Mission trips may not often be associated with young church plants; in fact the mission trip is considered the remit of the established church that has at its disposal money and plenty of people. However, at Shem Creek Presbyterian, a church plant in Mt. Pleasant, SC, we believe that the church is universal as well as local. We have a desire to reach out to our community of Mt Pleasant and the greater Charleston area with the gospel, but also to encourage, serve and help churches across the country and in other nations around the world. We wish for this attitude to be part of the fabric of our church from the very beginning.

Therefore, this summer, we will be sending a small group of people from our church plant over to the United Kingdom to help and encourage our British brothers and sisters in the work of the gospel. The church we will be serving with is Bury St. Edmunds Presbyterian, a congregation of the Presbyterian church in England and Wales (EPCEW) that has close ties to the ARP through existing mission work. Bury St. Edmunds is, like so many towns in the UK, a place in which the gospel was once proclaimed so faithfully and effectively, yet, now has but a handful of Christians and few churches preaching Christ. During the 17th century Bury St. Edmunds was in the center of a region of England known for its puritanism. It is the town in which two of the Westminster divines, Edmund Calamy and Jeremiah Burroughs, ministered. Since that time the Christian witness has all but disappeared. The forces of secularism have swept over the British Isles leaving in its wake a lingering hostility or apathy to the gospel in equal measure. Today, less than 6% of people attend a church on any given Sunday and, of those, the number at evangelical, bible believing churches is even smaller.  

 

Bury St. Edmunds Presbyterian is a biblical, confessional church that seeks to rectify this negative trend. It is situated on a council estate and is perfectly placed to be a focal point in the community. They have a thriving youth outreach that is outgrowing their current premises. The week that we will be there will consist of intensified outreach and evangelism that seeks to build on these pre-existing relationships. Throughout the week there will be breakfasts with evangelistic talks and testimonies, VBS type work with the youth, football (soccer), lunches and teas served for the local residents, and evening meals with talks put on as well. This will be accompanied by door-to-door invitations and praying for people. We hope to be able to engage in this work to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to those who are in desperate need of it. A people who are lost without a hope, living in an unremarkable town, an existence that in the worlds eyes is neither terribly hard nor particularly enviable. It is churches in towns like this that are doing the laborious work of holding out Christ to a culture that is cold and hard hearted, self-absorbed and self-destructing. We seek to encourage them and remind them that around the world there are churches that are praying for them, who care, are interested in the seemingly tedious and unglamorous task that they are performing, knowing it is of eternal significance.

 

We would covet your prayers as we prepare for this trip. Specifically: that people would come to events, that we would have meaningful conversations and make new connections, that people would come to know Christ, and that we would be useful as volunteers and an encouragement to our brothers and sisters in the UK. We are also actively seeking to raise funds for this trip in the order of $10,000. This will enable all to engage in the gospel work regardless of means. You can support us by clicking on the link below. https://www.gofundme.com/9undww5g