BCM World - May 2024

An Inside Look at BCM Global Ministries

A SAFE PLACE FOR ALL

MAY 2024

BCM World | May 2024 | A Publication of BCM International

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bcmintl.org

BCM International 201 Granite Run Drive Suite 260 Lancaster, PA 17601 USA www.bcmintl.org Page 2 www.bcmintl.org 1-888-BCM-INTL

May 2024

Editor: Jeanette Windle Designer: Elizabeth McCutcheon Contributors: Jeanette Windle, Sophia Wong, Lindiwe R. Simelane, Victor and Nadia Anokhin, BCM France Team, BCM Germany team

IN THIS ISSUE 5

A Safe Place for All

11 New Doors Opening for BCM Germany 19 Answered Prayers 27 Signing God's New Life in Ukraine 35 BCM In The Kingdom of Eswatini

In good standing with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

BCM International is a global Bible-Centered Ministry dedicated to making disciples of all ages for Jesus Christ through evangelism, teaching, and training so that children are May 2024 www.facebook.com/bcminternational Page 3 reached and churches strengthened.

BCM Myanmar Camp Dining

A SAFE PLACE FOR ALL Page 4

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May 2024

By Dr. Sophia Wong

BCM International Children’s Ministry Coordinator

For BCM, “we can keep kids safer” is not just a slogan but a reality that can be obtained.

Since our mission is reaching children with the gospel, it is also our responsibility to safeguard them from harm.

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Many years ago when I was a graduate student teaching in the Child Development Lab, a mother came to me. She was physically shaking, devastated, and enraged. Between sobs, she told me she’d just found out her four-year-old daughter had been molested by a babysitter’s husband. She wanted input for any unusual behaviors the girl might have exhibited in my class. In my mid-twenties then, I was saddened this type of abuse could happen to an innocent child. Years later, I still wonder what became of this case and whether the child recovered from those horrendous experiences.

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Top: BCM South Africa Club Gametime Middle: Dr. Sophia Wong Right: Cowboy Night at Teen Bible Club-Bolivia

Child abuse and neglect is regrettably

missionaries representing Asia, Africa,

far more common than we might

and North America attended a global

think. According to the World Health

conference sponsored by Child Safety

Organization (WHO), one in five women

and Protection Network. The conference

globally and one in thirteen men report

and pre-training were held in a beautiful

having been sexually abused as a minor.

centuries-old seminary campus in Malaga,

These numbers are likely an underestimate

Spain. About sixty mission organizations

since many cases are never reported. The

and international Christian schools with

lifetime economic burden associated with

approximately 175 total global leaders

child abuse and neglect rivals the cost of

were in attendance. The purpose was to

other high-profile public health problems

train global leaders in the significance

such as heart disease and diabetes.

of safeguarding children by creating

Childhood abuse isn’t something you “get

organizational vision, cultivating a safe

over.” It is an evil we must acknowledge

culture, and conducting wholistic ministry

and confront if we are to care for the

to honor God.

precious gifts from God that are children.

For BCM, “we can keep kids safer” is

Since 1.4 million children globally

not just a slogan but a reality that can be

participate in BCM-related programs each

obtained. Since our mission is reaching

year, BCM leadership pays close attention

children with the gospel, it is also our

to this issue. In March 2024, BCM president

responsibility to safeguard them from

Dr. Rick Rhoads with six other BCM

harm. It was encouraging to network with

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other like-minded organizations during this conference. BCM leadership shared what we’ve learned as an organization in almost ninety years of children’s ministry, and we in turn encountered new resources to make our own safety program stronger.

Since the conference, the seven BCM team members have been meeting to prioritize the tasks placed before us. This includes forming a global child safety team headed by BCM’s personnel department. Among top priorities are revising the current BCM Child Safety and Vulnerable People Handbook, developing a three-to-five-year child safety plan, and working on child-safety training and curriculum at different levels within BCM. As international children’s director, I want every child who attends a BCM program, whether camp, Bible club, VBS, or school release class, to feel safe and be safe. Promoting awareness of child-safeguarding through training and

BCM team Child Safety Conf

screening to the global BCM family is a top priority. Last summer, I developed an eleven-minute refresher video to outline some key points for safeguarding children in BCM programs. This video has been subtitled to Spanish, Russian, Dutch, and Chinese languages. To obtain a copy, please contact me at swong@bcmintl.org. If you are interested to know more about BCM’s child safety program or being part of your local safety team, please contact the BCM personnel department: personneldept@bcmintl.org.

Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me” (Matthew 19:14).” When they come, let’s keep them safe!

For more information, check out the following sites: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/childmaltreatment https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/ fastfact.html

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Closing Program for Parents

f Madrid

s-BCM

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Baptizing Ukraine Refugee

OPENING NEW DOORS FOR BCM GERMANY Page 10

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By Jeanette Windle

With less than three percent of Germany’s population identifying as Bible-believing followers of Jesus Christ, an emphasis has been church-planting, including Bibelgemeinde Nordrhön (Bible Church of the North Rhine) in central Germany "Pray with us that God would raise up more German evangelical church personnel to help with the task,” BCM Germany director Oskar Wentland requests.

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BCM Germany Team

BCM Germany has experienced much change and growth in recent years. With less than three percent of Germany’s population identifying as Bible-believing followers of Jesus Christ, an emphasis has been church-planting, including Bibelgemeinde Nordrhön (Bible Church of the North Rhine) in central Germany (see “God’s Choice for BCM Germany,” BCM World, September 2015). BCM Germany teams are now church planting in new areas of East Bavaria and the Hessen/ Thuringia region just east of the Soviet-era Page 12

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demarcation line, resulting in four new church plants.

Today, the BCM Germany team includes twelve full-time missionaries and many volunteers under leadership of field director Oskar Wentland. Along with church planting, they carry out a variety of camp ministry, family counseling, children’s ministry training (ISMT), Bible clubs for special needs adults, and a Christian foster parent network. This year, the first camps for foster kids and foster parents were maxed out within two days

of opening registration. One unique

with a Christian orphanage. A harrowing

ministry is the production of flannelgraph

land journey evacuated the orphans to

for BCM’s Footsteps of Faith curriculum

Germany, where the BCM team helped

in numerous languages across Europe.

arrange sanctuary through the Blue

A BCM missionary couple from Central

Cross (see “Keeping the Faith in War-Torn

America is also pastoring a Spanish

Ukraine,” BCM World, November 2022).

church plant.

But the BCM Germany team would

Over following months, tens, then hundreds of thousands more Ukrainian

never have expected their fastest-growing

refugees, most of them women and

ministry would not be German at all.

children, poured into Germany. BCM

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022,

Germany missionaries and volunteers

an early target was Mariupol, where

joined with other German Christians to

BCM personnel have worked long-term

offer shelter, food supplies, clothing, May 2024

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Aid for Ukraine Refugees

BCM Germany Ukraine House Church

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help with government forms and enrolling

shared Christ. She made it clear she didn’t

children in school. Among them was Dasha

want her children invited to Bible clubs or

Blaszhkun, whose mother was led to Christ

Christian youth activities.

through a BCM Ukraine missionary and went on to become a BCM ministry leader (see “Signing New Life in Ukraine,” BCM World, May 2024). Already in Germany as a BCM volunteer, Dasha became a top translator for Ukrainian outreach.

An immediate need was shelter. BCM Germany learned of a Christian camp facility that wasn’t being used, which they were able to convert into a refugee center. It was soon overflowing. Among the refugees were two BCM Ukraine missionary women, Ludmilla and Natasha, who started a prayer meeting in the camp.

BCM’s church plant in the city started a Sunday afternoon worship service in Ukrainian. Attendance eventually topped 120, and in 2023 a separate Ukrainian church was started.

The work wasn’t easy. With few volunteers and an unending flow of refugees, team members were often exhausted, and refugees were not always cooperative. Some resented their children being exposed to the Christian faith at the camp. One woman especially, who arrived

Finally, the woman was creating so many problems the BCM team was advised they should kick her out of the program. They chose instead to give the woman a second chance. Well aware of the trouble she’d caused, the woman asked them, “Why are you doing this? Why aren’t you kicking me out?”

“We want to show you the kind of love God has for you,” they explained.

