Global Mission Partnerships

Ruth first went to Brazil in 1992 to work with street children. In 1997 she married Brazilian pastor Izaias and they set up Mission Ver ‘Life and Hope Restored’ in the city of Belo Horizonte. This serves a deprived area of the city by providing education for children who might otherwise be on the streets. The school facilities are also used for community projects.  Sponsorship is vital in enabling the school to meet expenses. The school is now run by Brazilian staff, caters for all school years and is well commended for the standard reached.  

 In January 2009, the family moved north to Ceara which is a less well developed area of Brazil. Here they first planted Proclamation Church –proclaiming Jesus in word and action- and later a second church in a village a few miles away. With outreach in the locality, cell groups and individual mentoring as fundamental to their programme both churches have grown steadily.  Leaders are being trained towards taking full responsibility when the time is right for Izaias and Ruth to move on. There are 2 additional churches under their umbrella, one that meets at the school in Belo Horizonte, the other in the city of Fortaleza, founded by a former member of the church in Carire.  To raise funds and meet local needs, they now run a small business making inexpensive eco bricks for house building.

Alf is Anglo-Chilean and an ordained Anglican minister, and Hilary grew up in South America where her parents were missionaries. They have lived in Santiago since 1975 where they started by forming a church in a poor area of the city. They then discovered their call to live and work in an upper middle class area where there was no evangelical witness. There they have built up the thriving, and still growing, church of La Trinidad which focuses on evangelism, discipleship, and training, and has in turn successfully planted a number of other churches which have become self- supporting. As Alf prepares for retirement by 2025, a successor needs to be identified.

In March 2014 Alf completed a four year term as chaplain to the president of Chile, during which time he played a key role in mobilising prayer for a group of miners who were trapped underground, and eventually successfully rescued.  He later served a further term, has represented the evangelical church to the government, and has taken part in local TV and radio programmes. 

Alf has had an international ministry in teaching and evangelism, and in March 2016 was consecrated auxiliary bishop with responsibility for church-planting. Alf has published several books including one about his time as chaplain to the president. Autumn 2023 sees him completing a PHD at Oxford Centre for Mission Studies where he has spent several months each year for study.

They have 4 adult children and a number of grandchildren.

Vera lives in St Petersburg where she has a Christian ministry to many individuals. She established a Bible Centre twenty years ago where groups of adults and young people meet. She and her team of volunteers also run summer camps for families and older teenagers from the city at The House of Hope in a village. Having bought this house, Vera has renovated and extended it over the years and cultivated a large garden.  She spends the summer months here and reaches out to local people in this largely needy village. Alcoholism is a major problem and many children are neglected and vulnerable. The House of Hope and its garden provide a safe and welcoming space which children can enjoy and where they find support.

Graham and Nicola Aylett

Working from home with Interserve.

Nicola and Graham are both ordained ministers in the C of E. After a few years of parish ministry, they spent 15 years working in Mongolia. Graham’s focus was in Bible teaching at various levels, while Nicola had a variety of roles, juggling homeschooling with activities which supported Graham’s work.  Following a year-long course at All Nations College, they spent 2 years in Malaysia during which time Graham joined the Executive of Increase Asia; this is an international umbrella organisation which promotes, co-ordinates, supports and resources Church and home-based Bible learning; this operates at various levels and courses are adapted to be relevant in different cultures.  This is based on TEE, Theological Education by Extension, re-envisioned as Tools to Equip and Empower.

They returned to the UK in 2016, to continue working from home and moved to Northampton and St Giles in 2017. Graham became General Secretary of Increase in 2021. Nicola had some time on the staff here as a part-time Associate Vicar and continues to help with ministry on a voluntary basis. She has a particular interest in leading small groups, and the training of small-group leaders, and plans to be involved in editing and revising course materials.  Currently, she is a facilitator of Journey Deeper, a retreat-based course for cross-cultural workers.

The Vriend family served with YWAM in Penang, Malaysia for 6 years where they pioneered work in counselling, prayer ministry and training others in this work. They ran 3 YWAM ‘Foundations for Counselling Ministry’ courses, an intensive full-time 12 week course, followed by a field assignment, seeking in particular to enable the trainees to minister God’s healing love and power to others. They had a mix of ongoing and one-off opportunities, including among migrant workers, trafficked women, refugees and Christian workers and Peter was able to offer administrative help to YWAM.

In August 2013 they relocated to Chiang Mai where their roles diverged. Peter has used his business skills to manage the finances of several Christian Agencies based in Chiang Mai, and in January 2023 became became Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis for a Christian counselling agency.

Gill is a trainer, counsellor and leader with Living Wholeness Asia which seeks to resource and equip people from a variety of countries to minister Bible-based counselling to their own people

In March 2018, in response to a call from God, Richard and Frances moved to live in Hungary and seek mission opportunities there. They have grappled with learning a difficult language, bought a house, made friends and are supporting the work of both their local church and an international Church.  They now offer a prayer ministry in their local church, which has been well received. Richard is using his ability as a teacher of English as a second language with individuals, in running an English club for young people and has been invited to help a professional company which trains businessmen in English.