Missions Month 2026 is here & our Mission Booklets have arrived!
Our Missions Team have put together a professionally printed booklet which is full of information about our mission partners serving across the globe. Make sure you grab a copy this Sunday as there are limited numbers and they're only available in print!
Scroll down to find out more about each of our guest speakers across Mission Month 2026!
For those new to SumRed, each year, for one month, we have a special focus on celebrating, learning about, and supporting overseas missions. As an Anglican Church we partner with the New Zealand Church Missionary Society. One key way this materialises is through our ongoing financial and prayerful support of NZCMS Mission Partners serving across the globe; from Asia, to Africa, to the Middle East and beyond, our NZCMS Mission Partners are busy partnering with the local church to share the good news of Jesus and alleviate suffering among the least, the last and the lost.
We also partner financially and prayerfully with Voice of the Martyrs and Empower Latin America/Asia. This year we will be joined by speakers from both organisations, as well as NZCMS, who will be sharing with us about their important work supporting Christians in some of the most needy parts of the world. My hope and prayer is that you will be encouraged and challenged this coming Mission Month.
Global mission matters because a church that thinks global always acts local. While global missions can seem a bit faraway, the reality is that you can be involved in supporting their important work even from home. Here are three key ways you can get involved in supporting our Mission Partners:
The Voice of the Martyrs is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to defend the human rights of persecuted Christians. Their mission takes them to places like the Middle East, Africa, China and Central Asia. They support churches, families, those widowed or isolated from spouses, and the imprisoned and tortured. They raise awareness, supply practical help, and encourage advocacy and support for persecuted Christians.
You can find out more about their important work here.
Join us Sunday 9 August as VOM share with us about their work supporting persecuted Christians across the globe.
Beginning in 1990, Empower Asia’s original mission station was based in Bangkok, Thailand. The primary reason for commencing this work was because of the frightening number of children, both boys and girls, who were being trafficked into the sex industry. So they decided to open safe homes that protect children and offer them the opportunity to not only graduate high school but also move on to university education.
Their work has since spread across the globe to Latin America.
Since the 1980s, Central America has been plagued by civil war, atrocities, disappearances, politics between the USA and communist USSR, genocide, and in later times, gross corruption, weather catastrophes, and, of course, extreme gang violence. This has culminated in many areas, particularly within El Salvador and Honduras, not being under the full control of their respective governments. These two countries, along with Guatemala, make up a zone that is one of the world’s most violent regions. Nor does it help that they are transit points between South American drug cartels and North America.
Corruption is rife. As an example, in April 2022 the past president of Honduras was extradited from the capital, Tegucigalpa to the USA to stand trial for narco-trafficking on a massive scale.
The two main gangs in Central America are MS-13 and Barrio 18. MS-13 is said to be the largest transnational gang in the world and the world's most violent. Commonly these gangs extort shop owners and threaten to kill - willing and ready to carry it out - if they are not paid accordingly. They will use young people as lookouts and to count the number of people that go inside a shop during a certain time period so that the gang can calculate how much to extort a shop owner. Children are used to traffic drugs, carry guns and, even to murder. Normally, it would appear that children (up until the age of 12) are left alone by the gangs. But then after that, they will be targeted by gangs for membership.
In many cases, the Central American gangs were formed in Los Angeles back in the 1980s at a time when many Salvadoran young men were fleeing civil war in their home country. They took their traumas and experiences with them and then while being bullied and harassed by various L.A based gangs, decided to form their own unions. Then, as they were expelled from the USA and sent back to El Salvador, they simply transferred their gangs there. This was not particularly difficult because large swathes of El Salvador were still relatively uncontrolled by the new and weak government.
It is in this setting that Empower Asia Latin America decided to embark on this new ministry.
Join us on Sunday 23 August as Empower Asia/Latin America founder and CEO, Paul, joins us at our worship services as a part of Mission Month 2026.
The New Zealand Church Missionary Society (NZCMS) are an evangelical community passionate about mission. They know God’s calling on the Church to be a ‘sent people,’ sent into the world to proclaim the Gospel and as such partner with individuals and churches to serve in Global Missions to the world.
Sumner-Redcliffs Anglican Church has a proud history of supporting NZCMS Mission Partners around the globe for decades.
Currently we support NZCMS Mission Partners serving in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and beyond in roles including education, medicine, peace making, evangelism, and discipleship. Because of the sensitive nature of many of our Partners work we're not able to share up dates in print. Mission Month then is a great opportunity to hear directly and indirectly from a number of our Mission Partners serving in some incredible places.
We will be joined by Rick & Anne Weymouth (NZCMS Mission Partners) on Sunday 16 August and we'll also be joined by other Mission Partners online and in person throughout the month.
