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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.
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.
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| 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.
