Looking back over WEC’s activities this year, it’s wonderful to see the sheer range of our members’ strategies to share the gospel. Our members teach English to asylum seekers, run fun and inspiring camps for children, train believers to use radio for evangelism, and meet the most basic needs of people displaced and traumatised by war – they do whatever is necessary to share Jesus with the people around them, in a way which is relevant and compelling.
Our strategies are adaptable and our structure is, too. After moving our headquarters and relocating our UK-based staff to smaller clusters all over the country, this year has seen WEC UK settle into a new way of operating. We’ve begun to make new connections within the communities where we are based, and started to achieve greater effectiveness in reaching the unreached, in the UK and overseas.
Some aspects of our work are flexible and can be changed. And that’s the way it should be. But other things remain constant. WEC’s mission is one of those constants. We aim, as we always have done, “To see Christ known, loved and worshipped amongst the unreached peoples of the world”. This is in WEC’s DNA, we believe it is a sacred calling and it will never change.
Likewise, God never changes in his faithfulness to us. The Bible assures us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrew 13:8) and this has been our experience. Many of our 252 full-time members have been in mission for decades and will testify that God has walked with them throughout those years. There are always challenges in mission, but God never fails in guiding us, providing for us and helping us to meet the challenges that face us.
We move forward into the coming year, ready to innovate and to adapt our approach to ministry depending on what is most appropriate to particular communities. But we also hold fast to the truth of the gospel, to WEC’s enduring calling and to the faithfulness of the one who calls us.
John and Pauline Bagg
WEC UK and Ireland Directors
Year 2017-18