Cloughmills says "Au Revoir" to missionary couple

At the end of August, Cloughmills RP will be saying “Au Revoir” to Andrew and Heather Lytle as they leave the village and move to France to work with a Church in Nantes, in the west of France. Andrew and Heather have been active members of Cloughmills RP for several years and they agreed to be interviewed for this latest edition of “Word on the Street”.

Tell us about your upbringing and family
I was brought up in both Donegal and Larne where my dad was minister in a local church. I am the youngest of 3 siblings and my brother and sister both now live in Scotland. Heather grew up in Cullybackey where her dad farms and her mum was a primary school teacher. She has two brothers.

What are your favourite past-times?
I love playing or watching most sports and Heather, as many in Cloughmills will know, is a great walker and has covered many, many miles around the village.

When and how did you become a Christian?
I was always taught of God’s love for me and of the need to ask for forgiveness for my sin but for a long time I fought against two things: handing over control of my life to God and admitting that my sin was serious. It was as a teenager that I finally surrendered my life to Jesus.

What changes has God brought about in your life?
Being a Christian really means having a new heart, a heart which loves God and his Word and which loves people. Over many years God has been changing my attitudes, my ambitions, my desires, helping me to realise his will for my life, putting him first, living to bring glory to him.

You and Heather both taught languages in Ballymena. What did you enjoy most about teaching?
We both really loved our work. We really enjoyed seeing pupils enjoying languages, seeing them making progress and helping those who were struggling. But there is much more to teaching than simply teaching in the classroom. So much of our time was spent on helping pupils with pastoral issues, coping with all sorts of experiences. We also loved our extra-curricular time, taking Scripture Union, Outdoor Pursuits, Sports and trips to France and India. Not a bad job really!

You are now planning to go to work in a Church in Nantes in the West of France in September. What will be involved in this work?
For the past 4 years we’ve known that we would be moving to France. I’ve retrained at Bible College to prepare to be a Pastor of a church in France and now we’re ready to go. We leave on the 31st August and will be working in a small Church in Nantes, a city of over half a million people, so a bit of a change from Cloughmills. I’ll be sharing the preaching with the Pastor of the church and we’ll both be involved in Youth Clubs, Bible Studies, English Classes, Outreach Work and a lot more.

What about the sacrifice of leaving home and family and friends and all that is familiar in Northern Ireland?
We don’t really think of ourselves making a sacrifice. David Livingstone, who gave his life to serve God in Africa once said: “We ought not to talk of sacrifice when we remember the great sacrifice which He (Jesus) made who left His Father’s throne on high to give himself for us.” Yes there are people and things we will miss but with God, we will never be losers.

What are the greatest challenges in seeking to spread the gospel of Christ in France?
France is full of people who believe that they can live their lives without God, that they are master of their own destiny and that when they die, well, they’ll take their chances. Mind you, you don’t need to go to France to find people who think like that. However, God’s word makes it very clear that we were all created by God with an eternal soul and that God calls each one of us to worship and serve him. The Bible says that deep down, often hidden well away, every human being knows this to be true. There is a God and I should worship him. The greatest challenge will be helping people to accept the truth that they know.

This message was published in The Word on the Street in Summer 2011. You can see the published version here.