South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance Newsletter
Issue 24: September 2016
S outh As i a n F orum of the
Evangelical Alliance
connecting, uniting, representing
The South Asian Forum (SAF) is a grouping within the Evangelical Alliance, it was set up to provide a place for South Asian Christians in the UK to encourage, support and equip each other for mission, and to represent their concerns to government, media and the wider Church. With the support of both individual members and church members totalling more than 20,000 people, SAF is steadily growing. Visit saf.eauk.org to get involved in supporting this wonderful
ministry by becoming a member of SAF. Once you become a member, you will receive idea, the Alliance’s bi-monthly magazine, as well as regular newsletters from SAF detailing our progress. If you are already a member of the Evangelical Alliance you can add SAF to your Alliance membership at no extra cost. In this instance please send an email to saf@eauk.org
An interview with Barry Schutter, pastor and team leader at New Life Masih Ghar church
recruited my wife and I to join them.
What is your background? Living in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, my sister and I were raised by parents who were teachers. My dad was the scientist and I followed in his footsteps at university to study engineering. After graduation I moved to New Jersey to work as a project manager. It was there that I met and married Amy. We now live in London with three British-born children who consider this to be their home and rebel at the idea of ever going to live in America.
How did you become a Christian? I grew up in Christian home and believed in Jesus at a young age. I recall a Sunday evening having just returned from church when I discussed matters of faith with my parents. I think it was then that I first understood who I was as a sinner and what Christ accomplished on the cross.
What led you to the UK? My sense of call that led me to London began in my teenage years over a game of Risk, a popular board game in my day. A close Christian friend made a derogatory comment about people from another faith boldly proclaiming that he wished that the American president Ronald Reagan would “nuke them all”. In that moment I had my first ever evangelistic conviction, thinking: “No, they need Jesus. Someone needs to tell them the gospel.” I then sensed that someone could be me. Really from that moment onwards, I began to prepare for cross-cultural ministry. But my call would not come to fruition for another 15 years, when close friends who were already ministering among Asians in London
What is New Life Masih Ghar and what is your role in this ministry? New Life Masih Ghar is a Presbyterian church in the Southall and Hounslow area of London. Southall in many ways is the heart and soul of the South Asia population of the UK and with Heathrow nearby it sits at one of the world’s great crossroads. It is here where East meets West, so it makes for a great place to meet people from other faith backgrounds. A bit of that East meets West is captured in our name New Life Masih Ghar or ‘Messiah House’. Our church is made up of South Asians who have found new life because of Messiah Jesus and enjoy being a part of his house. The role I serve in the church is as one of its pastors, with my particular responsibility as team leader for the church staff.
What other ways are you building bridges with those of other faiths? We passionately believe that the Church itself is the main bridge to people of other faiths! The church gathered and scattered is constantly engaging and meeting with people from the different faith backgrounds in Southall. We like to say that the Church is the model home of the gospel. That doesn’t mean we have it altogether, actually quite the opposite. That we don’t have it altogether actually embodies the message of the gospel that we are sinners who have been saved but by the grace of God. We are a model home that still needs much improvement, and yet the Church is the community of God’s people who by grace He has formed to beHis people in order to display His glory and love to the nations. So as a church we do all sorts of things to meet, love and serve our community. We run youth and kids clubs, a parent toddler group, a young adults group called Dostana, various adult midweek Bible studies, as well as a chain of South Asian charity shops called Asha. But all of these really are simply extensions of the Church.
What is your passion? It depends on what day and mood you catch me in, but I am passionate about the food of Southall, the church, my hometown’s sports teams and watching my young sons play football.
SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org
Contemplative prayer is the heartbeat of the Christian life You don’t have to be a prophet to observe that our country is at the cusp of new and testing times. In this context there is more need than ever for intercessors who are willing to stand before God as Abraham did – over Sodom and Gomorrah – and pray for His mercy. There is a clear need for us all of us to recover the contemplative dimension of prayer, if we are to keep stable and rooted in God and not be thrown off course by every anxiety and headwind. Without a deep life of prayer all our projects and mission activities will lack fruitfulness. Prayer as relationship Contemplative prayer is not a technique; it is the oxygen of our relationship with God. We are content simply to gaze on Him who is always looking on us with love. Augustine attributes to the good thief: “He looked at me, and in that look I understood everything.” And Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite nun writing in the 16th century, wrote to her sisters: “I’m just asking you to look at Him.” Contemplation can be likened to a child waiting at the window for her father to come home; or a sentry keeping watch at the door of the heart, alert to the battalion of thoughts, desires and anxieties that wage an assault on the inner peace which is the bedrock of true prayer. Prayer is keeping God company. How can we pray without ceasing? ‘Recollection’ is the Church’s version of mindfulness. It means constantly remembering God, turning your mind, heart and faculties to Him, “experiencing His continuous presence”, and “sensing Him in the heart’s centre” (Robin Daniels, The Virgin Eye). A habit of offering up all your sufferings to God, of thanking Him for gifts and graces, large or small, of humbling yourself, of making short arrow prayers of surrender, thanks, trust – throughout the day and night – is a way of living out Paul’s injunction to “pray without ceasing”. Approaches to contemplative Prayer We can’t pray at all times, unless we make a discipline of praying at specific times. The approach will vary according to the personality and temperament. Pray as you are: if you are weeping,
take that to the Lord as your prayer. Some people find Ignatian meditation on the gospel scenes helpful. Others prefer lectio divina or a prayer of just being with God. A friend of mine, when asked how she prayed said: “I just love Him.” Handling distractions Anyone who seriously sets about giving God their loving attention soon finds that the mind wanders off and is preoccupied with myriad distractions – however important some of these may seem: mission plans, thoughts of someone appealing, what we’ll have for tea, resentments and regrets, anxieties about health, self or wealth. For this reason, many great teachers on prayer recommend that we take a word or phrase onto which to harness our longing for God. It might be a phrase from the psalms, or the name Jesus, or the words “Abba, Father”, “Jesus I trust in you”, or the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Repeat this prayer from the heart with pauses of integrating silence. When the mind wanders do not judge yourself or get tense, but gently return to saying your word or phrase. Contemplation benefits others By doing this we are not simply praying for ourselves, we are drawing all those in our mind and heart towards God. In praying the words of the blind men and the repentant publican “have mercy on me a sinner”, we pray on behalf of all those in our land who are not aware there is any need for contrition or to call on God. Prayer breaks through the barriers we have created between ourselves and God. Prayer opens doors of mercy for others. This is what our nation needs, now, most urgently. Are you willing to take on the mantle? The ideas from this article are drawn from a new book by the late Robin Daniels, edited posthumously by his wife
South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance
Katherine, titled The Virgin Eye: Towards a Contemplative View of Life (Instant Apostle, 21 October 2016) RRP £9.99. To pre-order visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/Virgin-EyeTowards-Contemplative-View/dp/1909728527/ or to book a workshop go to the contact form at www.thevirgineye.com or email editor@mindfulnessforchristians.org.
