Opportunities to minister can come in many forms. For Milley Brewington, it came in the form of a mission trip to London during this summer’s Olympics in London.
Brewington traveled to London as a part of WMU International (Women Missionary Union) ministry outreach program for the Olympics. She was there from Aug. 3 through Aug. 13. The WMU International program was called More Than Gold. WMU International even had souvenir pins made that read, “More Than Gold.” It is part of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s ministry.
“These pins were a method of sharing Christ with others even when we were not allowed to pass out our religious materials. The colors in the pin represents how to have eternal life. The idea of the theme More Than Gold is based on the fact that not many people can win gold but eternal life is offered to all people regardless of nationality, religious background, race or rank,” expressed Brewington. “In Psalm 19:10 it reads, ‘More to be desired are they than gold, yea more than much fine gold.’”
In a flyer provided along with the pin the colors are described. The five colors of the pin are purple which represents darkness, the darkness of our sin that separates us from God. Blue represent hope. The hope we have in God’s love, and His desire to give us eternal life through Jesus Christ. Red shows Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. He shed is blood to pay the penalty for our sin. The gold color represents eternal life through faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Finally the green means to grow. As a Christian that is what God wants us to do based on our personal relationship with Him.
Brewington shared that she was struggling where to go this summer on a mission trip. She knew she was to go but where.
“I was considering going to Montana until the director of missions of Burnt Swamp Baptist Association, Mike Cummings called and asked me to consider going to London for the Olympics. I had to pray long and hard before I got my answer from God to go to London,” stated Milley. “I then began to prepare myself spiritually, physically and emotionally for the trip.”
Brewington had been on a previous trip to Beijing, China with WMU International in 2010 so she was familiar with travel with the group. Milley is WMU director in her home church New Bethel Baptist Church. Her church and the Burnt Swamp Association assisted Brewington in paying for the trip.
London however was a big place and Brewington stated that is was a bit intimidating.
“There are 8.278 million people in London. There are 43 universities with people speaking over 300 languages. It is the most multi-cultural city in the world. It is the most visited city in the world with over 14 million international visitors each year. And 58.2 percent of the citizens identify themselves as Christians,” explained Brewington.
“Our mission was to lead people world wide into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and to strengthen the local church while we were there,” cited Milley.
In that realm, Brewington and the other members of her team broke into various groups with some helping with communications, others doing clown ministry, conducting surveys and sharing flyers and other religious materials. Brewington’s group of six went to the Royal Dock community to conduct surveys and pass out tracks. The church they worked with was the Royal Docks Community Baptist Church. Brewington shared that the pastors were the Rev. David Mann and his wife, Dr. Sally Mann. They had established the church about 18 months earlier and currently had about 35 attending regularly.
“We passed out information about the church and what it offered. Sunday services were held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Royal Docks Community Center. They also provided a lot of youth services including Bible study along with crafts and sports activities. Even though over 50 percent of the people in London identify themselves as Christians less that 4 percent attend church regularly. We passed out cards with information about the church to everyone we encountered,” said Brewington.
Milley remarked that conducting the surveys was not an easily task.
“Some of the women doing the surveys were spit on by people when they asked if they knew God. Many said they did not believe in God or in his existence. We encountered so many different cultures and beliefs while we attempted to share God’s word,” stated Brewington. “We saw and talked with members of the Baha’i faith, Hare’ Krishna, Islam, Buddhist, Sikhism and many other religions as we ministered in London,” added Milley.
The dock is not used much as a shipping dock any longer explained Brewington, but where they were located was along the trek going into the Olympic park area and the sporting events. The missionaries had to adhere to strict rules regarding to where they could do specific things regarding discussing religion and passing out flyers.
“We had training regarding where we could and could not do certain things. Our leaders expressed that they did not want to visit any of us in jail. We did our best to abide by the rules,” said Milley.
During her visit, Brewington said that the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was very impressive and she did get so see the triathlon and the marathon. But the number of people for all over the world and different cultures impressed most.
“It was so crowded in places that we could only shuffle to move and we had to wait for the person in front of us to move a little before we could edge up a tiny bit. I was out of my comfort zone but that is what God asks us as Christians to do many times and I encourage others to do the same,” shared Brewington.
The mission trip was a success for Brewington and WMU International, but the benefits of their travels cannot be documented fully as the affects their ministry are not known.
“We share a unique quality as Christian in that because we love the word of God, we cannot keep it to ourselves. We as Christians are called to go into all the world and make disciples. Our hearts long to respond. We want to show the blessings we have…the life changing power, the truth, the light, to lead the lost to a faith in Christ and strengthen the faith of the believers and truly make disciples. I hope this is what we accomplished through our efforts with God’s help in London,” remarked Brewington.
If anyone or a church would like for Brewington to come share her mission story contact her via e-mail at milley1miracle@hotmail.com.
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