Almost Back

An abnormal addition to my UK Home Assignment schedule this year was to attend the Baptist Union of Wales' Momentum conference in Carmarthen in order to facilitate two sessions, one for the young people and one for the adults. The conference theme was the Holy Spirit and my session was entitled 'The Spirit who creates'. To be honest, I hadn't led a creation stewardship session from this perspective before. Peruvian Baptists tend to have a conservative view of the Holy Spirit's activity in the present day so I usually focus on the centrality of creation to Christ. But this was a welcome challenge and turned out to be a blessing as I realised something from Scripture that I'd never appreciated before. From the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the deep in Genesis, and the Spirits' moving upon young Mary so that she would conceive a flesh-and-blood child, to the River of Life of Revelation, flowing from the throne of the Father and the Son, sustaining the Tree of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, the Holy Spirit's work has always been about animating and sustaining life out of chaos, disorder and death. Once again, I find that the creation stewardship lens reveals a God more cosmic than the human-centred narrative of salvation usually allows. As Christ is not only saviour but creator of the world, similarly the Holy Spirit's work goes beyond the supernatural to the natural, bringing forth life out of physics, chemistry and biology as well as into eternity. In Christ, this makes us a people filled with a Spirit who champions and is active in the flourishing of physical life. It also helped to be able to share about the work of BMS partners in Bangladesh, Uganda and Chad where environmental initiatives are already focussed on promoting human flourishing through improved stewardship of natural resources. From the feedback I received, I think we all left the session with a renewed hope in God and the capacity of his Church to do good in the world.

I have my final church speaking engagements this coming week, bringing to a close my last UK Home Assignment. It's been another good one and I've enjoyed travelling almost the length and breadth of the UK mainland, from South Wales to the English South Coast, to Southend-on-Sea and...Inverness. The hospitality has been generous and the meetings all very positive. Profound thanks to everyone involved in organising the meetings and receiving me (and my parents in some cases!). It was also a treat to see some of you at the online 'Share and Prayer' meetings which we did for the first time this year.

Now I have the strange prospect of not re-packing the suitcases, not flying out of the UK and instead working out what life and work is actually going to look like from Porthcawl, South Wales. Although I've never lived in Porthcawl (my parents moved there after I left for Peru), I'm enjoying being able to walk down to the beach or go for a jog through the sand dunes. Last weekend I was even able to see my niece in a ballet performance, which was an utter delight. I'm looking forward to doing more of these sort of things in future.

As I try to see beyond the end of church visits, I've been thinking about the Eco-crisis and the Gospel programme with IBTS. I need to build a 'project team' beyond myself and an excellent group of ad hoc tutors for the online course. As well as having approached the tutors, I've also had a very positive first conversation with the director of A Rocha Netherlands, a woman named Annemarthe who I met at the Global Creation Care Forum in Seoul last year. Please join me in prayer for God's guidance and discernment as I start to firm up plans for the Autumn and think about possibilities for next year, including how to use IBTS's connection with the European Baptist Federation to encourage greater theological and practical engagement in creation stewardship across the Baptist family across Europe.

Once again, thank you so much for your prayers and support for me and the work of BMS. I may now be continuing to write these newsletters, at a slightly lower frequency, as I take up the UK-based role. If you would be interested to keep receiving these, do watch this space!

Every blessing in Christ,

Laura