A week in Carlisle

Ruth and I recently spent the week in the northern border city of Carlisle nestled at the foothills of the Scottish highlands. Though it was a little colder up there we had a lovely time and we feel like we have a little more assurance of the future. We visited the OM International Coordinating Team (ICT) office and met some of the team who work there. ICT’s purpose is to come alongside missionaries at all levels and in all countries and provide the support and organisation that they need to do the work God has given them to do. Whilst the roles here feel a little bit corporate, the focus and outworking is in equipping, praying for and ministering to missionaries around the world.

Ruth spent some time with those she will be working with and the person that she will be replacing. She was able to get a good handle on what the job involves and get her hands on some resources that she can get familiar with in the coming months. The team seem very keen to have her working there as soon as we can – which will absolutely be after our wedding and honeymoon in June!

I spent some time with the team who run IT (Information Technology) on Logos Hope. They are putting together a donation system for the ships ministry that I am helping to construct. This is something I’ll be working on in the coming weeks alongside wedding plans and support raising. I also got to visit OMNIvision again and connect with the crew there. I will be based at OMNIvision (which is in a separate studio a few miles from ICT). I got to see the events that are coming up this summer and I’m very excited about the possibilities.

We were delighted to spend time with the Ingham family who let me stay with them for the week and often had Ruth and I around for dinner. It was very encouraging to be welcomed so warmly, especially when we don’t really know anyone in Carlisle. We were able to see a house that we could possibly move into in July, but there are no guarantees. We like the house so we are praying it will work out – if not they will find us another place.

It’s all very daunting moving to the UK, moving away from Ruth’s hometown, getting married and changing jobs – but we keep bringing it back to God and He keeps reassuring us we are doing the right thing. We are continually encouraged by the way that our lives seem to have been building towards this place and time – that God has been working behind the scenes in our lives in the good times and the bad to prepare us for ministry.

My desk at OMNIvision

My desk at OMNIvision

My calling to work with kids in mission

At my desk

Having spent a significant portion of my childhood as an MK (missionary kid) I developed a strong awareness and interest in mission work which stayed with me into adulthood, although I never had any plans or ideas where this would take me. By the age of 5 I’d chosen my career path and this finally came true in 2004 when I qualified as a primary school teacher. These two passions have always been present in my life to varying degrees. Throughout university and my years teaching in the UK I went on several short term mission trips and was involved with the mission team at my church.

In 2008 I finally felt the time to serve longer term in mission was approaching. For me it was an obvious and easy decision to teach MK’s as this combined my own experiences, passion for mission and love of teaching. Eventually I ended up on Logos Hope, as a teacher in the school onboard. Amongst the 400 crew onboard there are usually about 40 children, aged from 0 – 16. The school usually has about 8 teachers who provide an education for these children during their time onboard.

Having taught in the school on Logos Hope for 2 years I returned to the UK in October 2011, again wondering how all my passions and experiences could be combined. Through a series of thoughts and conversations God has led me to take on the role of ‘Family and Educational Support Advisor’ with OM.

Part of this role is to ensure that families and children on the mission field are well cared for, receiving the support and advice that they need to raise their family, make educational choices and deal with the unique challenges they face. This means providing resources, support and advice at all stages of their journey: as the plan and prepare for the mission field, during their time overseas and as they re-enter their home country. Having been an MK myself I can understand some of both the positive and negative impacts that can occur and I hope to be able to help maximise the former and minimise the latter.

Another part of the role is recruiting and supporting teachers, especially for the ship school. Recruitment is something totally new for me but having been a teacher onboard the ship I have some understanding of how to support them effectively. This includes being available to answer questions, providing resources and ensuring they are kept up to date with the curriculum.

