Goodbye Perth Hello Sheffield

Here’s the final blog post I intend to write. And if you’re still with us, you’ve done well. Give yourself a pat on the back, as I know that, as life has become more normal, blog posts have become decidedly infrequent.

We left Perth just over a week ago now. The weeks leading up to it were the predictable whirl of box packing, utility phoning and deep house-cleaning. But in and amongst these humdrum tasks were various farewells. These farewells involved colleagues, our landlord (who took us out for a meal), and, of course the Ellenbrook Gospel Community. With the Ellenbrook GC we had a final weekend away and a rather spectacular high-tea featuring copious scones, jam and cream, and some very nice china. We were sad to say goodbye, and felt keenly the smallness of the GC we were leaving. However we were reminded that Paul was content to leave the Ephesians to ‘…God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give the inheritance among those who are sanctified.’ And if it’s good enough for Paul, then it should be good enough for us. Besides, our experience has often been that God makes things go quite well in places we leave!

Coming back to the UK has been lovely. We have forgotten all about the possibility of ‘reverse culture-shock’, it has been absent from our experience since returning. The UK, and Sheffield in particular, seems a good deal more cheerful than the world news media would have you expect, despite the economic uncertainty and the rioting which greeted us. Sheffield is green, hilly and bit dirty. It is sometimes sunny and not too cold. The diversity and vibrancy of the street life is noticeable, and people are friendly. We’re enjoying picking up with old friends and looking forward to getting into our new GC, which is looking to reach our neighbouring neighbourhood (Heeley). England is the best test cricket team in the world.

We are immensely thankful for what God has taught us in the last couple of years; about himself and ourselves. We hope that, by his grace, we have taken a step in Christlikeness, however small and unsteady. If we compare what was achieved with what we wanted to achieve, then we have to say that almost nothing we imagined happening has happened, and much that we didn’t imagine happening has happened. There have been disappointments and failures, but we’ve learnt much about the joy of serving quietly and faithfully and being thankful. And the GC in Ellenbrook have been a great blessing, and we hope and pray that God will keep them, and prosper and grow them in grace.

Thanks to everyone who’s supported us or taken an interest in what we’ve been involved in for the last two years. Although I expect this to be the end of this blog, it’s most certainly not the end of anything much else.

A visit to Paradox

As we enter the final few weeks of our time here, Beth and I are starting to do things which we probably won’t do again.

Yesterday, we went to visit the Joss family, down in Kwinana, a poor suburb about as far south of Perth as Ellenbrook is north.  Their church, Paradox, is part of The Crowded House.  It was good to hear about the people they’re working with, especially a middle-aged couple who were recently converted.

It’s tough work down there; all the usual challenges and disappointments that you’d associate with deprivation – even though, this being Perth, it still looks kind of, well, nice.  Despite the challenges, Brad and Lisa thrive on it.  As they say, the people in neighbourhoods like Kwinana are ‘real’ and open; their sin and brokenness is out-there.

I’m reminded again how adept many of the people we come into contact with in other contexts are at pretending, and therefore how sadly few are the opportunities to speak the good news into people’s lives.

Brad and Lisa, along with their small gospel community, are committed to the long-term in Kwinana.

Are you still there?

As those who are committed enough to check regularly will testify, this blog has been extremely quiet of late.  As our departure for the frozen north has got closer, motivation to write here has wained.  However, in our last few weeks, it would be good to produce a few valedictory posts.

The most significant event in our lives of the last few months was a week-long visit to Shanghai.  We went because it seemed like a good opportunity to catch up with and encourage some old friends.  And Shanghai is, after all, a mere 10 hours from Perth (and in the same time zone!).

We were really thankful for what we found in Shanghai; personally speaking, we were reminded powerfully that God is the one who builds his people up.  He doesn’t need us, which makes it all the more remarkable that he does use us.

British TV viewing pleasure

Some people are very disparaging about TV.  They say they don’t watch it.  Or if they do they make it sound like it’s some terrible unintentional mistake they make.  I like watching TV.

