The Record - February 2022 by Free Church of Scotland

THE

RECORD

MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND FEBRUARY 2022 • £2.00

Editor • John Macdonald The Editor, Free Church Offices, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS editor@freechurch.org News Editor • Dayspring MacLeod dayspring.macleod@icloud.com 07974 261567 Missions News • Mairi MacPherson Free Church Offices, 15 North Bank Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS mairi@freechurch.org WfM Editor • Fiona Macaskill 8 Campsie Drive, Glasgow, G61 3HY rfmacaskill@me.com Gaelic Editor • Janet MacPhail 24 North Bragar, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9DA 01851 710354 Seminary News • William Mackenzie Edinburgh Theological Seminary, 15 North Bank Street, Edinburgh EH1 2LS offices@ets.ac.uk Prayer Diary • Shona McGuire seonaid1954@hotmail.co.uk Design & Layout • Fin Macrae @DUFI Art www.dufi-art.com The Record • ISSN 2042-2970 Published • The Record is produced by The Free Church of Scotland, Free Church Offices, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS 0131 226 5286 offices@freechurch.org This QR Code will direct you to the digital version of the magazine on ISSUU. Available for 30 days for current print subscribers.

For Subscriptions • The annual subscription price for The Record is £33. Cheques should be iPhone: Open your camera app and hold the lens above made payable to: Free Church of Scotland. Please the QR Code, it will automatically detect the link which contact the offices for overseas subscription costs. you can click on to open. Android: Download QR Code Reader from Google Play Details of the church's activities, latest news and Store and follow app directions. people to contact are all available on the church's website: www.freechurch.org For the visually impaired: Please contact Norman Kennedy on 01463 240192 for details of how to obtain The Record in an audio version. The Free Church of Scotland is a registered charity SC012925 • Women for Mission is a registered charity SC03898

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Cover: E l Carito on Unsplash

Advertising • Anyone wishing to advertise in The Record should contact the editor.

CONTENTS

WELCOME TO THE FEBRUARY RECORD

his month’s magazine has a firm focus on

04 SUCCESS The Editor

mission.

After having introduced his work in November’s Record, the Rev. Martin Paterson takes a look at global mission in the 21st century and asks what our role might be in fulfilling the Great Commission. He has also interviewed Matt and Maria Lingard, who are preparing for mission work in Greece. Alongside this, there are more Pages from Adam’s Diary, as Dr Adam recounts another story from his life of missionary service. Meanwhile, the current Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rev. Neil MacMillan, tells us some inspiring stories of mission at home, looking at recent church planting work in Edinburgh. It is a privilege to be able to share with you an article by Julie McAddock, who is part of Govan Free Church as well as Operations Manager for Street Connect, a charity supporting people to overcome circumstances including addiction, homelessness, loneliness and poverty. Such work is another vital aspect of Christian mission. Finally, I am grateful to the Rev. Alex MacDonald for his tribute to the late Clive Bailey, whose gift for teaching was used in the mission work of the congregations he served in Scotland, and at Colegio San Andres in Peru. All of this work done in Jesus’ name is both encouraging and challenging. It is encouraging to learn of some of the many ways God is drawing his people to himself. The challenge is the same as it has always been. ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’ (Matthew 9:37-38). • If you have any news articles please send them to dayspring.macleod@icloud.com. Yours in Christ

FREE CHURCH NEWS Tain & Fearn Cookbook, Enspire 2022, Addiction Recovery Consultation, A Healthy Gospel Church for Every Community

WOMEN FOR MISSION

WORLD NEWS Haiti, Cuba, Ukraine, Nigeria, Bahrain

OCCUPY EDINBURGH Neil MacMillan

LETTERS

PRAYER DIARY

REFLECTIONS Sean Ankers

21st-CENTURY MISSION — EVERYWHERE TO EVERYWHERE Martin Paterson

MISSION WORK IN GREECE Martin Paterson

STREET CONNECT Julie McAddock

HEART APOLOGETICS: IS GOD AS JUST AS ME? Dayspring MacLeod

OBITUARY

BOOK REVIEWS

PAGES FROM ADAM'S DIARY: THE KEY TO OPENING LOCKED DOORS — PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING IN ALL THINGS!

