On the Move
As a wise friend of mine pointed out, Paul’s
missionary journeys took him to some unexpected
places. In Acts 16, we find Paul looking for
direction from the Holy Spirit on where he should
go in sharing the Good News and in strengthening
believers/the church. Paul then receives what
some have labeled, the Macedonian call: a vision
with a word to “come over and help us”. Following
God’s leading, he went to a major city in Macedonia
(now what is modern day Europe). The first person
to respond to Paul’s message in that European city
was from Asia (modern day Turkey). Lydia, after
listening to Paul’s words about Jesus, believed and
was baptized along with her entire household. She
then went on to help lead a new community of faith.
Today I am sharing about Paul’s winding
missionary journeys to point out how often Paul
impacted more than one nation for Christ by going
to major trade cities where the nations were
gathering. While the call remained to share Christ,
the people whom the Lord brought to Paul or other
early church leaders in the book of Acts, where
often surprising to the missionaries. (See Peter’s
vision in Acts 10 for another example.) In some
ways, I feel as though I can relate in being led to
places that I would not have thought of on my own.
Recently, I received a type of “Macedonian call” in
that I received an invitation to come and pastor an
international congregation in Hamburg, Germany.
The Spirit of God through much prayer, the Word,
other people, and even a dream later confirmed this
call. This city, interestingly enough, is the second
largest port cityin Europe and is a major crossroads
of commerce. Peoples, tribes, and tongues from all
over the world go to Hamburg to find work.
Thus, our family is again on the move! We will
have another transition ahead where we will need
to get the boys settled into new schools and to all
learn a new language. What we hope will be a
longer-term situation seems to be building on so
much of our experiences. We see this move as a
continuation of what we have already been about
with some new twists. Kirk will continue to write,
research, and speak to mission movements of the
Global South and North. It turns out that a large
migrant population of Ghanaians lives in Hamburg,
so this move will place him closer to Africans in the
middle of Europe. Meanwhile, I will look to pastor
Hamburg International United Methodist Church.
This church began as a fellowship and has been
part of an international migrant outreach in
Germany. The church members come from Africa,
Asia, North America, and Europe.
We will continue in our roles as “faith” missionaries
with the Mission Society, raising ministry and living
expense funds. As the nature of a young, migrant
church is very fluid and because it is a small
congregation, they are not in a position to support a
pastor’s salary. The church has been able to step
up to secure funds for the worship space and is
moving towards obtaining funds to help cover our
housing (with some possible help coming from the
UMC Advance). We hope you will consider giving
or continue to give in support of our missionary
efforts in the days ahead as we cannot go without faithful
givers. Please do join us in prayer as we trust in our big
God to help us with many details in this transition. We
recognize that these God- sized visions are way beyond
our own strength, so we are actively depending on the Holy
Spirit to guide us and for you to pray for us.
—Nicole
