Onward Christian Soldier

Alright, so I've told you a little more about what I'm leaving behind. So what am I going toward?

In part it's actually a great unknown. Since we've (that would be myself and the elders of Beulah Family Church) only recently given definite confirmation that I am being sent out, a lot of things have yet to be planned, and exactly what I'll be doing is being sorted out as we speak.

"But surely", you ask, "you must have something that's made you go?" And you're right, I do. As mentioned before I know the Lord Jesus Christ has set me apart be a leader in His holy Church. While at one point that might have been, at least in part, a reflection of my thinking I could and should be the best at everything (one of my friends jokes when I catch up with her by asking, "So, have you taken over the world yet?"), it is now solely a reflection that God pleases to call me and equip me for this purpose. While I have been certain of it for a long time, somehow I only grow more instinctively sure that this is what my life's work is about. As I've grown in the knowledge of what God has for me I've become aware that he has for me a task of planting and leading new churches, particularly in the most messed-up urban areas of the UK. Why he would choose me for such a role is nothing short of God's own sense of humour - well, and maybe something about showing that it's going to be Him that makes things happen because on a natural level me and those things just don't quite fit together!

So getting on to why I'm going to Durban: I became aware last year that if I'm going to fulfil this calling I need to get some experience of church planting, and also need to be challenged to grow by a setting that's far more radical than ours at Beulah. While Thornton Heath isn't a great area (Don't get me wrong, there are many great things, but it does have a lot of the typical urban troubles), there are far worse. Also, while we do have some great influence in the area, it's not currently at a level where it thoroughly transforms the world around (Again, don't get me wrong, I think I'm leaving at a time when God is pushing us very suddenly right into doing this transformation stuff in a way far beyond what we've done so far - just we're only living in a small part of the Gospel power that is coming). I originally suggested to John, my lead-elder, that maybe I could go away for a while. For no other reason than that I knew it would be challenging, that we had churches we're working with there, and that I loved the idea of learning more Spanish, I suggested Mexico. I didn't really expect John to be too impressed by the idea anyway, but I knew I needed to ask. What he said was, "How about Durban?" Having just been to SA to see his daughter who had gone out there for a few months he had been investigating that very possibility. Adding to that that we have much stronger links with SA and Durban than we do with Mexico, and that it would be a great benefit to Beulah to be able to connect directly to our international church planting agenda, I said, "I'll do it!"

Thus this trip is a lot about my formation into the leader God has called me to be. I know I'll be challenged and stretched by the faith of our brothers in Durban, by the church planting context, by being away from home and living independently, by being away from Beulah (my only church since I got saved in 2001), and by adapting to a culture wholly different from my own. All that can only be a good thing for my leadership development, and I'm sure actually that it's essential.

But it's also not just about building me up, but building the Church in the world. It's not just some folks in Durban who are planting that church, it's all of us brothers and sisters in unity in the family of churches joined together we like to call Newfrontiers who are doing it. This mission is our mission, as part of the Great Commission: to make disciples of all nations and to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom in every nation. So I am going to receive, but to do so by serving and giving myself to building a church for God's glory in Durban. What that means in practical terms we have yet to decide, but will do soon. I'll obviously have some primary responsibilities, but I do intend to work amongst the most needy as well as others. I will be going to bring the saving Gospel of God to people, to strengthen believers in Durban with whatever I have, and to give help to those who desperately need it out of the overflowing compassion of God. I hope that Hope Church Durban will be a more God-exalting, Christ-preaching, Spirit-filled, mercy-giving, righteous-living, city-reaching place because of my being there. In short I want to use whatever I have received to play some part in bringing them into all God has for them, and for the world through them (I'll explain quite a lot more about that one in another post soon).