Share april may 2014

ISSU

E 1

2014

www.cms-uk.org

Latin American mission partners: co-workers in God’s service

• Developing tomorrow’s leaders in Chile• Bible at work in the Chaco• Level ground leadership in Paraguay

How did Jesus train and prepare his disciples? What did they go through? Long, dusty roads, nowhere comfortable to sleep, crowds of people, demands on their time and energy, confrontation with suffering, sickness, demon possession and death – and much more. Then they received from Jesus the parables and teaching, experienced the miracles at close quarters and in turn were sent out to proclaim and to heal.

It was not easy. The disciples had some successes but also many failures. They often didn’t really understand. They failed Jesus at crucial moments: at the end they ”all forsook him and fled” (Matt 26:56).... But they didn’t actually, did they? ”Peter followed at a distance” (verse 58).

And Jesus was sure that they all were still with him, at least up to the Last Supper: ”While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction” (John 17:12). That’s an 11 out of 12 success rate. It was a bit mixed even for Jesus in his training of the disciples. It’s bound to be similar for us.

Today our aim is to form mature Christian communities with trained leaders who can carry forward the work of the kingdom of God. We want to pass on the baton to the next generation of runners in the race.

What do we pray for the work in Latin America? That God would raise up leaders, evangelists and teachers; that strong and

Bishop Henry Scriven, Mission Director for Latin America

vibrant Christian communities would be built up and that the kingdom of God would be seen in, and through, the Anglican church. (Much more as well, and you can fill in your own prayer requests for the work – the coming of the Holy Spirit in power, the renewal of creation, presenting every person mature in Christ...)

But it rarely happens as we would like. Sometimes that is due to our lack of prayerfulness and lack of faithfulness and just plain sinfulness. But we keep going and we keep praying. Matthew 26:56 was not at all a promising start to the coming of the kingdom through the disciples; but it wasn’t the whole story.

We need to have a healthy philosophy (or theology) of failure; that’s the Biblical pattern. But we need also to remember that it is God’s work and God’s mission and we join in to the best of our strength and ability. Thank God for those on the frontline of prayer and action. And let’s keep giving thanks and praying.

SHARE SPRING 2014 02

Passing on the baton:What did Jesus do?

SHARE is produced by the Church Mission Society, Watlington Road, Oxford OX4 6BZ. Tel: 01865 787400. Registered Charity Number 1131655. If you have any questions regarding the content, please call us or email:[email protected] Cover Photos: Tim Curtis and Catherine Drayson


Chile is by any stretch of the

imagination an unusual country,

as many readers of SHARE will know:

a long narrow strip of land reaching up

towards the Equator and down towards

Antarctica, curtailed on one side by the high

Andes and on the other by the mighty

Pacific.

This was my destination for a week in

mid-November last year, as part of my

ongoing induction as leader of CMS. The

purpose was to get a feel for the Anglican

Church in Chile as well as to network more

widely with leaders of the Province of the

Southern Cone gathered in Santiago for their

provincial synod.

So what did I find? That sense of Chile

lying between the high mountains and the

ocean seems to me to serve as a metaphor

for the work of the Anglican Church in the

country.

The church has intentionally worked with

some of the wealthiest in the land, as a

means of influencing the nation as a whole.

Thus I visited St Paul’s School in Viña del Mar;

a church in a coffee shop in downtown

Valparaíso; as well as the vibrant Church of La

Trinidad in the upmarket Santiago suburb, Las

Condes.

CMS mission partner Alf Cooper, La

Trinidad’s energetic and charismatic pastor, is

also the Protestant chaplain to the President

of Chile and it was my privilege to preach to

some of his staff in the

presidential palace, La

Moneda.

And yet historically some of the most

significant Anglican mission in Chile has

taken place among indigenous peoples, and

so Jo Hazelton, South America mission

personnel officer, and I flew down to

Temuco to meet Latin partner Bishop

Abelino Apeleo, himself a member of the

Mapuche people.

There we visited historic churches

founded by SAMS missionaries which still

echo to the vibrant sounds of praise and

worship. And back in Santiago there was the

joy of meeting bishops such as Nick Drayson

and Peter Bartlett who often minister in

harsh, tough conditions in the Chaco of

Northern Argentina and Paraguay: conditions

which require huge amounts of persistence,

dedication – and faith.

