Our imminent relocation to Australia comes almost 21 years after I arrived as the first curate at St Mary’s for a number of years, and just one year into Will Stileman becoming vicar. The move that Debbie and I made to Singapore towards the end of 2008, as Crosslinks Mission Partners, was less tumultuous than this current move – despite returning from Asia with Debbie terminally ill in late 2014 – because I am now pulling up roots to move permanently.
As Sharon, Anna and I prepare to move, there are three things that continue to encourage me. The first is the growing diversity, in a biblically healthy way, there has been at St Mary’s over the last two decades. This fits with John’s vision of heaven in Revelation 7:9, “of a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the Lamb…” I am sure there is more to be done, but it has been very heartening to see change. It has been a huge privilege to be personally involved with preaching and Bible teaching cross-culturally over the last 18 years, both at Cornhill in London and across Asia and Africa. We’d be grateful if you could pray that we may remain faithful and joyful in this new phase of ministry in the Asia-Pacific region, now based out of Sydney.
Secondly, we have been blessed by the church’s leadership holding onto God’s Word – in the weekly preaching of the Bible, and by all those who teach the children and youth and lead Growth Groups – proclaiming the gospel in a culture that has been drifting away from its Christian roots, yet which so desperately needs Christ as he comes to us in the Scriptures. So we thank God for all who are involved in this, and have been ‘fellow-workers’. Do keep reading, believing, loving and teaching God’s Word. As I explore having a part-time role in a church staff team in Sydney, alongside the training in Asia, we are praying that the Lord will open the right door in such a church.
Thirdly, we would want to thank the church family for the support and care that we have received in so many ways: for me after Debbie’s death and then my serious bike accident two years ago, and other health challenges we have faced – as well as in the joyful arrival of Anna into our lives in the middle of COVID, in October 2020. Praise God for the Christ-like love that so many have shown – and please pray we will show this to others after arriving in Australia, and also that we find this in a new church family, especially for Anna, as we all leave good friends behind.
We will miss you, and while we thank the Lord for you, we’d urge you to keep growing in these areas.