On a sunny afternoon in September, mission workers Steve and Mary visited the SIM UK office and encouraged the team with stories of God at work during 33 years of overseas mission work.
After completing a short-term assignment in Bolivia during his university studies, Steve felt led back to the country to serve long-term. Serving for so many years allowed them to see a shift in mission work:
“The most exciting thing to see is a country that’s received missionaries for a century, now starting to send their own missionaries. … There are now Bolivian missionaries serving in Kenya, Indonesia and a number of places that are not as open to granting visas to Western countries – but Bolivians can go.”
The Hawthornes used the skills God has given them in medicine and education to further his kingdom. Steve worked 15 years in a rural hospital and Mary used her gifts in education to do Sunday school training. Both were also involved in leadership development among the Quechua churches.
In 2012, they faced new opportunities and challenges after relocating to Potosí, in Bolivia, where there’s a need to share Christ’s love with the mining communities. As one of the highest cities in the world – at 4,090 metres (13,420 ft) above sea level – Potosí was once the largest and richest city on the planet. The sprawling Cerro Rico (literally ‘Rich Mountain’) towers over the city and has been mined for silver for 500 years.
The miners of Potosí work in some of the darkest places on earth, physically and spiritually, and most have never heard God’s good news of salvation.
“Because of the work they do underground, the miners feel like they’re working in the devil’s territory and so make sacrifices to an image of the devil at the entrance to every mine. … If anyone didn’t participate in the offerings to the devil, the miners thought they could bring bad luck to the whole crew.”
Image by SeetoPhotography
Getting access into the mines to share the gospel wasn’t going to be easy, but God used Steve and Mary to shine his light through the darkness.
Every week, a lady would bring her children to the local church the Hawthornes attended. Her husband, Luis*, who had been a miner since his teenage years, didn’t join them. One day, while working in the tunnels far underground, Luis was unaware that NOx, a colourless, odourless gas, which forms after the explosion of dynamite, had collected. Overcome with fumes, he fell backwards and broke his neck.
Luis spent two months in the hospital, with his neck immobilised. One afternoon, a woman from another local church made her regular visit to local patients.
“He still remembers seeing her enter his ward sort of silhouetted – there was a window with the sun setting behind her, lighting her up where her profile was dark but there was this glow around her. She came over and shared the gospel with him, and that’s how he became a Christian.”
This gave Steve the opening he needed to get inside the mines, and he became an occupational health and safety worker for the mining company. Luis, now recovered, invited the Hawthornes and other miners to his house for Bible study, and Steve and Mary were able to help them understand the Scriptures and to help them share the gospel message.
Work with miners in Potosí (made by SIM)
In 2022, Steve and Mary relocated to the States and continue their mission work as part SIM’s Health Ministries Team. They recruit, prepare and journey with healthcare workers, helping them flourish as they make disciples of Jesus Christ in communities where he is least known.
The connections made after many years of faithful service are continuing to bear fruit. Steve and Mary’s background working in South America have enabled them to link Esther, a dentist from Bolivia, with an SIM family in Peru who make trips out into the countryside to give dental treatment in Quechua villages. As a native Quechua speaker and with a heart to use her profession for mission work, Esther will make a valuable addition to the trips.
“That’s what I like about my job – being able to network people that we’ve known, people that we’ve discipled in the past in Bolivia with people who are using their vocation in healthcare ministries to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Join them up to see even more fruit from what they do.”
Pray for Steve and Mary
As Steve shifts from working overseas to an office-based role supporting those going on mission.
For the set of guidelines the Health Ministries team are creating for how to do Healthcare Ministries well – that field testing goes well, and these can be implemented soon.
That the document will be useful to those working in many countries around the world.
*pseudonym used. Featured image: by SeetoPhotography
A short-term mission trip with SIM turned into a life-changing journey for friends Lizzie and Katie.
“My faith is the cornerstone of my life, and my desire is to use the skills I’ve gained through my medical degree to serve Jesus,” says Lizzie, who spent six weeks on a short-term mission with SIM to South Asia.
