Welcome Keziah
This week I joined the Rural Missions family and I wanted to take this as an opportunity to introduce myself. But before that, I want to say thank you to all of you for supporting the work that this incredible charity does. Last week I was fortunate enough to be able to join the team for two days as they spent time away together dwelling in the Word, sharing the vision for 2025, and exploring what doors God may be opening. This was my first proper introduction to Rural Missions aside from what I’d seen of them online and it struck me how as a team they are constantly adapting and dreaming. There is so much more to Rural Missions than just Tailor-Made Consultations or Rural Networks. They strive to provide local churches with resources, develop church leaders through podcasts, and offer practical ideas through top tips videos amongst many other things. This is something that really excites me as I look to join Rural Missions because I will be able to join the pioneering journey to build amazing rural churches and explore the possibilities and opportunities God lays before us. But of course, Rural Missions wouldn’t be able to do any of this without your support and prayers so thank you for how you have enabled Rural Missions to serve rural churches and I am so excited to be joining the team and can’t wait to see all that God has in store for Rural Missions in 2025!
My name is Keziah and I am joining Rural Missions as Charity Administrator. I live in Lincolnshire with my husband, Harry, and have just graduated from Moorlands Bible College. In my spare time I love to read, crochet and, if the weather permits, go for a run. I have a passion for young people and alongside my role at Rural Missions work part-time as a Kids Pastor in my local church where I love discipling the children and young people and watching as God becomes not just someone their parents believe in but a friend and saviour to them. I hope that within my role at Rural Missions I will be able to support the team in carrying out the work of Rural Missions by efficiently and effectively managing the admin of the charity but also spread the word about Rural Missions through social media.
When I first came across Rural Missions, I was very interested because I grew up in the countryside and knew of several rural churches who were struggling and desperately needed support. On the flip side, I occasionally attended a youth group at a church in the nearest city and saw the difference of how well connected and resourced that church was in comparison to the village churches I knew of. Although I maybe didn’t recognise it at the time I had subconsciously noticed a need in the Christian world today. Therefore, when I heard of the work Rural Missions carries out, I knew I wanted to get onboard and serve churches who needed that same support and encouragement I had seen a need for growing up.
Finally, I want to close with a short encouragement, I’ve been reading 1 Samuel recently and as I was reading chapter 23 I was struck by David’s faith. Chapter 23 starts with David having a dilemma, he doesn’t know if he should go and attack the Philistines or not. So he does what any good Christian leader does and turns to God for wisdom and God tells him he should go and attack and save Keliah. But David’s men aren’t too sure, they’re afraid of the Philistines and I think after hearing this David was probably a bit unsure of it too. So David asks God again. This really stuck with me because I often think that someone with a strong faith hears God’s instruction and does it right away without questioning it. But here David asks God twice, he gets confirmation. I found this really encouraging because if I’m being honest if I feel like God’s telling me to do something, especially if it’s a big thing, I check with God probably more like 5 or 6 times before doing whatever it may be. A strong faith doesn’t mean blindly following it means weighing up, discerning and double-checking that this is from God.
