March 2024

Christmas Mission Offering 

This year BCOB will focus on one missionary a week. Please give directly to the missionaries or go to our GIVE button and give to our Global Mission Christmas Offering to support our missionaries.

Dec 1 – Laura Sherwood, Togo, West Africa

Laura Sherwood is a family medicine obstetrician working at a hospital in Togo, West Africa. A part of a team of physicians, surgeons, and Togolese staff, she works both in the hospital and the clinic, providing medical care to share the Good News with her patients. She was deployed to the field in December of 2022 and is a part of a team of IMB missionaries who work throughout Togo in many different forms of outreach, from medical missions to evangelism.

Laura along with the medical team at L’Hôpital Baptiste Biblique (HBB, also known as the Karolyn Kempton Memorial Christian Hospital) in southern Togo admits almost 1,000 adult patients each year. Many of these require urgent care which can mean the difference between life and death.
 
You can cover the cost for those patients who do not have the funds to pay for these services—financial assistance that patients in need greatly appreciate.  We never turn away anyone who is in need of emergency medical care. Without your financial gift, some patients may feel they need to go elsewhere and as a result will receive a lesser quality of care. Your donation can save lives. Even more than that, your generous help gives these patients another chance to receive the best medicine of all—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Connect with Laura:

Laura’s sending church’s website: https://www.brainerdbaptist.org/deploy

 Laura’s hospital’s website:  https://give.abwe.org/projects/karolyn-kempton-memorial-hospital-hbb

IMB Website: https://www.imb.org/give/project/togo-team/

Dec. 8 – Carson and Laura Foushee, Kanazawa, Japan

Carson and Laura Foushee serve in Kanazawa, Japan with its international community. Since 2013, they have served in partnership with the Japan Baptist Convention in local congregations in Kanazawa as well as in Tokyo. They were called back to serve in Kanazawa in 2022 for long-term work after studying Japanese and serving in a local church in Tokyo. The Foushees seek to be Christlike neighbors as they offer their gifts in word and deed to share Jesus’ love with their local church and the wider community. 

The Foushees serve alongside Kanazawa Baptist Church to meet the physical and spiritual needs of internationals in their city and prefecture. Internationals account for just two percent of the overall Japanese population and thus are often isolated and under-resourced. At the same time, an aging population and a low birth rate has led to a steadily decreasing Japanese population. It has been estimated that Japan will need four times the current number of immigrant workers by 2040 to sustain its economy. Like the international population, the church also accounts for just two percent of the total population.  

With an understanding of the minority experience in Japan, the Foushees believe the Church can become a place to welcome foreign residents so that they too can live full and healthy lives in a nation they call home. They seek to help equip the church to witness to its community through teaching and preaching in the local church. They also spend time beyond the walls of the church interacting with their neighbors and learning more about their needs. 

Your financial support of the Foushees helps to assist with the worship and fellowship activities at Kanazawa International Baptist Church, which holds an English service at their local church. This assistance also provides meals and resources for new friends who move to Kanazawa to help them get established in their new city. 

Connect:
Follow the Foushees’ ministry on Facebook or Instagram at “Foushees in Japan” 

To sign up for their eNewsletter, reach out to Carson at cfoushee@cbf.net and Laura at lfoushee@cbf.net

Foushee’s  Personal CBF Link:

https://www.classy.org/campaign/carson-and-laura-foushee-2/c572809

Dec. 15 –  Christine, Africa/Middle East

Christine serves regionally across Africa and the Middle East where she provides trauma care to individuals who have experienced the violence of war and migration, as well as various natural and manmade disasters. She was commissioned as CBF field personnel in June 2020. She is an ordained Baptist minister and licensed social worker. In addition to direct treatment and care, she works with local and international partners through training and education to build capacity for more sustainable, ongoing care.  

Prior to her work with CBF, Christine served in local parish ministry and with faith-based nonprofits in Texas, Connecticut and Washington DC. She has a long history with CBF and was shaped greatly by her involvement in both domestic and international missions and ministry travel from an early age. 

Christine’s ministry works to help people experience healing and wholeness by reducing the symptoms and ongoing effect of their traumatic experiences. Her goal is to see all people flourish and thrive. 

Refugees and migrants frequently experience significant traumatic exposure. This not only increases the likelihood of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress symptoms, anxiety and depression higher than that of the general population, but also makes the tasks of daily life more challenging. Yet, children and adults in these situations often have limited access to adequate mental health care, and trauma interventions specifically. These challenges make an already difficult situation even more so. With more refugees worldwide than ever before, tools to reduce acute stress and traumatic symptoms, as well as direct trauma interventions are essential if we hope to alleviate suffering and cultivate communities that can flourish and thrive.  

