UK VI news......

Hi all,

We would value your prayers for all of us working for OM within the UK as in the coming months we will be facing the loss of friends and colleagues owing to the withdrawal of our overseas sponsorship licence. Please pray that in the midst of such uncertainty we will all experience God's grace, provision, stability and know His perfect will. Amen.

some of Kosova highlights.....

Chris writes: praise God for great times! We had a great time in Kosova...so many meetings and coffees and opportunities to encourage and to be encouraged...we were so blessed just by being there...sadly our time was so short and we did not get to do or see all the people and places that we wanted to...maybe with age and maturity I am more able to accept that now....next time!

But we still were able to see lots of people who were so happy to see us, join with a kids club with CEF, go to a Christian Kosovan wedding, visit and be encouraged with the new cafe opened by our church...and using some of our furniture from our cafe, visit the capital Pristina and some of The Ideas Partnership Projects, working mainly in Roma, Ashkali And Egyptian communities, seeing how they are growing including a new kindergarten, visit and be encouraged to see the drug rehab, Streha, near Gjilan in the south and how it has grown and is continuing to transform lives....and of course visit a Chelsea supporters cafe!......amongst other things!!!

We took so many pictures and hopefully you saw some of them on facebook but here are a few more:

Phew!!!......thanks so much for your support and prayers for us and for our time in Kosova.....    xx

life continues.....number 6 is lining up on the runway!!

Chris writes: so one group of ELCO students have left us and another one is already here or on their way. The new programme starts this weekend. It is such a joy to see the students leaving ELCO and going off to serve God in Birmingham, UK their home, or around the globe with OM. This will now be my 6th ELCO group and it is great to be part of this programme and to be able to train and equip, serving God in this way. Please do pray for the students both new and old.


For this programme we will not be around that much. Once the programme gets underway after one week we will be off to Kosova for two weeks...we are looking forward to this and the divine appointments we are praying for there. As the students arrive already things are starting to look differently for me with other new possibilities on the horizon.


Appreciate your prayers at this time

Thank God because He is Good!!

Chris writes....has been a busier than ever season....Christmas came and went and was fantastic to be at my parents down in Worthing for a week or so before...back here straight after for our New Years Outreach...and mission week for our students...then the end of one programme......evaluations and preparation for the new one......and we are now 4 weeks into the new programme....new and extra responsibilities for me!! Really feels like the train has begun again and now just need to keep it moving.......

We have had many blessings just lately.....words of friendship, money, visitors, new friendships, invites for meals, gifts of food..God always seems to know just what we need and when we need it...Praise God that is a testimony we all share!!

Have been struggling a bit lately with some of my old demons and habits...do I or don't I.....why not give in....why do I have to keep struggling.....must admit I came very close.....Psalm 118 from the Message summed it up for me.....felt like I was: '...right on the cliff edge and ready to fall, when God grabbed and held me....and now He's my salvation' (verses 13 & 14) and a few verses on: 'I didn't die. I lived! and now I am telling the world what God did.....' (17)

and finally verses 28 & 29: 'You're my God and I thank You. Oh my God I lift high Your praise. Thank God - He's so good. His love never quits!'

How are you doing??

"A right time to plant and another to reap...."

Chris writes: not many people realise, but yes, the words above do actually come from the Bible (Ecc 3:2 The Message)...and how true they are!! This applies to all things and especially as I was reminded recently to mission.......



I am enjoying my role heading up the ministry section of the English Language Community Outreach programme, teaching many of the future missionaries about mission, at the OM training centre in West Midlands and am currently on my 4th ELCO programme....it is the second team I have supervised in one particular church and the third team we have had actually based there. For the first two teams, nothing much seemed to be happening, we had holiday clubs for children and just a few children turned up and to me, not much fruit was showing. But just like when we plant seeds in the ground and we cannot see much happening on the surface, I was wondering if were making any impact. Now however I can see how wrong I was.


For the current team things really seem to have changed....they are running after school clubs and I can now see how wrong I was before. The first week one child turned up, but last week we had 17 children there!! What a blessing!!