All in all I found a church that was both

distinctively Latin and yet evidently Anglican,

with an enduring

commitment to

mission – a powerful

and impressive

combination! It was

a privilege to visit my

brothers and sisters

there.

From the highest of heights to the depths of the seaBy CMS executive leader Philip Mounstephen

In the next issue of SHARE you can read a report on Jo’s travels to Chile and Bolivia

Jo Hazelton and Philip


Building futures on solid foundationsGod used three sisters to make us

aware of a terrible reality for many

young girls in Brazil. The sisters were

being sold by their own mother for sex

each night. It was through them that we

discovered that there were no projects

specifically for girls in the city. It was then

that we knew that something had to be

done.

For the past two years, Rose and I have

been working to make sure that there is

something we can do for girls like these.

It’s taken a lot of work but now ReVive is

about to open its first safe house for girls

caught up in sexual exploitation, abuse or

forced into prostitution. I’m sure you can

imagine that starting a UK charity and a

Brazilian NGO from scratch requires a lot of

preparation, planning and endless hours of

document and policy writing to get hold of

the necessary government registrations to

work with children.

Recently we’ve had our hands full trying

to get our heads around Brazilian

employment law, how to staff the ReVive

house 24/7, budgets and making sure that

our new staff team is fully trained.

I haven’t even mentioned the logistical

jigsaw of making a house a home for 12 girls,

the decoration and renovation work that

By CMS mission partners Andy and Rose Roberts in Olinda, Brazil


needed to be done and the meetings with

local judges and the child welfare services

to identify which girls will go to the ReVive

house.

We knew that if ReVive was going to

last and if the work is going to be effective

then we would need to build good

foundations and invest in our team. I’m

comforted by the fact that this also seems

to be one of the ways that God works.

Jesus invested a few years of training and

preparation in his disciples and, after Saul’s

conversion on the road to Damascus,

nothing much is heard from him for a good

length of time before Paul finally embarks

on his missionary journeys. I’m certain that

God used that time to prepare Paul for

everything that would happen.

A time of prayerful preparation and

seed planting seems to always precede a

great work of the Lord.

Thankfully, during these past two years,

God has provided some incredible

faith-boosting moments to show us that he

is preparing ReVive in his time. He provided

£130,000 so that we could buy the girls’

house and recently provided enough

money so that we could buy a VW Kombi

as transport.

The legal work we’ve done has put

ReVive in good standing and ensures that

our staff are employed correctly and the

training has hopefully prepared us for the

future issues that we’ll face. At the end of

the day we know that ReVive is in God’s

hands. We’re happy to follow his timescale

and leave the results with the girls with

him.

Prayer points:

• For the girls as they arrive

• For continued financial support

to keep the house open

ReVive’s team in Olinda


CMS welcomed two young visitors

from Chile to our offices recently.

Diego (27) and Sabrina (23) Pacheco

live in Cerro Alegre in Valparaíso,

Chile’s largest port.

Diego is an apprentice to CMS mission

partner Daniel Kirk. Daniel and his wife

Ellelein, with their two boys David and

Joshua, have been serving the Chilean

church since 2005.

After two three-year terms working

pastorally with the Anglican church La

Resurrección in Gómez Carreño and

helping with Chile’s V region’s lay training

Bible courses across Anglican churches, the

Kirks returned to plant a church in

Valparaíso.

They focus on young professional

families and students and have developed

a church that reaches out to the whole city,

and which has a heart for training and

sending out missionaries.

Q: How did you become Daniel’s apprentice?A: Sabrina and I went through marriage

preparation with Daniel and Ellelein, and

during that time I was a part-time apprentice

in my previous church (San Pedro in Viña del

Mar). But I was pretty excited with the

church-planting idea, so when Dan offered

me to go with him to plant a church I was

really into it.

Q: How long have you been working with Daniel?A: Since we started the church plant, so we

just went through our first year of full-time

work together, but we have been preparing

for the project since 2012.

Q: What kind of work do you do?A: Well, we are a small church plant so we

need to do a lot of different kinds of work.

I’ve been leading a missional community

called Victoria which involves evangelism,

teaching and discipleship. And I’ve been

particularly involved in evangelism and

occasional preaching.

