contact the morality of
bombing cities
a sailor’s story
away from home
this Christmas magazine for members of the armed forces
Winter 2013
ÂŁ2
what are
mere mortals...
...that you should think about them?
Psalm 8:4
Contact
AFCU (Armed Forces’ Christian Union), Havelock House, Barrack Rd, Aldershot, Hants GU11 3NP Tel 01252 311221 E mail: office@afcu.org.uk
www.afcu.org.u
www.afcu.org.uk
C
contents
hristmas lights will be well and truly twinkling by the time this issue of Contact reaches our readers. As nativity plays and Christmas carols get into gear, it’s amazing to think of the different parts of the world where Contact magazine is being read and passed around...from the deserts of Afghanistan and the beaches of Cyprus to ships in the North Sea and married quarter patches in Germany and the UK.
Wherever you are based, Christmas can be a happy time for friends and families to come together, however, in the forces we can’t forget the many personnel who are separated from their families. On page 4 there’s a look at life on operations at Christmas and what the festival is really about, beyond the tinsel and gift wrappings.
There are also some meaty issues to delve into in this issue including an article on military ethics by Dr Peter Lee, who examines the morality of the destruction of the German cities in World War II by Bomber Command. There is a feature on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, with the second part on the new book by author and former marine, the Revd Nigel Mumford. His very personal experience of trauma and healing are an inspiration. The AFCU is very pleased to be in partnership with Alpha for Forces, which is sponsoring the magazine. On page 11 there is an advert for the course and information on how to pick up free materials. Alpha for Forces administrator, Eric Martin, a former Army PT instructor, also shares his story of discovering God.
There is an interesting insight into the life of the new secretary of the Naval Christian Fellowship, Nathan Senior, who spent his early years aboard HMS Edinburgh, working out how to live out faith on board.
I hope the regular columns and reviews all make interesting reading over the festive period and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
Rachel Farmer
Rachel Farmer Editor
If you wish to know more about what it means to be a Christian and/or how to become a Christian, find and ask your local chaplain or a Christian you may know or pick up the phone and ask the AFCU office 01252 311221
6 10
Away from home at Christmas Unwrapping the real meaning
PTSD a victim’s story of healing - with exmarine Nigel Mumford
the morality of the German city bombings -
Dr Peter Lee investigates
One sailor’s story - living out faith on board
Alpha for Forces - our man in Cyprus
4 8
11
Regulars JP’s Blog Martin’s Memo Coffee Break & Reviews Caption Competition
12 13 14 15
r o f y a aw
early on Christmas morning, some of the British soldiers climbed out of their trenches into ‘no man's land’ carrying a football...
‘
4 contact
Christmas
B
eing away from family and friends at Christmas is always hard. It is as though your life goes on hold when you are away from home at this special time of year. Everyone knows that one of the costs of serving in the military is to be posted overseas or deployed on an operational tour. It might be away at sea, in the Falklands, across in Germany, in the sun in Cyprus, or on operations in Afghanistan. Every year there will be many men and women of the British Armed Forces away from home.
As Christmas approaches, wherever you are, the expectations start to grow. When you serve overseas there is ‘the countdown’ to the day itself, but not in the way you'd expect. As I heard someone once say, "Christmas for many becomes a milestone to be achieved and climbed over, rather like climbing to the top of a mountain. Getting to the top is a struggle, but once you have got to the top, you have done the worst bit. You have battled through but then you can slide down the other side. At times it can be difficult and tricky, but in terms of time on ops, you are on the home run - no matter when Christmas came in your deployment: near the start, in the middle or towards the end you have done the hard thing and have the run downhill home. In essence it defines your tour. You are away for Christmas...not away from October until May. Not going away in December. You are going away for Christmas!" And then when Christmas finally comes, you hope there may be a parcel, a card or letter to remind you of home, but with post as it is, it may arrive far too early or very late and if that happens the impact is
almost completely lost! In the build up to Christmas you may have a unit carol service, or a Christmas dinner served by the officers. Santa hats may have replaced your head gear for a few hours and you might even see a Christmas tree or two. On the day itself perhaps you are hoping you can get a phone call home or a Facebook chat on WiFi but even though you plan that call into your day - if you are on ops you will also be aware in Afghanistan Op Minimise (a communications blackout when someone is seriously injured or killed) could be called at any time if a tragic event happens. So perhaps you aim to try to call as early as possible in the day. It would always be a very sad Christmas Day if Minimise were to be called, not only because you can't communicate with home but because of all people you will be aware of the very tough time others would then be going through back home. Christmas dinner will very likely be laid on by the chefs wherever you serve - a fantastic feast with all the trimmings turkey, Christmas pudding and crackers are sent out in bucket loads to the troops overseas and it is always hugely appreciated. There will be a party atmosphere too, but none of this makes up for the fact that you are away from your loved ones and all your usual family traditions are on hold. But while your life is on hold, it might be worth asking again, what is Christmas all about? What makes it so special? Is it just a time when we get together with family and friends? Christmas for many has become nothing more than an excuse for a party, where we sing a few traditional carols and eat some festive food. It is a time of rest from work and a time to be with family and loved ones. For others it has become more and more a commercialized frenzy of shoppers
who almost trample each other underfoot while trying to get a good deal on shoes, games, and clothing. The real meaning of Christmas appears to get lost in the wrapping or not known at all. You could say, "The baby being thrown out with the bath water!"
