THE BIG FAMILY.
God is community. Father, Son, Spirit display in perfect unity the delight of cohesive relationship and purpose. When Abraham has his eyes lifted to the unparalleled lightshow that is the night-time cosmos, the “wow” of God’s creative diversity was incomprehensible (Gen 15:5). This however was superseded by the revelation of the ultimate purposes of our eternal Father to display his glory, image and beauty in something far more intimate… a worldwide family… each relationally interconnected with each other through himself.
Coming to the end of his life (Gen 22, and 23) an even older Abraham watched the sands of time slip through his fingers, as he walked into the future trusting God for the next generation and many to come. He contemplated the micro-complexity of the promises of God, the sheer scale and ultimate impossibility of it. Yet these same hands had held proof of impossibility - his own Son. The promises of God are true and Amen, reliable for considered action. Walking by faith doesn’t demand that we know the minutiae of God’s sovereign diary, it does however demand that we trust the hand who writes History (“His- story”) in the lives of people.
Genesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
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| Lift your eyes and see the size of the family plan God has included you in. |
HAPPY FAMILY
Covid lockdown has been a brutal test of family dynamics. Some families who struggled and fractured before, were then forced to be confined together without release. Other families however have grown in a far deeper and happier way, with a new comprehension for company, a new understanding of dependence on one another.
We are overjoyed to be part of a growing missional family network. Our gospel family mirrors that of the second picture. For many pastors, church planters, youth workers and gospel workers, this has been a season of severe trial, yet relationships born out of adversity go deeper, last longer, and bring more fruit. After all, the core of our gospel relationship is “life on life” discipleship, and we have been able to do more "life" together. We have had opportunity to share in needs, pray more, cry more, be more transparent, honest and vulnerable. In our weakness, sadness and sometimes grief, the Glory of Christ has shone all the brighter, as we have grown together in Him. We praise God that this missional network is in a healthier place than before covid. We value each other more now than before, we cherish the privilege of being in the same place, at the same time on the same mission more than ever.
FAMILY CELEBRATION.
We are rejoicing particularly at the news that 7 weddings are being planned in Kremenets. This would be cause for celebration at any time, but evermore when 5 of these have been drawn together through transition house ministry. For those whose start in life was “difficult” this is the ultimate proof that this (transition house) ministry is fruitful. We praise God that there is appetite for new family under God, to start a new life together - doing what he prioritises and going where he sends.
We rejoice also the many young people who are content not to “need” to find their identity in a boyfriend/ girlfriend relationship but Christ. The reason (in part) that this season has reached so many with the gospel, is that young people have maintained the priority of living for Christ, sharing him with other young people, working as a healthy big (diverse and united) team, and not just pairing off into a fragmented land of many unseen couples. Praise God for those young people who remain single with the purpose of living to please Christ first and foremost. Praise God for a church family which includes all personality types, dispositions and inclinations, regardless of their relational or Facebook status.
The “Girls retreat” this last weekend is an excellent window on this healthy dynamic. Praise God for healthy mentors, young mothers and tireless listeners who are nurturing the next generation. Praise God for the healthy dynamic of teachability and friendship which is nurtured under the helpful and contextual teaching of God’s word.
FAMILY PLANS
This undeniable growth and acceleration of the family plans has left us with questions…
· How can this healthy family be used in the big plan of God, and to encourage a global family?
· How can this family impact other regions, countries and the world in the mission of GOD?
During 3 UK lockdowns we have had time to wait on God with this question and prayer. As we have done so, we have been alerted to an ever-increasing network of opportunity. Friends in Poland, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, Montenegro, Serbia, and many other countries (14 in all) have clearly come across our radar, all with expressions of working together. God has BIG PLANS and as we have said before they have not been limited by covid, but accelerated by it. His plans are for Kremenets, and Ternopil city but also Ternopil oblast and connected regions, the whole country and others. Ternopil oblast is uniquely situated, with many landlocked countries on the doorstep. This region is economically appealing to those setting up home, whether for a young family or a missional one. Lviv airport is fantastic, offering many connections to the places we need, and with tickets currently as cheap as £28. Many main roads also take us to all the places church planting teams would need to go. We are happy to call this our missional home and are investing accordingly. The future of this family to “go” is only limited by its readiness when covid subsides, and its willingness and trust to fit in with bigger plans and bigger networks. We are trying to use this time well in preparation. Please pray with us… the real possibilities grow each day, as does the size and purposefullness of the family. We are so thankful that a gathering number are all pulling in the same direction. Pray that many churches will be planted in areas yet unreached. Thank God for those being ordained, trained and affirmed with this missional heart, and the growing network of like-minded leaders.
FAMILY FINANCES.
We thank God for having the privilege of being able to help an increasing number of precious gospel workers at the hardest of times. It is our ambition for workers to be supported indigenously wherever possible. To this end we do not pay any ongoing salary needs or longer-term sponsorship. We do however seek to support those in pioneering gospel situations at times when progress is pivotal. To this end we have well used our contingency and crisis funds during this period. We now have none, and look to God to build this up again - confident that He will in His timing. The beauty of this season is that many who are coming to Christ are young and energetic. This however causes a practical challenge, when youngsters are finding their first steps in employment at a time of high unemployment in many regions during covid.
We are confident that God will supply all that is needed to plant churches which plant churches. The means he uses for this however will be diverse. There will be an ongoing need for sustainable development funding through business, both within Ukraine and those entrepreneurs in the U.K. who have a passion and inclination to help. Our greatest need is for many UK churches to partner with us in prayer. There are currently 4 obvious needs which we are praying about in family finances.
1.The need for equipment to communicate, support and train the missional family: A initial funding of around £2000 for streaming, P.A and broadcast facilities. Please help if you can. This will also help us to connect the various groups of transition house families and youth networks with each other for encouragement.
2. The need for materials to complete second transition house and downtown hub Kremenets. This work praise God is already partially funded due to the delays of covid. Our greater need is of those who will sign up for teams later in 2021/2022 to accomplish the refurb. If each team member was able to raise some support from their local church this work could be realistically complete much sooner.
3. The need to financially support the efforts of training. It costs us £15 per person, per day (including food, bed and facilities) to run a conference (Pastors, church planters, youth, young men, young women’s conferences). This is great stewardship and a fraction of what it would cost in the U.K. Some of this will come from local church networks and the national Ukrainian network. However, we would love to do more for whom this is difficult (rural travel, those in training / further away, rural planters, urban churches with increased covid demands etc). If you would like to contribute to this fund, we would love to hear from you. Many possibilities grow as we invest this way… a) Materials to give away to gospel worker (training notes, free books and commentaries to build up a basic library, b) Our work to fund The Support the vital work of Ukraine Centre for Apologetics c) Funding of church planting initiative and network.
4. The need to encourage, support and our friends to reach the unreached. In other blogs we will talk something of similar dynamics in East and South. The vast proportion of unreached peoples in the world (often referred to as “frontier people groups”), are practically “do-able” and accessible from this vantage point. God has orchestrated a breathtakingly beautiful dynamic, and we want to make the most of this opportunity to see his global family increase, especially in Central Asia. God has already in these last few months done more than we could’ve ever expected, please be part of this wonderful family dynamic to bless the world together.
Our God is good. What an awesome act of grace to include us
in his amazing family. Thank you for praying with us for His big family. I hope you delight in his people today and thank Him for
what He is doing amongst us, and despite us. God is good, God is gracious.
Warmest family love, BLOGSKI
Next time: CHRIST found in the CRISIS: The scattering of people in tragedy. How what was meant for harm has been used for good, the saving of many lives.
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