Q: What have you learnt from Daniel?A: He is a very patient man with me, so

that’s really taught me how to love and serve

in Christ. He is also a brave man, willing to

take risks for what is right. And that is a great

lesson of how we should serve Christ, loving

his people but loving Christ even more.

Q: Why are you here in the UK?A: We are visiting London to receive

church-planting and biblical-teacher training

THE APPRENTICES: Diego and Sabrina

Church planting in Valparaíso


Church planting in Valparaísofrom the Co-Mission network. We are also

investigating how to set up, longer-term, a

church planting network for the city of

Valparaíso.

Q: Why is it important to plant churches in Valparaíso?A: It is important to plant churches

everywhere! Church planting is the best way

to please our God, making him known

through the life of his church and blessing

our cities and lives with the kind of life Jesus

provides. And Valparaíso is not the

exception. It is a pioneer city. It’s Chile’s

artistic capital and that means it’s a strategic

city that can, and does, influence the rest of

the country.

Q: Tell us about the different areas of your ministry.1) Iglesia Pablo Apóstol (IPA) Sunday

services (each Sunday at 11am) where

Christians from the different missional

communities meet together to worship our

God. We meet to hear him through the

readings and preaching of the Bible, talk to

him through prayer and singing and to enjoy

his gift of being brothers and sisters.

2) Missional communities: conversational

groups of about 15 people that meet

weekly, designed for non-Christians to feel

comfortable. It’s a place where Christians

can feel safe about inviting their friends.

A great place for Christians and non-

Christians to think about the big questions.

It’s a place where you can disagree and

dialogue.

3) Small discipleship groups: Groups of

three or four men or women meet together

for intense Bible study, personal

accountability and close prayer. This is the

place where deep Christian friendships are

born.

Q: What happens at your local cafe, Purocafe?A: Each Wednesday our missional

community meets in Purocafe. Between 10

and 13 people gather to discuss a particular

question. We usually start with the Christian

perspective and then open the discussion

for everyone to participate. The last question

we solved was ”What is the church?” –

based on a study of Acts 2.

Q: Do you work closely with Daniel?A: Yes, a lot of what we do, we do it

together. We meet every Monday to report,

feed back, pray and comment on a text we

are reading together. He leads a discipleship

for other guys and me; and we work

together in the pastoral team. But he has

allowed me certain freedom under his

supervision, too, which I think is exciting for

both of us.

Q: How many people attend your various missional communities?A: We started last year with 12 to 15 people,

and right now we are 40-plus.

Turn over to hear from Diego’s mentor, Daniel Kirk


Q: What does the future hold for your apprentice Diego?A: Diego will be continuing with us for one

more year as an apprentice before we can

see what we can devise for him in 2015.

Then he and Sabrina go to bible college in

Santiago in 2016. The plan is that they

return to Valparaíso in 2018 and put

together a team to start a new church plant

in 2019.

Q: How have they progressed?A: Diego and Sabrina have done really well

in moving right into the middle of

Valparaíso to the most bohemian ’cerro’

(hill) of Valparaíso. It is where the oldest

Protestant church St Paul’s is – and where

Anglican urban church planting began

under David Pytches in the 1960s and

70s. The Catholic university has its music

institute there, too, where Sabrina studies

and so she has done very well being

hospitable and inviting many people round

to their flat.

Q: What difference has it made having Diego as your apprentice?A: Diego is a natural evangelist and has

been making many contacts and sharing

Christ with folk. He took over one of our

first missional communities in Purocafe

where we meet on Sundays and ran an

Alpha course in the second term. When

that finished he led a short discipleship

course for four young men who wanted to

know more about the Christian faith.

Diego has also been a valuable part of my

pastoral team and has been very helpful

also on all things technical – designing

posters and flyers for events and sorting

out the sound and visual side of the

Sunday services (he trained as a sound

technician).

Q: Will you have another apprentice?A: Yes. We hope to take on another

full-time apprentice this month soon.

Gabriel will also be doing many similar

things – starting a missional community

and working with students and

encouraging social projects.

THE MENTOR: Daniel Kirk

Prayer points:• Pray for the city of Valparaíso and the

church plant Iglesia Pablo Apóstol, for

the team with Daniel and Ellelein Kirk

to be encouraged and inspired in their

praying, visiting and leading of house

groups.