Change didn’t happen overnight, but a short time later, the woman approached BCM Germany team members about visiting the Ukrainian church service. She asked for a Bible and began reading it with her children. It wasn’t long before she gave her life to Christ and was baptized. People were stunned to see her entire appearance transformed as the angry attitude gave way to a smile that radiated the joy of the Lord.

"We want to show you the kind of love God

with a small daughter and teen son, was

has for you."

extremely aggressive, constantly lying, and causing trouble in the camp. She was angry when other refugees who were Christian openly prayed, sang worship songs, and

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After six months, a government program

With many Ukrainian refugees

provided long-term apartment housing for

accepting Christ, the next goal for Dasia

the camp refugees. But the BCM Germany

and teammates is to start a discipleship

team continues working with them. Along

program and Bible Institute school for

with the Ukrainian church plant, they

Ukrainians in Germany.

have started Ukrainian youth ministry and Bible clubs. In summer 2023, BCM Germany sponsored the first Ukrainian youth camp, held in the same facility that had previously housed refugees and led by Dasia Blaszhkun.

“Pray with us that God would raise up more German evangelical church personnel to help with the task,” BCM Germany director Oskar Wentland requests. “And for a new generation of German young people to commit

Dasia shares, “When I was a little girl

themselves to attending Bible college and

in Ukraine and my mom was doing BCM

becoming missionaries, both with BCM

missionary work there, I never dreamed I’d

Germany and other Christian organizations

be standing in front of a camp of Ukrainian

as God leads.”

young people in Germany teaching them how to make godly life decisions from the Bible or translating from German and English into Ukrainian for Bible teachers and government agencies.”

Right Page Images Top: BCM Germany Church Plant Bottom Left: Flannelgraph Germany Bottom Right: Footsteps of Faith German

ISMT Training Germany Page 16

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ANSWERED PRAYERS Page 18

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Chuck Powers Baptizing New Believer

By Jeanette Windle With BCM France Team

Once identifying as a Christian nation, France is in a spiritual war with witchcraft, spiritism, atheism, and a growing Islamic demographic far more prevalent today than Bible-believing Christians. Just one percent identify as evangelical, far less in northern France, where alcoholism, domestic abuse, suicide, and unemployment are also rampant.

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Once identifying as a Christian nation, France is in a spiritual war with witchcraft, spiritism, atheism, and a growing Islamic

drunkard, his father never bothered to register Clarence’s birth.

Unhappily, the young couple settled

demographic far more prevalent today than

for a common-law marriage. Barbara

Bible-believing Christians. Just one percent

recommitted her life to Christ after their

identify as evangelical, far less in northern

second child was born, then Clarence.

France, where alcoholism, domestic abuse,

They began attending church and wanted

suicide, and unemployment are also

to serve God in ministry But it weighed

rampant.

on them both that they weren’t legally

After more than twenty years as directors

married. Without a birth certificate,

of BCM France’s Center Seven in southern

they saw no way forward. Many other

France, Chuck and Cathy Powers moved

opportunities were denied their growing

north to start a new ministry center

family because Clarence had no official I.D.

first in Devres, then in Samer near the

Then a church friend found out about

English Channel (see “Responding to a New

their dilemma. She told the couple, “Look, I

Macedonian Call,” BCM World, April 2018).

have a relative who is a justice of the peace.

They also began working with a pastorless

I will be your ‘auntie’ to testify Clarence is

church in nearby Boulogne sur Mer. Their

who he says, and my relative can give you a

only coworkers were daughter and son-in-

retroactive birth registration.”

law Michelle and Ben Hildebrand. They

As soon as the paperwork was

began praying that God would bring new

completed, Clarence headed to the pastor’s

missionaries to the BCM France team.

house, where he announced, “I’ve got my

In walked God’s answer to their prayers:

birth certificate. I’m ready to get married.”

Clarence and Barbara Yearwood. The

“We’ll have to announce the bans,” the

couple were born and raised in Guyana,

pastor responded calmly. “So you’ll have to

a South American country sharing an

wait another week.”

