Baptist World Alliance, BWA News Release

A mission-focused life

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Asha Sanchu said she is no longer afraid, even though threats continue to be made on her life. Young (not yet 30), short in height and slight of frame, she continues to defy the odds by rescuing women and girls from the sex trade.

Sanchu told her story to those gathered for the penultimate event of the Baptist Youth World Conference in Singapore on Saturday, July 20. “Once some men [who are involved in the sex trade] held a gun to my head and told me to stop what I’m doing. At first I was afraid, but the threats happen so often now that I got used to it and I’m no longer scared.” Sanchu shrugged her shoulders and declared, “We all have to die and I’m prepared for when my day comes.”

Sanchu is founder and director of MIqlat Ministry, based in Dimapur in the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland. She said it is not enough to save women from the sex trade; they also need to be provided with life skills that enhance their chances of survival. This includes training that enables these women and girls to earn a living. Since 2004, Miqlat has helped more than 200 women to start their own businesses and to become nurses and other trained professionals.

Brickson Sam of Sierra Leone has played a part in lowering the incidences of sickness, disability and deaths caused by malaria in his country. Sam, immediate past president of the All Africa Baptist Youth Fellowship and a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance® (BWA) Youth Department, led a program in which Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the BWA, helped to fund the distribution of 1,000 insecticide-treated bed nets provided by His Nets, a Christian ministry based in Oklahoma in the United States.

Sam told the gathering of some 2,500 young people from more than 60 countries that the net distribution is a demonstration of Matthew 25 and that clothing the naked, feeding the hungry and helping the stranger is part of the commitment to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Youth were encouraged to determine a sense of calling that God may have on their lives, make a commitment to fulfill that call, and to seek the wise counsel of others who could provide prayerful encouragement and guidance.

The focus on mission outreach was the theme on July 20, as a majority of the delegates attending the youth conference packaged more than 250,000 meals from supplies provided by Stop Hunger Now, to fill two 20ft containers for distribution in Asia. One American participant from New York declared. “This is something my church can do, perhaps during Thanksgiving (in November) or Christmas. I’m going to share this vision with my pastor when I get back home. I know this is something she will be open to doing.”

The 16th Baptist Youth World Conference was held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre from July 17-21.

Baptist World Alliance®
© July 21, 2013

The Baptist World Alliance, founded in 1905, is a fellowship of 253 conventions and unions in 130 countries and territories comprising 51 million baptized believers in 176,000 churches. For more than 100 years, the Baptist World Alliance has networked the Baptist family to impact the world for Christ with a commitment to strengthen worship, fellowship and unity; lead in mission and evangelism; respond to people in need through aid, relief, and community development; defend religious freedom, human rights, and justice; and advance theological reflection and leadership development.