Tallinn Summertime Update - Part 4

 Well it's been quite a time since the last update.  Nearly a week has passed now since we finished filming the Tallinn episode of House Hunters International, which is the most popular program on the American  Home & Garden network.  We can't say any more about this until after the show has aired in the US this Autumn - after that, I will do a special update talking about all things television!  Here the crew (all from the UK) are shown setting up in one of the three properties we visited.  It was a fun, tiring but worthwhile experience - we look forward to seeing what gets produced in the episode that will be shown to millions of Americans.
If it's not too embarrassing (it does have that potential!) then we might share the link to you all at some point - if you ask nicely...

Church Plant: What has been really exciting over these last two weeks, which could have got lost in all the excitement of filming and our car arriving (more on that below) was the first get together of the three families that are part of what will soon be the church plant!  We had a BBQ together and as well as there being 6 adults, there were another 6 children (five of which are girls!)  Already we are an international bunch - There's English, then there is a Dutch family who've moved to join the core team (Arnoud, pictured below on the left) and there's an American family who've just arrived for two years in Tallinn (Nathan, below right).  Elisabeth (Arnoud's wife and pictured at the table with their youngest, the one little boy at the moment in the church plant) and Laura (nearest camera) make up the rest.  And that's before a Russian girl moves to join us and before an Estonian girl (as yet praying about whether she'll be in Tallinn) might join us.

 The girls had a great time playing together - it wasn't quiet but it was fun!

We're starting to meet on Sunday afternoon's now we are all together and it's August already.  It's very relational during the summer - making the most of the outdoors and the sunny sandy beach!
Last Sunday (actually just two families) we went onto the beach, and wanting to play volleyball, I got myself and Arnoud invited into a game where four young people were already playing - church planting can be so much fun at times!  It was great!  Being outdoors generally is just great for meeting people - we said how we met lots of people in the first few weeks, and now, in our new area, we are starting to see that again.  Last night, I 'had the idea' to go out to the field in front of our flat and play football together.  Very soon, a three year old Estonian boy came running over and was kicking the ball with us, his mother chasing after him.  Thirty minutes later, we'd properly met one of our neighbours.  Numbers were exchanged and Rachel and this lady will meet to practice Russian and English together.  This lady's parents also live in the building next to us.  And we know Arnoud & Elisabeth have also been meeting people just like this - it's always exciting to see how God does it, and we pray for much more of it.  It's got to be God that reaches the people of Tallinn - as the Capital city of the most secular nation in Europe, it's not an easy job for man - but it's nothing for God!

And after four years - we have a car!  A real praise point to finish.  

We said how Love Russia had contacted us some months ago about whether we wanted a car.  Not only had we been looking at that very issue ourselves already, we'd been praying for a 7 seater car so as to be able to fit visitors in etc.  Well, the car they generously gave us was indeed a 7 seater Hyundai and here it is!  Not only did they do this, they met us for dinner on the Thursday night before they flew back to the UK, having cleaned the car, done all the major repairs on it and even left a full tank of diesel!!  They have been amazing!  And we are so thankful to God for their hearts and support and generosity in this.  Having got used to travelling by bus, and with free travel for an adult when travelling with Anya (as she's under three) we are certainly not just going to drive from now on.  But with shopping, and crossing the city and longer journeys, it's a real blessing!  I've now been able to register it (an afternoon's coming and going but got there in the end!) as well as getting it insured under it's new Estonian plates!
We also signed up at a local doctors yesterday, which as well as being needed for the girls, and especially for Mia to get her pre-school health check (like in Russia, it's required here for all children), having a local doctor was also needed for Rachel and myself in order to obtain our Estonian driving licence, which we can do next month.  Yesterday we underwent the medical checkup and got our certificate to drive.
It's often this paperwork that can make moving to a new country so confusing - especially when you don't know the main language!  We press on anyway.

Settling in doesn't come easily but we are slowly getting there.  We are exploring the country a bit these next 5 days as we take a 'stay at home' vacation and catch up with ourselves, as well as having some focused family time before Autumn kicks in.  It should be great!  Later this month we have some more visitors - including Kevin Jones coming across for the day from Helsinki, where his family have been 'checking out' the place this month in view of moving there next year to church plant.  Dave & Hannah Henson will also be over in Tallinn for a weekend, no small event following Dave's serious back issues earlier this year.  Our time with them will be great and we are looking forward to showing them more of Tallinn and praying together at the start of this next phase for the church plant.

Hot of the press - As I was writing this during the morning, Rachel was again meeting another local neighbour while out with the girls at the play ground.  This lady apparently approached Elisabeth and Rachel and asked if it was a kindergarten! (Yes there were 5 children playing, but still, not sure it would have really counted as a kindergarten!).  They've swapped numbers, connected on Facebook already so please pray that a good relationship will grow and she'll be interested in what we are all in Tallinn for.  This is, after all, what we are here for!

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!

Tallinn Summertime update - Part 1

I'm going to do this in parts so that it makes me write briefer entries, but more frequently!

 We have the keys!  Following on from the last blog entry, we've made great progress with the flat, so much so that we've signed everything at the bank and notary (more on that in a moment), as well as being given the keys last week.  We've now been able to measure up for curtains and start to buy things like a washing machine, which arrived today!  As the kitchen is still to be installed (new flats here come fully finished, minus the kitchen and most light fittings - unlike new flats in Russia, where not even the walls have plaster board on, so it could have been worse for us!).  The kitchen is due to be ready for installation on 23rd July.  As all our items are mainly still in boxes here in the rental flat, we will be moving everything over on Saturday 14th July, that being when we can get some help from some guys at Elava Vee, the local church we've made most contact with so far.  We can then unpack these boxes finally (Rachel still does not have her summer shoes as they are packed somewhere so she only has what she came with, which is a pair of winter boots!)  Therefore, depending on when the kitchen is finished being installed, we will be moving into our permanent (owned!) apartment on the 26th or 27th July!