Atlantic coast line with Suriname, and

A week later at age thirty-four,

French Guiana. They began dating as

Clarence and Barbara finally had their

teenagers and were twenty-one when

church wedding. Their family grew to

Barbara became pregnant. Wanting to

five children, including a young nephew

marry before the baby was born, they set

whose mother had passed away. But life in

a wedding date. That was when Clarence

Guyana held few economic opportunities

discovered he needed a birth certificate

to provide for such a large family. In 1999,

to get a marriage license. His mother had

Clarence traveled French Guiana, which as

died when he was only six months old. A

an overseas department of France was part

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Clarence and Barbara Yearwood

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of the European Union with a more stable

married. In 2016, Barbara moved to France

economy. He found construction work. In

to be close to their younger children while

2003, Barbara and the three children still at

Clarence stayed behind to work. Arriving in

home joined him.

Devres, she immediately began searching

Their biggest challenge was learning

for an evangelical church. The church

French since Guyana was an English-

Chuck pastored was just a five-minute walk

speaking nation. Finding a church,

from her new home.

Clarence and Barbara became increasingly

Chuck asked the church to pray that God

involved in ministry. Barbara taught

would provide a good job for Clarence so

Sunday school and was part of the music

he could join Barbara. A short time later,

ministry. Clarence was a leader of men’s

God answered with a job right in Desvres.

ministry and taught adult Sunday school.

The Yearwoods immediately began serving

Both led cell groups.

in the church. Chuck and Cathy quickly

The family eventually received their

realized Clarence and Barbara were

residency cards, which meant they could

God’s answer to their prayers for new

freely travel to France. One daughter

missionaries. They are now officially part

moved to France to study law. Two brothers

of the BCM France team.

followed. Their oldest daughter was already

Church Retreat Inner Courtyard BCM Page 22 www.bcmintl.org May 2024 France Center

Once a trucking hangar, the BCM center

Worship Time Church Retreat BCM France Center

Womens Meeting - Samir

in Samir has been recently completed

America. He was singing Christian music

as a multipurpose gymnasium/camp/

with Ben and Michelle in a nearby park

church that seats up to 230. More than two

when the police warned them that people

hundred attended its 2023inauguration,

paid to enter the park, and bothering them

including the mayor. The facility is used

with religion wasn’t allowed.

for Christian sports events, concerts, day

Leaving, the team spent time praying

camps, church retreats, and seminars.

that God would open a door. They returned

A church plant meets there Sunday

to the park, this time a different area.

afternoons. The Boulogne church

This time, the police left them alone, and

continues to meet Sunday mornings,

they spent a peaceful evening intermixing

and a third church plant meets Thursday

gospel music with creative evangelistic

evenings.

presentations. Clarence does outdoor

Barbara serves with Cathy and Michelle

evangelism several times a month with

in children’s and women’s ministry

other church members. This includes

and leads music. Clarence serves as

going into the streets to hand out gospels

church deacon and maintains the

and sharing their faith with interested

center infrastructure. But his passion is

passersby. They routinely receive angry

evangelism. He quickly found this was

responses, are told to shut up or leave, that

far more difficult in France than South

Jesus is dead, or that He never existed. It is May 2024

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also illegal to proselytize or give religious

to identify church members serious about

literature to minors under eighteen.

their faith and train them in leadership and

All this makes reaching people with

evangelism so they can reach their families

the gospel outside of church services

and friends. The second is to start a

very difficult. One solution is friendship

Christian school. The need was highlighted

evangelism. Michelle and Ben have five

at a recent school program Michelle and

daughters in the French school system.

Ben attended. The four-year-old class

The BCM France team invites classmates

emerged onstage with a traffic sign that

and school parents over for fun cross-

read, “Highway to Hell,” the song they’d

cultural activities such as a Fourth of

been assigned to sing for their parents.

July celebration or Thanksgiving feast.

“After all these years, God has given us

As opportunities permit, they share

this big, beautiful center,” Michelle points

their faith. They are now well-known as

out. “It won’t be easy as France has a lot

evangelical missionaries, so acquaintances

of regulations for schools. But Christian

will approach with spiritual questions. A

children need an education that doesn’t

steady number of new converts are being

mock their faith, and Lord willing, we’d

baptized.

like to make that possible here.”

