As a church, we have promoted and supported the work of mission and development through the organisation BMS World Mission. While supporting their work as a whole, we are also specifically linked to particular projects in Chad and France.
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A number of people in our fellowship also further support BMS by being part of their Birthday Scheme, through which they donate monthly and/or annual gifts.
BMS in CHAD
Surgeons Mark and Andrea Hotchkin have had much experience in the NHS and in Guinea.
In 2010 they were asked to go as a family (with two school age daughters at the time) to set up and run a newly built hospital, Guinebor II, on the outskirts of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. They advertised and appointed national staff and worked as surgeons and leaders in the management. Their work as surgeons was very successful in spite of shortages and limitations.
The American founder of the hospital returned after some years, and Andrea and Mark moved on to establish work in an unused hospital on the Saharan borders of Chad, which they were setting up, with some difficulty in recruiting permanent staff and equipment, when local fighting meant the sudden evacuation of non-nationals.
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A temporary return to N’Djamena has provided an opportunity for them to contribute to a national health consultation, and to visit another distant site to establish a clinic, but they are nevertheless anxious to return as soon as possible to continue the improvements and establishment of the new hospital in Bardai.
We also support Claire Bedford, a hospital pharmacist, who has continued to work at Guinebor hospital as chief pharmacist and to take some part in management.
Obtaining necessary drugs and equipment is not easy. She also tries to establish relationships with some of the local people who live near the hospital, and to take part with Christian fellowships in N’Djamena.
Through BMS we also support the work Philip and Rosemary Halliday.
They are part of a church-planting team in southern Paris. They travel throughout France helping and encouraging newly-founded churches as well as helping more established churches. Philip sits on the Executive of the French Baptists and leads their programme for establishing new churches.