Divine Voyagers

We have officially booked flights for our second survey mission and, much like the movie series, we’re all hoping it will end after two. 

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How will this one be different from last time? 

We have learned a lot after our last survey mission, not to the point that we regret going but to the point where, if we knew then what we knew now, we probably wouldn’t have gone. 

• We realised we aren’t feeling directed to a certain people group (eg; the Balkans) but to a certain type of ministry (English teaching for Patty and discipleship and training for Tom). Getting access to the PI database of teams meant that we could look for people mentioning those as priorities. 
• We are looking for teams with more of a ‘track team’ mentality (athletics for Aussies), where everyone is doing their own thing but supporting each other for the same goals, rather than a ‘basketball team’ mentality, where everyone is doing the same thing. This gives us a bit of independence while still providing support and accountability. 
• We are looking for people who want to stick around long term. While that’s not something team members always know – a lot of people have been impacted by Covid in the past few years in particular, in ways no one could have foreseen- it is a dealbreaker for us now.
• We need to be within a stone’s throw of a city but we also don’t want to be so caught up in what we are doing that we don’t have time for ministry. I decided after I did my rural prac placement that I wasn’t suited to the country. However, we have also talked to some teams that operate in huge cities (eg; Paris and Vienna) and realised that we don’t want to live in an apartment and work full time without flexibility, especially as we plan to bring Luna along and hope to start a family.
• We have made sure the teams are looking for new team members and could picture us joining them. 

These reflections have meant that we aren’t going to visit some teams, or we haven’t even gotten past the introductory email. We are a lot more aware of what we need and what we’re looking for, and have had multiple conversations with people, as well as involved our mobiliser a lot more (it’s a mobiliser’s job to take care of appointees from the searching stage to basically the moment they go overseas). 

If you have any questions, feel free to drop us a message – we want to be as above board as possible.

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So, where are we going?

Basque, France 

My dad sent me this comedy skit of Robin Williams as a phoney tele-evangeliser, and this is how it ended: 

I have to admit, it’s a beautiful place – close to the beach, surrounded by rolling hills. Ernest Hemingway set part of ‘The Sun Also Rises’ in the nearby city of Bayonne. However, France is a legally secular country and has a very complicated relationship with religion, meaning only about 1.23%* of the population considers themselves ‘evangelical Christians’**. It is illegal to proselytise (eg; preach on the street), talk about religion in public spaces and people are generally uncomfortable talking about faith as having no religion is widely accepted. 

The Basque people see themselves as a separate people group, living in the far south of France, crossing over into Spain, and have a 1% evangelical population. While they speak their own language, the Basque in France speak French as well. 

What are they doing? 

R+N are elders in a local church and have also tried to start plants in the area around their town, Saint-Palais. They told us local Christians gather for prayer walks, where each week they walk around an unreached town and ask God to plant a church there. Having sold their property in the US, they plan to spend their retirement in France and have been there for four years. On top of church stuff, they run an English club for locals who are keen to learn in order to help their job prospects or before they travel, and are both avid evangelists, using different tools to talk to people about Jesus in their day to day lives including R’s hat and the ‘Evangecube’. They also mentioned that there is a huge influx of refugees into France, which also opens up gospel opportunities – quite often the refugees will be more open to talking than the locals. 

What would you be doing? 

For both places, we would start with language learning. There is a nearby school aimed at teaching basic French for Christians over a few months. Other than trying to restart their local church, which currently has nowhere to meet, Tom would hopefully be involved in mentoring and discipling some people locally, while I could help with the English club and maybe help start a youth group. There is a church and a small Christian school in Bayonne that we are eager to visit, about 40 minutes away, and they have also expressed needs for more musicians, and people to get alongside locals. 

Belica, Croatia 

What are they doing? 

B+H live in a small rural area that is about 10 minutes away from the nearest city, pastoring the local church. B grew up in that area, and when he became a Christian, he realised the need for someone to shepherd the locals. H actually came to the area with her parents as a missionary kid, where she met B and they decided to go to the States for Bible college before returning to the town and settling down with their family. 

What would you be doing? 

Language learning in Croatia would be a much longer process, especially as we have no experience with it. They have a vision for both growth in the church and in the surrounding areas. Having lived in the area for so long, they have seen churches flourish and fold, and are praying for more workers to help them as they can personally see so much work to be done but no one to get that work started. They run English classes which have room to grow and are also looking for more musicians to help with worship. Tom would begin by helping locally and maybe one day help to plant a church in a neighbouring village. 

Prayer points 

• For safety, particularly as we are hiring a car in France and Tom is going to drive on the other side of the road.
• For wisdom, both as we get to know both couples more and explore the surrounding regions. I’m curious to know how ‘rural’ both areas are, and keen to see the different opportunities in person. 
• For guidance on where we should live. As much as I know this time will be different, there is always the chance we won’t find a place, or we will be equally in love with both places. It’s emotionally tiring to keep your heart and eyes open to opportunities, and meeting new people. 
• For rest. We are keen to explore a little earlier in the year as we have spent the past two summers overseas (2022 for a holiday, 2023-2024 for our first survey mission), and because we are also keen to get on the field as soon as possible, but the trip will be squished in between two terms for me, and using up Tom’s annual leave again, so he doesn’t really get a break. We will be spending a few days in the U.S. at the start as a holiday, but the two weeks of scouting will be quite tiring for two introverts trying to make life-altering decisions. 

Please be praying for us as we set out!

*All stats on the Christian population are sourced from joshuaproject.net 

** While there are large Catholic churches throughout France, including in the Basque, in discussion with R+N, they explained that the Catholics are still trapped in religiosity. Although they know about Jesus, they don’t know or understand the gospel, and can also be quite nominal. Ministry is still important amongst them so they can see the freedom and transformation that can come with faith.