David's and Jean's Retirement Plans
What's the significance of 20, 50, 70 in 2022?
We will have served the Lord at MPCC for 20 years; we will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary; and we will both become septuagenarians. So we are planning to retire—or to be "re-tyred" for ministry.
When do we plan to retire?
Our official date of retirement from our ministry at Manor Park Christian Centre will be on Wednesday, 31st August 2022. But the MPCC Leadership Team has granted both of us a six month paid sabbatical that began on Tuesday, 1st March 2022. During this six month sabbatical, Jean and I are assisting with the necessary transition process as we continue to live in the manse in Manor Park. On Friday, 15th July @ 6:30 pm the Leadership Team has asked us to be available to come back for an in-person 20, 50, 70 celebration at Manor Park Christian Centre to which everyone is invited.
What are the plans for the future leadership of MPCC?
Back in September of 2018 Jean and I shared with the MPCC Leadership Team our anticipated plans for retirement. So for the past 3 1/2 years, they have been praying, planning, and preparing for the future. After the three most recent Leadership Team members confirmed back in April of 2021 that they believed the Lord was guiding them to accept the invitation to join the MPCC Leadership Team, Jean and I met with them, along with the other Leadership Team members, to outline our retirement plans with them. So you can rest assured that preparations and plans have been made for the ministry of MPCC to go forward in the desire to see Christ's Kingdom continue to be built in East London and beyond.
What can you do?
Especially pray for the MPCC Leadership Team as they continue to follow-through on the plans and preparations they believe the Lord has led them to set in place as they have sought the Lord's wisdom and guidance over the past 3 1/2 years. The MPCC Leadership Team is also very well aware of how the Lord is dramatically changing His Church—challenging believers to be prepared to leave behind old wineskins and traditions of the past—as He prepares His Church for uncertain days ahead as we get closer and closer to the time of His return.
Where do we plan to live after August 31st 2022?
Jean and I have plans to make our home in Devon in SW England, which will be eleven miles away from our son, Shelby, and daughter-in-law, Joanna, and two grandsons, Marley and Elisha. Having previously lived twelve years in Devon, we still have some roots established in this area—along with a number of Joanna's extended family members. However, over the past 3 1/2 years Jean and I have been praying about the possibility of being involved in a ministry that will bring us back to London on a part-time basis. But Jean and I will both have permanent ministry offices at our place of residence in Devon.
What do we plan to do in ministry after August 31st 2022?
We are definitely being "re-tyred" for ministry! We have very mixed feelings since we will greatly miss East London and our MPCC multicultural church family. But these are also very exciting days for ministry. I have been asked to pray about joining and being one of the speakers for a new online ministry—which already has hundreds of people who are participating—that has a focus of reaching people in villages and towns across the United Kingdom with the message of the Gospel who do not have a Biblically grounded evangelical ministry in their area. There is a goal of linking believers who live in close proximity to each other from these villages and towns into either in-person or online cell groups. But having lived in London longer than any other place in our entire lives, both Jean and I consider ourselves to be Londoners and still very much have a heart for ministry in London as well. And the doors remain wide-open for David's continuing service as Police Chaplain with the London Met Police as well as with the Met and the National Christian Police Association. So we covet your prayers as the Lord "re-tyres" us for ministry!
Love in Christ Jesus,
David & Jean