The Svandas - our Bulgarian journey so far!

Hi, we're the Svandas! For those who don't know us - we got married and moved to Colchester in July 2023. We have loved getting involved with the life of the church, developing friendship and growing in our faith.

 Jasmine a full time 'relay' ministry worker, a year programme with UCCF to get disciplined and trained to equip and encourage the Christian Union. Jas has a heart for seeing students at the university to hear the gospel, grow and see non-Christians come to faith. At Essex University, we’ve had two people and one person at ARU Chelmsford come to Christ . Jasmine has grown in so many different ways including a passion for mission..

Sam has supported Jas’ ministry whilst being a full time software programmer in the insurance industry, he also enjoys programming in his spare time. Sam has adapted from re locating in Essex and has grown relationships within the church community.

We both have a passion for the church and feel a strong sense of calling to evangelise (even though we both have different ways of doing this, we recognise that everyone is called to be a different part of the body of the Church).

Many years ago, God put the word "international" on Jas' heart. She's been exploring this call ever since. The CU continued to stir a passion for her as she connected with international students and various mission organisation's. When applying for Relay, she was aware of the opportunity of  going abroad to the Christian Union. God started to make this message clear when Jas started her role, and participated in a conference, which shared  opportunities of IFES Christian Union’s across Europe. When she heard about the low number of staff workers and the lack of resources in these countries it broke her heart.Bulgaria was the only country that stood out and God was continuing to stir a passion. At the end of the session, Roxy (UCCF Staff Worker Essex) said “if not you, who”? In a room with 50 Relay workers, she was unable to find anyone with the same passion and knew God was clearly talking to her. Jas spent the following weeks praying and asking God where He wanted Jas to go. All throughout that time, Bulgaria did not leave her heart. It became clear that's where she had to go.

Sam was terrified of the idea of moving abroad.It wasn't until Sam went to a conference "Called To Go", hosted by Relational Mission, that God made it clear to him how we could make it work for us, with moving abroad, his job and even family. In fact, nothing really stood in our way from doing something like this. From that point on Sam was confident and excited that we'd be able to go on mission in another country. They have received plenty of encouragement from their family, and church family, that this was what we are called to do.

Eventually Jas applied to UFM (United For Mission) to partner up with IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). A part of this application process was to speak to Silas, a staff worker who is currently working in Sofia. They both met him online and made them both super excited to go.It was a very easy application process, again showing that God was leading us into this.

 They flew out in March to Bulgaria and stayed in the capital, Sofia, for a week. Most of the time we were with Silas, learning about Bulgarian culture and getting to know him better. We got some amazing insights to what life is like out there as a ministry worker and made some connections to local churches and people.Halfway into the visit we sat down on a bench, and we spoke about everything and spent time praying to make sure it was God’s will. Since then, we've been putting things into place to make the mission a reality. We've had training with UFM and are currently sorting out visas and learning their language . Jas will need to raise £8000.00  to cover her ministry and living costs. Funds will also cover  buying Bibles, coffees for students, cooking meals, travelling to other cities to support the students, travel costs for conferences, flights home, food and accommodation.

The Svanda’s would love for family and friends to support us in this next year ahead. If you are interested in supporting financially or would like to follow and receive a regular prayer letter we would love to hear from you. You can find the links at the bottom of the blog.

We believe prayer is the starting and most foundational part of this journey,will you join us in prayer?If you’re interested in learning more or supporting us then don’t be afraid to drop us a message!

Prayer Points:

-       The visa application process goes well and we are both accepted. This is a rather complicated process as there’s 2 of us involved.

-       Moving out of Colchester goes smoothly and we are able to get rid of our stuff easily

-       A nice place for us to live in Bulgaria. We are searching for a place in the Center of Sofia so we are easily accessible to students

-       Our marriage, that we continue to grow as a couple, honouring God in all we do

-       Both of us will continue to grow in our walk with God

-       Most importantly, the students and churches we’ll be working with!

-       May students have open hearts to hear and respond to the gospel.

-       For the students to have boldness to share their faith in their universities.

Mehr Zusammen - More Together Germany - Roxy's Reflections

“‘They see me…They know me… And they love me’”

Mehr Zusammen (more together) is an annual conference for Newfrontiers in Germany for church leaders and congregation to come together for a weekend. Last year, I served at the weekend away looking after all the kids and I loved it enough to come back! The weekend was full of quality time, good teaching and also giving plenty of room for prayer and prophecy.

I arrived late on Thursday night with some of the gang from England and drove up and up and up right to the top of a hill side. Little did we know of just how beautiful the view and the venue was. It was a youth hostel in a castle! (Germans know how to do youth hostels well).

We spent the weekend looking at the Holy Spirit. Who is he? Where is he in the Bible? How can live with the Holy Spirit? We had two sessions each day, a time for a church update and prayer, and time for prophecy in the ‘boiler room’. We had a lot of fun outside the sessions too! Walks in the Forest, family games night, BBQ, and a scavenger hunt around the castle.

For the churches, the weekend serves as an oasis to be refreshed and as a reset to hear where God might be leading us and their church. For me, this has been part of my journey obeying God to follow our call to make disciples. For some of us we are called to stay and some to go and it’s been on my heart for a while to consider going again (having already served in Austria for a year). It’s been piecing a puzzle together that I still don’t know quite what the picture is. And so this weekend was part of that journey. Enjoying God has he takes me along with him.

But one thing that I’ve been encouraged by from the stories of missionaries and Old and New Testament people is that God’s people are meant to be mobile. We are foreigners and exiles. And in that sense just like in Abraham’s story, it was an act of obedience to follow God’s voice and instruction. Never mind the destination. And for me, pushing doors and going anyway was an act of obedience.

