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 May Call to Prayer and this article, Baptizing a Convert from Islam with an Anglican Liturgy,

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 April’s newsletter.

Our vision is to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed and world changers developed.

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.

 

Please read their May 2022 prayer letter and join them in prayer for these things.

 

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.

Five Talents Lunch and Learn Video

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 May prayer letter.

Johann and Louise Vanderbijl have spent many years working throughout the African continent serving through the Society of  Anglican Missionaries and Senders. They currently minister in the Netherlands pastoring a church, writing and teaching discipleship.

Here is a recent update.

With Russia talking about using nuclear weapons against NATO countries should they continue to aid Ukraine, folks here are getting rather tense. Please pray that we will wisely and sensitively address these dear with the Gospel.

Otherwise things are going well. We are settling in well, although learning Dutch is a lot harder than we anticipated! Knowing Afrikaans is actually working against us.

We have applied for our visas and would appreciate prayers for a speedy response from the INS. We need the INS number before we can do anything in the country.

We have bought a secondhand car, but may not drive it until we have the INS number as well as BSN number that has to do with our residency here.

We absolutely love the folks at Christ Church and are making plans to train the leadership in disciple making principles. There are not many members, but the Lord has taught me never to despise the day of small beginnings! They are very serious to shine out the light of Jesus in Heiloo!

Please give our love to all.

Blessings

Johann and Louise

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!

Please pray along with them.

The Rev. Kerry and Cynthia Buttram are serving in a Chaplaincy position at Christ Church Amsterdam under the Bishop of Europe.

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.

 

Click here to read their Easter Message

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.