Building Momentum & The Flywheel Principle!

I was recently listening online to some teaching by Mike Betts from a few years ago on  Shaping Church Culture. In it he said that one of the aspects of church culture that he felt would be important in the years to come would be the culture of being able to have a big vision, but to be able to take small steps to get there. He said that many have a big vision, but try to achieve it in such a short space of time, that if it does not go according to plan, or nosedives in some way, they can easily become disillusioned and cynical.


Mike went on to share his impressions from Jim Collins book From Good to Great. In this book Collins surveyed what he considered to be the greatest, most successful, most influential companies in the world. One of the key factors he observed was their ability to have what he called the flywheel principle.

If you were to run at an enormous flywheel with all of your strength and effort, you would actually get very little movement [if any]. But, if you repeatedly nudge a flywheel again and again and again, patiently and persistently taking small frequent steps, those little nudges eventually begin to create momentum. When we have this sort of momentum we are as dangerous and unstoppable as a moving flywheel.

Flywheel weighing 84 metric tons which was in use at the Ronneby Enamel Factory, Sweden [1914-1970]     

Being in Finland and wanting to see a church planted here has felt very similar to this in many ways; lots of big pushes but seemingly very few signs of movement happening. It has been a time to remember this flywheel principle and take encouragement from the reality that every little step we take to build relationships with other believers; get to know the non-Christians we have around us and work through the complex administrative process of becoming established as a family here in Finland. Even things which have felt like backward steps in some ways, are still very much part of the process of moving forward and gaining continued momentum. 

Lydia's parents [Barry and Maureen] visited us for a week. This was so nice and great for the boys who were so happy not to have to get up and out at the crack of dawn to join me on the pitch black school run! During this time we had an evening with a family who have been exploring joining us. This was a good time with food, worship and Barry doing some teaching then finishing with prayer. This fantastic family have continued to meet with us and have today expressed their commitment to join with us!

We also discovered that six year old Edith Needed to see a dentist. As we attempted to go along to a local dentist, the ongoing fragility and very temporary nature of our status started to unravel. To them we didn’t exist and could not be treated. We went back to the Maistraatti [immigration office] and they confirmed that due to Lydia's contract being for just one year that we could only receive a partial status as residents and that this would not include access to health care. 

Our first thought was that Lydia's boss could help. A permanent contract would have improved our standing before the Maistraatti. Sadly, despite Lydia continuing to do a super job, the boss was unable to offer a permanent contract due to the policy of the company. This would have been the most direct way to solve the situation with the immigration status - but hey perhaps a good idea not a God idea! We also tried a letter of intent from the boss saying that the contract would definitely be renewed, but that it is not company policy to issue contracts over 1 year in length. This was also insufficient from the Maistraatti’s perspective.

On a very positive note, Kela [the social services dept] were very sympathetic to our situation with the need to see a dentist. They cannot understand why we are being restricted in this way as their policy is that everyone should receive health care regardless of immigration status. Unfortunately they are unable to actually alter our status on the system. They did however write a certificate for Edith stating that she should receive treatment in the same way all people in the system do. This was super news as we were then able to present this at the dentist and Edith had her tooth filled! This came as a huge relief.

Kev has been exploring the possibility of enrolling onto a full time language course. In Finland the authorities are trying to acknowledge that the language here is obscure and very difficult to learn. They offer a free full-time language program to help new residents to become integrated and employable. It sounded like a real possibility. I had a preliminary meeting with the unemployment office who administer the courses. They felt I would be a good candidate. I think that this will be something to revisit in a few months time though, as the registration process requires attendance to various meetings, language tests, appraisals etc. These are all a necessary part of the process but impossible for me as I am with the children, doing the school runs etc. We don’t currently have friends who would be able to watch the kids for a while when I need to shoot off to a meeting. 