But we must acknowledge and not forget the previous teams work in breaking up and preparing the ground. This work is so important in the garden and just as important in longer-term ministry. We must make a start and in the beginning be prepared to see very little fruit....but we will not see any fruit without someone doing that very important job first. And people will never realise how hard that part was. When someone looks at a beautiful rose they don't appreciate how hard it was to produce that rose they just enjoy the beautiful flower before them.

"Who despises the day of small things?".....and yes that is more wise words, from not just a good book, but the very words of God!! (Zech 4:10).

Blessings

Christmas.... Hope is coming.....The Hope is Here!!

Chris writes: Last summer I felt God was leading me into a deeper love relationship with Him. I felt I had a divine appointment and found in a bookshop an old copy of ‘The Relentless Love of Jesus’ by Brennan Manning. As a dyslexic, I am not a fast reader, but the book took me over a year to read! If you know the book and how thin it is, even to a dyslexic maybe you are amazed by this! I make no apologies. The book is so rich and deep and almost every page I found needed an equal amount of time to meditate on and chew over. So many pages have been marked and underlined, I don’t think I could lend it out or even let it out of my sight! Sorry if you were going to ask to borrow! Don’t worry I noticed you can get it on Amazon!

For the last few weeks, since the operation on my knee, I have been resting at home so had chance to finish the book!

There is so much I could share with you from the book, but as we approach Christmas, let me just share a few thoughts from the last few pages of the book where Manning talks of the: 'Crisis of Christmas'.

‘To be a Christian’ he says ‘means to stake one’s life on the revelation of God in Jesus Christ’. ‘What is our depth and quality of our passion for Jesus?’ At Christmas time it is easy for us to get sucked into all the trappings and tinsel as Christmas, for many, becomes the time to overdo and over indulge, getting ourselves into debt. Will we celebrate Christmas this year by over indulging?

He shares of a priest who visited a 16 year old girl who was dying in hospital. The girl looked into the worried and grief stricken face of the priest and said: ‘“Don't be afraid”. This is the precise meaning of Christian,’ Christmas ‘hope’ Manning says ‘when the dying can say to the living, “Don't be afraid”’. Is that the hope you have?

He says there are three ways we can commit suicide: ‘by taking my own life, letting myself die and letting myself live without hope’. He quotes Thoreau who wrote that: ‘The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation’…. ‘they still walk around……but the fire inside them has died’. Are you still alive?

He asks, if we have lost our sense of fun and enjoyment about life and are missing out on the most simplest of things. ‘Has getting serious about life meant becoming sad about life? Is living just another word for endurance?’ Have we got so ‘engrossed in our own efforts to grow in holiness’ that we are missing out on life?

He says that sometimes we, much like some of the disciples & followers, who lived and walked and learnt from Jesus for three years and still felt let down by Him say: “Messiah, you get our allegiance only when you fulfil our expectations”.

He says that ‘Christmas means that God has given us nothing less than Himself and His name is Jesus Christ’… are we ‘laid waste by one pure passion’, this should lead us to a ‘realistic assessment: anything connected with Christmas that is not centred in Christ Jesus’ is ‘empty gesturing’.

He says we must not be too preoccupied with our own purity of heart…trying to be holy...but that purity of heart means to have our gaze fixed on Jesus and Jesus alone….. To ‘admire Him, rejoice that He is what He is – your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Saviour’.

He talks about Matthew 18:3, children know how to celebrate Christmas, and Manning says not that we have to become childish but childlike: ‘Children are our role models because they have no claim on heaven. If they are close to God Simon Tugwell says, “it is not because they are innocent, but because they are incompetent.” ‘When Jesus tells us to become like children’ he says ‘He is urging us to forget what lies behind. Children have no past.’

If we asked people in the street on Christmas eve: ‘what they most want for Christmas, how many would say, ‘I want to see Jesus’?

And finally.......