Successfully fulfilling this role will require a lot of networking; researching about MKs, attending conferences and liaising with OM offices around the world. One person described the need for someone to be a ‘children’s advocate’ and I guess in many ways that is what I am hoping for – that I will be able to speak up on behalf of the children involved in mission and ensure that their needs are remembered by all involved.
All of this will be a part time role. In many ways stepping out of the classroom and into an office is a daunting prospect but I feel that my experiences all add up to help me face this new challenge. And to make sure I don’t go completely insane through a lack of interaction with children I hope to be able to teach part time. This will have the added benefit of enabling me to keep up with the changes to the curriculum.  At the moment I have no idea what this teaching job may actually look like but am trusting that God has something lined up for me and will reveal it at the right time.

Time to go

Well the day is finally here. Tonight at 6:45pm I’m hopping on a plane that takes me to the other side of the world. I’m heading to the UK where I will first meet up with my fiancee Ruth and stay with friends of hers while I get over jetlag. Then we’re off to Carlisle to connect with the missions organization we feel led to be a part of. We will have lots of meetings and get to see the house where we will live when we get married (I’ll be staying somewhere else for now). Then we are headed back down to Berkhamsted where Ruth is living to help raise awareness and funding there – whilst making wedding plans. Likely we will make more visits up to Carlisle before we marry but plans are just forming now. In June we will get married, honeymoon and return to Australia for a second ceremony before returning to the UK to start with OM officially on July 2nd.

What are we actually doing? If you’re not familiar with our plans to join OMNIvision and OM Education then please read this post about OMNivision:
Young family: OMNIvision
Ruth will be volunteering as the educational adviser for OM international including the ship ministry – supporting and resourcing the ship’s school, advising parents entering the mission field and recruiting teachers. She will also probably teach part time in some way to keep up with the education system in the UK.

Over the last week I’ve had lots of good times with friends from all different walks of life and with my family. I’ve had to say goodbye to the people I know and love, but I know it is worthwhile to follow the path that God has set before me and before Ruth also. We are both stepping out in faith that God will provide for our need while we respond to his call. I have had my share of doubts over the last few months regarding finances – but God has never let me down yet! Through a number of recent contributions, I now have nearly 70% of my half of our expenses pledged by generous people, and if Ruth is able to find part time work as she plans (definitely pray for this!) then I have almost exactly half right now. See how God is faithful? Yet He rarely provides it well in advance – He provides it at just the right time. The very good news is that for the short term our organisation will help us to make up any shortfall, but we still need our income to increase. Ruth is just in the beginnings of her support raising and we would appreciate your prayers for us in that.

We are delighted to go into this field of ministry with the prayers and best wishes of so many people who I consider friends or family. Regardless of if you give or if you even share our beliefs, we are glad to share with you what God is doing in us and through us as we follow this path.

Love & Blessings,
Ruth & Chris

Independence: What does the bible say?

Independence seems like the ultimate confirmation of being a ‘real man’ or for that matter a ‘real woman’. Something inside us wants to prove that we can make it on our own, to pay our own way, to not need anybody. Perhaps that’s why some people move out of home when they turn 18 (or sometimes younger!) Perhaps we were taught from early on that being independent from our parents and those around us should be our goal. Birds will push their young chicks out of the nest so that they will learn to fly – if they didn’t push them, the little birds would never try something that strange. Maybe you’ve also been pushed out of the nest.

But more and more I’m starting to see how this mindset develops into a lonely and isolated existence. Going it alone – either as a single person or as a family unit – has some romantic notions and promises to never be a burden on anyone, but it can’t be healthy. God designed us to live in relationship with each other, to be a community. Listen to this verse from 1 Corinthians 12:

14For the body is not one member, but many. 15If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. […]  20But now there are many members, but one body. 21And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” […]  26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

I love that part ‘If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it’. It’s not that I want to bring everyone down all the time – but have you ever suffered something in silence? Have you ever pretended that everything was OK, because you were afraid you would be rejected or be a burden – or you weren’t even sure what you were afraid of? As Christians we are supposed to be the body of Christ, and there are no independent parts in that body. Each part needs every other part in order to function, and God has designed us to work together in unity and harmony.

I have been wrestling with God today over finances. He has repeatedly reminded me to trust him to provide for me, but there’s that part of me that keeps rising up and saying “I want to do this in my strength. I want to provide for my own needs and in the future for my wife.” But that’s not how God is leading Ruth and I to live. He is asking us to be fully dependent on Him, and on our fellow Christians for all our needs. Even though things don’t look promising now, He knows our needs and He will provide for us. We have to let go of that part of us that wants to be independent.

