Our day started with a 5.30am alarm and a bleary-eyed drive into London. By 8.45 we had our seats within eight feet of a TV in the ‘Signal Box’ at Euston Station to witness one of the greatest displays of English rugby ever! Could this day get any better?
The Grace Baptist Mission Annual Delegates’ Meeting was not an immediately obvious progression! GBM exists to ‘help churches support their missionaries worldwide’ and it is funded by, directed and answerable to the churches that it supports. The church delegates’ meeting, the church business part of GBM’s Annual Mission Day, began with a focus on the Great Commission and Matthew 16:18. We have seen progress through mission – because Jesus is building his church. There have been hard times – because the gates of hell are arrayed against us. But we press on – because we know Jesus is in charge and Satan will not prevail!
GBM’s Annual Mission Day packs in much more. The middle part of the day was filled with opportunities to hear news from missionaries serving in Austria, France, Madeira, Peru, Poland and Bradford, as well as the often overlooked but strategically vital work of GBM’s radio team. The main presentation, ‘My Church | Our Mission’, explored the theme ‘The local church as God’s base camp for mission’. We were encouraged with accounts of prayerful churches involved in the cause of the gospel around the world. Several gave testimony to what the Lord had enabled them to do in support of world mission, through giving, or sending their members on short- or longer-term mission ‘adventures’.
