2022s
- By email to dan at danalcantara dot me.
- All of my public writing happens here on this site. My main projects are here.
- I got away from the social internet for my mental health and because it proved to be a terrible way to keep in touch.
- I am the pastor at Ardgowan Square Evangelical Church.
- Studying with the Pastors' Training Course.
- Slowly building up some ideas for writing in public more.
- Loving living in the west of Scotland.
Quiet Contemplation
One of the benefits of pastoring a church that has been blessed with its own building is having a place to go to pray. On Sundays, I stand at the pulpit and preach God’s Word. On Monday mornings, however, I sit in the pew. I bring my Bible, the latest issue of Tabletalk, and a pen. It is a small change in environment. I could just spend that time doing my devotions in my study.
But my soul needs the separation. It requires the reminder that God’s word is for me as well, not just for those under my care.
Being entirely new to this role and this way of life, I can already see how easy it would be to get caught up in everything that needs to be done. Setting up the new sound system, trying to plan out pastoral visits, not to mention the fact that Sunday is always coming (along with preparing teaching for our Tuesday night prayer meeting).
Having a time of quiet contemplation each day is a small way to help guard against all of this. We’ll see how well this practice holds up in the dead of winter with the heating switched off!
A life of radical dependence
If it was all up to us, the work of gospel ministry would look a lot like building the Tower of Babel.
Over the course of my time as a ministry apprentice, I've found myself learning the same lesson again and again. The life of the Christian is one of radical dependence on God.
For my own family, this has been a very strange apprenticeship. It began in Liverpool and ended in rural Scotland with a stopover in Poland. Visa trouble led to a time of us learning to live in two countries while I sorted out a new place for us to live. Then it was learning how to lead a church in a new language! And upon landing in Scotland, it was suddenly facing the task of learning to serve people when you're not allowed to meet them in person. In the midst of all of this upheaval, we were powerless. Our only hope was that God was doing something.
As for the Christian life, so for the work of gospel ministry. I often think about Paul's second missionary journey (Acts 16). He, Silas and Timothy had been commissioned to go and preach the gospel. And yet, the journey begins with God preventing them from doing just that over the course of 400 miles trekking through Asia (modern-day Türkiye). It's baffling why God would prevent his word from being preached over such a big stretch of land.
And yet, on the other side came the reason. Rather than go where the gospel had gone before, God was calling Paul to go and preach the Word in Europe. To a place where there weren't even enough Jewish men to form a synagogue. To quote one of my teachers, Paul was going to try and sow gospel seed in a carpark. God's plan was to plant a church made up of the wonkiest group of people you could find; to think that the church in Philippi was started with the first-century equivalent of Posh Spice, a liberated slave girl and an ex-military prison guard who had just been saved from his own suicide!
This is not how we envision gospel ministry or even living the ordinary Christian life. Perhaps it is because, for those of us in the West, we're often shown this crazy idea that following Jesus is the path to living your best life or experiencing all of the blessings of knowing Jesus right here, right now. We're shown a life of power and victory; a life that we can build ourselves; a life that looks an awful lot like the Tower of Babel.
What Jesus presents is a much different path, but it's one that is no less glorious. A life of radical dependance on God is one that gives him the glory because it recognises that any good or blessing or trial is there to point us back to him. The life that Jesus offers isn't glorious, easy or even logical (in a human sense).
Instead, it is a life that can give us joy when everything seems to be falling to pieces. It is a life where we can experience peace which surpasses all understanding as it guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
new month, new vocation, new home
It already feels like autumn. Growing up in the American Midwest meant that autumn didn’t truly begin until October (PSLs notwithstanding). But in the U.K. and Scotland in particular, it feels like autumn from the moment September begins.
This is a big month for us. Today is technically my first day in my new role as pastor at Ardgowan Square. While I’ve been working on things over the summer, today is Day One. And I’m beginning by trying to help get our new flat in order. Yesterday, friends from Cornhill and our new church helped us with the mammoth task of moving the majority of our belongings out of a cottage with tiny doors into a flat. It was a huge day and I’m so grateful for the help we received.