• Ask the Lord to lead them to not-yet

believers who will respond to his

mercy and grace.

My name is

Ceri-May

Arkins. I am

20 years old.

For the past four

months I have

been living in

Argentina as a

CMS short-

termer at Hogar El Alba orphanage in

Buenos Aires.

I came here because I wanted to work

with children after having finished childcare

studies – learning and development level 3

– in England. I have known I wanted to do a

mission trip abroad for a long time and

started looking for placements. I am on a

six-month placement.

I’ve enjoyed my time here so much,

seeing the differences in culture and helping

the children. The highlight has been getting

to know the children and building

relationships with them.

I work mainly in the kitchen, helping

cook for all the children and adults at the

orphanage. In just four months, I have been

surprised how much my Spanish has

improved – especially after knowing very

little at the beginning. I can now understand

a lot of things when people speak slowly

and can have basic conversations.

There are around 50 children at the

orphanage from different, and difficult,

backgrounds. There are five houses – each

one accommodating around 10 children.

There is one Tia (auntie) to look after the

children in each house.

Learning the children’s stories of their

past before they came here was very

upsetting but knowing that they are now in a

safer place is a blessing. I enjoy doing

activities with them – including making

bracelets, playing games, treasure hunts and

water games in the summer. Even just an

evening watching a film with some of the

older children (plus English subtitles, of

course) is the best. The older children love

the film Pitch Perfect.

It has been a HUGE blessing building

relationships here with both the children and

the adults and getting to know them well.

They often come to say ‘hi’ to me while I’m

working in the kitchen and sit next to me in

church – as well as coming to me when they

are upset. It is a blessing to know that they

are willing to confide in me.

I have enjoyed this experience so much

and it has helped me to become more

confident and outgoing as well as daily

building my strength with God to trust and

rely on him. I would definitely recommend it

to someone who is thinking about a mission

trip.


Pitch perfect in Hogar El Alba SHORT-TERM SHORT STORIES

Christmas at the orphanage

Ceri (centre) and friends

SHARESPRING 2014 10

Former SAMS mission partners, David

and Shelley Stokes returned to the

Diocese of Northern Argentina (to

Ingeniero Juárez, in the very far north of the

region) in November 2010 as mission

partners with CMS. They are accompanying

the mainly Wichí speaking congregations at a

time of rapid change. David is ordained and

trains new and existing church leaders.

Shelley works mainly with women, helping

with conferences and starting parenting

groups.

Q: Wichí people and other indigenous

groups are living through a period of

real change in the Chaco – with

widespread migration from rural areas

to the town. What’s life like for the men

and the fathers in the Wichí towns and

villages?

David: Some of the more remote

communities live closer to the hunter-

gatherer style of life that the Wichí used to

live. A father would disciple his son and teach

him to fish and hunt game in the forest. But

if a family moves to live on the edge of town

there’s no outlet for hunting and fishing and

so it means looking for odd jobs and a very

different role for the father. Teaching his son

is largely taken over by a school and what

they see modelled in the wider town/

community. It puts a lot of pressure on

father–son relationships.

Q: What is causing many Wichí to

migrate from country to town?

David: Better health care, education and

the possibility of picking up odd jobs from

the Argentine settlers (Criollos) are some of

the reasons, along with deforestation and

land rights disputes. But the downside in the

towns is the Wichí have to pay for everything.

In the country there’s no electricity bill.

Q: How does this social change play out

for women?

Shelley: For women in original

communities life was quite different. They

had set roles, such as gathering firewood. In

towns, the relationship between parents and

children is very different. There’s a huge

amount of teenage pregnancy – the norm

rather than the exception. Teenage mothers

are not rejected – their mother (the

children’s grandmother) will take care of the

children, but a large number grow up with no

sense of a father. On the plus side, the Wichí

Walking with the Wichí amid massive change

Parenting course graduates, with the Shelley stokes and Bishop Nick Drayson


way with young children is to carry them in a

sling so they are with their mum all the time

and breastfed on demand anywhere. It’s

wonderful for small children and they grow

with the security of being with mother.

Q: What is the government doing to

help the social and economic situation?

David: The government is providing

schooling and lots of fantastic new buildings.