Christmas is a time of great celebration a time to celebrate the birth of the Lord God in our world. Isaiah 9:6. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...” This was recorded some 700 years before Jesus Christ was born - a prophecy that was to be fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. We know that Jesus, the Son of God, was born so that He might die, to save every person on earth and to show everyone being the way to a life on earth that centres on God and that ultimately leads, having passed through this present life, to eternity with God in heaven. And so Mary, the mother of Jesus, gave birth in a stable in Bethlehem in the Holy Land. This was the greatest gift our Father in Heaven could have given to the people on earth. At Christmas, we find the beginnings of redemption, blessing, and all our hope. The birth of Christ changed all things and still rings true in this story from a previous conflict... An old German soldier who had fought with the German forces in the First World War in trenches full of mud, blood and vermin, recalled a story that described the magic of the Christmas spirit, on the back of the redemption, blessing and hope that comes from the Christmas story. In those trenches, dug in the fields of France, we are told that enemies could actually hear each other talking. They didn't need satellites to locate the enemy. The enemy was just over there! This old soldier
recalled on one cold, moonlit Christmas Eve, he had huddled in the bottom of the trench and that because of the annual Christmas truce, the fighting stopped. He said:"Suddenly, from the British trenches a loud, sweet tenor voice began to sing, ‘The Lord Is my Shepherd,’ and the sound floated up into the clear, moonlit air." Then he said: "And in immediate response, from the German trenches, a rich baritone voice tuned in, singing in German, ‘Der Herr ist mein Heiter auf Deutsche.’ (The Lord Is My Shepherd). And for a few moments, everybody in both trenches concentrated on the sound of these two invisible singers and the beautiful music and the harmony. The British soldier and the German soldier sang praise to the Lord who was their shepherd. The singing stopped, and the sound slowly died away." He continued: "We huddled in the bottom of our trenches and tried to keep warm until Christmas Day dawned and then, early on Christmas morning, some of the British soldiers climbed out of their trenches into ‘no man's land’, carrying a football. Everyone knows that the British don't go anywhere without two important things, their teapots and their footballs! The English soldiers started kicking around a football, in a game in ‘no man's land’, between the trenches." Then the old soldier said: "Some of the German soldiers climbed out, and England played Germany at football in ‘no man's land’ on Christmas Day in the middle of the battlefield in France in the First World War.” That’s what I’d call a ‘God moment’. The love of Christ that we see from the moment of His birth at that first Christmas can cause people to put away differences and re-focus on God and not on themselves. The love of Christ that
Nations join together to sing carols on operations
‘
everyone can receive is something that Jesus wants each and every human being to know and live out in his or her life...praising God, singing in song and in spirit...coming together with all believers in an antiphony of praise to Him who is worthy...that is the joy of singing Christmas carols. If you feel alone, especially at Christmas, perhaps unwrap Christmas again and find the Son of God who wants nothing more than to bring purpose and hope into your life and offer you a love that the world will never understand. Jesus is the greatest gift anyone can receive at Christmas time.
by Padre Simon Farmer
Jesus is the greatest gift anyone can receive at Christmas contact 5
the battle within In the second part of this series on post traumatic healing and living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), we include extracts from author and pastor Nigel Mumford’s book, as well as comments from two colleagues who witnessed healing and worked alongside PTSD sufferers.
Part 2
There were more ‘wounded warriors’ in our midst than I ever thought there were and I was one of them
‘
’
6 contact
E
x-army lieutenant colonel, Noel Dawes has worked alongside Nigel Mumford, for several years, and he writes, “As an infantry officer I had my fair share of operational deployments, particularly to Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’. I had four ‘street’ tours there including one year accompanied by my wife, Meryl, and two sons 6 and 8 years old.
“I didn’t think much about combat trauma and, whether I was a rifle platoon or company commander or a battalion operations coordinator, it seemed to me that few of my soldiers, even those wounded, or those in the battalion suffered any trauma at all. I was DEFINITELY not suffering any trauma and I prided myself that as a regiment we had clearly trained effectively and professionally to avoid the unseen wounds of combat as well as we did! “Years later the truth started to come out and it still does. There were more ‘wounded warriors’ in our midst than I ever thought there were - and I was one of them.
“Thankfully, for myself, the trauma was mild compared to many others. Reexperiencing, (usually well hidden) anger; the ‘thousand yard stare’, activities that provided a greater adrenaline rush, feeling isolated from my wife and children, who had bonded very closely with each other whilst I was away and other symptoms, were kept very private by me until I met a former Royal Marine, the Reverend Nigel Mumford in the North Country of New York state, USA, in 2007. “Nigel had had full blown PTSD from his service in Northern Ireland. As our friendship grew, we discovered the Holy Spirit had laid heavily on both our hearts a deep desire to help traumatised combat veterans find healing and peace for their souls. With much prayer and discussion,
we (mainly Nigel) developed a 48 hour retreat for veterans, lasting over three days. Spouses are welcome, as are children. Veterans pay for their own journeys to and from the retreat location but we cover fully all subsistence costs as our gift to them, saying ‘thank you for your service’ and ‘welcome home’. We called the retreat the Welcome Home Initiative (WHI).
“Since early 2008, we have carried out 17 retreats reaching out to over 200 US, British, Canadian and Australian Veterans. They have seen combat in almost every campaign from World War 2 to Iraq and Afghanistan including some lesser known campaigns. Some 15 retreatants have been active duty or formerly serving chaplains. We have seen Christ the Healer bring comfort and peace to the lives of over 90% of those who have attended a retreat, including ourselves. More than 10% have seen thrilling and significant transformation in their lives. “Since Nigel’s excellent and influential book, ‘After the Trauma the Battle Begins (Post Trauma Healing)’ was published there seems to have been an increase in veterans acknowledging healing they have received on retreats. The book is the best book on healing of the many I have read and focuses on practical aspects of it. Several veterans have indicated they have received healing as they have followed the extremely practical advice Nigel suggests in each chapter.”
Lt Col Noel Dawes served in the STAFFORDS for nearly 30 years before retiring in February 1994. He and Meryl, his wife, served with an organisation working with Christians in the military in the USA for 10 years. In 2004, he was detached to Alpha USA to coordinate the growth and practice of the course within the US armed forces. He and Meryl, together, are members of Nigel Mumford’s team bringing healing to veterans through the Welcome Home Initiative, a partner ministry of ACCTS.
