Week Twenty-Nine - The End of the Ride

Every ride comes to an end, no matter how long or arduous. Our ride with the Border Agency went smoothly for over fifteen years, and then it took one big nose-dive. This past Friday, July 14, we received an email stating that our sponsorship license had been revoked with no further recourse for appeal. So we stepped off the rollercoaster. 

Do you know that feeling? Your head is still reeling and spinning as you try to reorient yourself to solid ground. That is how we feel right now. We have informed all our missionaries that they must move speedily to plan B. Otherwise, they have sixty days to leave the country. Thankfully, nearly all of them have been diligent in getting plan B in place. Only a few have been left hanging and are now scrambling to find a new sponsor.

While we feel deep grief at the closing of this door, we look back at the miraculous way God opened it in the first place and rejoice in the nearly 60 missionary families who have come and gone through this process. It has been a blessed ministry with over 25 churches planted and hundreds of souls saved.

As we watch to see what else God will do, missionaries face the challenge of taking on a sponsorship license through their ministries, and the challenge is being given to the British to take a more active part in church planting. It is time to stop relying on the missionaries to do what the British are equipped to do.

While we have peace in our hearts that our time on the rollercoaster is done, the need for others to step up by faith and find creative ways to keep the ministry of church planting and evangelism alive in the UK is never more evident. 

Can you please pray for the need in Britain? Pray God will direct those willing to apply for a license. Pray that they can navigate the new requirements. Pray for those trying to stay on the field that they find a new sponsor. And most of all, pray God enables us to keep the light aflame and burn it into the hearts of the British nationals.

Thank you to all of you who have followed us on this path and kept the situation in prayer. God has answered, and now we watch for His further hand of blessing.