BMS Action Teams: where mission begins

Mission accomplished? Three former BMS World Mission Action Teamers didn’t expect their call to overseas mission to go on, but it did

Life-changing. Challenging. Faith-stretching.  
 
These are a few of the words that people have used to describe what it’s like to go on a gap year with BMS. Action Teams is an experience that allows young people to grow and also to serve God and others around the world.  
 
But what happens when the year is over? We have three exciting stories from former Action Teamers who share how doing the BMS gap year programme inspired them down further paths of mission.
 

Life-changing

Sarah Whybrew fell in love when she went to Thailand on an Action Team in 2010/11. But not in the way you might be thinking.
 
“I came back with a love for Thailand and overseas mission,” says Sarah. “It was a life-changing experience.”  
 
Sarah’s heart was transformed while she was in Thailand working with disabled children and helping to run after-school Bible clubs. The challenge gave her a new-found confidence and changed her view of God.

I realised that God is not just an English God", says Sarah. "But that actually he’s a God that understands and loves all languages and people.”
 
Sarah’s heart for the world grew when she did mission, and the experience impacted the path she took when she returned to England. After going to university, she felt God call her back to her beloved Thailand, this time as a Christian gap year team leader.
 
Returning from Thailand for the second time, Sarah still felt God’s call on her heart to overseas mission. A door opened when an opportunity to work as a Short-term Programmes Administrator at BMS presented itself. Today, that’s where Sarah continues her mission journey.  
 
“I love working for a place where there are maps on the walls and we have people come into the office who’ve been working overseas,” says Sarah. “I find it so inspiring when they share about what they’ve been doing and how God’s been using them around the world.”
 

Challenging

Doing an Action Team year with BMS taught Brian Leitch to overcome challenges and develop his own faith. It also showed him that he wanted to embark on a life of overseas mission.
 
“For me, it was the first time away from home,” says Brian. “It was all about being in this completely new world where you have to learn to stand on your own two feet and build connections within a new community.”  
 
Brian went to Jamaica in 1994/95. His Action Team’s mission was focused on doing youth work in schools and churches. Brian remembers how the challenging moments strengthened his faith, like when he was asked to preach at church. The thought was terrifying to Brian, he didn’t believe he could do it.
  
“It was a situation where I felt totally out of my depth,” says Brian. “And it really made me stop and think, who do I trust in these kinds of situations? It taught me to look to God.” 
 
Following his gap year, Brian studied economics and politics at university, and then went on to complete a Masters in development economics. After university, he decided to pursue overseas mission with BMS. Since September 2014, his wife Mo and their two children, Evie and Eddie have lived in India. They have been helping women who’ve been impacted by gender based violence by equipping churches to stand up for them.
 
When Brian reflects on the journey he took to get to where he is today, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
“Doing an Action Team was a life-changing experience,” says Brian. “I would recommend it to anybody.”

 

Faith-stretching

Trusting God – it’s one of the most important lessons God taught Debbie Drew when she did her Action Team year in Brazil in 1993/94. Her strengthened faith would prove to be a crucial quality that she’d carry with her as she embarked on a challenging (and rewarding) life of mission in the years to come.
 
“Action Teams taught me to depend on God,” says Debbie. “I learnt that he was with me, wherever I was.”  
 
Debbie and her team helped with church planting and children’s work while in Brazil. She remembers how deeply moved she was by the poverty that surrounded her.
 
“I saw people who didn’t have anything,” says Debbie. “It made me reflect on my own privileges, and how those privileges meant that I had a responsibility to help others.”
 
Debbie’s gap year experiences motivated her to continue stepping out of her comfort zone and helping those most in need. Beyond Action Teams, her heart for mission eventually led her to live and work with youth in tough, inner-city London.
 
That experience in another challenging environment inspired her and her husband Chris to apply to do overseas mission with BMS. Together with their children, they have lived and worked in Afghanistan and now are living in Nepal, where they’ve faced tough times with the 2015 earthquakes and the recent fuel crisis.   
 
“Mission has taught me that I can go wherever God wants me to be,” says Debbie. “It has also given me the confidence to go to challenging places where other people aren’t always willing to go.”

 

Step out in faith

Trusting God, overcoming challenges, developing faith and having your heart transformed – those are just a few of the rich blessings that can come from an Action Team experience. And sometimes (as seen from these stories), it can lead a person to continue a life of overseas mission.  
 
“Doing mission is an adventure,” says Debbie. “Sometimes I think that if I’d known everything that was going to happen, I might not have taken that step. But that’s what being a Christian is all about, isn’t it? Stepping into the unknown, trusting God and taking a journey with him.”  

 

Wondering if God could be calling you to do an Action Team? If you’re between 17 and 23 years old, why not check out the opportunity to serve God around the world? If not, maybe you know someone who you could share these stories with – it might be just the thing they need to hear to begin their own mission journey.

**Please be aware that BMS is no longer running the Action Team initiative.**
 
 
This article first appeared on the website of BMS World Mission and is used with permission.