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In a culture where children were looked down upon and not

seen as valuable until they were at an age to be useful in the

family business, Jesus welcomed the little children with arms

wide open. Jesus had time for ‘the least’ in first century Jewish

society. Jesus also holds up children as a picture of how all

people ought to come before him. Contrary to conventional

wisdom, Jesus declares that the Kingdom belongs to those like

children – the humble, weak and acutely aware of their

dependency on God.

Jesus’ atoning death has grafted us into the family of God. As

beloved children, we can have the freedom to approach the

King’s throne of grace with our needs. Pastor Tim Keller puts it

this way, “The only person who dares wake up a King at 3.00am

for a glass of water is his child. We have that kind of access!”

It is therefore both Jesus’ precedent of loving the ‘least’ and our

new identity as children of God that should compel us to

demonstrate God’s love and compassion to a group prone to

vulnerability in every society – children.

 This edition of Mission Together has a special focus on SIM’s

ministry to children living and dying without hearing the Good

News. You can read about different child-focused ministries of

compassion, health and education assisting communities living

in physical and spiritual poverty. Be inspired and informed to

pray and invest in the next generation. There are also diverse

ministry opportunities overseas for you to participate in as

Jesus Christ brings many children to Himself.

 Thank you for your faithful partnership in mission,

Omar Djoeandy

National Director of SIM Australia

  Founding Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, and author of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Scepticism.

 

Main Speaker: Richard Coombs 

Richard is the Australian Director of MECOAustralia (Middle East Christian Outreach) as wellas a Church History lecturer at the MelbourneSchool of Theology.

Melbourne, 8 October9.00am-4.30pmMelbourne School of Theology, Wantirna

Sydney, 15 October9.00am-4.00pm

St Anne’s Anglican Church, Ryde

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MISSION TOGETHER | MAY 2016 |  ISSUE 144 |  3

 

GIVE A $65 donation to SIM’s Girls off the Street Fund  (09340) will

give a girl medical care, legal assistance and education for

one month in an aftercare home. You can give online byvisiting www.sim.org.au, or use the response form at the

back of this newsletter.

“She is more precious

than rubies…” 

Proverbs 3:15a

When Shilpa turned eighteen, she was finally ready to move to

the adult aftercare home. There she is continuing her studies

as well as having the opportunity to help others, such as HIV

positive children who live in a care home nearby. The girls and

team at Redlight-Greenlight were sad to see her go and gave

her a farewell party. In return, Shilpa wrote a special card in

Hindi:

Shilpa’s thank you note can also be applied to all who have

given generously so that the Redlight-Greenlight  aftercare

home can remain open and available to help survivors of sex

trafficking and abuse like Shilpa on a path to healing.

When Shilpa*, survivor of terrible sexualabuse, first came to the Redlight-Greenlight

aftercare home, she struggled to participate

in school, group therapy, dance or art.She

would compare herself to the other girls and say, “I can’t dothis right,” before getting angry and just giving up altogether.

As she approached her eighteenth birthday, the staff at

Redlight-Greenlight  started making plans for her transfer to a

partner home for adult women as Shilpa had no safe place to

go. However, the carers at Redlight-Greenlight  were concerned

about her relational skills and that she would be able to relate

with others at an ‘adult’ level. Days before she had yelled in

frustration at a Redlight-Greenlight  counsellor, “I’ve decided

 just to be ‘bad’ and cause trouble wherever I go, here or in the

other home!” As the counsellor calmly listened to Shilpa, sheopened up and said, “I’m so afraid to fail that I don’t even want

to try and fit in!”

 The counsellor then reminded Shilpa of the many new things

she had learned to do since coming to the Redlight-Greenlight

home; dancing, drawing, being able to pass a school exam,

share her opinion, listen to others and forgive a friend after a

fight. She encouraged Shilpa to reflect on these changes and

challenged her that she did not have to choose to be “bad”.

A few days later, Shilpa returned to the counsellor and said, “I

have been thinking about what you said, and I feel that God

told me, ‘You have forgiven others who hurt you, but you need

to forgive yourself!’” She then made a list of many things she

had said or done in the past that had made her angry at

herself but was now forgiving.*not real name to protect identity

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Bethany*, missionary with SIM Australia serving as

principal in a school for missionary kids in South Asia.

*not real name to protect identity

 

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Do you have experience in teaching or education? Are you passionate about passing on the Gospel

to the next generation? Do you have a heart for God’s global mission? 

If you answered yes to these questions, you might be just the right person to fill a vacant teaching

role with SIM in a community where Christ is least known! 

