Happy SUMMER time … for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. As we write this Heartcry News we can hardly believe that 6 months of 2026 have already gone. It has been a busy and stretching time for us as a team, and we have certainly travelled! It is good to now see the summer months approaching and we certainly feel ready for a pause and a rest. In fact, writing this letter is one of the final tasks I will do before Gordon and I leave for Ireland for 6 weeks. These 6 weeks will be a mixture of vacation, prayer and reflection, ministry with 3 conferences, and visiting with friends and ministers in Ireland.
Recently I was reading this in Luke 11:1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray”… While reading this verse, I felt God challenge me… “Rachel, can I teach you to pray?” At first my instinctive response was…”Lord, I know how to pray!” But then I suddenly realised how incredibly arrogant this reaction was. If God was asking to teach me to pray, I must need this help. As I considered this conversation more, I understood that God was asking to teach me how to pray in this complex season. We may think we know how to pray and feel that we have a fairly disciplined prayer life but knowing how to pray in the midst of the global turmoil and national issues is challenging. I believe that God wants our attention. He wants us to listen attentively and hear what is on His heart and echo the prayer burdens of Heaven. I share some of these thoughts more fully on the June Fresh bread message which you can find on our YouTube channel and Facebook page. So, as we enter this vacation time, ask God to teach you to pray effectively in this season. Ask for the Holy Spirit to mentor you and give you a new ability to discern the times and the priority issues. It is time to pray!
June started in Paris for Gordon and me. We were meeting with friends from Lebanon in France to encourage them during this time of war and difficulty. These courageous women are living, evangelising and caring for family in the midst of the troubles. It was a perfectly timed moment to connect and pray with them. We planned these dates long before we had any idea of the landscape of their nation. It was a privilege to be with them. Gordon and I then ministered in Ipswich International Church later in this month. I taught on prayer on the Sunday morning and then in the evening we had an encounter evening with prayer and worship. It was a deep time of personal reflection and waiting on God. There were many tears and precious moments of God ministering to people in His presence. Gordon had the opportunity and privilege to speak here in Oxford on Father’s Day. As always, he spoke from his daddy heart and many were touched, inspired and blessed by his stories of faith and life. We also had the opportunity to host our friends, Pastors Trevor and Heidi Seaman from Spokane, USA, here in Oxford. Isaac, their son, just 18, travelled with them and it was our delight to show him England and inspire him with the stories of revival and reformation and show him where it happened many years ago.
Helen has had a great time ministering this month too. In Reading she enjoyed a ladies evening with All Nations Church and spoke on carrying the atmosphere of Jesus in our everyday to be royal ambassadors who carry good news. The ladies were excited to be together again after a long absence and it was special to see lives touched. Helen then traveled down to Newquay in Cornwall on the south west coast of England to be with Wave House Church. On the Saturday, Helen started her session by introducing some of the resources on the book table. She then asked if anyone had a birthday or anniversary that week and gave away a couple of the books. When she came to give away the copy of my book Eat the Word, Speak the Word, Helen felt God highlight a particular woman in the room so she gave her the book. In the coffee break, this lady asked to speak to Helen. With tears in her eyes, she explained that Jesus had been speaking to her about studying the Bible in more depth and learning to become a lover of His Word: “You are to be like Mary Jones”, He had said to her. The lady explained that she had no idea who Mary Jones was so looked her up. She discovered that Mary was a 15-year-old Welsh girl who lived in the early 18th century and saved for six years and walked 26 miles barefoot across the mountains of Wales to buy her own copy of the Welsh Bible. Her incredible hunger and love for the word inspired the creation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This lady in the meeting in Cornwall had just opened the copy of Eat the Word that Helen had felt to give her, only to discover that in the book’s introduction, I tell the story of Mary Jones! Jesus is so kind in how He confirms what He is saying so that we are in no doubt – this was a wonderful start to a training day on how to hear the voice of God more clearly! Te Good Shepherd loves to talk to us and make sure we don’t miss it!
As we complete this month of June, Helen and I have the opportunity to speak in Galway at the Discovery Church Women’s conference and also their Sunday services. They have asked us to speak about being Spiritual Midwives. As I thought about this subject, I realised that this is a birthing season in the spirit and many of us are being called to come alongside friends, partners and leaders to help them birth their dreams. God is stirring and awakening hunger and a sense of purpose at this time. He is calling us to work together, to help each other birth the vision and promises that we have carried from God. It was a pleasure to speak this into the land of West Ireland and I am excited to watch and see what will grow in this region. Now it is time for Gordon and I to take a break and rest here in Ireland. We have an expectation that God will meet us as we travel and rest here. Please pray for us during this time.
So, as we enter July and August Helen, Gordon and I will take time to stop, rest and listen. This means we will not be writing an August Heartcry newsletter. But we are doing some summer conferences and ministry during these weeks. The summer schedule for July and August looks like this:
Ministry Dates July & August 2026
5 July Fresh Bread message, Heartcry social platforms (Helen)
1-18 July Rachel & Gordon on leave
18 July Holy Spirit training day, Riverside Church, Exeter, UK (Helen)
18 July Riverside Church, Exeter, UK (Helen)
21-24 July Wondrous Elim Ireland Summer Conference, N Ireland (Rachel, Gordon, Helen)
24 July Rachel’s birthday 🙂
5-7 Aug Refuel Festival, Aviemore, Scotland (Rachel & Gordon)
20-22 Aug Prayer Storm, Manchester, UK (Rachel, Gordon, Helen)
For your diaries, just a reminder that our next Heartcry Legacy Day in Oxford will be on Saturday 19 September 2026. Please watch our social media platforms for when bookings open in August. We will also send out an email to those who have signed up to be kept updated about conferences and events – you can update your subscription preferences on our website.
For those of you who enjoy devotionals, we have just published my 40 day devotional Run Your Race as an e-book on Amazon Kindle and also released it as an audiobook on Audible.
As we approach September, we will need wisdom and grace to know how to continue to minister and serve you best. As some of you know, both Helen and I have been having mobility issues. Unfortunately, I have torn the meniscus on my left knee and it has not healed. Due to some residual issues following my road accident in 1984, this knee has become problematic. These days I am in increasing pain and I am being advised that it will require surgery at some point. I am praying for a miracle but am happy to let miracles and medicine work together too. So this may mean a partial knee replacement in September. I would value your prayer for this appointment, timing and journey. Thank you!
Thank you for all your love and support. Please do keep in touch, remember to watch the Fresh Bread on the first Sunday of each month, and know we value all your prayer.
With all our love, Rachel & Gordon, and Helen too!