Anya (pictured on the right) managed to give us a scare on the day we signed at the notary.  Not only did she get a raisin stuck up her nose while we were having the documents translated to us (Rachel managed to sort this out with tweezers and a torch back at the flat) but then, later on that same day, she managed to lock herself in our room using a key, and then couldn't get herself out!  Thankfully, after speaking with her (she was just crying and couldn't have done anything!) I remembered there was another key on our side, and pushing her key out managed to open the door with no damage done (to either the door nor our adventuring two year old!)  


Mia is also doing really well - and very excited about getting the new flat.  Her walk with God has really been strengthened through these last few months, as she's been praying real prayers for difficult situations and then having the joy of seeing things turn out exactly the way she was praying for!  
Last weekend we told Mia we were going to do church at home and she went to bed planning for what she was going to do for children's work with Anya!  She also made a microphone so that she could lead worship, saying to me how I needed to prepare a preach!  It was amazing how involved she was, and true enough, on Sunday she led worship (with Chris Tomlin helping with his CD playing!) and prayed out during this jumping about time before taking Anya out for her lesson on how God loves her!


We've continued to build relationships here - and I'll mention more about this in my next update.  We've also been really encouraged by more people feeling God speaking to them about Tallinn - one family from the UK, one girl we know, and also from a family that are just moving to Tallinn - so watch this space for more news as we hear it.


We've also 'bumped' into yet more people who we've had contact with.  This time an American family who I've been in contact with on Facebook for months, but haven't met before.  Rachel met his wife the other week.  In a shop last week we just happened to bump into them - what is extra nice is that I found out that he plays tennis, so now I have someone to play with when things settle down here and we can work out where to play.  They have only been in Tallinn for about 8 months, having moved also from St Petersburg where they had been living for about 3 years.


We've also had lots of visitors - which we'll mention next time I think - from random bikers doing crazy tours around Europe, to Rob & Sarah Walters.  Rob  leads our UK base church in Stockport, England.

We are so thankful for what God has done.  What we have seen so far has been amazing, and a pattern that we hope continues into the life of the church plant - the God of miracles doing miracles!  We've also been reminded recently by how quickly things can change.  The other week, while sitting at the desk working, I heard the crash of metal and noise of a tram colliding with a car, the impact so hard that the tram mounted the pavement.  There was only one driver in the red car, and though taken straight to hospital, had (rather quickly!) jumped out of the car just after the crash.  Praise God nobody was on the pavement at the time!
And just a few metres from this point, at another junction we cross every day, last week an elderly woman was knocked down by a bus and killed.  
So we are thankful that we have a God who is watching over us and keeping us safe while we outwork his plan for us in Tallinn.


And finally, Rachel celebrated her (23rd?) birthday yesterday, which was a wonderful day and lots of fun.  And (shameless plug I know!) it seemed fitting for this to be the day that my novel, Cherry Picking, was published.


This novel is really just another of the amazing sub-plots to have come out of our last four years since we first headed off from England on this amazing, ongoing adventure.
All the information about this book is available here, including how to buy the book, which is now on sale through Amazon in paperback and for the Kindle.  I highly recommend it to you!  (To clarify this, it is not a christian novel - the only christian bit about it is the author!)


We'll put more on here soon, but thanks so much for your encouragements and prayers over these last few months.  We really feel so many of you standing with us, praying with us and backing us - we know we are not alone.


We love Tallinn.  God loves Tallinn.  We're excited to be at the beginning of what is going to be an amazing church plant - and more on that real soon!

The Nations

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I write this entry, not in Tallinn (our new home city having moved from St Petersburg in March) but Riga, the capital of Latvia.
Many years ago, God first spoke to me about Russia (well the former USSR actually) and then a year after that spoke about the nations.  Plural.
Now, we live in a second new nation - and you sense that being based in Tallinn, God is now starting to outwork what He said to us years and years ago.  God is faithful and true, but you knew that already, didn't you!
I've been in Riga for an event hosted by the Riga church plant.  Matt and his small group have been in Riga for about a year.  We've been in contact, mainly through Skype, for about that time too, just encouraging one another, knowing we can do more together than we can apart.  So my main reason to get down here for this weekend was to spend more time with him, see the city (I'm going to visit a Russian international church on Sunday), and just be an encouragement.  And if I can encourage any of those coming from the UK for this event to join him in Riga, all the better!
It's now the afternoon in Riga, I've just finished lunch before getting my coach home in about 3 hours.  This morning, I went to Good News Church, here in Riga.  It's a Russian church - and it was so cool!  It was a BIG church - they had their own venue, cafe, kids play area, huge outside area.  There was much of the building I didn't even see.  The meeting hall was as big as I've been in for many years.  The worship, which started in Russian, was modern, God seeking, Jesus focussed.  The large congregation (it was hard to tell how big, but I'd guess there were at least 400 in during worship) were there to worship - not just watch.  Though there was a lot to watch - a big stage (which helps visibilty, these guys were not 'performing' but leading worship).  It was all being filmed with guys in GN TV shirts - I guess that's their (probably online) own TV station....
Had these guys been in St Petersburg when we arrived there in 2008, I'd either have packed up and gone home, or joined them! (I'm joking of course, but they are an impressive lot!).  Like St Petersburg, and Tallinn, Riga needs more churches, so I know Matt and his team have a great role here in the city.  I'm excited for them.
At the end of the meeting, really interestingly (I don't recall seeing a response like this for some time), there was a call for salvation.  I counted 7 going forward (not massive considering the crowd there).  But what I did find interesting, was the age range.  One lad, I guess 10 or 11, came forward.  There were three much older people also responding - two were AT LEAST in their 70s!  There was also a guy in his 20s, and two middle aged people, one man and one woman.  So it was a huge age range and great to see three people, at a late age, coming to Jesus for the first time.  Salvation, where ever it is and what ever it looks like, no matter what church its in, ALWAYS excites me.  God is the God who saves!
Thinking back to yesterday, one of the other highlights of this trip (besides Chelsea winning the FA Cup!!) was meeting a guy named Maurice for the first time.  He'd come to help speak and share at this event, being part of the team that helps Matt in Riga.  I really liked this guy (even though he's a West Ham fan...ha ha....I say that cause he told me he reads my blog!).  He had great character, was humble, faithful, honest and helpful.  I look forward to seeing him in Tallinn soon (hopefully in the Autumn).  It's great when you just meet someone, and talking with them, you feel encouraged in what you are doing, built up, led in wisdom....great.  And that's the 'added value' of being part of something like New Frontiers.  The outside help and just encouragement.  We aren't alone! (It can feel that way sometimes!).
This coming week back now in Tallinn could finally bring news about our flat - there has been LOTS happening with the banks, not all good, but we stand in faith.  When we hear for sure, we'll put that blog out, updating you all and giving you (we hope!) the good news.  But for now, we are still waiting, and the clock is certainly ticking!