  

An Indian family have asked us to do some conversational English sessions with their six year old daughter twice a week. It really came out of nowhere, but has been going well for the last few weeks. This has been a way to get to know another family. We have also continued to get to know a Polish family who we met at Edith's ballet class. It has been really fun getting to know them. We are praying into all of these connections that again through ongoing, gentle nudges we are able to build momentum towards being able to share more of the gospel with them.

Edith has continued to thrive in her Finnish speaking school. We are so proud of the way she has thrown herself into this and she is gradually beginning to understand some Finnish. Due to the fact that the Finns start school much later [seven years old] she has the advantage of already being able to read and write etc. The teachers seem to feel that this will help pave the way for her to learn Finnish relatively quickly. Johan has now started at a Finnish speaking nursery [see prayer points on last blog Yippee]! He is enjoying this very much so far and has made a few friends in his first week. The nursery seems to be a nice environment, with a great atmosphere.

As Christmas approaches we are excited at the prospect of Luke and Alison Morrison arriving from Canterbury on Christmas eve. This will be their second visit with us since we moved here. They are exploring joining us next year to become part of the church planting team, which we are so thrilled about. Around new year time we have Nick and Kez Brennan with us from Hedge End. We are so excited at having such dear friends visiting us and look forward to catching up and have fun together. Regular visits from friends are so important to us.

In many ways it has been a stretching time with challenges of some sort rearing up most days. Even sitting here and writing this though is so faith building as we remember all that God has done over the last few months. As we look back we remember the fear or the anxiety we may have felt at the time, but we are all the more able to celebrate the ways God has been consistently faithful, not only in meeting our every need, but in opening doors and opportunities which we didn't expect.  Each small step [whether through difficulty or in success] is possible by the presence of God with us each day and the certain hope of His presence with us tomorrow, the next day and the day after. Many of these steps have seemed small but when viewed through the lens of the flywheel principle analogy are significant and related to the overall mission and goal to see a biblical, Spirit filled grace community here in Helsinki.

As Mike said in the message referred to at the beginning of this piece,  momentum doesn't happen overnight. I, we, everyone needs to gear themselves up to the reality that changing the expression of Christianity and influencing our societies is not going to be an overnight thing. The way to create change is to say 'I know the direction I am going in and every day I'm going to just keep nudging that flywheel' and that a lifetime lived like that creates true momentum and effect.

Please support us by standing with us in prayer for:

• For further Missional opportunities & connections & for one person to come to Christ!
• For team to build [Pray for wisdom & grace with the friendships and connections which have been developing].
• God's direction & shaping for the season ahead in the life of the church plant [strategies, opportunities, foundation laying, church culture]
• Luke & Alison as they make progress with their plans to join with us in summer 2014 [job opportunities, timings etc]

We really thank you for supporting and standing with us and we thank God as we look back with huge gratitude for all He has done so far.

Follow on twitter: @Kevin_J_Jones

Email: finlandvision@gmail.com 

Looking Back, Giving Thanks, Pressing Forward

We were greatly encouraged a few days ago when we reviewed a piece of video which we shot on a trip to Finland in May, six weeks before our arrival this summer. We had come for a long weekend, for Lydia to attend some job interviews, to explore areas to live in and also to connect with friends.

Watching this video helped us to feel the impact of how much has happened in the three or so months since the video was shot. We have since left our home in England, moved our family and belongings across europe, moved into an apartment, Lydia has started work, Edith has started school, we have been steadily making progress working through the immigration process, and much much more. Apart from this personal reminder of all that has happened, we were amazed as we observed the detail is what we were talking about in a very casual, unknowing manner.

 

Helsinki Trip - Part 4 from Helsinki Plant on Vimeo.

It is amazing for us to look at this video and remember things that we were chatting about and saying 'God could be doing this', or 'He may open this door for us', and to realise that everything we speak about here has come to pass.

