Tony and Cath Swanson

Sent from Worthing Tabernacle Church

Tony and Cath work for AIM’s International Office. Tony is AIM’s African Mobilisation Consultant and Cath is AIM’s Child Safety Officer.

Tony and Cath have been serving with AIM since 1998. For 20 years they worked alongside the Africa Inland Church in Tanzania (AICT), where Tony coordinated the Institute of Bible and Ministry and Cath worked in HIV and children’s ministry. In 2019 they moved to Kampala, Uganda to carry on their work as AIM’s African Mobilisation Consultant and Child Safety Officer from a new location.

Before Tony and Cath started serving with AIM, Tony worked as a pastor and Cath as a health visitor based in West Sussex. From 2005 they worked alongside the AICT in Morogoro, Tanzania – Cath originally in HIV and children’s ministry, and Tony coordinating the Institute of Bible and Ministry. This is a multifaceted ‘on the job’ programme of teaching and dynamic interaction which aims to ‘enable, mobilise and inspire’ church leaders to a closer walk with the Lord and increased effectiveness in ministry.

The Swansons believe that the Church is God’s chosen way to bless and transform communities and the world. As Christians faithfully live as salt and light in their communities they are beacons of hope, justice, healing, revelation and living faith.

The African Church is growing, vibrant and confident in the gospel, and has tremendous untapped potential to reach the unreached with the good news of Christ. AIM created its African Mobilisation Hub to help AIM serve churches in Africa by enabling them to send their own missionaries. Since 2015, Tony has been AIM’s African Mobilisation Consultant, coordinating the Hub’s work and ensuring that it stays focussed on its aim of seeing African Christians being sent to the mission field.

Cath is AIM’s Child Safety Officer. AIM takes seriously its God-given responsibility towards the children of its missionaries, longing to see them develop into confident adults who know and love Jesus and can thrive in this fallen world. AIM also has several ministries among African children and recognises its responsibility towards them to ensure a high standard of conduct and care. Cath leads the Child Protection team, dealing with safeguarding issues and helping AIM to be an organisation where children are safe and cared for.

Could you partner with the Swansons in this work?

Latest Prayer News

October 2, 2020

Tony writes, “The time has now come for the airports to re-open which we think is a good thing. This has meant that I (Tony) was able to travel to the UK on the 12th September… I am back [at All Nations Christian College] now because of my current role as the African Mobilisation Consultant for AIM. I hope to experience the ‘En-Route’ course for myself, and to evaluate its effectiveness as a missionary training program within the African context. So I will be learning how to adapt it and teach it across Africa. We have already planned to run it at Sanga Sanga Tanzania early next year. Hopefully Cath will join me later in October, when she is down to lead one of the ‘Contemporary Issues in Mission’ sessions on child safeguarding… Please pray for Cath, as she holds the fort back in Kampala and for myself that I would follow the Buxton Motto engraved into the stonework of All Nations College; ‘Do it with all thy might’ as I engage in the ‘En-Route’ program. That it in turn will be a blessing to many prospective missionaries across Africa.”

January 3, 2020

Cath writes: “This has been a full year in my AIM Safeguarding role as well as the work I do on the Board of the Child Safety Protection Network and as the training coordinator. My task is to plan our global training courses and to organise facilitators… I see this as ‘kingdom work’- helping mission agencies to better protect all children as a way of upholding truth and justice and to avoid undermining the gospel message we proclaim. I can’t talk about most of what I get involved in, but I do appreciate those of you who encourage me in this work!” Please pray for Cath in her work to help AIM and other mission organisations to safeguard children as part of how we show the gospel to those we seek to reach.

October 4, 2019

Tony & Cath have recently moved to continue their ministry in Entebbe, Uganda. “We have been attending All Saints’ Chapel, an Anglican church down the road, which is connected to a Pastors’ Training Centre- not dissimilar to Sanga (but thankfully, already built!)… The nature of Tony’s role in mobilizing the African Church to cross cultural mission is networking and connecting potential African missionaries to locations and teams. All kinds of wonderful things happen when you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It was a great surprise to find that Sam, a key Ugandan mobiliser, attends All Saints’ Chapel too… Cath is thoroughly enjoying the new headspace there is here to get stuck into some of the big picture projects- like policy development, new training and strategy. On the other hand, she is now itching to get plugged into hands-on work to contribute and participate with our local community in some way- hopefully belonging in church will foster these connections.”

August 2, 2019

Tony & Cath Swanson have just moved to Entebbe, Uganda to carry on their work as AIM’s African Mobilisation Consultant and Child Safety Officer. “We are so grateful for these last seven months in the UK. It has been a time of refreshing and catching up with family and friends. We are grateful to the many of you who hosted us and invited us to visit. Thank you for the opportunity that you gave to preach and speak on the work we have been and will be involved in. We are grateful for the provision of our flat in Romsey that has been such a lovely place to live. We are so grateful to the Worthing Tab for commissioning us in such a memorable way. We are so grateful for answered prayer in regard to Tony’s dad who is now home and doing much better. We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to travel up and down this beautiful country of ours. We are so grateful for the support that we have received that has meant we are able return to Africa later today. We are so grateful for your continued prayers for us as we arrive and get settled in to life and ministry in Uganda.”

May 3, 2019

Tony writes: “Cath has continued in her Child Safeguarding role, with AIM and the Child Safety Protection Network where she is a board member and trainer. These responsibilities have taken her to Florida (USA) in January, Japan in February, as well as Prague in April (where I carried her suitcase!) and Virginia (USA) in April/May. So far, we have had the opportunity to visit and share in a number of churches as far afield as St Mary’s Nottingham to All Soul’s Langham Place London; Corsham Baptist, Rayners Lane Baptist; Worthing Tabernacle and Ashington Parish. It has been lovely to preach, share and worship in English! I also had the opportunity to attend a conference in Malta concerning the mobilization of African missionaries.” Please pray for God’s blessing on the rest of their Home Assignment before they move to Uganda in July.

Uganda

80% of Uganda is engaged in agriculture. The healthy economy of the 1960s was crippled in 1972 by the expulsion of the Asian business community, and then virtually destroyed by tyranny and wars. It has steadily improved since 1992. Under previous government regimes there were restrictions on persecuted Christians, but there is now freedom of religion. LEARN MORE

Support, Logistics & Pastoral Care

Seeing unreached people reached is fruit of the body of Christ in action. That can mean pilots, qualified counsellors, administrators, photographers all helping and supporting the task of making Jesus known. LEARN MORE

Children & Youth

In sharing the gospel with children & young people our hope is to develop disciple making disciples – to demonstrate God’s immeasurable love for children and to offer them the reassurance and peace that a relationship with him can bring. LEARN MORE