From Albania to Bedfordshire: how global mission is shaping local church growth 

The mission that has us is the same — whether in the Essex riviera, the Sahara desert, the vibrancy of Albania, or the villages of Bedfordshire.

By Dan and Annie Dupree Pioneer Ministers, Vale Community Church & Co-Founders, Tek Ura 

'The mission that has us’

When people ask us how we ended up here — both in rural Bedfordshire and in Albania — the simplest answer is: we followed the mission that called us. It’s not that mission belongs ‘over there’ or ‘over here’ anymore. In today’s world, mission is both global and local, and the lessons we’ve learned in each place are now shaping how we see God at work in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire.


The journey that prepared us

Our journey began in Southend, where we grew up, married. We trained professionally — Annie as a physiotherapist, me as a social worker.

We later moved to Leicester, became leaders within a local Baptist church, started a family of six, and were content serving in ministry. Yet, as we prayed and sought God’s will, we became increasingly aware of His call to cross-cultural mission.



It was not a decision taken lightly — we wrestled deeply with the cost and unknowns — but in 2005, we were sent by our Baptist family to serve in Tunisia. For years we lived in a tough place where it was illegal to be a Christian, where some were beaten for their faith, where police parked outside our home, and locals tied curses to our doorposts.

Yet in the midst of opposition, we witnessed God move in extraordinary ways — seeing healings, people coming to faith, and dreams through which Christ revealed Himself. Alongside church planting and discipling isolated believers from unreached groups, Annie trained local physiotherapists, and we helped people with learning disabilities transition from institutional daycare into community-based employment.

In 2011 we returned to the UK, Dan began ministerial training at Spurgeon’s College, and together we served for three years in a pioneering Baptist expression of church, working in scattered cell communities to reach those on the fringes.

Then, in 2014, God opened the door to Albania.



Tek Ura: At The Bridge

When we moved to Albania in 2014, there was to be a clear sense that God was giving us a long-term vision: a 15-year journey, built on partnerships between our Baptist family in the UK and Albania, rooted in a Christ-centred holistic approach.

At the invitation of the Albanian Baptist Union, we spent our first year immersed in language, culture, and the life of the local faith community. We committed to a full year of praying, listening and discerning where God was already at work.

What we witnessed was sobering — children scavenging on municipal rubbish dumps, families living along riverbanks in extreme poverty, and deep social exclusion. We didn’t arrive intending to start a charity, but through prayer and growing conviction, God stirred in us — and in our church family — a passion to respond.



In 2016, Tek Ura (At the Bridge) was formally commissioned. From the beginning, the vision was clear: to build bridges between divided parts of society, to serve the most marginalised, and to create spaces where people could encounter both the hope of Christ and real, tangible help.

Now, in 2025, much of that vision has already come to life:

• Two thriving community centres in Tirana and Durrës.
• A team of 14 Albanian staff — including several who first joined as translators — now leading projects and developing ministry areas.
• A growing Council of Supporters in the UK, carrying the vision forward prayerfully and financially.
• A holistic ministry built around five integrated programmes: Church, Rehab, Skills, Recovery, and Connect — serving the most marginalised with both practical support and spiritual hope.

At its core, Tek Ura remains a bridge — connecting people to God, to one another, and to a transformed future.




A new chapter: hybrid ministry and a three-way partnership

In July 2024, God led us into a new chapter — one that reflects the maturing of both Tek Ura and our sense of call. We are now serving in a hybrid role, living in the UK while continuing to lead Tek Ura alongside our Albanian team. We remain fully committed to the long-term vision God gave for Tek Ura, directly mentoring and guiding the team both online and during regular visits to Albania.

At the same time, we have stepped into a new role as Pioneer Ministers within the Central Baptist Association (CBA), serving at Vale Community Church in Marston Moretaine, a village in Bedfordshire.

This has created a growing three-way mission partnership between:

• Tek Ura (Albania)
• Vale Community Church (UK)
• Central Baptist Association (CBA)

We now live and work between both contexts, helping to deepen UK-Albania partnerships, open new short-term mission opportunities for Baptist churches, and share learning across contexts.

Having established Tek Ura’s sister Charity ‘At the Bridge’, we are actively building stronger connections between Baptist churches, training local leaders, and inviting UK partners to engage both with Albania and with emerging mission opportunities in their own communities — including among Albanians and Eastern Europeans living in the UK.




The shared vision: Pioneering holistic communities together

From the very beginning, Tek Ura has carried a vision that God might multiply holistic, Christ-centred mission beyond Albania into new contexts. That vision is now maturing into a model that UK Baptist churches can both share in and replicate. At Vale this vision is developing, to reach the new housing estates in our village.

At its heart, this vision includes:

• Micro-churches in everyday spaces: New missional communities for young families, teens, men of working age, young adults, carers, people with disabilities, and those facing hidden poverty. These micro-churches will be piloted in Marston Moretaine.
• Community hubs as centres of mission and care: Our church is praying and seeking God’s guidance in developing a future hub in Marston Moretaine which will bring together worship, community outreach, social enterprise, and inclusive care, drawing deeply on Tek Ura’s holistic DNA.
• Leadership development pipelines: Internships, placements, and mission exchanges will equip young leaders for cross-cultural mission and local pioneering, building capacity for both UK and Albanian ministry.
• Mutual partnership, not dependency: UK Baptist churches, the CBA, Tek Ura, and local communities learning together, resourcing mission collaboratively across borders.
• Scalable, sustainable mission: Social enterprise and community-owned hubs will help ensure long-term financial sustainability for mission and ministry.
• A leadership covenant rooted in Christian discipleship: New leaders are being discipled to live out incarnational, prophetic, inclusive leadership rooted in the way of Christ.

