The Little Church within the Church

Maple and my world changed irrevocably this past August. First, as many of you may still remember who were there, on August 20th 2005 (don’t forget Manik!) we vowed before God to love and cherish each other as husband and wife till death parted us. What followed that unforgettable day in August, after a brief trip away to the beautiful Norfolk countryside, was frantic days of packing, as we attempted to empty our flats, give away what we could and pack our bags for our move back to Asia and Singapore where I grew up. No doubt we were not able to say our proper goodbyes to many of you in Colchester, England.

The memories we carried with us from our time in Colchester are full, vivid and life-affirming. The faces and places from my 5 years there (and Maple’s three-and-a-half) will continue to remind us that home is where God places you, and for us, Colchester was special. As we look back, it is amazing to think of the mind-boggling way God brought us from two different backgrounds and cultures, to yoke us together as husband and wife the other side of the world.

We are ever grateful to God for some of the key characters in our story, not least our families who loved us enough to let us go, but also to many of you whose friendship, love and encouragement meant the world (and sometimes crossed the world) to us.Our time in Colchester could not happened without God’s people in 3 different parts of the world co-operating together.

There was the kind support financially from St Paul’s Anglican Church, Singapore - the church where I grew up in and is still close to my heart. They adopted me as an associate missionary for 3 years while I was in Colchester and provided me generously with monthly funds until recently.

Then, there was the sensitive oversight and leading of Jon Shuler and NAMS (under the administration of King of Kings Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA) who originally sent me to Colchester and now on to Asia, and who provided funding through missionary contributions all through my time there up to the present. NAMS in Asia is now happening!

Both Maple and I were also most privileged to work under and be blessed for 5 years by the inspiring work of David and Janie Beales and the community of faith called DNA Networks in Colchester England, which they planted and lead. Maple’s time in Colchester was funded sacrificially by gifts from members of the DNA church, while my housing expenses were also paid for throughout. We will also continue our partnership with them and truly think of them now as our sending church. In addition, Maple and I were also welcomed, loved and encouraged by many others in the community of faith in DNA and by Christians from many other churches in Colchester. We also remember particularly the different ones we were privileged to work together with in the international work at the university in events like All Nations and Dunamis. They were great years and Maple and I were greatly loved and blessed.

Finally, there are friends scattered throughout the UK like Angela Leeding in Norwich and others in Europe and other parts of the world who gave us great encouragement during our time in the UK.We hope that through this blog-site, we will keep all of you friends and family informed regularly of what we are up to. We would love feedback from any of you at anytime.

Please do keep in contact. We love hearing from you and will do our best to respond individually as soon as we can.
With love,
Manik Corea

14th December 2005.