by Nate and Erika Twichell | Aug 16, 2016 | Gap Year, SAMS Missionaries, USA
Agape Year has a new global headquarters! We are very excited to have relocated our family and Agape Year to Pittsburgh’s Perry South neighborhood. Our new home is perfectly situated for easy access to some great ministry partners, has the space we’ll need to accommodate the next generation of global church builders, and on top of that, it has a porch swing. Please pray with us that this new home will be a place where God’s Light shines brightly, His name is proclaimed, and youth come to be challenged and prepared for what lies ahead.
by Wayne and Nicole Corlew | Aug 15, 2016 | Madagascar, SAMS Missionaries, South Africa
Click to view slideshow.
In a few weeks’ time, Wayne, along with five youth leaders, will be traveling to Madagascar on mission. The team will be serving at the Diocese of Toliara’s youth conference in the areas of teaching, speaking, preaching, ministry and cultivating community and fellowship through games.
Each team member brings unique skills and gifts, and it has been a blessing and a joy (and hard work!) to help plan this mission. The team members are Neil Adams, Ryan Baatjies, Zrano Bam, Wayne Curtis, Nkosinathi Landingwe, and Rethabile Mabusela. The mission team has named themselves: #Madagascar4Jesus. The conference theme is Romans 12:1, “To offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” Neil, Zrano and Rethabile will be expounding on the theme each day. Wayne and Nkosinathi will be talking about the “Challenge of Globalisation in Relation to Christianity,” and Ryan will be preaching at the cathedral.
We know that this team is going to a blessing to the young people at the conference and that they will receive numerous blessings as well. I have no doubt that a special bond will be formed between the South African team and the Malagasy youth leaders and youth. I believe it will be a life-changing experience for them all.
The team is eager to serve, and each member has been hard at work over the past few months to raise the support needed to go on this mission trip. For Wayne, we hosted at church two “Movie Nights” in which we showed the movie War Room and sold pizzas. We also hosted “Wayne’s House Party” in which FuzionGrooves (a DJ and singer from church) provided the music. We also teamed up with the Amici de Lumine Youth Choir to hold an afternoon of choral music fundraiser. Wayne and I have been so amazed at the support he has received from church members, friends and family, who truly believe in this mission. God has really provided for us, and we are truly grateful.
The team will be traveling to Toliara, which is the southern part of the country. It consists of one of the poorest and most unreached places on earth. The people of Toliara have numerous struggles, but many of them find hope in the diocese’s holistic ministry of evangelism, education and economic development. We are grateful that Wayne and the other five youth leaders have the opportunity to go be with and to serve their brothers and sisters in Toliara. Please keep the team in your prayers—safe journey, good health, sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit, etc.—as they prepare to leave.
by Ian and Polly Montgomery | Aug 5, 2016 | Peru, SAMS Missionaries
Dear Ones,
I am writing from Peru where I have been for the last three weeks. This has been the year for Peru. This is my fourth trip and there will be one more – in November.
When I return to Vermont on August 8 I shall have nearly four weeks left as part- time interim in Cambridge, NY. In September I shall retire again to the back of the church where I shall enjoy the ministry of others.
This year I have visited Lima in January, March and June. Last month we had an amazing Bible School at San Mateo school. We simply inserted it into the daily curriculum from 10:00am – 1:00 pm. I led the opening and closing sessions in some very iffy Spanish. The teachers taught their own classes a bible lesson for which we had prepared them the month before. The team from Grace Anglican Church, Fleming Island, FL, led the activities and supplied all the resources. The results have been amazing as “God showed up!”
This month I am exploring the possibilities for rebuilding two of our largest schools. One in Lima and the other in Arequipa. I am accompanied by an energetic young architect – Kyle Murphy. He has established a small NGO to design and help build new community structures that serve the poor in countries such as Peru.
What has been happening in Peru?
A year ago Peru consecrated three more bishops. Bishop Godfrey announced his retirement and departed in April for England where he is happily in charge of a historic church in Yorkshire. Bishop Jorge Aguilar was elected and seated as Diocesan Bishop in April. The country is now divided into missionary areas – with assistant bishops and “vicarios” in charge. Each of these is different and looking to grow by planting churches.
My recent role has been to improve and develop the North American partnerships. These relationships have been most effective in developing shared ministry and creating church structures that have been beyond the resources of the Peruvians. The partner churches and Dioceses do not really know the new leadership and so new trust and confidence need to be developed.