He quotes Rabbi Abraham Heschel, “Jesus Christ is of no importance unless He is of supreme importance”.

I hope these quotes will help you reflect and prepare as we approach Christmas.

Blessings

Recent trip to London: Poppies at Tower Hill

change is hard and can be painful......

Chris writes: it is hard to think that our 21 students are now settled around the world serving God...some of them at home and others on the mission field in some of the most dangerous and unsettled places in the world..to of them are in the Philippines, one is in Jordan...it seems strange to see some of their posts on facebook! Meanwhile five weeks on we have launched into a new ELCO programme and another 22 new students have joined us from the length and breadth of the world.....from Brazil,Thailand, Taiwan, Russia to name a few and even our first ever from Azerbaijan!!

I must admit I was so worried about learning their names!! Praise God I am feeling so confident after day one and am learning them quickly...now we start the process of finding out their English capabilities, putting them into church teams and the ones who want to, giving them driving tests!!

Last week was a tough week as we have finally closed the café and are selling off the items..I felt God saying it was a time for pruning....but when that happens things die before growth comes...but the death can bring mourning and grief......mine did not last long as the following day I found out at last the youth café at our Church in Gjakove has opened......growth has come!! Praise God!! ....the most exciting thing is this is not lead by us but by the locals.......please do pray for this new venture and the community it will be reaching.......please also pray that we can finish things off well with the old café too......

Have put two pictures on my facebook tonight...two very special men........men I am proud to say I had the privilege of knowing...men of God who set an example of grace and love......and so much more besides.....RIP Brother Micky and Faton!.......pray for their families and their legacies

God bless......thanks for your support and prayers

endings and beginnings.......

Chris writes: well we have now been here in Halesowen for almost one year and what a year it has been!! Thank you to so many of you who have travelled with us through our adventures from Kosova to UK!


Sadly the operation on my knee, scheduled for this week, has been postponed but it was bitter sweet.


Last night it was graduation night for our summer 2014 ELCO students. 21 students that we have been journeying with for the last four months are now ready to launch off into their next chapter of service with God. Wow what a joy!! 18 of the 21 students will be going to 7 nations to serve God!!..the others will be serving God of course but are not so sure where. What a privilege to have had the opportunity to invest in their lives. And to think that before we even left Kosova I had a vision to work with missionaries but of course I was not sure in what context....but God knew!!


The exciting thing is that some of these students are going to some of the most dangerous parts of the world so I do not even like sharing their photos as that could endanger them....


Please do pray for these students as they lay their lives down to serve God all over the world.

Great Expectations......!!

Chris writes: well an awful lot can happen in 6 weeks!! We had a brilliant week away in North Wales. When we came back we moved house and are now living just 15 minutes walk away from where we are based. After 12 months here in UK and 8 living in someone else's home it is soooo good to be in our own at last!! Yesterday we had the internet put on and it is great to be in regular contact again.

The week is mission week for our ELCO students. Basically they have no English lessons so spend the whole week with their churches touching the communities, doing mission 24/7.
This afternoon I visited the three churches who are involved in mission with our students across Birmingham. Two of the churches had their programme sorted out in advance and seemed well organised. The third because of illness were not even sure if they would be able to do a mission week even last week. It was a real struggle and a step of faith but the third managed to come up with something at the 11th hour, working with the children doing crafts. I was really surprised at the results as the 3rd church seemed the busiest and was really impacting the community. Clearly I am not saying planning is not important, but sometimes we just need to spend less time planning and more time praying, just listening to our Father...me included!!

It made me think how we have such great expectations for ourselves and for our ministries and so many plans. We think God will love us more because of what we do for Him. God has one expectation of us which is to love Him....the rest we work out as we go along through life.

Brennan Manning, a man who I am sure was like David in so many ways and a man after God's heart, quotes Father Hugh Donlon: 'You cannot earn God's love because He gave it to you before you started to earn it.'

Have a great summer.

In Him

What does the Kingdom of God look like??

