God has blessed us so much
God is so good and the more I see and hear, the more blessed I know I am. My name is Stephen Bazely, and I am blessed to be the new senior designer for AIM Europe. I am blessed to be married to Joanna, a loving wife and mother to our young girls Grace and Rosie. I am blessed to have grown up in a Christian family, with parents who continue to demonstrate God’s generosity and love. I am blessed to have always been part of a church family, with brothers and sisters all over the world. I am blessed to have a home, a car, food to eat and so many freedoms. Most of all, I am blessed to be a child of God, because of Jesus! We are so blessed materially in the west, and yet even that pales in significance compared to the abundant blessings in Christ. With the wealth we have it is so easy to take these things for granted and forget to give thanks.
As we start a new year together, let us take time to give thanks to God for his goodness and count his many blessings. As this is the first issue I have the privilege of contributing to I wanted to step back and look at the big picture of how God is at work, who God is sending and where he is moving. There is so much to give thanks to God for.
Such good news
When I decided to follow Jesus at the age of 13, I was overwhelmed by a supernatural joy, and I knew I needed to share Jesus with others. I have had the joy of sharing Jesus in local churches, universities, schools, and different communities around the country as a church member and as a vicar. Now God has given me a new way to help people come to know Jesus, by serving as part of the AIM family.
Design and communication have an important role to play in making hidden things visible so we can partner with what God is doing, pray and give thanks. The Bible is so good at showing us God’s hand at work through history and on pages 6 – 7 we have some snapshots in time of where God has reached and how AIM has played its part in that work. As well as an opportunity to spend some time in Psalm 103 and 1 Chronicles 16 as we reflect further on the discipline of giving thanks.
So much need
Africa is so diverse, the church is so big, and yet there are so many who need to hear about Jesus. I keep discovering more and more about Africa, more about the church in Africa and more about AIM. It is humbling and overwhelming at the same time. The more I discover the more I see how good God is, how blessed we are, and what a privilege it is to have an English Bible and to being able to worship God so freely.
Real people in real places
Facts and geography are one thing, but it is the personal stories and testimonies where we feel God’s grace at work, so on pages 8-9 we hear two stories of people reached by Jesus. We know God is raising up Africans to share the good news, so we introduce you to some of these faithful people who have followed the call of God, however costly it may be on.
New things
As well as looking back, we also want to look ahead, to look to the future and of where AIM is headed, and where there is a great need to reach the unreached. We also know that many of you have been praying for or serving with AIM for a long time, so we have also collected praise points from missionaries you may know and others you may not have heard from, we asked them to look back over 2022 for points of praise and look ahead to 2023.
Thank you
Finally, let me take the opportunity to thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read this magazine, thank you for sharing the work of AIM with others, for praying and for caring for those on their assignments. I look forward to meeting, speaking, and giving thanks with you this year, as we put ourselves and his mission in God’s hands. Let’s never forget, we are blessed people!