I also think about Romans 12:10 – “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Was that only talking about honoring the pastor above yourselves? No. It applies to everyone in the church. To often, the person sitting next to me in Church is suffering emotionally or financially or in their health, but I’m not at all interested in listening, praying for and helping them. My prayer is that I am more sensitive to the needs of my brothers and sisters in Christ – and have the guts to ask them how things are really going for them.

Engagement

It’s official, Ruth Spencer and I (Chris Young) are engaged! Now we can say that not only will we spend the rest of our lives together, but also that we will respond together to God’s call to mission. We were both already headed the same direction in life – now we can walk side by side.

Ruth and I met each other on board the M.V. Logos Hope – a ship that sails through God’s waiting world bringing knowledge through the good literature in it’s on-board bookstore, help for those in need, and the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ to people in every port city it visits. I was the Audio/Visual team leader, Ruth was the head teacher. We successfully ignored each other for 18 months of our time, our hearts set on serving God. Ruth has a passion for seeing kids of missionaries develop into healthy adults, and I have the passion to see technology and multimedia draw people to the heart of God.

In the beginning of 2011 we were in the same group of friends, and when by circumstance all of our other friends left for two weeks, we became good friends. God fostered a healthy friendship between us in a group of four, and at the right time both our feelings developed and I invited her to start a relationship. Of course in doing so I’m sure I barely managed to string a sentence together – I was so nervous, and Ruth hadn’t really seen our friendship in that light before – but after praying about it we decided to ‘go for it’.

We spent three months together as a couple on the ship, then a month apart, then a week together, then two-and-a-half months apart, then two months together in Australia. We’ve had the fun days, the exciting days, the romantic days, the boring days, the stressful days, the hard days and the sad days – and whilst we are neither of us perfect, we believe God put us together for good reasons, some of which we have discovered, and some we have yet to see.

Last Thursday we went to see Somersby falls – because of all the rain recently the waterfalls were in full swing. And when we had gazed a while on the falls and when we were left alone I asked her to marry me. Of course she said yes. I gave her a nice ring which I almost dropped in a puddle!

Ruth will be volunteering as the educational adviser for OM international including the ship ministry – supporting and resourcing the ship’s school, advising parents entering the mission field and recruiting teachers. She will also probably teach part time in some way to keep up with the education system in the UK. I will be joining the OMNIvision team – creating prayer resources featuring the unreached peoples of the world and providing the Audio Visual coverage of evangelistic and missional events across Europe.

It’s a little strange for us to consider starting a life together when neither of us have full time employment. It would be much easier for us to both go and get jobs, but we believe that God is calling us to be a part of the worldwide mission movement, enabling others to go and tell the good news about Jesus. Sometimes I am sad that I can’t accept engagement presents or take any of my furniture or appliances with me into our new life, but we see following God’s plan and purpose for our lives as more important, and ultimately more rewarding. Of course if you would like to bless us in our marriage and our mission, monthly sponsorships of as little as $5 are what we need most. Please contact me if you feel you would like to partner with us.

Chris and Ruth

OMNIvision

In April this year I am planning to move to the UK. “but why?” you might ask. The answer has to do with where God is leading me next in his plan for me. I know I wouldn’t have experienced the wonders that I did whilst traveling on the M.V. Logos Hope if I’d ignored God’s call – and now here I am again ready to head off.

You see, since I became a Christian (in my mid teens) I have had this focus. I want to use technology to help people draw closer to God. I want to get the technology out of the way of what He is saying to the Christian, and to the everyman. Have you ever been in a church service where the words never seem to come up on time? Or the microphone is never switched on at the start? Well I have, and I’ve made those mistakes too. Ultimately while we need the microphone and the screen in a large gathering, we don’t want to think about them instead of God and his purposes.