Health resources and hospitals are much

better than they were 10 years ago. There’s

housing and all sorts of social benefits for

having children. But the negative side is that

the government may change and the

benefits may all stop. This financial assistance

also encourages division in communities and

squabbling over ‘goodies’. There is also

resentment from those who are working and

struggling to get by on their earnings and see

money being handed out by the government

to indigenous people.

A lot of the time everyone muddles

along quite well, but there are regular

incidents where racism does flare up

between Criollos (Spanish-speaking

Argentines of European descent) and Wichí.

Wichí remember strongly what it was like

when Criollos came as settlers. Memories

are long on both sides.

Q: Describe one or two things the

church is taking take the lead on?

Shelley: CMS mission partner Catherine

[Drayson] has been running meetings in

various communities on parenting and

encouraging people to think through issues.

There is a Mothers’ Union parenting course.

Four Toba, nine Wichí and three other

Argentines were trained to lead parenting

groups – a few of those are taking off. There

are women’s conferences held twice a year

that used to be mainly lecturing from the

front but now there is a lot more drama,

activities and a huge response, with women

pouring in from lots of different

communities.

David: Leadership training is another big

issue. One of the challenges is selecting the

appropriate people. Some will have little

academic training, others are educated to

university level. Trying to get the appropriate

training for new leaders amid so much

change in society is a challenge.

Q: What do you find most satisfying

about your work?

Shelley: It’s a huge privilege to be

seated with a group of women, sharing mate

from the same pot, and being together. A lot

of non-verbal connection happens.

David: It’s a privilege to be in Wichí

communities and accompany the churches

and communities through massive, massive

change – and knowing we haven’t got the

answers, but God has somewhere, if there

are enough people talking and praying

through things together.

Prayer points:• Leadership training: for selection and

appropriate input for those who are

going to be leaders in the future

• Families: for confidence that people can

find ways to adapt to the changes.

• Church: For zonal pastors – Pray that

from these people, the future

leadership of the church will come.


What does your job entail?

I am a staff writer at CMS and I work

mainly on two publications, SHARE (the one

you are reading!) and Africa News –

gathering story ideas, interviewing people

and writing up stories.

Have you always been a writer?

Yes. It’s something I love and I cannot

really imagine doing anything else. I did have

a short stint as a teaching assistant at my

local primary school. I loved the children but

I really missed writing, so was lucky enough

to get another job as a writer.

Why did you apply for a job with CMS?

When I saw a little advert in the Oxford

Times asking for a part-time writer to join the

CMS communications team, it seemed to

have been written for me! At the time I was

juggling a full-time job with being mum to a

four-year-old (Max). A part-time job just

round the corner from my house for CMS

was very appealing. As I was doing the

writing test in the CMS office, I felt God

willing me on to do well. I also remember

crying during the interview after the panel

prayed for me. The next day I was so

delighted to be offered the job.

What is the most inspirational thing

you’ve written about at CMS?

There are so many... Andy and Rose

Roberts’ work with street boys (and now

girls), Tim Curtis and his translation team in

the Chaco, Cristóbal Cerón in Chile, Jill Ball

and Life in Abundant Trust in Ecuador, the

Chilean miner tour – to name but a few.

What jobs have you done in the past?

CMS is my first not for profit organisation.

My first job was as a reporter for an

insurance journal called Post Magazine

– based in Fleet Street. I have worked for

different companies over the years including

Barclays, Marks & Spencer, Prudential and

the NHS. M&S was great because I got to

write about food and clothes. But nothing

beats CMS’s stories of hope and

transformation!

What’s the best thing about your faith?

Knowing I am loved by God helps me in

lots of aspects of my life. This was

particularly so when I was diagnosed with an

aggressive type of cancer two years ago.

While the London Olympics 2012 was taking

place, I was really suffering. That summer,

after two operations earlier in the year, I had

eight weeks of radiotherapy and chemo. The

treatment made me terribly ill. But as my

consultant said ‘we brought you right down

to bring you up’. She was right because in

November 2012 – against the odds – I was

given the all clear. Praise God.

What got you through?

People’s love, support and prayers

were a real Godsend.

MEET THE TEAM: SARAH HOLMES


Sally Bartlett, whose husband Peter is

Anglican Bishop of Paraguay (together

they are CMS mission partners), talks

about handing on the baton of

leadership, fried eggs and a rash of

mobile messages

Chipa or fried eggs for breakfast today?