Chris writes: so much at the moment from people asking what is mission? What Does the Kingdom of God look like? One thing I know is that it is alive and it actually includes us if we accept and acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Saviour of our lives. Also that it should be making a difference and improving things where it goes/touches. We must try to live this out while on this earth and not always look into the future....also that when it/we comes into contact with people that don't know Jesus it should interest and inspire them and make them ask questions.

Lifehope is a great & loving community but sometimes it can be a bubble of Christians...nice and friendly people...which seems so far away from those that are not.....but maybe it is also a kind of reflection of The Kingdom of God.....over the last week or so I had a chance to see that community going out into the world....the larger community and it was so exciting...such a privilege to see and be a part of........

Firstly the ELCO students very simply took a football out onto the Estate where one of the ELCO partner churches are....this was the result:

It might seem simple but it was quite a lot building up to this and a big step of faith for all.......

Secondly while I was at Bible College one of our lecturers shared how a simple act such as picking up litter, can make such a difference to somebodies day. Close to OM we have a river where a number of shopping trolleys and other items had been thrown so I thought it would be great for Lifehope to do a clean-up of the area......picking up litter/cleaning out the river....this is the result...me and my friend James who really caught the vision and encouraged me and even got down into the river with a few others:

Thanks James!!

What a joy to be a part of this community expressing and working out the Kingdom of God in Halesowen!!

Blessings

Have you been forgiven??

Chris writes: Have you been forgiven? Do you really know what it is like to be forgiven? Forgiveness is something we all can experience whether we have a faith or not. We do something we know we should not be doing and ask for forgiveness. Saying a wrong word or doing a wrong action. If we are a Christian, a follower of Jesus, and of His teachings, then we have a different moral compass and something which maybe is acceptable to others, which is seen as merely expressing yourself or being different, is by God, considered to be going against God's best for you.  As Christians or not often those things are genuinely not the best for us or others around us. So God is merely trying to protect us from ourselves. For Christians we must recognize those things.

Yesterday was not a good day and one that I needed to go back and ask for forgiveness. Feelings of: why am I here again came in. Today however I was able to write in my journal: "Today is another day"....."My failings of yesterday are past...I am forgiven and redeemed by the Blood of Jesus". What does that really mean?? The Blood of Jesus is so much more than just Christian jargon...it is freedom...it is forgiveness or in the worship song we sometimes still sing: 'God's love came to me and set me free'...until we are forgiven we are held captive...forgiveness brings freedom...something we all know and long to experience.......have you been forgiven??

We are doing ok, but continue in waiting on our next step, with regard to our permanent home and all that we hope and pray that will bring... We really need to move forward but are waiting for the right time....covet your prayers!!

Am still working on a video of my time in the Balkans but it is taking longer than expected. The time there was really encouraging and exciting: the Lighthouse cafe we established has moved now and business is going really well. The focus is however more on the adults and less on the children. We have however been able to financially support another cafe, in the same town, aimed at the youth, which is opening very soon. Someone I met in Albania, who was coming to UK for our ELCO programme had his visa rejected which was sad and hard for him. Hopefully he will try again and maybe there will be opportunity for others to come in the future.

Have been quite busy recently....we have finished our Spring ELCO programme:   .......

 .........and at the same time started our summer ELCO programme!! Team building day.....Crazy week!!

Yesterday it was good to be with a special group of people celebrating the birth of a vision which has been a number of years in the making....a new cafe in Brandhall......

looking forward to a few days away this week.....how are you doing??

Appreciate your prayers and support as always and for standing with us....much love xx

wow...blown away!!

Chris writes......well thanks all of you so much for your prayers and it was an extremely profitable and envisioning time!!...there were so many divine appointments...please pray that I can recall them and share the pictures and stories with you in due course!!

Watch this space!!

GOD is good ALL the Time!!

Chris writes: hi all and hope you are enjoying the early signs of spring....so lovely to walk around and see the daffodils coming up and the trees with the spring blossom on them....spring comes every year to remind us of the new start Jesus wants to make in our lives...no matter what happened yesterday whether we did well or not today is a new day!! If we come back to God and are truly sorry He will give us a fresh start...just like a new day.....Wow what an amazing God we have!!

