Lettuce spray

Tonight was the final St Peter's Barge prayer supper for us. It was great to be there with such a high proportion of the church family for one last time, to pray and share the Lord's supper together. The theme of the evening was 'Moving on' or 'Change' or something. (I really should be able to remember - Marcus only told us a few hours ago!) It was an opportunity for those of us in the church family that are moving on to other things or doing something different next year to update everyone on their plans and share prayer requests and reasons for thanks. It really is such a blessing, a privilege and an encouragement to be able to take each others thanks and petitions before our Father, sharing our part in His work this way.

First up were Sihle (who is heading back to South Africa to head up a church plant in Soweto) and Chris and Ros (who will be moving to north London for Ros to work at a hospital up there while Chris starts Oak Hill College on their Theology and World Mission course, a cross-cultural mission programme.) The second slot comprised James (who's heading to Oak Hill for the same course at Chris) and Tim (who will be becoming more involved on the Barge during his second year on the Cornhill Training Course.) Thirdly we had the chance to update everyone on our plans, followed by Jason (who is heading to Chile with Operation Mobilisation).

So that it's here for Joanne and I to remember when we forget our priorities and focus; and also for others to see our motivation and priorities, and be able to support and encourage us through prayer I have included the briefing we gave below.

"In case you don’t know, Joanne and I will be moving to New Zealand in about four weeks. We’re going to be moving to Christchurch, which is on the south island, a city with about 350,000 people.

Joanne, as you know, is from New Zealand, and when she came over here for six months or so 10 years ago, she always had a plan to return.

We met at St Helen’s Church Bishopsgate and after we were married we, together with a number of other New Zealanders, founded a prayer group called Kiwis for Christ (or KFC), to get together and pray both generally and specifically for God’s work and for His people in New Zealand. We made contact with a number of churches and were emailed regular prayer requests from them. One church in particular that we made contact with was St John’s Latimer Square in Christchurch. We had regular contact with a number of the ministry team down there and used to pray for them, for Christianity Explored courses, for women’s work, student work and lots of other practical issues as well as for God to grow his kingdom in Christchurch through St John’s.

It was when we were part of KFC that we began to realize how much New Zealand was lacking widespread bible-teaching churches and also how New Zealanders need the gospel too. To give you some context, the Operation World book states that 68% of the UK population would call themselves Christian with 28% of the population claiming they’re non-religious. This compares with only 62% of the New Zealand population claiming they’re Christian and 35% claiming a non-religious status. This 68% for the UK overstates the real situation and it’s no different for New Zealand. Operation World notes the rapid secularization of society down there with negative growth rates in most denominations and church attendances in decline, especially in those in their 20s and 30s. New Zealand is an incredibly liberal society, seen as progressive by today’s worldly standards, and so faithful Bible teaching is seen as out-dated extremism, especially in such issues as the practice of homosexuality.

As we prayed and learned more about the situation with God’s church in New Zealand we resolved that we could and should use the training we’ve received to serve in a church in New Zealand.

Initially our choices of where we should move were driven by earthly motives, or more specifically, family reasons. We had the options of Auckland, near Joanne’s parents, or the Gold Coast, near her sister, in our mind. (Yes, I know that the Gold Coast is not strictly speaking New Zealand, but it’s closer than London.)

And then in 2005, on trip to New Zealand, we decided to go and visit those we’d been praying for at St John’s and also one of our friends from the KFC group who was now the women’s worker at the church. And it was during this visit, speaking to the ministry team and meeting the church family that the option came up of moving to Christchurch and becoming involved and serving at St John’s. We had family there who needed us too.

It was a hard decision, for one of us more than the other. But, after a lot of discussion and prayer and seeking the opinions of Christian brothers and sisters, we were led, guided, prodded and even shoved by God to the conclusion that the best way we could serve Him in New Zealand would be to join a good Bible-teaching church; rather than striking out on our own, joining any old church and attempting to make a difference with just the two of us. God seemed to be directing us toward Christchurch and the more we looked the more we saw a place in His plan for us there at St John’s. So we’re going, next month.

We would really appreciate your prayers in the following areas:
- Firstly, it would be great to thank God that through an idea of five people getting together once every six weeks or so with a heart to pray for New Zealand He has worked to lead us to serving Him in this way
- Also we'd like to thank God for all the support and encouragement we have received from our family on the Barge
Also we’d appreciate prayer:
- That we would settle into church & get to know people quickly
- That, with God’s guidance, we will be able to work out where we can best serve within St John’s
- For wisdom for the ministry team in knowing where & how to use us
- For our job situation - neither of us currently has anything concrete so we are stepping out in faith, trusting in God's sovereignty, so please pray that we will continue to trust in his provision
- For rest, in between jobs and churches, that we will take time to appreciate the break
- For witnessing opportunities both here & there based on our location choice (we've both had a number of chances here already – please pray that those discussions will have planted a seed in the hearts of the hearers, that they may seek God’s truth soon)
- For both of our families:
: Andy's - pray that they will come to terms with the fact that he'll be 12,000 miles away, and more specifically the reasons why we’ve made this choice, to serve God, not just for a different way of life
: And for Joanne's – that we will have many opportunities to witness to them particularly given that we have not made the easy choice to move near them
- And lastly, please pray for New Zealand in general, that God will break into the secularised society & start a new revival, especially with the increasing diversity of cultures (such as the Maori cultural revival; & increasing numbers of Polynesian, Chinese & Indian immigrants and Southeast Asian refugees)

It's so humbling and encouraging to know that we have Christian brothers and sisters praying for us. And such an encouragement that a relatively new church like the Barge is sending people out to serve God in such diverse ways already.