Back at Relay 1 - 22 years later...

This summer we had the privilege of being invited to speak at the World Mission Night of UCCF's Relay 1 conference.

In September 1996, Jonathan and I went to Relay 1, the orientation training conference for Relay Workers on UCCF's graduate training programme. We had both been involved in our university Christian Unions our whole student lives and had been significantly blessed and developed as we'd served on the Executive Committees of our CUs; attending UCCF's regional and national training conferences and beginning to grasp what gospel ministry involved. We both applied to Relay and were accepted onto the programme to continue to live and work in our university cities (Birmingham and York). We'd never met. We happened to sit by each other in the first morning session on the first full day of the conference. Little did we know what a massive impact Relay would have on our lives. 

Relay is how we met, but it's so much more than that. Relay has shaped so much of our life and ministry together: the agenda, the principles and our outlook. The focus of much of the teaching of Relay, as it equips young gospel workers starting out in ministry, is grace and the call, in a 2 Timothy 2:2-style, to pass on what we are learning. With the gospel of grace as our foundation and motivation, we were encouraged to LEARN and to find those "faithful others" to pass that on to. It continues to encourage us to see how Relay has impacted not just UCCF, but IFES worldwide and the church in the UK and abroad.

And so, 22 years on, we found ourselves back in the Severn Lodge Meeting Room speaking to this years' Relay Workers, with our four children listening. Jonathan spoke from the "classic text for world mission" (his words), Ezra 1, and a bit from Ephesians 3.

Severn Lodge Meeting Room

The Ezra passage points to God's priority (which has always been his priority, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22) to establish his dwelling with people, and to have a people who are his own, and who enjoy his presence forever. The mission that God has left in the stewardship of his people is to be part of the building of his temple - which Ezra 1 points to, which Jesus fulfils in his own body, and which Ephesians 3 shows is the task to be continued until the end. We had an opportunity to encourage the 75 staff and Relay workers to consider how they might contribute to this in whatever small way, and to remind them that though the needs are great and unending in the UK, they are perhaps greater and less begun in many other parts of the world, and certainly in almost all of continental Europe.

I gave my testimony really on the impact that Relay had on my worldview and my attitude to world mission. It went something like this:

I don't come from a mish-kid background and I grew up thinking missionaries were sad, losers who didn't like British culture and that's why they went somewhere else. I'd see them in their ill-fitting Laura Ashley or home-made dresses and think, "No, that is not for me. I love England. Why would I live somewhere else?" And, even here, at Relay 1's World Mission Night, I remember praying for two ex-Relay Workers who were working with IFES in Siberia and thinking, "They're CRAZY! Who would go to SIBERIA?! I'll pray for them, but I'm not impressed. Rather them than me."

Relay 1996-97 at Relay 1 on the lawn at Quinta, September 1996

So, it all came as a bit of a shock when, at Relay 2, the January conference, in a church hall in Edinburgh, God challenged me to sort out my priorities. Rose Dowsett was speaking on World Mission and she made a couple irrefutable statements about God:

1. God is your loving Heavenly Father and he knows what's best for you
2. God is the God of the WHOLE WORLD

Then she made one annoyingly logical argument:

• If that's true, who are you to say, "I will serve you, God, this far and no further"?

That was annoying, because I couldn't argue with that. Then she gave one challenge:

• If you can't argue with that, can I challenge you to pray that you'll be willing to go wherever God wants to send you.

Well, I love a challenge. But not one like that! So, despite my best efforts, I found myself in a position where, against my will, I prayed something like this, "Lord, you know I'm not happy about this, but you are God and I am not, and you do know what's best for me. So, if you really want to, I'm up for going wherever and doing whatever you think is best." I felt like Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing when she says, "Against my will. I am send to bid you to come in for dinner." (Act 2 Scene 3!)