From Riga I sign off (actually if you are reading this, I would have already got back home.  Rachel reads every entry for me, so that I make sense, but mainly because we do this together).

(Left - the most ultra modern trams I've ever seen ran one particular route in Riga.  They looked like they were about to take off - really 'Back-to-the-Futureish'!)

News From Tallinn - Early Days...

This was a short 3 minute clip I put together to show a little of Tallinn, and to raise awareness of the challenges there is for the church in Estonia.  Tell me what you think of it when you've watched it!


It's been a busy few days since we last updated you and some quite huge things have happened.  I met with all three banks this last week, and they are all now processing our application, which we should hear about this coming week - please pray for favour from all, that all three would offer something and that at least one of them would be what we were really asking for - which is to borrow the full amount we need.  What was really interesting and again highlighted the lack of general foundation about God and church in many people here, was that in both meetings on Wednesday, I was asked what a Pastor 'did' - and how I was going to plant a church.  One lady asked why people in England give money to us, so asking what she knew about the Christian faith, to which she said 'a little' I stated how the Bible calls us to reach our own area as well as the world.  I said how this was called 'mission' and that these churches and individuals were wanting to partner with us and help us reach new places, so that though they can't personally move, they can be involved.  And she just sat there and said 'oh yes, I see now'.  Amazing!  It looked less like a mortgage appointment and more like a church planting interview!  May God open up more conversations like that!


I also met with another local pastor here on Wednesday - Gabriel - which had been arranged the week before.  He's from LA but leads an Estonian church very near to our flat, and his heart is the same as ours - he's very mission minded!  We'll meet up with them this following week and look forward to getting to know each other more down the years.
The really funny thing was (God thing really!) was that on the day we found out that our new apartment would be ready on 1st May, therefore two months earlier than thought, we started to wonder what options we had on this rented flat, having signed the contract until the end of July.  It seemed, if we were to be fully moved over by mid-June, that we would have a month and a half to have to pay for the rent of this flat.  Rachel had called Brenda, our agent friend, to check, and she then suggested that if she could line up a replacement, then there would be no problems with us leaving early.  And she had a couple in mind....they were a young American couple, leaders from a local church....yes, it was Gabriel and his wife.  So 2 hours before I met him in a city centre cafe (I was at the bank at the time) they were at our flat, looking around - and they really liked it and will move in whenever we are ready!  So praise God - we have instant replacements sorted, and though there will be a little overlap with our new apartment, it won't be that much!


Elena from Hope Church came to Tallinn on Thursday, and we've been showing her around, while helping her find work - we've been looking into kindergarten's, but it seems that the summer is the time when jobs become available - no one is recruiting now, when there are less than two months of school time left.  Maybe the private ones are different, we are yet to find out.  Please pray that her time here is productive.
It was while taking her to see one option on Thursday that we had another funny 'bumping into' someone.  We were at the Rocca al Mare shopping centre, which we are fast growing to really enjoy (there is an M&S Food outlet at reasonable prices!) and I had Mia and Anya with me.  We were just walking around, having come from M&S and a guy stopped me - he was holding out some cosmetic products (I knew he was trying to demonstrate something with the salt in my hands) and I said I was OK - I said I knew some people who did this (thinking of Leo & Shani), yet I didn't recognise these products as the same business, though they were.  After talking for a moment, and unnoticed by me at the time, Shani looks up from the bench nearby and say's hi.  This WAS there outlet in this shopping centre.
I chatted with the guy (he's Estonian) and shared our 'excitement' at finding peanut butter at M&S - he didn't know what it was and asked if I could show him.  Glancing at Shani and checking it was OK, I walked and talked with him to the shop and showed him what it was.  He asked why we were here, and seemed really interested.  Having bought the peanut butter, he got a plastic spoon and proceeded to open it and take a spoonful, even though I was saying that it's best on toast!  He enjoyed the stuff greatly, and thanked me for 'bringing peanut butter in to his life'.  Seriously!
He said he could see an 'energy' in me.  I trust that's a good thing.  He took my details and wants to keep in touch - so we'll see what develops there.  But it just goes to show - God can open up any situation, even excitement about peanut butter at M&S that leads to contact and friendships and....who knows.
But maybe the craziest thing we'd heard came to light on Thursday.
I was on the computer and an instant message came through from a girl in Washington DC.  We'd met Chelsea three years back in Russia and had been in regular contact since.  She now works in a good government role and told us on Friday how she'd been at a conference on Cyber Security and the main speaker was the President of Estonia (another insight into how advanced this nation is in this regard!).  She got to speak to him after, and her message to us was how she'd told him about her good friends the Heath's and how we live in Tallinn now.  So the President of Estonia knows about us living in his country!  It made us laugh a lot!
He's apparently known for inviting people into his house from the streets, so maybe we will bump into him when at Kadriorg Park (which is where his house is, only about a mile from where we live now).  And if we do meet him, we can tell him about our DC friend, and invite him to church in Tallinn....
On Friday evening we had a big call to make of our own.  As many of you know we are selling our UK house.  And the firm putting it on the market for us also gave a cash offer to buy it from us - obviously a lot lower than market value.  We'd asked them to do this and their figure was much less - nearly 40% less than it's value in 2008 when we first moved away.
Our tenants move out on Monday and as Friday came around, we had this real sense that we should just accept this offer, if nothing more came to light, and move on.  Though low, it does just about give us what we need for now.  We also don't like the idea of the house being empty for too long where it is - firstly we have expenses on it, but also it runs a risk of vandalism.
So at 3pm UK time yesterday, I called them and said that we accept their offer.  Once they do an inventory, I think it is just a case of them informing the solicitors and then in 4 to 6 weeks, it should all be done.
So please pray that this process is smooth!


