We’re Chris & Mia Hanlon, and this is how God’s using a CSPC church planting vision/mission trip to the UK last fall to enable our living deeply in Him.
Chris: “We’d done our premarital counseling with [CSPC Young Adults Pastor] Mike Ford, and then a couple of months after getting married, he did a follow-up check-in. Just to see how we were doing, if we had any acute needs. And somewhere in that conversation, he mentioned the UK mission trip. But he kind of threw it out there like, ‘You probably don’t want to go, but just in case, I’ll mention it.’”
Mia: “And we were like, ‘Oh no, actually that’s something we’re very much interested in!’ I was the immediate yes. Chris was more thoughtful, like, ‘Hey, maybe we should actually pray about this and think about whether this is what the Lord has for us right now.’”
Chris: “Mike was hesitant to invite us because we were so newly married, and there’s a lot to figure out in the first year. But we prayed about it and gave it space, and it just felt like the right timing.”
Mia: “I have a deep love for Scotland in particular, since it’s where both my family is from, but also for the UK in general. I was so excited to meet church planters and see the work up close. Whenever I’m visiting Scotland, something that always weighs on me is how their congregations are aging out. As they grow older, the churches are dwindling. And it just breaks my heart. The Church in Scotland needs people who will love and invest in it. I’ve done some work with Young Life Scotland, so I had a little exposure to what ministry looks like over there, but I was excited for this trip to get an even clearer picture. I wanted to see what the Lord was doing, what the needs were, and what it actually looks like to plant a church in the UK.”
Mia: “One of the people we met on the trip was Derek. He’s planting a church in Edinburgh, and what struck me about him was just his faithfulness. He was actually my great-grandfather’s assistant pastor for years before leading another church. He was hoping to retire. But then this opportunity came up in Leith, and he just felt the Lord saying, ‘Nope, I’m not done with you yet. This is what I have for you.’ He talked about it so matter-of-factly, humbly, like, ‘Well, there was a need, so I stepped in.’ But you could see his deep heart for this city. And he wasn’t stepping into something easy. Leith is a part of Edinburgh with a mix of students, some affluence, but also really poor areas. The church got a building from an older congregation that was dwindling. Instead of just letting it close, they handed it over so something new could begin. And Derek is still saying yes even though he could have been like ‘Oh, my time is done’.”
Chris: “And then there was Matt. He was another church planter we met, but his background was completely different. He was a data analyst, worked for Amazon in Edinburgh. And his approach to church planting was so unique- he was using data to track what actually works. What gets people in the door? What kind of outreach is effective? At first, it felt almost clinical, like ministry through spreadsheets. But then he started talking about the sheer amount of work needed to reach people, and he just broke down. He was so overcome that he couldn’t even speak.”
Mia: “We’d been hearing all these incredible stories on the trip of fruitful ministry, of God blessing the work, and then here’s Matt, saying, ‘It hasn’t gone how I thought it would.’ There was something really powerful about that honesty.”
Chris: “He could have spun it into something neat and inspiring, but instead, he let us see the struggle. He was like, ‘This has been really hard, and I don’t know what the solution actually is.’ This was where his heart was tied up. This isn’t just some data analytics project for him, but where his heart is. And I was just really struck by that. Such a deep love for the city, such a deep love for the Kingdom that he was overcome with emotion.”
Chris: “An idea we’ve had is to move to the UK, be a part of a church plant for a couple years, then come back and maybe start a family. But one of my big questions was- would it actually be helpful for us to move to the UK for just a couple years? We’d build relationships, invest in people, do Kingdom work, but then leave just as things were getting fruitful. Would that do more harm than good? Two years seems like the turning point where you really start to have enough social equity to speak into people’s lives. I didn’t want to plant roots only to pull them up right away.”
Mia: “So while we were there, we asked Ralph, a church planter at City Church in Manchester, ‘Is this actually beneficial, or would it be disruptive?’ And he told us that as long as we were clear up front –‘Hey, we’re here for two years. Here’s our start date, here’s our end date.’- that removes a lot of the potential hurt. The hardest part is when people don’t know what to expect. Our decision isn’t immediate, but we’re praying and fasting, and over the next month or so we want to figure out- are we moving forward? Not that we’d have all the answers, but we’d decide whether this is something we truly want to pursue.”
Chris: “Honestly, the idea of actually doing it is terrifying to me. I’d be moving my bed, my comfort, my whole life for two years of limbo. If this is what God has for us, I’ve got a lot of heart work to do—putting to death some of those comforts and trusting Him.”
Mia: “Part of why we’re even considering this is that for so much of my life, I’ve wondered if the Lord might call me back to the UK, even for a season. I have family there, I already have a passport- it’s not like we just picked a random country and thought, ‘That sounds cool.’ There’s history there.”
Chris: “And I can’t ignore that. There’s something really beautiful about Mia’s heart for the Church in Scotland. That’s not exactly something you pray for in a future wife –‘Lord, give her a deep burden for the Church in Scotland’- but it’s compelling to me. I want to make space for what’s in Mia’s heart, for that beautiful thing God has given her to flourish.”
Chris: “One of the most impactful moments for me on this trip was a heritage tour we did in London. Our guide was this super animated guy who took us through church history: statues, cathedrals, key moments of faith. And one part that stuck with me was when he talked about a time in history when only the priests could read the Bible. They abused that power, and entire generations were under awful shepherds without truly knowing the Lord. In so many ways, that’s where the UK is now- not because of bad shepherds this time, but just a generation that doesn’t know the Lord. It broke my heart. On this trip, we got to see people reaching out to the unchurched in the UK from that same beautiful place in their hearts. And it is sacrificial work and not easy; really painful and lonely a lot of the time, but it is still a beautiful thing from the Lord. So I think that’s what keeps us exploring whether we might be part of that.”
Mia: “One of the most encouraging parts of the trip was seeing how Ralph and his team in Manchester are thinking deeply about how to reach this new generation. The city is full of students and young professionals, and they’re asking, ‘How do we engage them with the gospel in a way that actually connects?’ They’re not changing the message, but they’re adapting the methods using principles of wisdom- leaning into technology, rethinking how people even find a church in the first place. And it’s clear that God is already moving. They talked about young men walking into church who had never met a Christian before, never had any exposure to faith, but just thought, ‘Maybe I’ll try reading the Bible.’ So yes, they are figuring out how to reach people, but the Spirit is already there and He’s already doing that work. And what an encouragement it is that the Lord invites us into His Kingdom work, but He doesn’t need us because He’s already doing big and powerful things. So going forward, what does it look like for us to step into what the Lord is already doing? This trip was partly a stepping stone in considering what the Lord might have for us. We are very much still praying, having conversations, fasting, and seeking His direction.”