Alex, I and our three children are based in a large city in southeast Asia. It’s the second largest city in the country with 3 million residents and we enjoy being by the sea and having the mountains nearby.
Alex and I both serve at an international church in the city as an intern pastor and a women’s worker respectively. The church is small by international standards, with about 70 people attending each week. We enjoy a wonderful mix of people – we have English teachers, international students, expat families, and some locals who have experiences of living abroad or are married to foreigners. We have people from the US, UK, South Africa, Indonesia, Peru, Ghana, and various other countries, and although the teaching is in English, we translate the sermon into two different languages each week.
Because of the diversity within our church, we have unique opportunities and challenges. We have wonderful opportunities to invest in people who are at various stages in their faith from all sorts of backgrounds. This brings a certain spirit and colour to church family life.
Here are some people we have been walking alongside: a non-Christian Korean high school graduate who wanted to practice her English and came to Bible study regularly, a Christian American English teacher who experienced intense child abuse and is now in regular counselling sessions with me, a Peruvian lady working at a company in the city who has recently returned to faith, an African international student who is from a Catholic background, a White-Asian couple with domestic and child abuse issues who have separated for the time being and are now in counselling with the church leadership. Isn’t it amazing that God brings all of us together in Christ?
But whilst there are many exciting opportunities, we also face some unique challenges. We are very spread apart – some people travel nearly 2 hours to come to church, because there are not many international churches. We are also a very transient church – almost all the expats leave move on after two or three years. Therefore, it is difficult to establish a stable core and leadership.
We have three elders, including Alex, and the other two elders (including the pastor) are both planning to leave the country this year. We also don’t have nearly enough Bible study leaders, because we don’t have extended period of time to get to know and invest in people.
We are limited — by time, by energy, by children(!), by people, by language, by leaders, by weakness, by sin. But our limitations drive us to the One who has none, who wrote every language, who created minutes and hours and who delights to use limited humans in his plan to unite all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Ephesians 1:9).
So, we persevere in the grace, strength and finite time God gives us and trust his work among us. We welcome people and get to know them by inviting them over. We lead various Bible studies in-person and online, in English and in the local language and run a bi-monthly leaders’ training program to equip people. We discuss the practicalities of church services and events, and counsel people in their need. We are both studying to be equipped further (Alex is doing a Masters in Christian Ministry and I am doing a Masters in Biblical Counselling). Ministry can be difficult and feel slow at times, but we are thankful that we serve him who loved us first. We are excited to be a small part of how God’s kingdom is growing in unseen ways here.