So things continue to move on fast - next week we'll hear from banks, as well as Tim travelling south to meet with some other pastors and church planters.


And we'll update you with the best bits of what happens soon!

News from Tallinn - The Early Days of the Church Plant

As God continues to unwrap things for us in Tallinn, it's exciting to see how things are developing.  We naturally compare things to the early days in St Petersburg, as our only previous experience of arriving in a new country, with a new language and culture, and starting to church plant.
One thing that has stood out here is this time, in some areas, how fast things are going.  Some of this is down to the practical differences, I'm sure.  In St Pete's it was our first time in the city - we needed to learn the city (which is a large place to learn!) and then find somewhere to live - our things then arriving a month after we moved in, so much so that we'd been in Russia 5 weeks before we had any real furniture in our flat - effectively camping out for a month in what was a very expensive tent!  In Tallinn we already had somewhere to move straight into, going the short distance from the airport and then into our new rental apartment.  And because it was mainly furnished, even though our furniture took about two weeks to arrive, we could live straight away.  And because we had visited the city several times before, we knew the city (which is a lot smaller) and also knew some people.
So we kind of hit the ground running, while still dealing with the transition and adjusting our daughters to living in a very different way.
And that 'hit the ground running' kind of feeling has been a theme - we are now about 6 weeks into time in Estonia and what we've been involved in already has been a surprise and joy.
We've got to know two churches - sharing at one already, preaching at the other.  That was my first ever preach in Estonia and will be followed by three more over the next 6 weeks as they want me to finish the series I started on the book of Ruth.  We've also met with others Pastors and this week I met with another.
This week we would have fed our 11th person as well as having already gone somewhere as guests for dinner.
In the next two months I will travel a bit as well - next week to central Estonia where there is a relational group meeting of like minded men and women.  It's the first time I've met most of them so that should be a good time.  In May I also will travel to Riga for a conference and then after that, to a city at the bottom of Estonia on the Latvian border, where they've asked me to help out at their Alpha Holy Spirit day, taking some of the teaching and helping in the ministry time after.
At the end of April I will also go to the monthly Tallinn Pastor's meeting, and build relationships there, I hope.
Now lots of this did open up in Russia in time, just not so quickly, so it is exciting to see what will come of this 'fast' start.
Due to visa reasons, I didn't actually preach anywhere other than in Hope Church while in Russia.  So maybe it's partly the freedom of life here, back in the EU, that has opened things up more for us?
When we arrived in St Pete's, joining Dave and Hannah, that did give a team from the start, with the two families.  We were quickly joined within two months by Nadia and Johanna, so by the end of the second month in Russia, we had a team of 6.
That isn't going to be the case here by the end of April.  Back then those 6 were the only 6 people we knew, and that was just starting, because we didn't actually know each other before arriving, so the first 6 months was spent getting to know one another and our surroundings.
So we don't have anyone on the ground with us here, yet!  But this last month there has been a family 'wondering' about joining us, for which we are praying they do!  And this week a girl from Hope Church is visiting us, having already told us she feels called to join us in Tallinn.  
So maybe by the summer we will have a group of at least 5 adults together - the starting of a team. And that would be just great!
We of course share this to give glory to God.  As I've said many times, when we look at ourselves, we think there is no way God can use us, no way that he could work through us - because we see all our weaknesses and know that there are others that he could really use - but as for us, no chance.
The Bible is so true when it says that he takes things that aren't to display his glory - that he uses the foolish things to shame the wise.  I don't know who the wise are, but when I try and think it all through - learning another language when I'm still trying to figure out Russian, seeing a team come together, facing the challenges that are coming up, starting a church, buying a car - I feel so foolish in it all and wonder if God really has the right man here.
That said, there is no place in the whole world that I'd rather be.  Better that I be a foolish man around the plans and purposes of God than in a place I seem wise, but God isn't with me nor has he called me to be there.
And I do see that God is growing me - he's growing us all in what we are seeing.  In the 4 years since leaving the UK, I've changed in more ways than just 4 years of growth could do.  God is about a great work in us all, and I don't want to miss out on anything that he personally has in store for me - and I encourage you to not miss out either for your life.
As for what has happened in April, to fill those of you in who've been following developments through March, we have been trying to keep to the routine this last week, with Mia's home schooling and such.  We invited Leo and Shani around on Thursday night for food - they were starting Passover the following day.  It was an interesting time.  Mia and Anya didn't settle at all and therefore it was a very disturbed time.  Being here in Tallinn for very different reasons, what was hard was how negative they were about things here and the people - we were defending life here.  We are so grateful that Jesus is helping us to love those around us, so that we can move to a new nation for God and feel this heart connect that doesn't come from another calling in life - be it business or any other reason.
On Wednesday night I spoke, as mentioned above, at one church from the first chapter of Ruth - telling the great story.  It was a very encouraging first preach in Estonia, helped hugely by the great interpreter I had working with me.  I watched the video recording of it last night with Rachel and was actually encouraged by it, getting a few prompters as to what to do differently next time (usually involving not moving my hands so much and staying still a little more!)
And Sunday was Easter in Estonia, as we are now back on the Western calendar.
This week I am meeting with three banks and asking about a home loan - one was earlier today and two on Wednesday.  Please pray for great favour and that we'd get the outcome we are praying for.  We need God to work for us in this.  I'm also meeting with another pastor for the first time on Wednesday, and we have another Estonian lady around for dinner on Tuesday night.
We also really need prayer for break through with our UK house situation - we'd love there to be a buyer that we hear of this month - the time is coming when we need to make some big decisions.  So please pray favour upon favour on us all this month and especially this week with these three meetings at the banks.
Thanks for reading - until next time!


