive insulated mugs for the students to keep as gifts. We handed out the goodies in our front garden and assigned students to small groups to walk along the Thames River. We had 14 students participate. Praise God for a good time connecting with new students, beautiful, dry weather, and smooth logistics!
Christmas Campaign: To keep us on firm financial footing headed into 2021 we set a stretch goal of raising $35,000 during the month of December through a Christmas Campaign. To help reach our target, we had several alumni and supporters contribute to a matching grant of $7,400. We have been absolutely amazed and humbled to have reached 92% of our goal! Thanks to many of you who gave so generously – we couldn’t do this work without you. Please join us in praising God for his faithfulness in our finances!
And two quick prayer requests as well:
January Developing a Christian Mind Conference: David and I are in the midst of planning the January Developing a Christian Mind (DCM) Conference and even though it’s going to be entirely virtual, I’m very excited about the format and lineup! We’re using an inverted classroom method where we circulate the talks and materials ahead of time and then we utilize our time on zoom to do small group discussion and live Q&A with our speakers. Our lineup includes N. T. Wright (Theology/doctrine of eschatology or last things), Katherine Blundell (Astrophysics/doctrine of creation), and Stephen Tuck and John Coffey in conversation about writing difficult histories (History/doctrine of sin). Also, because it’s virtual, we get the unique opportunity to open the conference up to DCM alumni who are now based all around the world. Please pray for the technology, the logistics, and that every attendee and speaker would encounter Christ powerfully!
Oxford Vaccine Approval and a New National Lockdown: While we found out last week that the Oxford vaccine has been approved, this week the UK has entered another national lockdown as COVID cases continue to rise rapidly due to the new strain of the virus. Please join us in prayer for the UK’s government, especially those leaders making decisions about vaccine distribution. Please also pray for all those who are fighting loneliness or who are especially vulnerable to the virus, that they would find new sources of community and would remain in good health.
Thank you so much for your powerful prayers as we enter this new year! Please let us know how we can be praying for you as well. We would be honored to do so.
Many blessings and much gratitude,
Alissa & David
Trinity on the Border is a chapel and outreach ministry serving primarily among the vulnerable (migrants, immigrants and the poor). Its ministries include a free medical clinic, work with an immigrant shelter, a K-3rd grade school, a weekly healing service at the free-clinic and a weekly communion service with the staff of a mission to the deaf in Mexico. As Missionary Curate, Elijah’s work will include working with immigrants from around the world and the poor by leading worship services, working pastorally and in chaplain capacities, teaching classes for the migrants and refugees, reaching out and visiting the poor on both sides of the border, as well as being flexible and adaptive to the changing situation on the border. This position also includes preaching, teaching and pastoral visitations in the context of the Trinity on the Border chapel. The goal of this ministry is to bring the love of Christ to the poor and suffering at the border, many of whom are refugees or else extremely impoverished. As such, the goal is multifaceted as this ministry serves both to care for the material needs of those on the border, while also serving the entire person pastorally by bringing the gospel and the love of God to them. https://thebordermission.org/
For the latest updates from Elijah, please read his newsletter!
Five Talents is a Christian development organization serving the poor alongside partner churches within the Anglican Communion. It was formed at the Lambeth Conference in 1998, in response to dire poverty church leaders in the global south faced within their church communities. Currently, Five Talent’s ministries serve vulnerable communities in South Sudan, Burundi, Indonesia, Myanmar, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and the Dominican Republic of Congo.
Five Talent’s vision is to eradicate extreme poverty by restoring human dignity and creating strong, sustainable communities. Their mission is to accomplish this by transforming lives through economic empowerment. They help create jobs by helping the poor develop their own businesses through sound business training, access to community loans and participation in community savings programs. These businesses provide jobs in their communities — all started with small amounts of money that go a long way in developing countries. The dignity that comes to the poor that are involved in these programs helps defeat the circumstances of poverty. Community Savings Groups foster friendship and accountability and provide a safe space for women and men to share their challenges, successes and be encouraged by one another. Check out this 1:00 video that takes you inside the impact of these groups..
We are grateful that our work can continue during this time. We would appreciate your prayers for our partners around the world. In many of these areas, healthcare is not a given. Please pray for the health and safety of our partners and the men, women and children they are serving both now as we work globally to prevent the spread of coronavirus and in the coming months as these already fragile economies cope with the impacts.
