How we became missionaries to... the UK? | SL 5.0 (July 2023)
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How we became missionaries to the UK
Loyal readers of this newsletter will know that over the ten months since finishing my PhD Meghan and I have been trying to work out where we might settle down and serve. When I last wrote to you, serving with TLI in the incredible work they are doing in South Asia was my plan for the next several years of ministry. But the Lord unexpectedly brought a new opportunity along that has changed our course and given us a new long-term focus.
I was sitting at my desk one morning in April working on my Proverbs lectures for South Asia, when a good friend texted me the description for a job teaching biblical studies with an organization called Crosslands Training. Although I had heard of Crosslands, I initially ignored the non-traditional job posting because I just wasn’t sure how it would work. But I couldn’t get the ad out of my head, so I started looking into things.
The long and short of it is this: in early June, after several rounds of interviews, Crosslands offered me that job as lead instructor for biblical studies and we joyfully accepted. What this means, in effect, is that we are shifting our focus from theological education as missions in the majority world to theological education as missions in the UK. We see the Lord’s hand in this stretching back years and years and we are immensely excited about the potential this role holds for impacting the church in the UK and beyond. So... let me explain how and why we became missionaries to the UK and how you can continue to partner with us in this new phase of ministry.
The Presentation in the Temple by Dinah Roe Kendall (Luke 2:25–38)
First, you have to understand the need in the UK and the vision behind Crosslands. The UK now ranks among the most secular countries in Europe. Just 6% of the population are practicing Christians of any stripe. Perhaps 2–3% are evangelicals. As a result, more and more pastors are bi-vocational and more and more churches rely on part-time staff and volunteers to fill key ministry positions. With the Church of England’s move to bless same-sex marriages earlier this year, evangelicals may soon lose their few remaining institutions and support structures. Britain was once the cradle of evangelical faith, but it is now a deeply secular, post-Christian mission field.
Crosslands was started in 2016 as a joint venture of Acts 29 and Oak Hill College to respond to these changing social, economic, and ecclesial contexts. They describe their mission like this:
Crosslands exists to serve local churches with trusted, flexible resources that equip leaders and other disciples throughout a lifetime of ministry. Crosslands’ vision is to provide in-context training, recognising that we’ll each face different opportunities and challenges, carry different burdens, and get to serve different communities.
From the struggling church pastor in Eastern Europe who must work another job to fund his role, to the new mum who would love to be theologically equipped, but can’t move to a residential theological college, Crosslands aims to meet a need for truly flexible and accessible theological training.
Many of the people who need theological education the most are those who are already serving in ministry, whether as pastors, missionaries, or in various crucial part-time or volunteer positions in youth and student work, women’s ministry, or worship. Crosslands’s students study part-time toward an MA in Christian Ministry. They meet regularly with a tutor in regionally organized study groups and gather for residential training weeks three times a year with faculty. This mode of training opens up theological education to those already serving in context, who will, arguably, benefit from it the most and put it straight into practice. Crosslands currently has some 200 students—you can hear many of their stories directly from them here.
Beyond offering training for the UK, Crosslands is quickly becoming one of the more appealing options for training ministers and missionaries throughout Europe and beyond. Earlier this month I attended a Crosslands residential, where I met three students from France as well as an American missionary now serving in Spain. Soon Crosslands will begin training all Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) staff in Japan.
In my role as “Biblical Studies Lead,” I will be part of the core faculty with responsibility for five classes: NT Introduction, OT Introduction, Biblical Theology, Advanced Biblical Studies, and Bible Exposition. I will lead 2–3 tutor groups, guiding small cohorts of students through the entire curriculum, and I will serve as a resource for other tutors as they walk students through biblical studies modules. In the long run, there will be opportunities to run short courses and conferences for seasoned pastors through our Life-Long Learning program, supervise PhD students, and develop discipleship materials for lay people in our Foundations course.
Who Touched Me? by Dinah Roe Kendall (Luke 8:40–48)
Meghan and I feel God has been preparing our hearts for this role. We have loved living in the UK. Almost as soon as we moved to Durham, we were taken with British life—we enjoyed the cosmopolitan cultural milieu, the pace of life, the quaintness of various aspects of British culture, the post-secular environment, the ancient context and the aesthetics of the place. Within a year or two, we felt open to staying long term, but had no idea what God’s plans were or how that might play out. Surprisingly to us (!), we came to discover that few of our American expat friends could say the same. But more significantly, God has given us opportunities for effective ministry here that we feel surpass any other context in which we have served. We’ve been heavily invested in discipling college students and I have had increasing opportunities for preaching and teaching. Whatever the work, we find we are able to bring an engaging voice and a fresh perspective on faith. When the Crosslands post came up we took all this seriously.
