So What’s the Point?

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time making phone calls, shooting texts, and arranging meetings. I have had the opportunity to dedicate more time to prayer, to reading my Bible, and to think through what and how God is leading us. It’s been a time to set aside my feelings and personal motivations and really consider the step Aleah and I are taking with our lives: to uproot our young family and pursue missions in the United Kingdom for two years, an ocean away from home, with a missions organization many consider to be a “hard sell."

“Why not just do the same thing in America?” “How do you know you’re called?” “Are you sure this is where the Lord is leading you?"

Yeah, these are hard questions to answer. But our trust remains in the Lord, that he will lead the way and provide our needs; not necessarily that he will carry us to where we think, but that he will place us where he intends us to be.

Why the United Kingdom? Isn’t that a well-developed country with ample access to the Gospel?

History might lead one to believe that there is little need for mission work in the UK, and that may have been true a few short decades ago, but it is no longer the truth. Here are a few quick statistics:

33% of UK adults do not know a practicing Christian. These individuals are likely to be under the age of 35 (39%) or between 35-44 (24%). (Barna Group)

4 out of 10 British adults do not believe Jesus was a real, historical figure. Even more staggering, that only 1 in 5 believe Jesus is God in the flesh. (Barna Group)

"The best statistics would suggest that little more than 3% of the population as a whole are born-again believers who are meaningfully associated with a local church.” (Knowing the Times)

Where does this leave the Church in the UK? In reality, the Christian leaders there are dwindling in number and facing greater challenges as the average adult has fewer encounters with the gospel and the culture as a whole grows antagonistic to Christianity. The nation is quickly descending into secularism and, as John Stevens in Knowing the Times puts it, "the urgent [need] in the UK is to recognise that we are in a missionary situation and not revival context.” (p. 11)

Churches in the United Kingdom are in great need of more gospel-centered leaders who are committed to true discipleship and are bold in their faith. It is to this need that Aleah and I are eager to go and support; to aid a local church in discipleship and strengthen the local body in order that they may organically raise up leaders who are eager to share the gospel with their darkening nation.

How does AT3 aim to meet this need?

The concept is simple: many students graduate from bible colleges and seminaries and begin to search for full-time ministry positions, but struggle to find one. In the UK, many ministries and churches search for men and women equipped for gospel work, but the pool to draw from is small. AT3 was born with the goal to bridge these two groups: to connect future leaders to ministries in need, with the intention to train both the student and the church. The student will receive an academic degree and hands-on experience working in ministry, and the church will learn how to train its next leaders and be strengthened to grow organically. Ken Lippold, the founder of AT3, wrote a phenomenal post on this goal and mission here, and I would suggest you read it. He does a far better job explaining this relationship than I can!

What this means is that while yes, strictly at face value, I receive further academic training and ministry experience. But to look at it exclusively in this way misses the entire point of AT3! The goal here is to provide a much needed aid to the local church in such a way that they are strengthened in their discipleship and evangelism efforts, with a refined ability to raise gospel-centered leaders in the midst of a darkening culture.

Where this leaves us

Aleah and I are currently in our support-raising phase of this mission work. We see the Lord’s calling on our lives to serve in this ministry, and are eager to follow where he leads. The significant reason we need financial support is so that we are not a burden to the church we go to support. But even greater, we need spiritual support as we endeavor on this journey. The Lord delights to answer the prayers of his children, so we are asking more-so that you would pray that God would direct our steps and we would be humble to follow him. We aim to make each decision and take each day as the Lord wills, not by what we desire.

Do you have questions for us? Do you want to know more about what we’re doing or why? Contact one of us. Leave a note in the box below and let us know you want to talk. We are eager to share our heart for this ministry!

Will you consider financially supporting us as we follow God’s leading? You can follow this link and click the “Support Now” button next to our picture. Lastly, please do pray for us. This season of support-raising and pursuing the ministry we believe the Lord is calling us to is dependent on prayer. Thank you for taking your time to read this post and connect with us!