Espinelis on Mission

Our STORY

We had sensed for quite some time that there was a call on our lives to do full-time ministry, and when my wife and I first started dating in early 2016, it became increasingly evident that we would do this together. God began working in our hearts individually, and when we finally discussed this with one another, we realized that God was moving and preparing our hearts to be sent. We weren't sure when, where, or what it would look like, but we knew that the Lord was shaping our posture toward missions work abroad.

On August 31, 2017, we were married in a beautiful garden in San Marcos, CA, and during our engagement season, we had planned to go to England on our honeymoon. While there, we fell in love with the country and the people. We saw the beauty, but we also saw the great needs. Our hearts were beginning to feel a heavy burden for the British people, and our desire to serve them in any way we could, grew.

In December 2020, the Lord was faithful to get us to the UK against insurmountable odds, and so began our journey as missionaries in Oxford, England. We landed in the middle of the pandemic, while pregnant with our second child, locked in our homes for half a year—this was an opportunity to press into the Lord in new and transformative ways. During our first year on the field, we engaged in the following:

• Pastoral ministry (including a cohort of local ministers)

• Discipleship with local and international students

• Formation of a men's community

• On-field training (every six weeks) with our mission organization

• Building a network of various churches and parachurch ministries

We encountered an array of unforeseen challenges above and beyond what would normally be endured during the first year, but the Lord carried us through. During a subsequent period of discernment and transition, the Lord has humbled us, sustained us, and revealed even more about His mission through us—increasing our desire to reach the people of England and, most of all, reminding us of our great need for HIM.

In February 2023, we were approved for a new visa and returned to the UK to work with Christ Church Birmingham and take part in their church-planting movement!

OUR MISSION

Through our research, we found that over twenty years ago, 71.8% of Britons described themselves as Christian. Ten years ago, that number dropped to 59.3%. Today, that number is at 46.2%. The UK has one of the highest rates of family instability in the entire developed world. Mental illness is the largest single source of burden of disease in the UK and up to a fifth of all UK adults feel lonely most or all of the time. Over a million international students from a high percentage of countries in the world come to the UK each year—many of these students come from countries where they have faced incredible hardship and have also likely never experienced much or any Christian presence. There are also a great number of refugees who seek asylum in the UK and in June 2018 - June 2019, the UK received 32,693 applications, 21% more than the previous year.

Our mission is to reach England in three primary ways: (1) establishing home-based and third-space discipleship ministries, (2) engaging in wider evangelism through international student ministry, and (3) serving in high-capacity leadership in a church planting movement to engage the surrounding culture with the truth, love, and hope of the Gospel. Our aim is to meet the needs of the people that God brings us to through this tripartite mission and to do our part to fulfill Jesus’ Commission by multiplying disciples and growing and maturing Christ’s church.

As we inch closer to our new ministry assignment in Birmingham, England, our vision is now more clear than ever: in humility, we press on in the Great Commission, as ambassadors for Christ, willing to endure what we must to share the Good News of the Gospel and be the hands and feet of Jesus for those who need Him most desperately. We are grateful to God for the opportunity to walk with those who suffer, those who are outcasted, those who struggle with the wide array of pain in a fallen world. Our prayer is always for the glory of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to be revealed through every step we take on this journey.

OUR EXPERIENCE