Lizzie was able to share the joys and challenges of navigating unfamiliar and unexpected situations with her great friend Katie, whom she first met at university: “We met through various Christian freshers events and ended up going to the same church and living on the same road… and here we are five years later!” she says.
“We both wanted to explore mission abroad and go with another person, so it was a perfect fit!” she adds.
“We didn’t feel called anywhere in particular,” recalls Katie,” our general approach was to explore options and pray and see which doors God closed, and then to pursue the ones which were open.
“It was interesting as we never felt a particularly strong calling to South Asia, however, after being there, we can definitely see how that was exactly where God wanted us to be!”
The medical students served at a mission hospital that’s committed to showing God’s love by offering free care for those unable to pay.
“It gave us such a perspective about the purpose and importance of the hospital and seeing the love and care for each individual patient and staff member. To see people following God’s calling on their lives, and the joys, triumphs, and challenges in that was also really encouraging,” says Katie.
Although their plans often didn’t go the way they expected, the pair say God was always in control and worked things out, particularly when they faced their first challenge early on.
“Lizzie was turned away at the airport due to a damaged passport (which she had had checked and was told was fine to fly with), so I flew alone,” recalls Katie. “Once landing, I had to spend a few days alone before travelling into the hospital and so was grateful for the contacts I had with SIM.
“But God was very gracious and kind to both of us in those days we were separated. We were also so grateful for all our church family, friends and family praying and that Lizzie got a new passport quickly and joined me at the hospital only one day later than planned!”
During their mission trip, both students grew in their faith, as they developed a greater appreciation for global health challenges and enhanced their medical skills in a resource-poor environment.
“We were sad to leave the hospital and the community. Six weeks is so short, and some connections felt like they were just starting to form and flourish. The country, lifestyle, community etc, were so beautiful and we miss it!” admits Katie, “but we also acknowledged our need to progress in our training and that we couldn’t stay any longer.”
“I developed the habit of turning to God in prayer in all circumstances — big or small — rejoicing when things don’t go to my plan, and confidence in my identity as a child of God,” says Lizzie. “I gained a love and appreciation of God as a good father who provides, and awe at the fact that he is the God of all nations, and yet he cares about me personally.”
Now they are back in the UK, the pair say they’re grateful for the relationships formed, the lessons learned, and the ways in which this experience has shaped their perspective on medicine and mission. And while their futures remain quite open and they don’t know what God has in store for them, they’re prayerfully consider all their options.
“Out trip has given me more appreciation of skills that I can develop over the next few years that would be helpful in overseas medical work, and how living abroad could look like. I’m not sure if God has/will call me to overseas mission, so we’ll have to see!” says Katie.
However, Lizzie is typical of many who go on short-term mission and invariably return more committed to local and world mission.
“Before our trip I didn’t think exploring cross-cultural mission was something I’d want to do long-term, but now I’d definitely be open to doing long term overseas mission,” she says.
“I’ve discovered that as Christians we plant seeds and it’s God who does the main work. Mission can be very relational — showing God’s love, praying for people, and being honest when questions arise. I’ve learned that this can be hugely impactful, even though it isn’t overtly sharing the gospel. I also think there’s a need in many places, and our mission field is wherever God has called us now, so I don’t need to wait until I reach a certain stage in my career to be a mission worker.”
Our Forged programme will help you explore how your skills and experience connects with opportunities and needs across the world.
On a sunny afternoon in September, SIM USA mission workers Steve and Mary visited the SIM UK Cambridge office and encouraged the staff team with some stories of how they’ve seen God change lives during 33 years of overseas mission work.
Steve and Mary Hawthorne worked in Bolivia South America among the Quechua people. Steve is a Family Medicine doctor and worked in a rural government hospital and in an urban Christian clinic. Mary used her background in education to train Sunday School teachers in that rural district, and to start an English school in the city.
