On 1 June our New Director, Michael Prest, takes up his post. We warmly welcome him to this new role in UFM and pray that the Lord will richly bless him and Rachel and the children as he leads UFM. In this interview Michael tells us a little about himself and Rachel and the children, and about his hopes for his new ministry and for UFM.
Please tell us a little about yourself, Rachel and the children.
Rachel and I met at Beeston Free Church in Nottingham where we had both gone to study at the university (myself a few years earlier!). Rachel trained as a medical doctor, and I studied pharmacy and business. We recently celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and my 40th birthday! It’s been an action-packed decade; living in 8 houses, 3 cities and 2 countries. In life and ministry we’ve known times of deep joy and, also, faced periods of great challenge. The normal Christian life!
We’re very grateful for our four little ones – Bethia (7), Jemima (5), Benjamin (2) & Nathanael (born in February).
How did you became a Christian?
Through the steadfast witness of my parents, and the teaching of the church I grew up in, I never doubted God’s existence. However, I look back to the age of 17 as the time I came to a saving faith in Jesus, helped enormously by the work of the Darlington Young Life group.
Soon after I was at university, where God used the ministry and example of Andy Gemmill, Senior Minister at Beeston Free Church, to make a profound impact on my faith and life decisions. Involvement in United Beach Missions also made a big impression on me, particularly in developing a sense of urgency in the need to take the gospel to those who have never heard it before.
Please give thanks for the opportunity to continue to serve in the UFM family
When did you first feel a call into cross-cultural mission and where did you train?
In 2000-2001 an opportunity arose to spend a year in SE Asia. The ministry focus was youth work, and the visa platform pharmacy education, in a university context. I’d always thought world mission was a noble task, but not one for me. However, I returned convinced that I needed to be willing to serve God anywhere. The reality was that I wasn’t! I enjoyed my career at Boots very much, and it wouldn’t have been wrong to stay there as a Christian. However, God used a 3-month short term visit to Thailand, together with the counsel of my church leaders, to change my heart on that one!
The leaders at Beeston Free then proposed a period of training; 2 years on-the-job on the leadership team and 2 years at Oak Hill College, London. It was in the early part of that process that Rachel and I were married, and had the privilege of studying together at College.
We worked to develop the church’s world mission interest
What ministries were you involved in before you went to SE Asia?
For various reasons, I ended up spending not 2, but 6 years, on the leadership team at Beeston Free. The experience of serving as one of the ministers proved invaluable in our work in SE Asia. Alongside my preaching and teaching we were both heavily involved in UK and international student ministry, pastoral care, evangelism and small group Bible study. We worked to develop the church’s world mission interest and had the privilege of helping to send a number overseas during that time.
What were your main ministries in SE Asia?
Our main goal was to see more believers equipped and mobilised for mission to the Muslim majority. We did this in a number of settings; I served as a lecturer in missions and preaching at a Bible College, and taught in local churches and among students. We also tried to model what we were teaching by reaching out ourselves. For example, Rachel helped to lead evangelistic Bible studies with ladies from the local unreached people group, and I used to take Bible College students to a local campus for practical experience in outreach.
What are your hopes and prayers as you become the Director of UFM?
It’s been thrilling to see the mission grow in recent years. We hope very much as we work to consolidate that growth that the firm focus on pastoral care in UFM can continue to be a real strength.
Further, we long to see many more churches recover, or develop, a mission interest that is global in scope, working intentionally to identify, train, send and support workers for cross-cultural mission.
UFM has done such good work in this regard for so many years, and we want to honour that past as we look to the future. We very much hope that UFM can continue to play a key role in helping to see a new generation of cross-cultural disciple-making missionaries sent to the four corners of the earth by their churches, confident in the tools that God has given them – the powerful Gospel message, shared in love and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
How can we pray for you and Rachel and the children as you begin this new ministry?
Please give thanks for God’s leading into this new stage, and for the opportunity to continue to serve in the UFM family.
Please would you pray for God’s wisdom for me as I take on this new responsibility and for opportunities for us to continue to serve together as a couple in the life and work of UFM.
We’d appreciate prayer as a family for our move nearer to the office in the summer, that we’d make good friends in the community, settle well into church life, and that the girls will know God’s help in the move into a new school.
Thank you!