Mission Partners
We can all live as missionaries, engaged with our world and community through how we:
Pray
Philippians 4:6-7
Act
Ephesians 2:10
Give
Deuteronomy 15:10
Send
Isaiah 6:8
At ABC, we have a rich history of being missionaries, working locally and overseas. We are already active in mission across all ages, from the very young to the elderly, in the diverse activities of ABC. These include our gathered activities for worship; coming together to hear God’s Word, to pray and to share in fellowship; our mid-week groups for discipleship, outreach and prayer; groups and activities which aim to serve our community. We have also had a long-standing commitment to overseas mission. In 2014, we worked together to refocus on mission and chose four areas within which we would pray, act, give and send, both locally and in our global connections.
We seek to respond locally, nationally and globally to each mission area, considering how we can respond to the challenges through our current connections and activities, as well as through mutually beneficial partnerships with organisations who are ‘expert’ in their field.
What are our four Mission Focus Areas?
We focus on these four areas in our praying, acting, giving and sending:
The Christian Family
Justice
Education and Schools
Spreading the word
The Christian Family
Baptist Home Mission
Home Mission supports chaplaincies in education and industry, as well as many initiatives to meet local needs, including struggling churches in strategic positions. The Chaplaincy team at Luton Airport is Home Mission supported.
Open Doors
Open Doors supports persecuted Christians with Bibles, Christian materials, training, livelihood skills, advocacy - and in a whole host of other ways - so that they know they are not forgotten and can stand strong to serve their communities. So that they can give life.
They also seek to mobilise the church in the UK & Ireland not only to serve Christians living under religious persecution but also to learn from them what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
Shefa'Amr
After an initial visit to Israel by Stephen Plummer (former Senior Pastor) in 2000, then by a larger group from the church in 2008, Ampthill Baptist Church has established a vibrant twinning relationship with Shefa'Amr Baptist Church. Shefa’Amr is a few miles from Nazareth, in Galilee, Northern Israel.
It is our aim to pray for and support this small Christian community as they live out their faith and reach out to those in their local area, and to encourage one another as two churches in very different situations.
Justice
BMS World Mission
BMS World Mission is a Christian mission organisation, working in around 40 countries on four continents. BMS believes in holistic mission, an approach that stays true to the Christian call to evangelisation without neglecting the duty to take care of the physical needs of the poor.
Christians Against Poverty
Christians Against Poverty are passionate about releasing people in our nation from a life sentence of debt, poverty and their causes. Working with the Church they bring good news, hope and freedom.
Education and Schools
Impact
Impact is the working title of the Bedford Area Schools Christian Support Trust (BASCST). It is a Christian organization with registered charity status, working in association with Scripture Union. The aim of the Trust is to assist in the moral and spiritual development of young people in the Bedford Area, particularly in schools and in conjunction with local Churches.
Their core activities are: Providing lunch time and after school clubs where the Christian faith is explored / Input into RE / PHSE lessons / Pupil mentoring & self-esteem groups.
Spreading the Word
Bible Society
Bible Society exists to offer the Bible to the World.
Set up in 1804, the Society's Patron is HM The Queen and its President is the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres. We make Scriptures available where there are none. They work to help the church engage with the Bible more effectively. And they endeavour - through the arts, education, media and politics - to make the Bible available, accessible and credible in our culture.
Open the Book
Enabling every child to hear the story of the Bible at school in their primary years.
Open the Book began in 1999 and since then thousands of school children have discovered Bible stories, during assembly and collective worship.
Today, so many children could miss out on the great classic stories from the Bible – Noah, Daniel and the life of Jesus could be closed chapters if youngsters don’t get an opportunity to engage with the Bible.
That’s why Open the Book is so important. It’s a three-year rolling programme of themed and dramatised storytelling at no charge to primary schools. Teams of volunteers throughout the country use drama, mime, props, costume – and even the children and staff themselves – to present the Bible stories in lively and informative ways.
John and Tracey Feil, MAF
Until recently, John was a chemistry teacher with a passion of flying; now, he has taken up the role of Operation Manager for MAF in Juba, South Sudan. Tracey has left her school in Milton Keynes; she will use her skills and experience in education to serve the local community in Juba.
MAF operates aircraft around the world that enable faith-based ministries, relief and development organizations, church planters, and missionaries to reach people in isolated areas in developing countries. Whether it’s transporting relief supplies to a refugee camp, or flying doctors to a remote village, MAF aircraft and pilots bring more than just tools and supplies to a hurting world, they bring the Gospel of God’s love in a tangible way.
“We greatly appreciate support from our local community here in Ampthill and across the world. Thank You!”
BMS Link Partners
Louise & Peter Lynch
Bangladesh
Peter and Louise moved to Bangladesh in April 2018. They are working alongside the leaders of the Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha. Peter previously trained as a Pastor and Louise as a social worker. They use these skills in training, teaching, support and pastoral care, and keeping strong partnership links between the Baptist churches in Bangladesh, BMS and their other partners.
Mads Baker
Fusion
Mads Baker is a Student Mission Developer for Fusion working in the Midlands & East area of the UK. She works with local Churches in University cities to help to equip them to reach students in their local area. This involves training up students in how to do missions and tell their friends about Jesus as well as providing support for Church leaders as to how they can reach students. The vision is to see every student find hope in Jesus and home in the local Church. With less than 1% of students having faith in Jesus, this is a mission field where the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. You can partner with Mads in her role financially and/or through prayer and in partnering, you will receive regular updates and hear stories of students' lives transformed!
Updates from our Mission Partners
We give to our Mission Partners
As a fellowship we have committed to financially support our mission partners directly from church funds. These partners and the gifts we give are decided annually at the Church Members Meeting.