I’m so excited to properly start working as we get stuck into our new community and look for opportunities to tell people about Jesus.
Burnt toast and catfish
Jesus saved me while I sat at the kitchen table with my mother. I was just a boy, still obsessed with Power Rangers and Lego. Looking back 25 years, I don't know how much I understood then. But all that I've seen in the years since, what I have felt and experienced, has shown me that Jesus isn't just real. He is who he said he was.
I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:23)
Jesus saved us from the pit of despair when we lost Levi, when we were told that we would have to wait to greet this child.
Jesus saved us in 2019 when my visa was refused and we were facing a separation without a clear end.
Jesus saved us when we didn't get paid one month while living in a country where we didn't speak the language.
None of this was easy. I'm not even sure I could say that it was bearable. There were days where everything felt crashing down. When life felt more Psalm 42-44 than 49. But in the midst of everything, there was this hope.
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? (Matthew 7:9-10)
Even the worst of situations, when you are in Christ, is bread and fish. It's never a stone or a serpent. It might not feel that way. It might feel like the bread has been turned into charcoal. Or perhaps what feels like a snakebite is actually the spines hidden in a catfish's fins.
But there is still nourishment to be found. If not happiness than joy. If not calm, than peace. I could never have known this as I went back to playing with Lego after praying with my mother, but I am so glad that I can know this now as I wait and plan and hope. As we pray for a house to be provided near our new church. As we pray for my new visa application to be accepted.
Edinburgh - a photo log
I got to catch up with an old friend in Edinburgh this weekend. Here’s what I saw.
the value of reading: whole books and big sections
Besides putting together my visa application and trying (slowly) to get our house packed up to move, I'm trying to think through the teaching program for our new church. It's a big task and it's a really important one for this church. Since their inception, they've relied on visiting speakers to fill the pulpit. That means there hasn't been continuous or consistent teaching from the Bible.
One of the reasons why I've been called to pastor this church is to do the work of consistent, expositional, rigorous and challenging teaching. It is to slowly shift the focus from hearing from a variety of speakers to looking at God's Word.
As a part of this, I'm planning out where the teaching will be going. Something that I learned from my time in the Cornhill Training Course is the value of reading through entire books in a single sitting. During days where we would be in something small like an epistle or even something like Nehemiah or Zephaniah, we would actually start the day by listening through the book in its entirety once or twice.
So that is what I'm doing. Today, my wife was home from work so I was able to go out and have a big chunk of uninterrupted time to read through an entire Bible book.
But why is it helpful?
1. It's how they were meant to be read
Particularly with the epistles, it's very clear that they were meant to be read in one sitting. You wouldn't read a letter from someone over the course of several days or weeks, you'd read the whole thing. I suppose the one counter-example would be the Psalms, but even with these, there would be value in spending the 4-5 hours it would take to read (or listen) through in its entirety.
2. It gives you a better idea of the whole
Once, a writer whom I follow spoke about trying to get to end of a first draft of a novel so that she could have an idea of what the whole is supposed to be. When reading through an entire book, like a gospel, some of the detail will be lost but what you get in return is a clearer view of how the whole thing joins up.
Something I've experienced in the past is being in a very long series on one particular book and getting so bogged down in the detail that it's difficult to get the why of the whole thing. If you're church is beginning to or in the middle of doing a long series on a single book, it's worth periodically reading through the entire thing during the week. You'll never regret the time given to it. You'll also find that listening to sermons on Sunday is more fruitful because you're able to make connections between what you're hearing/studying that week and what you've read either earlier or later in the book.
3. The context of a Bible book is often the most neglected in our studying
If you're on board with regular, expositional preaching then chances are you're tuned in to working out the context for a particular passage. For example, you know why it's a bad idea to quote Matthew 4:9 in isolation.
Because we have access to so much commentary and systematic theology, we also become quite good at considering where a passage sits in the context of the Bible as a whole.
What we're less good at is working out the context within the book itself. For example, why the placement of Philippians 2:5-11 is the key to understanding the problem that Paul is addressing in Philippi.
And so that is one of my projects over the summer. Reading through a book multiple times so that I can try to wrap my head around it enough to teach it to the church.