Steve and Mary spent many years in Potosí, a mining city…
Something about the mines in
and also in the same local church where we met Esther, the dentist, there was a woman who came every Sunday with all of her children but never her husband. She became a particular friend of my wife, Mary. And her husband wasn’t antagonistic to their going to church but would never accompany them. He had been a miner since his teenage years and was now in his 50s.
But would never go with them for some of these reasons, that miners felt that if anybody wasn’t participating in these offerings to the devil, that they could bring bad luck on the whole crew. But one day, he went into the tunnels which are quite far underground, and unbeknownst to him, in the time between the day before and this day, this gas – NOX they call it – this colourless, odourless gas which forms after the explosion of nitrate, had collected. And he just walked up a little bit on this tunnel and was overcome and fell backwards, and broke his neck.
He was taken out by his friends on a stretcher and spent two months in the hospital just on his back in a collar. His vertebrae had broken but hadn’t severed his spinal cord. While it healed, he couldn’t move. That gave him time to think about things and one afternoon, a woman from another local church who had a ministry visiting local patients in the hospital came by. He still remembers seeing her enter his ward sort of silhouetted – there was a window with the sun setting behind her, lighting her up where her profile was dark but there was this glow around her. And that kind of gave him a sense of anticipation, and she came over and shared the gospel with him. That’s how he became a Christian.
Ever since then, he came to church and I got to meet him, and he became the link for me to get invitations inside the mines, to become an occupational health and safety worker for that mining company. And then he invited Mary and myself to come to their house for a Bible study, with other miners who were sort of submarine Christians – kind of under the radar. But helping them to feel more comfortable in understanding the scriptures and the message of the gospel to be able to share it more that way. And so Lorenso and Hulia they’re the ones that are featured in that little video if you want to include that link and hear their story in their own words. He’s become quite an effective witness for the Lord among the miners there.
Vimeo video – click to load
Vimeo video
If you play this, Vimeo may set cookies and process data according to their privacy policy. You can withdraw this consent later by deleting cookies.
Work with miners in Potosí (made by SIM)
In 2022, Steve and Mary relocated to the States and continue their mission work as part SIM’s Health Ministries Team. They recruit, prepare and journey with healthcare workers, helping them flourish as they make disciples of Jesus Christ in communities where he is least known.
The connections made after many years of faithful service are continuing to bear fruit. Steve and Mary’s background in South America have enabled them to link Esther, a dentist from Bolivia, with a family in Peru who make trips out into the countryside to give dental treatment to Quechua villages. As a native Quechua speaker and with a heart to use her profession for mission work, Esther will make a valuable addition to the trips.
That’s what I like about my job – being able to network people that we’ve known, people that we’ve discipled in the past in Bolivia with people who are using their vocation in healthcare ministries to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Join them up to see even more fruit from what they do.
Pray for Steve:
As he shifts from working overseas to an office-based role supporting those going on mission.
For the set of guidelines the Health Ministries team are creating for how to do Healthcare Ministries well – that field testing goes well, and these can be implemented soon.
That the document will be useful to those working in many countries around the world.
What do you do at SIM UK?
I am a Mobiliser and I have been part of the Mobilisation team for the past eight years.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
A lot of my role is connected to people who want to work overseas: walking with them through the application process, finding them placements, making sure they’re doing well on the field as well as when they return back. Coming back brings its own challenges, so I try and make sure they have what they need by doing debriefs to help them readjust to life back in the UK.
I am also part of a team of people from different mission organisations that go into universities and speak to groups of students throughout the year.
What makes you enthusiastic about your work?
Having gone overseas for 15 years out of conviction that it was where the Lord was leading us, then it becomes part of who you are and you recognise that the Gospel is not just for us – it’s for every person on the planet. Taking the transforming Gospel to the corners of the earth is so important and motivates me in all I do.
How have you seen God working through your job?
It can be hard to define the fruits in ministry sometimes because we don’t always see how God moves, we just know that He does. Sometimes you see things lining up so well when people go and serve. Other times, it can be supporting people who have crashed and you’re helping build them up again so they continue to serve. Or, it’s answered prayer on numerous occasions.
How have you been involved in mission in the past?
My family and I served overseas for 15 years, from 2000-2015 we worked in West Africa, first doing church planting among the Fulani people, then in the last 5 years we were involved in theological education, training Fulani-speaking Christians in Ministry.
How can we pray for you?
For wisdom – when people come to SIM exploring, it’s not only seeing if the Lord is leading them into mission, but finding the right placement for them.
Helping enquirers to discern whether this is where the Lord is leading them, and in what shape their ministry will take.
Liffy Gorton has previously served in West Africa, where she taught English and worked with street women. This summer, she returned to her birth country to work with a project called Talitha Cumi, which aims to teach vulnerable girls in rural Zimbabwe about the Lord Jesus and to provide funds so they can complete their schooling. Here she shares how the Talitha Cumi project began:
In 2011, Violet Myambo, a teacher at a Zimbabwe mission high school, was approached by two young sisters whose father had died and whose mother was unable to work.
They were left with responsibility for their two smaller siblings and needed help. Violet’s friendship with the two girls led to practical and financial support for them to continue at school and eventually find work.
This was the start of Talitha Cumi and it later became one of SIM Zimbabwe’s ministries.
There are many more girls in need of help, such as Rosemary, Vimbai, and Brunette, who were kidnapped and abused by a man pretending to be a businessman, who offered them shopkeeper jobs.
Eventually, they all escaped and were helped by Talitha Cumi and their story has a happy ending: Rosemary learned how to cut and design clothes; Vimbai started a vegetable business and Brunette found a proper job.
Today, Violet continues to give practical help and to be a strong advocate for young girls who through poverty, bereavement, abuse, child marriage or a host of other reasons are trapped in circumstances not of their own making.
Talitha Cumi teaches the Bible to help girls discover their value in Christ and their worth to family and society.
As well as enabling them to stay in school, they develop vocational and life skills so that they can make good life choices. Today, 25 young girls are currently receiving support: seven girls are in higher education, 15 are in secondary school and three are in primary school.
An extension of the Talitha Cumi work is helping women to start small businesses in order to provide an income that help them to send their girls to school and to care for them better.
Violet says, “I desire that these girls and women may know Christ and his power to change their lives.”
Talitha Cumi needs your help to raise funds, and support more young girls, expanding their impact in the community. Here are specific things your gift can help with, so these girls can keep learning:
A gift of £25 will buy a school uniform and provide personal hygiene items.
A gift of £50 will pay for a girl’s education for one term at a primary school. £150 will pay for a full year.
A gift of £100 will pay for a girl’s education for one term at a high school. £300 will pay for a full year.
A gift of £616 will pay for a girl’s education for one semester at a university. £1,232 will pay for a full year.
A gift of £200 will give a micro-loan so a mother can set up a business to support her children.
Please go to sim.co.uk/respond/ if you would like to support Talitha Cumi, and mark your gift Overseas Project 96397.
Please pray
Pray that God will continue to encourage and protect the girls supported by the Talitha Cumi ministry that they may mature and become the young women God created them to be.
Pray that the Talitha Cumi ministry will receive the support needed to continue rescuing young girls from vulnerable situations.
Pray for Liffy’s work on a manual to help the girls have a better biblical perspective of their place in the world and their value in Christ.
What’s your role at SIM UK?
I’m SIM UK’s Engagement Officer, based in Cambridge. It’s a new role at SIM that I started three months ago.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
Day-to-day, I create social media posts, write newsletters, update our website and anything else that helps engage people with our work.
A key part of my job is building relationships with our supporters, donors, mission workers, and staff, to help connect them into the SIM community. I work closely with the rest of the communications team to help share the amazing work God is doing through SIM.
What makes you enthusiastic about your work?
I love that my work allows me to be so creative. Seeing ideas come to life and playing a part in shaping the direction of them is an exciting process to be a part of. The fact that I can use the skills God’s given me to further his kingdom — particularly through sharing amazing stories from our mission workers — is wonderful.