Working with Crosslands will increase my effectiveness and accountability in ministry by bringing renewed focus to our work. I’ll be returning to an organizational setting where I’m part of a team and accountable to a job description and leadership. I have missed such accountability and camaraderie and believe it is important for a faithful and healthy ministry long term. As a missionary educator, I am thankful that this team is composed of UK nationals who will offer leadership and guidance. This role also eliminates the need for constant international travel. With three growing girls under six at home, this will be more sustainable and healthy for our family. More than that, it means we will be living where we minister. I’ve grown convinced that speaking the language, understanding the context, and living in solidarity with your students is irreplaceable.
My new role with Crosslands is full time and from September 1 it will replace the various other ministry pursuits I’ve been involved with. They will be paying me a portion of my income, but to make up the rest I will remain a missionary supported and sent by Christ Community Church. If you’re already supporting our work, then there’s nothing else you need to do; we hope you will continue to partner with us as we shift our focus to the UK and beyond. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or just want to chat. We would dearly love to hear from you!
Teaching with Crosslands offers an incredible opportunity to influence the next generation of leaders for the church in the UK and beyond. The potential for God to work in this country in the next few decades is great. Many faithful Christians may finally be forced to break with the Church of England as they now openly bless and will most likely soon perform sinful marriages. If this ancient and beautiful church breaks apart, there is great cause for mourning. But there is great opportunity as well—for the gospel to be proclaimed boldly, for Scripture to be taught clearly with fresh imagination, for renewal to sweep through the global Anglican communion, and for revival to take root once again in the UK. We are praying for all these things, and deeply honored, with your support to play some small part in working towards them.
Thank you for your prayers and support as we enter this new phase of ministry.
Triumphal Entry, or The Day Jesus Visited Porter Croft School by Dinah Roe Kendall (Matt 21:1–11)
Work & Ministry Update
- My main task in August is preparing lectures on the Sermon on the Mount that I'll be teaching for Crosslands in September as part of the New Testament Introduction module.
- Over the summer I'm preaching twice at Christchurch Durham to help give our pastors a bit of a break. We're doing a little series on the Psalms and I've drawn 101 and 103. I look forward to sharing those messages with you as I am able.
- Very happy to report that I got the final, revised version of my PhD dissertation—now book!—off to the publishers a few weeks back. It will still be a year or two before you can hold it, but the vast majority of my work is done.
- If I can squeeze it in, I'll begin work on two academic papers I'm meant to be presenting at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting in November.
Jesus Washing the Disciples' Feet (John 13:3–17) by Dinah Roe Kendall
Pray With Us
- Please pray for the transition to Crosslands in the month of August, I still have a number of projects to get done in order to clear the decks for a strong start.
- Pray for me as I prep lectures on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–8), which I will be teaching the first two weeks of September as my first assignment with Crosslands.
- Pray for the girls' Summer vacation. As of last Friday, they are off till the beginning of September. It's a wonderful opportunity to spend time with them and connect with them more, but it can also create for long hectic days as we try to keep everyone engaged in constructive activities. Pray that Meghan and I will connect well with the girls this Summer.
Thank you. Your prayers and support empower everything we do.
Ascension (Acts 1:9–11) by Dinah Roe Kendall
A Note on the Artwork
The paintings in this newsletter are by Dinah Roe Kendall (b. 1923). She was an English painter who lived and worked mostly in Sheffield in north, central England. She studied art at the Slade School in London and spend some years on Cypress, "where the light intensity profoundly affected my appreciation of colour." Kendall mostly painted scenes from the Gospels but imagined them as if they took place in Sheffield in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I find them strangely moving. Her narrative and figurative style has something of the quality of folk art and her grotesque, usually exaggerated perspectives and colors remind me of writers like Flannary O'Connor, Bernard Malamud, and Chekhov. Her work is available in the book Allegories of Heaven: An Artist Explores the "Greatest Story Ever Told" (Carlisle: Piquant/Downers Grove: IVP, 2002).