Your financial contributions make this work possible. For example, your gifts provide for: 

Training and intervention materials.

Childcare and translation services when necessary

Hospitality such as meals, snacks and refreshments

Treatment and training space which includes water, electricity, chairs and tables

Transportation and travel to provide treatments and trainings across the region.

Connect:

Christine would love to hear from you! Connect with her at christine@cbf.net 

https://www.classy.org/campaign/christine/c293519

Dec. 22 – Karen Alford, Togo West Africa.

Karen Alford is a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel serving in Vogan, Togo since February of 2020. Before that, she served in Uganda for three years helping meet the medical needs of incoming refugees, and in Indonesia for nine years, providing earthquake and tsunami relief, as well as treating patients and building a long-term community health program.

Now Karen is partnering with the Mission Christian pour le Development Communautaire au Togo (MCDC), or the Christian Mission for the Community Development of Togo, a Christian Mission started by a local pastor and his wife in Vogan.

Nearly 81.2% of Togo’s rural population lives under the global poverty line. This makes Togo one of the world’s poorest countries. Child welfare is a huge issue, as 49.5% of those impoverished are under 18 years of age. One out of every eight Togolese children will not live to see their fifth birthday. Many face disease, as well as violence and exploitation at the hands of corrupt labor forces and human trafficking. Although the Togolese put a lot of value into education, most children are unable to continue schooling, as their parents cannot afford it.

For years, Togo has been the target of criticism for its human rights policies and poor governance. Developmental aid for Togo was halted in 1992 due to poor governance and human rights issues. In the past, it has gained notoriety as a transit spot for ivory taken from poached elephants and rhinos. For many, this criminal behavior is an act of desperation, as poverty in Togo is so high that many see no other alternative.

Vogan is a small rural town about 1.5 hours from the capital city, Lome. The Togolese pastor and his wife originally started a church, and have gone on to build a school and small medical clinic. This part of Togo, incidentally, primarily practices the voodoo religion, so their mission is to bring the love of God to Vogan by addressing its most immediate needs: education and health care.

The need is tremendous: high levels of malnutrition, maternal death, malaria and infectious diseases due to lack of hygiene, and yet the government is doing almost nothing to address these issues.

Among other things, Karen is in Vogan to:

• Provide primary health care consultancy to patients at MCDC Vogan clinic.
• Capacity build the health workers currently working in the clinic including training new workers.
• Create community health programs involving outreach to nearby villages and schools to provide community sensitization, health seminars, and trainings on topics ranging from nutrition, pregnancy, malaria, maternal child health, pediatric illnesses etc. This will include building relationships with community leaders and working in partnership to create holistic programs to meet the medical and health needs of the respective communities.
• Provide first aid/health care seminars and trainings within the church and community of Vogan.
• Foster professional relationships with any government medical programs/workers in the area and offer to partner with their programs as appropriate.
• Assist with development and support for expansion of medical clinic services and community health activities.
• Other medical or health care projects as needs arise and in partnership with MCDC and the church.
• Support the church’s presence in Vogan through participation in worship activities.

Connect with Karen at kalford@cbf.net.

https://www.classy.org/campaign/karen-alford-2/c584505

Dec. 29, Mike McKenzie, South Asia  

“Shanti believed just in time. She heard the gospel and believed in 2022. She was baptized soon after and the gospel spread through her family, her village, and surrounding villages. Shanti was the first person in her people group to finish the race. In February of 2023, she died and now spends eternity with Jesus. Her life on earth ended, but the gospel continues to multiply in this region.”  -Mike McKenzie

In 2022, IMB missionary Mike McKenzie knew of 25 baptized believers among Shanti’s people group and one growing church. That was reason to rejoice because just a few months before, this South Asian people group was totally unengaged with
the gospel. But that’s not the end of the story. And Shanti’s death was not the end. More than 30 people have followed in believer’s baptism. Seven churches now meet in the villages of this people group.

Praise God for the souls that have been saved through the grace of God. For the lost, pray God helps their unbelief.

Ask God to move among the nations so many more will turn to the truth of the gospel. Connect your heart to His heart for the billions of people still lost without hope in Christ.

Pray for missionaries to have the knowledge and discernment to present the gospel in ways people to understand and believe.

Find Out more about Mike’s Ministry:

https://www.imb.org/gig-2024-language-select-3/