Last week in England it was porridge. Here in

Asuncion, the alarm goes off at 6am. After

reading from the Gospel of Luke, writing in

my journal, diary checking and praying for the

day’s activities I realise that we are running

late – the alarm clock needs a new battery!

We opt for fried eggs as the quickest option.

Peter spends the morning reading,

planning, paying bills and taking phone calls.

Today I’m busy as president of the

interdenominational Asunción World Day of

Prayer (WDP). It is our final planning meeting

for next week’s prayer service. I am grateful

for my WDP friends, working with them is a

pleasure and I am learning from them about

how Paraguayan groups function. A rash of

mobile messages about the meeting and

also greetings for Paraguayan Ladies’ Day and

it’s time to make some calls.

Great news from Teresa in the cathedral!

A request from young people has led to a

new Bible study group. Already Teresa is

encouraging the group to develop leadership

skills. Answered prayer for new Sunday

school teachers – Miriam has started to lead

the adolescents’ class. Lily has recently

started to attend Sunday services and has

offered to help. We discuss ways that Teresa

can train her.

We talk about this Wednesday’s sewing

group. Often Teresa or I lead meditation as

part of the afternoon. This week Emma, the

church’s worship leader, will lead. Finally,

Esperanza foster home. Teresa is the

administrator and I am the director and we

talk about staff training issues.

I spend an hour continuing with my 2014

project – “finish tasks well and declutter”.

Peter calls in after lunch and then he’s off

A LIFE IN THE DAY OF: Sally Bartlett No matter what my gifts, roles or position, I seek to stand on level ground with those around me

Breakfast with Peter and Sally

Continued over page


The long hard road of Bible translation tells people they matter, boosts literacy – and carries the message of Jesus into all the world.

When CMS mission partner Tim Curtis

caught his first glimpse of the arid Chaco

forest in Paraguay, he knew it was the

place he had seen in his dream.

It had been a low point back in

England when he’d had that dream. ”I felt

it was God saying to me that he had

something for me to do – something I’d

enjoy and something with a purpose,” Tim

explains.

Now more than 30 years later, the

dream is being fulfilled. Tim is about to

embark on the final revision of the New

Testament in the Enxet language, spoken

God’s word in the language of your heart

back to the office. Training and handing on

the baton of leadership is something that

both Peter and I have been modelling and

teaching here in Paraguay. Progress is often

slow, so this morning’s phone call is a big

encouragement to us.

Describing my five years in Paraguay I

use the phrase ‘level ground leadership’

– meaning that no matter what my gifts,

roles or position in any given area of my life,

I seek to stand on level ground with those

around me and work alongside them to see

the kingdom of God come in greater

measure. Unexpected things happen and

keeping on course developing new

leadership in the diocese is challenging.

Watching Jesus in the Gospels is helpful.

He knew who he was, where he was going,

what he was teaching. With integrity and

grace he met people just as they were,

standing beside them on level ground.

Off to the photocopiers for extra copies

of ‘Springs in the Desert’ – next week’s

order of service. I nip into the supermarket,

buy batteries for the clock and send some

emails. Arriving early at the Cathedral there’s

time to chat with the ladies as they arrive.

The meeting goes well, each person offers

to do something specific and we take time

to pray for Egypt, Venezuela and other

concerns.

Back home Peter and I eat dinner, chat,

listen to music and pray. I expect to sleep

well and am looking forward to our day off

tomorrow and God’s provision of time to

rest. And I’m planning a relaxing patio

breakfast with chipa (a Paraguayan speciality,

made from mandioca flour) and coffee.

A L

IFE

IN T

HE

DAY

OF:

Sal

ly B

artle

tt

Asunción and Tim


by about 17,000 of Paraguay’s indigenous

people and divided into two dialects which

are almost separate languages – northern

and southern Enxet.

It’s the final stage of the translation of the

whole Bible (into southern Enxet) that he has

overseen. But, cautions Tim, ”I won’t

completely relax until the Bibles are printed

and all the boxes are here.”

It was when Tim was teaching English in

remote rural schools, sometimes riding seven

or eight hours on horseback to deliver a

lesson in the Chaco, that his project director

asked him to take on Bible translation.