Having gone last year, I loved seeing the families again and how much they’ve been praying for me during the year. They had stories to share with me and I with them. It has a real sense that we were brothers and sisters, partners in the gospel. The kids have of course grown loads and with new people coming I got to hear how God has been moving in their lives and churches. During 2023, I also did the Called To Go course, and having met a family who have now moved to Chemnitz, Germany, on the course, it was so nice to actually spend time together in person.

I think why I love being in these settings is not so much being in Germany (though I love practicing the language and eating the food) but being in a context of ministry pioneers. My day job is working as a missionary in the UK, coming alongside students to disciple them, and to help them share Jesus with their friends. And so in some way, though I went to Germany it was like coming home. They see me in my struggles. They know me in the kinds of weakness. And they love me with the gospel of grace.

And so dear reader, if you are part of a Relational Mission Church, you should consider some of the opportunity to go and learn, to bless and encourage others in RM. You don’t have to be considering long term oversees mission to come alongside brothers and sisters. It is worth taking time to explore options and wait on God to see how he might use you.

God is at work in the Pacific Rim - David's review

Recently Hugh travelled to serve at the Relational Mission conference in Seoul. The ‘East’ is a place we carry in our hearts due to prophetic words we have had as church, relating to the ‘east opening up with the move to Colchester.’ This blog is a re-post from David Bareham who serves as a Community Hub leader in Relational Mission. You can find the original post HERE.

The Pacific Rim Conference was the third conference that I have been to in East Asia. The first, in Japan, was with Community Church Nagoya and we gathered around 15 people in Toyota. The second was in Hamamatsu, Japan, where we gathered 35 people from several nations including a group from Yeonnam Community in Seoul. This time we were in Seoul, South Korea where we joined with other Relational Mission churches and pioneering situations all around the Pacific Rim, up to 50 people at some of the sessions! This growing momentum is a real encouragement to all of the churches in the region.

The Pacific Rim Conference was hosted by Yeonnam Community Seoul who did a great job in organising and blessing us with generous hospitality. Great teaching from Mike Betts, Stef Liston and Hugh Pearce to encourage the churches, incredible praise and worship times, and loads of prophetic ministry, some of which was very directional.

Coffee and Bible

Yeonnam Community Church was built on a foundation of friends meeting in coffee shops and reading the Bible together. We had the privilege each morning to join this tradition and we split into small groups to meet in different coffee shops in the area. This is a simple, but powerful way of encouraging one another in our walk with Jesus and doing life with each other. This was modelled so well to us by our hosts from the Yeonnam church, and we can learn a lot about this regular, unhurried time in the Word together.

Searching for the one true God

It was a privilege to hear Yueka’s testimony again. Yueka is from Community Church Nagoya, and I first heard her testimony when she was baptized in November 2023. The second time of hearing was just as powerful! Yueka was searching to find out who the real God was. She tried other religions, including Islam where she read the Koran, and attended mosques. She then had an incredible encounter with Jesus and was convinced that He was real. She decided to follow Jesus and connected into Community Church Nagoya where she was baptized and discipled. That was nearly 6 months ago, and it was great to see her again and to know that she is growing in the Lord.

Families on a mission

We had two families share about what it means to be in a pioneering situation with young children. Firstly Nilesh and Risa shared about pioneering in Nagoya with their two young boys, Aaron and Izaac. They shared the joys and challenges of family life when planting a new church, and gave some real encouragement to other families in a similar situation.

Then Mim shared about pioneering with her husband Pete, and their two young daughters Annabel and Lydia in Taipei, Taiwan. There were some real gems of insight into a Christian family and their daily discipleship habits and how they engage their daughters in the mission.

These two reports were of real benefit for all those with children or those that might be starting families soon.

Renewed and new friendships

It was lovely to see friendships renewed from our previous conference last November, and new friendships being formed. It is part of our DNA as a family of churches that we enjoy one another’s company. So we spent much time in coffee shops, often around the word, meals out together for lunch and dinner, and just hanging out together. These growing friendships are the sign of a real family, i.e. putting the relational into Relational Mission!

Commissioned to go

When we came to the end of our conference time together there was a time of commissioning. It was great to pray for one another and send each other out to continue the work that God had called us to.

Prayer

I believe that the success of the conference was a result of much prayer. I was so grateful to a group of prayer warriors and prophets who daily prayed for our ministry while we were away. The battles won in prayer saw breakthroughs and victories at the conference. It was such comfort to know that the prayers of the saints were being offered up on our behalf. Thank you to all who gave themselves to prayer for this conference.

It felt as if this conference was a marker in the ground. A time when Relational Mission recognised its brothers and sisters from other nations, and set our course for global mission.

If you would like to know more about the Relational Mission family of churches you can visit our website on www.relationalmission.org or message me at hugh.pearce@redeemerchurchcolchester.org.

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From Mim in Taipei, Taiwan

Hi all, thank you so much for praying for us at the RM Pacific Rim conference!

I joined the conference from Taipei, Taiwan, where we’ve been living for almost 7 years. It was so wonderful to meet people in different pioneering and church planting contexts in this part of the world. I felt so encouraged and blessed hearing their stories of God’s goodness and faithfulness and it really strengthened my faith. It was so refreshing to worship and pray together and we had lots of really helpful teaching on building good foundations and thinking about strategy moving forward. As the conference was small, we had lots of time to get to know different people and share meals together, which was a really great way of building relationships and encouraging one another. I have come back to Taipei feeling encouraged and with more faith to step out and see what God will do here!