Missions Update: United Kingdom
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of spending eight days in the UK on a blitz of a trip with 57 other people from Presbyterian churches around the US. Our goal was to build relationships with church planters, strengthen them in the gospel, and hear what their prayer requests and financial needs are so we can better support their work in the future.
It was a tour-de-force from Edinburgh to Manchester, to Oxford, and ending in London. I had the privilege of meeting with and encouraging over a dozen church planters and other ministers — and the Lord used that time to strengthen me and bring me more missional clarity as well. Praise God!
Winchburgh, Scotland
The official UK Partnership meetings began on Monday afternoon, but I flew in a couple of days early to visit our partner church in a village 40 minutes outside Edinburgh: Winchburgh Community Church. I stayed with Robin and Annabelle (Robin sends his greetings warmly!) and had the joy of preaching to them on Sunday from James 2:14ff.
Winchburgh Community Church is a small church plant — they planted the same time we did — in a village where the small handful of Christians commute into Edinburgh for church on Sundays, and the vast majority of residents know nothing of Jesus and his good news. Continue praying for Robin and the team that the Lord will strengthen their hands and broaden their hearts for this slow and difficult work.
Robin and the team are setting up chairs for the Sunday service in the local pub/bowling hall.
Edinburgh, Scotland
The view of Edinburgh from the Chalmers Room in my seminary alma mater, Edinburgh Theological Seminary.
Monday morning I headed into Edinburgh. I first met with my old mentor and friend, Rev Thomas Davies — what an encouragement to share the joys of and holy burdens of ministry with him and Robin! Following that, we headed to ETS for the first UK Partnership meeting. We heard from my friend Israel, who is planting a Spanish-speaking church in Edinburgh for people from dozens of Spanish-speaking countries. They are incubating inside another church plant out of St. Columba’s, and the Lord is doing a remarkable and fascinating work in developing an inter-cultural (not just multi-cultural) church community. It looks a lot like the Kingdom of Heaven! We heard also from planters going north toward the Highlands, and west into the heart of deeply post-Christian Glasgow. Finally, we heard a presentation from my old pastor and dear friend, Rev Derek Lamont. He and Catriona are following the Lord’s call away from St. Columba’s, where he pastored for twenty-plus years and trained me, to plant a new church (at age 60) in Leith, a northern, blue-collar suburb of Edinburgh. Pray especially for them in this new season and new work, that the Lord will give them favor in the community and build a core team for them from evangelism!
Manchester, England
Bright and early Tuesday morning we were all off on a train to Manchester, a post-industrial, artsy city northwest of London. We were graciously hosted by City Church Manchester, where lead pastors Ralph and Matt gave us a clear vision of the city and its need for Jesus. We heard from various church planters, as well as from Christ Church Liverpool (a kind of distant cousin church to ours, but that’s a story for another day!). Work is being done not only to plant new churches but also to plant churches that aim to be hubs for planting future churches. While there, our team spent time brainstorming with City Church on some of their biggest challenges, and I pray that the results were helpful and encouraging to them.
That evening, we gathered all together for dinner, and the Lord gave me the opportunity to spend some hours with one pastor in particular named Jack Popplewell — I will never cease to be amazed at the immediate friendship and encouragement that can come on the basis of the blood of Jesus! We both left that long conversation with more courage, hope, and clarity for ministry than we entered it with.
City Church Manchester — Ed Norton (UK Partnership co-founder) is standing on the right, and Ralph Cunningham (pastor of CCM) is standing on the left.
Oxford, England
Another bright and early train ride on Wednesday morning, this time to Oxford. We were hosted by Oxford Presbyterian Church, a church plant pastored by Andy Young right in the very heart of Oxford, amid all the academic halls and rich history.