Several years of learning the Enxet

language and training in the skills of

translation followed. The project to translate

the New Testament began in the early 90s.

The first challenge was to find local potential

translators who had a good enough level of

Spanish.

A translation team was formed, which

has included two CMS Timothy mission

partners, Asunción Rojas and Juan Martinez.

Next came practice drafts. Finally team

members would have books assigned to

them to start work.

”My job was to understand what they

were writing in Enxet and see if that

corresponded with what the Bible says in

Spanish,” says Tim.

But help with the translation also comes

from the wider community. Once the team

has a reasonably good draft, there are

checkers based in different communities

who read them and give feedback. There is a

lot of reading aloud of texts and checking

they flow properly.

The literacy of the local communities is

also being boosted, thanks to the translation

work. The first missionaries to translate the

Gospels and Acts in Enxet – in 1911 – were

also the first people to write down the Enxet

language.

As the New Testament (published in

1997) has been used, people want to read

in church. ”If people have had a few years of

primary education and have been taught to

read and write in Spanish they make the

switch to Enxet very quickly – and they’ll do

that on their own without a literacy

campaign,” Tim explains.

Most importantly for Tim, the lack of a

Bible in the people’s mother tongue

scuppers sharing the message of Jesus. ”If

you’re trying to do mission and there’s no

Bible – or only portions, it’s very difficult. I

think you’ll get a church that is not very

mature if you don’t have the scriptures. It’s

pretty fundamental to mission,” he says

Now the lengthy process is nearing the

end and 2015 should finally see the

complete Bible published for the first time in

Enxet.

”Having God’s word in the language of

their heart is important to the Enxet people

and tells them they matter,” Tim says. “They

are still a marginalised people – though

things have improved greatly since the 1980s

when I was first here – but the translation

says ’You matter.’

”And that’s true for all of us – that God

says ’You matter’ and that he is working his

purposes out and wants to involve us – and

is bringing people in from every part of the

world.”


NEWS SHARE

Tim Curtis is on UK leave from Paraguay

until April 2014.

Catherine and +Nick Drayson are back in

the UK from April until June 2014.

David and Shelley Stokes are back on UK

leave from Juárez, Northern Argentina until

June 2014.

Marcus Throup will be in the UK in May for

his PhD viva.

Hugo Vergara will be visiting the UK with a

group from Northern Argentina from May

until June 2014.

Short termers: Ceri Arkins is volunteering

at Hogar el Alba orphanage in Buenos Aires,

Argentina until March 2014 (see page 9).

Physiotherapist Irina Dale goes out to Santo

Domingo, Ecuador in May to help at Life in

Abundance Trust for a year alongside CMS

mission partner Sharon Wilcox. Emma Nutt

has returned from La Paz, Bolivia. Tyler

Overton starts his CMS placement in March

2014 at St Paul’s School, Viña del Mar, Chile.

You can find out more about where

and when these Globe+crossers might

be in your area on the CMS website:

www.cms-uk.org

Globe+crossers

SAMS Ireland’s Friday

Night Live (FNL) event is

always a great celebration

of mission work in Latin

America. This year was no

exception and Paul

Thaxter, CMS director of

international mission, and

Jo Hazelton, regional personnel officer for

South America, went along to join in the fun.

Held in Craigavon, Northern Ireland

– where SAMS Ireland is based – 350

people with a love for all things Latin

American were informed, challenged and

encouraged to hear more about missional

developments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,

Chile, Paraguay and Peru.

The keynote speaker was the Rev Ali

Crane. With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

just round the corner, she played on a

football theme – urging people to pass

forward their skills and resources and to

defend in prayer.

The gathering

also heard from

SAMS Ireland short termer Alison

Crawford, who has being working

alongside CMS mission partners Paul

and Sarah Tester and diocesan youth

worker Lizbeth Varillas in Lima, Peru.

Commenting on Friday Night Live,

Jo said: “It was great to catch up with our

SAMS Ireland brothers and sisters and be

able to show our support of SAMS Ireland

and its work.”

Mary Rollin, who coordinates CMS

Latin partners, has been recovering well

from her injuries after being involved in an

accident mid-January. Give thanks that she

was able to go home at the end of February

after the consultant was able to remove her

neck brace the previous Monday. She is still

in recovery, but getting there slowly and

steadily. Please pray for her.

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