News from Tallinn - The Mid-Summer Update

Midsummer falls on the 23rd June in Estonia - and the holiday of Jaanipäev (St John's Day) is a two day event and is probably the biggest party of the year.

Though we missed the bonfire, we did hang out as a group on the beach, watching the sunset late in the day and letting off our own (less than successful!) lantern.  The photo below was taken quite late:

Since the last update, Mia has finished school - her school broke up on the 6th June, though she went to a summer camp for a week from 17th June.  This was with a friend from church.  The photo below shows Mia on her last day of school, which seems to be as big an event as the first day, standing next to her two class teachers and her PE teacher.  As also mentioned last time, at the end of May we traveled back briefly to the Stockport Family Church weekend away, which was held over the bank holiday weekend.  It provided once again a great time, spending lots of quality time with old and new friends alike.  Two years ago, at the last one they held, Mia managed to make a really good friend, and break her arm.  Thankfully arm unharmed this time, and friendship continued!  Anya too was making friends.  It was great for us to be in a context of wider fellowship, worship and the opportunity to step out in spiritual gifts, something that has continued since coming home.

Arriving back in Tallinn at the beginning of June, we had the first of a steady flow of visitors already arrived.  Wei-Jin, originally from Malaysia, but living in Cambridge, UK, was here for about 3 weeks, and it was good getting to know him, show him some of the sites (though in the few days before we'd seen him, he'd already seen a bit of the Old Town and done a day trip to Helsinki!), and share a bit of who we are as a church plant and what the vision is.

As it proved with others that would follow, just having some extra folks around for our gathering events helped give that sense of something bigger, a direction we are certainly keen to head into!

Not long had he left (he only actually stayed with us for about 5 nights during his time here) we had family friends from Finland come and stay, a family of four who came down for the Jaanipäev weekend.  They joined us on the beach for the Sunday night gathering on the evening of the 23rd itself.

Leaving on the Tuesday, with Rachel's birthday on the Thursday, little did Rachel know at the time but a surprise was in store - a big one at that!  Offering to get the sheets washed and things clean again, though there were no visitors due (as far as she knew), I was able to put the final touches on a plan that I'd thought up some months before.

Kate Tolhurst, is one of Rachel's closest and dearest friends, and for some years has been working in Uganda with orphans and special needs children at New Hope Uganda.  Their last time they saw each other, ironically in Tallinn on a short weekend as the obvious meeting point (Rachel from St Petersburg, Kate from the UK), whilst Rachel was looking at rental flats in January 2012, they'd not spent any real length of time together for years, each of our UK trips being at times when the other was abroad.  So the plan was that Kate would come for a surprise visit for her birthday, and that's how things worked out!  Rachel opened the front door, only to find her best friend standing there, a friend she was unsure when she'd see next!

Kate was with us for a week, leaving yesterday.  Already planned before her confirmation, was the visit last weekend of a UK based pastor who was in the middle of his two month sabbatical.  Adrian Horner, from Open Door Church in Kettering, UK, had wanted to connect with some international settings in the Catalyst network of churches.  We'd been in touch for a couple of months planning the details, and Adrian arrived from 28th June to 1st July.  He was able to share at our Vision Sunday that we held on Sunday 30th June, our biggest yet.

And the visitors didn't end there - unable to meet a guy passing through Tallinn from St Petersburg on his way home, we did have another such person who we did meet up with - Flic from Hope Church in St Petersburg, who was literally picked up by Rachel on her way to the airport (to drop off Kate) and then came back to us.  Flic was herself dropped off at the airport last night, due for a holiday in England this summer.

There is a small pause in guests, with our next special guest due being Dave Henson, who comes for a night on Monday 15th July.

Estonian Churches Growing Desire to plant more Estonian churches

Last time round I mentioned about attending a church planting conference here in Tallinn.  Relationally it was really good, and personally great to see and hear, and feel, a hunger for church multiplication.  A New York church leader, Tim Keller, was quoted at the conference with something of the following: In a study he'd done, in cities where few new churches are being planted, ALL churches are in decline.  In cities where some churches are being planted, then most churches are about stable.  But in cities where lots of churches are being planted, then ALL churches are on the increase.

And that kind of summed things up for me, and for all the leaders there, whether representing the majority established churches, or the good number of plants, or soon to be plants, it seemed to envision the desire and need for lots of churches to be planted right across Estonia and even beyond.  There were several denominational leaders from Estonia and Latvia present.

And of course, as one of the new church plants in Tallinn, we are a part of all this!

