16 minute read
Steps into mission
First steps into mission
Every year we welcome new Christian workers in to the Stewardship family, partnering with them to validate their work and raise up a strong base of financial support. We love spending time understanding the calling that each individual has taken in to selfsupporting ministry – none are ever the same. Here are just two from the latest cohort signing up with us to raise support this summer:
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Global Mission
International Aid
Cleared for take-off
For Fran and Dave Rolfe, life on the mission field has been 20 years in the making.
The first time Dave arrived at the Helimission office was a difficult date to forget: 11th September 2001. But it’s only in the last couple of years that everything has come together for Dave, Fran and their children, Lillian and Nathan, to step out of their familiar lives in the UK and into a new adventure.
Dave has had a passion for aviation since he was five years old and has flown helicopters for 20 years, accumulating about 6,000 flying hours. Most recently he was working as a safety manager for London’s Air Ambulance service, but Dave will soon be swapping the cityscape of the capital for the mountains of Papua, Indonesia. Helimission are a non-profit organisation that provide transport to help relief organisations and mission agencies reach remote areas. Dave was a speaker for Mission Aviation Fellowship for 18 years and kept in touch with Helimission during that time, but there were always factors that prevented him from joining them. This time, however, Dave’s combination of skills matched what Helimission needed and the couple felt prompted that ‘If not now, then when?’
For the Rolfes, it was very much a family decision to go. “We think of it as all four of us going on mission,” says Fran. “We’re at a bit of an unusual time in life to be going – we’re not newly married, we’re not retired, our children are 15 and 12 years old. A lot of people leave the mission field at that point and come back to the UK for schooling reasons.” But the family have been
home educating their children for five and a half years. Both Lillian and Nathan have a faith of their own and Fran is intrigued as to how God will use them all in Papua. “For Dave his love is to serve the Lord with his flying skills, which are considerable. My heart is to reach the lost and to build community, and so together we make quite a good team.” Fran is hopeful that she can use her background in youth and community work.
Helimission encouraged the Rolfes to go on a vision trip to Papua for a month so that they could decide together whether it was something they wanted to do. “Lillian loved it, she cried coming back to the UK, she just found it beautiful and freeing to be there.” says Fran. “Nathan was a bit more reserved, he feels at home in the UK but he’s walking the journey.” Dave adds “When we came back from Papua it took him about a month or so, he wasn’t sure at first but he’s willing and wants to go.”
Because Helimission are a Swiss-based organisation there’s no way for them to raise support in the UK, so Stewardship have helped Fran and Dave with setting up their Individual Partner Account. They attended the Support Raising training which gave them the confidence they needed to approach potential supporters. “As Brits it’s hard to approach people for money,” says Dave, expressing the concern that many would feel stepping out of a regular salaried role into selfsupported Christian work. “But the training gave us the biblical principles of why and how it could work: it’s not begging, it’s raising money for God’s work from the resources of his people.”
It was Caroline Burns, Stewardship’s Head of Individual Partnerships, who shared an analogy that helped Fran and Dave to think about partnering with supporters in a different way. “Caroline compared it to announcing your engagement and everyone is excited and congratulating you, but you don’t then just add on a message asking for anyone who wants to be a bridesmaid to get in touch,” Fran explained. “You ask people personally. There are friends who we approached who said they would have been offended if we hadn’t asked. The relationship is so important – we are walking together with these
people and plan to schedule in time to pray for all of our supporters regularly too.”
Fran and Dave are excited to have almost reached their target for support as at the time of interview the family are preparing to travel to America for a semester’s training at seminary before heading to language school in Indonesia and then to Papua. The flying will involve anything from transporting local Indonesians and Papuans to help tribes with Bible translation, to medical evacuations in areas where only a helicopter can reach. The flights make no profit, in most cases only charging a nominal fee for fuel.
“I always link it to the story of the Good Samaritan,” explains Dave. “He couldn’t get anybody anywhere without the donkey. Flying the helicopter is really just a tool to help.” Fran adds, “I often think about the verse that says every tribe, tongue and nation will be together in heaven. There are only a few left who have never heard about Jesus. We want to reach the unreached so that everyone will have that opportunity.” stewardship.org.uk/partners/20358852
For peace and trust for the Rolfe family in all the finer details of preparation before they go.
Find out more about the work of Helimission: helimission.org/en
Evangelism
Justice
Released for ministry
Vince Wemyss grew up in a small town where there wasn’t much to do except get into trouble. At secondary school he got into glue sniffing and left with no qualifications, barely remembering the last couple of years he was there. At 17 a friend invited him to see a band at a local venue.
