Newsletter

Dear Friends and Supporters,

When Rachel and I first arrived in Ipswich, UK we discovered a restaurant boat called the Allen Gardiner. How this vessel came to be named in this way is another story altogether, but Rachel’s attention was arrested because she was familiar with this name. It’s a name associated with Christian missionary courage, heroism, sacrifice and tragedy, and to which Rachel‘s own story is inextricably entwined.

You can read more about this and much more in this latest ‘On Mission in Europe’ update.

Every blessing,

Maurice and Rachel

INTRODUCTION

Allen Gardiner was a respected 19th century British naval officer who, upon the sad death of his beloved first wife, left his navy career to throw himself into Christian mission in some of the most inhospitable and unwelcoming environments in the world.

There is not space here to tell the full story, but I urge you to click this link and read it for yourself. Following repeated frustrations, disappointments, and open hostility from both those he was trying to reach and also the established Catholic and Protestant churches, Gardiner eventually financed a mission ship to travel to Patagonia and the South American Chaco to reach indigenous tribes in these regions, about which Charles Darwin himself said it was “completely useless to send missionaries”. Here his mission floundered, his team becoming stranded on an island and died of starvation before supply ships could get to them. On the face of it, a life of unwarranted privation for no gain whatsoever.

But the story does not end there. His own son, inspired by his father’s devotion and commitment to obedient mission, went on to form the Patagonian Mission which began to successfully outwork the cause for which Allen Gardiner had given his life. The Patagonian Mission later became the South American Missionary Society, under whose auspices Rachel travelled with her father and mother to the Paraguayan Chaco to take the gospel to indigenous tribes there, make disciples, train leaders and plant churches. Over 12 years of sacrificial labour, they helped nurture a handful of churches established among the tribes there. This summer Rachel and I revisited this mission field some 50 years after her parents had returned to the UK, to discover a thriving network of some 35 locally-led churches.

Why is this story important? Well, apart from anything else, what a story! But it raised several questions with me. Firstly, how far am I prepared to go in the pursuit of obedient mission for the extension of God’s Kingdom? And how do we evaluate success? And who is to know what fruit will arise from our simple acts of obedient devotion pursuing the call and cause of God in our own lives? Perhaps we will never see this for ourselves, but our children and our children’s children will see consequences that we may never see in our earthly lives.

Top Photo: Allen Gardiner, 1794-1851
Bottom Photo: Paraguay trip, 2025

Mission Story: Prayer

One of the significant ways that just about anyone can participate in mission to Europe is to join us in prayer, whether this is one of our Pray for Europe days, or boots on the ground praying for a town or city where we believe God is leading us to plant a church.

Over the past year we have particularly seen prayer teams visiting Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and Düsseldorf and Bonn in Germany, and out of this obedient initiative we are now seeing a strong church planting team gathering in the next year to plant a church in Eindhoven, while a key pioneer leadership couple has indicated that they will spearhead a team to either Düsseldorf or Bonn in the near future.

We have become convinced that walking the streets and praying waters the spiritual soil for pioneering breakthrough. Keep an eye on these updates in future as we start to see these two important missions take shape.

In the photo: Gathering on the streets of Eindhoven to pray

Mission Progress: Vision

Our vision is to play our full part in taking the gospel of grace through Jesus Christ to Europe, the least evangelised continent in the world, through the establishment of networks of at least 20 locally-led churches in each nation.

This particularly involves raising up and partnering with local language leaders and ministries, while seeking to propagate authentic, simple New Testament principle and practice in the culture and context of each nation.

A long-term priority is to identify and raise up local language pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets and apostles. We are convinced that these ministries are gifts given by Jesus himself in order to help bring the church to her full maturity, as Paul describes to us in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4.

In the photo: European map of mission progress (Correct for the Mar 24 - Apr 25 Period)

KEY:
SOLID CIRCLE (Presence: Nations where we have a presence, with at least with one plant/church established.
TRANSPARENT CIRCLE (Prospects: Nations where we have contacts on the ground exploring church planting, or who could be a bridge into that nation.)
CROSS: (Promptings: Nations where we have prophetic encouragement or some initial conversations are taking place.)

Mission Progress: Key Statistics: March 2024 - April 2025

• Promoting awareness of our mission to Europe to 1,500+ people across 25+ nations in Europe

• 130+ individuals directly encouraged and coached across Europe

• 30+ Churches/plants directly invested in over the year

Terry Virgo once said that ‘a godly leader is worth their weight in gold’. In order to multiply churches we need to multiply leaders in abundance, and not just pastoral leaders but also worship leaders, youth and children’s leaders, spiritual administrators and much more besides. Many of these we will raise up and train from among our own ranks. We will also meet others we may meet along our journey and find a joining of hearts and an appetite to partner and work more closely together in committed relationship towards shared mission goals.

