Vision & Goals

Overview of calling to Norway…

     Norway first started as a calling with Mikaela and then God revealed to Derrick that it was his calling as well as things started to develop in the fall of 2014.

     We have partnered with a European mission sending organization called Kontaktmission USA that Mikaela first met at the International Conference on Missions in the fall of 2014. Their purpose is to “Send – Plant – Multiply.” They are based out of Germany where their headquarters is located and on the USA side, Rob Harris is the U.S. Director and his wife Carla Harris serves as the Business Manager for KM USA. Both of them traveled with us on our Discernment Trip that we took to Norway in May/June 2017, which was an incredible blessing to have them us as we met with churches and mission organizations in Norway.

     On the ground in Stavanger, Norway. We have partnered with a local free independent church called IMI Church that we met on our 2017 Discernment Trip. During our visit there in talking with the IMI Church staff and our experience in Stavanger, we could feel God at work in helping guide us. As a goal in finding a partner on the ground was to find a church or mission organization that was “doing it right” and IMI is such a church.

     In the summer of 2018, we took a two-week Relationship Building Trip in spending time in Stavanger to better understand the culture and grow our relationship/partnership with IMI Church. One main reason for partnering with them is to be mentored by them and learn how ministry works in Norway as we do not want to take with us our American perceptions of ministry in sharing the Gospel to Norwegians and internationals. The trip overall was amazing and we are so thankful to the staff, interns, volunteers, students, and members at IMI Church for being so genuinely kind, welcoming, and loving to us. It is a blessing to have them as our home/partnered church while in Norway in learning from them of how to do ministry and also doing ministry alongside of them.

   The trip overall was amazing and we are so thankful to the staff, interns, volunteers, students and members at IMI Church for being so genuinely kind, welcoming and loving to us. One thing that impressed us with IMI Church is how intentional the staff were in all that they do. We are excited and blessed to partner with them in learning from them a Norwegian perspective of how to do ministry.

Our goals for the 2018 trip were...

1. Strengthen relationship & partnership with IMI Church

  A. Part of this will entail understanding the theology and values of IMI Church more than what we presently did prior to the trip.

  B. To get to know the staff and congregation of IMI Church.

2. Strengthen relationship & partnership with Kontaktmission.

3. Look into the process of beginning the application for a Temporary Residence Permit.

  A. Also other factors involving the moving process to Norway

4. Become more acquainted with the culture in Stavanger.

5. Discover resources that will help us find an apartment to rent for when we return to Norway.

     We can say with a resounding yes that the goals were answered as we found paths and gained clarity to how to best move forward. Of notable mention regarding VISA, Norway is a relatively hard country to get into if you do not have good reasoning and match certain criteria. The best way we found in regards to the Temporary Residence Permit was answered by some Americans who are currently doing mission work in Norway! After skyping with them, a Skilled Workers Visa Permit is the best way to gain entry into the country. In doing so, I (Derrick) will become a staff member at IMI Church to fulfill that requirement as we have been talking with the church leadership about this and after they discussed this they said, “100% yes.”

Derrick’s position as the Administrator of Integration and International Groups (International Pastor), will have a local international ministry focus in Stavanger and the surrounding region. His area of work will entail the following. Responsibility for establishing good initial provision for newcomers from various countries, leading and overseeing the IMI English House Churches, overseeing translation projects, scheduling translators for Sunday services and other events, developing an intentional multi-ethnic focus within the IMI Church culture, bridge building between different nations from different continents, helping nationalities to identify their roles within the Norwegian community and create good meeting places for the group and develop adequate initiatives to address their integration challenges.

  Ultimately our focus is indeed to reach out to Norwegians, but with over 190 different international groups living in Stavanger as of 2024, we believe God is seeking for us to broaden our focus. Part of this role would be connecting internationals into the Norwegian community, which occurs through the IMI English House Churches as there are also Norwegians a part of these weekly gatherings. Mikaela gained entry into Norway through a Family Immigration Visa, which was granted in August 2019 and she is free to engage in business activities or seek employment with this visa. Presently she has been volunteering at IMI Church alongside Derrick in ministry efforts of reaching out to both the Norwegian and international community as she is also a leader in one of the IMI English House Churches.

A goal we have reached as of 2022 was starting an Art Studio. This has officially become a business since the fall of 2023. This is Mikaela’s primary focus as this will help facilitate and empower us to make relationships with the local Norwegian and International community. Mikaela’s degree in college was a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an Emphasis on Ceramics. Derrick continues in his role at IMI Church, thus giving two primary areas of ministry in the work we do. Over four years in Norway now has been an immense blessing and exciting journey as the vision of ministry in Norway and beyond steadily becomes clearer. The first several years we focused on time to develop a strong footing in establishing ourselves as residents in Norway and from that be able to make bigger decisions regarding the future of the ministry which we feel confident in presently. Each step and stage requiring trust and faith in God as we move forward. Currently in 2024, Derrick has applied for Permanent Residency while Mikaela will continue with Family Visas until she meets the required annual salary to apply for Permanent Residency. After living in Norway for 8 years we will apply for Dual Citizenship, thus we would still retain our U.S. Citizenship

     In terms of how does the financial giving work between Konatkmission USA and IMI Church. The financial support given goes to our account with Kontaktmission USA and they in turn give a monthly offering to IMI Church which financially covers Derrick’s salary/staff position with IMI. In our beginning conversations with IMI about partnership, we stated up front that if we were to partner with them, we wanted to bless them in support raising to financially sustain our ministry efforts with them. We want for IMI to continue to invest their financial resources into the current staff, congregation, ministry goals, programs and other projects they are doing rather than being a financial hardship in expecting them to fund Derrick’s staff position. We seek to bless, learn and serve here in Norway and beyond.

Overview of Goals in Norway

• Moved to Stavanger, Norway: January 1st, 2020

• How Long? To do ministry in Norway for life.

• What is our goal? To bring the living Gospel to Norwegians and Internationals, build relationships, and have patience as God directs our steps.
  
  

What is our Short term plan?

• Learn the Language (Norwegian) from a local Language School called Lingu.

• Learn how ministry works in Norway in being mentored by IMI Leadership in leaving behind an American perspective of how to do ministry and take up a Norwegian one.

• Take the first year of living in Norway slow, we want to give ourselves time to adjust to the culture and not rush or push ourselves immediately as soon as we move to Stavanger.

• Open a Art Studio in 2022
  A. Build Relationships with the Local Community in a genuine way. That our hope would be this would create opportunities and ways to share Christ.
  B. The Art Studio would be financially self-sustaining and to help make our ministry financially sustainable long term for projected future financial increases.

• Live in an apartment for 4 to 5 years.

What is our long term plan?

• Build Life Long Relationships & Friendships with Norwegians & Internationals.

• Bring the Living Gospel to Norwegians & Internationals.

• Purchase a Home/Property in late 2024.

• Assist with International, Norwegian, Young Adult, Women’s Ministry & the Preaching and Teaching at IMI Church.

• Apply for Dual Citizenship.

Note: If you have questions regarding our short term and long term plans, please contact us as we are happy to share more! In addition to sharing more about the Art Studio.

  It is important to us to maintain our individual identities as missionaries in God calling us to Norway and then how does that shape our relationship and involvement with IMI Church? There are still moving pieces, but this picture is becoming clearer now that we have lived in Norway for 4 years. The end goal is becoming clearer in that we want to build up leaders and disciples in Christ that will have a faith impact on Norway and beyond for generations to come and that IMI Church is not just a Norwegian church, but a Multi-Ethnic Church filled with both Norwegians and internationals that is growing as a Global Family.