Dear friends of the Body and the Bride Ministry, I felt I needed to write to you personally, to explain the background to the exciting developments that have taken place regarding the Body and the Bride ministry. I shall never forget the Lord's words to me that day in 2006 when He told me to change the name of the ministry from Harvest for Christ to The Body and the Bride. When He did, He made it very clear that ...."this is not so much a ministry as a move of My Spirit".. I quickly added... 'Thank you Lord, I understand, but surely it's only a part of a move of Your Spirit'. I knew that others had also been called, like us, to.... 'heal the broken Body of Christ and to raise awareness of Her Bridal identity'. Little did I realise then, the Lord meant that literally and one day soon He would call me to lay it down in name and join with my dear friend and fellow 'traveler', Michael Pike, in Co-directing Time Out Mission.

Our respective 'journeys' had bought us both to seek and to value intimacy with the Lord Jesus in a deeper way. Throughout my Christian life I had sought the Lord but had come to realise that it had been His hands I was seeking....His 'handouts' ...reflected in my prayers for Him to bless me. Seeking Him for who He is was something new, and seeking His face was painful because looking into His face revealed His perfection and my imperfection. Both Mike and I knew that the Lord had brought us together so at first the two ministries began to partner together, Mike serving as the UK director for the Body and the Bride Ministry and I, serving on the ministry team of Time Out Mission. The mandate on my life was to focus on bringing an understanding of unity within the Church and to cause Her to rise up as His Bride, but I was also aware that from that foundational position, the church needed to move out into effective mission and Time Out Mission clearly had that mandate laid upon it. The Lord was not requiring a partnership but a merger!

However that presented us with a new challenge. What would we call the ministry? I have always preached that the message is more important than the ministry and that it's not about us but about Him. After seeking the Lord for several weeks and wrestling with the issues, both personal and ministerial, I felt strongly that He wanted me to lay down the Body and Bride Ministry that I had directed since 2003 and join Mike as co-director of Time Out Mission. I feel so excited at this development and look forward to seeing even more growth and effectiveness for the Kingdom by this development.

Finally, let me assure all of you who have supported me personally that the message of the Body and the Bride will always remain a foundational part of Time Out Mission and its initial Unity Conference called a Body and the Bride Conference. However now we are equipped to minister more effectively. Tricia and I, as do Mike and Jo, value your continued prayer and financial support. The work goes on, its just that the logistics have changed.

God bless you so much.

Howard Barnes