Or so I thought this was the end of the entry for today - after writing this I went to the SEB bank here in Tallinn - the overall news was quite good - he seemed to suggest that we could get ALL the money we needed for the apartment, but I was to complete the online application and they'd look at things from there.  The only issue appeared to be that though we have our Estonian 5 year ID cards, that still makes them only temporary - and they need permanent residency status for us - there are two options, the simplest being we apply now for permanent residency.....at least this morning we thought we had time...
Because arriving home from the bank and checking email, there were two very interesting emails awaiting me.
The first was a car dealership here with a quotation for a car we'd seen last week - we are still praying about the way through for this - but the next email stopped me in my tracks.
It was from the developer of our new apartment, saying that progress was going really well and that it will be ready on 1st May!  A whole two months early!  Oh wow.  
What is comforting is that this week I'd arranged, I thought randomly, to meet these three banks.  Yet God knew all about this.  Now the timing of these meetings is crucial.  We have less than a month to sort out this home loan, which we are told is possible to do well within this time.
We do have the issue of our rental flat - we signed the contract until the end of July, thinking that we'd only be taking the new apartment from that month, and not in May.  We are hoping that, assuming we don't need it in July, we will be able to get out of the contract early.  There does seem an option here already.
I'll spare you the details about what the banks were each saying up to now - just to say please pray!
So it's going to be a roller-coaster month - and I'm still praying we can get this car soon as well now, especially if we are going to be living a little further out, and sooner than we thought yesterday.
There's never a dull moment.  We are doing well in it all, I think.  Do pray that it all comes together.  We do see God totally knew what he was doing when directing us to come here earlier than previously planned.  Can you imagine if we'd still been in Russia today and got that same email - that from 1st May the flat would be ready and we'd need to be here to sort everything out.  It would have been so much harder in that case.
So, confident God has this all within his care for a long time now already, we'll push all the doors these coming weeks, and some way, some how, find the right way through it all.
It's very exciting to think that in the next two months, we could be in our new apartment already (with another beautiful rental flat sitting empty in the middle of Tallinn as well....)  We'll keep you posted and we appreciate every single prayer so much!

The Tallinn Church Plant - Story of the first month

The story of our first month in Tallinn - a series I called 'Breaking New Ground', as I wanted to record the journey of our first month as we look to get started with life in Tallinn, who we met and what we had to get sorted in order to register our arrival - plus a whole lot more, as it turned out!

Below in the BNG links you will find each entry that takes us through the first month.  Below that is a link to the story behind our arrival, looking at the journey and how God got us this far - the first is titled 'Where is Tallinn?' as this is also something many of you might be asking if you've just come across this blog for the first time.


Breaking New Ground - March 2012

BNG - 1

BNG - 2

BNG - 3

BNG - 4

BNG - 5 - The First Week

BNG - 6

BNG - 7

BNG - 8

BNG - 9

BNG - 10 - Two Week's In

BNG - 11

BNG - 12

BNG - 13
BNG - 14
BNG - 15 - 25 Days Later
BNG - 16
BNG - 17
BNG - 18 - End of the First Month

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with our new friends here, leaders of another local church, at their home in Viimsi, which is north of Tallinn - here we tried the traditional Estonian swings!  You stand up to make them go faster - we are told that the locals get it so that they are basically horizontal at the top of the swing!

The Story of Our Journey To Tallinn

We were sent from our wonderful base Hope Church in St Petersburg to plant a new church into Tallinn.  I detailed that transition and how God had first called us in a mini series called Towards Tallinn - and here is that series;
Part 1 - Where is Tallinn?
Part 2 - He's Got Us This Far
Part 3 - A Storm Is Coming
Part 4 - Are You Up For A Challenge

The Original Journey to Russia - Adventures of Faith Series

Four years before moving to Tallinn, we were well on our way to moving to St Petersburg, where we were to join Dave & Hannah Henson at the start of what would become Hope Church.  And at that time, in a series called Adventures of Faith, I covered the whole process, from God first speaking to us, through to the challenges, then leaving the UK, our first insights into life in Russia and then finally after living there for a year and the last one after three years.  So to complete this blog entry, below are links to all these posts, which I hope, along with what's been shared above, will encourage you that you too can go and plant - whether it be the next city or another nation.  God bless you!  And may God go with you!

Part 1 - The Build Up
Part 2 - The Six Month Countdown
Part 3 - The Going
Part 4 - First Impressions
Part 5 - One Year On
Part 6 - Three Years In

Tim & Rachel Heath
Tallinn church plant (a part of New Frontiers and plant from Hope Church in St Petersburg, Russia).

BNG - 16

This is the view from our flat up Tartu Mnt (Tartu Street) yesterday on what was another sunny day - which ended snowing and today was not so nice! Still the snow has nearly all gone from the ground, so winter is nearly over.