“He didn’t mention they were Christian and told me to give it a chance. I was there wearing punk gear and stood out like a sore thumb,” says Vince. “I couldn’t stand the music to be honest, but the guy did an altar call to ‘know Jesus’ at the end. I thought, this is a bold claim – he’s either mad or there’s something in it.” Vince stood alone at the front expecting more people to join but it was just him. By the end of the prayer, he had an overwhelming sense of love and forgiveness and was completely convinced that God was real. “It was a huge moment of repentance and a dramatic conversion – outside of my day job in a factory, every moment of my time was spent serving in the local church.” Fast forward a decade and having picked up his education, Vince enrolled at university for a degree in Biblical Studies. But there he began to lose his way. “It had the opposite effect to what you might imagine – I was hanging around with the wrong crowd and gradually drifted from God. I started to find Christians a bit nauseous.”
Not knowing what else to do with his degree, Vince became an R.E teacher for 14 years. But during this time he started to live a dual life, “I was being professional during the day but drinking myself into a stupor every night. Everything began to unravel: I had a breakdown, my wife and daughter left, I lost my house and I had a serious attempt to end my life.” Vince moved back to his home town in search of familiarity but his life was hurtling out of control. “By this point I was drinking a bottle of vodka a day.” Heavily inebriated and following an altercation, Vince was arrested for arson and sentenced to 30 months in prison.
“On the prison bus I started to pray. At that point it was just a cry for help, but in prison I repented for everything I’d done and most of all for neglecting God.” As his faith reignited and with support from the chaplaincy, Vince began to see gospel opportunities within the confines of the prison. He started speaking in the chapel and facilitating prisoner-led prayer groups and Bible studies. “I didn’t just survive it but God used me and some people got saved,” says Vince. “When I left, I promised God two things: firstly, that I wouldn’t go back to prison and secondly that I would join a church.”
Vince moved to Portsmouth and visited Harbour Church. “I said to the Lord, I’ll be honest with the first person I come across. I’ll tell them my story and if they can’t cope, I’ll move on.” Unbeknownst to Vince, the first person he met was the vicar. “His response was: ‘Fantastic, you’re really welcome – we’ve just started a ministry to prisons and would love you to get involved.’” Vince met with others who had a vision for the ministry and before long he broke his first promise to God by going into the nearest prison to give his testimony, eventually participating in and leading an Alpha course.
Vince began to meet regularly with Christian mentor, Roger Vann. The two became good friends and shared their experiences of prison and prison leaver issues. Through a link with Above Bar Church in Southampton, Roger had the opportunity to train some of the congregation as mentors for prison leavers. Vince was able to give insight, understanding the mindset of someone leaving prison. It grew into a further vision for the Solent area, and the formation of New Foundations Community Chaplaincy.
Vince recently attended Stewardship’s Support Raising Training and there realised the importance of having a supportive team, not just financially but for encouragement and prayer too. “It can feel lonely because the work I do is so confidential, I’m speaking to very broken people and wading through pretty dark stuff. It’s a slow process of witness, love, acceptance and not judging.”
What Vince longs to see is a Church that loves the most marginalised in society. “Look at what Jesus valued – giving sight to the blind and freedom to the captives. Half of the reason why people end up in prison is because they don’t have the belonging and accountability of a loving community and relationships, so it’s important they find that when they’re released.”
Vince describes the events of the last couple of years as a series of opportunities. “I’ve got an urgency now after wasting years of my life in self-destruction. I’ve just got to be full on for Jesus. I can’t do lukewarm.”
Catherine Durant
Senior Editor
stewardship.org.uk/partners/ vincecommunitychaplaincy
That God would raise up Christians to mentor and support prison leavers in their localities; providing love, support and community.
Connect your church with its local prison and commit to pray regularly for those ministering to prisoners and prison leavers. Look into donating laptops, tablets and phones that are essential for communication as many leave prison with nothing.
Making waves for God across the Solent
“The journey was eventful to say the least. Our car broke down five times, we missed our ferry, then had the task of rebooking tickets which, because of Covid restrictions, was a nightmare. The heat was unbearable and to top it off the ferry broke down in the middle of the Solent. At that point Emma and I just looked at each other and laughed.”
Church Planting
Little did Ben Carman know that this hectic holiday trip to the Isle of Wight would lead him, his wife Emma and their three boys to leave their church in Essex to plant a church on the Island.
In a year of cancelled plans, postponed events and placing projects on hold it sounds impossible, but just over a year later the Carman family have established Altitude Church in the Bay area of the Isle of Wight and they are hugely excited about making Jesus known in this seaside community.
