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The Global Mission enabler writes...

I want to share two photos with you that will give you an idea of the breadth of our work. The first is of a ni-Vanuatu man on skis. His name is Pipilly Tamelip. He was one of four youth delegates that the GMO sponsored to attend the Presbyterian Youth Ministry conference Connect. Following that, two of the visitors attended the CWM Pacific Youth Camp that the GMO hosted in Auckland, which was attended by 18 young people from Pacific CWM churches. But Pippilly Tamelip and Noel Willie went to Dunedin, where they were hosted by the youth of Leith Valley. To put it mildly, they were the recipients of some good southern hospitality, which included skiing. Well done, Leith Valley ­- and wouldn’t you have loved to have been in Vanuatu when Pippilly and Noel tried to explain what they’d done to people in a country where the temperature rarely drops below 15 degrees.

The second photo is an image of the Rev Don Borrie handing a cheque to Mr Kim Jong-ho, manager of the New Zealand Friendship Farm, which is 20 miles from Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Don has been a voice that would not be silenced on the Gospel call to show practical help and friendship to some of the most isolated and marginalised people on the planet. Don was one of the founders of the NZ-DPRK Society, a non-profit organisation that is open to all who are interested in helping the people of North Korea. The society has managed to get scientists and agriculturalists to visit and offer advice to the farm manager and staff. In more recent times, with the help of the Global Mission Office, Don has also raised funds for fertiliser, livestock, a tractor, and on this occasion a 10 tonne truck.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. They also capture a moment in time. They are a record of “what we have done”. Speaking about what it means to have faith, James wrote in chapter 2, “what good is it, my friends, if a person claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

In hope,

Andrew