What’s it like planting a church in the middle of a pandemic? Tim moved from the USA to the UK with Dutch wife Renske and their family at the end of 2019, and launched City Church Wolverhampton in the spring of 2020 — during the first national lockdown.
United Kingdom
England’s old industrial heartland has many inner-city areas where most families speak Urdu or Punjabi, and mosques dot the skyline. In one such area, OM writer Nicky Andrews spent the day at the Welcome Place Hub* (WPH) a Christian community project led by OMers Stefan* and Louise*, blessing Muslim residents through service and friendship.
As hundreds of comic Bible storybooks are distributed among Ukrainian refugees across Europe, there was particular rejoicing in one family home one night when the children received a copy.
Jamie’s IT degree and industry experience provided him with exactly the right skillset to step into OM’s international IT department at a critical moment, keeping the organisation’s intranet system afloat and developing it for greater ministry impact across the world.
Emilie had always wondered if God was calling her to India. She recently discovered it was the right people but not yet the right place.
In September, nine participants from across the world join a virtual Missions Discipleship Training (MDT) hosted from the UK.
The recent lockdown has widened the reach of the Turkish-speaking church that Deniz leads in the UK.
Janice can’t help but share the hope she’s found. Even in lockdown, she sees how God can use art to bring hope and make His name known.
Andrew has been working with a support group for refugees and asylum seekers. He helps with their integration and settlement through teaching English.
“During our leisurely stroll, we came across a pigpen,” remembers Inger. “No more finely kept grass; it ended where the enclosure began. Beyond the fence, the inhabitants had trampled the turf into deep, moist mud. I commented on the squelchy state of their pen. To my surprise—and slight dismay—my father reached over the fence and started to scratch one of the pigs behind its ears...We watched. The pig appeared to like it.”