Heading Home

It is difficult for me to see change happen long term. And when I say long term, I mean six months or a year. One thing is for certain: I have changed since moving to England.

I will be heading home next week and it almost seems surreal. This was not planned. How can you plan around the loss of a loved one? Although this is no solution to the circumstances, I believe it is God’s will. For those of you who do not know, my grandmother passed away this week. It has been very difficult on my family and me, and because of this I will be returning to America earlier than planned.

I would like to use this time to reflect on the 18 months I have lived in this beautiful country.

The people of Northeast England are very much reversely gilded. On the outside you have hard stone that can weather wars, famine, and crisis. As you begin to dig however, you come upon an interior of fine gold. Sometimes this stony surface can be mistaken as worthless, and will have heaps of garbage or mud piled on top of it. Sometimes it is battered and worn from disaster and storm. But the golden heart remains hidden safe inside for those who will work to find it.

The church of the Northeast is a dormant volcano. It has enormous potential, but this is being stopped up by fear, pride, and control. We are, however beginning to see cracks form in this rock, with steam and power escaping rapidly, especially in the immigrant communities coming from Iran and the Middle East. It is very exciting!

I have changed in my time here. I have preached, done construction, wiring, and gas work, taught at a school, have been abused by youth, climbed mountains, made friends, lost friends, managed volunteers, directed community projects, played sports, and traveled. I have laughed, wept, worked, relaxed, loved, and let go. It has been a joyful, painful, and beautiful adventure. My favorite poem sums it up pretty well.

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20

Not many people would choose to come to the Northeast of England. I felt the call from God to leave and live and love and learn. I have taken the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

View of Tees Valley from Roseberry

Foodbanking

So much has happened since I last blogged. I need to get better at keeping everyone updated…

I am currently co-administrator of a foodbank  at our church alongside the pastor Alan Brand which is helping 30 families every week and continuing to increase in capacity. Here’s the story about how this happened.

As I mentioned before, this summer a local foodbank charity that operated at our church had to shut its doors due to lack of funding. When it shut, the church offered to continue to open its doors at the same time every week for people to come in and chat over a cup of coffee or tea. We were hoping to continue the food help, but had no guarantee for the people who needed it. The church members began to donate food, and every week we had just enough to give to those who needed it. Usually we would give out 8 or 10 bags of food to people who came in and asked for help. One week, only 2 bags were donated, and I was concerned about the need not being filled but decided to trust God and give thanks anyway. That day, only 2 bags were needed.

In October the English have something called Harvest Celebration, where everyone gives food to their schools and churches to be given to those in need. We received a decent amount from our church, but none from schools in the area. The week after harvest, however, we began to get calls from different churches and organizations in the area asking if they could give us out of their surplus! Around this time as well, a local bread company decided to start donating 40 free loaves of bread every week!

About a week later, someone posted on our town’s facebook page asking if there was a foodbank for Thornaby that she could send those in need to. The response from others was that all of the foodbanks had closed. I responded with a post that we did in fact have food available and that we were open every week and ready to help out. In 2 days, there were over 90 comments on that single post: people wanting to give food, those who knew of a need, those wanting to volunteer, etc. The response was enormous! The next week we had 4 people show up with bags of food to give away, and two local politicians who wanted to get the word out (one of which is running for parliament next May).

The pastor and I decided it was time to grow this project. We sent letters to all of the churches in the town (about 9), asking them to send a representative to a meeting to talk of future plans. We also invited local government officials and community workers.
Due to the response to invitations, we expected about 12-15 people to attend this meeting. I prayerfully (haha), made provision for 18. We had 40 people show up to the meeting to talk about future plans for community aid–all this organized by a church! 28 people signed up to volunteer on the spot, and others talked about how they could get more food and ways of finding those in need.

We have gone from helping 8 to 30 families a week over the course of last month alone. Some of the situations are very difficult, including legal problems and confusion, medical issues, and homelessness. We are seeking to be advocates for those in the community who have difficulty supporting or defending themselves, and we are gradually being equipped to do so.

