Les Champs de France

The Fields of France

On est du retour ! (aka we’re back home)

Jun 14, 2018 07:57 am
God is always at work! Everywhere! What we tend to find most encouraging, however, is getting to see that firsthand. Last weekend we were blessed by our trip to Bath, England to learn about what God is doing in their city and more specifically through believers at St Bart’s.

Earlier this year they sent one of their interns, Lucy, to us for a few weeks for her to experience ministry life in rural France. They then invited us to come last weekend and share with them what we’re doing to reach out to our community and learn about what they are doing. We had the privilege to meet various people from their church who have a heart for their city, a love for God and, often, a keen interest what God is doing in our corner of France.

The short version of what we did was meet a lot of people, eat with many of those people, and have meetings with a few more! Additionally, Greg preached twice and gave a brief presentation on the Loches/Descartes church. Thanks to the train strikes in France, we had to change our travel plans and leave earlier, ending up with a day in London, which meant just enough time to go to the British Museum and otherwise walk Ophelia’s feet off.

Here’s a brief rundown of how things went :
– On Friday evening, one of our hosts picked us up at the bus station in Bath and we later went to another couple’s house to eat together and talk about our respective churches and what we personally see working and where we need to grow.
– On Saturday morning Lucy graciously took Ophelia to a park while we had a meeting with some church leaders and other people involved in outreach ministries, a time for them to share what they are doing and for us to share what we are doing. It was a lovely morning of mutual encouragement.
– Saturday afternoon Lucy took us to a wonderful restaurant (named Boston Tea Party, ironically), showed us around the main part of the city, and didn’t seem to mind terribly that I had second-hand book stores on the brain. We even managed to squeeze in stops for ice cream and coffee.
– Saturday evening we went to dinner at a proper English pub with another couple who actually come to church with us in Loches when they’re in the area. We rarely have much time to chat, so it was lovely to spend some time getting to know them better.
– Sunday morning Greg preached at St Bart’s second campus Riverside which meets in a school. After the service was a potluck during which he shared what’s been going on in Loches and Descartes, shared some pictures of the brief history of the Descartes campus and then he and I answered questions that some people had.
– After lunch, Greg had a meeting with some of the leaders at the second campus while myself and Ophelia went home with the campus pastor/curate’s wife and children. After a brief stay at a nearby park where we met up with our husbands and another couple and their children, we returned to their house, relaxed a bit, and shared dinner with them.
– After dinner, it was back to the main church building for evening service where Greg was interviewed, preached once more and then we stuck around a bit to answer questions and be introduced to a few more people before heading back to our hosts’ house to chat with them and another missionary couple who were also staying the weekend.
– Monday morning we took a train to London, a train to Paris, a train to Tours and then had the usual car ride home. We were tired, but it was worth it!

Hello British Museum!