The South American Missionary Society in Canada

SAMS News

SUMMER  2003

Moving Forward

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General Synod: SAMS Canada plans to be manning a display booth at General Synod in May in St. Catherines. Please stop by, if you are attending.

Air Miles Anyone?: Our Administrative Committee is exploring ways in which individuals who have extra air miles can donate these to SAMS. This could be an important means of reducing our travel costs, a significant part of our budget. It could assist Mission Partners who are on deputation, our own staff as they travel on SAMS business, and our Board members as they travel to our residential meeting in May. We hope to have more info available on our website shortly.

Talking Honduras: SAMS Canada will be meeting with Honduran Bishop Lloyd Alien in December to review our ongoing support.

Code of Best Mission Practices: SAMS Canada continues with the process of self evaluation and improvement in accordance with the Code of Best Mission Practices. This is an important process whereby we can assess our strengths, weaknesses and specific areas for improvement.

Highlights From SAMSFEST 2003

Rt. Rev. Peter Mason

The Park Family

Rev. Hernan Astudillo from one of Toronto's two Spanish Anglican congregations provided music on classical guitar and pan flute.

We gathered in the 'Rainbow' room for the first talk of the day from Bishop Peter Mason, on the theology of missions. Peter focused on the basics of what it truly means to be a Christian, with a challenging message to those assembled. We as Christians are all missionaries and must be on the lookout for the opportunities God presents us with to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those we encounter, at home and abroad. The focus in all mission activity should be on the Kingdom of God, and the fact that Jesus Christ is the key to the Kingdom coming on earth. Mission is the response to God's call to spread the Kingdom on earth. The audience challenged Peter with questions throughout, which he fielded with great skill, and we all learned a lot.

John Park and Susan Delgado-Park then spoke about their experiences as long-term missionaries in Honduras (1985-2003) and about their upcoming appointment in Lima, Peru, starting in 2004.

The Parks echoed the message that all Christians are missionaries, some domestic and some abroad, and that we are really all working cross-culturally. Even if the language is shared, there is still a cultural divide between Christians and non-Christians that each Christian must bridge with sensitivity. The Parks stressed that for a long-term mission placement, it is essential to know the language, preferably before entering the mission field permanently. Many long-term missionaries embark on a language training period for up to a year in a Spanish speaking country prior to taking up their mission placements. This language training is hard and intensive work!

The Parks also mentioned that missionaries must be humble learners and must realize that there are different types of knowledge. The knowledge that works for us in North America does not necessarily work in South or Central America, and vice versa. In addition, all missionaries, both short and long-term must be willing to do what the people and the Bishop in the host country view as necessary when they get there. This will not necessarily be what they signed up to do!! All missionaries must make careful distinctions between what is culture and what is Gospel, and must spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ with out packaging cultural information along with it. The easiest way for a missionary to do this is to make an effort to embrace and make the host culture their own. For example, one interesting cultural insight that the Parks shared with us was that having a maid in South and Central America is viewed culturally as being generous, i.e. giving someone else a job and not keeping all of one's earnings to oneself, in contrast to our own culture where it is viewed as an extravagance. It is also an excellent way to evangelize, as the person hired as a maid can interact with Christians while on the job.

Following lunch, the SAMS Canada Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place in a record 90 minutes, and was a productive time, with many important decisions being made. Following the AGM, John and Susan Park shared with us again, focusing on how individuals, parishes and mission societies can best support our Mission Partners in the field.

Following the Parks talk there was a fruitful time of questions and discussion. This lively discussion ended just as dinner was being announced, and we enjoyed a wonderfully prepared meal (by members of the Church of St. Bride) of lasagna, salad, wine, with fruit salad and ice cream for dessert.

As dinner was wrapping up, the Rev. Heman Astudillo from one of Toronto's two Spanish Anglican congregations came to play his classical guitar and pan flute for us. He had a very clear singing voice and we were privileged to enjoy his music for almost an hour. Between songs, Rev. Astudillo shared his experiences with missionaries and his views of what it means for all Christians to be missionaries. His interludes were eloquent and honest, a treat to say the least!