I hope this is helpful or encouraging.
Additional resources
Hello
I'm Dan.
Here's how I prefer to keep in touch:
Hello pages are a concept introduced by the brilliant Alastair Johnston.
Now
As of 7 August 2023, this is what's going on:
thinking more about music (plus a playlist)
When I shared about the latest release from Alvvays, I realised how much time I spend thinking about music and how I listen to it.
I usually listen to albums rather than playlists. Or I'll go through what I've been enjoying lately and just add it to my queue, making a sort of disposable playlist. Occasionally, I've wished I just had something that I could put on when I don't want to think about it. So I made a playlist.
At the moment, this is my ideal vibe. This is what I want to listen to if I'm going to have music on. I'd like to apologise in advance to my family because they're going to get sick of these songs.
new Alvvays is worth the wait
In general, I’ve found that there are two ways to listen to music. Self-expression-by-proxy or mood-management.
I land squarely in the second category. I’ve never needed other people’s music to express how I’m feeling. Perhaps that’s because I’m a musician myself.
But I very often need music to manage my emotions. To give me something different to think about. And I’ve been waiting five years for this band to add to that. Antisocialites was the album that kept me going in my first year of ministry.
The new single, Pharmacist, is perfect. The band looks different to how they did a few years ago but they sound as good as ever.
signs of summer
While it’s been difficult trying to return to running, I have enjoyed going for walks. Yesterday, I went out with one of my sons. It was good to walk and chat and answer a million questions.
Now that it’s June, the sun doesn’t set until very late so our evenings are bright. In the last couple of weeks, the hedgerows have burst into life. We had a few days where it was either rain, rain, rain or bright, blinding sun. The plants around here loved it.
I’m really excited to move to a new place with better access to… everything but this has been a good place to call home.
what's next for my family?
It's been hard to keep this one a secret. Something that is inherent to ministry apprenticeships is that they come to an end and are supposed to be a launchpad into doing gospel ministry.
I'm excited to say that I'm going to be undertaking the role of being pastor at Ardgowan Square Evangelical Church in Greenock, here in Scotland. If you'd like to follow along with my family's ministry updates, you can sign up below or visit thealcantara.family.
what I didn't learn in missions training
We spend time thinking about contextualisation. Assessing whether we are capable of sharing the gospel. We spend time praying about whatever work it is that we feel God has for us to do.
What never seems to be talked about in books about being a missionary is dealing with foreign immigration policy.
There are good reasons for this. Every country has a different set of rules and requirements. Those rules might change depending on what country you're starting in. In many cases, you're going to have to have some sort of work visa. Or you have to prove that the income you're on is enough and will be yours for however long the terms of the visa are.
But I think it's a mistake to ignore it when it comes to doing both missions training and assessing. Mainly because it has to be dealt with by every single missionary that ever leaves home to preach the gospel in a place where they are literal sojourners.
You can raise as much financial support as you want. You can have a legion of prayer partners. You can have the backing of every missions organisation. But if the country you're going to isn't willing to put a visa in your passport, there will be a stark reality to be faced.
I write this knowing what that feeling is like. We had never had any intention of moving to Poland but it was the best option for us while waiting to apply for a new visa again.
Right now, I'm getting ready to go through the visa application process again. This time, in order to be on track to settle permanently in the UK. It's a scary thing because there are plans being put in place, money that is being raised and pledged. The money helps in terms of meeting the requirements of the visa, but there are no guarantees.
So whether you're thinking about going into missions or are supporting a missionary, keep this on your list of things to pray for:
Pray that missionaries would be given favour with the immigration systems of the countries they are hoping to reach. That God would be going ahead of them and moving in the hearts, minds and machinations of those bureaucracies to bring his servants into the places he has set for them to work.
Pray that UKVI and the Home Office would grant me a family visa when I apply for it.
He is risen!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV)
Not starting from scratch
On more than one occasion, I have had to stop running. This was always due to either illness or injury. At least since I completed the couch-to-5k program during lockdown in Warsaw. After arriving in Scotland, I suddenly found myself with an unexplained, sprained ankle. I still don't know how or when it actually happened. It wasn't while out on a run.
