Category: Family

Another month, another newsletter! I’ve been busy behind the scenes trying to get things set up so that I can do this in a sustainable way and have hopefully settled on the right home for it.

September has been a strange month. I shared briefly about experiencing a mysterious grief while away on a ministry training residential. Family members in the States are going through tough health issues while I am here unable to go there to visit.

At the same time, it has been a month of milestones. I began my third year as pastor at Ardgowan Square. We have now lived in Scotland for four years. We have continued to see change and slow growth at the church. A number of new people started coming at the beginning of the summer and it’s been great to see them continue to come as summer ends and autumn begins.

A particular highlight of the month has been the success of running the church’s first proper, all-age service called All-Together Sunday. Previously, the last Sunday of the month would have been an all-age service but it was geared especially toward children and was taught by a visiting speaker. This time around, we have set a precedent for the regular teaching of the Word to continue. Rather than break the series in order to slot something new in, the preaching team and I are now doing the work of taking that week’s passage and learning it well enough to teach to an inter-generational congregation.

That means that yesterday, as I write this, everyone at the church from age 3 up to 90 was learning together what Peter had to say to the elect exiles in modern day Türkiye in 1 Peter 2:4-10. The clear point of that passage is that God’s people are one chosen, special people who have come to Jesus to worship Jesus and proclaim Jesus. To help drive the point home, we built the corner of a “house” using boxes to show that the only reason why the walls can stand is because they are built on the chosen and precious cornerstone of Jesus.

Tracy and I have also had the opportunity recently to help potential and incoming AT3 apprentices by sharing our own story. Those who have been following along with us from the beginning will remember that we have had quite the rocky journey to get to where we are now. It’s been a joy to be able to take our own ministry story and use it to encourage others who are pursuing the same path. Our shared hope is that more workers would be placed in Scotland, particularly in the west of Scotland.

Prayer Requests

October is looking to be a busy month as I try to get my head around teaching plans for the new year, meeting with various people, and continuing my training with PTC. Because we’re on the brink of the final quarter of 2024, this month’s prayer requests are very much on the topic of planning and preparations.

• Please pray that the preaching team would be united and of one mind as we plan next year’s sermons. At the moment, we are considering doing a Bible overview in order to help the church join up all the odd bits of Bible that they have heard but can’t connect to a cohesive whole.
• It’s a few months away, but I have a visa renewal process to begin in February. As someone who has experienced quite severe visa trauma, the months leading up to the actual application are quite intense, so please pray that I would remember that God has placed us where we are.
• Pray for us as we plan what to do as a family this Christmas-time. December is a crazy month for ministry stuff and last year we began a tradition of taking a couple of days away as a family as our main gift together.

Another month has nearly come and gone. But more to the point, it’s been a while since there was an actual update on things from us.

The summer is officially over now that the kids are back in school and my training course is getting ready to start a new term. Our summer was mostly spent indoors because of the rain, but we still managed to get away for a holiday.

Ministry updates

Our church’s series called The Christian Life at home/in the world was really well received and generated a lot of feedback. While a good number of our church members have been Christians since before the moon landings, they’ve never heard about things like work or mental health being addressed from the pulpit.

For the last few weeks I have been preparing to preach 1 Peter. I finally began actual sermon prep today (26 August) and I’m really looking forward to us spending the next three months in this short book. It’s been quite a change from what we’ve been doing for the last year because we spent so much time in Genesis covering quite chunky passages¹.

Nearly every church member has watched Scotland go from being a place where theologically conservative, evangelical churches were full, to it now being the most socially progressive nation in the United Kingdom. That kind of change happening in a lifetime can make it seem like everything is falling to pieces, but I hope that our time with Peter will show all of us that these things are to be expected.

Family updates

The kids have all moved up years in school. When we left the US, Sophie, our eldest, was eight-years-old and now she is fourteen! Time has gone by so fast. Our greatest joy over these last few months, though, was witnessing all four of our kids come to faith in Jesus. The most exciting thing for us is that, while there were some big conversations that happened to lead to this, the big work was spending time together after dinner going through John’s Gospel with The Word One to One.

Seeing the Word at work as they wrestled with big questions and realising Jesus was really calling them to believe in him was just remarkable. It turns out, it’s really exciting to watch someone come to recognise Jesus for who he is.

Prayer requests

This coming Sunday (1 September) marks the beginning of my last year of training. Time has gone by so quickly but there is still so much to be done. With that in mind, please be praying for these things:

1. Tracy’s role with AT3 has shifted again. She is now the manager of operations and mobilisation, which means she’ll be overseeing the entire process a potential apprentice will go through (from application through to being on-field). This is an exciting thing but also daunting as it means increased hours and responsibilities within the organisation.
2. It feels like there is quite a lot of our future riding on the outcome of the next year. I have funding through the end of August 2025. We are hoping and praying that we will be able to continue on here at Ardgowan Square but it does require there to be enough funding in place for the church to keep me on. Pray that we would focus on doing the work in front of us and that God would give us clear direction for continuing ministry.
3. January and February are quite big months because it is tax time and it will be time for my next visa application. Please be praying in advance of those things. Having gone through visa (and tax) trauma before, it is always a period filled with anxious, sleepless nights.

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1. Like covering the entire Flood narrative in one sermon! ↩