Francesca
is Coordinator of the Medical Department for the Diocese of Aru, in DR Congo.
This involves coordinating the work of seven health centres, working as a doctor
including consultation, ward rounds and emergency visits.
Francesca
has been working as a CMS mission partner since 1994, based in the Ituri
district in the north east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In recent years,
an increasing amount of her
time has been spent on management ¬proposal and report writing, fundraising and
accounts. In addition to this, she
has been involved in teaching at several different nursing schools. Each health
centre has 20-40 inpatient beds along with maternity facilities, a midwife, a
laboratory technician, at least two nurses and a variable number of ancillary
personnel. Francesca acts as a support for those who are working in very
isolated situations.
Francesca
grew up in London, moving to Bristol in 1971 to read Physics at Bristol
University. She enjoyed an early career as a physicist, including gaining a PhD,
before switching to medicine and training as a General Practitioner. One of the
reasons for her career change was that medicine would present more opportunities
for overseas work. After qualifying as a GP in 1990, she worked in Avon and for
several short periods helped in hospitals in India, Kenya, Swaziland and
Pakistan. A member of Christ Church Clifton, Bristol, Francesca was involved
with children's work, catering, house groups, christian basic groups, and
mission meetings.
Francesca then did specialist training at the Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine as well as spending two terms at the CMS training college, Crowther
Hall, and four months learning French, before travelling to what was then ZaIre
in January 1994.
At times, fighting in Congo has obliged her to move across the border to
Uganda, from where she has continued her work – on both sides of the border.
There has been damage to her clinic and looting of equipment, but each time she
has worked valiantly to restore the clinic and her team. Without doubt, she has
consistently brought much needed relief to the people of a region that most of
the world regards as just too difficult.
Francesca loves the opportunity to participate in sport, particularly tennis,
cycling and swimming, and wishes there was more opportunity for these in Aru!
Do please
pray for Francesca and her work in your prayers.
From the Eurasian-Ministries Director - Graham Herbert
Teaching and Training the next generation of pastor-teacher-evangelists.
Eurasian Mission College - Kazan in Tatarstan, Russia.
January 2012
Dear Christian friend
Warmest greetings and very best wishes to you in 2012 from us as a family.
(A photograph and a note of what we all do is shown below!)
We
can stride
into the new
year confident that „the gospel is the power of God for salvation‟ Romans 1:16.
Salvation is the greatest need of all people and nations and we have the
privilege and responsibility to make it known and to help teach and train those
who are eager gospel workers. Putting a well known saying into my own words "If
our greatest need was an improved economy, God would have sent us the economic
blue print; if our greatest need was for information, God would have sent us all
a gift-wrapped Apple Mac Pro personal computer; if our greatest need was money,
God would have sent us a generous banker but our greatest need is to be saved
from our sin so God sent us a Saviour".
The focus of EM-UK is very specific – we exist to enable the Mission College
in Kazan to teach and train men and women in Biblical understanding [See inset
1], Gospel priorities and lifelong Christian service [See inset 2]
INSET 1 The College newsletter records one student who is learning to be a true
servant of the Word ...
"I had to face the fact that often what I want to say is not
in the text, and God is saying something different in the text. It needs much
humility because I tend to search for something very special in the text that no
one has seen before, but God tells me to say what is written"
Wow ... what a big lesson to be learning!
INSET 2 Another newsletter records a meeting of Tatarstan Pastors – mostly
former students of the Mission College ...
"We prayed to the Lord that we would be
faithful in all things and that the Lord
would use us to
spread the Gospel through Tatarstan. We prayed for the Lord to send ministers to
the Tatarstan regions where there is no church. Among the 43 regions of
Tatarstan, 11 regions do not have a church."
Over
the last 2 years, quietly but with steadfastness and painstaking effort, a small
group has been translating and preparing the Moore Theological Course for use in
the Russian language. www.external.moore.edu.au
You
will be greatly encouraged to hear that a group of 28 (including staff of the
Mission College and church leaders of the Faith and Life Church, Kazan) are now
coming to the end of the first term of study completing the „Introduction to the
Bible‟ unit. To qualify for the Moore Preliminary Certificate in Theology they
will need to study and be examined in six units. I will be the examiner on
behalf of Moore College. This is a highly significant development and has huge
potential throughout the Russian speaking world of Eastern Europe and Central
Asia.
EM-UK has for a little while been seeking a partnership with another mission
to strengthen and support its work at the Eurasian Mission College in Kazan. We
have found a partner in People International which is led in the UK by John
McLernon. The PI purpose statement reads: "To unveil God's glory to Central
Asian Muslims by establishing and enabling his church".
PI is increasingly aware that the gospel is spread most effectively, not by
European missionaries, but by training and equipping local Christians to become
pastors-teacher-evangelists. They recognise the Kazan Mission College as a
strategic centre for this.
The
EM-UK Trustees are persuaded that a partnership will be a significant step
forward for EM. Administrative matters will be handled by the PI Tunbridge Wells
UK office (reimbursed by EM-UK at cost and less than running our Danbury office)
and I will be left free to teach, and work with the College staff with the
additional help of the experienced PI field staff. We remain an independent
mission and all gifts are directed, as normal, to the ministry of EM-UK.