Extracts from After the Trauma the Battle Begins: Living with PTSD from: Chapter 17 Living with someone who has been traumatised in life and is suffering from PTSD, is good reason to set healthy boundaries. Without healthy communication between spouses, especially if both have suffered trauma, their marriage is at risk of becoming a constant source of triggers. The axiom, "Of course your family pushes your buttons" comes to mind. Our loved ones know us. They know our quirks, foibles, warts and everything else! They may not see, with their eyes, the wall that the trauma victim has built but they know its perimeters and, they know when they get too close to the ‘hot spot.’ There is a lot of give and take in our relationships, but the spouse of the sufferer of PTSD is mostly the ‘giver’. Living with someone with PTSD is like negotiating our path around an unexploded bomb or walking on eggshells. Their hyper vigilance can be the source of great tension within family dynamics. The family knows all too well, that the slightest thing can set the victim off. Just like a bomb.
Nigel explains: "PTSD sufferers are notorious for building walls! We need to build bridges.... If pressed too hard the equal reaction within a spouse can be enormous pain". He also quotes Sir Isaac Newton, "Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy" and says that PTSD sufferers lose all tact when triggered. He also says, “The void of PTSD and all that it represents includes confusion, dis-ease, dissatisfaction, unhealed wounds and unfinished business.
Asking for help or discussing these things with one's spouse can be a problem for some men who view such activity as a weakness to their manliness. This is, of course, yet another matter for healing and a first step to setting the captive free. Getting over this hurdle will require healing in addition to the trauma itself. When triggered either a fight will ensue or a flight is in the making. Though flight or leaving can be very frustrating for the
Nigel Mumford in hospital
spouse, it may be necessary for safety reasons to allow time for a reaction to diffuse... This calming down period is the slowing down of the fly wheel. This type of living can be utterly exhausting and taxing on a marriage, because your enemy still has the upper hand. The enemy is the continued horror of memory that the sufferer is trying to sort out in their mind. We do seem to hurt the ones we love. Extreme grace is required by the spouse to be able to forgive again and again. Changing behaviours can be a slow process but there is hope.
Nigel Mumford
Nigel Mumford’s own story of healing and recovery from a recent illness is outlined in the book’s introduction by one of his American colleagues the Rt Revd David Bena, a bishop and Vietnam veteran. He writes: “We had been ministering alongside Nigel during the heady days of
Mary Ellen and I prayed for the best and planned for the worst
‘ ’ 2003-2009 days when Nigel was strong and effective, as he was an instrument of healing in the lives of so many. So it was particularly challenging for us to see him at death’s door in the hospital bed in late
2009. Here was the one who brought healing to so many, now in need of radical healing in his own right. We visited him often in the hospital, with his wife, Lynn, and with his faithful assistant Sandra. We joined others in anointing him, praying for him, and encouraging him. We just knew that any day he would start getting better. But as he slipped into a coma, getting worse day by day, I began to wonder whether he would pull out of it. Of course I had to be strong and encouraging. But I kept wondering to myself and to God, “Will he get better, Lord? Is there really anything to this healing business or is it just mind over matter?” We get belted with doubts when a loved one’s life is threatened, don’t we? So I had to push through the doubts and continue praying. There is a phrase, ‘Hope for the best; plan for the worst.’ Mary Ellen and I prayed for the best and planned for the worst. The worst came one night when Sandra texted to say that the doctors had told Lynn not to leave the hospital that night because it would likely be Nigel’s last. “We drove immediately to the hospital where I administered the Last Rites to him, after I asked God to completely heal him. As I said goodbye to him, part of me thought that that would be the last time I would see Nigel alive on the earth. The next day he was still alive. And the next. And the next. Time seemed in suspension as we checked on him each day. Then he began to rally. Eventually he was brought out of the coma. Eventually he was able to talk, and then to walk, and then to begin praying for others again. Today, he is again ministering full time. A miracle! What did we all learn from Nigel’s illness? “Pray for the best; plan for the worst.” The bishops, clergy and lay people who sustained Nigel in prayer know that God is indeed in control of the universe, that he loves us all very much, and that He wants to heal us. Some will be healed immediately, some eventually, and some will be healed after they have ceased to live on the earth. Our role is to pray fervently and wait for God to act.” For more details on Nigel’s ministry see: http://byhiswoundsministry.com
prayers for healing
Nigel in recovery
contact 7
‘Bomber’ Harris – morality and the German city bombings
F
ew names, if any, in British military history divide opinion like that of Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Bomber Command from February 1942 until September 1945. Few names conjure up such a spectrum of human responses: from devoted loyalty to abhorrence, from admiration to disgust. His personal legacy was decided by others as the bombed-out ruins of Dresden smouldered and the city buried its dead in February 1945: the scapegoat who bore the moral culpability of his military and political superiors.
As early as 1933 – nine years before Harris took over Bomber Command – J.M. Spaight, a key figure in the shaping of policy at the Air Ministry, warned of what was to come in a future war: “Let there be no mistake about it: the cities will be bombed, whatever rule is laid down.” All attempts to outlaw bombing in the 1920s and ‘30s had failed and the bomber was seen as the key to future victory.
Following the outbreak of war it did not take long for area bombing to emerge as a destructive offensive tool. On 13 September 1939 the Luftwaffe attacked Warsaw using a 50:50 ratio of explosives to incendiaries in a clear attempt to use fire as a weapon of devastation against the city and its people.
