BMS World Mission
BMS Council: 7 December 2025
Summary Report
Introduction
A welcome was given by Marc Owen, who opened the meeting in a brief prayer dedicating the meeting to God.
Suzanne Roberts led the meeting in Matthew 1 as an opening devotional, where she reflected on the name Emmanuel, emphasising ‘God with us’ no matter the circumstances. She gave a personal reflection around Christmas, learning four-part harmonies of carols, amongst the backdrop of the Bangladesh hospital. The council were encouraged to reflect on their place in bringing hope in what they do as part of BMS. She prayed for guidance and courage for those facing hardship in this season.
Minutes were approved and signed off.
General Director’s report – Kang San Tan
Kang-San Tan started his report by noting that many people are now part of the council who represent a global perspective such as from South Africa and India. He wanted to thank God on the diversity of the organisation. He noted the emphasis of working with global partners, and highlighted BMS’ historical involvement in China in founding a nursing vocational college. Everyday they serve 17,000 daily and only started because of BMS World Mission.
BMS was also awarded a finalist award for in the Investors in People silver category, his thanks went especially to the People and Culture.
BMS ended the year at a net positive thanks to a gift of £280,000 from the United Society of Christian Literature that was in recognition of what we are doing.
Transformation Journey – Heather Drury
Heather shared the 2030 transformation goals and the planned journey through the next year and highlighted the increase of clarity in BMS’ direction over the recent few years. She then led some of the directors to share in some areas where they had seen transformation. She gave the example of Sundae* from the people pool who went from Uganda to Ghana (Oasis Hub) to train them in risk management, with the opportunity for continued collaboration looking at risk registers.
Caroline Trimble spoke on Guinebor II Hospital (G2). She explored how BMS took on the government agreement to ensure the continued operation and work towards sustainability.
Arthur Brown introduced the council to Wahome Ndegwa, who is a global specialist in Church and Community Mobilisation (CCM), and based in Africa. BMS are hoping to look at the methodology on setting up CCM in Asia – part of this will be appointing an equivalent of Wahome to work across Asia.
Aniu Kevichusa looked at how BMS is part of influencing the world to share that global mission isn’t being a primarily Western responsibility. He highlighted the impact that BMS has recently had in the Baptist Union, speaking at a variety of places such as Baptist Assembly.
The meeting was then split into small groups to review the following questions and share back to the main meeting.
1. What do you think of BMS’ overall transformation to date?
2. What do you think about the 2026 transformation journey?
Board meetings: Matthew Norris-Silva
The Board update covered various aspects of their meetings, including safeguarding, working on integrating different missional approaches for holistic mission impact, stories from ILC and finances.
Matthew explained how the board is still looking for two trustees, with one of the main roles being focused on safeguarding. He spoke how the board has enjoyed having Kang-San being an active part in these meetings and together they highly recommend the GD report and for 2026, especially in strengthening global partnerships.
Marc reminded the council to vote when you are requested to, as recently there has been a decline in voting. He noted that Richard Grey has recently been nominated and was in the process of being approved.
Nominations committee – Susan Stevenson
The main role of the nominations committee is to look at the process for recommending new trustees to the council.
Current members: Marion Carson, Ronas Marule, Andrew Persson, David Howe, Kang-San Tan and Susan Stevenson.
It was noted that three positions were under consideration and that two of the positions required female candidates to maintain gender balance. Thanks were given to Heather Drury for giving support in this time.
March4Mission – Orla Moxon
Orla explained to the Council what March4Mission is about. It is a training course for 18–25-year-olds, between the 16-31 March 2026. The training is based on how to mission minded and with a focus of developing mission in own contexts. Whilst there are bursaries available, they are aiming to keep the training below £3000 per person. Aniu clarified that the programme was open to young people from the UK and other regions, with the target of 30 participants.
Whole life discipleship: The potential for integration in BMS programmes and methodologies – Arthur Brown
Arthur spoke of the challenge and importance of integrating different approaches to mission to create holistic and integral mission. Arthur highlighted the difference between CCM and Disciple Making Movements (DMM). He clarified that these forms were not enforced on partners and were not the only approaches used. He noted the similarities in aspects such asleadership and transformation, and their differences, such as structure and processes. He expressed a desire for greater integration.
The Council then split back into small groups to explore the questions and then feedback on:
1. How do you see these approaches being integrated in Scripture and in mission practice that you are aware of? What can BMS learn from this as we explore greater levels of mission integration?
2. What does whole life discipleship mean for your context in the light of this conversation?
3. What opportunities and challenges do you see in our exploration for greater integration in our work?
Finance update – Caroline Trimble
Trustees approved the estimates for 2026. There is an estimated income for 2026 of £6.95m. Whilst legacies are difficult to forecast, the numbers are hopeful.
There is an estimated expenditure of £5.8m, with an additional £0.97m for raising awareness and £0.43m for fundraising which puts BMS at a deficit of £0.25m. Caroline noted that she is hopeful to be breaking even by 2028, with a small surplus from 2029 onwards.
Memorandum and Articles of Association approval – Caroline Trimble
Caroline explained that Council approval was required for changes to the BMS Memorandum and Articles of Association. A legal review had been conducted to ensure compliance and the proposed changes were presented for Council, who approved the changes.
Expect 26 – Zanele Wiseman
The next council meeting will be hosted at Expect 26. A video was shared from Kang-San about what to expect at Expect 26. Zanelle explained how the event was to take place from 22 to 25 June 2026 at High Leigh Christian Conference Centre with the theme ‘Together We Are Working’. Council members are invited to join on Wednesday 24 June to focus on engagement, learning and networking.
Closing – David Howe
David Howe closed the meeting in prayer reminding the council that the nativity gives hope. He went on to pray for wisdom and understanding for world leaders, peace negotiations and support for those who need it most.
Older BMS items:
BMS World Mission