Support for living: Raymond & Caroline St.Jago

'Serving the Lord fulltime.'
Every christian is called to put his/her live fully in service of the Lord. Each of us in his/her own way and in different working places.
How wonderful, that the Lord uses such a diversity of people and possibilities.

The fulfilment of this calling can be very different.
Some christians feel it as a calling to put the 40-50 hours of their workweek available for the advancement of the Gospel and the upbuilding of the Church. The past 20 years, this calling became stronger in my own life also. I will give you some insight. 

Together with Caroline and our kids, we have always been involved in local church work. In 2001 I started as a small self-employed freelancer which gave me more opportunities to plan my own work and time. The years that followed up till 2012 were not always easy, in private as well as in church. 

In retrospect I can only say that I learned a lot and that I have been shaped by the Lord in areas He thought necessary. At the moment itself this doesn't feel fine. Looking back I can only be thankful.

Despite these ups & downs this period was a time of further biblical education. During that period I learned a lot from brothers like R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, Don Carson et al. In 2015 I started at ETF Leuven for theological training. This was partly for theological deepening but also for better positioning the development of evangelical christianity. Because in the past years it became apparent to me that a major shift had been taking place.

By the end of 2018, my son Jurriën sent me a book, by post from Northern Ireland. He was studying theology at the Irish Baptist College, Moira.
That little book had some consequences...

'Church Elders. How to Shepherd God's People Like Jesus'. That was the title of the book. I read the book in one breath, and after closing I could only say: 'That's how I've always been thinking about eldership!'  So I immediately ordered 10 copies of this book for handing out to others. But for some people the English language appeared to be a bottleneck for reading this book. 'Ok, then this book should be translated in Dutch' was my next thought.

For some time, this thought spinned a bit vague around my head. Until I mentioned it to my other son, Martijn. And he immediately reacted: 'Well dad, then we should start a foundation, so you can translate that book. And also as a base for your other activities.'
And that's how it started: as per July 25 2019 2EDIFY was established.

Since then my work for 2EDIFY has only increased. Translation, Biblestudies, research, study, preaching and as per september 2020 also a church-plant and beginners courses 'Christianity Explored'. In contrast to this increase of work, the past year my freelance work for a living has been reduced to zero. In fact, I should be developing new activities to gain income. But that will take a lot of time and energy at the expense of 'serving the Lord'. And if I had to choose between those two... well than it would be quite obvious to me.  

In The Netherlands there is a huge work to do in the field of church planting. Our country 'developed' to a real mission field. Not only for unbelievers, but also among christians there is a huge need for Biblical education and the formation of Biblically sound churches. For this goal I would like to be available, for the rest of my life.

In practice this means that as per July 1 2020 I will be 'working fulltime in service for the Lord'. This, of course, is a step in faith and trust in the Lord for His provision. Just like other brothers and sisters take other steps in faith and trust on the Lord.

We are encouraged in the way the Lord has taught us the past 20 years how to live month by month and be dependent on Him. And He cared, all those years, in remarkable ways. Never too much, never too little, always sufficient. Manna. Thankful.

For some part, Caroline is able to contribute in our living. For the rest we will be dependent on donations.

Do you want to support us? Through a one-time gift, or a regular monthly donation, or other ways? We are very thankful!

All donations will be processed by 2EDIFY