George Whitefield College (GWC) is part of the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (REACH-SA) and is the ACNA equivalent in that country. The college has a deep missional reach into Africa to raise up leaders who are equipped to preach and teach to the rapidly growing church there. Holy Trinity is supporting both a graduate fellowship for a South African leader and the Explore Program which brings theological training to lay people ministering as leaders of Anglican churches on the continent.
Stay up to date with their June prayer letter.
Heart’s Cry’s main mission is to care for orphans in their distress. Their vision is to create efficiencies and effectiveness for orphan care around the world, beginning in the Republic of Panama. In order to streamline adoption and foster care processes, and to simplify efforts in placing children into loving homes in the Republic of Panama, Heart’s Cry provides legal, social, psychological and spiritual support for Panamanian families and permanent residents throughout the adoption and foster process.
Heart’s Cry also established Casa Providencia, which was created to be a special needs home and therapy center specially designed for children deprived of parental rights in Panama. Casa Providencia provides a place for the special needs orphans where they receive physical and occupational therapy on a daily basis, as well as early childhood stimulation.
Please pray for them, specifically for:
Langham Partnership formerly John Stott Ministries has a three-fold ministry: to equip theological leaders who equip pastors and emerging leaders to multiply disciples; to train local pastors to teach the Bible, equipping pastors to shepherd their churches with God’s Word; and to develop and distribute books to equip leaders and pastors to provide biblical solutions to local issues” so that “God’s people grow as disciples of Christ and extend the gospel in their families and communities.” Holy Trinity has supplied a grant to update the Africa Bible Commentary as part of Langham’s literature efforts. Read this wonderful update from them about the project!
Through the SAMS organization, Holy Trinity Anglican supports two missionary couples:
The Buttrams are requesting prayer for a number of situations.
The Alexandria School for Theology is the only Anglican theological institution in the Middle East that teaches primarily in Arabic. Its mission is to teach, train and form lay leaders, ordinands and clergy of the Diocese of Egypt, members of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and any other student who wishes to learn of Christ. Holy Trinity provides scholarship money for strategic leaders in the region who require additional theological training to fulfill their leadership roles. Their March newsletter is full of news and updates.
Praise
On Saturday 26 September, the Episcopal/ Anglican Church celebrated the graduation of a new class of students from the Alexandria School of Theology, with a ceremony hosted by All Saints’ Church in Zamalek. Dr. Mounir Hanna, Archbishop of the Province of Alexandria, congratulated the new graduates, saying: “There is no doubt that what you have learned during these past years at seminary has helped you to increase your knowledge about the mind of God and also about the teaching of the Apostles. I pray that this seminary training you received will help you so that your service will be effective and productive, leading to the growth of the Church and the extension of the Kingdom of God.” Bishop Samy Fawzy, the Dean of the College, also had words of encouragement to say to the graduates: “The Lord spoke about the harvest being great but the workers being few, which is a call to us! The church needs true servants that are willing to be sent in order to gather his harvest, servants that are dedicated and will not grow tired or give up. God wants servants who meet challenges with the sword of the Holy Word.”
Established in Cairo in 1982 under the authority of the Diocese of Egypt, the mission of the Deaf Unit is to educate and train deaf children to learn languages (Egyptian Sign Language, Arabic and English) and develop vocational skills. It is Christ-centered with worship at its core. Additional ministries include The Deaf Club, The Deaf Church and The Deaf Choir. They have also developed a Deaf Bible based on Egyptian Sign Language.
The Deaf Unit also focuses on teaching sign language to parents, families and communities so that deaf children can better communicate at home. Additionally, it coordinates a community-based program in rural Egypt. The Deaf Unit is effectively an orphanage for many hearing families unable to raise deaf children. Today, the unit continues to enable these children to grow up as strong Christian adults who can succeed in the hearing world.
For the latest updates, read this wonderful story of success! And view this inspiring video about their work, particularly in light of the pandemic.
Holy Trinity is sponsoring a program for clergy widows in the Lango Diocese of Uganda through the ministry of the Rev. Susan Olwa, wife of Bishop Alfred Olwa. Upon the death of their husbands, clergy widows have no housing or income, so are at a severe disadvantage without these supports. The clergy widows of Lango Diocese will be gathered for fellowship and encouragement and will be given practical gifts to aid their life three times a year as a result of this outreach grant.