Not only did Lydia get offered two of the jobs she interviewed for that weekend, but the interview which we both felt most positive and peaceful about, and the job that Lydia accepted has become the most enjoyable job she has ever had. We now live in an apartment less than 200 yards from where we sat on a bench that weekend and said 'this seems like it could be a good area for us to move to'! The apartment was eventually chosen and organised by Lydia's employer, so we had no say in where it would be, but God knew! Our friendship with the other family we mention has been brilliant and we see them most weeks. They are a family passionate for God and hungry to see many of the things we long to see happen through the church here in Helsinki.

God has been faithful to every seemingly off the cuff or insignificant remark which we made at the time of shooting this film. It is incredible to see His attention to detail and the prophetic merging together of our desires and hopes with the plans, job, home, friends that He already had mapped out!

Watching this film really is a source of encouragement. Firstly that we are here[!] and that something which was just a conversation back then is a reality now! Secondly that as we face fresh battles and uncertainties, He will continue to see things through to completion and He has His eye on all of the detail. We are now realising more fully that getting here [although it took huge effort and many miracles], is really just the beginning and that the hard work, uncertainty and challenges continue in various forms. We are still facing an uphill battle to finalise our immigration and become permanent residents. It feels like trying to push a boulder uphill, there is a tremendous amount of time and energy being expended just to move it along by a few inches. Edith is now at school, which is excellent news and she is really enjoying this, but Johan is on a four month waiting list and he misses the routine and friendship of his nursery in the UK. There is also some uncertainty about Lydia's contract. We had been led to understand that the one year contract was just a formality and that these were then automatically renewed. This may now not be the case, and the contract may finish sooner than expected, which could in turn affect our right to become residents. For me the days are intense looking after the children and running the house [not a natural strength!] and there isn't much free time to work on stuff connected to the church plant. We miss friends and family [although Skype and Google Hangout have been a lifeline], we had an amazing visit from our friends Luke and Alison [who hope to join us in a years time]. This was such a super time but a real wrench when the time came for them to return to the UK.

We are confident though that as we have seen from our film from a few months back, that God will see us through these issues day by day and step by step. I have been reading an old copy of A W Pink's book on Elijah. In 1956 the book cost six shillings, but it is very much speaking to me right now! He notes that as the Lord sent Elijah to the brook Cherith an important practical truth is exemplified:

'God leads his servants step by step. Necessarily so, for the path which they are called to tread is that of faith, and faith is opposed to both sight and independency. It is not the Lord's way to reveal to us the whole course which is to be traversed: rather does He restrict His light to one step at a time, that we may be kept in continual dependence upon Him. This is the most salutary lesson, yet to the flesh it is far from relishing...'

Please support us onwards through these steps by standing with us in prayer for:

• All of the bureaucracy to do with immigration, tax, bank account etc. to be processed quickly and finally settled.
• A nursery place for Johan in a convenient location and ahead of schedule.
• For strength for Lydia as she works hard at the daycare and for a favourable resolution to the contractual issues. Also for study opportunity or a full time job for Kev.
• Missional opportunities and connections and for one person to come to Christ!
• For team to build [which is a major key to move things on to the next stage with the church plant. Pray for wisdom and grace with the friendships and connections which have been developing.
• Alison and Luke as they make progress with their plans [job opportunities, timings etc]

We really thank you for supporting and standing with us and we thank God as we look back with huge gratitude for all He has done so far.

Six Days Later!

Over the last few years as we have pushed on the door to arrive in Helsinki, God has put us on a course, which has required us to trust him. As an individual who is not naturally disposed to this and as one who normally gets through life with a large scoop of self-sufficiency topped with a drizzle of I can make it happen and a sprinkling of I am in control, it has been a challenging personal journey!

