I’m often asked the question “Why England?”  Be it in America or over here in England, everyone wants to know the why. Each time I ask myself the same, and always come to the same answer. Because we love.  We love the country, the climate (well, most of us) and the scenery.  But most of all, we love the people.  For those of us called to travel “across the pond,” we have a connection unlike any other.  

That’s how it works, doesn’t it?  In our Christian life, God places a calling in us to go and connect with others.  Some are called locally, some nationally, and others in various parts of the world. Our calling is England, more particularly the people of Guisborough and North Yorkshire.  

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Invariably once I’ve answered the “why,”  I get asked, “What do you do over there?”  That answer is simple.  We plant seeds.  We simply sow seeds of the Gospel, the Good News.  We talk to anyone and everyone.  We go into the schools.  We help lead sports camps.   We lead youth groups.  We work in community centers and senior citizen homes.  We help lead VBS or “Holiday Clubs” as our British friends call it.   We partner with the Guisborough Bridge, UK-USA Ministries, Axiom Sports and Guisborough Methodist Church.

Our goal is simple and that is to tell  people who Jesus is. We want to bring the light of Christ back to a people who brought it to us in America so many years ago.  England is a country that is so bright, beautiful and full of so many fantastic people, yet so dark with the lack of knowledge of salvation.

St. Francis of Assisi said, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”  We want to be that candle, that light in Guisborough. So we plant.  

Slowly we have begun to see signs of growth.  Our prayer is that we have and will continue to plant the kind of seeds which are like those in Matthew 13:8.  We pray our seeds fall on good ground, take root, and produce a hundred fold.  Pray for this place called England.  Pray for these people we love.