Steve and Sandie joined OM in 1985. Their ministry with OM has led them to many corners of the world, including Belgium, India, Bangladesh, the UK and numerous port cities on board OM's ship, Doulos.

1. Faithfulness in all things 

“We've experienced God's steadfast faithfulness to us,” Sandie shares. “It's not been easy, but from when we first stepped out in faith to now, God has been faithful.”

Following four years serving on board Doulos, Sandie and Steve moved to Bangladesh in 1999 with their young family.

“God placed the Muslim world on my heart,” Steve recalls; Sandie similarly felt this call to share God’s love among Muslims. In faith they went, and Bangladesh became home for the next 8 years.

Amidst the joys of ministry there were profound challenges: language barriers, cultural differences, and times when emotional and physical health disrupted plans. But through it all God was faithful, continually providing, often through the people He placed around them, who became precious, lifelong friends.

2. Fruitfulness in time

One of these friends was Ahmed*, a Bangladeshi Muslim-background believer, who worked alongside Steve to launch a programme resourcing schools with essentials (from books to clean water) in an unreached area of Bangladesh.

Steve recalls Ahmed’s gift for coming alongside people through this project: “He would speak to people one to one and they would come to faith.”

20 years on, 216 people have come to faith and seven fellowships have been set up in an area where there were previously no believers and no church.

“It’s encouraging to look back and think, that’s fruit of something we set up together 20 years ago,” Steve shared, adding, “It’s God’s work. He even works in spite of us sometimes.”

3. Flourishing in the unexpected

Learning to flourish in different settings and contexts was another significant lesson. Sandie remembers being in Bangladesh “as a single, observing the other families and thinking, it is possible to raise children in another culture.”

“I never imagined that one day God would bring me back to Bangladesh with my own family. But He did, 12 years later,” she shared.

Reflecting on his time with OM, Steve describes: “You learn who you are and how God can use you, in terms of your gifts and abilities. In all these different settings I’ve always been a coordinator; managing evangelism teams, training programmes and development projects.”

Now, Steve and Sandie work in the personnel team and as mission coaches in the UK, where they’re able to use their experience to help others starting their own journey into cross-cultural mission.

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