At the moment, Saturday nights are a particular treat.  Doctor Who at 7.30.  Spooks at 8.30.

Tasmania is beautiful

We got out and about a little during the get-together.  Flying into Tasmo, both the greenery, and the hilliness were a striking contrast with Perth.

Anyway, that there’s called Cradle Mountain.

Australia is an amazing place to be.  We love it.

TCH Australia get-together

We returned from our trip over east for the TCH Australia get-together last Sunday night.  We had a fantastic and encouraging time.

As a GC we have been debriefing on it over the last few days and we were all struck by similar things – which is surely a sign of the Spirit at work.

The hospitality and love shown by our Tasmanian hosts was lovely; generous and warm-hearted.  They opened their homes and their lives to us.  And we ate lots of splendid food.  In fact, food (as ever in TCH, perhaps) was a recurring them of the week.

Their sense of common purpose, both within individual households and across the households in the Gospel Communities was clear.  They were a people who were organising themselves and ordering their lives around their mission.  Several in our GC, for example, were simply impressed at people upping sticks and moving to have proximity with others in the GC.

It was great to have Jonny and Ruth Woodrow with us, here in Perth for a few days, and then in Tasmania.  Everyone was particularly struck by the distinction they have made between ‘reactive’ and ‘proactive’ mission.  The whole Ellenbrook GC  found it  a particularly helpful way of thinking about our mission and it certainly is prompting some good, concrete discussions.  More on them in another post.

As always with these kinds of events, it was all fairly intense but most of us had a very pleasant comedown by stopping for a few nights in Melbourne.

As we debriefed last night, it was exciting.  I’m optimistic that, as hoped and prayed for, the get-together will have proved to be a significant milestone here in Ellenbrook.  It just seems that, on a number of fronts, some good stuff seems to be, well, happening. 

TCH get-together

We are looking forward to the inaugural TCH AU get-together in Tasmania.  Our crew are all off there along with Jonny and Ruth Woodrow.

We’re all excited about it,  We hope it will be a significant time for the development of meaningful and supportive relationships across the continent.  It would be great too if together we did some profitable reflection on our mission fields and made wise and God-honouring plans.

Impaling

We had an AGM on Friday evening at David and Heidi’s.  It went on until about 1030pm, at which point I decided to wash up.

I may have used too much washing liquid.  A glass slipped out of my hand.  I tried to catch it.  I did, as the bottom of it hit the sink and caused it to break.  Or something like that happened. I bled a lot and David and Mike heroically did all the first aid.  Lorraine looked for my thumb in the washing up water (thankfully, it was still  attached to my hand).  Heidi cleaned the surfaces.  Beth was a picture of distress.

Anyway, 6 hours later my ‘wide and gapey’ wound was stitched up.

Birthday party

Last weekend, the Ellenbrook GC got together to celebrate David’s birthday.  One of the local wineries came to his house and did wine tasting in the back garden, and David cooked us all a stupendous selection of tapas dishes.

We sat outside enjoying good food, drink and company in the warm autumn evening.  Hope the photos give a flavour of it….

121 degrees goodness

The other evening I went with along to a 121 degrees event in the city with Daniel from the GC.  I was encouraged to see a room full of people committed to mission here in Perth, and it was good to chat and pray with some people who want to see the church on mission here in Perth.

The speaker told his story.  He is a South African who was converted reading John’s gospel on a bit of a surfin’ safari somewhere between Cape Town and the Carribean.  His ‘can-do’ and ‘should do’ attitude to church planting and mission here in Perth was refreshing.  He said that, as far as he’s concerned, this place is a ‘planter’s dream’.

He challenged us to be more expectant and more risk-taking in proclaiming the gospel.  I was particularly struck and convicted by his prayer, which went something like this:  ‘Forgive us for the times when we have thought that and acted as if you’re less interested in evangelism than we are’.  Right.  We do sometimes act as if we’re continuing to do our bit but God isn’t really interested anymore.

I’m glad to be reminded that God is vastly more interested in mission than I am; that it’s his Church, and these are days of grace.  Even here and now.