By April 1940 Bomber Command was already using long-delay-action bombs to disrupt German fire services and civil reconstruction efforts. Further area bombings took place by both sides over the subsequent months. On 8 July 1940 Churchill wrote to Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister for War Production: “When I look around to see how we can win the war I see that there is only one sure path ... there is one thing that will bring him back and bring him down, and that is an absolutely devastating, exterminating attack by very heavy bombers from this country upon the Nazi homeland.” Churchill was an enthusiastic and passionate advocate of area bombing and
8 contact
a lesser evil? would remain so throughout the war – right up to the point where the practice threatened to harm his post-war legacy.
Churchill was being disingenuous at best when he told the Commons in August 1940 that the RAF was bombing deep into Germany with ‘deliberate careful discrimination.’ His public message and the military reality were quite different. His scientific advisor, Professor Lindemann, had already prescribed the most effective means of area bombing: mixing explosives and incendiaries to de-house vast numbers of Germans. Disrupting daily life, reducing industrial production and damaging morale in the process. It would become Churchill’s and the RAF’s policy.
Analysis of the effectiveness of Bomber Command’s actions in the Butt Report of August 1941 scotched the pretence of precision bombing; only a third of bombs were getting within five miles of their targets. In the shadow of the Blitz on London and Coventry a new directive was enacted. In February 1942, ten days before Harris took charge, Bomber Command was told: “The primary object of your operations should now be focussed on the morale of the enemy civilian population and in particular, of the industrial workers.” The die was cast.
In many ways Harris was the ideal man for the job. He came from a long career as a bomber, with experience in Mesopotamia and the North-West Frontier. He was passionately convinced about the effectiveness of bombing and had spent years developing its accuracy and efficiency. Most important, however, was his character. He had a singleminded devotion to his task and, alien to most modern sensibilities, a burning sense of duty. These strengths would later become his greatest weaknesses.
The moral assessment of events when these directives were given to Harris in 1942 and 1943 is probably more straightforward than it would become in the final year of the war. Aspects of it make for potentially uncomfortable
reading for unquestioning area bombing advocates and opponents alike.
Pacifists reject any taking of human life, while political realists see no place for morality in their calculations. Between these positions sits just war reasoning and its demand for proportionality of means and discrimination of military targets, with Christians to be found across the whole political spectrum. If area bombing is approached simplistically as a straight choice between good and evil, the targeting of civilians renders it unjust. However, there was no choice between good or evil, only between lesser and greater evils. And Harris could not do his job without killing civilians even if he wanted to – the technology was not advanced enough to do otherwise. As the war progressed increasing accuracy could be achieved but often with unsustainable losses of aircraft and personnel to the command that already suffered the highest loss rates across the armed forces. By late 1944 and early 1945 there was clear disagreement between Harris and Chief of the Air Staff Charles Portal, his superior, as to the best use of the bombers. Harris remained convinced that to hit anything you had to hit everything, i.e,: the cities. Despite Harris’s prioritisation of area bombing above oil or
Harris effectively marked himself out as the scapegoat... other ‘panacea’ targets as he called them, he was not removed from his position. He continued to have support from above. Then came the directive to Harris to attack Dresden, Berlin, Leipzig and Chemnitz – with Churchill’s full knowledge and complicity. Harris’s night bombers would provide the means of ‘destroying these industrial cities.’
In the weeks that followed the attacks on Dresden on 13/14 February 1945 (the Bomber Command attack and the two follow-up American attacks), public disquiet began to emerge eventually prompting Churchill, shamefully, to try and distance himself from the controversy. Similarly, others in Harris’s chain of command – Portal, the other Chiefs and the Air Ministry – left him isolated. Victory was nigh, reputations – especially Churchill’s – were being made and protected. Thoughts were turning to what a post-war Germany might look like. The scapegoating began in earnest with Harris too focused on his task, too politically inept, to sense the winds of change. What responsibility did Harris bear for his actions? He had been directed by the Chief of the Air Staff, the Air Minister and Churchill, who was both Minister of Defence and Prime Minister. If moral responsibility is apportioned according to one’s freedom to shape events Harris clearly bore greater responsibility than the crews he ordered into action over
‘But the goat chosen by Lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat ... The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place.’ (Leviticus 16:10, 22)
‘
Germany. Yet he had little more room for personal choice than they did. Some, like A.C Grayling, argue that the area bombings should never have taken place, that the crews should have refused to fly and that Harris only avoided being a war criminal by being on the winning side. Harris’s determination to publicly, almost aggressively, stand by the actions of Bomber Command without apology or regret was, from a leadership perspective, no doubt a comfort and inspiration to the crews who had dropped the bombs. However, given the deafening silence of his superiors over Dresden, through his obduracy Harris effectively marked himself out as the scapegoat. Harris stood alone, defiant and destined to publicly bear the moral culpability of his superiors. Churchill’s actions were the most damning and damnable. They indicate a willingness on the part of Britain’s great war-time leader to abdicate moral responsibility for acts that he co-authored and on whose authority they rested.
Many of the arguments about Harris’s policies towards the end of the war focus on the relative success and strategic consequences of the targeting of oil infrastructure versus the targeting of cities. Military historians and moral philosophers will debate forever the merits of one over the other and the contributions to both made by Bomber Command. Historians and moral philosophers have one major advantage in making their judgements of Harris who had to make terrible decisions with awful consequences in the heat of battle - the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and access to far more, and more accurate, information than he did. Similarly, Christians looking back from a comfortable pew in the twenty-first century will find it difficult to put themselves in the position of having to somehow sustain a faith while dropping explosives and incendiaries. We do so from the safety and security of seven decades of reasonable political stability and relative peace in Western Europe. If the morality of the actions of Harris and his bombers are to be judged in simple, absolute terms then they will be
’
forever guilty and their names will live on in ignominy. However, when Harris’ actions are assessed comparatively, the outcome is somewhat different. The lesser evil prevailed over the much greater evil, even if there remained evil on both sides. Post-war, the world had and retains a greater appreciation of the impact of the oil strategy. In parallel, however, the world also has a greater appreciation of Hitler’s Final Solution, which has similarly to be weighed retrospectively. In the obscene calculus of human catastrophe how do 25,000 deaths in Dresden measure against more than a million men, women and children killed with malevolent efficiency at Auschwitz? Or the million Soviets who died defending Stalingrad? If Harris and Bomber Command reduced the length of the war by one day how many lives were saved? What if Bomber Command reduced the length of the war by a week? By a month? Such a grotesque numbers game can never be accurately completed and it would seem perverse to even try. However, these numbers remind us that when great evil stalked Europe and Britain took the fight to its Nazi enemy, Harris more than anyone was prepared to embrace a lesser evil in order to defeat it.