In November I shall return to Peru, with Polly, to take the essentially British services for Remembrance Day. There is no English speaking priest at the Cathedral, so I am filling in. This service is probably the most important in the year in the mind of the British and International community.
Click to view slideshow.
Next year, I will join the non-profit “Amigos del Peru” in seeking to hold a US conference in May 2017 where the Peruvian leadership can meet their historic Episcopal/Anglican partners in ministry. Such a meeting will require a great deal of organization—think visas, finances, and venue. Please pray for this to happen and that the right people will be able to come. When I return to the USA, I shall begin in earnest to work to put this together coordinating with ex-missionaries, partner parishes and Dioceses.
Please pray on with me as these are exciting times. God is at work – bless you for sharing in this ministry through prayer and financial support. Together we make a strong team. Ian
by Nate and Erika Twichell | Jun 6, 2016 | Gap Year, SAMS Missionaries, USA
One of the most encouraging parts of starting Agape Year is that we are being sent as SAMS missionaries. SAMS is the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders. There is so much to unpack here, but it is an awesome thing to be part of a team that understands the roles of both the sent, and the sender. We’d love to chat with you more about what it means to send and how we can partner in God’s work.
by Wayne and Nicole Corlew | Jun 2, 2016 | SAMS Missionaries, South Africa
As we plan for the International Anglicans Ablaze Conference in October, we are having seminars and consultations that deal with several topics that the conference will cover. One such topic is the scourge of substance abuse, and Wayne and I had the pleasure to attend and help host the consultation on substance abuse that Dr. Graham Bressick’s led on Saturday.
If you live in South Africa, no doubt you are aware of how drug abuse is affecting our communities. There are probably few of us who have not been affected in some way. In Cape Town, drug dealing and gangsterism go hand-in-hand. Sometimes the violence is so bad that schools and hospitals have to close down due to gang violence. Last week in Plumstead, a couple of young men were arrested for selling drugs to primary school children who attend school just off the Main Road. Driving at night through Wynberg one can often see the exchange of drugs. Last year, just outside my office window, I saw a woman doing drugs in her car. Many of the youth with whom we work have parents who are addicts. It is all around us.
I think it’s great that we as the Anglican Church are finally addressing this tough issue. So many families are affected, and they don’t know how to cope. We who are their friends feel powerless to help them.
The major takeaway I took from Saturday’s seminar was what Dr. Bressick’s called the eight strengths of churches. Summarizing from an American minister’s book (unfortunately, I didn’t get the name of the book or author), Dr. Bressick said that churches provide these strengths for people:
- Accompany (companionship)
- Convene
- Connect
- Stories (a place to tell our stories)
- Sanctuary (a place to be safe)
- Receive blessing
- Prayer
- Endure
Of course, this is the ideal church, the Church at its best, where the addict is welcomed. But I wonder how much our numbers would swell in our individual parishes if we did just that. I wonder how many people—members or newcomers or passersby—actually feel safe in their church. If our churches were truly a safe place where young and old, rich and poor, addict and sober could feel loved and accepted, be offered prayer, feel truly connected and a sense of companionship with friends to endure, I wonder how much that we as the Church could be changing lives and the world.
–Art credit: hyena reality, freedigitalphotos.net
by Wayne and Nicole Corlew | May 17, 2016 | SAMS Missionaries, South Africa
There is a saying in Cape Town, “local is lekker;” meaning, local is good. Friday night, Wayne and I had the privilege to visit three youth groups. All of these churches are situated on the Cape Flats in communities that are riddled with gang violence, drugs and economic hardship. Since we serve on the provincial level, we oftentimes don’t get to spend quality time with local youth groups unless we are doing a training or an event; so it was great to spend time with these young people, sharing with them about the upcoming Anglicans Ablaze Conference and just being with them.
For our American friends, did you know that most of our youth groups meet on a Friday evening instead of a Sunday afternoon? The youth groups we attended were located in Bonteheuwel, Manenberg and Heideveld. If you want to find out more about the Cape Flats, check out “Overview of the Cape Flats,” which gives a decent account.
eight strengths of churches. Summarizing from an American minister’s book (unfortunately, I didn’t get the name of the book or author), Dr. Bressick said that churches provide these strengths for people:
