What do you do at SIM UK?
I wear two ‘hats’ at SIM UK. One is being part of the Engage Team that receives and supports workers coming to the UK from other parts of the world. I walk alongside their receiving church and help them think through what receiving them well could look like.
I journey with the Engage workers during their transition to life here in the UK (which includes facilitating their orientation process), and walk closely with them for the first six months and then continuously as part of their supportive care with SIM.
The second hat is that of ‘Missions Trainer’, where I focus on the training we give both our incoming and outgoing mission workers. This looks like developing, administrating, and delivering our SIMtrain programme three times a year. I collaborate with other teams in SIM UK to make sure we’re caring for people well by providing them with materials, content, and an approach to mission that’s current and helps prepare them for crossing cultural barriers and being valuable members of teams serving around the world – hopefully!
What does your job look like day-to-day?
It depends on the day! It’s usually some combination of any of the following: Meetings, emails, researching (venues for SIMtrain, topics for teaching, etc), reading – doing some learning myself – calling Engage workers, praying for people, working on course content and PowerPoints, and more meetings!
What makes you passionate about your work?
I’ve been part of SIM as a member since 2007, so almost 20 years! I’m passionate about the fact that Jesus is for everyone, and I love being part of trying to see that realised around the world. Whether that’s by doing it directly myself (I love living cross-culturally and wrestling with the process of communicating about Jesus in a way that deeply connects with people’s hearts), helping further equip people to do so, or serving alongside the church to equip them to go out beyond their borders anywhere in the world.
I feel like that’s at the heart of what SIM does and it’s why I’ve felt ‘at home’ in this community since I was a teenager with dreams and a calling I felt compelled to follow.
How have you seen God at work?
I love the light bulb moments you see people have during SIMtrain, where suddenly something about culture or values ‘clicks’ and a whole new complex world opens up before them. I love watching the Lord at work in people’s hearts in fostering humility for the enormity of the task that lies before them, but also the excitement at the privilege it is to join him in what he’s already doing.
I also love watching the workers who come here to the UK slowly adjust and learn to thrive in this new environment and lean heavily on the Lord’s strength to do so. I love to hear about the answers to prayer that happen as our Engage workers build relationships, share Christ, and see people meet Jesus for the very first time.
In what ways do you continue your ministry in life outside of work?
While my official role with SIM UK is with Engage and training, I’m a sent SIM worker from Canada, currently to the UK and previously to South Sudan.
I remain connected to life in the corner of South Sudan where I lived for nine years; staying connected to the team and looking for ways to support and contribute from afar (something I’m still working on doing – how to straddle life in multiple places at once), and serving on the board for SIM South Sudan. I’m still in touch with some close friends from the team and the church there and we still do some ‘big thinking’ together about culture, ministry and Jesus.
My family and I are part of our church here in the UK and we serve that community in a few different ways. Hospitality is one of the ways we like to build relationships with people and something we hope to do more of in the coming years.
How can we pray for you?
- for our SIMtrains throughout the year (April, June and November) – that they’d be valuable times of depth with Jesus and development of cross-cultural understanding for our workers as they come through;
- for my family: Three teenage children, all at different stages of life and faith. For wisdom for my husband, Tyler, and I as we journey with them;
- that my relationship with Jesus would deepen more and more.