Serving Local Churches

A great honour that recently happened was being asked to speak at a local church, Praise Chapel, as they moved into their new, bigger venue.  We went as a team on 21st May, and before I spoke, I really felt I needed to leave time for the prophetic, and not sharing what I was bringing, opened things up to the team to bring some words, having prompted them a few days before, saying I would give them time to share.  I had no idea if anything would be brought, or if things started flowing, whether I'd have time to speak after!  What was so encouraging was that all of the words totally linked into what I was about (and went onto) share!  One word even included a phrase, which word for word, was my third point!  And that was one of now three contexts, in this last month, that as a group we've had space to step out in the prophetic, and each time a good number of words have flowed.  I'm really encouraged.

A young Estonian/American couple are still very excited about joining us at the end of August, as they move from America.  They will really fit in well with this prophetic culture that is developing, and I'm personally looking forward to getting to know them both.

Another great encouragement, and yet more of God working behind the scenes, was going over and chatting with a small group of young Estonian's at our local beach.  One guy, who later I was to find out was not yet 15, really is growing in God, and though only a young Christian, knows God has called him to church plant.  Having spent all of Sunday night, after our Vision Sunday, with him and answering his questions, he feels that Hope:Tallinn is the place God wants him to grow in and wants to get involved with things from now on.  So we are encouraged to see that local people, who are invested deeper in life here than we are, are beginning to sense God encouraging them to get involved with what we are starting.

Family are continuing to do well.  I think in the last update I suggested how things might 'quieten' down for Rachel and her teaching, and while the hours of teaching no longer clash with dinnertime and bedtime, she has picked up about as many new students as those that she was teaching who have stopped for the summer.  And with both Mia and Anya now off for the summer, we are having to plan time carefully!

Next Monday for 4 nights we are managing to get away just outside of Tallinn.  Please pray for a great rest, for strong family memories and fun together, and especially for recharged batteries.  I'm already aware that this Autumn is going to be a busy period of increased growth, but there are two months of summer to go before that of course!

New Conference - Riga 19th - 22nd July.

Girl's playing 'Dentist' on the balcony

One thing that I will be going to later this month, in which I am also speaking at, is a conference in Riga organised by Matt and his team in the Riga church plant, as part of the Relational Mission sphere of churches.  It's a great chance to hear about church planting in this region, to get a taste for cross culture life, and visit a great city like Riga.  There will be a number of folks coming over from the UK - if you are interested, please get in touch.  The conference itself is free, you just need to get the flights and accommodation - all the information you need is found here.  Do let me know if you are coming!

Finally - our Beach Day this Sunday

This Sunday we are hanging out on the beach, and inviting everyone that we're in contact with to join us.  Please pray for great community, as we look to develop the Hope:Tallinn community, share our lives and enjoy the great Estonian summer together.  Here's our flyer for the event - why not come join us for the weekend!

Thanks so much for reading, for your prayers and such encouraging support.

There are going to be loads of really exciting things happening over the months ahead, so we'll do our best at keeping you updated on all of these as they happen.

Tallinn Update: The Gathering Phase

The weeks have raced by already and so much has happened!  Like I've said many times, when the most is happening, you tend to have the least time to share about it with others!  
And that's part of church plant life, and life in a new culture really.  Sometimes you are on top of things - other times (which seem like the majority, especially in the first year) you are just taken along by life, doing what needs to be done, going from one place to the next....


It's now September.  School has started.  This happened on the 1st September, which like in Russia, is the start of the school year, and even though that was a Saturday this year, that didn't change things!  
In the short video you can see Mia being called up, where she received her Estonian language school book and her cap...she was just a little nervous, she told us after!
She then had her first lesson, which gave us time to meet some parents.  September 1st was also our 11th wedding anniversary, but like the previous four years, it does get a little swallowed by school (oh, and the fact that September 2nd is also Mia's birthday!).  We actually went back to the home of one of Mia's class mates after the events on Saturday.  They are an American family, very new to Tallinn, and also here to church plant.  You can see four more photo's from Mia's first day, including her answer to prayer uniform, by clicking here.

As mentioned in my last post, we had a few days exploring some of Estonia in August.  One day we went about 45km west along a coastal area that has stunning cliffs (picture 1), beaches (5) and a waterfall (2), as well as stumbling across a great Spa hotel that just happened to be on 'Happy Hour' at the time we arrived, which meant we could go swimming for half the price!  I couldn't help notice the conference facilities (that could host more than 400 people) and think "One day, we'll fill this..."

We also went a little east of Tallinn on another day and found (we think) the highest waterfall in Estonia, that actually freezes in winter (Pictures 3 & 4).

We also had Kev Jones over for the day from Helsinki.  Kev and his family had been in the Finnish capital for the month of August getting to know the place.  They are now aiming to move there permanently sometime in Spring 2013 to plant a church.  As well as being a prophetic call over Hope Church in St Petersburg, personally the nearby capital cities were part of what God impressed upon me when He spoke about us moving to Tallinn

So it's on the back of the prophetic that I've been building relationships, with the view to encouraging what God is about to do in these nearby cities.
So it was a great day showing Kev around, talking about how things have gone for us here, praying together.  We are excited to see what happens through them all in Helsinki in the years to come.