I just have one explanation for why this has happened–God chose to move. The path has been laid before us–resources, people, time, need–and we have simply have sought where the Father guided. All glory and praise to Him!

Although we are helping those in need, we also do not want to create dependency on outside organizations, nor do we want to enable others to hurt themselves. This is very difficult, considering the crime and drug usage levels of this area. We are currently working on a plan to help those who need it when they need it, as well as encouraging them to set goals to be independent and self sufficient.

The bible verses we have chosen to base all of this work on are Micah 6:6-8.

“With what shall I come to the Lord
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness (mercy),
And to walk humbly with your God?”

This is the goal:

Do Justice – Help those in need without enabling destructive behavior, and be an advocate for the helpless.

Love Mercy – Give to those who have made mistakes, who may not deserve anything but need it.

Walk Humbly with God – Do everything with a spirit of humility flowing from the Love of God and the example of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2).

I cannot wait to see where God leads in this adventure!

Digging In

To answer the question I asked everyone to pray about in my last blog: yes, I have decided to return to the ministry here after Christmas until next July! I have seen God answer multiple prayers I have had concerning this, and He has revealed to me that the work I have been called to do has not yet to come to an end.

Has there ever been a time where we have built a relationship strictly for the purpose of evangelism? I do not mean a relationship in which we desire to see God move in that person’s life. I mean one where the goal is strictly to see that person become a Christian without wanting to deal with pain, suffering, or struggle they need help bearing. I guess the point is that sometimes I can have the mindset that people are projects; I think part of this comes from me being a problem solver/math person. I see an issue that needs correcting and I want to fix it.

People are not projects. People are people.

Jesus valued others and shared life with them, without neglecting the truth of their need for God. This is tough work, let me tell you. I have a friend who is 29 and is an asylum seeker from Syria. His wife and two daughters (one of which he has never seen before) are in a dangerous situation and are being harassed by the government. He has waited 9 months without a word from the English government as to the resolution of his current situation. He is a fairly devout Muslim, but is now suffering with depression and emptiness. I have cried with him as he talks about how dead and useless he feels, and how helpless he is to protect his wife and children. I have shared the gospel with him a few times, telling him about the hope Jesus can give, and he has kindly declined.

So if I am looking at this situation from a strictly evangelistic perspective, how much more do I invest into this one person?

But if I am looking at it from Jesus’ perspective, when do I stop loving my Syrian friend?

We can only trust that God will lead us into His perfect will for our lives as we seek Him, but the call from Jesus to love those around us is perfectly clear. This is just one example of the ministry I have been called to in England. I feel as if in my life in America it was so easy to distance myself from the pain and struggles of others. How often do we really live life with the hurting, the sick, the homeless? How often do we actually SEEK OUT those in need of the love of Jesus Christ? Door to door evangelism has its uses. But what about sharing life without promise of return? Our call is to follow where God leads, love others, share the good news, and let Him worry about the results.

Summer and New Beginnings

Hey Everyone!

So, I am not gonna lie, this Summer has been tough.

Toward the end of July all of my American friends left at one time. Our workload decreased significantly, and I was struggling to fill my extra time. My pastor and my director were gone on vacation for a couple of weeks, and things at the church had quieted down as well. Not only that, but a long time went by without me feeling God’s presence. Things got frustrating.

As I reached low places in my life this Summer, God quietly reminded me of one thing: “Don’t forget the promises I have made you, both in your life and in My word.” Someone gave me a quote the other day and I cannot remember who said it, “Carry into the darkness what God has revealed to you in the light.” So true.

A fresh semester is now beginning, and I am super excited about our new team! Many opportunities are opening up, and God is moving among us.

Please be praying for me as I seek God’s will this week on whether or not to come back in January and stay until July. There are quite a few reasons to do so, but I want this to be something God coordinates, not something I pretend to understand. Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support, and have a wonderful time heading into the Fall!