• The last few weeks have been challenging...sadly the guy who was going to buy our flat down south...our perfect answer to prayer...or so we thought...changed his mind and pulled out of the sale...we had some other people look at it but they offered a price under our asking price....at this stage we don't have a mortgage so don't know how much we need to realize from the flat so it seems premature to blindly accept a lower offer...so we are holding on and waiting it out...

• On the Kosova front...we have heard that the cafe is moving to another location...and on Wednesday I will be travelling there!! for the first time since we left last June....am really excited to be able to go back for 8 days...sadly just me...but please pray it will be a profitable and envisioning time...I will also be travelling to Albania and meeting our first student and his family from Albania that will be joining us on the ELCO programme in May....pray that we can inspire and raise up other missionaries from the Balkans....more to follow....watch this space!!

A few pictures from the current ELCO programme...our evangelism day on the streets in Birmingham..I was able to share a short message....and the rain did not stop us!!..and Lorraine with one of our good friends on the base from Holland taking the students bowling....

Thanks so much for your prayers....we love you guys!!

Our God is greater...our God is Stronger.....

Chris writes: we serve an Awesome God!!!.....as my friend says 'never use the word awesome unless you are talking about God!!' God never leaves us and is always there for us. Have been facing our 'Jericho' this week...trudging around 'knocking on doors' to get the mortgage so that we can have our own home back here in UK and settle down into our next step....we also needed to sell the flat in Christchurch....we had been blown away with the valuation but there still seemed so much we needed to do so that we could move forward.....someone who I had been told would be able to help us with the mortgage told me to forget it and we need to just rent...this sent me into a depression.......our 'Jericho' just seemed too big...too overwhelming

Why do we place so much trust in other men?? Why do we wait and try to chase them more than we do God???......surely......He is stronger...He is greater....'what could stand against'???   as someone once said!!

The next day God woke me very early in the morning and my next reading was Psalm 13:

"How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever?" Like David I was feeling pretty low but how does the Psalm end?

"I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD'S praise for He has been good to me".

Whatever happens to us....God has saved us and died for us and offers us an eternity with Him as opposed to an eternity without. He offers us a new, rich and fulfilling life....what more could we ask for!!

Do the problems just disappear?? Sometimes and sometimes not....but suddenly we are viewing them standing on God, our Father's shoulders rather than on other peoples shoulders.........and then they seem much smaller and we can see over them.

No mortgage yet.

.................and the flat....went on the market on Friday after we signed and returned the particulars...two viewings on Saturday.....the first person offered £10,000 under and the second person.............................

...............................................offered the asking price and wants to keep the tenant!!!!!!!!

This morning in church we sung the Chris Tomlin song.........and it is true!!!!!!


http://vimeo.com/43594965

......................maybe you need to be reminded of that fact today as you face your 'Jericho'???

Be blessed and be a blessing

who was/is Jesus?? How much does God love us??...please read on........

Chris writes: lots going on at the moment, the new intake of our international students (ELCO) have now arrived...the last one a girl from Russia had visa problems but is now with us...they are settling in and I am enjoying leading the missional part of their programme.

We have just sent out our monthly prayer letter with some big prayer requests for us as a couple what we are praying to achieve for 2014.....if you have not received it/would like to please let me know and we will send it to you......we would really appreciate your prayers in these coming months!!

Someone once said: 'Faith is not believing that God can. It's knowing that He will'

We believe that God will.

Am still reading the wonderful book  'The Relentless Love Of Jesus' by Brennan Manning

Some people are happy to believe the lie that Jesus was a only prophet and nothing more. Or that He was merely a good guy. Look at the evidence.

We all know and believe He existed and walked this earth.......there is more evidence to prove that than many other people from history.

the Bible says that Jesus points us to God.......He is Son of God??

.....some people say that I look like my dad...no-one else does, I am in direct relationship with him...

