Midnight Drive to Cornwall

Passing over the Tower Bridge, and worming our way past Windsor Castle, Chris Parker and I left London. On the M4 to Bristol and onward to Truro, Cornwall, clouds muddled the moonlight overhead and the clean black highway purred beneath us. Working full time as a secondary teacher to support his full time job as a pastor of a house church, Chris has little time for rest. But his heart and his calling are firmly rooted in God's word. He has persevered trials and opposition to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and the vision he has been called to.

Like much of Europe, the culture of Cornwall has placed the Bible back on the shelf and lives for self gain. The churches have died and fickle hearts have no desire for a relationship with their Creator. But Chris has been called out from among these people. Like Josiah in 1 Kings 22 and 23, Chris has found God's word and taken it very seriously. What he seeks to do in his house church conflicts the culture of the age, it breaks the traditions of the times, and it places the unchanging Word of its proper place.

It was 3:30 AM when we reached his home on the cost, but our eyelids were never heavy. As we recounted God's faithfulness and the truths of his Word from Psalm 37, we were sustained. God is reawakening Cornwall. In the morning light the beauty of the silty tide and moored fishing boats, the majesty of God's creation was revealed. My prayer for this place is the same. This nation, mother to my own, has a heritage of participating in missions work around the world. Though it seems that this country has lost its passion to reach the unreached, I believe that God will restore his Church here. As the Lord adds to the number of those who are being saved here, as He empowers Chris through His word to disciple others and grow the church, Jesus Christ will reign here in Cornwall.