New Beginnings: Living The Day

Lydia has written the latest update to the Helsinki Plant blog. She is a super wife and mother and an amazing woman of faith. Lydia and I have been married for 10 years. The last season, has been the best yet on our journey doing life together and embarking upon our church planting adventure here in Finland.

We have started the New Year with gratitude and amazement for all God has done in the last year. We still are thrilled that we are actually here. I often walk around thinking ‘wow we live in Finland’. This time last year we hadn’t got a clue how this would actually happen but here we are now with a beautiful story to tell of how God miraculously opened many doors for us to get here.

We are grateful for a mild winter, adjusting to the weather was something that we were very nervous about but graciously it has been a mild one, so far we have only seen temperatures go down to -21 and we have all escaped the dreaded frost bite! We have made some lovely friends in our time here so far, most weekends we socialise with others. When we moved here we wondered how we would make friends, so it has been lovely to be able to invite many people into our home. We are thankful for the key people who have been given to us, who know the Finnish system and have helped us get through different administrative and logistical problems.

Johan & Edith making the most of the playground at the
local school. In the winter the council ice it over & the
Children skate instead of gym. 

I am so grateful for a wonderful job and a precious colleague, Prajakta, and 14 bouncing 2-4 year olds to have fun with. We are so grateful for super teachers for Edith and Johan at their pre-school and daycare. They have both settled in well, we are very proud of them as they have dived full on and headfirst into Finnish culture! They are often both very tired and can be quiet at school, but their teachers say they are gradually starting to understand and use finnish more and more. I am so grateful for a husband who can do the stay at home role so well. I arrive home from work to dinner on the table and happy children, you cant beat that!

A super Christmas meal with Steve & Hannah Jacob [left] and Luke &
Alison Morrison [right] who visited from England

I think one of our biggest thank you’s to God is for the Jacob family. God has totally wowed me with His provision of this wonderful family into our lives. He knows us and certainly knows how to provide all that we need! At the end of November the Jacobs told us they wanted to join us for church. We have been meeting on Sundays, these have been fun and crazy times. I don't think Kev would ever have imagined he would have been a kids worker at church but he has done an amazing job and come up with many fun and creative ways to communicate the different stories to the children [who currently outnumber the adults].

We have also just started a monthly book group with Steve and Hanna. We are reading Terry Virgo’s The Spirit Filled Church. We are wanting to look at the type of background we have come from and the values we hold dear. We want to take the opportunity together to chat through how these kind of values fit into contemporary Finnish culture and what they would look like as we continue to work towards establishing a thriving, Spirit-filled New Testament church. These have been good times, encouraging us to rely more on the Holy Spirit and through Him be a distinctive people in all that we do.

When we left the UK six months ago without a home organised for us to move into when we arrived, we had to experience relying upon Jesus in a new, immediate way. During the first few months of our time living here there were many daunting new things where we needed to absolutely depend on God, earnestly seeking his guidance and strength. As we are gradually settling in some of the pressures of being ‘foreigners’ in a new culture have just begun to ease. This has in turn enabled us to start to ease back and establish some more familiar routines.

Enjoying the outdoors is such a massive part
of Finnish life

Since the New Year Kev and I have both felt such a desire to press in deeper to God. We are grateful for the non-Christian friendships that we have, but want to know a new boldness to bring Jesus into these relationships. Church is super but we long for more people to join with us.

As we currently stand, we are so grateful for all that God has done but we are now hungry to press in deeper and to broaden our horizons and expectations. We want to keep seeking the new. We have both been reading about Old Testament characters who have moved to new lands and been blessed even though they were often living and working in a Godless or secular culture. We want to ask for the same. That as we attempt to live faithfully with what God has given us, we would be a blessing and be blessed in this wonderful nation.

Barnabas enjoying the sledge he bought with
his Christmas money!

We constantly come up with different ideas for what Kev should go for once Barns starts daycare in August. At the moment we think Kev should pursue getting onto the full time Finnish course which is free of charge if taken during the first three years of arriving in Finland. One of the challenges is organising childcare to enable him to attend the meetings and interviews [all at various times of day] to get a place on the course. Although most Finns speak excellent English, without the Finnish language we feel we will only ever be able to become integrated up to a certain point. Although sometimes being from overseas makes the conversation easier, at other times it creates something of a barrier and adds to the suspicion here of people wanting to discuss religion or people giving away something for free.

For this season ahead we are really wanting to press in deeper to Jesus, we are so grateful for the friendships that He has given us but now want to step out in boldness in these relationships. We want to continue to enjoy and faithfully serve the friendships God has gifted to us. But, we are looking for breakthrough. We are looking to Jesus to do a miracle, which transforms an amazingly enjoyable network of relationships into something where people powerfully encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ and lives are won for Him and transformed with eternal consequence.

Some wizzy fizzy let’s get busy prayer points:

• For excellent foundations to continue to be built with the Jacobs and us.
• More people to be added to us [there are a number of people currently on the fringe].
• For boldness and blessing in our friendships with a number of non-christian families and for some of these to be miraculously saved & discipled. 
• For us all to become super fantastic Finnish speakers.
• Wisdom for us about Kev's future plans and for opportunities to emerge.

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you 

For your on going love and support!

Follow on twitter: @Kevin_J_Jones

Email: finlandvision@gmail.com 

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