Ben was an assistant pastor at their church in Essex, where he was responsible for the youth ministry. Assisted by Emma, the ministry grew from 10 or so children to developing a regular Sunday youth service for around 50 young people. Ben was a teenager when he came to faith and his testimony provides a backdrop for his passion to teach young people about Jesus.
“I was in a gang from the age of 12 and involved in all the usual gang behaviour. After being ousted from that gang I felt extremely lonely and longed for something new. I started going to church and that changed my life.” At 17 Ben gave his life to Jesus, committed himself to serving God, and entered a lifetime of ministry.
Ben had always felt that the Holy Spirit has led him to a life of service, but it was a family staycation to the Isle of Wight that led him and Emma to step out in a new direction.
When they finally made it to their destination and began to settle in, it was Emma who, noticing the number of churches that had been converted into flats and other buildings, turned to Ben and voiced the question, “Shall we plant a church here?” Unbelievably, Ben had been thinking the same thing and that was the moment they began to give it serious consideration.
The couple sought God’s guidance and began praying for direction then and there on holiday. “I was convinced that in order to step out in faith I needed God to give me a sign,” says Ben. “I wanted a strong word from God so I could be sure this was his plan for us and not mine. Emma was more at peace with praying and seeing what happened.” One morning whilst Emma was on the beach, Ben was listening to a podcast by an American preacher who suggested that Christians shouldn’t be crippled by waiting for a sign from God. He spoke about trusting the Spirit in decision making rather than looking for signs. Ben laughs as he admits this advice ‘not to wait for a sign’ presented itself as a sign for him to start thinking seriously about establishing a plant; God’s irony was not lost on Ben. Emma returned excited about a devotion she had read that led her to feel confident that God was calling them to move to the Island. These events, followed by an encouraging Zoom call with a pastor, made the couple certain that they should go ahead. A few weeks later they put their house on the market and started making plans to relocate their family.
There was much to organise, not least funding for their new ministry. Ben and Emma approached their church who, whilst hugely supportive, were unable to entirely fund them, so Ben began looking at options. He was introduced to Stewardship and began talking with Alex Huson from the Stewardship Church Planting Team who caught Ben’s vision to reach the lost on Isle of Wight from the start. He took Ben through Stewardship’s Church Planting Pathway.
“The Pathway is a phased process, which provides advice about how to fund your role as a new church leader all the way to establishing and forming a charity.” Alex explains. “Stewardship helps break down the steps involved and provides bespoke advice and assistance at each stage. It was exciting going through the process with Ben and seeing how Stewardship could positively support his ministry.” Ben recalls, “As we were not yet a charity Alex advised us to open an Individual Partner account with Stewardship. This immediately enabled us to approach family and friends for financial support. Stewardship handled the donations, claimed the Gift Aid, and passed the money on to us. It provided our supporters with confidence to give and took the hassle out of raising financial support.”
With funding coming in, things began to move quickly for Ben and Emma. They approached four individuals who agreed to become trustees, with one of them willing to become their treasurer. “Our treasurer has worked with Stewardship for many years, and he was over the moon to hear of our links to them. He now deals directly with our new church account with Stewardship, which leaves me free to concentrate on growing the church.”
Six months after their holiday, the Carman family moved to the Isle of Wight and Altitude Church was formed. After eight weeks, the church became established as a charity and, with Alex’s guidance, Altitude opened a Stewardship Church Partner account. It was huge progress for Ben. “Having a Church Partner account has enabled us to get to grips with our fundraising and approach individuals, churches and Christian grant making organisations. It’s linked to our website so supporters can give easily and we receive the Gift Aid immediately. It’s a real game changer.”
When asked how Altitude is going, Ben lights up. “God has been gracious and kind in so many ways. Emma had the idea of providing families with breakfast bags on a weekly basis, which has given us links to the community. I have been given free food to distribute and the church now receives 15% off all grocery purchases from Morrisons supermarket. God is good.” Ben and Emma have connected with a few families who attend evening groups in their home where they study God’s word together and the church meets on Sundays in a YMCA chapel. Ben acknowledges, “All that has been achieved is through prayer. We love Matthew 16:18 where Jesus says to Peter ‘I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.’”
Learn about how Stewardship can help with Church Planting by visiting: stewardship.org.uk/church-planting-pathway
Shobi Selvadurai
Church and Charity Customer Support Executive
stewardship.org.uk/ partners/20377354
For the Isle of Wight to experience a revival and for the church plant to grow spiritually, physically and financially into a church that sees the lost saved and an island restored back to Jesus. Follow and engage with Altitude Church on social media to help network the church with other plants and people who may want to be involved.
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