Harris never shirked from his duty, never denied it, never apologised and never regretted his actions. He had blood on his hands and never tried to hide it, and it was this more than anything that singled him out for blame. Churchill wanted his legacy and many in the country – Christian and non-Christian alike – wanted to forget what they had demanded of ‘Bomber’ Harris in the darkest of hours when the stench of fear and danger was overwhelming. It is perhaps time we remembered Harris’ role and moral culpability in its proper perspective and recall the scapegoat from the wilderness. Dr Peter Lee is a Portsmouth University Principal Lecturer in Ethics based at RAF College Cranwell. This is an abridged version of ‘Return from the Wilderness: An Assessment of Arthur Harris’s Moral Responsibility for the German City Bombings’, Air Power Review, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring 2013) pp. 70-90.
contact 9
man of the sea
HMS Edinburgh
N When you live your life cheek by jowl with messmates - dozens to a mess - there is nowhere to hide
‘
’
10 contact
athan Senior (pictured left) is a sailor's sailor. No doubt about that. His direct and even manner, immediate humour and Yorkshire brogue make an immediate warm impression, writes Clive Langmead. Here is a man you would trust to sling your hammock if you were new on board and didn't know how to, a friend who would draw your rum ration for you without sneaking a sip, a messmate who would brew you a mug of 'kai' (hot sweet cocoa with-a-dash-of-something) as you pull on your duffle coat to go on deck for a night watch. Today hammocks, rum rations, duffle coats and even kai are no longer naval style (though night watches, sadly, are) but Nathan still seems to carry that traditional, supportive, 'we're all in the same boat, shipmate' air with him. A true man of the sea. He is also a man of God. Born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, he became a Christian at age 15 in a fierce Baptist setting. "It was really hard core, they did 'A' level guilt!" However, mainly due to the rigid social setting ("all my friends were Christians") he felt he had no real 'ownership' of his faith. It all ran, rather comfortably, on rails.
All this changed when he joined the Navy at 17. Was he answering a distant call of the sea? Looking for adventure? Longing for far horizons? No. "It was better than being out of work." Fair enough. But it proved a shock to the system. In a 50 man mess deck in a warship he was now likely to be the only Christian.
"When you live your life cheek by jowl with messmates - dozens to a mess there is nowhere to hide. You are always on show, all of the time. Christians are not supposed to judge but - trust me everyone is happy to start judging YOU! If you lose it, or swear, or look grumpy, your mess mates will delight in saying: ‘Ho, ho! - you're a Christian! You're not supposed
to do that!' So for me it was do or die really." Fortunately he is still alive. "But they do want you to take your beliefs seriously - which is not unreasonable when you think about it. And they will ask you to pray if they feel something going adrift in their own lives. Many ask for this. They get to see the answers too. I still hear from some of my old messmates who want to ask for prayer or know something more about Jesus. They don't forget. Nor does God."
"But I was very far from getting it right. In fact I got most of it wrong. On one trip I decided to really fast and pray for my mess mates, and for two months nothing happened. Just zero. Nothing. We were in the Caribbean and so one day I just jacked it in and went ashore with my mates and drank for 10 days straight. I don't remember a single one. BUT...one evening I saw a mate looking really down in the mouth at a nightclub and went over to talk to him. We went outside to cool off and sat in the porch of a church opposite. There was a bible text on the notice board. That must have triggered something in me (I don't remember this) and I told him the gospel. Now he is out of the Navy and an assistant minister! So God does have a sense of humour." Humour is something you can't get away from with Nathan. A serious comment on faith is always counterbalanced with a smile. "I used to pray every day for my ship - 'cause you don't want it hitting a rock...especially at sea..."
Nathan left the sea - and the Navy - last year from a final draft in HMS EDINBURGH, the last Type 42 Air Defence destroyer, itself now retired 'on the beach.' But for him service to the Navy is far from over. He is still intimately concerned with both the service and the gospel as the new Naval Christian Fellowship’s Executive Secretary. And as a man who understands, deeply, the sea and sailors it would seem that he is very much God's man for that appointment.
force4good Alpha for Forces Administrator, Eric Martin (pictured right) tells his story of faith, after initially joining the Royal Engineers and transferring into the Army Physical Training Corps (APTC)‌
I
t was whilst serving as the PT Instructor with 1QLR in Germany that I had a few 'God dreams and visitations' which woke me to the possibility that there was more to life than the present. The closest I ever came to a padre in 22 years of service was sharing a sauna after a game of squash. I never heard the Gospel during any of the many church parades and services I had attended so I wasn't really looking for God. I realise now He was looking for me.
