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. In January 2022 they will move to Kenya, where Tony will start work as Regional Executive Officer (REO) for AIM’s Eastern Region.

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 carrying 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. From 2015-2021 Tony was 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. In January 2022 Tony will take up the position of REO for AIM’s Eastern Region, directing the work of AIM in Kenya and Tanzania and overseeing the ministry of around 130 missionaries. This builds on the mobilisation work of the Hub and taps into the networks already established.

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

August 24, 2021

Tony and Cath Swanson will soon be in the UK to begin Home Assignment. They have left Uganda and will relocate to Kenya next year so that Tony can begin serving as the Regional Executive Officer for AIM Eastern Region. Pray for them in this period of transition, and please pray that their Home Assignment will prepare them for moving to Kenya.

April 17, 2021

Tony and Cath Swanson have recently been involved with running missions training and mobilising conferences in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Praise God that Tony and Cath remained free from Covid-19 and that the conferences ran successfully despite the added challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic can bring. Please pray for the pastors, missionaries, aspiring missionaries and mobilisers who attended, that the conferences will help them bear fruit for God as they serve in mission.

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.”

Kenya

Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963. Since then British tourism has been a key element of Kenya’s economy, however, unemployment, poverty and crime remain high. Whilst the majority religion is Christianity, Kenya’s ethnic diversity and vast countryside means there are still many unreached with the gospel. 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