We also had Dave & Hannah Henson with us for a long weekend, actually arriving the day after Kev Jones was here (which was then followed by our friends Chip & Helen with their two children arriving on the plane the Henson's flew back on!).  
Dave's mobility issues following the serious back operation he'd had, meant we did less rushing around and more talking about things, which was also a real blessing.
Gathering together on the Sunday afternoon with those already involved, it was great to be released into this season of gathering others.  Taking the lead from Jesus, who gathered and taught to crowds before calling out from those same crowds his disciples, we are now setting out to do the same, with a emphasis on gathering, and not a 'religious' meeting.  So using meals (Taste the Nations starts this Sunday!) twice a month plus another gathering event (eg we played volleyball last week), we'll end the month with a Vision Sunday, which will give some teaching and come back to the big thing we are called to.  
Midweek we'll be praying together (with the first prayer meeting happening tonight!).

Elena arrived at ours early on Sunday morning from St Petersburg - she is looking to join the church plant and is here finding out about a job - she should hear today so please pray that something comes through.  She doesn't yet speak English (she will work in a Russian kindergarten) but has a great heart for Tallinn.

The Gathering Season - so with thoughts of this new season fresh in our mind, we hit the busy school weekend and new school week, and have been struck by how many people we are meeting!  Rachel especially, who has been picking Mia up, has had some great conversations at the school with a number of parents.  There are about two or three international and Estonian families who have expressed an interest in church.   
At our local bus stop as well, she met another mum with her daughter.  Mia pointed out she was wearing the same uniform, so Mia showed the girl her logo and they became friends just like that.  This girl has started in the other class in her year (there are two classes each year that take children from 7 years old all the way up to graduation age!).  This is a Russian speaking girl and mother, and having met them again today (Mia holding hands with this girl and chatting away in Russian) they are already talking about taking it in turns to take the girls in.
Jesus said "Put down your nets" and in just doing so, the act of obedience, they caught a great catch.  And so it seems, just positioning ourselves to start gathering, God is already gathering people to be caught up in the crowd, from which a church will emerge.....it's going to be an exciting season.

 It has been an intense week already, even if it's only Wednesday.  Getting Mia ready for school (which included an evening of double covering all her books!) we've had to very quickly work out what we need to do.  
With Estonia being a very cyber country, it means the school has it's own e-school, where as parents we need to register and once signed in it shows us homework for Mia, the teacher sends us messages as well as getting other notifications.
There is also the contact information for all the other parents and access to enroll in after school clubs and sports.   
The academic day is relatively short at the moment, with Mia's latest class finishing at around two, but yesterday, having done her swimming and ballet trial, she didn't leave until gone 5 - needless to say, both Mia and Anya, not to mention Rachel, have been very tired!

Please pray for them - Mia does love school now (despite the tears on Monday morning stating she didn't want to leave us - this was contrasted by moans that same evening saying she wish she was still at school as she loved it so much!)  Anya has also been 'difficult' this week....but she is making great progress with her potty training.  It's impossible to know the effect all this change is having on their behaviour, and what is just bad behaviour!  Much grace needed at times - thankfully much grace is always available, when we remember to ask for it!

Much more to come soon!

Also coming up;
Church planting series - hear from friends around the world also planting churches (at various phases).  First up, Chris Taylor in The Hague, Holland.

Tallinn Summertime Update - Part 2 - Moving into a new phase

 It's been longer than I hoped since the last short update, but here is another.
One thing that surprised us when we first moved to Russia nearly 4 years ago now was getting to March time and there being no Spring!  We'd prepared for the dark and the cold of Winter, but it hadn't occurred to us that other season's might be effected (all we knew was how it was in England - human nature tells you that this is therefore normal for all!)  Ha ha.  We laugh now about it.  Tallinn has an almost identical climate to St Petersburg, though thankfully maybe just a little less damp atmosphere which really makes it hard in cold, and hot weather.  So in Tallinn, the flowers are still out, and because of the great sunshine we've had, helped by the long nights, things really do come alive at this time of year.  The streets are busy, we've always noticed a healthy outdoors attitude by many that get to call Tallinn home - and this is certainly something we want to get into too!  Mia (pictured left) loves smelling and exploring the various flowers on show around the many parks here.