This entry is the last of three posts I will do in this series - with the next two being on Thursday and then Saturday, 31st March, which ends our first month here in Tallinn, the beginnings of our life here and the encounters which we hope, though have no way of knowing which ones, lead to the start of the church plant.

On the 1st April I will put together a summary of this whole series, as well as our back story, in one reference related entry that hopefully puts everything in one place. I'll also include some of the final statistics on what has been the most visited and read month for this blog - literally in your hundreds, and from all over the world! Thank you for walking this with us.

Yesterday was a good start to the week. Mia was back into home schooling - she is making progress. Today, she read me a book which was quite complicated and later I heard her reading it to her (toy) rabbit without any mistakes! So she is doing great - that must be down to her teacher (!) and your prayers!

I went with Anya to the play ground - our original gold mine of contacts, but I didn't meet anyone yesterday, which is the first time that I haven't! After that there was some organising to do - booking tickets for the coach to Riga in May, and other things - we were to be shown a lot more later by our visitor.

That's because for dinner, we'd invited our new local Estonian friend to come for dinner - we've mentioned her in the past having met with her for coffee in our flat in about the second week. We're understanding more of the church scene from her and the idea of doing treasure hunting in Tallinn came up - I think she'd get some folks together if I'd be happy to lead (at least) the first session....so we'll let you know when this is happening!

It was a really nice time and Mia especially seemed to take to her, kissing her good night after giving her complements, like how good she smelt!

She also showed us some useful things on the computer - so helpful to have a locals input - like how to buy the travel tickets, now that we have our ID cards, which if using the buses regularly, is much cheaper than keep buying the books of tickets.

Yesterday I also confirmed a few meet ups for this week - a coffee with Brett from Serve The City (who we met on Sunday), a drink with Leo on Wednesday night and firming up the plans with Arnoud for Friday.

Today, after a shorter home schooling session, we made our way to a kitchen shop, as we had an appointment booked there. For months already we've been in contact with this lady, as for our new flat it comes finished, minus the kitchen! It does mean we can make it what we really want, so months ago we started contact, thinking then that we'd need to do it all from Russia. Little did we know that we'd be living here so soon and able to go together in person and talk through all the options. I include this here because it's all part of the mix of things you have to deal with when moving somewhere new, and though today was in English, it is complicated arranging such things when you are doing it through another language. We were there for about 2 and a bit hours - the girls did so well entertaining themselves and we think we are nearly there with everything - this kitchen, which we expect to help us host so many people down the years once in our new flat.

Tonight Rachel and I start our home-school Estonian lessons. We were given a coursebook for Christmas and thought before we have proper lessons with a professional Estonian teacher, as we will need in time, we'd start the basics, very slowly no doubt, working through this book in the evenings, at least twice a week - so tonight we start! Please pray for our Estonian learning - we do need this local language as well, so it'll be good to grow our knowledge of the language past the few words we already know!

And tomorrow Mia starts ballet classes - after looking for classes in the last two years in St Petersburg, we've finally found something that works for the family, so pray that Mia would make lots of friends and really enjoy her ballet, which will be twice a week.

And I'll finish by starting to answer this question, which I'll continue through the next entries - What are the distinctives and essentials that will make up church-life here in Tallinn?

1) - After our conversation last night, the first is certainly a clear sense and demonstration of the Presence of God. Estonians, we are told, are private people. The statistics we've talked about here already clearly show that very few believe in the God of the Bible. And people are very happy to state religion has no part in their daily life. More and more over these last few weeks we've come to realise that without God breaking through in the supernatural, it'll be very hard for us to reach out to the Estonians living here. And even within the Russians, those that have grown up here all their lives have this same element, to some degree, of being private about faith and belief. The people need to see God working in their lives. We need to be taking God with us onto the streets and, we pray, seeing healings, miracles and more in order to fully demonstrate what life with God is all about.

So please pray for this important element - this essential part of who we need to be. Pray for the outbreak of God in the streets of this city, and for the boldness of the team (in time when we have them, as well as on us now at the moment) to step out in faith!

Thanks for reading - until Thursday, keep running on your adventure with God and we'll speak to you soon! Be blessed!

BNG - 15 : 25 Days Later

With the clocks changing last night (our first change for a year as Russia did not change their clocks last October) it means now, approaching 8pm, we still have a blue and sunny evening - and it's only going to stay lighter later from here on. Quite how it will compare to the White Nights of St Petersburg, which saw sunshine at midnight, we wait excitedly to see!

We're coming to the end of our fourth weekend in Tallinn since arriving on 1st March. Next Sunday is a month already, but before then we have a busy week, and before that we have a few things to share from these last few days.

This morning we went to a new church - 'Missio' co-led by Heigo, who I met with a week ago, and who through a couple of mutual friends, we'd been put in touch with a month or so before leaving Russia. I shared for about 10 minutes at the end of the meeting about what we are here for, but the main focus was saying we want friends and help! Though a small church (two small churches actually merged a year ago and there were about 25 there today) it had a great family feel and a real hunger and sense of the Presence of God. We connected with the other co-leader, who head's up Alpha in Estonia. There is an Alpha conference here in April. There was also another visiting American there, who shared an update on what he is doing. He's been here for 3 years and working with something called Serve The City. Its aim is simply to get people serving this city in practical ways (eg soup kitchens, medical aid) and while serving together, Christians and not-yet Christians build relationships and forge good friendships, while benefiting the city at large. He said half his volunteers and half his leaders are not yet believers. His name is Brett and we'll be meeting with him again, I might grab a coffee with him this coming week, and we'll look at ways to get involved more.

We also met an Estonian teacher there, so when we're a little more organised and the finances have settled so that we can see how we're doing, we'll know who to ask for lessons!