I’ve been looking for and praying for a way that I can use this passion in a more evangelistic sense. Whilst I love ministering to the saints – I feel a pull to be involved in some way in ministries that reach out to the unsaved. I am drawn to the big evangelistic events and the christian conferences that spur young Christians on to great things for God. I want to use what God has given me to enable others to reach the masses with the good news. I want to be a part of mobilising Christians to share their faith with their fellow students, their co workers, their families and even with people in other countries.

OMNIvision is a UK based division of Operation Mobilisation – an international mission orginisation with over 6100 full time missionaries in more than 110 countries. Whilst OMNIvision’s role in the wider organisation is small and unglorified, it is vital all the same, aiming  to fulfil psalm 96:3 – “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples”. It’s headquarters and studio is in Carlisle – on the Border of England and Scotland. Whilst they are involved in may of these large events across Europe, their core vision is achieved by creating 5-10 minute documentary videos.

Imagine if Christians around the world were aware of what God is doing in some of the most unreached places in the world. Imagine if they knew what to pray for, how to give and where they could go. OMNIvision’s professional camera crew travel to the places where the gospel is starting to take root and capture on video what is happening. Back at the studio, editors put together a short programme that transports the regular Christian from a cell group setting to the mission field – Seeing the faces, hearing the voices of the people who need Christ’s love. They are given key points to pray for. I will be involved in maintaining the OMNItube website where the videos are available to watch and download. Helping them to reach more people. OMNIvision are keen to have a developer like myself on the team.

I will be going there mid April 2012 and initially staying for 2 years, though I could possibly stay longer. I will be a volunteer, so I will need to provide $1800 per month to cover my accommodation, food, transport, insurance, superannuation and travel home. Of course without an income I need to depend on God to provide the funds for this call, and He does that through faithful sponsors who donate monthly anything from $12 to $100 and higher. If you would like to sponsor me for this amazing call, please contact me.

An update

Isn’t it amazing how time flies? It’s been over three months since I returned to Australia and it seems like only a few weeks. January has been a busy month in a sense, and yet there hasn’t been any big moments to write about, so please allow me to share with you what God has been doing with me in January

By far the most exciting part about January is that my girlfriend Ruth has come to visit me (and for February too!). For those who don’t know, Ruth and I met on the ship and started dating three months before we left to return home. She is a primary school teacher, loves God and is committed to missions. We have enjoyed a sprinkling of sightseeing amongst the very normal days of going to work and going to church. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to share meals with people who’ve prayed for me over the two years, and if you’d like to the the same, we’d be delighted.

One of the key projects I took on when returning home was to re-build the aging grace community website to cope with our ever expanding ministry. Whilst there’s still plenty to be done, I’ve been making steady progress and can now include a screen-shot for you. I hope to launch it early next month.

OM International (based in the UK) have asked me to put together a payment gateway for them allowing people to donate to the ship ministry directly from the website. It’s quite fun playing with credit card transactions and gateways and I’m learning a lot in the process.

Whilst the AV side has eased off this month, I’ve been able to install a more permanent system for the amplifiers at Grace Wamberal so to reduce wear and tear and setup time. I’m working on documenting every part of the AV system so nobody ever needs to be confused.

I am now in the process of applying for a UK visa. I went to Sydney recently to have my fingers and face scanned, and I’ll be sending in my application form next week. Please be in prayer that the application would all go well. I have my new brochures which I’ll be handing out, and I have a confirmed monthly support target and a breakdown of the costs involved.

I’ll be sharing at Grace Wamberal on February 12th and Erina Baptist on February 19th.

Please continue to be in prayer about my wrist injury. I have something called intersection syndrome which causes pain when twisting things (say, opening a jar) and using a computer – not good for a computer programmer! Progress has been made and prayer has helped, but there is still a journey to full recovery.

