June 2021

Hello, how are you all doing?
I am sorry that this has taken me so long to write and get this out to you. I had started to write this, but when I came back to it, what I had previously written no longer felt right. So, this is the re-write.
The last few weeks have been a bit unsettling and have left us feeling a bit discombobulated, but I am certain that some of you will be able to relate to feeling a bit wonky at the moment.

So, what do you do when everything feels up in the air and you wonder where on earth God is leading you? What do you do with that sense of bleakness or uncertainty? So much of the pioneering journey is about experiment and walking into unfamiliar territory, and we know that the road less trodden is a harder route. The Bible is full of stories of people who have walked with faith and sat with uncertainty, but knowing these things does not make our own sense of confusion or loss any easier to bear, does it?
It is no wonder that we crave for certainty and familiarity in whatever form we can find it. I guess that is why the desire to return to ‘normal’ or ‘go back’ are familiar sentences and feelings.
I wanted to share some of a new book that we have been reading called Pioneer Practice written by Jonny Baker. It is an inspirational and easy to read book and we hope to be able to share this book with you all in some way later this year.
But there is a short chapter in the book titled ‘The Desert’ and it seemed to speak into where we may find ourselves now. I wonder how this will speak to you.

“It goes by many names – darkness, chaos, desert, liminality, the wilderness, Gethsemane, the dark forest. But the journey to the new invariably seems to go through this place.
It would be much easier all round if it were possible to jump from the old to the new in one sweet move with no pain. But rarely it is.
It’s a place of being stripped of certainty, a place of insecurity. A place of unknowing.
A place where you have to let go of the old, but you can’t see the way ahead.
A place of self-doubt. A place where your inner critic goes wild.
A place where you feel like giving up.
A place of wondering why on earth you embarked on this journey.
It can also be a creative place. A place for learning.
A place for deep questions about who you are and what you are about.
A place that shapes you. A place to be silent and listen.
A place you are alone with God. A place of prayer.
A place of new resolve.

If you find yourself in that place it’s normal.
Try not to run from it too quickly.”

Warm wishes from
Jenny, Heidi, Alex, and Niall