The Crum family —Adrian, Rachel, Addy, Maggie, Lucy, and Emma—deeply appreciated a six-week sabbatical from May 5 through June 17. We ate together, sang together, walked together, and came home grateful for God’s gift of rest.

From Adrian: One of the most enjoyable highlights for me was reading Charlotte Yonge’s biography of John Coleridge Patteson, the Church of England missionary to Melanesia who ultimately gave his life in service to Christ. In the mornings, I would read a chapter about pivotal moment in his life, and then in the afternoon get to walk through a church or town that the Lord used to shape him. In the county of Devon, where we stayed for 4 weeks, I discovered the little church building in Feniton, tucked away at the end of a small road where Patteson was raised, died and most of his extended family are buried. Another day, our family toured Exeter Cathedral where Patteson was ordained. I also explored Ottery Saint Mary’s Cathedral, the home of his extended family on his mother’s side. This would have been the church of his great uncle, and established poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

A significant element of our sabbatical was spiritual study and reflection. Rachel and I read portions of Michael Reeves’ book Delighting in the Trinity. Reeves shows us that a rich understanding of the Trinity isn’t only truth to be believed, but three distinct persons, Father, Son and Spirit, who together are a fountain of joy.

In addition to spiritual refreshment, the sabbatical gave Rachel and me time to walk and talk. An OPC pastor and wife, offered wisdom, insight and encouragement for the season we are in. On three special nights, Addy watched the three younger siblings so Rachel and I could go out to dinner together and one night we attended Evensong at Maudlin College.

There were also sad and hard things that happened during Sabbatical. Rachel’s parents, who had planned to join us for part of the trip, were prevented from traveling due to a cancer that was diagnosed and removed from Rachel’s dad. The surgery went as well as it could have, but it was still hard not having them with us. As has happened frequently, our family caught stomach sicknesses, bad sore throats and coughs that led us to make a few trips to urgent care.

We are deeply grateful for the time away and for the many ways God blessed this season of rest and renewal. The opportunity to step back from regular responsibilities allowed us to return with energy. We look forward to a new ministry year to continue opening God’s Word, serving His people, and growing in our delight of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy…” Psalm 43:3-4.

From Rachel: One of my favorite aspects of our trip was visiting other churches. I always enjoy worshipping with other believers, even in parts of Michigan. It encourages a part of me I don’t usually realize needs to be encouraged. We ended up finding a little church plant about 30 minutes from where we were staying (All Saints Exeter is a congregation of the International Presbyterian Church). We loved visiting this sweet little congregation in the heart of the city. The pastor was very kind. This encouraged us to look for another IPC church outside of London.

Our last Sunday, we attended the original IPC congregation which was much larger, but still very welcoming. We enjoyed talking to the associate pastor and his wife, which was fun because they had been at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for four years. The IPC was started 30 years ago by Frances Schaeffer’s son-in-law, and only had about 2 churches for years and years. In the last 15 years it has bloomed to 27 churches in the British Presbytery. As the Church of England becomes more and more liberal, local congregations struggle to decide whether to stay or leave. Many of the IPC churches have pastors and members who have been Anglican and chose to leave. When we were in Oxford for 6 days, we attended St. Ebbe’s, an Evangelical Anglican Church that I had worshipped at on a previous visit to Oxford. This church is fighting to stay in the Anglican Church and hoping they can somehow bring some change to it. All of these churches felt a lot like Harvest, singing a combination of hymns and songs by the Gettys and Cityalight. I think my favorite moment was singing Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me at St. Ebbe’s; a beautiful old building with lovely acoustics and bursting with about 600 people. There was something very moving about singing familiar songs with people we’ve never met who live across the world.