Ten2 Project Participant: My name is Rebekah Fleming, I am from Houston, Texas, and I go to Champion Forrest.
What led me to the Ten2 Project this year was just that I didn’t know what I was gonna be doing over the summer. That seems really simple and plain, but I really didn’t. I was kinda on the lookout for something. We had Jon Burns come speak at my church, the president of Greater Europe Mission. So I was like, “OK maybe this is a sign, maybe it’s not,” and then Jon spoke about the need that Europe has for Jesus, and it really spoke to me. I took it as confirmation that this is where I was supposed to come this summer and serve anywhere in Europe. My heart just went out for Europe, so I started interviewing and started the whole process, and before I knew it I was in.
Ten2 Project Participant: My name is Lauren Gabler and I am from Pennsylvania. I am currently at Liberty University in Virginia.
When you first read Luke 10:2, it is very missional sounding, which it is, but when I hear the word “go” my first thought is going far, going somewhere, doing something that is completely different. But there’s a lot more to it than that. “Going” can just be going into your church and serving there, or going into your community and serving. Because there’s really a need everywhere you go, there’s no perfect place in this world, and there’s places that are broken in different areas but are in the same needing of Jesus. Being here I’ve really seen how much of a servant’s heart in Wall Heath. People here who know Jesus are so committed to being in their community, and I think it’s a really important factor to be present where you are. And if you’re not called to go across an ocean, everyone is still called to be where they are and to show Jesus where they are.
Local UK Pastor: Hello, I am Matt Jones. I am the pastor here at Wall Heath Evangelical Free Church [near Birmingham, UK].
Having folk come work with us from other countries is a way in which we can do things better – that’s the practical side of things. There’s a lot we can learn from other cultures and having people come in with new ideas and different approaches, different experiences in faith, and allowing them to influence and help us in thinking broader and thinking bigger than we actually are. Certainly we have had a lot of connection to GEM and worked with the missionaries that have come over for many years. We have seen how valuable they are, and how helpful and fruitful that relationship has been.
The harvest fields are white in the UK. It is a post-Christian country, and sadly we live in the situation where the UK is Christian in cultural roots only and not in real faith-driven living. We have the advantage [of] people who, to some degree, understand what the Christian faith is, but not really in terms of its personal impact. It’s a verse that drives us as a Church in a land where the vast majority of people have a polite indifference towards the Church.