With the Samir center’s growing ministry, the BCM France team has two additional goals for the near future. First

“It won’t be easy as France has a lot of regulations for schools. But Christian children need an education that doesn’t mock their faith, and Lord willing, we’d like to make that possible here.”

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Boulougne BCM France Church

Tony

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SIGNING GOD'S NEW LIFE IN UKRAINE Page 26

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Teaching Deaf Ministry

By Jeanette Windle With Victor and Nadia Anokhin

These evangelistic outreaches led to increasing numbers of deaf people giving their hearts to Christ and attending the church.

The first baptisms of deaf converts were held—ten, fifteen, then twenty. The need for a more in-depth deaf ministry was evident, but no one was interested in taking on this challenge.

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Ukraine was still firmly behind the Iron

required to declare political and religious

Curtain of the Soviet Union when Victor

affiliations. Those from communist party

and Nadia Anokhin first met in the capital

or atheist homes could apply to college.

city of Kiev where both grew up. Nadia’s

Baptist or other church affiliation was an

parents took their children each Sunday to

automatic disqualifier. Victor found work

Central Baptist Church. While attending

in construction. A hard worker and highly

church was legal for adults, teaching

intelligent, he was promoted to manager

Christianity to children was illegal. Even

despite church attendance.

so, Nadia’s mother led weekly Sunday

A short time later, Victor was heading

school classes and played the piano for

into church when he spotted a distraught

services.

young woman he recognized her as Nadia,

In the communist-run public school,

daughter of a church family whom he’d

the word Baptist was used as an epithet.

met at a youth activity. Concerned, he

Government officials visited churches,

asked why she was crying. Her mother had

listing every child in attendance. At school,

just died, Nadia explained, and she was

teachers called Nadia and other Christian

hurrying to inform church leadership.

students traitors. They were threatened

Victor did all he could to help the family

that they’d be removed from their homes

in their loss. As they spent more time

and placed in an orphanage. Even so, by

together, Victor and Nadia fell in love. In

her early teens Nadia had committed her

1978, they married. Their first son Tima

life to Christ.

was born in 1979, a brother Sergey in 1980,

In contrast, Victor reached young

and some years later their youngest son

adulthood a rebel against religion. He’d

Yuri. Both continued serving in Christian

attended a very legalistic church as a child.

ministry. By 1985, Victor was a church

Now he pursued the pleasures of secular

deacon.

Soviet youth, smoking, drinking, and

This was a time of great upheaval

growing his hair long hippy-style. Then

throughout the Soviet Union. The Berlin

someone invited him to Central Baptist

Wall fell in 1989. By 1991, much of eastern

Church. To his shock, the congregation

Europe had broken away from the Soviet

welcomed him just as he was. Their loving

Union. In August 1991, Ukraine declared

witness brought him back to the gospel,

its own independence. That same year,

and in 1977, Victor surrendered his heart to

Ukraine passed a law on Freedom of

Christ.

Conscience and Religion, guaranteeing

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the right of every Ukrainian to practice the religion of their choice.

May 2024

Victorwww.facebook.com/bcminternational and Nadia Anohim Young Married Page 29

Victor-Nadia Teaching Together

Victor and Nadia joined an outreach into public schools. Former communist leadership didn’t want to hear the word

and handicapped people their country contained.

As she taught Bible in public schools,

Christian, but as social upheaval brought

Nadia shared the gospel with faculty,

a rise in crime and delinquency, they were

resulting in four Russian-language

happy to have Christian values and ethics

teachers becoming Christians. She also

taught. In this way, the Anokhins were

began teaching at a boarding school for

able to teach Bible and share the gospel

deaf students. Teachers knew little sign

message.

language, so students were expected to

To that point, there were no deaf

learn through lip reading. In consequence,

ministries in Ukraine nor much help at all

deaf children often learned little and

for the handicapped. The public face of

couldn’t complete homework. Requesting

the Soviet Union was healthy, prosperous

the most difficult class in the school, Nadia

citizens. Deaf and other handicapped

worked with them and led many to Christ.

individuals were consigned to special

These evangelistic outreaches led to

schools or institutions. Only with the

increasing numbers of deaf people giving

fall of the Soviet Union did average

their hearts to Christ and attending the

Ukrainians become aware how many deaf

church. Hearing children and siblings

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who had learned sign language helped

