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GLOBAL

IN THIS ISSUE:PAGE 2 Reflecting on God’s Faithfulness This ThanksgivingPAGE 4 Rejoicing in New Opportunities, Facing New Realities PAGE 8 Your Missionaries and Their Impact

GOING WHERE THE GOSPEL IS LEAST KNOWN . . .

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Thanksgiving is an important time for reflection. It’s an opportunity to pause, recall all of God’s blessings, and respond in thanks and praise. As I look back over the past year, we have so much for which to be thankful.

God’s grace abounded! Responding to crises like the earthquake in Nepal and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa might have overwhelmed us at times—but God used them to open doors and to open hearts to the gospel.

God’s protection abounded! As missionaries face increasing risk sharing the gospel—especially in places where civil unrest and terror threats are real and ongoing—He’s kept our teams safe through the year.

God’s provision abounded! I give thanks for the faithfulness of financial partners like you who stand with our missionaries, praying for and

financially enabling them to serve around the world in all of these settings. God provides through your generosity.

In this issue of SIM Global, we’re reflecting and looking ahead—sharing praise reports and introducing new opportunities. As you read, I hope you’ll be encouraged by seeing God’s hand at work. I pray you’ll gain insights into what your gifts to God’s work through SIM are accomplishing.

May the Lord move your heart with excitement as He has moved mine. Our God is at work in people’s hearts, and it is our great privilege to be a part of what He’s doing. I’m grateful to share this journey with you.

Your partner in mission,

» Clean WaterFor the people of Bangladesh, safe drinkingwater is a luxury. Clean water sources aresparse—high arsenic levels in the water supplyplace lives at risk.

Your gift today will share clean water for thebody and living water for the soul. $21 providesan easy-to-use water filter for one family. $84will test water for 100 families.

» Danja Fistula CenterDanja Fistula Center treats women who sufferchildbirth injuries that cause incontinence and carrya risk of serious infection. These women enduredeep shame and isolation from their communities.

Your gift will help provide life-altering surgeriesand life-giving spiritual care . . . all in the name ofJesus Christ. Just $50 will transport a woman tothe hospital. $500 covers the cost of her surgery.

» Camp Outreach MinistryChinese Outreach to Minority Studentsoperates English camps to provide casuallearning environments during winter andsummer breaks. At these camps studentslearn the English language while experiencingthe love of Jesus Christ.

Your gift will help provide the perfect environmentin which a young person can be introduced toJesus. Just $15 provides learning materials fora student. $30 provides a camp scholarship.

THE CALL

BRUCE JOHNSON President SIM USA

WHERE JESUS IS LEAST KNOWN

REFLECTING ON GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

The SIM Christmas Gift Catalog is an opportunity to touch lives—and what better gift could you give this Christmas? For more information on these and many other Gift Catalog selections, please visit SIMUSA.org/giftcatalog.

“I will remember the works of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all

your works and meditate on your mighty deeds.” —Psalm 77:11-12 niv

» Please PRAY For God’s protection

and provision for ourmissionaries and projects For SIM: preparing, training,

providing ongoing support,encouragement, and resourcesfor missionaries on the field Over new opportunities in

parts of the world we cannotmention by name For the missionaries being

sent out—from Cuba,Ethiopia, and many otherplaces around the world.

Give the Greatest Gift . . . the Good News of Jesus Christ!

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

—Acts 17:27 niv

ChinaChina

SHARING JESUS THROUGH CAMP

THOSE WHO THIRST . . .

daBangladesh

NigerNigerSURGICAL AND SPIRITUAL CARE

Visit SIMUSA.org/giftcatalog.

» Please GIVEThank you for faithfully givingto SIM missionaries and projects.Please consider a gift to SIM toprovide training, ongoing support,encouragement, and resources toyour missionary and the vital workthey do in the field.

When you give to SIM today, youwill provide essential services tomaximize missionary effectiveness,enabling them to live out theircalling to reach people with thegospel of Jesus Christ!

» Please GODoes the potential to carve out apath, pioneer a trail, and impact thefuture of unreached people groupsthrill you? SIM is looking for qualifiedapplicants willing to carry the gospelto unreached areas of the globe. Is thisyou? Visit SIMUSA.org/go.

“As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored.”

—2 Thessalonians 3:1 niv

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SOUTHSUDAN

ETHIOPIANIGERIA

NORTH AFRICA

God has burdened believers whose faith has grown under persecution to share the gospel with people who face persecution in other parts of the world. In 2016 we will be sending out our first SIM missionaries from Cuba!

CUBA

People tend to think of Japan as a Western, developed country with a strong economy. They don’t realize it is also one of the countries where Jesus Christ is least known. We have exciting new opportunities to come alongside Japanese churches, providing leadership development, as well as mentoring and modeling outreach to believers.

JAPANIn a country where SIM missionaries have been serving for many years—which cannot be named for safety reasons—a group of Muslim community leaders recently came to our team and said, “We have been watching you for several years, and have seen how you have really helped our people and that you can be trusted. We want you to tell us about your Christian faith.”

NORTH AFRICA

For safety reasons we cannot reveal the specific locations, but an exciting opportunity for access to two countries has dawned. In both settings, missionaries will come alongside local believers, creatively reaching into some of the world’s most gospel-starved areas!

SOUTHEAST ASIASouth Sudan–SIM recently received a letter addressed “To the people who are telling the Christian religion.” It is from a large number of young people from a Sudanese tribe currently living in a refugee camp in South Sudan. Their letter expresses their heart’s desire to know Jesus. They plead for someone to come and teach them!