If you were with us at SAMSfest 2003, we thank you for coming to enjoy this day of discovery about missions and the Kingdom of God. If you were not able to attend SAMSfest 2003. we hope to see you at next year's event.

A Message from the Chair

SAMS Canada Chair, Trevor Smith

Vice-Chair, David Pilling

It is all about partnership and relationships. Indeed the relationship and fellowship between the three persons of the triune God is the foundation of our faith. As we look to the way God is continuing to do His work in the world, it is relationships again that form the basis. 1 am sure we can all trace, in our own lives, how certain relationships have played a significant role in our Christian growth. So, too, we can look back within SAMS and see the critical role that relationships play in our life and work as a Missionary Society. In 2004 SAMS celebrates 25 years in Canada. During this year we have opportunity to look forward to the work God continues to challenge us to do in South and Central America as well as in Canada through the work of SAMS, and to see how our different relationships are ways i and means of this work.

Our partnership relationship with the Anglican Church in Latin America is paramount to our work; our relationships with our Mission Partners in the field, who are daily challenged to share the gospel of Jesus with their words and lives; our relationships with Anglican parishes in Canada as we seek to encourage the missionary vision within our country; and our partnerships with you, our supporters, in prayer and financial support over the years, provides the fuel that keeps the work moving forward.

When I was asked to consider taking over as Chair of SAMS Canada this spring, I was both honoured and challenged. Being very familiar with SAMS, having served on the Board and on committees for many years, it is nevertheless a new challenge for me. I am greatly appreciative of the path laid before by my former Chairs, staff and volunteers of SAMS, and especially Stan Pepler, the retiring Chairman. I am encouraged that David Pilling (the new Vice-Chair) will work alongside me as we seek out God's leading for us as a society.

Encouragement, too, comes from the many supporters of SAMS Canada over the years. We all covet your support for the work currently going forward in Honduras, Chile, and Peru, and are praying for "the Lord to send more labourers into the harvest". I will now let David Pilling expand a little on his vision and challenge for us all....

I am new to the Board, but not new to the importance of mission. As a Priest, I have served in the Diocese of the Arctic among the Inuit and now serve God in his Church in Newfoundland. While in the Arctic, I was. blessed to have some very faithful mission partners, who would write or phone, telling me of their prayers for me and my family and our ministry. The financial support was appreciated, but it was knowing that we were part of someone's prayer life that was the greatest comfort. Since coming to Newfoundland over 10 years ago, my parish at the time and I were challenged to enter into the mission field - and enter we did. As a parish we prayed about mission. Prayer led to action and commitment, and soon our parish was sending a mission team to Honduras.

Within the SAMS Board, Trevor and I see a tremendous amount of energy and excitement. We are actively working at strengthening our relationships with our mission partners (the host Dioceses) through better communications and by being attentive to their needs and requests. At the same time we are actively working at facilitating, as best we can, the ministry of our missionary personnel working within each of these dioceses. Your prayerful support and letters of encouragement are always very much needed and deeply appreciated, as is your financial help.

As a Society, we believe we need to be open to God's leading in accepting some of the requests we have had from other Bishops in Latin America. We see the need to expand our areas of outreach and ministry - especially when the invitation is so generously made to us. We see this as being open to forming new relationships and seeing where God is leading. And this is helped through your prayers and your support of the Great Commission Fund.

When Christ spoke to us, He invited us to be fishers of people - reminding us that we are made whole when we enter into relationship with God through Him. This is our goal - to continually invite people of this world into relationship with Him, inviting them to also become fishers of people. Come and join us in this ministry - we know you'll find it rewarding and exciting! We know that the Lord will bless your efforts, respond to your prayers, and encourage you to become even more mission minded in your work and ministry in the Lord. And we know that in partnership with those in the mission field in Latin America, God will reveal His love to each one of us.

