Heidi Longworth News Summer 2026

Heidi Longworth Newsletter Summer 2026

Writing newsletters can always seem a bit tricky - there's a sense in which life just continues as normal, with all the things that living life requires, such as shopping and cooking, getting the required gas checks for the flat, dentist appointments, changing winter/summer tyres on my car, etc. There's also been a sense in which I'm still recovering from the marathon of my MA dissertation, and catching up on all the things I put off so I could concentrate on that, which have all built up. And so, the last few months have flown by, a lot of the time with just very ordinary things.

Thinking about that, I'm reminded of a session from the recent Elim Leaders Summit I attended, where one of the speakers spoke of Paul and Silas in prison in Acts 16. Before the 'suddenly' in verse 26, when God miraculously helped them escape prison, there is a 'slowly' in the hours before when they were praising God and praying. God does sometimes act in miraculous ways, and there are times in life and ministry when we can see God at work in sudden and amazing ways. And then there are many, many other times when life and ministry in Christ is simply about being faithful in the small things, and consistently being there, praising God and praying in the ‘slowly’. And so, along with a few suddenly’s, here are some of the small, ordinary, everyday things I've been doing in the last little while.

Deo Gloria

I continue to lead the worship most weeks at church and serve on the leadership team. Now that we are settled in the building, we are aware that we have focused quite a bit recently on the building itself and so have set a focus for 2026 as 'Outside the Walls'. Each month we have done something specifically to try and reach people who don't come into our church. In March, we were particularly encouraged to see our new building packed out as the building owner's wife came to speak. She powerfully combined her work as a neurologist with the miracles of Jesus, and gave seasoned Christians and those who don't yet know Jesus plenty of encouragement.

We as a church are proud of our pastor, Emi, who has recently launched his first book, ‘The 12: The Extraordinary Adventure of the Ordinary Disciples’. It started from a sermon series on the twelve disciples and then wrote it into a book. He has been very encouraged by the responses of people in and beyond our church, and is looking now at writing a second book. I highly recommend it - it is a very good read, and is available on Amazon in English under his full name Emanuel Goicovici. The book launch in May was held at the local art gallery. The local council advertised it and there was a range of speakers making it another opportunity to strengthen links within the local community of Hunedoara.

Deo Impact Youth

We have been continuing to meet with the youth every Friday evening, going through a series of messages, ''In an Upside Down World', which has focused on going through some of the usual Sunday School Bible characters and seeing how we can live by their example in today's world. Many of our youth have not grown up in Sunday School, so we hope it will encourage them to read the stories of the Old Testament and see their relevance for our lives today. Before Christmas we saw a good number of new youth come to the Alpha course who have since dropped away. It's hard not to be discouraged about that, but we continue to pray that God will continue to work in their lives as we focus on investing in the smaller number of those who are coming each week.

We are looking forward to camp in July and were encouraged by the fundraising we did in the church, through a cake sale, to help with some of the costs, and the money raised by my mum’s coffee mornings with her famous, and rather delicious scones! We pray that God will use the camp to bring each young person closer to Jesus, and that those who don't yet know Jesus would understand the gospel for themselves

Conferences

The last couple of months have been a season of encouragement and teaching. I went to the Czech Republic in April for the History Makers European Summit with a small group from church. It was so encouraging to meet with others who lead History Makers courses across Europe, and to have a weekend of great food (both physical and spiritual), worship and fun. The Romania/Moldova team only very narrowly missed out on winning the quiz!

I then went to Bucharest for our final week of this year's EnRoute Romania missions training course. It was a joy to be with this year's students, visiting a mosque, learning about other cultures and religions, and doing various other activities to help us understand the world we are called to serve God in, taking part in his mission. I taught the final session on Re-Entry into home culture and the surprising effects of reverse culture shock.

That was followed by a very brief visit to the UK for the Elim Leaders Summit in Harrogate where it was great to meet up with friends, worship in a big room of passionate people and hear the messages in the sessions.

And I have recently returned from a fabulous retreat in Cluj for missionary women - an absolute treat of a few days of being loved on and ministered to. I am praising God for all those I have met these last couple of months, and for those who organised these events which has given me the time and focus to listen to God more intently.

Graduation

There were many, many times when I thought this day would never come! There was definitely a 'slowly' of 5 long years before this 'suddenly'! But God was gracious and gave me strength and held me up through an army of pray-ers to finish my MA in intercultural leadership. The graduation day in January was a beautiful celebration of all who have completed their studies in missions, and it was lovely to go with my mum, and to celebrate that milestone.

Whilst at my graduation, one of the tutors I was sat next to for the meal said that as humans, we often need a celebration, like a graduation, to mark the end of one season before we can move into the next new thing God has for us. It resonated with me, as it the time between finishing and celebrating my MA was a strange in-between time. So now I look to the next season...I wonder what God has for me next?! In the meantime, I'll do my best at continuing to be faithful in the ordinary, everyday things he's called me to here in Hunedoara.