On a posting to Belize I found a Bible in my office on St. George's Caye. It was The Living Bible and I started reading it. At night we would drink our body weight in rum and during the day, after the troops had been allocated their activities, I would relax at the end of the jetty as far away from the mosquitoes as possible and read the Bible. I became so convicted of my sin I was going to convert to the chosen people and get circumcised (reading the Old Testament) yet thankfully before that happened, as I was leaving Belize I discovered a tract pointing the way to Jesus. I arrived in Hong Kong in September 1990 and whilst unpacking in the Sgts' Mess I uncovered this tract again, read it, and got on my knees and prayed. I heard an audible voice telling me to go to church, so the first Sunday I went to the Garrison Church Book of Common Prayer service. What an awful experience! So I returned dejectedly to my room and said to the 'voice', "That was terrible, just like all the other boring church services I've ever attended". The second time I
ever heard the audible voice of God was when He said, "You went to the wrong service". I did wonder who this was speaking to me.
So the next Sunday I returned at 11am and went to the family service and experienced the love and joy of being welcomed into God's family. One Christian, also in the APTC, welcomed me by saying "Eric, you are the last person I ever expected to become a Christian", which puzzled me because I always thought of myself as a Christian - I had a lot to learn! I was so overcome by joy that I started preaching to everyone I could bother and quickly drove all my friends, colleagues and family far away from me. A couple of years later I did eventually manage to share the Gospel successfully with someone who was to become my closest friend and brother, and eventually my boss! We had been in the APTC together so he knew the 'before and after' Eric Martin, and the latter version had something he found attractive. That was Jesus in me.
After he committed his life to Christ he started attending Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) the home of the Alpha course and he invited me onto Alpha. It was like discovering Jesus all over again. I then started running Alpha courses and started seeing people come to faith in large numbers. That was nearly twenty years ago and Alpha works as well today as it did at the beginning. Three years ago I was invited to join the staff of Alpha International to promote Alpha globally in
the military. It's a great challenge. I love the work. One of the blessings I have reaped recently is that a seed and some resources I planted over one year ago in Germany has resulted in Alpha running there, and my older brother Andrew who has lived in Germany for forty years has started attending and is well on the way to salvation. Such joy again. It's like being born again.....again!
200 Finnish troops attend Alpha every 6 months
I live in Cyprus where I completed my Army service and met my wife, Angela. We have a daughter, Charis (18) and a son Joshua (16). Life is good....and then you live! Alpha for Forces is offering free Alpha resources to anyone who would like to register and run Alpha in a military environment, including dependants. Email your details and intended plans to: alphaforforces@htb.org.uk
contact 11
JP’s Blog L i v i n g
A
few weeks ago I was sitting in the Shrivenham Mess Costa Coffee with a friend laughing over my past horrendous and failed attempts to communicate the Gospel of Christ. You see when I hit Christendom as a 17-yearold I hit it pretty hard and in the process of letting everybody at college know how frankly awesome my God was I, sadly, did not do Him or His Kingdom any favours. After a few years of having my abrasive evangelistic technique chipped and sanded away in God’s great workshop I had the misfortune of realising just how badly I had come across. There was a guy on one of my flying training courses who gave Christ such a bad name that I had heard his extensive reputation a month before I even met him and, on more than one uncomfortable occasion was left sitting amongst an angry mob watching the Gospel explained by recounting each individual’s sinful proclivities and describing in painstaking detail exactly why they were going to hell.
This 10-month experience of fielding genuine questions from incensed young aviators, due to misguided statements of faith, proved very significant to me. Knowing that only a few years before I had come out with almost identical arguments, delivered in the same harsh tones, made me realise a couple of key facts. Firstly, the statement ‘God hates (fill the blank)’ is not only fundamentally wrong, but it will only ever push a person further away from God’s father heart, and, secondly, my course mates were quickly building their understanding of who Christ is based almost entirely on the rather damning example paraded daily around the squadron. What they needed to hear about was the God who loved them and was pursuing them no matter who they are or what they had done. They needed to know that all the specifics were irrelevant, that the only
12 contact
t h e
F a i t h
everyone around us with the full love of Christ on a daily basis we will be completely ignored when we speak of a saviour that is in very nature love. This is a very easy statement to make, but an exceptionally hard one to live out and begs the question of what such living looks like, especially in the military environment.
thing that mattered was that they turn around and start walking back towards Christ.
I left that squadron with two things: a pair of wings on my chest and an understanding of just how badly I had belittled Christianity as a fanatical teenager. When you try to spread the message of love to the world and do it in any way other than love, it becomes very easy for everyone to not take you, or your message, seriously.
So how is this, true as it may be, relevant to our previous discussions on demonstrating scriptural accuracy through science or basing our sure and steadfast hope on the tangible day-to-day presence of an Almighty God?
‘My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children and we know Him ... Since God loved us this much, we must love each other.’ (1 John 4:7,11) Everything we have to say about Christ, about our beliefs and why we hold them, everything that could possibly contribute to our giving a justifiable defence of our faith rests on the foundation of our living in such a way as to be taken seriously. If, as I once did as a teenager, you stand with a cigarette in hand and dole out the advice that ‘smoking’s just not worth it’ your message will be passed over. In the same way when we do not treat
Never mind Sunday school, we’re about to talk back-to-crèche basics. Put simply, we just need to treat those around us in such a way that we would want to be treated. Give 100% to all you do and to everyone you do it with, particularly those of you who are in command roles – live around your troops in such a way that they never ever doubt that you would watch their back, even if that took your life or even your career! Never destroy someone else to build yourself up, especially if they’re not there to defend themselves, and always credit others for their hard graft.
This is not easy. During a recent 5 month spell of flying the squadron’s planning desk I have found it virtually impossible (and failed on a number of occasions) to live out this basic code. Nonetheless, we have to strive continually to overcome the temptation simply to run with the crowd or take the path of least resistance – we must have our own extensive reputation, one that tells of our absolute consideration for others and our genuine care and concern for everyone, regardless of whether it’s the admin clerk or the boss. Without this reputation no stack of academic papers, raft of archaeological reports or sworn testimony to the miraculous will hold any sway whatsoever. You can argue until you're blue in the face about factual backing of biblical claims but the single greatest defence of faith you will ever be able to give, is that you love those around you like you love yourself.
love
A three part look at why we believe from 1 Corinthians 13
by Flying Officer Jonny (JP) Palmer jonnyandhayley@hotmail.com
knocked flat?
