It’s hard to look back and think when and where we first became interested in global mission, and when we first thought about it as a possibility for us. Neil and I were both brought up in Christian homes, coming to faith ourselves in childhood, and we would always have had an awareness of the fact that some people do pack up and go where God calls them to go. I guess you only have to read the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis to realise that this is the kind of thing that sometimes God asks people to do.
My parents ended up working for a mission society back in the 1990’s when they joined what was then AEF (Africa Evangelical Fellowship) in their UK sending office, so African mission was a bit closer to home then. Having been born and brought up in South Africa, I was already drawn to Africa, and used to feel rather envious when they went off around Africa visiting missionaries. (Subsequently, AEF merged with SIM and so my parents were then based in the SIM UK office.) In 1995, I took Neil to visit my roots and my remaining aging relatives in South Africa, pulling in a trip to Zimbabwe to see the Victoria Falls as well, a journey facilitated by a lovely AEF/SIM missionary in Bulawayo who sorted our train tickets in Zimbabwe for us – thanks Joan! We also met up with my parents and stayed with an AEF/SIM missionary couple in South Africa, who took us on a trip to see a feeding project in a local township. That made a big impression on both of us as we saw both the poverty and the compassion of local people.
The following year we decided to join an AEF six-week building team to Botswana to build a church. Our church in Nottingham, Stapleford Baptist Church, were hugely encouraging and supportive and we were only a few months away from departure when the decision had to be made to cancel the team as planning permission had not been granted and was unlikely to come through in time. We were offered the opportunity to go to Tanzania on a similar team the following year, so in 1997 we joined a team and headed for Mtwara on the coast of Tanzania, not too far from the border with Mozambique. It was an amazing experience of seeing life in small-town African life, with water shortages, irregular power, erratic food supplies and all that African life can involve. We had the privilege of being able to work on the building site alongside local labourers, both Christian and non-Christian, and the blessing of worshipping in a local church where we understood nothing of the sermon and could guess at the songs only by some of the actions. We loved it, but we didn’t sense God calling us to work and serve in Africa at that time.
Fast forward to 2012… two children and a move to Worcester later. Friends of ours were going to Uganda with a Mission Direct building team. Mission Direct offer something rather unique in that they will take families with children as young as 8 on two-week trips to a number of African countries, as well as other locations world-wide. Teams are involved in building schools, housing, clinics or whatever the local community needs. We were at a point in our life where we had a strong sense that God was leading us to something different, but we had no idea what that was. We also had no thoughts of joining our friends as they went to Uganda, until she wrote, sending us a brochure and telling us that every time she prayed about their forthcoming trip, we came into her mind. “Make of that what you will,” she said. God put it very clearly on our hearts that we should go. We could afford it due to a legacy from Neil’s uncle, and the support and encouragement of our church family at Woodgreen Evangelical Church in Worcester was amazing. So we went. We spent two weeks in Uganda, helping to build a school for children with disabilities. God blessed us with an amazing team of people to work with, both from the UK and Uganda, and our girls enjoyed their first exposure to “real” Africa, having visited South Africa a couple of times previously on holiday.
After Uganda, we began to wonder whether God was drawing us somehow to serve Him in Africa. We spoke to our pastor, Richard, who was extremely helpful and encouraging, and began to talk to overseas missions to see if they had any need for people like us. Neil is a quantity surveyor and we had none of the skills you would usually think of as being needed overseas, such as medical or teaching qualifications or theological training experience. We also started thinking about where. With a teenager and a nearly-teen, it seemed to us that we needed to have access to suitable education. South Africa more and more seemed to us to be a good place to start looking. Fairly early on in the process we had an informal chat with Dorothy at Serving in Mission and it all went from there.
It has taken some time to work out exactly what we would be doing in South Africa. From an early stage it looked likely to be Cape Town, as that is where the South African office is based. But gradually God closed doors down and opened others so that we now know that Neil will be working as Projects Co-ordinator, keeping an eye on and supporting a number of projects around the country. I will initially focus on getting us settled in and the girls into school, before looking to see how and where I can best serve. Neil will also hope to spend a day a week out of the office being involved hands-on in some kind of ministry – what that will be is something we will look into prayerfully once we are over there.
So, as of now, end of May 2014, we are in the “trying to get ready to go” stage. We have a number of balls which all have to be kept in the air at once:
- Selling our house and buying somewhere smaller which we will own outright. We will rent this out and use the rental to contribute towards our financial support.
- Trying to raise financial support to enable us to actually go. The cost of living in Cape Town is not too dissimilar to here in the UK, and we have to factor in school fees (even state schools charge fees) and medical care (no NHS). The total amount is eye-watering. Broken down into monthly sub-totals brings it down to merely breath-taking. How thankful we are for our God who not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50), but who knows every star by name, every hair on our head and to whom nothing is impossible. I have a painting above my desk reminding me to look at the birds of the air, because God provides for them. (Matthew 6). I will be getting well-developed neck muscles from constantly looking up at my picture and reminding myself to look up to our God. He has clearly brought us this far, and we can trust Him completely to lead us to where He wants us to be.
- Trying to work out the best school in Cape Town for Izzy. Zoe will finish her education in the international school because to try to fit her into the South African system at age 16 is beyond complicated. We are very thankful that actually we seem to be spoilt for choice for Izzy with four or five good schools within 10-15 minutes drive of the SIM office.
In all of this, it’s so important that we don’t lose sight of why we are putting ourselves through all of this upheaval – it is because we have a wonderful saviour, and to quote Jim Elliot, who gave his own life to reach others with the good news of Jesus:
He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
African Crossroad 