• Here in the UK the news is out about us leaving permanently on July 25th after 15 years of doing life together. Interactions and meetings are tinged with a slight sadness as the time approaches.
• Every Tuesday and Thursday Karen meets and teaches her English students, longing for God’s salvation to visit them.
• Whether in the church or in the community, George continues to prepare people for the day he will no longer be there to preach, teach, lead or serve.
• The Easter baptism service provided a special testimony of a young lady who decided to follow Christ in the wake of her mother’s grace-filled response through many difficult months of cancer treatments.
• The Coronation of King Charles gave us the opportunity to have a special “Coronation Sunday” exploring the Bible to answer questions of where the right to rule comes from. The church property got a facelift with union jack bunting and fresh mown grass. A very British Coronation lunch included a range of sandwiches, trifle, and jam scones with clotted cream! To top it all off, we had our own royal throne as an object lesson and photo-op. 

Forward Views

• Most of our personal possessions have been donated to local Christian charities to benefit their fundraising. We are looking to compress 15 years of life into the suitcases we are permitted to take on the plane back to Canada.
• George has to conduct a funeral later this month for a Christian lady we’ve known since we came. We saw her husband receive Christ as his Saviour several years ago before he passed away. He will no doubt be tickled to see her again!
• Our minds are starting to turn to goodbyes. Planning has begun for 5 of our area Baptist churches to come together for a special goodbye Sunday service for the Kings next month. Some have asked when will there be an open day for people from all backgrounds in the community to be able to drop in and wish us well. We hoped to be able to slip out quietly with nobody noticing, but that might be a vain hope and a little selfish on our part.
• We have booked a number of meetings in the autumn with Canadian and American churches, but there is still room for more. Contact us for a list of dates, even into the new year, as we work through future new ministry plans with ABWE in the will of the Lord.

We appreciate your input into our lives,

George and Karen King
Birmingham, England

English Class News

Karen continues to meet new Afghani ladies who come to class mainly through the invitation of a long term student also from Afghanistan. Please pray for the safe return of this lady’s husband and adult son who went to Afghanistan recently so the son could get married and that permission can quickly be sorted to bring his new wife to England. And pray for the salvation of all these ladies and their extended families. Please pray for wisdom and patience for Karen in her interactions with them, especially with the ladies who are illiterate and know very little English. 

Baptism Class Begins

Three church young people have asked to be baptized, and so our weekly Sunday afternoon Bible class will temporarily turn into a baptism/church membership class starting this Sunday and running through the month of March. Ask the Lord to bless the students as they prepare for the big day! 

UK Ministry Ending

We have concluded that the right time is coming for us to end our ministry time in the UK. We have begun decluttering and the process of ridding ourselves of 15 years worth of accumulated possessions. We are also gradually turning over various jobs and responsibilities to minimize disruption. On July 25th we plan to return to Canada and begin a final phase of ‘home assignment’ reporting to churches taking us up to the end of the year. Contact us if you would like to have us come during that time.

We appreciate your years of faithful prayers and support,

George and Karen King
Birmingham, England

The Law and the Outlaws

Each year on Remembrance Sunday, people turn up in droves for our outdoor memorial service at the local cenotaph. It is consistently the largest annual community event in our neighbourhood. There was a chuckle at the end of the service when the “Police and the Outlaws” were thanked for providing security for the event. Headquarters for a local Motorcycle Club is in our neighbourhood, and members come from all over to attend and assist the police in closing down traffic. It always brings a smile to the face to see the “Law” and the “Outlaws” working so well together.

Christmas Outreaches

This year’s Christmas outreaches for our church include public Christmas carol singing opportunities at the local Hospital and the local Public Library. We are also going to project Handel’s Messiah onto our big screen with all the Gospel text as subtitles. God’s Word is powerful and the music is moving. Pray that Karen will enjoy good gospel conversations with her ladies at the customary year end Christmas party for her English classes.

Eye Operation

The eye doctor caring for George’s vision has tried 3 times to set a date for an operation on his left eye (vitrectomy and cataract surgery), but it has been cancelled each time for various reasons. We trust in God for George’s eye health which has deteriorated progressively over time.

We appreciate your prayers and support,

George and Karen King

We praise God for the 6 weeks spent in Ontario this summer. We kept pretty busy, spending time with family, including a weekend away with our kids and grandkids (20 of us) at a farm B&B, honouring Karen’s mom on the one year anniversary of her entry into heaven, celebrating a granddaughter’s 4th birthday and lots more! It was good to see George’s youngest brother and his family after 3 years. We reported at supporting churches (North Broadway in Tillsonburg, Otterville Baptist, Pinegrove in Bracebridge, and Calvary in Burlington) and a Chinese life group from Grandview Kitchener, attended a service at our sending church (Central, Brantford); spent time with our new ABWE Canadian president and his wife (John and Jacky Taylor) and had a zoom interview with the ABWE missionary care team. It was good (truly!) to finally get to the dentist again after 3 years. And we enjoyed being able to spend some time with several dear friends.

Since returning to the UK on September 12th, Karen has made contact with “her ladies” who are eager to get back to classes. These will begin September 20. An Afghan student says she has 4 new ladies who want to join!

George has been suffering from a bad cold this week delaying his usual “hitting the ground running” as well as his upcoming eye surgery.

Pray for the UK as they mourn the loss of our much loved and respected queen. May her testimony of faith in Jesus inspire others to believe.

We appreciate your prayers and support,

George and Karen King