A
s I write it’s less than a week to the Snowdonia marathon. It’s always at this stage that I am worried about getting a slight niggle, or a cold or something that could get worse and stop me running on Saturday. I think I would rather break my leg at this point, then at least it would be clear-cut! Injuries definitely knock us out of the game, and when I got a sports injury generally I found my mess mates completely unsympathetic. There was one guy on one ship who smoked 80 ‘tabs’ a day…yup no typo….eighty. Whenever we used to drip about him forever sloping off to have a tab, he would say that sport was bad for you, and that a sportsman spent more time off work with injuries than he did having a tab in the smoking area on board (affectionately known as the ‘Leper Colony’). Interesting point! One of the worst injuries I had whilst running, was interestingly not a direct result of the actual run (like tripping over a ring bolt whilst running round the upper deck and twisting my ankle, having a screen door opened in my face and nearly breaking my nose or slipping on spilt fuel after a Replenishment at Sea and taking all the skin off my leg when falling on the deck).
I was running in the RN Cross Country Championships for HMS Collingwood. We were expected to be in the top 3 teams and I was looking at being one of the top 6 Collingwood runners, thus counting in the overall team points. I suddenly got this massive pain in my chest. I had to stop immediately, sure I’d had a heart attack, but at the same time thinking, “That’s impossible - I’m really fit!” I was sitting propped up against a tree holding my chest and a marshal came over (young
sailor) who suggested that I stayed there and not continue running for a bit. Helpful. The rest of the field carried on running past, with the Collingwood guys shouting helpful things like ‘stop loafing’ and ‘get a move on you lazy person of dubious parentage’. After a few minutes the worst of the pain had gone, but I (sensible for me) took a slow walk back up to the sick bay. The doc did an ECG and made me lie still. He said there was nothing obvious on the ECG and told me to go to the sickbay the following day. I was getting ready to get back on the coach when he changed his mind and put me in an ambulance to hospital to get checked out. Good man, because it turned out I had something called Woolf-Parkinson-White syndrome – to do with the electrical pathways in the heart – and totally curable. Many people have it and go through life without it ever causing a problem. So a few weeks later I had a ‘procedure’ and it was all sorted.
Life is a bit like that. There you are bimbling along quite happily and suddenly it’s all going ‘pete tang’ – you are stopped in your tracks wondering what on earth has caused it. It could be any number of things, finances, relationships, health, career, addiction. For me thankfully the doc had the courage of his convictions and got me the expert help I needed. If you are facing something that you can’t see the way through, why not get some help or advice? Like the rest of my team a lot of friends/acquaintances will tell you to ignore it, it’s not a problem, but it’s always best to speak to an oppo, or a chaplain or of course you can talk to God direct (it’s called prayer). Sometimes it’s not until you are knocked flat that you start to ask for help. As a mate to other guys facing challenges though, can I suggest that you are more like the doc than the marshal? If you are
not sure how to help your oppo, get some advice or encourage them to see an expert. Don’t just tell them to sit by a tree and hope it all gets better. As a Christian I believe that all of us need to look at how we live our lives and although following Jesus doesn’t take away all the challenges of life, it does open up a communications link to God (who is the ultimate *SME on life). There’s also a network of support and encouragement through other guys and gals who follow Him too – other members of the AFCU, those who meet at the chaplaincy, and those ‘strange’ people at the local church not all of them wear sandals with socks and sing ‘kum by yah’ honest! So, whilst writing this I have decided not to pray for a broken leg, but to go for it on Saturday. I am, howeve,r praying for three things: 1. To finish 2. For my mate Carl to finish (in that order – sorry mate); and 3. That I go under four hours. Next time I will report back on whether all that training was sufficient. Go safe and watch out for ring bolts. *Subject Matter Expert Steve (along with Carl Beech) ran the Snowdonia Marathon in October for Christian Vision for Men. If you want to sponsor them follow the links from www.cvm.org.uk to their Just Giving page.
by Steve Martin, Operations Director Christian Vision for Men
contact 13
coffee break
life on the frontline...
L
ICC (London Institute for Contemporary Christianity) launches a new small group DVD resource to engage, equip and empower Christians to serve God on the frontlines of everyday life.
‘Mission. Mates. Me.’ Most military personnel are familiar with this handy mantra, reminding them of the essential priorities of any deployment: there’s a job to do, a challenge to meet. The mission is your motivation. Fortunately, success doesn’t depend on gung-ho acts of individual heroism. Rather, it’s based on teamwork and trust. Your mates look out for you, and you for them. What’s more, such lifesaving interdependence creates the safe space in which your individual gifts and skills can flourish – which is the positive explanation of why ‘me’ has to take third place.
How does the ‘3M’ maxim apply? Director of LICC’s Imagine Project, Neil Hudson, comments: “Our experience from working with churches is that people feel liberated when they see how their daily lives can be wrapped up into God’s mission. They want to grow and be fruitful. But it’s hard to keep going on your own.” So our ‘mates’ matter. And this is the starting point for our new course ‘Life on the Frontline.’ The reality is that we all have a frontline, we all have a mission field where we connect to people who don’t know Jesus. So Life on the Frontline is designed to help people in small groups recognise one another’s frontlines, see how God may be using them there, pray with real purpose for one another and experience how the Bible helps us respond to God on our frontlines. Each session begins with a short, documentary-style film featuring real-life stories that help people discover the potential in their own contexts. Take Ed, for example. Convinced that he was called to service anywhere but in his workplace, Ed was frustrated by God’s seeming refusal to move him out of his place of work. But one day he realised
14 contact
that maybe this was the place God had called him to be a blessing. It was then that he made his life-changing decision: to arrive ten minutes earlier every morning. This gave him time to chat to his co-workers and slowly forge better relationships with them. Ed didn’t ‘push’ his faith on to them, but nor did he make a secret of it. And he felt a new motivation to pray for his colleagues and, in whatever way he could, to minister to them. So, not surprisingly, he was prepared when one of them began to share a personal problem with him… Unspectacular, perhaps. But definitely transformational.