How have you seen God working through your job?
Even though I only started at SIM in June, I’ve already seen God at work so much. Getting to join a team God has clearly placed together is such a privilege. Not only is God at work through those serving in different countries, but he’s at work through all the behind-the-scenes work too – in the prayer meetings, the calls with supporters, and even in the spreadsheets!
How do you continue your ministry outside work?
I’m involved in serving at my church on the communications team, youth team, and serving on a Sunday morning. I love any opportunity to have conversations about Jesus with people who are curious to know more, and I’m always up for reading the Bible with them too.
I’ve been involved in youth work at my church for the past six years, because I think investing in young people is important. I lead on youth camps twice a year, and seeing young people’s hunger to know Jesus and desire to put him at the centre of their lives is so inspiring. I definitely learn a lot from them!
How can we pray for you?
Please pray that I can build good relationships with everyone in the SIM UK community and communicate well with them.
Pray for a deeper knowledge of God’s love and his good plans for me.
After five years living in a remote Central Africa community, Sam Knight spoke to SIM UK’s Engagement Officer, Hannah Penwright, about why he’s now serving in a new role to help strengthen the church in France.
After previously serving in Africa, Sam Knight continues to follow God’s call to mission as the Head of Mobilisation at SIM France Belgium. When asked how his new ministry came about, Sam shares:
“My wife Katie and I felt God was leading us to be part of a change that needs to happen in the church in France. Having received great blessings, it now has the opportunity to be a great blessing to others and the rest of the world.”
Sam was recently invited to meet a group of young Christians excited to pray about opportunities for their generation to get involved in mission.
“Young people are both an important part of the church of today and the church of tomorrow and it was so encouraging to see how God is working through them. I can’t convince people to be involved in mission in my own strength, but God can bring people into something that will allow them to serve people in other places.”
Throughout our interview, Sam’s passion for building up and equipping churches for mission shone through. When asked what he finds most rewarding and challenging about mission work, he says:
“One of the most rewarding things is being able to see God working in people’s lives and communities transformed. Being de-rooted from our lives can bring challenges, but it can also bring rewards.
While it’s hard being far away from family and friends, and not having a home in any particular place, it means we can invest and build our lives in a new place which can be incredibly rewarding – and it’s so good to see God at work!”
There are two French teams currently looking to expand their ministries: In Strasbourg, where SIM workers are sharing the gospel with international students, particularly those from a Muslim background; and in Toulouse, where SIM France is sharing the good news with refugees and immigrants.
If you have a heart for working with international students or refugees and immigrants and are interested in finding out more, enquire about serving.
Pray for Sam
As he supports pastors and individuals who want to see more people have a heart for mission in their churches.
For a new era of mission workers sent from churches across France.
That there would be people praying and supporting those sent out as mission workers.
After almost 30 years of serving God in south-west Africa, the highs, lows, and stories of ways God is working in Paul and Hilary’s lives are humbling to hear.
Paul and Hilary Gunnings’ many faithful years in Namibia have allowed them to walk alongside young people growing up in Namibia — like Tom*, who didn’t let having to canoe over a crocodile-infested river stop him from attending school, which he finished in seven years.
His education didn’t stop here either. Tom then went on to attend NETS, a Namibian Bible seminary set up to train pastors and church workers — and where Paul works.
As long-term mission workers, Paul and Hilary were able to witness Tom grow up, as he chose to follow the Bible rather than conform to his culture and paved the way for others after him. Stories like this echoed Hilary’s words: “The longer you’re there, the more you see it: long-term plans that you look back on and say: ‘Wow! God’s amazing.’”
Paul and Hilary not only shared stories about the lives of individuals, but also about how they have seen Namibia change as a country.
As a teacher at St Paul’s College, a Catholic school for children from Reception age through to sixth-form, Hilary has been able to walk with the children through significant changes. St Paul’s was the first school in Namibia to accept black students before independence, resulting in being banned by the government from taking part in school activities and sports. When Namibia became independent however, the school band was invited to march down independence as part of the celebrations, as a picture of an integrated society.
When asked what they find rewarding about mission work, Paul shared:
As a theological educator, I enjoy seeing students wrestling with the Bible and culture, as they not only understand the Bible better but also address cultural issues with biblical truths. They have to be critical of their cultures, asking: ‘As a Bible-believing Christian what can we keep from our culture? What in our culture do we have to stop doing and rule out?’ Seeing students go through this battle is an amazing process. I see it year after year, and it’s fascinating as God challenges people’s beliefs and cultures.
The opportunities to do mission in Namibia are currently focused on two key areas: discipleship and youth/children’s work.
For discipleship, mission workers are helping Christians grow in the way the gospel challenges their way of life, following God’s will for their lives and becoming more like Christ. NETS plays a key role in this, as it disciples students who, in turn, become pastors and church leaders and disciple others.
There is also a need for youth and children’s workers, as mission workers help churches with their youth and Sunday school programmes and show them the value in building up children and young people.
Pray for Paul and Hilary:
For growth in the Namibian SIM team. With six overseas mission workers, and a similar number of Namibians associated with SIM, we pray for some younger members and short-term workers to join the team.
For energy as they work in hands-on roles.
For support to continue.
*Pseudonym used
What do you do at SIM UK?
I am the Irish Mission Mobiliser at SIM UK, working in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
What does your job look like day-to-day?
It can look different day-to-day, which I love. Every day I’m in contact with somebody, whether that’s a missionary helping them sort things out, or an enquirer who wants to go out and serve short term. Or I could be in contact with a church, chatting through things with them.
What makes you enthusiastic about your work?
Getting to play a part in somebody serving short term, and what it looks like for them to fulfil the call that God’s put on their life. Also, the privilege that I get to stand alongside long-term mission workers who’ve decided: ‘I’m going to give my whole life to this.’
I love working for SIM because I love the fact that it’s sharing the good news of Jesus with those who are yet to hear it, which is a really important thing and something which we need to focus on.
How have you seen God working through your job?
In the past two-and-a-half years, I’ve seen the next generation of mission workers coming through and God stirring their hearts to go on to the mission field. This is definitely not a dying thing – God is still sending and using people. I haven’t necessarily had to do anything: I haven’t had to go to lots of youth events or conferences, but instead God keeps sending them, which is really exciting.
I got to see one of the young people that I led leave for a mission trip recently, and it’s amazing seeing how God is still speaking to people and using people in mission.
How have you been involved in mission in the past?
When I was 16, I was at a conference, and I felt like God was asking me to go to China. There’s no way I could go when I was 16, but it wasn’t something that I just threw away, it was something that I held very close to my heart. I consulted my youth leaders and pastors at the time, and they helped me work through it. I had the opportunity to go to China in my gap year, during which I worked with vulnerable women and trafficking.
In what ways do you continue your ministry in life outside of work?
Outside of work, I’m involved in youth ministry. I think it’s really important to talk to young people about mission from an early age and making it normal that people are being sent onto the mission field. I recently went to France with a church mission team and I took four young people with me. The youngest was 16, which shows the younger ones in church that this isn’t a far-off concept for them either.
How can we pray for you?
For balancing work and life outside of work, involving youth and church. To know that God is sustaining me.
To rely on the wisdom of God in situations and areas that I’ve never been in before.
Tell us a little about your background
I grew up partly in Sweden (I’m half Swedish) but mostly in northwest London with loving Christian parents and my older brother. I can’t remember a time I didn’t believe in Jesus. Though I gave my life to him as a child, as a teenager I didn’t really live out my faith.
Going to university had a huge impact on my journey with God and my commitment and passion grew massively when I joined the Christian Union and then became its Outreach Coordinator. I have been involved in some form of ministry or leadership ever since.
It was at university that I felt a calling to world mission and to serve the poor and broken-hearted and I participated in short-term mission in Peru, Mozambique, and Romania.
My first job was leading a personal development programme for young homeless men with the YMCA in Norfolk.
