Photo - Frontiers first candidates training.

In 1991, Simon and Sue* founded the Frontiers British Sending Base. We asked them to tell us their story: 

Greg Livingstone, the founder of Frontiers, was bringing the International Office to the UK. Greg was an old friend and asked us to consider starting a British sending base. He couldn’t offer any salary but our home church in Northampton, and a few faithful friends, agreed to support us.  

How did you get started? 

A church member called Carole then offered her typing and admin skills for a few hours a week and our pastor and some friends formed our board of trustees.  

For the first two years, we worked out of our living room. With little finance it was a great step of faith when we moved to a rented space in the centre of town, purchasing office equipment from auctions. A friend, Jon, then offered to be our rep in the south-west. When our first two overseas workers moved to the Sahara Desert we felt we were really up and running. 

How did you start recruiting? 

With a limited budget we tried to be creative. No other agency was emphasising unreached peoples, so we devised an ‘Unreached Peoples Roadshow’ with sketches and lots of activities. For exhibitions, we made a Berber tent, where people could drink tea sitting on the floor and hear about opportunities overseas. For kids, we made a barrel where they could pull out a card showing an unreached people whose country they had to find on a world map. 

As we prayed for other staff to join us God provided two young men who helped us in their gap years and made a significant contribution. We recruited some retirees who sorted our accounts and filing. Then, when we desperately needed someone to challenge students and young people, God sent along a dynamic young Chinese Canadian to stir us up and keep us all laughing. (30 years on he still works with Frontiers and now heads up Islamic Studies at All Nations Christian College). 

God wonderfully answered long-prayed prayers for money for our growing team. One day, out of the blue, two associates turned up and said they had some money they wanted to invest in Kingdom work. Impressed by the professionalism of our wonderful staff, they gave a large annual gift, and we of little faith glorified God. 

What do you hope for the future of Frontiers in the UK? 

To continue bringing the vision of unreached Muslim peoples before the UK Christian public, to share the many opportunities there are for serving God among these peoples and to prepare men and women to go abroad make disciples of Jesus, and help start churches that will multiply. 

We know you can’t share exact details, but now you’re in your late 70’s you’re still active in the work, out in a Muslim country. Can you tell us a little of what you’re doing, and what we can pray for? 

We have a variety of roles here, including helping to lead a house fellowship. Sue helps to counsel and mentor believers and unbelievers. We also do some marriage counselling and producing of social media materials. Although the aches and pains increase as the years go by, we’d love to see more fruit before we finally hang up our boots in this corner of the vineyard. 
 

*Names have been changed for security