A new phase - What is really exciting is to be on the brink of a new phase to the church plant, which is of course the sole reason we've moved our family from Russia to the capital of Estonia.  Phase 0 was always making the move, settling into our permanent home, starting to learn language, getting schooling sorted, and because of our belief in team, seeing people move here to join us before we started any 'official' church plant activity.  Most of you will know that Mia has been accepted into school, and starts on 1st September.  We've started with language (though have a looong was to go as it's a really hard one!).  This month we will move into our permanent home, which we know will be a great base for all that God will do through us in this part of the world.  And also, on the 27th July, Arnoud & Elisabeth move with their family to join us here in Tallinn.  They are Dutch, and lived in the UK for about 5 and a half years before moving to Valga, southern Estonia, two and a half years ago.  They have three children, the oldest being the same age as Mia.  We are very excited to have them join us and so thankful by how God has started to answer prayers about team.  A Russian girl who is joining us from Hope Church also appears to have an offer for work here in September, so please do pray for her documents to come through (she needs a visa to live here) as well as for Arnoud & Elisabeth's move to be a smooth and easy one.
In Phase 1, which is now just a month or so away, we'll see this small team gathering, praying, seeking God together, while growing in relationship and community and looking to bring others along into that.  We'll be living out the values we want the church to have right from the beginning with the small group that will meet in our flat.  So it's really exciting.


And when God spoke to me about Tallinn, He talked about connecting with the other capital city church plants nearby - and it's exciting to see things growing in relationship in those areas - last night I spoke for a long time with Kevin Jones, who's family are moving to Helsinki, probably early next year, and they are coming for a month in August to explore the city.  He will come over to Tallinn for a day in August and we'll hang out, chat and see what God will do. And tomorrow, Matt Medd from Riga is coming up to stay with us for two nights.  We are really looking forward to spending this time with him, for talking together, encouraging one another and we hope learning from one another.  And this we know is just the start.  I'm planning to go back to St Petersburg in September for a church weekend away, that David Devenish is coming to speak at - I'll need to sort out another visa, but that's the plan.  


We've been really encouraged as well to hear from an American family who have moved to Tallinn for two years.  I met with the guy last night - they have been part of a New Frontiers church in Mexico and it seems want to get involved with us here too.  There have been a few others too looking in.

But life is never dull here!  The other day, just at the junction by our flat, we saw water flooding the street, and people stopping to take photo's.  I went out to investigate and there was already a camera crew there from a local TV news station when I arrived. A huge section of, I'm guessing, the main water main had clearly broken underground somewhere, so that, in many places, the water was pushing up hard and flooding the street.  Pavement and road were just being washed away.  Cars and buses were (usually!) slowly working their way around the worst of it.

And we were recently reminded of the extent to Tallinn being a WiFi city - exploring the beach area near to our new flat, I took a photo of one of the many signs you see, telling you how to get free WiFi, even while sitting on the beach!  How great is that!  ....that might be useful for sermon prep in the years to come...!


Visitors - It's been amazing how many visitors we've had already after just over 4 months - in fact, more than all our time in Russia.  The combination of cheaper flights and no visa certainly being a factor.  Each visitor brings something different - news from St Petersburg, encouragement for the work here, catch up with friends, help with the children.  It's great being part of such a global family of churches.
By the end of August we'd had have 60 days with visitors with us in Tallinn - a pattern of things to come?


And finally, we've mentioned this a while ago but not updated people since - when we arrived in Tallinn, we were contacted by the US TV show House Hunters International.  Well, now plans are more final, and they are coming to film us for one of their episodes on the 4th - 7th August.  We can't say much more now about this, having signed all their release forms, but it's going to be an interesting start to August!

The Transition (as I see it anyway...)

At the Brighton Leadership Conference in 2008 (TOAM08) Mark Driscoll spoke to us, taking three main sessions and challenging us along the way - until he got to his final point, where he encouraged Terry Virgo that he needed to walk his bride (New Frontiers!) down the isle and give her away to another man. The point was that Terry is getting to the age when it's time to hand things over, and this is the way Mark was talking and encouraging things to happen.

Of course, Mark may have had a different understanding of team than the rest of us.

Now that we've finished with the TOAM conferences, this last summer's being the last one in it's current format, we can see more clearly how things have worked out.

Explaining why we ended the conference to an American friend recently, I was also trying to explain how things were now to work out. Refering back to what Mark Driscoll said a few years before, I said the model was something quite different!

He'd suggested an Elijah/Elisha kind of hand-over that we find in the Old Testament under the old covenant. But what has actually happened, and carrying with it far more life and potential than Mark had suggested, is more a Jesus & his 12 disciples kind of hand over. Jesus was working for multiplication, taking what he had and knew and equiping his followers to go and do the same - but now there were more of them, much more!

New Frontiers now works in terms of spheres, which are spread out all across the world with men heading up their own areas, areas in which they have been working into already for many, many years, but men joined in relationship, trust and friendship, which is what has held us all together this far.

Had we gone with the hand over from one anointed man to another, I think we would have seen the end to things in the near future. These kind of handovers never really work that well. What we have instead is a multiplication and widening of the work. We've not just gone from one to twelve - but many more than that.

And this is just the beginning....