Bless: Introduce yourself…

Gem: I’m Gemma. I’m just 23 and originally from Surrey. I recently graduated as a Human Geographer from Exeter University, but studied in Falmouth, Cornwall. This generally confuses people, I still don’t know why. Aside from sporadic bouts of colouring-in and the odd lecture my days were largely spent either on the beach, at Cornish cider festivals or serving coffee to locals. There’s so much to love about Falmouth but the one thing I really miss is its coastline. Whatever the time and whatever the weather, the sea offers a perspective on life that I think should be experienced daily.    

Bless: What are you up to at the moment?

Gem: After a hectic 8 months of dissertation, essays and exams I spent the summer with my family, reconnecting with old friends and my home church. It was really good to take some time out and re-learn what normal life is all about! In September I moved to Stourbridge, a large town just south of Birmingham, and started work for Bless in their UK office. The wonderful Knight family have let me make their house my home and i’m slowly settling in to life in the Black Country. I’ve been attending Chawn Hill church where i’ve met some great people and I seem to spend most weekends up on Clent Hills either running, walking the dogs, dancing with sparklers or drinking mulled wine. Life is good!

Bless: Why have you moved to Stourbridge?

Gem: Bless is an organisation that places huge emphasis on community and relationship, infact, I think it would cease to exist without them. The team I work alongside are so active and creative that to not be working, and in many ways living, alongside eachother (even within the chaos) would defeat the values that lie at the heart of Bless! Although my official role is in administration, I have found myself doing any number of things, with many experiences and opportunities given to me to learn and grow. In the four months that I have worked for Bless I have seen and experienced a different way of living. Priorities and values held by society are turned on their head and whilst the learning curve is steep and initially frustrating I have been totally drawn to the Bless way of doing…’life’. 

Bless: How does Bless fit into your story?

Gem: In 2008 I spent 3 months in Brazil and Peru on a short-term mission trip with Latin Link. My time there really anchored my faith and established solid foundations based upon active and overseas evangelism. Since then, whether volunteering for Bless in Europe, providing Tea and Toast outside clubs at 2am, prayer walking around Stourbridge or serving Shepherds Pie to the homeless I have found that I connect with and experience God when I’m actively serving Him. I just flipping love it! Nothing gets me more passionate and excited. Working for Bless has allowed me to not only do these things myself but to facilitate others as they learn, through Bless, to serve and connect with God in a way that I don’t feel is readily available and accessible within many churches today. After reading The Irresistable Revolution and Jesus for President, both by a guy called Shane Claiborne, I have wanted to experience a different way of life that experiences community, relationship, mission and prayer as an everyday necessity. Bless and its ‘community base’ in the form of Bethanie is a tangible connection and for me, it just makes sense. Sure, it isn’t perfect and i’m still settling in but whether I continue working with Bless for many years or move on to new things, it has given me a solid base and a platfom to dream big and see God in every single aspect of life.

Bless: What are your dreams for the next 12 months (or so)?

Gem: I have a feeling that the next 12 months are going to be exciting. I think there’ll be all sorts happening and never a dull moment to be had! One big dream I have is that an ‘expression of Bless’ will be established in the UK. Similar to Bethanie, I’d absolutely love to be in a position to live sustainably in community and to serve the local area both practically and spiritually, wherever that may be. 

I’m also super excited for our summer mission trips and i’m really praying that the amazing ideas and plans we have for our other porgrammes become fully established and that they are fruitful. 

Personally, i’d like to be in a position where I can support myself financially whilst working for Bless, whatever that may entail. And I just want a bigger heart and bigger vision for what God has got planned.

Bless: What can we pray for?

Me: A slight barrier that i’m facing at the moment is with transport. Without a car i’m finding that the process of getting stuff done can be quite slow and there’s some things that I just can’t do without mechanical wheels! I volunteer for Bless and have quite limited financial resources so I’m really asking for a bit of a miracle if this is to be sorted out. 

Them: Pray also that we connect with more students and young people and that they have the opportunities and resources to join us on one of our many programmes and that they have a deep and impactful experience of God.

Us: It would be great if people could pray for the development of Bless and Bethanie as I believe 2012 is going to be quite a crucial year. Inparticular, part of my job is to fundraise £300,000 by this time next year so that we can own Bethanie and secure it as a place of missional training. This undertaking seems huge and really quite daunting so any prayer would be much appreciated!

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