May God bless you in your ministry and encourage you in your mission support!

The Ten Percent Assessment:

Two years ago we made the decision to decrease our administration assessment from 16% to 10%. This assessment is the percentage we charge our Mission Partners for services we perform on their behalf, such as receipting, banking, finance, promotion, etc.

This decision was taken following much reflection, discussion, and prayer. Although this would obviously reduce revenue to our Great Commission Fund (GCF), we wanted more funding to go directly into the field.

For the past two years however, we have incurred a financial shortfall of roughly $2500 per year. This has put us in the position of being unable to pay our staff at times, and to leave some bills unpaid for long periods of time.

The first place one looks in addressing such a situation is to cut one's operating costs. But after many years of running on a shoestring budget, there is not much fat to eliminate. Our people are part-time staff. Often they work extra hours without pay, and frequently they go periods in which their pay is delayed by a considerable period of time.

Given our size, we cannot run our offices out of someone's basement. To keep supporters informed and interested, we must publish newsletters and information bulletins. Servicing a support base of nearly 2000 individuals requires computer hardware and software. That in turn requires support and continuous reinvestment.

Given the nature of our operations, it is only fair that our Directors be provided Directors' liability insurance. And to ensure that we truly serve and represent all of Canada and not simply a central area, we rely on teleconferencing and some Board travel. We do that as cheaply as we can, and many directors cover those expenses out of their pockets.

All of which is a long way of saying that we don't really have much latitude in cutting our costs. If we are going to maintain our assessment at 10%, we need people to support our GCF and the work it covers. Our GCF is not an administrative hole which siphons off valuable money. It is rather the one single way we sustain the lifeblood of the society and the work we do for our Mission Partners on a daily basis. While not glamourous, it is nonetheless essential.

At our AGM in October we chose to maintain the existing arrangement for the moment, and to make our situation known to our support base through our annual appeal in November, (which you should have received by now), and through the next two issues of SAMS News. If by April, our revenues in support of the GCF have not increased, we will have to raise the percentage at that time.

Within our appeal we have asked two things of our friends and supporters. One is to designate additional funding in support of our Great Commission Fund, in the clear knowledge and understanding that this is underpinning our very support network here at home.

The second is to support this fund on a more frequent and regular basis, primarily through some form of monthly or regular giving to the GCF. This ongoing support is critical in helping us to meet our very legitimate operating expenses.

We ask you to prayerfully consider these steps as a means of helping us to address this situation.

Thank you for your consideration, and for your faithful support.

In Memoriam

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Muriel Uppington passed away on October 25 after a courageous battle with cancer. Muriel was one of the twelve founding members of SAMS Canada back in 1979. She served on the Board of Directors in the early years, but is probably most fondly remembered for her outstanding contribution as the Prayer Secretary for many years.

Trevor Smith attended a visitation with the family and both Dr. Beth Leach (SAMS Canada's first Chair) and Denys Reades attended a service to celebrate Muriel's life at Christ Church, Woodbridge on October 30.

Miranda Lin, Chaplain at the William Osier Health Center in Etobicoke where Muriel volunteered many hours, called Muriel a "prayer warrior", always willing to pray for, or pray with, people, and always quietly waiting for answers though prayer. Miranda said that when she thought of Muriel, she thought of "praying hands" and "wings of eagles".

Thank you, Muriel, for your great example to all of us and your vital contribution to SAMS Canada over so many years.

Financial Status

SAMS Canada Financial Highlights
      September 1, 2002  -  August 30, 2003

Notes:

1. The Seed Fund is money allocated for use in special projects and to help cover initial expenses when candidates and enquirers are first exploring whether or not they wish to pursue a missionary calling.

2. The Grant Fund is money which remains when a Mission Partner has completed his/her assignment and there is money left over, once all costs have been defrayed. This money is then made available for other purposes within the society, pertaining specifically to work abroad.