In summer 2020, we reported in 4 Corners on the growth of UFM Worldwide USA. We shared that 25 of UFM’s 180 long term workers are now sent from churches in the US and others are actively enquiring about partnering with UFM.
With the US office team of Laura, Melissa and Denise ably looking after issues of nance and compliance, we’ve increasingly been feeling the challenge of handling other functions from this side of the pond, most notably our relationships with sending churches.
We asked you to pray with us for God’s wisdom as we sought to support the growing work.
Thank you to those who prayed! Over recent months, it became our settled conviction to appoint someone who could complement and encourage the US team, to focus on building relationships with sending churches, being a US-based first point of contact for mission workers and beginning to develop our work in the US.
It is therefore our pleasure to announce that after a lengthy process, Brandon Nelson has been appointed as Country Director for UFM Worldwide USA, a role that we hope will begin in Autumn 2021. We saw a number of kind providences in this decision. Brandon knows and affirms UFM’s ethos and approach, having served on the UK home staff; he is originally from Birmingham, Alabama, where the UFM Worldwide USA office is located; and Brandon and Julia have had a growing sense that a move to the US was the right next step for them.
We plan for this role to be financially independent from the UK after 3-5 years. About 60% of the necessary finance is already in place in the US. To fully fund the role for this period, we are planning on three things:
• tapered funding from the main UFM Worldwide office
• seeking financial support in the USA
• helping Brandon to raise personal support, around 20% of the employment cost.
Please pray
- for the family as they prepare for a big move and for Julia to be successful in her green card application (they hope to move this summer)
- for God to provide financially
- for God’s blessing on the growing US team.
Praying for the next generation of mission workers
It was a joy for us to partner with Cross Conference in January, bringing the material from this US-based young adult mission conference to a UK audience. You can find many excellent videos from this at the UFM Worldwide YouTube channel.
Do feel free to use these excellent resources for youth/student groups!
Mission workers from the majority world
As we pray for new workers to be sent from the UK and the US, we’re also acutely aware that the days of mission workers simply being sent ‘from the West to the rest’ are long gone. Indeed, we rejoice that there are already 27 different nationalities represented in the UFM family.
Please join us in praying that God may go on raising up new workers from the places many UFM mission workers are serving in, and give thanks for those already involved in training mission workers from the majority world.
With billions around the world with little or no access to the gospel, we can see that the harvest is still plentiful and the workers are still few. Let’s keep on praying for God to raise up workers, wherever they might be from!
With grateful thanks for your partnership expressed in so many ways,