Through the last year or more, God has been working things out to address this and teaching us to trust in him. Throughout this process we have faced a number of Israelites at the Red Sea type moments [although far less dramatic by comparison, but in some ways equally scary for little us]!  He had spoken to us about these things and the journey he would be taking us on, directly and through words from friends. Emma Whittall last year, when visiting us in Helsinki from Stockholm with Phil and their kids said that there would be lily pads and large turtles appearing on the surface of the lake to step onto, rising up at the last moment before each step forward.  Jonathan Farnham in Canterbury echoed this, he felt God say that he was wanting us to learn to trust him more deeply and that there would be times when we would have to go ahead, when everything was not yet in place, a bit like the Israelites at the Red Sea – God would provide at the very last moment! More recently Mark Nottage said that as we were sharing with The City Church Canterbury about some of the challenges we were facing, he could see a picture of a magician, dazzling a group of kids with tricks and them really not knowing what was going to happen next and witnessing hilariously unimaginable things, but the magician and others who could see from behind the stage knowing exactly what he was going to do next and how he would do it. We were like the children and God’s promise to us it that he is orchestrating everything together in complete control, but for us it will seem hilarious, unexpected and impossible. There were many other similar words to these.

Barry & Barns Removal Co.®   

Two weeks ago, after incredible support from dear friends and family helping clean our rented house in Canterbury and packing up the van with our furniture and belongings, we prepared to leave England without a house to move into when we arrived in Helsinki.

Sad goodbyes to dear friends outside a spotlessly clean   

25 River Court, Chartham   

Early in the morning the next day, Lydia's father Barry and I left the UK to drive across Europe to Helsinki via Stockholm. Barry drove a hired van loaded with our furniture while I drove our family car. The day after, Lydia and her mother Maureen flew to Helsinki with our three children, to stay in temporary accommodation, house sitting at a friend’s place. At this point the thought of arriving on the dockside and sitting there wondering where to go next with all of our stuff was looming large in my mind! But in reality, I was driving to our destination with the conviction that the God who would put the initial seed into our minds to do this in the first place and who had provided so richly so far, would continue to provide and see these and other plans through to completion. Suffice to say we got halfway across Europe and things started to happen. Lydia had heard from her employers [who knew of our situation] that they had gone ahead of us and found us a flat at the last minute, renting it through the company and thus avoiding the impossible situation we had faced with not being allowed to rent any property in Finland due to us not having a Finnish identity number. The 

Lydia after rushing across the city to collect the apartment  
keys, last minute on a rainy Friday afternoon. WooHoo!  

apartment, not only meets our very immediate need to have a roof over our heads, but it's within one minutes walking distance to Lydia's work and is a really nice place that we know we'll be happy in.

So at risk of sounding like a Craig David song [and showing my age]:

We packed up the van on Tuesday

Started our drive on Wednesday

Heard we have the flat on Thursday

Lydia collected the keys on Friday

We arrived in Helsinki with the furniture on Saturday

And moved it all in on Sunday!

Barry, Maureen & Edith on a day out to Suomelina Island

It has been an amazing but hectic time!

Barry and Maureen stayed with us for a week. This was a mix of spending time together [for the last time in a while], seeing some of the sites and enjoying some of the good weather. But, for them and us, lots of hard work helping move us in, unpacking boxes, trips with us to IKEA, looking after the children while we got things going with bank accounts, immigration stuff etc. It was hard work, but a great time together and we couldn't have done it without them.

Lydia outside her new classroom   

Lydia has started a new job as a nursery teacher and is settling in well. She has been busy planning, producing resources, and making stuff to make her classroom feel more vibrant and creative. The last few days have been spent welcoming the new children and dealing with anxious parents! So far it seems like a good working environment with nice staff. Although Lydia was a school teacher for many years back in England, she is new to working in a nursery or daycare and has some difficult kids who don't speak or understand English. When she applied for the job it was for a classroom assistant type roll. But she has actually been made the main teacher. This is a great compliment, but also adds to the challenge and level of responsibility.