Jesus said: "Anyone who has seen me has seen The Father"... i.e. God...in John 14:9 so Jesus is saying He is in direct relationship with God......so not just another guy or even a prophet then....and as CS Lewis says a good guy would not make claims like that anyway.

....and how do we know that The Father loves us..how much does He love us??......as the beautiful song by David Crowder band says oh how He loves us:

The truth is as Manning says:  

"...the torn, broken, lacerated, spit covered, blood drenched body of Jesus is only a hint of the Father's love."

How amazing!! Let those words go deep!!

God bless you

New Year...new start

Chris writes...well only 23 days into the new year and has been such a busy time We have now graduated our international students (ELCO programme).... and the new students are literally on their way....one from Bosnia just arrived this evening.....over an hour late!...the new term/intake starts on Monday....we also have a new church and I have some ideas for developing the ministry programme further......the prayer meeting for the night shelters which are going to be run every night in different churches around Birmingham was great and It was so good to see the churches across Birmingham from diverse physical locations and with equally diverse theologies meeting and sharing together. There was involvement from the URC Church, The Baptist Church and the Anglican Church. it was so exciting and inspiring to see all these people and churches praying together in unity!!

The night shelter itself has now started and the churches are impacting their communities.....people who last week slept rough now have a warm accommodation if they wish.

We had a great week off and felt really blessed, refreshed and strengthened for the busy few months ahead!!

We have been praying much about our future and feel God is saying to enjoy what we have and trust Him for the rest......

...........thanks so much for your prayers and support and hope you can keep up with us in 2014!!

....and so this in Christmas.....2013 into 2014........

Chris writes: so this is Christmas and as the song says 'another year over and a new one to begin'  so how was 2013 for you? What has changed in your life? What will change in 2014 for you?

For us this time last year it would have been hard to imagine that as a couple we would be celebrating Christmas back in the UK, having been living in the Midlands, still with OM and working for Lifehope for 4 months. We felt God was calling us back last winter; we took some time out to pray and fast; pack and close our home in Gjakova, say all our goodbyes; put the Lighthouse and our vision into the hands of the locals: it is now run by a local young guy who we employ and we also have a treasurer; we returned here in mid June and spent 2 1/2 months travelling, praying and resting before finally moving here.

Since we have been here and in such a short space of time it really feels like home, even though we do not have our own home. We have been house sitting so have been paying minimal rent which we are sooo grateful for! Lorraine has had a major operation and is recovering well. We are now part of both a global family of people who are based here from all over the world and a local family who have cooked and cleaned for us for three weeks. I have also completed training sessions in mentoring and training trainers.

I now have a job at Lifehope and am able to train and equip internationals who come here to improve their English in church life and mission work. I am also involved in a night shelter which the churches in Birmingham are running for 8 weeks from January. Last week my two roles came together when i was asked to provide some entertainment at a meal which was being put on for the homeless & vulnerable in Birmingham. The students loved it and gave a powerful message in the drama which really spoke to some people.

Lorraine has just returned to work after her rehabilitation so is open to her next direction.

Phew what a year!!

We cannot take credit for this, the transition and the journey, what we have achieved and how peaceful and rested we feel can only be down to the peace and  grace of the Lord God Almighty, whose earthly arrival and birth among us that we celebrate tomorrow. It is to Him that all the glory must go. Amen.

From us both and from the bottom of our hearts we are so grateful to Him for that and to you for journeying with us and for your support and prayers.

...and to 2014....we know it presents more challenges as we need to increase our finances, find our own home and look further into family and further transition into life back here in the UK...we know it won't be easy but we have our journey thus far to look back on and nothing to make us think He will not be with us every step of the way as He has been so far.

I hope like us you also can celebrate Christmas having that special relationship as we have and seeing Him work in your life. I hope this Christmas will for you, be a truly Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

With Much love from us both xx

Still asking: What is a missionary??

