Tim & Nicky Sandell
About Tim
I grew up in Guildford, Surrey, and moved to Manchester in September 2005 when I came to study Physics at the University of Manchester. I started attending The Plant in my first year there and instantly felt at home.
It was in my final year that I woke up to the fact that the global Church had massive needs in other parts of the world. I began exploring possibilities of spending a year or two serving a church in a different country. In the end, I spent a year working as a UCCF Relay Worker at the University of Bolton and the University of Salford, before being sent by The Plant in September 2009 to support the work of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) in Athens.
My role with IFES in Athens involved meeting with and discipling Greek Christian students, helping them to better understand the good news about Jesus and think about how to share it with those around them. I also spent time learning Greek, and sharing the good news about Jesus with friends that I had made from my lessons.
It was also in Athens that I met Nicky, and we got married in 2012.
Falling in love with Greece
During our time in Greece, Nicky and I fell in love with the country and saw a passion grow in our hearts for Greeks to turn back to Jesus. Our hearts break when we see how few evangelical Christians there are in the country: there are just 40,000 in a population of over 10 million.
We hope to be able to spend a large part of our lives in Greece learning the language and culture, growing closer to the Greek community, so that we can help the Greek Church to better reach the millions of Greeks that do not know the good news about Jesus.
Preparing for a return
Whilst in Athens, we saw that there are real practical, emotional and spiritual challenges involved in living in the city and in sharing the good news of Jesus with Greeks. All parties that we spoke to were in agreement that the best way to prepare for a long term work in Greece would be to take some time out at the start of our lives together to think about and study all aspects of life, faith, world mission and the good news of Jesus.
We left Athens earlier in July 2011 and a few months later began a two year course at Oak Hill Theological College in London. The course we are doing, called Theology for Crossing Cultures, will equip us to be gospel workers who are faithful and flexible: faithful to the gospel whilst being adaptable to Greek culture in every other way, and flexible to be used in whatever way the Greek church needs us.
How can you support us?
Prayer – we send out regular prayer updates and termly newsletters, maintain a website and have a Facebook group to keep people up to date with what’s happening.
Financially – studying at Oak Hill in preparation for a return to Greece is effectively a full-time job, so our supporters are our only source of income.
Keeping in touch – we do a lot of studying and reading whilst at college, so it’s nice to from people to remind us that there’s actually a world outside beyond our desks!
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AFFILIATIONS
Such a fab church family and so good at looking out for each other. I'm so privileged and thankful to be a part of it!
Yvonne, Grace Church Manchester