By Katherine Daniels
SAF interviews Roy Hutchinson, church development director at London City Mission When did you become a Christian? I was fortunate to be raised in a Christian home with parents who were heavily engaged in Christian ministry. I came to faith at four years of age because of the witness of a church that was so kind and hospitable. My father shared the bridge illustration at the kitchen table and I knew that I wanted to be friends with Jesus. When did you sense the call into ministry? The story of Jim Elliot and the Auca people was one that was spoken of regularly in my childhood church. Having become a Christian at four years of age, stories like this galvanised me in the years to come to serve God in the foreign mission field, willing to give what I could not keep to gain that which I cannot lose. As a youngster, I got involved in the Church and helped restart the church outreach team before spending a few years working in a shipping company. Recognising that I wanted to be more active in my faith, I left this work for Bible College before embarking on church-based ministry for 20 years, with an emphasis on youth ministry. All through these years, I have had a heart for mission and sharing faith and this led me to London City Mission eight years ago. It has been a joy to encourage others and engage churches in their witness to the local community
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Tell us about the work of London City Mission? Here at London City Mission, we are seeking to serve the Church of London in engaging the least reached communities of our capital city with the gospel of Christ. It is not that we lack desire, it is often the tools that need sharpening or changing and at the mission we have a wonderful staff team who are both practitioners and trainers who help people reach those people who are in our midst, yet are not like us. It is a privilege to serve with those who enable others to share faith in a fast changing city that thrives on diversity and difference, but we desire to be united in Christ Jesus. Tell us about the ‘Reaching the world on your doorstep’ event? In order to see this city transformed, it will demand partnership across the Church and its people. We will need to see joint initiatives and working in ways that we have not done before and this is why organisations like Global Connections, Evangelical Alliance and London City Mission are excited to work together to serve the church in preparation for talking about Jesus in our communities. The ‘Reaching the World on your Doorstep’ day conference is a prime example of what we can achieve together, to serve the church in its mission call. This conference on 23 November provides teaching, training, encouragement, prayer and resources that will help us reach people of different faiths and cultures with the gospel of Christ. It is no longer a mission to other borders but is literally on our doorstep. We have an opportunity to learn from each other and some specialists in a relaxed environment where we are sharpening our toolbox for service. It promises to be an excellent event that will help us bring much needed support for our churches that may yet be a transition point for renewed fervour in our congregations’ mission to their locality. The world is on your doorstep, don’t let the opportunity pass you by. Be ready, be equipped and join with us on 23 November. You can book your place for the Reaching the World on your Doorstep event at: http://www.globalconnections.org.uk/ events/reaching-the-world-on-your-doorstep/161123 You can see a short video about the event at: http://www. eauk.org/current-affairs/news/reaching-the-world-onyour-doorstep.cfm
SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org
Equipping the Church to share the gospel I love the fact that the good news of Jesus is something we all have a part in sharing. Through our everyday lives – in the local playground, at the bus stop or over a cup of tea – we all have amazing opportunities to introduce people to Jesus. And through our churches – whether big or small, traditional or more modern – we have a great network of relationships with people across our nation. And we’ve got the freedom and privilege of being able to speak up and demonstrate the love of God and the transforming power of Jesus in our communities. As a team we’re so excited to see and hear new stories of people coming to faith in Jesus throughout the summer. God is still at work in the UK and people are coming to faith in Jesus up and down our country. Yet we also have to face the facts, and understand the terrain we are in. Recent research of the UK population shows that an increasing number of people have little understanding of who Jesus is – with four in 10 not even being sure that Jesus was a real person who lived on earth. At the same time, this research highlighted that 42 per cent of non-Christians who know a Christian, have never had a conversation with them about Jesus. Alongside this, as a team we’ve challenged recently talking to a number of church leaders who are doing more than ever before to bless their communities – in fact, the UK Church has become known and praised for its amazing social engagement – yet they’re not seeing people come to faith in anything like the numbers we would imagine.
We’re well connected but are we, in the words of Michael Green, “gossiping the gospel”? (Evangelism in the Early Church, p.24) All of this is why the Evangelical Alliance is hard at work on a new project to equip the UK Church to communicate the gospel clearly, confidently and powerfully to those who don’t know Jesus – and see people come to faith. Through the Great Commission website, launching this autumn, we’re looking to provide four services through one website to equip churches and individuals for mission: 1 – Signposting to the UK’s wide range of existing high-quality initiatives and resources proven to be effective in evangelism. We will categorise them for easy searching according to groupings such as age, belief, or type of activity; 2 – Catalysing or commissioning new projects and tools where there are gaps; 3 – Equipping by sharing reflections, stories, tools and videos, building greater confidence and passion about evangelism; 4 – Inspiring by filming the stories of people who have come to faith and those who are sharing the gospel up and down the UK. As the UK Church, it’s my firm conviction that we are better together, and we’d love you to join us on this journey to see the Church’s muscles strengthened for evangelism. So please visit greatcommission.co.uk to sign up and receive the latest updates, follow us on Twitter (@great_comm) and together, let’s make Jesus known. Richard Powney, Evangelism Resources Coordinator, Evangelical Alliance