Students for International Mission Service (SIMS)

Outlook 2001

A message from the SIMS program director

During this last holiday season, in the midst of Christmas shopping, writing Christmas cards and letters to loved ones, and preparing for family to arrive from out of town, I had to stop and think about the social phenomenon that was occurring around me. Despite the commercialization of this important holiday and the stress that it has brought, there remains an air of joy and of giving, and a spiritual air that cuts through our secular world today. If you have felt this way also, then you can understand the way we feel at SIMS year-round. When we hear about the life-changing experiences of our returning volunteers, when we receive letters from alumni who have taken the spirit of SIMS into their professional life, or when we return exhausted from a mission trip glowing with that sense of fulfillment which comes with service, we live the Christmas spirit year-round.

Have you ever done something like go camping, and afterwards said, “We should do this more often?” In December, my family went on one of our Mexico weekend mission trips. And during that trip, watching our children play with other kids in the freshly plowed fields in the valley of Mexicali, I said to my wife, “We have to continue doing this.” What better education can we offer the new generation but to make mission and service an integral part of our lives? Yet it is important that we learn to give quietly, in a way that does not dehumanize the receiver, or puts us above those in “need,” recognizing that we all have our own special needs. Most importantly, we must acknowledge that, in serving, we are also served and learn valuable lessons from those “less fortunate.”

As we start the new millennium, I ask all our readers to pray for SIMS and those who participate in the planning and coordination of this program, as we continue to provide a key part of our students’ education, that our combined efforts and spiritual guidance take our program on to new ground to meet the challenges ahead with a humble and dedicated spirit. We pray that our SIMS alumni will take with them the spirit of Christ to their communities of service, be it in Bakersfield, California, or in Gimbie, Ethiopia. May His light shine brighter not because of our efforts, but because of the privilege we have been given to serve Christ through our service to others.

J. C. Belliard, MPH
Program director, Students for International Mission Service

[Outlook 2001]

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