Packing up your life, saying goodbye and moving abroad to join a church plant is exciting and a big faith adventure, but it can also be tiring, hard work and a sacrifice. We believe though that Jesus is worth it all.
In 2019, we left East Grinstead and Jubilee Community Church and moved to Berlin, Germany. We lived there for three years, and wow, what a three years it was. We joined Welcome Church, got an apartment, local jobs and stuck into community, language, and life across a vast and contrasting city. We had incredible highs but there were also definite lows too. The Covid season was tough for us all and a new church plant in a new country was no exception.
It was at this time however, that God prepared our hearts for another move.
In 2022 we left Berlin and moved on to Rotterdam to do it all again – joining a small growing church plant, Redeemer, Rotterdam. We had a year of building community, giving Dutch a go, cycling on our bikes, and feeling like we could call this city home. Then, in May 2023, we unexpectedly ran into some visa and job complications post Brexit and found we had a month to pack up, say our goodbyes and return in early June to our home town in East Grinstead in Sussex, UK.
It’s been just over four months being back and if we are being honest, it’s been tough, but it has also been a time of reconnecting and reflection. We were reminded recently that whenever God showed His favour to someone or to a group in the Bible, it was shortly followed by hardship or a tough season but still faith was credited to them. God leads us for His name’s sake; He builds us up in Him and for Him.
It was a privilege and a joy to be part of church planting in Europe and we know there is more faith adventure ahead. We are here for now and choose lean into Jesus in the mystery and tension of this season and see what He will do.
Part of this season was attending a Returners Weekend run by Unreached Network who we were able to connect with at Newday this year. They are a network within Newfrontiers that exist to ‘co-ordinate best practice in cross-cultural missions across the global Newfrontiers family’. They train, equip, and enable churches to send and receive people well and provide support both to teams and individuals in various ways. They held a Returners Weekend in October 2023, so we booked in and went along. It was aimed at those who had been away on mission and church planting abroad and for whatever reason had found themselves back in the UK. Stories were shared and we prayed together. We were given tips and lessons on navigating transition, grief, loss, and helped to understand the tensions of returning. They provided language to help others to understand our situation too. We found it helpful and life-giving.
I wonder if this is an area where we can all really grow and lean into. As we stretch out to more nations, as we send and receive people, we can all think about what healthy support really looks like – helping others through transition, culture changes, burnout, and loss.
Whatever season or sphere of influence, nation, or neighbourhood we find ourselves in, here is a verse to encourage us all:
‘I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.’
Psalm 27v13 (NIV)
If you are not familiar with the Unreached Network, you can find out more here.
This post was written by Emma Cowley for the New Ground Blog and was first published on the 7th December 2023. You can read the original post here.
