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Dozen mission agencies at Norwich conference 

A dozen mission agencies were represented at a Global Connections Eastern Partnership day conference at Chapelfield Road Methodist Church in Norwich on Saturday March 18. Keith Morris and Helen Baldry report.

The conference was entitled 'My Mission or God’s?' and focused on mission both at home and overseas.

Opening the conference was Steve Jerrard from New Tribes Mission who said that we can all be ambassadors for Christ. “If Jesus is your king, are you going about his business?” Steve asked.  “Let nothing hold you back and tell of the hope in his name.”
 
OMF missionaries, Tim and Abi, from Norwich, spoke of their 11 years working in a megacity in South East Asia where they have been serving the urban poor through community development, literacy work and a neighbourhood centre. Their literacy work alone has reached 200 teachers who teach 4,000 pupils.

Lisa Rose from Friends International spoke about how her organisation grows faith and friendship by supporting university students. There are 650,000 international students in the UK, around 4,000 of which are in Norwich. Lisa explained that a large proportion of international students in Norwich are Japanese, which presents an excellent opportunity to spread the gospel, because Japan is the second largest unreached people group in the world.
 
Filipe, from All Nations Christian College, spoke about the preparation the college gives to people entering the mission field. Training and understanding of culture is very important, especially in areas such as conflict resolution and cross-cultural awareness. Philippe gave a reminder that we are a reflection of who Christ is, and challenged people ‘how many people have you been inviting to follow you?’ He describes his time at Bible college as “the best three years of my life”.
 
Arnold, from Operation Mobilisation’s Teen Street project, which equips young people for mission, issued a challenge for people to engage in mission, not simply be curious or informed about it. He gave the example of Moses being intrigued with the burning bush, yet he asked God to send someone else. Arnold gave the encouragement that “you can use what you have where you are”,’ and made the point that we don’t have to travel internationally in order to be missionaries. He said: “By engaging with mission you will be making an everlasting impact.”

There was a buzz in the room throughout the conference and organiser Tim Jenkins, from OMF UK, said: “It was good to have a room full of people committed to mission, those who were interested to find out more, and those who are preparing to go on a mission.”

Janet Barrow, who attended the conference said: “It was brilliant, inspirational and also challenging. It was good to have a variety of speakers from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. I found it really impacting.”
 
The following mission agencies were all represented: All Nations Christian College; Arab World Ministry of Pioneers; Friends International; Frontiers; Latin Link; New Tribes Mission; Operation Mobilisation; OMF International UK; ReachAcross; Serving In Mission; UCCF; WEC International; World Outreach International; Wycliffe Bible Translators; Zambesi Mission.

You can find details of and links to all of these agencies at: www.globalconnections.org.uk/content/gc-eastern-partnership

You can contact Global Connections Eastern Partnership through Tim Jenkins at Tim.Jenkins@omfmail.com

Pictured top is Tim Jenkins with an exhibitor at the Global Connections Eastern Partnership conference in Norwich, pictured below.

GlobalMissionConferenceAudienc


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