Ireland, The UK, and back to normalcy

I lived in the UK for 6 years just north of Cambridge. I remember being very dissapointed because of how secular this once very christian nation had once been. I visited places like where John Bunyen was imprissoned for his faith. Or seeing the Salvation Army people being lightly regarded when once (and still is) a powerful ministry. Or in Scotland where Livingstone a great missionary had become very pegan. I thought to myself this is where american christianity will end up if we're not careful and it seems to be true. Soon we'll have Sharia law like the UK does. I find Europeans very sceptical to true Christianity and always have good arguments against it usually secualar and not really informed. They seem to always accuse you of the stereo types. Mission work is hard there I'm sure but its needed because there is a strong desire by the people there to return to their pegan past. I feel for you and will keep you in prayer. I think we are at the begining of a new era in which christianity may loose its relevance in the world opinion. We shall see. And you have my prayers.

 

Thanks for sharing, Roger. I know those laws could be devastating to missionaries working there. Praise God that He is in control.

You've spent so many years of your life there, it would seem devastating to have to return to the homeland. But if you do, you could at least say that you'd fought for the Lord on a hard field, and seen some saved. And there's not much else that matters in life.

God bless you, brother. We'll be in prayer.

John

 

You're going to live the rest of your Life in Eire? Why?

 

Praise the Lord!

For our part, Japan is not ready to kick out the missionaries--they're just not open to the Gospel. We feel marginal!

 

Amen. We are praying for you.

I understand completely how you feel. When people ask me "Why Argentina?" I say, because I have a God given love for the people. It would break my heart if I could not serve here. It is difficult to explain, but I believe God leads us through the desires He gives us. My desire is to see His glory declared in Argentina, and that certainly did not come from my flesh; I did not produce it on my own.

Keep us updated.

 

Citizenship- interesting. I recently looked at citizenship requirements here. Not to difficult to get. I am not sure if there would be any advantage in applying for it though since permanent residency gives almost all the same rights as a citizen.

Again we will pray that all goes well with your application. I know how frustrating paper work can be!

 

Well then,

or

 

I have stopped to pray now - between classes.

 

It's almost impossible for a foreigner to get Japanese citizenship. You have to contribute in some way to the traditional culture of Japan: be a sumo wrestler (I haven't gained that much weight), the inheritor of a style of flower arranging or origami paper folding or some such thing.

We can't even get permanent residency. The laws allow it, but the bureaucracy doesn't. Once when I tried I was told the boss wouldn't allow it because we're missionaries. So, every three years we renew that missionary visa. :BangHead:

 

Thats to bad. Does renewing your visa require much paperwork? Here it is a pain. A woman once told my wife that the three things Argentines love are standing lines, paperwork and demonstrations. That about sums it all up.

After we achieve permanent residency though, there is no more paper work (as far as visas go).

Lets pray that Roger and his wife can get there citizenship without much of a headache.

 

They certainly do like paperwork here, too! And over the years they've added some. And of course 9/11 didn't help. That made things stricter.

 

When I came to Canada in 1948, as a Brit I could come here without hassle and I didn't need citizenship. In 1972, Prime Minister Trudeau changed all that and Brits had to stand in line like all other immigrants. Wife and I became Canadian citizens in 1972.

We owned property in London, so we still had a vote in English elections and we paid Brit taxes along with our Canadian taxes.

How things changed in a few short years. We know one Brit who has been waiting 5 years to come to Canada and his wife and child are living in Alberta. A " foreigner" gets preference to-day even though they can't speak either French or English. Strange.

All the very best to you, Roger, We know how much you devote to the Irish people. God bless.

Cheers,

Jim

 

This is worrying, as there are probably less people becoming ministers (of whatever denomination or non-denomination) than a few decades ago, and pastors, vicars etc. from other continents can be very influential as they have a unique outlook compared to British ministers.

What is meant by a non-registered church, do you mean house churches and non-denominational ones?

While I have no massive problem with homosexuals (unlike some on here), it could lead to some very awkward situations if a church is forced to take on somebody they don't really want. Although presumably somebody applying for a church position would at least be a Christian?

That is probably true in the UK and perhaps in Ireland too. Many people are suspicious of true Christianity and don't really want to know much about it. Probably partially down to ignorance, but there's also a secularist lobby who are almost religious in their atheism.

We do, but there is some good stuff (conversions, healings, social action) going on in the British church, its just that not many people outside the church hear about it. We need to try and have a greater need to pray (something which I'm not always very good at) that this continues and grows.

Keep on going! :godisgood:

 

non-EU pastors

What is a non-EU pastor