“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
The good news of Jesus Christ is for all people, everywhere. God has richly blessed us here in West Ryde, and we have great joy in sharing our gifts with those who work to make His name known in other parts of Australia and throughout the world. We currently provide financial and prayer support to 4 mission partners/organisations. These are:
- Amy Stephens (Church Missionary Society, Argentina)
- India Gospel League (India and Sri Lanka)
- Kathy Dadd (Wycliffe, NT, Australia)
- Scripture Teaching in local primary schools and at Marsden High School
Amy Stephens
Amy was originally a member of our congregation and is now sharing the gospel with university students in Cordoba, Argentina, with the Asociacion Biblica Universitaria Argentina (ABUA). Cordoba is the second largest city in Argentina and its university is the oldest in the country, drawing students from all over Argentina and other parts of Latin America. Amy works with both Christian and non-Christian students. She encourages believers to persevere in their faith and share the gospel with their friends and classmates. She finds opportunities to speak about Jesus with other students who do not yet know him as Lord.
India Gospel League
The India Gospel League is an indigenous Bible-centred ministry, with a vision to make the gospel known through India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It has four key ministry areas – Evangelism and Church Planting, Children’s ministries, Medical Outreach and Rural and Economic Development. A major focus of its work is church-planting, with 90,000 village churches planted in the last 25 years, bringing the message of Christ to previously unreached rural and remote regions.
Many of the pastors who lead these newly-planted church have limited theological training and insufficient resources to attend Bible college. The India Gospel League has a partnership with Moore Theological College’s External Studies Program, where Australian teams each spend 2 weeks in India or Sri Lanka, teaching courses in Biblical Theology to pastors who are sponsored to attend by Australian churches. This is managed through the India Gospel League Australian Training Association (IGLATA)
In addition to our financial and prayer support for the India Gospel League, West Ryde Anglican Church has sent three teaching teams to India in 2014, 2016 and 2018, and a further team to Sri Lanka in 2015. We have also sent team members to run a preaching course at the IGL headquarters in Salem in 2016 and a youth team in 2017. We feel privileged to be part of this partnership and rejoice to see Indian pastors growing in their knowledge of the Bible and passing on this firm foundation to our brothers and sisters in rural India.
Kathy Dadd
Many Indigenous Australians still don’t have access to the Bible in a language they can understand! Kathy is serving in the Northern Territory with Wycliffe Bible Translators. She is working on the translation of the Plain English Version (PEV) – an English translation of the Bible designed for people who speak an Aboriginal language as their mother-tongue. It is used by those who do not yet have the Scriptures in their own language, or who meet with Christians from other language groups. She also supports Aboriginal people as they translate the Bible into their own languages.