|
Andrew & Amy Funka |
|
Serving alongside the Church in the United Kingdom |
|
This page contains the text of the most recent Funka Chronicle, the quarterly newsletter for the support team that keeps Andrew & Amy in the field. This is the July 2008 Edition. |
|
Dear Family and Friends,
We hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the summer. It was great to see and speak to so many of you in April and May! We are sorry we couldn’t get to see each one of you.
We are excited to see where God will take us as we launch into what we expect to be another 3 years serving as Alongsiders in the United Kingdom. We are encouraged by our ongoing relationship with Stockethill Church. Stockethill is keeping us both busy with preaching and worship duties over the summer.
The “Street Football” (soccer) experiment successfully ran for 8 weeks in May and June. It seemed to be a positive service to the children of the community, and Andrew was pleased to be able to bring together the YMCA, Cornhill Community Centre, the One Trust, Oasis Christian Fellowship, and the Grampian Police to provide this service.
The big news at Stockethill Church is the significant step of raising up leaders from within the congregation. The new elders have completed their training and will be ‘set apart’ soon. We expect to have more to say about this in our next Chronicle!
Amy is working on developing a “Church Administrator” position with Stockethill. Ian Aitken is looking at what the best way forward might be for organizing the administration needs in balance with his own busy schedule. Stockethill may eventually hire someone to fill this position, but to explore the possibilities Amy is currently taking on the role and working out with Ian and other leaders what that position could look like.
July 6 through 16, we had the privilege of travelling back to Le Liebfrauenberg in eastern France to participate in Alongside Discovery 2008. We served as a part of the teaching and leadership team, with Andrew putting some of his history skills to use and Amy coordinating the worship times. Together we led the AD participants in a look at Brian McLaren’s controversial book “A Generous Orthodoxy,” which resulted in an interesting and lively discussion! This year, 13 participants spent 3 weeks together living in community while studying cross-cultural mission, and at the time of this writing three teams are serving in practical mission experiences in various locations throughout France.
In our wider duties with Alongside Ministries in the UK, we said “farewell” to Taylor Long this July as she is returning to the USA after completing one year serving alongside East End New Charge Development in Greenock. Please pray for Taylor as she re-enters her home culture in Alaska and returns to classroom teaching. Tim and Jennie Stoenner are still preparing to serve alongside Shoreline Church in Southport, England. They are currently struggling to raise the financial support required. Please pray for the Stoenners. Because of the ongoing weakness of the US Dollar against the British Pound, as well as rising fuel costs, it is a financially challenging time to be serving in mission in Europe! (We’re extra-thankful for our little yellow fuel-efficient Skoda right now!)
Thank you for being such a faithful and encouraging support team. It is an amazing privilege to be able to serve alongside the Church in Europe, and we do not take this privilege for granted. Please continue to remember us as you pray, and keep in touch! We enjoy hearing from you. Yours in Christ,
Andrew & Amy Funka |
|
Alongside… This space features some of the people, Churches, and organizations that we serve in our work with Stockethill Church and as UK Directors for Alongside Ministries International. |
|
We have mentioned Souled Out briefly in past Chronicles, and you can visit the Souled Out website at www.souledout.org.uk to see and hear more about this rather amazing ministry. Souled Out started in 2004 and is a quarterly concert of worship that has united the Church in Aberdeen across age and denominational boundaries. Currently, a typical Souled Out draws over 1000 people to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre for evenings of worship and Biblical teaching. The purpose of Souled Out is to “encourage, equip, and inspire the Church to passionately serve the King of kings.” We have been privileged to serve the Souled Out events in a variety of ways during our stay in Aberdeen. Until recently, Amy headed up the exhibitions aspect of the organisation, managing and liaisoning with the many different organisations who come to exhibit at Souled Out events. At this time, Andrew is assisting with the technical side of these events, working with the sound, lighting, and audio-visual contractors and volunteers that enable these large gatherings to happen. In this, Andrew works quite closely with Martin Clarke. Martin comes from a Baptist Church background, and formerly served as the youth and worship pastor at the International Baptist Church in Aberdeen. Martin is one of the founders of Souled Out, and is now employed as the director of this dynamic ministry.
As this Chronicle goes to press, Souled Out is preparing for a weekend conference for all ages that will be held at the beginning of October. This year's ENCOUNTER event is titled, “The Mission, the Mess, and the Weight of Glory.” It takes a great deal of time and effort to coordinate the various elements that go in to such a large event, and all of this coordination now revolves around Martin! Please pray for Martin as he strives to balance the demands of a large and growing ministry with his young and growing family.
Martin wishes to say that “Andrew and Amy have had an incredible impact on the ministry of Souled Out. It was immediately clear that God had given them a great heart for Aberdeen and for this work, and it's a wonderful testimony to their character that they offered themselves to serve in whatever way they could. This ultimately led to them having two of the most crucial jobs in the running of the events, for which we give God thanks. They're a tremendous blessing to Souled Out. And I personally am deeply thankful to know them, to work with them and to learn in so many different ways from their humility and wisdom and passion for God and His work.” It is an honor to serve alongside Martin and Souled Out in the great things this ministry is accomplishing as a unifying catalyst for the Church in Aberdeen! |
|
Martin Clarke & Family Souled Out |