Mid-April and the sun is out. There is a direct correlation between sunshine and feeling happy! I have been re-reading some blog posts from the Uganda episode in life, and I'm whisked straight back to the dusty roads of Kampala and the baking heat of late afternoon. Sadly, we are not quite at those lofty temperatures in Nottingham.
Just as the season is changing here, so the season in my life is also transitioning. It should not come as a surprise, and yet it has. God has always clearly led me through life: from Peterborough to the States, onto to the University of Nottingham, down to Essex, down further to Uganda, and back up to Nottingham. He has always placed a specific desire in my heart and then fulfilled it in His time. Big decisions in life have not really been decisions - I have merely done what I wanted to do!
And so when God told me to come back to Nottingham, specifically to Grace Church and to get involved with social justice ministries, that is what I did. And I have found a deep sense of joy and 'rightness' whilst cleaning toilets at Rally, Street Pastoring until 5am, busying around buying Christmas presents for the children of prisoners, making toasties at the Winter Shelter... When I first came to Nottingham, I secretly had the thought that if I got busy with social justice ministries, then folks at Grace Church would notice and ask me to come and do it as a job. And they have.
Grace Church currently runs a few social justice ministries, hosts others, and dreams of more. The Social Hub houses the Food Bank which is accessible to people referred by a Nottingham agency. Similarly the Baby Basics bank will soon be launched, offering people parcels of baby-related resources. The church has members who are really involved in Nottingham Citizens, identifying and tackling the underlying problems in the city. Grace Church supports members who are involved with Rally, Street Pastors, the Jericho Road Project and Nightstop.
It is a tremendous honour to be preparing to work for Grace Church within this most precious and vital area of social justice ministry. Ruth Woodcraft and others have laid a strong foundation for the Social Hub, and I am praying that I can begin to fill some very large shoes. Jon Brown has loved the Tuesday Lunch Club and shaped it to be a growing and effective ministry, alongside Ron and Una. I pick up the baton from him, unable to replace him, but eager to get involved.
There is a very real sadness to be leaving IVP. This book publisher and distributor of Christian resources operates with real integrity and passion. Having glimpsed the inside, I can commend this organisation to you 100% without reservation, and I am really mourning leaving the IVP family and my work.
It is an honour to look back on the last 31 years and see how the Lord has blessed me beyond what I could have hoped, imagined or planned. The shape of life is very different to how I assumed it would be as a 17 year old, but the fullness and depth of experience that I have gained has surpassed all my expectations. I look forward to the next season, trusting that God will take my small efforts and small ability and invest them in eternal things.
What fun!
