Our plans are God's plans

Hi it's Eric the other half,

I wanted to take a second and talk about how we have been seeing God come along side us in this process of becoming long term missionaries to Somerset.  

Some of the things we have done we have tried to keep quiet. We don't want to hurt the church in England by jumping ahead, we also wanted to make sure we approached it appropriately by going to our pastor before we started telling everyone.  

I just want to share two quick stories that encouraged my faith that this is where God wants us to go. 

In the process of figuring out if God was calling us to England and what our roles would look like Megan and I sat down and made a list. 

We made a list about what we would want to do, what our vision for that area would be, what we want to do with the young adults, how we'd hope to accomplish that, and how to tie young adults into the local churches. The cool part of this story is we got to host pastor Kelton at our house, he comes to the states once a year to go to mission conferences and talk about his church. We got to tell him in person that we have been praying and want to come serve in his church. He wasn't surprised he has been praying for missionaries for young adults in his area for a while and as we have visited before, he was happy. He explained what he would want from us and what he would like our responsibilities to be if we came over.  It was very cool because it lined up perfectly to what Megan and I had written earlier. We probably could have just had him write it for us, but that wasn't the point. 

The other cool story is I've felt called to missions my while life but I wasn't sure why England. I always felt Africa or China or a place that would really need me, England just never seemed like that type of place. As my wife and I studied England we realized that is not the case at all. Before I knew this God and I had this conversation where he revealed to me that England has all the resources to send missionaries.  There are so many young adults who would have the funds and support to go, if they only knew God. I felt like God was telling me I wasn't going into a mission field but a missionary field. That by listening to God and going where I felt he was calling me it could affect the whole world for missions. 

As part of the process of becoming GEM missionaries you have to talk with the head of the branch in England. When I shared this with him he thought it was cool because as they have been praying they felt like they were supposed to start sending people from England in this next season. 

These are just reassuring stories that help me to remember that my heart is in the right place and I can't wait to see what God is going to do in England.  

Eric. 

Why England?

This post talks about some of the reasons why we have a heart for England. Take a look before you continue on to the rest of the blog.  


I was 9 when I was baptized (didn't think I was going that far back did ya?) and I seeked God on what he was going to do with my life. I developed a call, or desire and passion, to do missions. Later God worked on my heart and I fell in love with England, all the missionaries who came from there, the history.. In 2013 I met Pastor Kelton Black through a girl in my women's ministry. He invited me to come serve with his church in England. When I was there I noticed a few things about the culture; the church was missing a generation, and they didn't talk about really deep or serious things often outside of formal settings. I loved the church and the members of it (whose average age was 70) are some of the most welcoming and loving people I know. I did however feel a burden in my heart for the young generation that was missing. 

My husband, Eric also felt a call to serve in missions in high school and when he graduated he joined YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and stayed with them for a couple years before we started dating. In 2015 my husband and I listened to God and journeyed back to Somerset. Now we got to minister there together. He noticed that the great big beautiful churches were now more like monuments to their past works. That the country that used to send out missionaries was now the one in need of them. In Europe (including the UK) only 2% of people claim saving faith in Jesus. 

 After a couple months of praying for God's will to be revealed we sat down and composed the reasons why God is calling us, not only individually but as a couple.

The churches have become museums…
Only 6% of ppl in England attend church. Its closer to .4% in the area where we will be.

Last time we were in England we visited a number of beautiful churches that have become monuments to the rich Christian history that the country has. However now, many of those churches are empty. Their message, that once influenced towns, is now missing and has no influence on the lives around it.

The churches that are alive with the Spirit of God are missing a generation... The average age of a Christian is 45, the average agw of a Muslim is 25.

The area of Somerset we have interacted with 3 different churches and in those churches there is a huge generational gap. The young adults and youth of England are missing from the churches and there is a barrier in the way of them connecting with them. These churches will die out if the younger generation does not recognize the importance of God and value of biblical fellowship and if the older generation doesn’t reach out and connect with the younger ones.

The Bible says Judges 2:10 “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” If there is not a change in the generational gaps in the churches in Somerset this could very well happen to the area.

There is a generation that is missing who God is… In the last 20 years chirch attendance has dropped by around 37%.

The young adults (18-35ish) are not only not connecting with God but they don’t even know who he really is. There are a lot of hurting young adults in Somerset that are not aware that there is healing in Christ. They also don’t know how to connect with each other, In Somerset everything closes early so their is no safe place to go and fellowship, this leads to isolation. This is a generation that could be impacting the world for Christ, they have the means and opportunity. They come from a country that used to be known for impacting the world for Jesus. When we think of pouring in to the young adults in Somerset we don't just think of them we think of how they could turn around and impact the world. But they can’t take that stand in today’s world if they don’t know what they are standing for.  

God has a heart and passion for the English people of this generation. He has a desire for them to leave behind the isolation and emptiness and be ignited for Him.

Tha is why ww want to go and serve a missing geneation that has no hope and can't see a way for changing it.

God Bless,

Megs

Oceans...

 Have you heard the song Oceans? It has a line that says "take me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stoner in the pressence of my savior... where my trust is with out borders, let me walk upon the waters... where ever you would call me". 

Eric and I had this song sung during our wedding, back in 2014. It was supposed to be a song for ppl to worship with but that message wasn't brought across well. Besides a majority of our wedding party and a couple audience members we were the only ones really singing. Which might be ok. If you think about it those words are big words, and that is a big request. It's not something to take lightly. So many times I think we worship with elegant words but never put our life where our mouth is. 

For Eric and I these words were not just a song we wanted at our wedding but they were promises we wanted to incorporate in our day. We wanted to make sure we knew that before anything else our marriage was, is, a vow to God that we are here to be led and used. 

Wow! Not popular I know. In today's world where you are meant to look out for number one it isn't common to enter a situation not only vowing to put someone else first but to put obedience over comfort.  As Christians we are called to do just that! Thankfully we have had great Christian role models in our lives who have used their marriages to bring glory to God. 

Now please note I am not saying the only way to bring glory to God through your marriage is to go on long term missions...  that's just what it looks like for us right now. I am also not saying we have it all tpgether, oh trust me we don't :) 

Before this honoring God with our marriage looked like learning to be a good husband and wife (which we still are).  I think in all marriages that in itself will always be at the base of honoring God.

We both knew missions was something we both felt called to and it was something we wanted to explore as a couple. I had a big heart for England, I had gone there on a mission trip the summer before I started daiting Eric. 
We thwn went back to Somerset, England on our first missions trip as a couple. We both felt God's desire to reach out to the young adults there. When we came home it was to a couple months of praying. To be honest, there was a whole bunch of 'this is big how would it ever work' thrown in there too. 

The amazing thing was when we couldn't ignore it any longer.. You know how it is when God is putting that message every where you look and in every way that you can imagine.  We agreed to say 'yes' together in October. 

We only told our pastor, the pastor in England, and our parents. Ok, I might have also told a lady from church, a teacher I work with, and my best friend... I was excited. Well anyways, we told the people who needed to know and then gave it over to God. 

It is amazing how when you say yes God, He moves. This step we are taking is big and scary and out of our control.. it's perfect. We have gotten to see God orchestrate situations and events that we couldn't, even if we had known it was possible. We can't wait to see how He moves next. 

:) Megs.