What is the Armed Forces’ Christian Union (AFCU)?
AFCU is one of a number of British military Christian fellowships. It is a tri-service, all-rank, inter-denominational fellowship of Christians who wish to grow in their faith and share it with those with whom they serve. The basis of membership is prayer.
Who can join?
Anyone who believes in prayer to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and who is willing to pray regularly for the spiritual welfare of the Armed Forces, is welcome as a member. Those serving in regular or reserve sections of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army or Royal Air Force join as Serving Members. All others, including those who have retired from the services, join as Associate Members. Serving membership is open to officer cadets and recruits under training, while those serving in foreign armed forces are welcomed as ‘honorary’ members. The Union welcomes as Associate Members those who are not part of HM Forces, but have a concern for the spiritual wellbeing of Service personnel and their families. Their prayers will be greatly valued and there are opportunities to meet with others in existing prayer groups or to pray individually for serving members and the work of the AFCU.
What will it mean to me?
Members receive regular mailings of Contact magazine, AFCU News & Views and other literature. They also have access to information and resources on the website and links with a network of Christian contacts across the Armed Forces. They are invited to attend various events including teaching and fellowship days and weekends, and holidays with a Christian emphasis. Serving members are invited to be linked to an Associate group for regular prayer support and, as far as possible, encouraged to make contact with other AFCU members in their location.
Presented by Neil Hudson, Life on the Frontline, although not specifically for the military community, builds on the films using select Bible passages and interactive exercises to explore Christ’s call and commission, and how the small group and the wider church can really work to equip and support their members. Indeed, this new resource is designed to help us grow confident in our calling, mutually supportive in our ministry and fruitful in our mission. Bring it on.
Life on the Frontline is a 6 session DVDbased course. Disk contains videos, Leaders’ and Participants’ Guides. £8 for one pack; £5 per pack for multipack purchases. Available online from www.licc.org.uk/shop or by phone 020 7399 9555. Review by Rory Keegan, see resources at www.licc.org.uk
Will it cost me anything?
The Union does not have a membership subscription. Members are simply asked to give as the Lord leads and according to their means (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). The cost of producing the mailings alone is about £30 per person per year.
How do I join?
You can apply for membership on the AFCU website www.afcu.org.uk by clicking on the ‘Join’ button and following directions. Or you can email (office@afcu.org.uk) or phone (01252 311221) the office and ask for a membership form.
competition
what a pic!
Ah! Then this must be the Gareloch!
£25 e Priz
MC
What is happening in photo above?
Send in your Caption... Thank you to all of you for entering this competition. We get some really good captions. Congratulations to the winner. Please send your funny caption to: rachel.reay@gmail.com and get them in before 31st January 2014.
the big read Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine by Max Lucado We all know the idea of grace, but do we truly understand it? Chapter by chapter, page by page, Max Lucado takes us on a journey of uncovering the grandeur of God’s grace – a radical and transforming grace. From stories of the Bible made tangible and relatable - to journeys of his own life as well as his friends, you are gripped from beginning to end. Another important book from the Lucado stable. £10.99 Thomas Nelson
How to be a Bad Christian: .. And a Better Human Being by Dave Tomlinson Dave has written a ‘practical’ book which he hopes will bring Christianity into conversations with the real circumstances of human living and relating. Each chapter starts with a real story from his own parish-life experience as a London vicar. Starting where people are it looks at how the Holy Spirit’s healing work can make us more ‘fully human’, but perhaps not ‘churchy’. A great read. £8.99 Hodder Stoughton
Joni and Ken: An Untold Love Story Moving on from the story of Joni Erickson, who was left a quadriplegic after a diving accident, this book charts the later part of her life, which includes a love story with its own ups and downs. There is much pain, anguish, despair, yet also joy and inspiration in the book. Joni and her husband Ken keep loving God and seeking to serve him, despite what happens. The book is not just for couples or for those who have someone disabled in their family. Anyone and everyone can learn and be inspired by what they have gone through and still go through. £12.50 Zondervan
A Lineage of Grace: Five Stories of Unlikely Women Who Changed Eternity by Francine Rivers This book shares the lives of the women who are in Christ’s bloodline. Giving characters like Bathsheba and Rahab life and breath, we have an insight to what they might have been thinking - the back story to scripture. Francine Rivers is a remarkable author and even if it wasn’t like this, the emotions and the reactions are something we can learn from and enjoy, and help us see these characters were real people like you and I, who God used. £10.99 Tyndale House
Please send letters and captions and ideas for articles to:
contact@afcu.org.uk
Photographs © Crown Copyright from www.photos.mod.uk are reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. All photographs are copyright. Every effort is made to trace copyright holders of the images reproduced. We apologise for any unintentional omission and would be pleased to insert appropriate acknowledgement in the next issue. Please note: 1.Pictures of service men and women and those not members of the AFCU reflect our prayers and support to all members of the Armed Forces. 2.Not all articles are the view of the AFCU General Committee.
Contact Editorial Team: Sqn Ldr Priestnall RAF, Mrs S Sandy, Mrs Y Cobbold, AFCU staff, the Editors
contact 15
Have U read it? Plea se
pass
it
on
Contact magazine is published by AFCU three times per year - Contact ISSN 1359 - 1726 - Registered Charity (No. 249636)