The story of how OPC came to have a long-term lease in this historic church building (pictured below) is fascinating, and an evidence of God’s grace and commitment to the city. The church began as a Methodist church over a century ago and has been many things since, including a center for Oxford’s LGBTQ+ society, and a big-chain restaurant. But the Lord wanted it to be a church again, and so it is! In the basement of this building, many decades ago, a young J.I. Packer discovered John Owen’s manuscripts (he’s one of my theological heroes), and brought him to evangelical awareness. John Stott, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Francis Schaeffer all preached in this building. And now the Lord is carrying on that legacy.
Andy Young illustrated why they are so committed to being in the heart of Oxford. In the mid-20th Century, intellectualists who would later form the Khmer Rouge studied at Oxford. There, they were exposed to communist theory and ideology. They took it back to Cambodia and killed millions.
What if they had been exposed to the good news of Jesus, instead?
Pray for Oxford Presbyterian Church that the Lord will provide the money they need to fulfill their very long-term lease on this building — they are short something like $150,000 and need it in short order.
Pastor Nadeem — a Pakistani refuge from persecution — is giving a presentation on his church plant, inside OPC. He is a street evangelist to muslims in a part of town outside of Oxford full of Muslims, who often fall on the far-extremist side of the religion. He bravely continues to face threats regularly, and yet the Lord is growing His church!
John, Pastor at West End Community Church (Nashville) is walking toward a special lamppost. CS Lewis was walking down this path once, and had the idea to write “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” Next to the lamppost (it’s hard to see in this picture) on the right is a doorway, framed by two golden fauns. The doorway itself has a carved lion’s head in the center.
This beautiful doorway leads to the divinity hall that housed John Owen, CS Lewis, and JRR Tolkien. The building now is rarely ever used, and never hears the gospel echo through its halls.
London, England
Finally, we arrived at our final destination. We met in a Presbyterian church 30 minutes away from Paddington Station by train, and there we heard about a host of church plants underway in all kinds of London suburbs. The soil here is hard, but these faithful men and women are absolutely convinced that Jesus still means what said, that “the harvest is plentiful” and that it’s the workers who are few. So they’re about their work of gardening in God’s garden with their chins up, and their hands strengthened by faith.
Presbyterianism makes up only a slim minority of churches in England; it’s historically Scottish, while the Church of England/Anglicanism is the flavor du jour in England. In fact, there are more Pagans (in the real, “druid” sense of the term) in England than Presbyterians. The day before we met with these pastors and planters, the Church of England took a historic move toward blessing same-sex marriages. Behind this seemingly-political move is a shift of the church’s theological tectonic plates, away from the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. They’ll be feeling the tremors for a long time. One of the pastors who presented about a new church plant is in the midst of leaving the Church of England, in which he has been serving as an ordained minister for 25 years, and joining the Presbyterians. He’s doing so gladly, as he loves his new church family; he’s also in deep mourning, as are many faithful CoE ministers. Pray for the Church of England, that truth may reign, and that the Lord would be near to his people mourning the apparent decline of the church they love.
The picture below is from inside Westminster Abbey, where we attended Choral Evensong the day after the Church of England’s historic decision. In the midst of the incredible beauty and worshipful atmosphere of the service, I was amazed at the amount of mocking, laughter, disrespect, and dismissing that was going on with the visitors sitting around me. But one older man sitting a few rows in front of me encouraged me in the Lord. Despite the snickering of the young visitors nearby, he went to his knees in the middle of the aisle to worship his Savior.
If the Lord is putting on your heart the desire to spend more time in prayer or support for these churches, here’s a next step: the church plants in Scotland have kindly provided us with helpful overviews of each of these new church plants. Maybe pick one to “adopt” and spend time in regular prayer for them! I’m sure the ministers would be deeply encouraged if you would even reach out to them via email and let them know you’re praying.
Hope Church Leith, Rev Derek and Catriona Lamont (their development plan is here)
Tornagrain, Innes and Anna MacSween
Cornerstone Spanish Speaking Congregation, Israel and Camila Guerrero
Central Glasgow, David Trimble and Neil Longwe
