Here at UFM we pray daily that God would send out workers into the harvest fields of the world. When you hear that, in places like Oman, there are likely more branches of Starbucks than there are national believers, we’re reminded of the huge, global, gospel need that remains. The harvest is still plentiful and the workers are still few.
It has been our great joy therefore to see God raise up many new workers from the UK in recent years and it continues to be our privilege to support UK churches as they send mission partners to make disciples of all nations.
Alongside this, we are also greatly encouraged to see how God is raising up mission workers from all over his global church. A growing number in UFM are now involved in supporting, encouraging and facilitating churches in other parts of the world as they send mission workers for the first time. UFM workers are, for example, involved in cheering on the first generation of the Mongolian mission movement, as the church there sends gospel workers into least reached parts of East Asia and beyond. Others work with pastors in sub-Saharan Africa with more and more local churches catching the vision to send to unreached people groups in North Africa.
The opportunity to support these new mission sending movements in areas such as training, pastoral support and finance, without just replicating a Western mission structure, is as challenging as it is exciting!
The harvest is still plentiful and the workers are still few.
Building on historic relationships to equip future mission sending
Andrew and Jenny Love, who served with UFM in Brazil and are now based in South Wales, are involved in just this kind of ministry. With the historical and linguistic links, a good number of Brazilian mission partners are sent to serve in Portugal, where just 2% of the population are evangelical Christians and where the number of churches has declined from 1,630 in 2000, to 964 by 2016.1
With their connections to sending churches in Brazil, understanding of language and culture, and experience of cross-cultural mission life, the Loves are ideally placed to support Brazilian mission workers in Portugal. Andrew & Jenny make regular visits to Portugal to provide pastoral support on the ground, as well as encouraging churches in the UK to partner with sending churches in Brazil, to see such workers well supported financially.
The new UFM Development Fund has been created to support these types of gospel initiatives.
As we build on UFM’s historic relationships with churches in places like Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea and Brazil, it is our prayer that the new Development Fund will help to facilitate the sending of many more workers to God’s glory among the nations.
For more information, or to give to the development fund, please click here.