Mission is exciting, but it’s serious. If you want to preach Christ somewhere long-term, you need to be ready.
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Luke and Claudette are missionaries in Georgia. They trained full-time at Oak Hill to prepare them to serve overseas long-term as Crosslinks mission partners.
Luke’s journey to full-time mission work began in engineering. After studying at university in London and working as an engineer for three years, he and Claudette—who was a children’s worker at a church in South London—felt the call to serve overseas long-term. That calling led them to Oak Hill.
“We knew we needed to be theologically equipped—not just for our own growth, but to faithfully teach others. You don’t want to get halfway across the world and realise you’re not ready to preach, to disciple, to plant or lead a church.”
At Oak Hill, Luke pursued a programme that combined rigorous theological training with a strong emphasis on mission. “What really stood out was that Oak Hill didn’t treat mission as a bolt-on. Being a missionary meant being a pastor—so I needed to study pastoral theology, church history, preaching, biblical theology, and much more.”
Alongside this, Oak Hill offered specialist modules in world mission, the history of mission, engaging with other religions, and contextualising the gospel in different cultures. “It helped us think seriously about how to bring the gospel into a culture in a way that’s faithful and wise—not colonial, not trying to make a British church in a different place, but bringing Christ in a way that honours both his truth and the good in that culture.”
Luke and his family are now based in Georgia, where they’ve spent their first two years focusing on language learning and cultural understanding. “That’s something Oak Hill encouraged us to do—to come in humbly, to listen, to learn the language really well, because if you want to teach people and pastor them, you have to know their world.”
They are involved in a small local Baptist church, part of a network where a handful of pastors care for over 30 churches. “There’s a huge hunger for God’s word, but very little theological training. Some churches have five or ten people and only see a pastor once every few weeks.”
Luke preaches (with translation), teaches Sunday school in Georgian, and reads the Bible one-to-one with church members. He’s also exploring how to train future leaders. “There’s a real need to raise up young men to preach and lead well. Long-term, we’d love to help establish a theological training programme here.”
His training in preaching, especially for cross-cultural settings, has been invaluable. “Georgian preaching is more oral and poetic—storytelling is key. At Oak Hill, we learned how to preach faithfully, but also how to adapt that for different cultures. That’s shaped the way I teach and the way I’m training others.”
When asked what he’d say to someone considering long-term mission and theological training, Luke is clear:
“Mission is exciting, but it’s serious. If you want to preach Christ somewhere long-term, you need to be ready. Oak Hill equipped us deeply and broadly—for preaching, for teaching, for discipling, and for serving with humility. That training is now bearing fruit in Georgia.”