Blessed by Our Fellowship

A couple of days ago I posted about the four year anniversary of our trip to Chicago to begin church plant training with Harvest Bible Fellowship. Today I want to give some reasons I am so thankful that we made that journey:

1. We always wanted to find something bigger to be part of. There is something humbling about being part of something more global as we see the small corner we live in it magnifies how awesome God is that He is at work in so many different places, in so many different ways, changing so many different lives at the same time.

2. We always wanted to find a wider church family who were passionate about the same things we are. Being part of Harvest Bible Fellowship has more than provided that.

3. If ministry can often feel lonely then church planting has the capacity to feel even more so. I have been blessed that has never been my experience. Even though we are the only Harvest Bible Chapel in the United Kingdom (actually Western Europe) I have never felt isolated at any point.

4. That lack of isolation comes from a sense of brotherhood with the other senior pastors and the amazing amount of work the HBF staff do. I am always massively blessed at the amount of interest and investment that Harvest's leading people are willing to make in conversation and prayer.

5. Our local church family have always been tremendously blessed by the visits of our wider Harvest family. Whether it is people visiting Scotland and making the effort to come and encourage us, the missions teams that have come to work alongside us or the senior pastors who have faithfully and passionately preached God's Word to us we are so blessed by whoever have come.

6. Having someones say to you 'we've made mistakes, our job is to help you avoid repeating them' is gold for someone trying to figure out what it looks like to plant a church.

7. Having someone call you fortnightly to see how you, your family and your church are is more strengthening than you realise. That's what first Kirk Vanmaanen and then Todd Dugard did. I am personally indebted to them both. They are true friends and co-labourers.

8. The care packages to our family in the early days. The best way to love a pastor is by loving on his wife and kids.

9. The opportunity to have people from our church in Glasgow attend the Harvest University conference has been significant for our church. Having a few people trained every year has helped to clarify what our vision further. Also, the opportunity for those people to be around other Harvest Bible Chapel people has been a massive encouragement.

10. The humility and willingness to serve that has been evident in everyone I have met from Harvest Bible Fellowship is both encouraging and challenging.