I am so grateful that we have a real community who encourage, pray and support us. This month has been very “sweet and sour”. We have experienced both the highs and lows of life. Gordon  and I have endured the painful loss of one of our dear friends, Anna, our Pastor’s wife here in Oxford. She graduated to Heaven on March 30th after running a courageous race of faith. Her husband, Craig, is a special man and it has been an honour to share life and do these last weeks with him in his time of loss. So we have found ourselves back in the heart of church life, caring for a grieving community, serving in our local church in any capacity that we can to help people navigate this time of loss. The Farley and Barwell families have been so generous and supportive of the church over the years and now it is our time to honour and help them. Craig and Anna were the founding pastors of Hillsong Oxford and so are deeply loved. This has meant that the Heartcry schedule for April changed radically! I no longer travelled to the Balkans, nor visited many of the UK churches but stayed located in Oxford to be with the local church. Helen, however, has been busy! Bless her – she travelled to the Balkans and preached 11 times, covering all of my sessions as well as her own! Everywhere she went she reported a hunger for Jesus and a heavy sense of the presence of God. So in the midst of tears we are finding the comforting and wonderful presence of Jesus.

Palm Sunday was the weekend when we shared with our church that Anna had died and was now with Jesus. This Sunday was a powerful day as a church community found courage to explore the complexities of life but still trust God. I was so proud of our church as, through the tears, we resolutely decided that we will follow Jesus even in the midst of pain. Easter Sunday was packed! In fact we heard from several Oxford churches that they were FULL on Easter Sunday. I really do believe that people are hungry to find the God of hope and LIFE! It was so wonderful to pray with people as they gave their lives to Jesus. What a harvest! Gordon and I were both honoured to speak and help steward Anna’s family funeral service and Thanksgiving celebration. It was a touching time of celebrating a life that lived passionately for JESUS.

I believe that Anna has graduated to Heaven and is more alive, vibrant and passionate than ever. She ran her race with courage and now she encourages us to make good choices too. Just before she went to Jesus, she had a remarkable encounter with Him while in the hospital scanner. She walked into Heaven with Him and He talked with her…she described this experience to many of us … She spoke about the smell and the euphoria she felt…. she radiated with joy and excitement whenever she spoke about those moments. But she also spoke with seriousness. Anna left us this challenge to love well and serve sacrificially. We can hear her challenge in this scripture:  “Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.” (Philippians 2:16-18 NLT) So THANK YOU, ANNA, we celebrate you for running your race with COURAGE!

While I have been in Oxford, Helen has been in the nations preaching. So I will let her tell you the stories and give you a sense of what she has felt:

Helen writes: As I arrived in the Balkans, I was reminded that this region had been the flashpoint of history so many times, igniting wars and setting the world ablaze with conflict. But I felt that Jesus wanted to speak “a better word” over this region and reverse every enemy curse. I felt the incredible potential of these beautiful nations – just one Holy Spirit spark could light a fuse in the Kingdom and start a holy fire in Europe!  So it was a joy to be able to preach in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia. In Croatia it was a privilege to come alongside the weary warriors and help speak hope and light into the darkness. I was especially struck by a generation of late teens, twenties and early thirties who, post-Covid, are discovering Jesus – many of them having been disillusioned with new age spirituality. As we prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, they exclaimed, “wow, this is the real deal that I always knew must exist!” Where drugs and occult practices had failed to satisfy, they were beginning to discover the power of the Holy Spirit to set them free and satisfy their hunger.  In Slovenia it was so encouraging to see how much ground has been gained in the Spirit and the sense of an open heaven over the nation was tangible. There is a very intentional cooperation between evangelical pastors and the turnout for a Tuesday midweek early evening meeting was wonderful – many had taken time off work to travel a couple of hours to be together, bringing people from their churches with them. We were hosted by a pastor who ministers to the Roma gypsy community and who also has strong links to a Christian rehabilitation ministry for those recovering from addictions. As we ministered, the power of God to break chains of anxiety and see the very broken find peace in Jesus was so evident. Hunger was palpable and we prayed for people late into the evening, eventually finding our beds after midnight! I was reminded that the faithful intercession and prophetic prayer that has been sown for so many years in Slovenia, is now producing a bountiful harvest of people coming into the Kingdom. People received Jesus easily and there was an anointing for deliverance. In Bosnia we arrived for the Daughters of the King conference just as the nation was ending its month’s Ramadan fast and celebrating Eid.  The vision for this conference, birthed in 2007, was to bring reconciliation between the fractured nations of the Balkans after the devastation of war and so it is always special to see Jesus do a deep work of healing in the women.  But as we ministered this time, we felt that God was bringing a new emphasis –  the women are no longer “just” daughters of the King, discovering their own personal value and dignity in God, but they are now also being maturing into heirs of the Kingdom with executive authority to bring change to their nations. A Joshua generation is being raised up to take territory. An especially powerful moment was when we realised that the enemy had coined terms such as “balkanisation” to label the people’s core characteristics as divisive, separatist and bringers of (ethnic) strife. So we commissioned a new radical generation of those who would carry a new sound. On the Saturday night a holy roar erupted as we reversed curses, broke strongholds of fear and offence and renounced every deceitful and lying spirit. The worship team had already felt the same anointing for this evening and we sang and declared that the “God of the Breakthrough” was in the house! So it will be exciting to see what God does in this region…watch this space!  Now back to Rachel.

Thank you so much for your love and understanding, especially to those churches who have been so flexible and allowed me to alter the schedule. Gordon and I now leave for Ireland. First we will celebrate his birthday and then speak in Mayo and Galway. This will be a privilege. The month of May looks as follows:

Ministry Dates May 2023

6-7 Aspire Conference, Elim Christian Centre, Motherwell, Scotland (Rachel & Helen)
7 Fresh Bread message, Heartcry online platforms (Helen)
10 The Centre for Church Multiplication(CCX) Retreat Day, London, UK (Rachel & Helen)
14-15 Victory Church, Cwmbran, Wales (Rachel)
21 Hillsong, Guildford, UK (Rachel)
27-28 City Life Church, Sheffield, UK (Rachel & Gordon)

This month is a special landmark for Heartcry as we celebrate 30 years of the ministry and 24 years of being a UK registered charitable trust. We are so thankful for God’s incredible faithfulness over these years. Many of you have been part of the story since the beginning or for a significant number of these years and we are so thankful for your support, partnership and investment in our lives. 

Every blessing and much appreciation, 
Rachel & Gordon and Helen and our Heartcry family.