DAVIES Mark & Shirley

Mark is originally from Swansea and obtained a degree in mechanical engineering at Bath University before responding to the Lord’s call to mission and leaving for Zambia in 1983. Shirley was Scottish-born, English bred and well-travelled, with career experience in catering, social work and nursing – and all that before also responding to the Lord’s call to mission and heading to Zambia in 1984! Unknown to both of us, part of the Lord’s call for us was to meet and marry which we did in Zambia in 1986 and then were blessed with five children who enjoyed life growing up “in the bush”.

We served for over 20 years as missionaries, working in various ministries including Bible teaching, mission infrastructure development and HIV/AIDS intervention work. Mark was also involved in writing and publishing various teaching materials in a Zambian language, Bemba, and continued to serve on a Bible Translation project for that language until the new version Bemba Bible was published in 2015.

We came back to UK in 2003 where Mark served for the next 10 years as staff member and then principal of Tilsley College, which fulfills one of GLO’s main strategies in training people for mission. We were able to study alongside our ministries, with Mark completing an MTh (2010) in Biblical interpretation, and Shirley a degree in Theology, both with the International Christian College, Glasgow.

In January 2015 we moved to London to serve with GLO in establishing stronger connections with churches across England and Wales, in matters of European mission and also training. Mark’s role has three elements (a) GLO Europe Training Director (b) Coordinator for a national training network across the UK and (c) local church and mission development in London. Shirley spends much of her time in ministry with the leadership team at Highgate International Church and supports Mark in the mission aspects of the GLO work.