BCM ministry leader serving with BCM

with translation. The first baptisms of

Germany’s outreach to Ukrainian war

deaf converts were held—ten, fifteen,

refugees.

then twenty. The need for a more in-depth

One difficulty was that Ukrainian/

deaf ministry was evident, but no one was

Russian sign language, developed under

interested in taking on this challenge.

communism, had no words for many

That was when Victor stepped forward.

biblical/theological terms, including signs

He’d picked up some sign language from

for Christ and God. Victor was studying

translators and was willing to try. With

at the Baptist seminary by now and had

another Ukrainian missionary, they

become fluent in sign language. He and his

formed a ministry to deaf and other

Ray of Hope team created many new signs

handicapped called Ray of Hope. Among

to cover Bible words and names. Victor

the first volunteers was one of the school

and Nadia also began writing curriculum

teachers Nadia had led to Christ, Natalia

to help teachers and other Christian

Blazhkun. Today her daughter Dasia is a

volunteers work with the deaf, the first

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www.facebook.com/bcminternational Page 31 Nadia Anohim Teaching FOF Dead Kids

material of its kind available in Ukrainian and Russian languages.

Ray of Hope ministry quickly grew

One day Victor and Nadia met a new American missionary, Sam Hanchett, from an organization called Bible Centered

beyond Kiev, including evangelistic trips

Ministries. Sam and his team were visiting

around Ukraine, and a camp ministry

hospitals, schools, and orphanages

for the deaf. Each main city had a center

to determine the greatest need. BCM

where deaf gathered for socializing and

already had an established handicapped

even dancing, turning speakers up so

ministry known as Handivangelism. The

high they could feel the vibrations of

Anokhins and Sam Hanchett immediately

music they couldn’t hear. Visiting these

saw the potential of working together.

center, Ray of Hope personnel shared the

Sam sponsored Victor and Nadia as BCM

gospel message in sign language. But they

missionaries. Together, they became the

only had two fulltime missionaries and a

beginning of BCM Ukraine, which today

handful of volunteers, not enough for the

numbers twenty-two missionaries and

opportunities.

numerous volunteers.

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Original Ray of Hope team

Victor-Nadia Anohim Family Today

Since childhood, the Anokhins’ three

serving wherever possible. Twelve

sons participated in their ministry, helping

Christian sign language interpreters

prepare materials for deaf ministry and

currently work with them, two of these

Bible clubs, doing street evangelism,

military. A sharp spike in deafness has

working in camps. Tima with his wife

resulted from untreated Covid as well

Natasha currently serves as BCM field

as explosions and gunfire on the battle

director (see “Keeping the Faith in War-Torn

front, which have caused many perforated

Ukraine,” BCM World, November 2022),

eardrums. Along with existing chaplaincy

Sergey pastors a church, while Yuri works

ministry, BCM Ukraine is increasing

as a rehabilitation specialist.

outreach to soldiers left deaf by the war.

The Covid pandemic and Russian

Victor and Nadia ask for prayer that many

invasion put a pause on handicapped

of these soldiers will come to Christ as the

ministries, but Victor and Nadia continue

gospel is shared with them.

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BCM IN THE KINGDOM OF ESWATINI Page 34

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By Lindiwe R. Simelane-Mbhamali Children's Ministry Director

God works in wonderful ways to carry out His purposes. He has done so for us in the Kingdom of Eswatini to fulfil our passion in reaching children for Christ. The potential of continued and improved ministry is not only for the children. Families, the local church, and communities have also been greatly enhanced.

M Eswatini Bible Club

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God works in wonderful ways to carry

After-school Bible clubs are held in

out His purposes. He has done so for

thirty-two areas, sometimes in local

us in the Kingdom of Eswatini to fulfil

schools, others in open air or under shade

our passion in reaching children for

of trees. School assembly Bible classes

Christ. The potential of continued and

reach hundreds more. Before the Covid-19

improved ministry is not only for the

epidemic, BCM Eswatini was reaching

children. Families, the local church,

more than ten thousand children weekly

and communities have also been greatly

with almost two hundred volunteer

enhanced.

teachers. This dropped drastically during

Eswatini is a nation of 1.2 million population in southern Africa, formerly known as Swaziland. It consists of four

the pandemic lockdown, but by 2023 attendance is shooting up again.

