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Based on "This is Your Life" - a presentation for the Crosslinks 1998 International Conference at Swanwick - prepared by the then General Secretary of Crosslinks, Roger Bowen, and his wife Wendy.)
If you'd like a free copy of the full printed version of "This is Your Life" please email us with your postal address
This is a more recent look back by Alan Purser, Crosslinks Church Partnerships team leader
BCMS or "Bible Churchman's Missionary Society", as Crosslinks was called until 1992, was born in 1922. The founders had been supporters of the Church Missionary Society, but out of loyalty to the entire trustworthiness of the Bible felt that they must leave CMS and go their own way. The very first BCMS missionary was 84 year old Archdeacon Mackay of Saskatchewan, Canada. He worked among the Inuit (Eskimo) people of Canada. Soon (1923) work began in India, and then China and Burma. In 1924 Tim and Coralie Houghton, with Tim's sister opened a station in Mohnyin, Burma - and were soon praying for three or four new workers. Later Adelaide Sharpe died there and was commemorated in the name of a hospital in Mohnyin. It was not until 1929 that the first BCMS missionaries went to Africa. Archdeacon Hyde Hills with his wife and four other women went to Marrakesh, Morocco. Work expanded and spread all over the country - including a church in Casablanca. The toughest fields were served by women - unlike the councils back in the UK! Also in 1929 came a request from the Lake Rudolf region of Kenya. Alfred Buxton and Hamilton Paget Wilkes were in this arid area and saw that many people came to the lake for water. Children would come for instruction, people for medical care. New recruits started at Lotome, among the Karamojong people. Soon a ring of mission stations in an area the size of Britain had been set up. By this time Crosslinks had 116 British missionaries, 38 more in training. It employed 87 indigenous workers and 11 staff in Britain. From the beginning was the belief that sound theology is the foundation of effective mission. In 1925 BCMS started the Bible Missionary Training College in Bristol with 14 students. It was recognised in 1927 as a Church of England Theological College. Dalton House was soon opened to train women. In 1972 they merged with Clifton Theological College to become Trinity College. In 1927 Buxton met the Ethiopian Governor of Danakil - who requested that missionaries be sent to Ethiopia. But the BCMS Committee decided that with a deficit budget they couldn't afford this expansion. Then, that same day an unexpected gift of £10,000 arrived - and the work in Ethiopia was born! Expulsion from Ethiopia came on the Italian invasion of 1937, and from Burma when the Japanese invaded in 1942. The last missionaries left China in 1951 - only after BCMS had played its part in the formation of the Chinese church, which today numbers millions. Foreign missionaries gradually left India - but only as the Indian mission movement grew - to a point where there are now some 10,000 Indian missionaries. New calls came from Africa - in 1954 a new church was being planted every week in Tanganyika. Help was needed to equip local people. More recently, beginning in Portugal, the A Rocha Trust became the first evangelical agency in the world to employ people specifically for nature conservation, and provides new ways to relate the good news of Jesus. In the 1990´s Crosslinks began its involvement with "Cross-cultural urban mission initiative" (CCUMI) With an ever increasing number of the world's population living in cities, the idea was to facilitate sharing of expertise between Christians working in different cities across the world. In Zimbabawe Crosslinks got involved with training and helping the Church in its care of millions affected by the AIDS epidemic. In a modern world communication takes on new forms - Crosslinks is involved in video production to tell supporters about the often complex situations that its partners are involved in. We've also been involved with radio broadcasting and, increasingly, the use of the Internet. With millions of followers of other faiths settling in Britain, Crosslinks is involved in training and encouraging British churches to reach out. The name change from BCMS to Crosslinks in 1992 emphasises the fact that for Crosslinks mission is no longer "the west to the rest" but "everywhere to everywhere" Crosslinks works in partnership with indigenous missions and Christians worldwide. The cross of Christ is the only link between God and human beings, and that cross also links race to race, nation to nation and culture to culture. The name also helps to make possible work in some of the 60 or so countries where "Bible", "Church" and "Missionary" are not acceptable. But most of all the Cross restates God's way of mission - Jesus became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. He said: "As the Father sent me, so I send you." |
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