Chris writes: having a really busy time at mo....currently on an OM course from last Tuesday until next Wednesday...really intense and long days...I really struggled with doing the course leaving Lorraine for so long on her own but she has supported me in it...am really glad that I did it and yes it is stretching me in all sorts of ways...really appreciate your prayers for me and for Lorraine on her own at home...pray that i can give and get the max out of it for the last three days.....really hope and pray that this will equip me further in my role at Lifehope as Team Life and Missions Coordinator....sounds very grand!

From previous blogs you will have read my thoughts regarding missionaries so this was a great quote some of you might know:

'A Missionary is not one who Crosses the seas but one who sees the Cross.'

Be blessed as you work out what that means for you!!  xx

Relentless love

Chris writes: over the summer have been (and indeed still am I'm afraid!) reading a  potentially life changing book. The book is by Brennan Manning who died earlier this year. The book is entitled: 'The Relentless Love of Jesus'.

For those that have not read it here are just a few of his words that I wanted to share with you:

'Jesus Says "You did not choose me; no, I chose you." These are phenomenal statements! What deity of any great world religion has ever spoken with such breathtaking tenderness, incredible familiarity, indomitable confidence, and spellbinding power!'

He writes that the Gospel is 'Scandalous'

He says: 'What Christian in his right mind would dare to speak of God in such human, earthly terms unless God Himself had used them first?'

'...God who cherishes and graces all people without qualification, a God whose whole and only desire is our happiness and fulfillment....our awareness of God is so flawed'

'Open yourself to my God whose passionate love is unreasonable and trust Him wholeheartedly.'

'Our life in Christ is not an easy thing to grasp. Maybe you only understand it by living it'.

And finally

'....B.C. 'Before Christ' and A.D. 'Anno Domini' - the year of the Lord - expresses a truth: the life of Jesus is the central event in human history according to which that entire history must be evaluated and judged.
The truth of Christianity is not a doctrine but a person. It is the reality of Jesus Christ......'

Do you know Him?

Be Blessed

..........not Missionaries!!??!!!

Chris writes: we have now been at Lifehope for almost two months and we are settling in and enjoying life being back in the UK and also being part of a larger team....Lifehope is one happy family (usually!) of people gathered from all over the world and with the different languages, people groups and cultures it represents it is amazing just how happy it is......that can only be God bringing all these people together........

.............. it seems that there is one word which is unhelpful for us to use however in our new stage of our journey: missionary!!  what is a missionary? Well, according to google: 'someone sent on a religious mission' especially 'one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country' or another one: 'someone sent by Jesus'....hopefully that rings true to many of you.....no? then look at the end of at least the first three Gospels...the last words spoken by Jesus was to send His disciples....so....the truth is we are all called to be missionaries...over the garden fence, in our homes, in our schools, in our places of work, on the street...infact wherever we are.......

Understandably therefore it is hard for people to get the picture when we use this word to describe our role now that we feel we have been called back to the UK.....some people have asked when we will be getting a job..??...a paid job.....but the truth is we do have jobs....so what are we doing in Halesowen with OM???

I am working with the International Students who are in Halesowen to improve their English and am involved in the outreach side of their programme....facilitating the missionaries of the future... and yes it is a privilege!!

I hope to show you more pictures in the future but for now meet Ginny:

http://news.om.org/feature-article/r37944

..........this week we were on the streets in the centre of Birmingham doing outreach and evangelism with the students...now I am really out of my comfort zone ....how do our students feel!!

.....and Kosova...we are still praying and supporting and this month was given £1000 from a trust                  Praise God!!!

Lorraine will fill you all in on what she is up to in a later blog.......

...and to the future....we are looking firstly to change the name above to reflect that we still have Kosova in our hearts and yet are now continuing our adventures in UK.....we are also praying about our future in UK

..........please, please do pray and share any thoughts you have with us on any of the above......the ministry we have established in Kosova during our time there is built on your prayers and support...it is no different now we are back in UK....

Many blessings and thanks for praying and supporting us as we support and invest in what God is doing in Kosova and the UK

In Him