SAMS Goes Global:
Announces New Name and Vision
(Adapted from press release – April 11)

The South American Missionary Society (USA) announced a new name and vision during the New Wineskins for Global Mission Conference 2010. A thousand Episcopalians and other Anglicans gathered for the New Wineskins for Global Mission Conference and the parallel RE:MIX Young Adult Conference, April 8-11, which inspired individuals and equipped churches to fulfill the Lord’s Great Commission.

Now known as the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, the organization still retains the SAMS acronym. This comes after the SAMS board voted in October to adopt a new name that reflects SAMS’ strategic vision focus on the global Anglican Church. The expanded vision offers more opportunities for individuals and parishes to share the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed across cultures globally.

This new direction comes after three years of strategizing how best to fulfill SAMS’ mission. “Bishops and dioceses beyond our historical reach were contacting us to send people,” remarks SAMS board chair Richard Englander. The board prayerfully discerned how the Society was experiencing God’s work in a new way globally and how to respond to these invitations for mission partnership. One key observation was the fact that God had already grown SAMS’ sphere of activity beyond its original calling to South America . “At first we resisted this global calling, but God opened doors that we never expected and provided key ministry partners to allow us to move into these areas.” Now the SAMS ministry’s scope reaches beyond Latin America into Africa, Europe and Asia .

During this process, SAMS also reaffirmed its identity as a community in Christ. SAMS President Stewart Wicker said, “As the board considered our identity as a community, it became increasingly clear that we should become known more by who we are than by what we do. We are a society of missionaries, serving in partnership with the Anglican Church globally. We are also, vitally, a society of senders of these missionaries through giving, praying, and supporting.”

The new identity stands on the foundational mission and values established since 1976 in the USA and back into the 1840s with SAMS founding in Great Britain . The Society will remain committed to sharing the Gospel in word and deed, serving Christ through the global Anglican Church, and sending Episcopalians and Anglicans from the Americas who are submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture.

Chile Earthquake Relief
Please lift up prayers to our gracious and loving Lord for all Chileans and their families affected by the recent earthquake. Pray for the Anglican Church in Chile as they respond to the needs. Please pray for this effort by the church and that is detailed below. Additionally, SAMS will be sending immediate assistance to the Diocese of Chile for relief efforts.

If God is leading you to participate in the relief effort with SAMS, you may give through our World Relief Fund. You may give online to our “World Relief Fund - Chile.” Or if you give by check, please put in the memo section of your check: “World Relief – Chile.” Also I encourage you to pray for Bishop Tito Zavala and our missionaries Chris Feuillade (who will be returning soon to Santiago) and Russ, Heidi, Joyanne and Jocelyn Smith (who are all well in Santiago). May the peace and comfort of the Lord be with all who are walking through this tragedy.

[Read more updates from Chile by clicking here]

THREADS OF HOPE…changing the fabric of life - Threads of Hope facilitates the sale of the vibrant handcrafted textiles with the help of volunteers, churches, and businesses throughout the United States. Please click on the link to find out more about this ministry and how you can support it.

SAMS-USA is now a designated charity on Good Search, which is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. Start using Good Search to help raise money for SAMS!

CMS-USA joins mission efforts with SAMS-USA

SAMS welcomes Derek and Dorothy Washington as Pastors to our missionaries.