Raising leaders, training leaders, gathering leaders together for events and conferences, visiting nations to train leaders in situ; all of this takes considerable resources. We anticipate that in the coming season the cost of our expanding mission may double or even triple, and we need grace and wisdom to know how we can raise the resources necessary to meet this challenge. Our existing donors are already so generous, but how can we reach more donors - individuals, churches and foundations - who will be excited and convinced about our mission and eagerly invest in this?

January 2025: Terry Virgo speaking to young adults at SENT

Mission Story: Dutch Growth

As we have seen our Dutch-language apostolic team grow, we really have seen such wonderful advance and progress among the churches in the Netherlands.

At our recent RM Netherlands family camp there were over 360 in attendance.

Our Dutch friends were able to bring nearly 50 young people to Newday this summer, with hopes to bring 70 or more next year.

The newly launched Dutch-language leadership training course has attracted nearly 40 first-time delegates.

Our church plant in Nijmegen, Novio Church, gathers a regular attendance of 170 or more, and they are in desperate need of new premises (please pray for that one!).

In the photo: Summer 2025, Netherlands family camp

UPDATES

Finance

Mission Resourcing: Finances

Incoming

Church Donations (£114,191)
Individual Donations (£10,528)
Grants (£40,750)
Events & Other (£115,437)
Total incoming: £280,906

Expenditure

Ministry Released to Train Leaders, Serve and Plant Churches (-£107,197)
Grants to Directly to Churches & Ministries (-£105,558)
Travel & Accommodation (-£40,750)
Charity Administration (-£7,455)
Resource Production & Translation (-£1,161)
Training & Events (-£51,475)
Total expenditure: -£313,595

Figures presented are for the April 2024 - March 2025 period
They represent the resources channelled and invested through the UK Charity ‘Pioneer Mission’, which was established with the main focus to facilitate mission into Europe for the Relational Mission Family of Churches.
Alongside this investment there is considerable other investment directly made by churches from the Relational Mission family.
For further detail on the Pioneer Mission Charity Financial details click here.

Mission Investment

Over the next year we are looking to raise an additional €100,000 to accelerate our mission.

This will allow us to particularly invest in:

• Raising Leaders (£25,000 / 29,000 €)
  Mentoring, internships, and immersion experiences to equip indigenous pioneers, with training delivered in situ and on the ground.

• Creating Connections (£15,000 / 17,000 €)
  Gatherings like the European Leaders Forum and Pioneer Conference that strengthen networks and multiply momentum.

• Church Plant & Resource Base Development (£60,000 / 68,000 €)
  Turning strategic churches into sending hubs, launching new plants in Eindhoven and Bonn/Düsseldorf, and resourcing pioneers to multiply gospel communities.

Every euro invested is seed for multiplication - leaders raised, churches planted, and Europe transformed. Contact us to learn more or click here to give.

Mission Story: Serving the Nations

We have been steadily investing in our partnership with the European Leadership Forum, sending teams each year to serve their conference and seek to coach and encourage many leaders across many European nations (and, surprisingly, in Africa and Asia as well!).

After 7 or so years of patient labour we are now beginning to see significant fruit emerge from this. In particular, at our 2025 Pioneer Europe Conference in Málaga, there were representatives from at least four European nations who we first met at the European Leadership Forum, now drawing closer to us in friendship and partnership. It’s a humble privilege to be able to serve, support and strengthen leaders across Europe in this way.

Some of you reading this report may have yourself been on one of our ELF teams, so, thank you very much for that, and be encouraged that your seed-sowing is bearing fruit.

TOP PHOTO: Rachel with delegates from ELF
BOTTOM PHOTO: Team members from all over Europe gathered to serve the delegates

Join the mission

Go

Has God spoken to you in any way about being part of God’s community in another nation or locality?. It may just have been the name of a nation that has captured your heart or you feel stirred to plant a church.

We run the Called to Go programme to help people explore and begin to outwork this calling.

Learn more and register at relationalmission.org/calledtogo

If we are to see 20 churches in each nation of Europe by 2050 then we need many to step forward and get involved. Here are some ways you can join the mission.

Pray

Standing with us in prayer is like standing shoulder to shoulder next to us on the ground in a nation.

Please pray for the next steps mentioned and join our Whatsapp Channel to learn more.

Give

Respond directly to our call to raise an additional £100,000 (114,000 €) to accelerate our mission in Europe. Will you stand with us?

Directly support the wider mission to Europe

Share

If you know someone who you feel will be interested in this update then please pass it on, the more people we can keep informed the more momentum we can build.

Questions?

Simply email pioneer@relationalmission.com

Look out for the next update coming your way in Autumn 2025

Thank you for your support