Tell us a little about your family
The other very important thing that happened at university was falling in love with Ellie! After getting married, we embarked on an amazing journey together of living by faith and seeking to make Jesus known.
Along the way, our wonderful sons, Isaac and Joshua were born; now aged 15 and 13. Since moving back to the UK, we’ve been based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Ellie works part time as a teaching assistant for children newly arrived into the UK and has been teaching English to refugees and asylum seekers through our church.
How did God lead you into SIM?
It has been a long road, and, in many ways, it feels like my life up to this point has prepared me for joining SIM and serving in this role. This includes serving as a mission worker in West Africa, Mozambique, and Cambodia; leadership experience, including being Country Team Leader for Interserve in Cambodia; and church leadership in the UK; along with Bible college and other training.
After more than 20 years of either being overseas or in between overseas assignments, we felt led to return to the UK in summer 2022 for family reasons. God opened a door for me to work with CAP (Christians Against Poverty) as their Mission, Evangelism and Discipleship Lead and alongside that, I kept up my concern for world mission.
I have known and respected SIM for many years and when I heard the role of Country Director was vacant and saw the job description, I felt stirred in my spirit and really hoped to get the role! I resonate deeply with SIM’s vision, mission and values.
What are you looking forward to in your role as Country Director?
Getting to know our mission workers, hearing their stories, encouraging them in the challenges of mission and ministry, and celebrating what God is doing around the world.
Serving alongside the gifted and passionate team that God has brought together to lead SIM UK as we look ahead and participate in God’s plans and purposes.
Fostering a strong sense of community and helping to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, depending on him to lead us and sustain us.
Developing our friendships and partnerships in the UK church and doing what I can to enthuse, inspire and challenge the church about making disciples and to engage in cross cultural mission.
Helping us build on the work we are already doing to create more opportunities for gospel collaborations with churches and helping to mobilise and equip ordinary Christians to participate in the challenges of local and global mission.
Enjoying fellowship with, listening to, and learning from, brothers and sisters from around the world.
What do you do when you’re not working?
Outside of work, you’ll find me having a bash on the drums, being a taxi driver for our boys (who have a busier social life than us), fixing things, keeping up with tennis but not playing as much as I’d like, enjoying the Suffolk countryside and keeping in touch with friends around the world. I also love good music, summer evenings, dark chocolate, and mangoes!
Has following Jesus been easy and what supports you when life gets difficult?
Following Jesus is not the easiest or safest option! There are definitely some tough experiences that I could have avoided if I weren’t following Jesus.
Many others have suffered far more than I have following Jesus, but Ellie and I have experienced bombs, the loss of colleagues and friends, a serious bout of malaria and other difficult health issues, the heartache of sharing in other’s pain, along with disappointments and discouragement.
Of course, God and his Word are my strongest support. I have also come to hugely appreciate the family of God and the support we bring each other. Ellie has been a massive source of encouragement and help in hard times and I have been blessed with very supportive and caring parents and parents-in-law and a few close friends I can be real with.
What inspires you from Scripture as you follow Jesus?
I have often found encouragement to persevere in following Jesus from Hebrews 12:1-3 where we find both stunning reasons to keep running our race and some ways to do that. It has been fuel for my journey, as among other things, we see that Jesus is worthy and that Jesus understands what it means to live and suffer here and we’re exhorted to throw off sin and whatever hinders us, fix our eyes on Jesus, and keep an eternal perspective.
Also, we’re to run with perseverance, indicating that this is a marathon, not a sprint and we’re to run together as shown by the references to ‘we,’‘us’ and ‘our.’
How can we pray for you and your family?
That I will grow in love for God. That I will listen well. For wisdom and insight and to be like the men of Issachar who understood the times.
For our family, as we mourn the loss of my mum, who passed away in June. Also, that we live as a family on mission where we are, be bold witnesses, and bear much fruit.
Happy for us to track your visit using Google Analytics (they may set tracking cookies), purely to understand how you use the site and improve it for future visitors?