A majority of Bible clubs and even

geographical regions. Today, BCM Bible

school assemblies are held outdoors, so the

clubs are widespread in all of them,

weather is a constant challenge, especially

including both remote and urban areas. A

in more rural areas. Some willing,

practicing attorney by career, I (Lindiwe)

committed teachers open their own homes

served many years in children’s ministry

for Bible club classes on rainy, windy days,

with long-term BCM missionaries Assiena

may our good God bless them. But there

Maseko and Martha Tsabedze across

is often not enough room indoors for the

Eswatini, (see “New Missionaries for BCM

number of children, so classes have to be

Africa,” BCM World, March 2022). Since the

cancelled in bad weather.

passing to glory of Assiena, I now serve as

Each year, regional rallies bring children

BCM Eswatini director. We are so thankful

together from different clubs. Individual

as a team for the provision through BCM

clubs showcase biblical dramas they have

of a vehicle to reach children in remote,

created, recite Bible passages and Christian

difficult areas.

poems they’ve memorized, and present

Highlights for BCM Eswatini ministry

special music of gospel songs they’ve been

includes regular training workshops for

learning during the year. During these

Bible club teachers. These focus on how to

rallies, children are able to mingle and

better minister to children, the importance

make friends from other clubs.

of portraying a Christ-like character,

At a time when school is out, clubbers

and creating lessons with only the Bible

from all across Eswatini come together for

and improvising visual aids with what is

camp, usually held at Luve, a small rural

available localy rather than relying on

town in central Eswatini conveniently

expensive purchased visuals.

close to the main highway. A camp theme

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May 2024

BCM Volunteers Handing out Reading Material

"Despite challenges, we give thanks for the many people being impacted through BCM Eswatini ministry, both children and adults."

Lindiwe with Clubbers

May 2024

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Page 37

is selected each year, and lessons and

living on less than the global poverty level

activities are centered around that theme.

of two dollars a day. One-fourth of the

A rally held on the last day allow clubbers

population are HIV positive, including

to showcase all they’ve been learning to

many children. Children routinely come

visiting parents, family members, and

to Bible clubs hungry. As resources allow,

other clubs.

BCM Eswatini provides feeding programs

Our BCM Eswatini board is very active in the ministry. Some board members

for some of the poorest clubs.

Finances for the entire children’s

teach Bible sessions in school assemblies

ministry and for assistance to feed both

so that students may come to know, love

children and teachers are a current

and obey God. On scheduled weekends,

dire need. An ongoing goal as well is to

board members visit Bible club teachers in

obtain a plot of land where a permanent

different areas to encourage and motivate

BCM Eswatini structure can be built to

them through God’s Word and practical

accommodate club national meetings and

instruction.

offices as well as for storage of teaching

Many challenges face the BCM Eswatini

material safely out of the weather.

ministry. The kingdom of Eswatini is one of

Despite challenges, we give thanks for

Africa’s poorest nations with sixty percent

the many people being impacted through

unemployment and over sixty percent

BCM Eswatini ministry, both children Eswatini team with BCM Africa leaders

Page 38

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May 2024

New Dawn Bible Club

and adults. The changed behavior of children after they’ve accepted Christ as personal Savior are a living testimony to their families. In consequence, many parents have come to know Christ through the Bible clubs. Changed lives of Bible clubbers also impact their schools and classmates. The children themselves are impacted by their Bible club teachers, who model biblical principles and godly adult interaction such as gentleness, kindness and living practically according to biblical core values.

With the help of God, the heavenly Father of children, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we as a BCM Eswatini team

Lindiwe Simelane and Husband Joseph

behavior that will enable the children of Eswatini to know, love and obey God. To contribute to BCM Eswatini ministry, visit www.bcmintl.org/give.

hope to make a mark through evangelism, Bible teaching, and modeled biblical May 2024

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Page 39

BCM INTERNATIONAL 201 Granite Run Drive, Suite 206 Lancaster PA, 17601 USA

"If we have nothing else to give our children, they have enough if they have God." –Charles Spugeon

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