Pamela Kingsley describes how God has led her through her career, developing her professional skills so that she is better able to serve in the mission field.
Pamela Kingsley first joined OM for four years, editing magazines and newsletters for the UK office. After a decade back in secular employment, she rejoined OM in 2023, and is constantly inspired by the stories she hears from OM workers around the world. She and her husband, who works for a Christian conference centre, have two lively girls, aged four and eight. They love exploring the local countryside, baking and making music.
When I joined OM the first time in 2004 I found myself surrounded by amazing stories. The people I joined with included the child of OM workers, who had grown up in India, someone who was moving halfway around the world to follow a call to be a teacher, and of course those who were joining OM’s Ship Ministry for adventure on the high seas.
By comparison, I felt as if I was quite boring. I was a recently-qualified journalist moving 75 miles away from home to work behind a desk in my home office. I hadn’t felt a particular calling from God to join OM. In fact, my prayer in the few weeks before joining had been ‘God, if I’m not supposed to do this then put something in my way to stop me.’ I didn’t even have an amazing testimony as I grew up in a believing household and had known Jesus as long as I could remember. I had no exciting stories to share that I had personally experienced. My job in communications was to share other people’s stories.
Leaving mission to prepare for mission
In 2007 I went to the TeenStreet event in Germany as part of the communications team and rediscovered my love of writing. When I returned to the UK I realised how much I missed being a journalist. The following year I suffered from bad health, and this made me reevaluate what I was doing, and to send out speculative letters to my local newspapers asking if they had any jobs. At the same time, my leadership team spoke with me and said they felt I should think about moving on. The following week I had a job at one of the newspapers I had written to.
Now I had a story about God working in my life – but about how He had taken me out of OM. That wasn’t how it was supposed to work, surely?
I was thinking about my personal story again at the Global Communications and Marketing Forum in March when I was talking with someone who had recently started in her communications role. She told me that she had wanted to go overseas to serve for years but had found herself in journalism for a decade, waiting for her opportunity. When she finally found her current role it seemed to be custom-made for her. All the experience she had gained, both professionally and in life experience, made her the perfect fit for the role.
As she talked I realised that this is my story too. I left OM because I felt pulled back into journalism. At the time, I thought it was just that I missed writing, but now I think that it was God telling me I needed more experience in order to continue doing the work He wanted me to do...just later on. Fifteen years later, the experience I gained in newspapers is standing me in good stead in my current role as part of the Global Communications and Marketing team.
Following God's lead
I’ve discovered that God is most likely to work in my life through circumstances. He put a newsletter advertising the home office job in front of my dad when I was looking for work. He used TeenStreet to inspire me to get back into writing. He introduced me to a wonderful lady who is not only my friend but also now my line manager. He provided this role for me at just the right time, when I was starting to look for work as my youngest daughter had started nursery.
The older I get the more I appreciate the truth of Ecclesiastes 3, especially verse 11: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." God’s timing is amazing, His provision is perfect, and He really does know what I need and when I need it. And I really do have a story to share!