missionblog: Passion for the Impossible

It's been a chilly 27 degrees in Singapore today. We've wrapped up warmly (!) and shivered our way through church today! The tropical rain has thundered down, lashing the massive trees in the Botanic Gardens just across the road and sending roaring torrents of water down the storm drains that run below our window. Lightning strikes have kept us jumping! In a brief, dry spell this afternoon, Anna and I lay flat on our backs on the back veranda and watched the massive clouds go scudding across the sky, driven and torn by the wind. Exhilarating!

Our church here in Singapore is slightly different to Great Missenden! Around 800 people attend the 9:00am service in a school hall (and a similar number the 11:00). Although services are mainly conducted in English, the vast majority of people are young Singaporean Chinese - a reflection of the huge growth in the number of Christians here. The music is very good and the minister, Chris Chia, is a former journalist who speaks thoughtfully and compellingly. He often holds a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other - quoting from both!

Tomorrow is the big day....once every three years, the entire OMF leadership from 30 different countries get together for a week for what we call International Council. It will be a time to renew friendships, to look back on what God has done since the last time we met and also to pray, to discuss and work on the direction that OMF should take for the next three years. Our theme is "Passion for the Impossible - Reaching the Neglected Frontiers. OMF has always wanted to work at the cutting edge of God's mission- where there are few or no followers of the Lord Jesus. We're asking if there are areas or peoples that need to hear the Good News - and then asking what (if anything) OMF should do about it. For the first time in it's 140-year history, a Chinese, Dr Patrick Fung, leads OMF. This will be his first Council in the driving seat.

Last week, the Council began arriving. Anna and I in our role of International Director of Personnel had meetings with each OMF Director - ranging from Canada to Korea. Twenty-four formal meetings in thirty-six hours was no joke!

We've been working hard on preparing for our own sessions for weeks now - still some of the finishing touches to go. We're looking at who is joining OMF - it's exciting to see the number of Asians in OMF growing to around 40%. We have Japanese Christians reaching out to Cambodians, Koreans going to Thailand, Burmese taking up the challenge of work in tough areas of South-east Asia. But we need to ask if we need to do more to help Asians to join us.

We're also asking questions about giving better care on the field . We have 1, 100 missionaries serving with OMF. Many work scattered across vast areas, or in parts of Asia where it is not easy to communicate directly with them. Amazingly, in a recent survey over 70% reported a sense of contentment. Over 90% felt at home in the country they were working in - perhaps because OMF places such a strong emphasis on language learning and understanding the culture. But many are facing fear, frustration, loneliness, misunderstanding, and poor support. We want to do all we can to make sure that our people don't just survive but thrive. But how can we set about that effectively? Pray for us as we lead the discussion.

Josh and Aimée are hard at work, back at the Canadian School. They travel (alone) on the public bus system to work every day. Singapore is a very secure place in many ways which gives our kids freedom to do things that they probably woudn't be able to do at home. We were out last night with friends from Cambodia, eating Indian and Chinese food which the children love. Josh has landed the part of Peter Pan in a school production of the play - rehearsals start tomorrow and will be very intense until just before Christmas. He's not too sure about having to kiss Wendy but is willing to endure pain and suffering for the sake of art! Aimée is going to be a mermaid - disappointed to miss out on being a Lost Boy or a pirate, "because they get to fight one another!" Still, slight and willowy as she is, we think it was a good casting choice!