We had a super time with our dear friends Steve & Hanna who have been developing a house church type group over the last year. We don’t know them extremely well, but it feels as if we have known them years and there is a sense of joined hearts. Steve collected Lydia and the family from the airport when they arrived. They had put together a bag of groceries for the first few days and a houseplant as a welcome-to-Finland gift! Their group has been built on strength of relationship and a desire to be open and hospitable, welcoming in anybody. They have seen success through running an English speaking group in their local neighborhood. As a result there are several families who have joined the group and become knitted in – but have not yet come to faith. It is exciting and inspiring for us to see what has happened through them and from such small beginnings. We are delighted to be in relationship with them and are interested to maintain this and explore possible ways to work together and support one another, we eagerly look forward to further opportunity to get to know them.

We too are eager to find opportunity to form relationships with those around us. This is most likely to happen through getting to know others in our apartment building, putting on social gatherings, Lydia building relationships at work and also through the open daycare groups, which serve children not enrolled onto formal daycare, and their parents. This has been a great meeting place so far. As we continue to try to get to know people and build genuine relationships, our prayer is for the miraculous to break out. We are asking God for this to happen through anything from just forming some solid relationships in what is an individualistic and suspicious culture, to opening hearts to be receptive to the gospel as we chat to people, or for opportunities to pray with folk and demonstrate the reality and personal nature of our faith in Jesus. As a family here with no actual church as such, we are praying for a miraculous door to be swung open to enable us to grow even by just a few. We do ask you to join with us in this prayer.

We have had a few setbacks to do with our immigration stuff. Lydia has received a Finnish identity number as she is here with a job and the number is essential for taxation purposes. But as things stand myself and the children will have to go through a lengthy process to be regarded as connected to Lydia and counted as one family unit living together in Finland. This means that we cannot register with a doctor, begin the process of registering the children into kindergarten, I cannot be added to our bank account to make it a joint account. The process will require having our documents [birth certificates, marriage certificate etc.] certified and legalized in the UK before they will even look at them. This is an expensive and time-consuming process [which we were not informed of during our recon visits and meetings with immigration staff prior to our permanent arrival]. Once we get through this and can become residents, we can then get the children registered into Finnish kindergarten. The priority here is Edith, we really want her to be in Finnish kindergarten as soon as possible. With a year to go before she starts in a Finnish school, we had been banking on her having this time to learn enough language ready for school [apparently nine months to a year is enough for this to happen]. However, we have learned that after becoming residents it then normally takes four months to register and start at a Kindergarten. This is obviously not ideal and we are praying for an unusually quick route through these obstacles.

That’s the main headlines from us so far. 

We do ask you to continue to pray for us and to keep in touch [we are delighted to have resolved our internet connection problems so are back in the contactable realm!] emails, tweets, messages really are a source of encouragement to us and we are so grateful to those who have made contact. We are also grateful to those who have given financially to us. You know who you are and we are so appreciative. It has been an expensive process to get here with many hidden, unexpected costs on top of what we had already budgeted for. But, thanks to God's provision, through the generosity and mission heartedness of his people we have had all of our needs met so far. We really are grateful to Him and to you! 

Apologies that this is a bit of an epic, there has been so much to include [compounded by over a week without internet], and these are just the headlines.

Prayer points:

• Speedy and miraculous journey through the immigration system [avoidance of unnecessary red tape].
• Edith [and preferably Johan] to be quickly registered into kindergarten.
• Language learning for us all – [it was a long night of working through pages of internet configuration settings with a Finnish-English dictionary!]
• Wisdom and the right path to emerge with a small house church we have been relating to. Ways to support them and informally connect them to RM where useful.
• A clear door to open to birth something, which is more than just our family. A relationship connection, opportunity to share the gospel, someone coming to The Lord, miracles, divine appointments. That sort of stuff to really open a door which, we cannot open based simply on our own efforts (that one is a bit vague, but hopefully you understand what we're getting at!)

Follow on twitter @Kevin_J_Jones

Email: finlandvision@gmail.com