Get to Know Stephen Griffith

Ministry Description

My title is "Project Manager for Outreach and Discipleship," though what I do encompasses more than this title implies. My actual duties are varied, but can be grouped into several categories:

Outreach: I'm responsible for making connections with schools and some churches to find opportunities for students to serve and proclaim the Gospel. Some of this involves working with other organizations here in the UK who have already got a "foot in the door" in local schools, so connecting with these organizations is also a big part of my day-to-day work.

Discipleship: I am involved in youth small group Bible studies both through my local church and at the office. I am also part of the process of developing a "Youth Leadership Development Initiative," in which young people are taught leadership skills in a Christian context and encouraged to use those skills in service to the local churches. Our hope is that this program may become the core of a potential future Discipleship Training Center, or even a Bible Institute here in the UK.

Missions Trip Logistics: As part of the "Project Manager" role, I also work directly with mission teams coming over from the States or elsewhere in Europe, planning their schedules, arranging transportation and housing, and calculating how much everything will cost.

Curriculum: It is our eventual goal to be able to produce and distribute the Word of Life Quiet Times and curriculum locally here in the UK, rather than having to ship books across from the US. To this end, I am working with local churches and bookstores to get the Word of Life Quiet Times on shelves and in people's hands.

Finally, I am also involved in many other minor duties, ranging from IT work to ensuring compliance with UK child safety laws, as well as assisting other Word of Life missionaries with evangelism and large projects such as holiday clubs and camps.

Learn more about the ministry in the United Kingdom.

About Stephen

My journey to Christ began with a solid foundation: Both my parents and closest grandparents were strong Christians who were deeply involved in their church. They did all in their power to ensure that my siblings and I had every opportunity to be exposed to their faith, through church, VBS, and family devotions. Unfortunately, I did not build on that strong foundation. I recognized at an early age my own capacity for evil and, though I was disgusted by it, had no idea how to stop it.

In the spring of 1994, I reached a turning point. Our church had just sent a new missionary family into the field. They were close friends of ours, and asked if they could use our sprawling farmhouse’s copious attic to store some of their belongings while they were overseas. I could not understand this. My self-centered mind could not grasp how it could be that anyone would voluntarily give up so much stuff and just leave it all to go to the “wilds of Africa” (as my pre-elementary mind put it). I distinctly remember asking my mother how they could do such a thing, and she responded that they loved God so much that they were willing to do whatever He asked.

I wanted this badly. I wanted to love something more than myself. So, on that spring day, sitting on a black plastic and stainless-steel stool (one of the many pieces left behind by the missionary family that found itself scattered about our house), I accepted Christ as my Savior.

My initial growth was slow. Like many children who come to Christ at such a young age, I lacked the willpower and perseverance to spend regular time in prayer and Scripture reading. However, that changed when I became involved with my church’s youth group. The youth leader presented a challenge for the students to make it through the Word of Life devotional “read through the Bible in a year” checklist. I accepted the challenge, and it started a life-long habit of prayer and Bible reading that has changed my life drastically.

When I completed college, I returned to my childhood church, and became a part-time youth leader in that very youth group that had been so influential years before. However, in recent years, I began to feel that I wanted to do more. Teaching Sunday school and leading a weekly youth group was rewarding, but only for a few hours each week. The remainder of my time was spent at a computer designing widgets for this or that customer. Valuable work, to be sure, but unrewarding in the eternal sense. I began looking for opportunities to move into full-time ministry.

In looking for ways to serve God on a full-time basis, I was introduced to Word of Life’s mission in the UK. I became intrigued, especially as some local friends had also just committed to a term of service there. One short exploratory trip later, and I became convinced that Word of Life UK’s ministry in Edinburgh and its surrounding regions was the place I could do the most good.

Missions has played a role in my journey of faith from the very beginning. It was, after all, a missionary’s decision to go to Nigeria that triggered my first decision for Christ. Now, through Word of Life, I hope to be a similar inspiration for others, both at home in the US, in the UK, and around the world.

Philippians 1:6: Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Contact Information

stephengriffith@woluk.org

Address:
Stephen Griffith
Word of Life United Kingdom
PO Box 600
Schroon Lake, NY 12870