Ethiopia–A church leader in Ethiopia contacted SIM to inform us he is hoping to send out 3,000 missionaries in the next decade—and wondered if we might partner with him to make this a reality. We are thrilled to join with the church in this endeavor!

Nigeria–In another of the world’s least-reached countries, a denomination of the Nigerian Church that grew out of SIM’s ministry now numbers some 5 million people! But many who live in this large country still have not heard. We now have an opportunity, partnering with that denomination, for new outreach ministry into unreached areas of Nigeria and across North Africa.

This is a season of great anticipation at SIM as we renew our emphasis on reaching communities where Jesus Christ is least known, places where people are living and dying without hearing the gospel. Opportunities abound!

Please pray with us for these amazing new opportunities. Pray with us also about the increasing challenges missionaries face ministering in these contexts.

IS LEASTknown

GOING WHERE

JESUSPRAYING FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES

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For example, after SIM missionaries ministered for years in a predominantly Muslim nation in North Africa, community leaders came to our team asking, “Will you come teach us about the Christian religion?” This didn’t happen in the first month, or the first year. This was a sustained and consistent ministry over time that finally gained us permission. By the grace of God, now they are saying, “Come, teach our people.”

God is creating new opportunities and opening new doors that we never could have imagined!

But increased tension and danger in many closed countries greatly impacts how we prepare and support SIM missionaries daily. Right now, our team is working through a “theology of risk,” because we understand that ministry in these contexts requires our minds to be rooted in the Scripture. We need to know what

These are exciting times at SIM! We see God’s hand in fresh ways. We sense momentum in many places around the world where Jesus is least known. Prime examples of this are these groups of people reaching out to us—to our missionaries—asking, “Please come teach us about Jesus Christ!”

BY THE NUMBERSIn just the past year, Grieve Memorial Clinic . . .

Had more than 32,000 patient encounters

Treated 350 emergency patients

Saw more than 2,000 new and 4,000 returning prenatal and maternal patients

Gave out more than 600 Audio Story Tellers, 40 Arabic New Testaments, 20 Arabic Bibles, and countless Arabic evangelistic booklets

SOUTH SUDAN GRIEVE MEMORIAL CLINIC: MEETING NEEDS, REVEALING JESUS

While needs are increasing daily in South Sudan, Grieve Memorial Clinic (GMC) stands as a beacon of light.

Located in Upper Nile State, the clinic sees between 80-130 patients every day. Many come as refugees ravaged by war, or are oppressed by witchcraft or substance abuse—each one an opportunity to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ.

It’s a divine window of opportunity—people are coming to faith in Jesus and being used by the Lord to bring revival to this region, one of the most hostile towards Christianity!

FACINGREJOICING the Bible teaches not only about our life’s

worth, but also of our life’s purpose as Christ followers.

Understanding our calling and the commitment it requires is imperative as we go where Jesus is least known!

Remember, in Luke 14:26, Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” What did He mean? Our missionaries are laying down their lives to serve those who do not yet know the Savior.

And how precious to us are the words, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age”? As we serve, we hold this promise tightly, trusting God to lead even in times of great danger and suffering.

As we follow His Word together—staff, missionaries, and friends like you—God is moving with mighty power, opening opportunities that we could never have imagined. As another example, a group of youth in South Sudan wrote and asked us to send pastors to teach them. We have been trying to reach that community since the 1930s! And now after so many years of faithful ministry, God opens a door. When I read their letter, I saw their deep hunger for truth, for the gospel.

NEW REALITIES

IN NEW OPPORTUNITIES,

FROM JOSHUA BOGUNJOKO, SIM INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR

And we can reach them, we can hold up and support each and every missionary and local worker, and we can fulfill God’s calling on this ministry and on our lives by sharing the plan of salvation with strength and joy.

As a partner in ministry, please recognize the important part your financial support of SIM plays in this work, and pray and give as generously as you can.

We’ve prayed for and anticipated breakthroughs and opportunities like these for many years. Now is the time to press into God’s providence, to reveal Jesus to those who have never known Him. These are exciting times, indeed!

INCREASED TENSION AND DANGER IN MANY CLOSED

COUNTRIES GREATLY IMPACTS HOW WE PREPARE AND

SUPPORT SIM MISSIONARIES

PO Box 7900, Charlotte, NC 28241-7900 1-800-521-6449 SIMUSA.org SIM0375NL1

God has been using SIM to launch His workers into the harvest around the world since 1893. With renewed emphasis on going to the places where Jesus Christ is least known, SIM is cultivating multicultural mission movements that respond to need, proclaim the gospel, and equip the Church.

MISSIONARY FOCUS

SIM USA has 770 American missionaries serving in 53 countries. And in 2015, we commissioned 40 new missionaries!

SOUTH AMERICA:Throughout South America, SIM missionaries are training youth in evangelism, bringing God’s Word to isolated people groups, and planting churches.

AFRICA:Missionaries in Africa are finding abundant opportunity to share the gospel as they respond to need and minister spiritually to hurting people.

ASIA:God is multiplying disciples through SIM’s work of church planting and encouraging local churches to send missionaries of their own.

���Training for ministry: language, culture, national church collaboration, skills for building relationships for evangelism, professional development

��Pastoral care: spiritual growth and feeding, conflict resolution training

���Crisis care: risk management, evacuations, trauma healing care

��Educational resources for missionary families: teachers and homeschool workers, curriculum assistance

Your generous gift to SIM provides essential services that maximize missionary effectiveness, enabling them to live out their calling to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ! SIM strengthens your missionaries’ efforts by providing:

Your financial contributions to SIM provide a direct and continuous lifeline of support to missionaries and their families. Please, give today to continue this life-changing ministry and reach the world for Jesus Christ!