When Jonathan and I first talked about dating, he was clear that he didn't want to go out with someone who wouldn't consider going overseas. God, in his grace, had prepared me for this. I had already, independently and months before, prayed that prayer. I could tell Jonathan, with impunity, that I was willing to go wherever. And I'm so glad God had done that. I'm sure that, if I hadn't prayed that prayer in January, in late March I would have been so eager to go out with Jonathan, I'd have agreed to anything. Then, in all the hardships and struggles of the past 12 years in Greece, I might have blamed Jonathan for bringing us here, or myself for agreeing to be with him. Instead I have been able to see it as part of God's will and for my sanctification.

At Relay 3, the June conference, *spoiler alert* there will probably be a talk (or at least there was in my day...) that will challenge to think about where they might be in 10 years' time. A challenge to set a straight path in discipleship and faith with gospel priorities whatever the circumstances. Exactly 10 years after I prayed that prayer, we had been living in Athens for just over a week.  

It hasn't been easy. There have been many tears and frustrations and disappointments along the way. But, 12 years' into living in Greece, I know it's worth it, even if I don't always feel that way. God has not used me according to my strengths and gifts a lot of the time and he has wrecked my pride in terrible, wonderful and ongoing ways. Language learning is hideous. Fascinating but hideous. Sounding like an idiot and feeling like an outsider are not nice. But we're called to be aliens and strangers and I am longing for a better country - a heavenly one, in a Hebrews 11-style. 

So, I challenge you to think: Is God the God of the whole world? Is he your loving Heavenly Father who knows what's best for you? Then don't limit where or how you will serve him. Let him be God. Be open to being made into the person he wants you to be.

We didn't sugar coat, neither did we put undue pressure on anyone. Our aim was to set forth the truth plainly and provide stimulus for a challenge. There were plenty of good conversations going on over the next hour or so and a number of Relay Workers have expressed an interest in Relay Homestart, the programme that prepares and supports Relay Workers to serve with an IFES movement somewhere else in the world for at least a year after Relay. When I was Relay Administrator, my boss, Andy Shudall, started that programme, and two of our colleagues here in Greece, Tim and Nicky, first came to Greece as Homestarters.

Relay 1 "Bedtime Story" September 2001

We were very aware of the poignancy of our role at Relay 1. Conscious of how God was using us to make his mission to take the good news of the gospel of grace resonate in the hearts of those Relay Workers. We knew what it might be like for them; we'd sat in their seats; we weren't asking them to do anything we hadn't already done. It was a real privilege and responsibility to be involved. 

Ten years ago (there's a theme here...) we visited Forum and I wrote a blog about it (which you can read here). After his talk on John 20:21, John Piper challenged two groups to stand. The first group, those that felt called to commit vocational (whole-life) cross-cultural mission, somewhere between 150 and 200 stood. The second group those that felt called to do some short-term cross-cultural mission - a week, a month, a year or two - a further 400 stood. I was overwhelmed by the enormity of seeing students respond to the call to go to all nations. I wanted to warn them of how painful it was going to be and advise them to think more carefully. 

I didn't feel any of that helplessness this time. I understand the cost; I understand the call; I know the value of responding in faith. We both teared up in our talks. We want to see people take action, to know the cost and count it worth it.

Please pray for these Relay Workers, and the staff, that they would respond to the challenge, whatever that looks like. And pray especially for the 20 or so who are considering Homestart as an option. Ben, the current Relay Coordinator, would like to see at least 10 Relay Workers join Homestart.

We were so encouraged and blessed by our brief time at Relay 1. It was GREAT to be able to join in on a end-of-day Relay staff team meeting and hear staff feeding back on how the Relay Workers are doing. It was like the old days when Jonathan and I were on Relay staff. The kids loved it too and some are considering if they might want to be Relay Workers some day...

I want to dedicate this post to a few key influences during our time on Relay especially: Nigel Pollock, Tim Rudge, Andy Shudall, Richard Cunningham, Neil Powell, Rose Dowsett.