Dropping my mum back at the airport yesterday on the bus, I was joyed once again by this city to be able to go there and back, including her checking in and going through customs, and with the two journeys and waiting for each bus, still it was all done in just 40 minutes. True, we live near the airport, but the city has this manageable feel to it that never ceases to surprise.

On Friday, at the playground, Rachel did meet with one of the mums she'd connected with last week - the other had contacted her before to say she couldn't be there due to illness of her child. Please pray for those we meet regularly with, especially these parents at the local play ground. Later on Friday, in the local Stockmann supermarket next to us, we took the girls to play in the play area and after some encouragement, Mia got playing so nicely with a younger Russian girl - and then Anya, now left to her own devises by her sister, quickly made her own friend, a girl a bit order than her. So for about 30 minutes they were all playing so nicely. We left contact details with Mia's new friend, also called Anya, in case they want to play again. It might sound quite organised friendship making by us, but with everyone she's ever known either in England or Russia, we really see that Mia needs other friends who she can just be a little girl with!

And finally, in the last entry I mentioned that I would talk a little about the wider scene, things that we'll be involved in that aren't necessarily just in Tallinn, but wider, building largely on the contacts and community that makes New Frontiers a true family on mission together. In mid April I plan to be going south to a small town in central Estonia, home of an Englishman named Simon and his family. This is a regular monthly meeting of prayer and encouragement and comes out of some other contacts, one being David Jones, who is in Latvia and will be at this meeting, and another being Arnoud, a Dutchman who lives in very Southern Estonia, on the Latvian border. Arnoud and his wife and children are actually coming to see us in Tallinn on Friday. We are really looking forward to spending the day with them, getting to know them, hearing their story, and learning what God might be opening up for them in their future. We don't know what God has in store but it'll be great to meet others who've been living in Estonia for some time with the same heart for mission and church planting as we have. So please pray they all have a safe journey and that they have a great day in Tallinn!

In May I will also be travelling wider still - probably for one weekend to St Petersburg (though this is yet to be confirmed for certain) and once for sure to Riga, on the first weekend of May, for the NEW EUROPE conference, which is really the Riga church plant hosting a weekend for those interested in church planting, or being involved in someway, in the New Europe area, ie Eastern European countries. I've been building a good relationship with Matt in Riga for a year now, so personally it'll be great to see him and his home city. As a family we've also talked about taking short trips to Helsinki and Stockholm, all possible in a day from Tallinn, and much more doable now than when the girls all start at school in August. Both these cities have church plant teams arriving in the next year or so too.

In this coming week, as well as Friday with this great family, we have an Estonian lady coming for dinner (probably tomorrow night) and are also going for dinner at Barry and Brenda's next Saturday afternoon.

And between here and then, there is a whole week of possibilities. A week to meet new people. A week to build on relationships already starting. A week to see what God is doing and doing our best to do the same! And everything that happens (well, the best bits anyway!) you can read about right here, as we enter the last week of our first month, and therefore the last few entries of this Breaking New Ground series. You've been reading in your hundreds, and this we find hugely encouraging. We thank God that you are praying for us. And do keep praying - pray whether some of you can come visit. Pray whether God would have you involved here in the short-term or moving here for the long term. Pray all sorts of prayers - God is waiting to answer your most extreme prayers and bless you with even more. Until next time...

St Petersburg Update

I've written a lot recently about our future but in our present we are in the exciting city of St Petersburg, where a new church called Hope Church has been making some rather big steps forward over these last few months. So time for an update from the home front...

July & August 2011 saw the passing of the second summer period for the church and as we passed our second birthday in early September, we could see that our Sunday venue was to be the most pressing thing to address, as numbers were high and space was now very limited.

Dave Henson & I had seen a wonderful venue back in April - at a hotel in the very centre of the city. The problem had been the cost - 20 times what we were currently paying (that's because our existing venue was greatly reduced compared to the normal rate, and this new venue was bigger and at the going rate).

With the summer months passing and the hall full already, we knew our current situation would limit any further growth - for two reasons. First, people might think there was not 'room' for them in Hope Church. Secondly, there was not much room for any more people in the hall!

In the middle of September we took people away for a church weekend - about 40 adults were there. We had invited Andre from Ukraine to come and speak to us, and he took the weekend to speak on faith. It was very encouraging! (It was that weekend that we first shared with the church about our plans for Tallinn, saying at the time how we thought that would mean moving in the summer of 2012, little did we know then!)

What Andre did was to ignite something in us all that was to have real results - and quickly! That very next week, we were to go see the hotel again, offer a reduced rate and see what they said - and they accepted it! We were to meet there from the beginning of October! So I think after the weekend away, we had about two Sunday's in the old hall before the move!

Making the move was to be a real step of faith - but we'd heard God clearly now and so made the step. Financially October onwards would be a testing time - had the church not stepped up so generously, that we saw a 50% - 100% rise in offerings from October to December. It was wonderful to see the whole church united with us in this big (and some might say risky) step.

We now had a venue that could fit up to about 300 people in, maybe a few more, but would also work well from our 60 to about 150 growth, such was the layout of the hall. It would have been hard for a group of 60 not to have felt lost in a much bigger hall. So the venue serves us well.

Little did we know what God had in store for us over the next few months!

About a month into our new hall with all this extra space, another local Pastor came to Dave and shared something he'd been praying about for a year - they were to move back to the US, and instead of their organisation flying in a replacement, he felt he was to shut the church and suggest they join Hope Church. This took some discussion and we are still working through this all, but as a church, they did close down at the end of November, and as Hope Church, we opened our doors to any of those that felt like they could be a part of us in time.

We'd long arranged a conference in December to which David Devenish was coming to, as well as Andre back again from Ukraine, so it was really timely as many people from the closing church were able to come and just get to know folk at Hope. We also had a group from two other small churches outside the city - we'd been asked to help them a little, their pastor a good friend of ours, and this is something we are also starting to working through now as well.

