How will they hear?
Two young Australians are leaving their families and taking their baby – and the gospel – to West Asia.
‘You’ve got a new baby, and you’re doing what?’
It’s a question Mary and John have become somewhat used to as they prepare to head overseas to serve as volunteer cross-cultural workers – with baby James in tow.
‘How can they BELIEVE in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they HEAR without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are SENT?’
The simplest and best answer is that they’re answering God’s call and following his lead to wherever he guides them, no matter what the cost.
Members of a Lutheran church in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, in South Australia, Mary and John will be going to serve people in West Asia for a time to be determined, but probably at least six years. In the interests of their security, The Lutheran is withholding their names, their exact destination and other details.
They’ll spend the first 12 months learning the local language and culture and building relationships with local people.
Then it will be a matter of what God has in store for Mary, a teacher in Lutheran schools, and John, a software engineer, both in their early 30s.
Their supporting agency Interserve Australia has identified a number of potential voluntary roles, possibly working with refugees, and, in Mary’s case, perhaps with children with autism. The aim, as with many development roles, will be to train local people to do a needed job.
Their long-term service overseas has been arranged through the supporting agency, which has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lutheran Church of Australia-International Mission (LCA-IM). They won’t be paid a wage while they are away, but will rather draw on a living allowance and medical cover from Interserve, which will be funded purely by regular donations from individual and church partners.
James will be just six months old when the trio hopes to leave Australia in April, and the young parents know that being away from their families at such a time in their lives will be difficult – on them and their loved ones.
However, Mary and John believe God is behind the move and offers reassurance in the Bible.
‘Mark chapter 10 has really spoken to me because it’s about giving up things, and we’re going to be leaving our families’, Mary says.
John adds: ‘Even though it’s going to be tough leaving, that’s been really encouraging to have Scripture like that’.
‘Having a baby made us think longer and harder about whether it was the right thing for us, but it didn’t ever change our minds. Once we started this journey towards going away, we met so many people with families and discovered that most of the people serving overseas have children.
‘It’s a sacrifice for the people who stay behind as well. Our families are sacrificing a lot and missing out on things. We realise it doesn’t affect just us, our going away.’
Indeed, their decision to leave their families, friends and church family, give up secure jobs and sell their house hasn’t been taken lightly. Nor has it been made overnight.
The duo believes God has been working for years to prepare their hearts for this move.
After meeting Mary, John went on a short-term volunteer trip to Cambodia, organised through the LCAIM. He says that once they started planning their wedding, the idea of ‘staying overseas, doing something meaningful’ became stronger.
Married in January 2012, they spent four months in Malaysia volunteering at Bethany Home (a school and accommodation for young people with disabilities), as part of an overseas trip.
They say including that LCA-IM-organised service as a component of an extended honeymoon did have friends and colleagues questioning whether it was a sensible move for newlyweds.
‘People thought that it would be tough on our relationship’, Mary says. ‘But we found that it was better because we weren’t just going straight into (normal) life.’
At Bethany Home, Mary worked with students with a wide range of disabilities, and ran meetings to train staff, as well as developing resources for the local workers. That work moved her to do study in the field of special education, which she continued after returning to Australia.
John rebuilt Bethany Home’s website, helped the staff with computer issues, as well as assisting with sport for the students and general transport. They were involved with church services at the home and community projects, and attended Bible studies with staff.
‘We thought, “We’re so BLESSED with skills and supportive family, CHURCH back in Australia; why don’t we use that to go and BLESS other people?”‘
Most importantly for the pair, that trip and a return two-week visit in 2013 sowed the seeds for a longer-term commitment to overseas volunteering.
‘We started wondering while we were in Malaysia, could we possibly do this long-term?’ Mary says. ‘Is this something God might be calling us to do? So we started looking into different avenues for doing something longer-term.
‘We also realised (with the second visit) that what was influential was going back and showing them that you loved them; that the relationships were the key thing that lasted.
‘We realised that you need to be somewhere for several years before being able to help people with any long-term professional changes. You need to build the relationship before they can trust what you’re saying and that you know what you’re talking about.’
However, John says, there are great benefits from short-term service trips too.
‘It exposes people to different ways of life and to get an appreciation of how blessed we are back in Australia’, he says. ‘So it can inspire things in people to go and do something longer. So there’s definitely a benefit.
‘And I think that God really used that time that we were away from life and our normal routines to get us thinking about where our life was heading. We thought, “We’re so blessed with skills, and supportive family and church back in Australia; why don’t we use that to go and bless other people?”
‘Our eyes were opened up to so much physical and spiritual need. You realise there are places in the world that don’t have the facilities we have in Australia or the opportunities for people to hear about God.’
Mary says Romans 10:14–15 sums up that concept well and has become a favourite text. ‘How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?’
While they say there has been ‘no lightning bolt moment’ confirming God’s call to head overseas for an extended period, John says there have been ‘lots of little incidents along the way’.
They did an online course about volunteer Christian service and investigated the opportunities for an overseas placement, as well as where the greatest need existed.
‘Even at a Bible study while we were in Malaysia praying and worshipping, the pastor looked at me and Mary and said, “God has got amazing plans for you two”’, John says.
‘We believe that going overseas is part of that. I’ve often wondered with the Here I am, Lord song in the All Together Everybody book – are we actually saying to God, “Send me, I’ll go wherever you want me to go”, or are we just singing it?
‘Basically we went to God and said, “We’re willing to go; you show us where to go and what to do”. And we believe that’s West Asia.
‘It’s mostly about going where there’s the biggest need. When we’ve done studies on that, the stats that convicted us the most were that of the people going out, only three per cent are going out to parts of the world where there are the most unbelievers.’
Mary says the couple began writing down things which have confirmed their call and that everything has been ‘falling into place’ with preparations for this next phase in their lives.
‘Selling our house and considering what furniture to give away has been really good in coming to see that these things actually don’t all matter; what matters is eternity and whatever God’s calling us to do’, she says. ‘It makes you realise it’s just earthly possessions.’
John adds: ‘We no longer have desires for bigger homes or better cars. The question is more about what is God calling us to do.’
While they are looking forward to answering the call, they admit they do have concerns about what they’ll encounter in West Asia and understand there will be a risk to their safety.
‘The Christian life is never safe’, John says. ‘Jesus basically promised that if you’re following him, things may be tough, so we go knowing there are no guarantees for our safety. But we know that, if God’s wanting us to go, he’s going to work out whatever happens. We just have to trust him for our safety.
‘We don’t go with unrealistic expectations; we know it will be many years of hard work and that we may not see any fruit from our work in our lifetime.’
‘But the Bible teaches that God’s purposes are good’, Mary says.
John and Mary have been speaking at local churches and home groups, sharing what they feel God is calling them to do. Some people from those visits have committed to support the family financially and/or through prayer.
‘It’s not about just us going; it’s about a whole network of people – people partnering with us in prayer and financially’, Mary says. ‘This is just one way to serve God. It’s not a better way than other ways, it’s just a different way and it’s one people often don’t hear a lot about.’
Interserve Australia is a non-denominational missional Christian community dedicated to serving amongst the peoples of Asia and the Arab World. To support John and Mary financially or to learn more about the opportunities to serve in this way, vist their website or email info@interserve.org.au or phone freecall 1800 067 100.
To learn more about LCA-IM, how you can volunteer for a project or become a partner in prayer and/or financial support, visit their website or email lcaim@lca.org.au or phone 08 8267 7334.
This feature story comes from The Lutheran February 2016. Visit the website to find out more about The Lutheran or to subscribe.