Labouring side by side for the Gospel
Philippians 4:3
Note: The PI Council of Reference is made up of Don Carson, Michael Raiter,
Michael Griffiths, Gordon Fee and Lindsay Brown. The PI Board is Mike Warren (St
Peter's Church, Tunbridge Wells),
Nick Prideaux (St John's Church, Tunbridge Wells), Steve Harland (Colkins
Mill Church, Mayfield) and Caroline Standing (Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon). The
PI Doctrinal Basis can be read at:
Emma
teaches Maths at Cranleigh School and leads music at Cranleigh Baptist Church –
she marriedJames Ellin in July 2011. Rosie is teaching French and Latin at
Bishopsgate Prep School, Egham and is involved with St John’s Church. Mark
continues church ministry training based at Grace Community Church, Bedford.
Juliet enjoys her RS teaching at Monkton Prep School. Graham directs the mission
work of Eurasian-Ministries UK and helps in the local church.
My next teaching trip is from March 10 for 2-3 weeks. I will be teaching both
Old and New Testament studies and looking at the early chapters of Genesis,
Isaiah, Ecclesiastes, Romans, 2 Timothy and James. Please pray that time with
the College staff will be helpful and encouraging.
Thank you for standing with us in this great task,
Eurasian Ministries Office Address: 9 Baird Grove Kesgrave Ipswich Suffolk IP5 2DQ Office
Phone: 01473 806 191 Director’s Home Address: Bremdene Highlands Park
Chudleigh Devon TQ13 0JZ Home Phone: 01626 854903
For the academic year
ahead I have been asked to serve as the Director of Eurasian-Ministries UK. This
will principally involve teaching trips to the Mission College in Kazan (as I
have been doing for the past 3 years) but with the added dimension of closer
involvement with the college staff and the mission strategy. Here in the UK
between trips I will be available to visit partner churches and supporters.
Let me review the work of the
mission by asking:
Why is teaching at the Eurasian Mission College so necessary?
What
is the strategic significance of the College?
The
Gospel mandate is clear – to go to all nations beginning at home and spreading
out with courage and energy. The vision of the Kazan Mission College has always
been just that.. taking the Gospel to the people of Kazan (Tatar, Russian,
Muslim, Orthodox, Unbelieving) and then using every opportunity to ‘go abroad’.
It has been a remarkable story. Men and women, taught and trained at EMC, going
to many other Russian regions and Central Asian countries (Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan). It has involved crossing borders and
entering places hostile to the Christian Gospel. It continues to involve loss of
security, regular income and material comforts. These believers ‘hazard their
lives for the Lord Jesus Christ’ Acts 15:26
The
College is growing in effectiveness while still able to keep a low profile and
not raise protest or opposition. It has developed a gold blend of .. Biblical
Teaching, Personal Support and Practical Ministry. The staff are tireless in
caring for past and present students. The network of faithful and committed
Gospel workers continues to grow.
My task is to help lay a foundation of
Biblical understanding and resourcefulness which will ensure that the whole
counsel of God (Acts 20:27) is declared to the nations and sustains the workers
and their families.
On
a personal note I am hugely grateful for the gifts of money which finance each
of the teaching trips. Every rouble invested in the lives of these faithful and
courageous students is well used. I do believe that the supporters, those who
teach and the college students are all “workers together with Christ” (2
Corinthians 6:1)
Following
24 years in regular church and schools ministry in the UK Graham has been
working for the last ten years as a teacher-trainer in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia. This task has taken him to many different countries. He is now
actively engaged in the significant and strategic opportunity of teaching at the
Mission College in Kazan, Tatarstan in southern Russia, working under the
direction of Tim McMahon, Director of Eurasian-Ministries UK.
Following
teaching trips in 2009 and 2010 there is an opportunity to continue teaching the
Bible modules in January, March and September of 2011 at the Kazan Mission
College. There is also a demand for Bible teaching in the regional satellite
churches which could be combined with pastoral visits to strengthen and
encourage the ministers. All are hard pressed and have to overcome the most
demanding living conditions and then rise to the challenge of the gospel task
while facing harsh personal opposition.
THE TASK
SUPPORT
Most Missions are now realising
the strategic value of in-country theological education for next generation
leaders. Graham is actively seeking support to finance each individual teaching
trip. The average cost of one trip is £1,552 (which covers visa, flights,
travel, in-country expenses and teaching costs).
If you or a set of friends,
church group or business would like to be involved in helping to sponsor a trip
or would like news for prayer please be in touch with Graham or with Eurasian
Ministries 27 Hoynors Close, Danbury, Chelmsford, CM3 4RL 01245 227 941
www.eurasian-ministries.org email:
tim.mcmahon@eurasian-ministries.org.
[Gift Aid forms are available on
the EM website. Please mark donations “Graham Herbert – EMC”. Gift Aided
donations add 28p to each £1.]
Iris Axt, one of our
Mission Partners, recently sent this letter from Argentina:
December 16th
2010
‘Dear Friends,
While you had a snow storm,
here we are roasting! We hope that the cold has decreased a little.
