Dear Friends, I am writing this on Saturday, 28 July, and my mind is ...

other Congregational missionaries, Ed and
Edna Nash (Padstow Church, NSW), and the
legacy of those years of ministry continues
today.
The second event occurred in 1986 when
Neville and Trisha travelled to England with the
Australian contingent to attend the Inaugural
Meeting of the World Evangelical
Congregational Fellowship; Neville did so as
President of our FCC churches. I <strong>am</strong> aware
that some others who were present on that
occasion have been promoted to glory and we
also honour their service and important role in
establishing our worldwide fellowship.
At Neville’s Memorial Service, I was reminded
of the wonderful legacy of the Revesby
Congregational Church (NSW) during the
years when Neville and many others (including
some a little older than them) were converted,
discipled and called into a variety of careers,
including full-time Christian service, through
which they influenced countless numbers of
people as they lived for Jesus Christ and
served Him wherever He led them.
Today, I attended a SIM (Serving In Mission)
conference titled SIMWorld. During one of the
many inspiring messages, we were reminded
of the legacy left by the founders of the Sudan
Interior Mission: Three passionate and
committed young men landed at Lagos,
Nigeria in 1893. They ranged in age from 20 to
25 years. Each man had a vision to establish a
Christian witness <strong>am</strong>ong the 60 million
unreached people living in what was then
known as the Sudan in sub-Saharan Africa.
They were told it was an impossible dre<strong>am</strong>.
Unable to interest established missions in their
vision, the three set out, following God alone.
Malaria overtook all three. Two of the men,
Walter Gowans of Toronto, Canada, and
Thomas Kent of Buffalo, New York, died of the
fever.
The third, English-born Rowland Bingh<strong>am</strong>,
returned to his home in Canada, ill, but still
determined. Bingh<strong>am</strong> made a second attempt
to reach the Sudan, but once again c<strong>am</strong>e
down with the fever and had to return home.
Unable to return to Africa himself, Bingh<strong>am</strong>
sent out a third te<strong>am</strong>. In 1902, the party
successfully established a base 500 miles
inland. From <strong>this</strong> base, the work of the Sudan
Interior Mission began in Africa. (taken from
the SIM Australia website)
But before any of these faithful, obedient men
were called by God to go to the Sudan,
another faithful person was active. During
today’s conference, we were reminded of the
mother of Walter Gowans who prayed
earnestly and persistently for the millions in the
Sudan who had never heard the Gospel – and
her son was one of those God called in answer
to those prayers. The following challenging
exchange is attributed to Rowland Bingh<strong>am</strong>: "I
visited Mrs. Gowans to take her the few
personal belongings of her son," he recalled.
"She met me with extended hand. We stood
there in silence. Then she said these words:
'Well, Mr. Bingh<strong>am</strong>, I would rather have had
Walter go out to the Sudan and die there, all
alone, than have him home today, disobeying
his Lord.'"
What a legacy Mrs. Gowans left to the world.
Today, SIM has approximately 1600
missionaries serving in 45 countries in Africa,
Asia-Pacific and South America. It is a
combined force, with a marriage of missions
that commenced in the 1980s as the Andes
Evangelical Mission and International Christian
Fellowship joined with the Sudan Interior
Mission; in 1998, Africa Evangelical Fellowship
merged with SIM.
Another of today’s speakers is a Brazilian who
now serves with SIM in Sydney where she
lives with her husband. She spoke of the
wonderful ministry of evangelical churches in
her country of birth, and as I spoke with her
later, she commented on the very significant
ministry of the Congregational Churches there.
My mind immediately went to the wonderful
legacy left by Dr. Robert and Mrs. Sarah Kalley
as they were the first Protestant missionaries
to evangelise Brazilians in Portuguese and to
establish Congregational Churches.
I write about these events because they serve
to remind us of the importance of building on
the legacy of those who have gone before us.
As individuals, churches and a worldwide
fellowship, we follow men and women who
faithfully served Christ and were enabled and
empowered by Him. We also need to be
working faithfully with the s<strong>am</strong>e enabling and
power as God builds His Church – in doing so,
we play our part in fulfilling The Great
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