Mission Crossroads is a three-time-a-year magazine focused on worldwide work of the PC(USA). It offers news and feature stories about mission personnel, international partners and grassroots Presbyterians involved in God's mission in the world.
Issue link: https://missioncrossroads.epubxp.com/i/536052
Mission Crossroads 1 L I G H T I N G T H E PA T H | Terri Bate Mission co-workers bolster the global church Your prayers and support make a huge diference Beijing will look with appreciation to the Mission Study Bible for inspiration and information. Tey can thank Tim Carriker and others who contributed directly to this resource, as well as the Presbyterians who supported Tim's ministry. Terri Bate is senior director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency's Funds Development Ministry. Contact her at terri.bate@pcusa.org. are capable Brazilian mission scholars, Tim says theological schools and mission organizations in Brazil lack the capacity to lend a staf member to such an extensive project. Tim, who serves with his wife, Marta, began mission service as a church planter in Brazil in 1977. Six years later, he and Brazilian partners organized the frst formal training program for Protestant missionaries in Brazil, the Evangelical Missions Center in Vicosa. He served there for about a decade and then continued teaching at several other Brazilian schools both full-time and part-time. His primary assignment now is with the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, where he serves as coordinator of continuing education for pastors and as a missiological consultant. Since arriving in Brazil, Tim has seen the number of missionaries from Brazil sent to serve in other countries grow exponentially. Only the United States sends more missionaries abroad. Approximately 34,000 Catholic and Protestant missionaries from Brazil are serving in other countries. Of the 6,000 Brazilian Protestant missionaries, Tim estimates he has taught about 1,000 of them. He says only a few hundred international missionaries were sent from Brazil when he began teaching. Tim's long and productive service would not have been possible without the prayers and fnancial gifts of people like you. Years from now, readers from São Paulo to Peoria to perhaps even I am constantly amazed at how our mission co-workers serve alongside global partners to transform the lives of individuals and communities and strengthen the witness of the worldwide church. One mission co-worker making a signifcant contribution to the global church's mission is Tim Carriker, general editor of the Mission Study Bible, which the Brazilian Bible Society released last fall. It is the frst study Bible anywhere that contains refections on mission positioned alongside the biblical text. It also includes thematic articles, maps, and statistical information relevant to mission in today's world. Already, 50,000 copies have been sold, and there are plans to translate it from Portuguese into Spanish and English. Tim says a Chinese version also may be produced. "Tis Bible is not just for missionaries, although we certainly hope they will receive great beneft from it," Tim says. "We understand the mission of God is for all the people of God, so in a sense it was written with the whole church in mind. It's for any person who wants more understanding of God's interaction with the world and on behalf of the world, how that works in reaching into other cultures, and how it works in the history of the people of God." Tim brought to the project a doctorate in missiology and New Testament as well as more than 35 years of mission service in Brazil. Te study Bible might not have been produced without Tim's leadership. While there Kathy Melvin The Mission Study Bible, edited by PC(USA) mission co-worker Tim Carriker, promises to have international impact. SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS Help train leaders to share the gospel. presbyterianmission.org/donate/E200102