When it came time to start running again, I always had this fear:
'How much fitness have I lost? How much of a setback is this? Do I need to start my training over from the start?'
It's frustrating. To have done so much work only to be forced to come to a complete stop. All momentum gone, entropy taking over to ensure that getting moving again will feel as tough as possible.
When I tested positive for Covid, I was halfway through my marathon training (a marathon which has since been cancelled...). I had just run a half-marathon as part of said training. There was a lot of momentum built up. Only to have it come to a complete standstill. No running. Trouble breathing. Muscle soreness and weakness. It was a burden just to sit at my desk and do work there.
With something like Covid, there's an additional fear. How long will it take for me to get back to where I was before? Will that ever happen?
I'm so grateful that I was only out of commission for two weeks. I went for a run this week and was able to sustain it, despite the crazy winds, for a full 30 minutes. By the end, it was really tough. I'm not anywhere close to being ready to handle my long runs again.
But at least I know that as I get back to things, I'm not starting from scratch.
using a smaller notebook
I seem to go through odd phases with the stationery that I prefer to use. For years, I was all-Moleskine-all-the-time. There was something about that that particular size (13x21cm) that just worked for me.
Then I fell madly in love with the Traveler's Notebook (A5-slim). I'm on my second one now, and I've filled multiple refills.
Then I discovered big notebooks. I used a Leuchtturm1917 Master Slim for a while. Before that, I used a Life Noble in A4. That was a great notebook. It took a beating and still held up. That's the notebook where I wrote out all of our fundraising stuff to prepare for the mission field. Even now, when I do my note-taking for sermon prep, I am using a big(A4+), blank Rhodia tablet.
A size that I never thought I'd find myself using regularly is that of the Traveler's Notebook in passport size. It's a dinky, little thing. I can just about hide the entire page with the palm of my hand. But that diminutive size means that it's easier to grab. It takes up less space in my bag.
I'm nearly done with the first refill after starting it on 1 March. Even for a month where everything fell to pieces because we all got covid, there is a surprising amount that I wrote down. A single spread has enough room to take notes while listening to a sermon if I keep my pencil sharp.
I don't know if it will be a long-term journal, but I'm enjoying it while it's my daily driver.
we made it two years
Two years of pandemic without a positive case in our house. Now 5/6 of us either have or had it in the last week. I have to say, I’m not a fan.
We lived happily during the war
It never ceases to amaze me how effectively poetry can describe a moment.
If you'd like to read it, view this poem at the Poetry Foundation.
a week of serving, learning and eating pies
I’m recently back from a week of ministry with Maxwell Church in Kilmaurs and Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. This was an opportunity to experience a different church in a different area to see how ministry is similar and different in a new context. I was there with two fellow-Cornhill students, though my experience was slightly different as I stayed in the area overnight. From the outset, what was intended by our hosts was for us to get a glimpse of ordinary church ministry.
A lot of times, it’s tempting to put on lots of different events during a mission week. Those things are good and they’re exciting but they also tend to be an anomaly. It isn’t like that most of the time.
So here’s a bit of a recap of what happened and what I’m able to take from the week.
what we did
Day 1
The first day, we were briefed on what the week would look like before getting to observe a meeting with SU Scotland to plan the church’s holiday club. The church is in partnership with them while they work to train up leaders and volunteers who can help sustain the ministry long term.
Before and after lunch (trying my first Killie pie, which would become a bit of a theme during the week) Nathan, the minister, told us the background story of the church. It had dwindled to a congregation of only 15 people and through a lot of work, preaching and hard conversations is now well on its way to revitalising.
In the evening, we sat in on a presbytery meeting which was mainly boring but, again, there is much to the work that can be that way.
Day 2
A day for cleaning. One of the things that happens in churches with very small (or no) staff teams is that some tasks end up piling up. In this case, we helped the pastor and assistant pastor work through two cupboards that we just full of the sort of thing that can pile up in churches. It was dusty, but it was good to be able to help them with something that would have taken much longer were they not assisted by the three of us to move things around.
Lunch was pies from a different bakery.
