More goodbyes

This is a post I wanted to write last week, but we've been swamped... sorry for the delay!

Although we were excited to move back to Austria this month, that also meant more goodbyes. We know living the life as a missionary will always involve a lot of goodbyes alongside the many hellos, but that doesn't make experiencing it any easier. We were blessed with a wonderful community in England and we're thankful to have spent time there.

Here are some of the things we said goodbye to last week...

Friends from church and our fellow WorldVenture missionaries

Our German tutor, Ulla

The opportunity to teach and preach in English!

Some wonderful kids

Baby sheep! (Many pastures had lambs just born before we left)

Not pictured: 

• Assembled furniture 
• Delicious cheddar cheese
• A proper cup of tea
• A (temporary) sense of stability!

One Lonely Sweet Potato

Today is our last full day in England. We have many mixed feelings about leaving. We are so excited to head back to Vienna and begin to make it our home, but we will miss the people we got to know here. At this point, it feels like we have become experts at winding down a home. Bethany expertly planned out our last week of meals so that all we have left is this one sweet potato (and a bunch of very strong English mustard that we won't be eating). She did a pretty spectacular job. 

Usually this sort of sight would mean we are in real need of a run to the supermarket. We do our best to have fresh fruits and veggies in our kitchen to cook with. But today, this lonely sweet potato was another reminder that we are moving on. It reminded me that things are changing again. It reminded me that we won't get to cook in this kitchen again, but that we have new kitchens to look forward to. 

I hope I have come to a balanced view of transition. I have to embrace the good things that are to come: we have so many things to look forward to with our first spring and summer in Austria. But I also have to mourn the losses. Yesterday in our language lesson, our teacher taught us how to say, "if we had had more time, we would have....", and we worked on filling in the blank and then explaining why we didn't visit Stonehenge or go for more walks in the city. (Most of our reasons had to do with English weather, which is a different conversation all together.) I must mourn not having sheep for neighbors, and watching the cats stalk around the garden while I do my German homework.  I'll mourn our time with the church here and knowing that we are really making a difference with our colleagues. These are important things to remember, but we must also celebrate the time we had. 

As we have been planning our new apartment in Austria, I have thought about Psalm 84. Here are the first two stanzas:

 1How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O Lord of hosts!
² My soul longs, yes, faints
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to the living God.

³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever singing your praise!

Whereever we live, we need to remember that our dwelling place is with the Lord. 

Ok, off to finish packing! 

Contextualizing with Tea

The tea station at our church here in England

If you've read about or studied missions, you've probably heard of the term "contextualization". It's a long word for a pretty simple, yet important, concept. Contextualization basically means looking at a culture and asking "how should and can the gospel be expressed here?".  When we take Christ's message of salvation into a new culture, we do not compromise that message...but what we do need to change is how it is communicated and expressed based on the unique cultural context. How Christians express and live out their faith differs from country to country, dependent on cultural values and traditions, and this affects what Christian community looks like.

For example, things like translating the Bible into the common cultural language, engaging in (non-sinful) cultural traditions, wearing traditional dress and playing culturally-relevant music can be ways that missionaries engage in contextualization. In Austria, it can mean allowing time after each church service for eating and socializing together, as relaxed time to develop relationships is highly valued in Austrian culture.

Tea is always served with sugar and milk.

Here in England, one way that the missionaries contextualize is by offering tea to everyone who comes into the church service. This may seem like a small gesture, but it carries with it an important message. In British culture, tea is a popular drink but also something that brings people together. Social gatherings always involve tea, and offering someone tea is a welcoming gesture of hospitality. When we offer someone tea at church, it invites them in to be a part of the community. It says "welcome" and it makes them feel comfortable, giving them something to enjoy that is comforting and familiar.

When we get back to Austria, we look forward to exploring the culture and discovering new and creative way to contextualize. Our goal will be to plant a church that is distinctly Austrian, so that when people walk into a church gathering or service, they feel at home and welcome.

How does the church in your country contextualize?

Christianity Explored

Adding stickers to what seemed like 10,000 CE postcards

Our Lichfield WorldVenture team is gearing up for starting a Christianity Explored course in the local neighborhood! Similar to the Alpha course, Christianity Explored is focused on helping new believers or people who are searching. It offers a safe place to ask questions and explore the basics of Christianity and what we believe.

We will be starting a 7-week course in early February and in preparation, we've been distributing postcards all over the neighborhood. Our teammates are really focused on their local neighborhood (which they call an "estate"), especially since the church meets in the community center. Last Wednesday, we spend an hour or two adding course information stickers to many, many Christianity Explored postcards. Then we ventured out, dropping them in every mailbox in the neighborhood! We each had a zone to cover and were out there for about 2 - 3 hours going door to door.

Although it was a tiring day, we're praying that a few people from the area have interest in the course and see it as an opportunity to get their questions answered in a safe, welcoming environment.

Would you pray with us, that God stirs the hearts of some local people to come and explore Christianity with us?

Another 3 Months

It seems like our lives have been stints of 3 months for quite awhile now.

We haven't been stationary for much more than 3 months in a long time. In the States before we left for Europe, we bounced around the country as we said goodbye to people and places and raised support. It was a lot of transition all the time. So...coming to Vienna was a nice change. Compared to our last year, arriving in Vienna felt like our first semi-permanent situation in awhile.

But now we have closed out those first 3 months, and we are on to our second to last section of the journey here in Lichfield, England. We're so new here, I had to look up the spelling of the town. We are excited to see what God does with our time here, but it still a bit difficult to adjust yet again to a new place. We can't wait to learn from our co-laborers here and to get involved in the ministry they are doing. We are so thankful that God has walked with us on the journey, and we know that He will continue to provide all that we need.

The transition here was hard. I think it was the combination of a quiet Christmas away from our families, lots of free time to think about that, the stress of our visa application process, and having to pack up and move again. All of that made for an emotional last week in Vienna. I think Bethany and I are both thankful that we made it through the last week, and we can begin the settling process in this new place.

The constant through all of this has been God's faithfulness. Even though transitions are tough, it's been evident that God's hand has been in each one. We've had places to stay, needed resources, and supportive team members and friends at each juncture. He has gone before and paved the way in really clear ways. We're so thankful.

And so, the adventure we call 'following God' continues!

What is the adventure that God has you on right now?