So as we met in December, Sunday attendance was now over 100 adults, plus at times something like 20 children! In our old venue, there would have been no way to have accommodated any more people - but only after we took the step, did we understand why it was so important.

It's now the beginning of February as I write this - in just under three weeks my family move to Tallinn to start the church plant there - this is another big step for Hope Church, to be planting another church less than three years itself having been planted. But praise God we leave behind us a healthy and growing church with a great team leadership - we also leave many friends, people that at most we've known for three and a half years, but relationships forged in pioneering and working hard together, the friendships deep therefore in such a short time.

In October we successfully multiplied the international home group that was meeting in our flat - having gathered about 10 regularly, the first week of the two groups at two new venues on different nights gathered between them 20! And they've continued to be that size. What was exciting, and especially with all these new people coming to Hope Church in December, was last Saturday gathering together 18 of our leaders, and from a discussion that came out of that meeting, multipying our three current home groups into 8!

One challenge we've had since moving into the hotel (which saw lots of new people joining us) is that the sense of Spiritual gifts and contributions in the Sunday meeting has greatly reduced. This could be down to a number of reasons - there has been a lot of change, new people from different church backgrounds are with us, the hall is much bigger, the crowd there bigger too! It just feels harder, or more intimidating to bring something. But its an area we want real break through in. What is clear though is that we are not to under-estimate the work of God.

Someone commented about last Sunday's meeting as being really hard, and worship feeling dry (compared to the near outbreak we'd just seen together on the Saturday with our 18 leaders). I encouraged them with what happened on Sunday - 6 or 7 people had put their hands up in response to the gospel, there were a number of first time visitors, the word was preached - and there was a good offering (January had been the lowest for months and we'd said how the church funds were now really low - so the offering was a sign that people were with us in faith). It's hardly as if God wasn't doing something - people got saved - it's just not the way it used to be.

Of course we do want a stronger sense of the presence and involvement of the Holy Spirit - with the free use of the gifts He so readily gives out. So we won't settle for what we have, but neither can we say God isn't working in us all either!

In time, after we have moved to Tallinn, we will visit Hope Church again (& again) and it'll be great to see this beautiful church continue to flourish and walk into all the promises there are for the church, one of which was that it would plant into Tallinn!

And with that I sign off on my (probably last for a long time!) update on St Petersburg - do keep praying for this great city and it's beautiful church.

Towards Tallinn - Part 4 - Are You Up For A Challenge?

Last Sunday was a big one both for my family, and Hope Church - the local church we are part of in St Petersburg, having moved here three and a half years ago to form the original team that planted the church.

It was big in lots of ways - we were sharing how we were moving sooner than thought to Tallinn. The church was going to be planting it's first church. The church would be stepping into it's calling (more on this in a later post I think). Our family would be making another big move, the second in less than 4 years. It was a big Sunday, with another one or two to come before we leave (my last preach, 19th Feb, our last Sunday, 26th Feb)....

And while so far on this journey through these entries entitled 'Towards Tallinn' I've talked about the journey side of things, and what has got us this far, in this entry I want to share partly what I said to the church on Sunday, and probably the biggest challenge we've faced in our journey this far.

Some time ago, but after we had heard God calling us to Tallinn, we came across two interesting statistics about Estonia.

There were two recent surveys done, the first across Europe and the second much wider, looking at peoples views to God and religion. The first was done within the 25 EU nations (as was at the time), of which Estonia is one of them. They asked the people of these nations if they 'believed in God'. In Estonia, just 16% of the people answered 'yes'. This was the lowest score, the lowest percentage in all 25 EU nations - looking at this list, we saw Estonia at the very bottom!

Now in the UK, I know there would have been more people who would have said yes (I think many out of the feeling that they should say yes), and of course that doesn't mean they actually believe in the same God that we see in the Bible. But they still say yes to the general idea of there being something bigger than the world they live in. To have 84% of Estonians happy and comfortable to not say yes to this question when asked is a different challenge altogether!

The second survey was done in 143 nations around the world. It asked the question 'does religion play an important part in your everyday life'. And to this Estonians said 'yes' only 14% of the time. And on that list of 143 nations that answered this question, there again was Estonia at the very bottom of the list in 143rd place!

In the flesh you hear these things (especially if you've already announced that God has called you to there and you are moving!!) and you think - oh boy! But actually there is something about these numbers that gets me excited - as I said in a previous entry - only God can change this nation now! And that IS exciting!

Of course the church will be the hands and feet, working out what God wants to do in Tallinn and the nation. But it will be God himself who will have to change the very hearts of the vast majority that up to now have no belief in Him, nor do they see any relevance in religion, in faith, in their daily life.

So are you up for a challenge? Are you the kind of person, called to the nations, that reads these statistics and say's "Yeah, I'm up for some of that!" You see we do need a great team of faithful men and women around us - so that together, we can move Tallinn, and therefore Estonia, up those tables!

And I'll finish with a word a friend of ours had over us last summer. I was at the Manchester regional leaders meeting and Paul Basson, who leads South Manchester Family Church, had a word over me - it went something like this.

"I see Tallinn like a Euro Vision song contest - at first people do not know about the place, but there is something catchy about the song and soon people start to hear it and join - and Tallinn moves up the leader board until it is number 1"

I don't want to over play this word, but after hearing these stats it started to make even more sense than it had done before, encouraging as it had been at the time.

Estonia needs to know about the God who saves - Estonia needs hundreds of grace filled, spirit led churches and this will mean many men and women coming to serve to help start this up. Tallinn is an exciting place - do you want to be part of a team that will change a nation, a song that will come out from His church that will ring out across Europe as a number 1?

Links to articles with the stats;

Demographics of Estonia - Religion section - here

Top 11 Less Religious Countries (scroll down a little) - here

Towards Tallinn Posts;

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3