MMI exists to see the kingdom of God established and growing in the armed forces of the world.
We seek to achieve our mission though facilitating conferences, seminars, retreats, symposiums, training events and the like at local, national, regional and international level throughout the regions we operate in: Africa, Europe South Asia and The Middle East. We support these activities and build and maintain relationships with individual Christians through correspondence and communication and by regular visits to Christians in the armed forces in these regions.
The MMI annual programme typically includes >>
- An Association of Military Christian Fellowships regional conference
- Attendance at selected national conferences
- Running and assisting in the provision of adventurous, activity-based retreats for cadets and young officers
- Christian military leadership and ethics seminars
- Courses on marriage and family relationships
- Seminars for chaplains
- Visits to MCFs, chaplaincies and individual military Christians
- Hosting visiting military Christians and chaplains
- Providing training and encouragement in UK
Mission & Vision
Mission: helping Christians follow Jesus Christ in armed forces around the world.
Vision: to see what God might do if every military Christian had someone to stand with.
Reconciliation
In many countries and regions where MMI operates there have been conflicts, and in some cases there remain unresolved issues at individual, local and national level. MMI seeks to encourage reconciliation between opposing parties and is developing resources to be able to offer appropriate mediation either with trained MMI staff or through an appropriate partner ministry. Much still has to be done here.
Statement of Faith
Since 2013 we have taken The Apostles’ Creed as the MMI Statement of Faith:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Values
In conducting MMI business and in their private lives all MMI personnel aspire to be:
Christlike
Servant hearted
Relational
Prayer led
“All one in Christ Jesus” Galatians 3:28
Pioneering, collaborative, committed to excellence.
Leadership & ETHICS
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery wrote in 1961, “I firmly believe that in all branches of Western democracy, with our long Christian tradition, a leader will not appeal to many unless he possesses the Christian virtues.” For Christian soldiers of every nationality, leadership can best be summed up using the motto of the UK’s officer training college, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which is
‘Serve to Lead’. Serving to lead is to follow Jesus’ sacrificial example, highlighted by Paul in Philippians 2:5-8, come what may. A Christian military leader (officer or non-commissioned officer) will seek to follow Jesus in laying his or her life down for the task they have been given, the team they lead and the individual men and women who make up that team. Leadership can be a lonely business; on military operations this sense of isolation can be compounded many times. The Christian leader, on his or her knees before their Lord Jesus Christ, focused in prayer and in the Word, stands the best chance of receiving wisdom to do the right thing, legally and morally, in war, the most terrible activity on earth.
But should Christians serve in the military at all? Are they not called to pacifism, rather than warfighting? Is there a Christian military ethic that makes sense and accords with Scripture? A vital foundation of the Christian approach to warfare is that war is always wrong, always sinful and the end result of human failure. But we believe that sometimes, not always or even often, to fight is less wrong than to do nothing. Pacifists, and Christians who believe in such a thing as a ‘Just War’, share a common starting point – a presumption against war. Soldiers do not need to be told how dreadful combat is; they have
experienced its horrors. For the pacifist, the duty not to kill or injure others is an absolute duty, admitting to no exceptions. For just-war theorists, not to kill is usually binding but may be overridden in exceptional circumstances – particularly when innocent life and human rights are at stake but the burden of proof is place firmly on those who would elect to fight. War poses just those exceptional circumstances, which is the essential logic of the Christian approach to Just War. This is too complex a subject to address here. However, an essay written by our Chief Executive that expands in some detail on why we believe that the bearing of arms is a noble profession for a
Christian man or woman is due for publication.
A Bit About AMCF >>
Roddy Porter – Chief Exec
Military Ministries International (MMI) exists to support Christians in the world’s armed forces. Our prayer is to see military men and women come to a living faith in Jesus Christ and grow to be mature and effective disciples of our Lord as they serve in their navy, army or air force. Christians in the military can find service life a lonely experience, where fellowship is scarce and good, bible-based teaching hard to find. We seek to help Christians learn their Bibles, find fellowship, receive training and joyfully follow the Lord; and thereby we excitedly anticipate God using them to do mighty things in their nations.
MMI is a non-denominational, UK-registered charity with a small dedicated staff of former military, or spouses of former military people (from countries like Britain, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, Zimbabwe and Ghana). We serve military Christians throughout Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and across Africa, supporting indigenous co-workers in many countries of these regions. Our people work with and support military Chaplains wherever we meet them and help service people form Military Christian Fellowships (MCFs) in their own countries.
We like to train military people to teach their own, so that they can grow to maturity without our help. Our work is soaked in prayer; without God we can do nothing and our testimony is that the Lord always does so much more than we can imagine or ask in response (Ephesians 3:20).
Would you like to join us? Our fundamental need is for more people to pray with understanding for the work; we can sign you up and send you prayer material to use. Could you think of setting up a prayer group in your church or home group to support MMI?
We are funded entirely by free will donations from our supporters and occasional grants from Christian trusts and are always keen to meet new donors.
For more information, why don’t you subscribe to MMI News in the box below the testimonials? You’ll receive the latest news and we will reply to talk to you about what else you might like to do.
MMI exists to help military Christians serve Jesus Christ in armed forces around the world. Will you join with us in helping them do this?
Testimonials
“The Mid nineteenth century dream of Capt Trotter while posted in Nowshera, Pakistan (then India) has been translated into the vision of MMI – to have someone stand with every military christian. It is being faithfully fulfilled in reaching out to MCFs in South Asia & beyond by bringing Jesus Christ to military Christians.”
–AMCF VP Asia (south)
“Je remercie Dieu pour la collaboration entre MMI et l’AMCF, car la présence du chef de l’équipe régionale de MMI nous permet, à nous l’équipe du VP Afrique francophone de l’AMCF de désamorcer les tensions éventuelles entre les aumôneries et les Union de Militaires Chrétiens, en témoignant à l’exemple de l’apôtre Pierre et du centurion Corneille (Actes 10).”
–AMCF VP Francophone Africa
“Eu louvo a Deus e agradeço aos amados irmãos por todo o apoio que nos tem dado, nomeadamente pelas 15.000 Bíblias com capa camuflada ofertadas pelo irmão R. Keller da Austrália, com a ajuda do MMI-Maj Homfray Vines. Estas Biblias revolucionaram a AMCM-Associação dos MIlitares Cristãos de Moçambique, tornando-nos conhecidos em todo o país e merecedores de respeito por parte dos militares da nossa nação.
Também estamos muito gratos pelo apoio do MMI para elementos nossos terem tido a possibilidade de participar em Conferências MEP / curso de Capelães (Portugal) desde 2013 – 2017, Conferência Mundial GI14 ( A. Sul) e Conferência AMPBCA (Angola) 2018.”
–Presidente AMCM Mozambique