Two Sundays ago, we announced that Jeremy & Jen Moses are hoping to move to Milan later in 2025 to learn language, and, God-willing, plant a church. Jeremy is one of our pastors and has been on staff since 2017. We've caught up with them to find out more.
Tell us more about your journey towards planting?
Our planting journey began before we even met each other. When we came to faith, each of us had a strong sense of God’s call to take the hope we’d found in Christ to people who had never heard it before. The dream of doing this together was part of our decision to get married! We joined Grace excited to be a part of a church that faithfully and engagingly preached the Gospel to people of many backgrounds in London, but we felt strongly that one day we would go out to take the Gospel to new places. The time never seemed right for us to plant until now.
Nine years after joining Grace, having grown in pastoral experience, received theological training, developed a greater heart for the Church - along with an increasing awareness of our flaws - we felt a stirring that the time was right to plant. Wise counsel and prophetic words have seemed to confirm this so we are ready to step out in faith.
What led you to decide to seek to plant in Milan?
Italy was the home of Jeremy’s maternal grandfather and he has always felt a natural affinity for it as a country. As we sought the Lord about where he wanted to send us, we heard a prophetic word from a church leader at an Advance conference that spoke of someone being sent 'from a successful context to what could be considered a barren land that would become a gateway to the nations'. The words immediately resonated deeply with us both, as we have always thought of Italy as a 'barren land' spiritually.
Italy, like much of mainland Europe, has an incredibly sparse number of Gospel-preaching churches and is in much need of hope in Christ. Our thoughts soon turned to Milan as a strategic place to plant a church, given its cultural and economic importance in Italy (and geographical placement at the heart of mainland Europe). As we prayed about this tiny seed of an idea, prophetic words from a variety of contexts, thoughtful insights from trusted Christian friends, and our growing sense of conviction have led us to set our eyes on Milan as the place where we think God is leading us to.
What practical things do you need to put in place?
Our most immediate practical priority is to make a successful visa application. We are preparing our application now and we hope to be approved in the coming months, to be able to move in July this year, God-willing!
We are also asking God for a team of people to go with us. We’re looking for folk who are willing to uproot their lives and come with us, to plant the gospel, and see God grow a Christ-exalting, spirit-filled community in the centre of Milan. We hope to build a team over the next 18 months, both here (before we go) and in Milan.
Language is also vital. The whole family has started learning Italian and we need to intensify our language-learning in the coming months.
How can Grace support you?
We would really appreciate your prayers. We are saying with Moses “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). We are going with a strong sense of dependence on God, asking that the Lord would glorify his name, and that he would accomplish his purposes through us, in our weakness.
Please do pray for us (and our family) as we go through this significant transition. Please pray for Grace London, as we're asking the Lord to grow the team here, as Jeremy steps off staff. Please do consider joining our WhatsApp prayer group (link below) where we'll be sharing regular updates.
And of course, if you'd like to explore joining the team, you can get in touch, and If you know anyone with a heart for Europe, do share what we're doing with them. As ever, we're praying for labourers for the harvest!
Jeremy & Jen will be hosting a monthly online prayer meeting for Milan. The first one will be on Monday 10th February at 8-9pm. All are welcome to join.