'Send your pastor into cross-cultural mission', they said

‘Mission needs experienced people.’ ‘Churches should give to mission sacrificially, and that means sending their pastors.’

Like you, we had heard that kind of challenge many times. Like you, we used to nod sagely. But it was another thing entirely to work it through ourselves.

It all started early on in my ministry. I had been assistant pastor here at Deeside for a year when Pat and I married and we went on honeymoon to Andalusia. We were confronted straight away with the brutal, shocking reality of the barrenness of continental Europe. I preached in an expatriates’ church on the Sunday, but in fact there was almost no sign of Christian witness at all in the towns and cities we visited. And we were looking for it. Hard.

We began to pray for Spain and to take an interest in the work of the gospel in Spain. I learnt a bit of Spanish — but we never visited Spain again.

Into his harvest field

Over the years in the church we have prayed many times for God to push workers out into his harvest field, and our eyes were on continental Europe while we prayed. People warned me that when you pray like that God sometimes sends you. But I was safe, wasn’t I? I was a pastor, happily settled in a local church here in North Wales. That was it for me. At 46, for me the next big issue to face would be whether to move house when we retired!

Then we began to visit France. If Spain seemed barren, France was worse. We got in contact with workers in different parts of the country and again prayed for the work of the gospel in France. Wales needs churches to be planted in rural areas, so I took a keen interest in the church-planting work of France Mission. I thought I might learn things from them that could be applied here in Wales. Instead I began to have a growing conviction that we should go and work in France. I thought and prayed it through.

Pros and cons

My wife was very settled here in North Wales. Our children were happy in their Welsh-language school. Things in the church were good. There was a trickle of people being converted — nothing massive, but God was blessing us. There is a whole Bible to preach. I am a chaplain at our local supermarket. I lead a monthly Welsh Bible study in a rural town here. We have a home that we love. Everything was comfortable.

On the other hand, as all our parents have died we have no elderly relatives to depend on us or to need our care. Our brothers and sisters live so far away from us that as far as they are concerned we’d just as well be in France really! Our children are adaptable with no particularly special needs, and they are at a good age to make the change. Our church is happy with no special problems. If we couldn’t go into cross-cultural mission, who could? If we shouldn’t go, who should?

If God opens the way

So when I knew I must, I shared my concern with my dear, patient, long-suffering wife, Pat. She knew that she could take as much time to think about it as she needed. She knew that she had the power of veto. We deliberately didn’t spend long evenings talking it all through (evenings together are pretty scarce anyway, long or short.) She said that she was willing and happy to go, if God opened a way.

But there didn’t seem to be a way, frankly. We had links with various missions that were working in France, but nothing seemed right for us. Then UFM Worldwide, one of 'our missions', began a new work in Bordeaux. And it slowly opened up to us. We could study French in Bordeaux. An experienced team was building with ex-pat missionaries and French people that we could work with. There were schools. There were lots of people to reach. We found out more by meeting with the existing workers. I flew off to Bordeaux to spy out the land. There were matters to think through. There were issues to pray about. But it certainly seemed that God was opening a door.

Sharing thoughts

OK. But I am a pastor. I serve the Lord Jesus in a church here in North Wales. I can’t just apply to a mission and hand in my notice at work... Well, we know what that means. You must speak to people.

Firstly, we spoke to close friends who know us well, know the mission well, who know the church well, and who know the work in France well. All responded with encouragement.

Then we spoke to my fellow-elders. One said: ‘Well, that’s no surprise, is it?’ The other said: ‘France? But I always thought that you would go to Spain.’ I suppose I had half hoped everyone would tell me not to be so stupid and to fix my mind on North Wales — but now there was that mixture of excitement and terror that comes when you realise that God may be uprooting you. I’d had it before when I left industry to come and serve in the church here. Now here it was again.

We spoke to the deacons. They took a little longer to discuss the matter through. Then we wrote a letter to the church members and arranged a meeting where we would discuss the prospect. This brought us to April 2004.

At the same time that we wrote to the church, we broached the subject with our children. We didn’t want people to be keeping big secrets from each other. The kids were horrified, but as we talked it through with them their fears subsided (a little).
I don’t want to give the impression that all has been smooth and calm. Particularly, after that first meeting with the church, God kindly timed things so that I was preaching away the following Sunday, and our then assistant minister was at home. We pray through Operation World on Sunday mornings, and the country that week was ... France. I was glad not to have to lead that.

Preparing to leave

In May we applied to the mission. In July we had our medicals and we were interviewed. I was able to tell the mission that the church supported our application. We passed our interviews and medicals (which uncovered Pat’s thyroid deficiency).

These months have been odd, though. Our assistant minister was settled early on in a super situation in Yorkshire. We still have new faces at church. We have been working just as hard. But all the time everyone has the constant awareness that you are going. Normally when a pastor leaves a church there’s a few months notice. With us it’s already been over a year, and we still haven’t gone. (Like having a slow, lingering disease?) We don’t want this year to become the story of our departure. There’s still work to do here. There’s still lots going on here.

Finding a new pastor

And we immediately started the hunt for a successor. I already had a short list. After all, what pastor could contemplate going to work overseas without asking who could come to the church to replace him? We started at the top of the list and just this month, to our joy and delight, Martin Downes has accepted the church’s call to become the pastor here from September.

So another step has been taken, and another part of God’s plan has fallen into place. The church folk here at Deeside are backing us with promises of more financial support than we could possibly have hoped or anticipated. Now we are busily gathering support (prayer and financial) from other Christians and churches who are concerned for France’s true freedom, and we hope to move to Bordeaux in August.

Lessons to learn

Looking back, what would I say to pastors considering a call to work overseas?

Firstly, I am glad that we took advice from experienced friends who loved us enough to be straight with us. We may have messed things up at times, but we certainly had the best advice we could get.

Secondly, I don’t think we would approach things very differently. How could we? Between ourselves, then advice from a very few close friends, then elders, then deacons, then the church and the family... Is there another way?

Thirdly, we have begun to ask our elders to chair our church meetings, even when I am here. We have done this partly to prepare for a time without a pastor, but also for when matters relating to us are on the agenda. We could have started this sooner.

But again, amidst all the upheaval and with the prospect of a bigger shake-up over the next few months, we have that overwhelming sense that God is working out his plan for us all. And we can trust him. (Anybody want to buy our house?)