On the Move

 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