In the evening, we got to join the church’s growth group for a time of prayer and looking at the first chapter of 1 Peter. 1 Peter is a book that feels so very contemporary, I remember our church in Liverpool preaching through it when we arrived there. An ongoing topic in the New Testament is just the constant encouragement to persevere. Following Jesus is hard to do whether you’re being actively persecuted or trying not to become materialistic or trying to point your kids to Jesus.
Day 3
We gathered at the church for prayer and fellowship in the morning. It cannot be stressed enough just how important this is to the life of the church.
In the afternoon, we had to head to another church which the ministers oversee so we grabbed more pies to eat on the way there.
Ardeer is a suburb of Stevenson and was once quite busy, as the nearby explosives factory employed many people. Since the factory shut, the community has seen significant decline and is now very deprived. In the middle of that community is a church of about 15 people and we joined them for an afternoon Bible study looking again at 1 Peter.
The conversation seemed like it was going to be quite challenging to make happen but we were very suddenly discussing the meaning of suffering, what happens when we die and how we can be sure that God hears our prayers. It was a really enlightening time and we looked forward to joining them on Sunday.
After the Bible study, we went back to Kilmarnock to meet up with Paul, the associate minister, at a pool bar where he would be meeting up with a guy he’s been trying to disciple. Paul is in the process of preparing to plant a church in Onthank, a housing scheme in Kilmarnock which is one of the most deprived areas in Scotland. While the guy didn’t show up, it was good to discuss the challenges of trying to plant in that environment and the need in areas like it.
Day 4
We spent time preparing for Sunday in the morning with Paul. One of us would preach, another do the kids talk and then I would lead the songs. In the afternoon, Paul sent us out into Onthank to get a look at the sort of area it is and where potential work could begin.
It’s a very curious area, there are very few business nearby and only one place where you could eat indoors. Even within this deprived area, there was a clear north-south divide with the northern end of the scheme seeing more income and a nicer corner shop than the southern end.
The area is home to around 6000 people and has only a Roman Catholic Church and a dying, liberal Church of Scotland to serve the area. There is definitely much work to be done there and it is work that needs much prayer.
Day 5
This was a day filled with social gatherings. There was a men’s breakfast in the morning where 17 guys (including us three Cornhill students) met at the local pub for breakfast and to hang out. It was great getting to have conversations and it was clear from many there that being able to just spend time together was so greatly missed.
In the afternoon, there was a youth outing. It was honestly the least… Scottish part of the trip. Nine or ten kids came along to the cinema and then to TGI Fridays of all places. The youth work happening at the church has only come about in the last year with many of them only starting to come to the church during the pandemic!
Day 6
The Lord’s Day. It was a day spent worshipping with two very different churches, but hearing the same very good news. When it was all done, I finally got picked up by my wife and brought back home to be with my family.
some takeaway thoughts
In my time there, I was able to get a glimpse of the sort of work I might be doing in the future. We are seriously considering going into a church revitalisation project. This gave me a chance to see what it looks like for a church that is on the other side of some very significant pain points. To see that the Gospel really is effective and that it is possible for a church to be on an upward trajectory after so long spent on the verge of closing.
The church did an amazing job taking care of us and practicing real, Christian hospitality. Complete strangers made me feel welcome and at home and that is a testimony to how changed this people is by the Gospel.
As well, to see the commitment that the church has to reaching the surrounding area was huge. So much of the talk around church planting is for things to start in the cities and then drift out from there. Here, we have a church in a village of 3000 people getting ready to plant into a deprived community in a town of nearly 50k people. There is no reason for the pattern to always be the same. If the resources and the people are dedicated to the work, it can be done.
Finally, I have a clearer vision for what short term missions can really be about, I was very fortunate to have been sent on a couple of short term mission trips as a teenager. I still remember the experiences that I had. But at the end of the day, it was a sanctified holiday. It was missions as tourism. I think a much better way to approach the whole thing is to send students out to observe, learn and assist in ongoing work while on mission. Putting on big productions or building houses are all worthy things to do but real gospel ministry is much slower and much less visibly spectacular. It’s much more powerful too.