Would you consider going towhere Christ is least known to

minister to children? We’d love tochat with you. Drop us a line at:

www.sim.org.au/enquire

 

When you teach missionary children, you are

freeing up other missionaries to do Kingdom

work. There is a current need for French, science-

math, chemistry and IT at this academy for

elementary students.

 The Mission Academy was started in 2007 to

provide English education to Missionary Kids

across a wide range of cultural backgrounds and

ages. The role has a strong emphasis on mentoring

Missionary Kids and preparing the older children

to live for Christ after graduating.

 

Get on board with what God is doing in this South

Asian country through teaching at a local school.

 The children attending the school come from poor

and disadvantaged communities. This is a great

opportunity to sensitively share the love of Christ

with students from different religious

backgrounds.

 

 This Christian missionary school is seeking a

person with integrity and experience to fill the

position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The CEO

is responsible for the development of the ethos of

the school and supporting the spiritual life of the

school alongside other responsibilities.

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After the delivery, Amuna was not psychologically or

physically prepared for a new baby. She could not produce

breast milk and was neglecting to give her new-born baby theattention and care she needed. Six months later, Amuna

returned to GMC with her baby. Molla was suffering from a

respiratory disease as well as being severely malnourished. It

was confronting for me to see a mother who had given up on

her baby and just wanted to take her “unwanted” baby home

to die.

 The staff at GMC did what they could to lift Amuna’s spirits and

enrolled her in the clinic’s nutrition village – a medical facility

for mothers and malnourished infants. Mother and daughter

stayed for several months, over which time Molla gained

significant weight.

Amuna left able to produce breast milk but the greatest

change was in Amuna’s outlook on life. She went away from

the clinic with a new found love for her daughter.

Coming back to the present, it is hard to believe that Molla

was an “unwanted” baby the way her mother fussed over her.

Seeing them together caused me to stop and realise just how

many other “Mollas” have passed through GMC and are now

healthy children. This sudden realisation caused me to forget

about my hard week’s work and instead praise God!”

 The Grieve Memorial Medical Clinic (GMC) is a faith-based

primary health care centre that serves an extremely under-

developed region in Doro, South Sudan. The centre providesholistic health care to all patients who walk through the doors,

including outpatient services, prenatal and maternal services,

leprosy treatment, a nutrition village for malnourished

children and a very busy general health clinic.

From unwanted to unconditionally

loved…

“Friday was a very chaotic day at the clinic. In fact, the whole

week had been busy with the numbers of patients increasing

daily. It was one of those days where I need to ask God to give

me the strength to keep going.

As I was busy seeing a patient, a woman walked into the clinic

with her young child. Her daughter looked beautiful, healthy

and ‘chubby’. The mother looked very familiar but I could not

remember where I had seen her before.

 Then it clicked. Two years ago Amuna had visited the clinic

expecting her 11th child. She was depressed and did not want

another child as the family were already struggling to feed all

the hungry mouths at home. After a difficult pregnancy and

labour, baby Molla was brought into the world by a caesarean

operation.

  The clinic was started by Dr Bob Grieve and his wife Claire in 1937. They sought to serve the local people group with much needed medical care. Tragically, they were both

killed in WWII when an Italian plane bombed the region. The fifty year civil war in Sudan has seen the centre open and close over the years but more recently opening its

doors again in 2008.

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GIVEYour gift to our Reaching the Unreached Fund  (09310) will

help contribute to improving health for children in SouthSudan! You can give online at www.sim.org.au, or use the

response form at the back of this newsletter.

• The civil war that has scarred the nation of South Sudan over the

past two years has deeply hurt the economy of this nation. Pray for the

Sudanese staff who are struggling to make ends meet and GMC as they

work out how to support them.

• This year is predicted to be a year of famine across the nation. Reports

indicate that 25% of the country’s population are in urgent need of food

assistance and at least 40,000 people are on the brink of catastrophe.* Pray

that GMC can continue to feed those in great need.

*source: Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS)

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Mission Together is a publication of Serving in Mission (SIM), aninterdenominational evangelical mission. SIM includes Africa EvangelicalFellowship, Andes Evangelical Mission, International Christian Fellowshipand Sudan Interior Mission.

SIM Australia mobilises people, prayer and funds to make Christ known.We facilitate missionaries from anywhere to everywhere to reach theunreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to partner with local churchesto evangelise, disciple and share the love of Christ. We support a wide rangeof projects to minister to human need, including aid and developmentinitiatives through our tax deductible arm SIMaid.

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