Time for Change • Chris Suits & Rob Dingman

56:22 Teaching begins

Notes

I want to inform you that the time has come for change in our church. In less than a year I am going to step down as the pastor. I’ll continue serving the Lord in a different way. Another person will take my place and continue evangelising, teaching, and discipling.

No one likes change because it’s unstable and unknown. The good thing is that God is the foundation for our change. We want to tell you our stories and answer your questions and let you know how God has brought us to this point.

1. The first question I think is, how do you know it’s time to move on?

A. How do you know it’s the Lord leading you to make a change? How do you know it’s not you just giving up and quitting?

B. I’ve experienced two ways of knowing. One way is the internal witness. You just know this is the thing to do. It’s very subjective, but there are times when you know, this is what I have to do. Not everyone will agree with you and it can be hard for people to understand why you have to leave.

C. The other way of knowing it’s time to move on is when it comes from the outside. You are invited to move to a different situation, or you are invited to leave. I call that de-invitation. That’s happened to me at least twice.

1. The day after Holly was born I found I was de-invited from the church in Germany. But God showed me He was in it. And then Brian Brodersen invited us to work with him at Calvary Chapel Westminster. That was so insane it had to be God. That’s how we came to England.

2. And I’d been working at Calvary Westminster for three years and then I learned that I was de-invited. Brian Brodersen informed me, and said, “Hey, why not start Calvary Chapel Kingston?” I couldn’t find a venue in Kingston, but Joanie found a venue in Twickenham.

D. Either way, the Lord is in these transitions. He’s always in control. It might look stinky on a human level, but God always uses these things for good. Just think Joseph, in Genesis. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

2. In my case it’s both subjective and objective.

A. The subjective part is my feeling that I’m done. It’s physically harder for me to pastor. Not everyone agrees with me. I’m told, “You’re still a spring chicken!” I am a chicken, but at age 68 there’s no more “spring”. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but I know I’m getting weaker. This is not a new development. I’ve felt this for years.

B. Objectively, I was invited to do what is my heart’s desire. You know Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. I was invited to do just that.

C. In March 2018 Joanie and I were in Siegen to do a marriage seminar and I had breakfast with the pastor of Siegen, Alex Kruse. This transition began in 2018. It’s not a quick development.

1. He said, “All the guys on staff know what I want, I’ve wanted it for years. We’ve always sent out pastors and missionaries and I want to keep doing that. Whenever I think about raising up guys, I think about you. You wanna work for me?” I thought that was so insane it probably was the Lord. I would never have thought of it, anymore than I would have decided to work with Brian Brodersen in England. I’m doing this work already. It’s me working with guys, I don’t have to do admin or anything, just be me. I really want to do this.

2. I said to Alex, “I have four issues to deal with Holly, Katie, Pia, and the church. If you want me, you have to pray that God deals with these things or I can’t come.”

D. The hardest part was finding a pastor for the church. I’ve seen possibilities come and go Not good fits for the church. People were afraid of coming to London. Too expensive, too overwhelming. Covid happened. I felt like my feet were nailed to the floor. I said, “If You want, I’ll shut the church down. It doesn’t need to keep going. Churches don’t last forever. What do You want?” I really felt like God wanted to keep the church going. I didn’t expect that. Okay, now what? God is really going to have to provide.

E. That’s when Chris and Sarah visited our church in March of 2023 and we had lunch and a walk in Bushy Park. The more I learned about him, the more I thought, “Maybe I should let him know about my situation and see what he thinks.” So I wrote him an email and asked him to pray about it. He wrote back to me, “Let’s get together before I go back to the United States.” We four got together and talked about a lot of stuff.

3. Time for Chris to tell his story.

4. When will this happen? Here is the rough timeframe for the foreseeable future.

A. Chris has to apply for visas for himself and the boys.

1. He was going to apply this month, but we realised that he couldn’t travel here for the conference in York because part of the process is you give the Home Office your passports.

2. So he’ll apply this month when he returns, June.

B. The approval process could take as long as ninety days. June, July, August. Somewhere in there.

C. After approval the Home Office gives 60 days for the applicant to move to UK. The passport is stamped on arrival. Your residence begins. A year from that stamp your visa expires and before that happens you apply for another. Another two months, roughly, September, October. At least, before the end of this year.

D. Then we figure out how to do this.

1. We have to figure out housing, car, furniture.

2. We have to figure out working together.

3. When Chris and Sarah figure it’s okay, then we’re done and we move to Germany.

5. We’re telling you all this because we have lots to pray for.

A. For the Suits’ application process. That’s not a guarantee.

B. For the transition between the present and the future. We’re going to get used to one another. We have to communicate, be patient, not freak out.

C. It’s a new culture for Chris and Sarah. Just because we almost speak the language doesn’t mean we understand one another. The differences can blow your mind. It’s not easy.

D. For me and Joanie, we are moving after living in England for 28 years. That means downsizing, getting rid of stuff we won’t need. We have choices to make, not all of them easy.

E. Then we also have to move countries.

1. We also have to apply for visas with the German government.

2. We have to have a place to live and a car, furniture. We’re not bringing a lot of stuff. We’ve learned you don’t need a lot to start over.

F. I want you to be aware that going to Germany is not a silver bullet that solves all the problems in life. If anything it’s going to be harder.

1. We’ll be travelling more, teaching and helping out pastors and missionaries and churches. I want to help churches stay on course, in Siegen, Germany, and across Europe.

2. I will continue to have health issues but I won’t be on the NHS.

3. We’ll still be missionaries. I’m not sure how finances will work out. God’s going to do something, I just don’t know how yet.

F. Will you pray for Chris and Sarah? Will you pray for us?

G. This won’t be a sudden transition. You have time to work through this, ask questions. You have time to pray. Please pray and give yourself to the Lord. Please pray for us, and for the church.

Let’s pray.