Together, this is not simply about church growth. It is about Kingdom renewal — holistic mission that serves whole communities spiritually, socially, economically and relationally.




Lessons that continue to shape us

Throughout this journey, a few convictions continue to shape both our ministry and Tek Ura’s wider story:

• Mission is simple, but never easy. It starts with willingness to share Jesus and lean on Him wherever God places you.
• Perseverance is essential. If God calls, He will sustain, even when challenges arise.
• Vision always precedes finance. We’ve seen God’s provision repeatedly as we stay faithful to the calling.
• Mission is shared and mutual. UK and Albanian Baptists are learning from each other; mission is no longer one-directional.

An invitation to our wider Baptist family

The story God is writing — through Tek Ura and Vale Community Church — is still unfolding. We continue to invite others across the Baptist family to pray, partner, and join in this shared call. The mission belongs to us all — whether in Albania, Bedfordshire, or beyond.
 

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine… to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20–21)

Tek Ura & Vale Community Church at a glance

• Tek Ura (Albania): Commissioned 2016; 2 centres; 5 programme areas; Albanian-led team of 14.
• Vale Community Church (UK): Developing our vision of pioneering micro-churches and community hubs.
• Partnership Model (2024–): Hybrid leadership role linking Albania & UK; 3-way partnership with CBA.
• Partnerships: Leadership development, mission internships, and UK-Albania church engagement. Tek Ura’s Council of Supporters now includes Baptists in all corners of the UK

Walking together in ministry and mission: from Albania to Marston Moretaine

A reflection by from the CBA perspective, by Team Leader Lisa Kerry

As I joined the Central Baptist Association as their Regional Minister Team Leader in June 2022 I was very aware of the fantastic legacy of relationship I was stepping into. I was also aware that ministry and mission often fight for survival in a time of real drought in terms of ministers available to lead our churches.

In my first few weeks in post  I went to meet with Vale Community Church at Marston Moretaine, who had been on the pastoral vacancy list for a few years without any interest.

On paper this was easy to see why. There was no manse, only half a stipend on offer and no church building. So when I went to meet the leadership team I expected to be talking about realistic expectations and the management of closure.

However, when I met the leaders in the local community centre, I found a group of people who were fired up for mission and enthusiastic to see what God could do on the new housing estate being built. This did not seem like something in decline, but rather something that needed a new focus.

As we looked at the profile together we realised that it didn’t describe them or the vision they had for their community at all. We explored together what it was that they were really longing for; a minister who could lead them in mission to the community, some much needed energy and expertise in reaching people with no experience of church or Jesus, and a leader who could help them strategically engage with new housing and the new community it would bring.

Someone who would reach out to the community rather than focussing on looking after them - they were doing a great job of that on their own!

Picking up on their vision and passion I asked why they hadn’t applied for Home Mission money and went on to describe how a grant could change what they could offer. As we carefully did the maths we realised this could be an absolute game changer for them, but, as they were quick to remind me, there are no ministers!

Earlier that week I had had an email from Dan and Annie Dupree. They were heading back to the UK from their BMS mission in Albania and were feeling drawn to the CBA. We chatted a bit about what kind of church would fit with their missional skills and the  relationship they would want to keep with their organisation, Tek Ura, in Albania.

While I was very keen to explore how the CBA could partner with Tek Ura I was a bit sceptical that any church would be willing to appoint one minister with such a broad remit - let alone two. But that was before I met the team at Vale. I wondered if this could be a possible fit?

Over the next few months Dan and Annie came to visit and we prayer walked the estate and village. They began tentative conversations with Vale and I worked with the church to reset their constitution and prepare them for a possible change in direction. It is to their eternal credit that they could see that God was in this unusual match and embraced the idea of walking with Tek Ura as well as Dan and Annie in ministry and mission.

Fast forward to summer 2025 and Dan and Annie have been in post for around a year, the church has had two baptisms and a vision for how they can reach the village and the new community on the estate is building momentum. Church leaders have been over to Albania and a beautiful symbiotic relationship is emerging.



This autumn Annie and another church leader will join The Learning Collective course to train for local ministry and leadership, and a team member from Albania will also be joining the course with us online.
The relationship with Tek Ura and the CBA is in the process of being defined and we hope to partner with the new UK charity as soon as that is up and running.

We have hopes and dreams of how this could be a fantastic resource for the churches and ministers in the CBA , learning from Tek Ura’s ability to meet people’s needs and share Jesus with them. We pray that in the short term trips we hope to organise, Tek Ura will also be encouraged by their relationship with their Baptist family in the UK.

This has been an exciting journey and we are still in the foothills of what God has planned, but none of this would have been able to happen without that Home Mission Grant. That money changed a church story of managed decline into a new and vibrant partnership in mission and ministry; and in doing that it embodies the CBA’s vision for mission.

Vale Community Church isn’t that unusual. We have many churches in the CBA that are full of committed followers of Jesus who want to be about his kingdom work but who are tired and in need of ministry.

Home Mission opens the door to a new beginning, a church plant within an existing church that brings new life and energy. The money given by our churches pays for the regional ministry that walks alongside these churches and helps to put ministers and churches together.

It changes the possibilities for churches with so much to offer their communities and it changes lives as they come into a real relationship with Jesus.
 
 

 

For more information or to explore partnership opportunities, contact:

Lisa Kerry, Regional Minister Team Leader, Central Baptist Association at lisa.kerry@centralba.org.uk
Nick Hudson (Chair, Tek Ura’s Council of Supporters) at nick@tekura.org,

Visit linktr.ee/TekUra for more