We want to send you a
little news.
On the 6th
December, Iris's pension was finally agreed and already she has received her
first payment – that is to the value of 250 dollars, plus some extra for
Christmas.
Humberto travelled to the
North, going to Alto de la Sierra and the heat is worrying. The buses only
arrive twice a week and to return he had to do more than one hundred km on a
motorcycle through the mid-day heat, and he got sunburned. On arriving home he
was ill for two days but is better now.
The brethren there are in a
process of changes, want to sing new songs, to prepare themselves for Sunday
schools. Humberto visited the members of the traditional Anglican Church which
sent some young people to train in San Pedro de Jujuy in a Presbyterian
seminary. This has been run by the Koreans for about three years and they were
organised very well: they have a beautiful Sunday school with many children, and
several teachers. The best news is than they continue being faithful, with
desires to grow, and have many projects.
Humberto recounts that the
town is full of motorcycles, and he was surprised to see women mounted in an
enormous motocross.
Laureano Segovia from La
Paz came to meet Humberto on a motorcycle with other brethren. He told Humberto
that in these next days he was invited to travel to Spain with an
anthropologist from Vaqueros. Their first meetings will be in Buenos Aires
speaking of the Wichi culture, then they travel to visit universities in Spain.
There is a group of young
people who are hoping for scholarships from the government to follow studies at
university and they will come to live in Salta. It will be a responsibility to
accompany them and to take care of them. Another good news that they
communicated to Humberto is that a group of 2000 Tobas, from Salta province,
will be protected by president Evo Morales of Bolivia. He invites them to live
to Bolivia and they will donate 20,000 hectares to them in the zone of Tarija, a
cotton zone, so that they can work there. This fills to us with happiness – the
Tobas have been very neglected in Salta. Also living amongst them is a member of
the Pentecostal church. Rafael Mountain, an agronomist who was dismissed from
Asociana a little before us, works for the government on social development and
has more and more work with the land projects.
Silverio told us that
Ernesto Avendaño was very seriously ill in Saucelito and Humberto called to his
mobile phone, so we could speak and pray with him. We are in permanent contact
with a great group of brothers, with the security that some day all the truth
will come to the light, and that the church is formed by men who can be
mistaken. We continue praying and waiting for new growth with the intervention
of the Holy Spirit.
Humberto says that the heat
is so intense that it oppresses the people and they have no energy. That is our
news for now. We were several days without Internet after a storm. Once again we
are thankful for your support all this time. We send our greetings as always and
a great hug in Christ.’
![[Under Construction]](images/undercon.gif)
Francesca
is Coordinator of the Medical Department for the Diocese of Aru, in DR Congo.
This involves coordinating the work of seven health centres, working as a doctor
including consultation, ward rounds and emergency visits. 
Francesca
grew up in London, moving to Bristol in 1971 to read Physics at Bristol
University. She enjoyed an early career as a physicist, including gaining a PhD,
before switching to medicine and training as a General Practitioner. One of the
reasons for her career change was that medicine would present more opportunities
for overseas work. After qualifying as a GP in 1990, she worked in Avon and for
several short periods helped in hospitals in India, Kenya, Swaziland and
Pakistan. A member of Christ Church Clifton, Bristol, Francesca was involved
with children's work, catering, house groups, christian basic groups, and
mission meetings. 
We
can stride 
Over
the last 2 years, quietly but with steadfastness and painstaking effort, a small
group has been translating and preparing the Moore Theological Course for use in
the Russian language. www.external.moore.edu.au 
You
will be greatly encouraged to hear that a group of 28 (including staff of the
Mission College and church leaders of the Faith and Life Church, Kazan) are now
coming to the end of the first term of study completing the „Introduction to the
Bible‟ unit. To qualify for the Moore Preliminary Certificate in Theology they
will need to study and be examined in six units. I will be the examiner on
behalf of Moore College. This is a highly significant development and has huge
potential throughout the Russian speaking world of Eastern Europe and Central
Asia. 
The
EM-UK Trustees are persuaded that a partnership will be a significant step
forward for EM. Administrative matters will be handled by the PI Tunbridge Wells
UK office (reimbursed by EM-UK at cost and less than running our Danbury office)
and I will be left free to teach, and work with the College staff with the
additional help of the experienced PI field staff. We remain an independent
mission and all gifts are directed, as normal, to the ministry of EM-UK. 
Emma
teaches Maths at Cranleigh School and leads music at Cranleigh Baptist Church –
she marriedJames Ellin in July 2011. Rosie is teaching French and Latin at
Bishopsgate Prep School, Egham and is involved with St John’s Church. Mark
continues church ministry training based at Grace Community Church, Bedford.
Juliet enjoys her RS teaching at Monkton Prep School. Graham directs the mission
work of Eurasian-Ministries UK and helps in the local church
The
College is growing in effectiveness while still able to keep a low profile and
not raise protest or opposition. It has developed a gold blend of .. Biblical
Teaching, Personal Support and Practical Ministry. The staff are tireless in
caring for past and present students. The network of faithful and committed
Gospel workers continues to grow. 
