Saturday, October 4, 2008

The churches of the United Kingdom

On our recent anniversary trip, Lynne and I were privileged to not only visit the Kiev church, but also the Birmingham, England church led by Andy and Tammy Fleming.  We spent four days with them, including a two-day retreat with all the leaders (most of them lay leaders) of the United Kingdom churches (and those of Scotland and Ireland as well!).  Here's a clip of the retreat (some of you will recognize Malcolm and Penny Cox, Mike deSouza, and the Flemings), with a little "shout out" to Seattle:


The leaders of those churches have struggled and overcome in their quest for a more mature kind of unity between the churches (not unlike what we've forged here in the Northwest family of churches).  It was a GREAT honor to add our experiences to theirs on how to build respectful yet humble unity, and how to build the local works with "costly stones."

Lynne and I both feel that in the days to come, we will be building more ties with these churches--stay tuned!

1 comment:

Tonia Wharton said...

US family needs temp housing in Birmingham, England....help!

My son, Tim and his wife and 3 1/2 year old daughter will be traveling from Seattle, Washington to stay in Birmingham (Dec 12, 2008 - Jan 12, 2009). Tim is a Pastor in Tacoma Washington, his wife is a part-time school teacher.

Tim is working on his Phd (via the internet) through the University of Birmingham. They will need to live in Birmingham for 6 months prior to him getting his degree; which is why they are traveling to Birmingham this year to check out housing, transportation, and the school.

We are looking for a church or group of families from a church fellowship to reach out to them and help with housing and fellowship. We know this being the holidays it may be hard to ask families to add another thing to an already busy schedule. Any help that is offered will be truly appreciated!!

If you can help (or know someone in the church) with inexpensive housing, fellowship and transportation during this time; please contact me directly at: momwasright@hotmail.com or you may call me at 425-413-8357 (US number)

We will be glad to provide references for Tim and his wife.

Thank you for your consideration,
Susan