Christmas at Home

 

“We’re just glad to have you for Christmas” were my Mum’s kind words. After two years away from home missing Christmases and Birthdays, it was good to be home this year for my birthday, Christmas and New years. Often I think to myself that even though I would never change where God has taken me, I have in some way neglected my family and friends back home – that I’ve travelled the world doing God’s work, but left friends in the lurch. Spending this season at home, before jetting away again is an opportunity for me to make up for lost time. To spend quality time with my family, to help around the home where I can, to laugh, cry and hope with friends wherever they are at in life and to share with anyone who wants to know a little of what God has been doing in my life. My prayer is that God will use me in the time that I am here to bless people.

I was also delighted to spend this Christmas Eve at Grace Wamberal. I put in many hours of planning and two days of maintenance work to bring our lighting installation up to scratch for the carols service. It was so rewarding to see it on the night – everything working and arranged for the best coverage. Few if any people commented on the lighting this year, and that’s actually the way that I think it should be. They didn’t notice it at all, rather they were rejoicing and celebrating Jesus birth. When large numbers of people notice what I do, whether positive or negative – I know I’ve done something wrong, because my job is to point to the saviour, not to wow people with special effects.

As the new year dawns, I’ll be getting back to working in the church office on websites near and far in addition to continuing work on the audio visual equipment. I hope to be of the best use to the kingdom of God that I can be during these summer months at home. In April I will be heading over to England to be involved in an Audio/Visual missions movement called OMNIvision. I wish you and your families and friends all the best for 2012.

The Christmas Story

Waiting for the show to start, my Dad and I were a little nervous. Everything seemed to be working, but we felt like just about anything could go wrong. Dad and I had teamed up to provide the audio coverage of The Christmas story at the Hive in Erina Fair – our local shopping centre. Local churches Erina Baptist and Green Point Baptist came together to perform the Christmas story with Mary and Joseph riding in on a donkey, shepherds with sheep and wise men riding on camels through the shops! Passing shoppers stopped to watch the kids pre-show and listen to the carols and commented that they loved the singing.

After the show, we could take a deep breath and thank God that the show went well. I also though to myself that I am really lucky to live in a country where we are allowed to put on a Christmas play about Jesus and nobody tries to stop us. I am also really thankful that churches and individuals have stuck their hand up and said ‘We want to do this’. Without them, this message would be completely absent from my favourite shopping centre and public meeting place.

As Christmas approaches rapidly I am helping with these shows – two more will happen on Thursday and Friday night at the Hive at 6pm – and I’m busy preparing Grace Wamberal’s Audio/Visual gear for the possibility of Christmas Eve inside if it rains. And as the day draws nearer and everyone around is making last minute preparations for Christmas, I too start to feel the stress. Isn’t it nice though, to go to Christian run carols events, or to events like ‘Road to Bethlehem’, to watch movies like ‘The Nativity Story’ or simply to read through Luke 1 & 2 and marvel at the miracle that happened on that first Christmas. God became man, dwelt among us – and he came to restore us to right relationship with himself. It all causes me to think – how is my relationship with Jesus right now?

God’s strength in me

“Thank you for sharing with us today, I really enjoyed listening – you spoke so well” – It’s great to receive compliments like this, but even better still it’s great to see the ways in which God has helped me to grow over the last two years – and one of those is public speaking. When I left home two years ago standing on stage was a painful experience – I would break out in a sweat and stammer over my words, looking at my notes for some sort of help. During my time on board I found myself many times being asked to stand on a stage in a church and tell people about the ship or tell them about what God has done in my life. I won’t lie, this terrified me! But I soon realised that His strength is perfect when my strength is gone, so I said to God that I would do my best but He would have to get me through it, and I managed. Now after so many experiences like this, it has become much easier to trust Him. Last night I was speaking at Erina Community Baptist Church and as it was coming time for me to speak, I felt God challenge me to not just tell people what *I* had done, but to tell them what He    had done through me. So my notes weren’t as helpful and it didn’t sound very practiced, but in the end God gave me the right words to encourage people that God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called – and also that He will reveal to us the next step at the right time, not sooner.

So after speaking at Erina and also at Green Point Christian College last Wednesday and at Grace Community Church two weeks ago, this completes my thanksgiving speaking tour. Early next year I will be visiting Churches to tell people what God has in store for me next at OMNIvision. I look forward to that.

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