POETRY PAGE Reinhold Niebuhr

MISSION MATTERS David Meredith

BITHIBH MISNEACHAIL Janet MacPhail

John

That in all things he might have the pre-eminence Colossians 1:18 2022

40 POST TENEBRAS LUX Catriona Murray

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Success How to make it as a Christian in exile

Photo ©Davide Angelini - stock.adobe.com

BY THE EDITOR

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Success is not in numbers. And it is not evidenced by the means to build bigger barns… It is not ability, nor results, but faithfulness which determines success.

f all the ways in which a christian’s life should run counter to the world, the way we seek success should be among the most starkly different.

Yet the pressure we are under to set aside faithfulness and chase prosperity instead threatens to conform us to the world’s pattern. On the internet’s most-used Bible, biblegateway.com, two verses are, yearby-year, read more than any others. Famous as a brief summation of the Gospel, it is not surprising that John 3:16 is one of them. However, the other — more popular even than Psalm 23 and Romans 8 — is Jeremiah 29:11. ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’ Even if it has been a while since you read Jeremiah, it’s unlikely to have been long since you saw this verse. Positioned in splendid isolation on greetings cards, art prints and memes, the verse can become so untethered from its context that its meaning floats off into the ether. In fact, it might be the most widely misunderstood verse in the Bible. The way we apply Jeremiah 29:11 will give a good indication of what we think it means to be successful.

HEALTH, WEALTH…PROSPERITY? Jeremiah 29:11 is most commonly interpreted through the world’s eyes. Our society’s individualistic culture has persuaded people that the ‘you’ is singular. Materialism has diluted our understanding of what it means to prosper and not be harmed. As a result, the verse is taken to mean that God will bestow his favour on the life and goals of the person who can lay claim to this promise. Sometimes that is taken to be Christians. Sometimes it is Christians who have achieved a certain degree of faith. At its most extreme, this flawed theology has developed a full system with its own name. And when it announces itself, gilded and gleaming, the Prosperity Gospel is easy to dismiss with a roll of the eyes. Jesus said that ‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God’ (Matthew 19:24), so God was obviously not promising mansions and private jets in Jeremiah. But the same misinterpretation is usually applied more subtly. Kate Bowler is a professor of Christian history at Duke Divinity School and author of the first history of the prosperity movement. Bowler writes that, in the course of her research, she found much more than cartoonish greed. ‘Some people wanted Bentleys but more wanted relief from the wounds of their past and the pain of their present. People wanted salvation from bleak medical diagnoses; they wanted to see God rescue their broken teenagers or their misfiring marriages…They wanted a modicum of power over the things that ripped their lives apart at the seams.’ It is here, in the tragic, ordinary circumstances of a broken world, that the Prosperity Gospel can lead us astray. It might lead us to turn to Jeremiah 29:11 thinking that life might be hard right now, but at least God will prosper me in the future. Or, maybe I’ll be a bit like Job, experiencing trials and suffering, but eventually restored to wealth and honour, with time to enjoy my prosperity. But the evidence of Christian experience does not bear this interpretation out. Throughout the world there are Christians who have faith to move mountains and yet are tired, sick and poor. There is no deficiency in the prophecy. Jeremiah 29:11 does not promise that life will be otherwise.

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It is in the tragic, ordinary circumstances of a broken world that the Prosperity Gospel can lead us astray. STILL IN BABYLON ‘Anyone who could find that kind of moralistic therapeutic deism in the Book of Jeremiah hasn’t read anything in Jeremiah beyond or behind this verse’, writes Russell Moore. Jeremiah, the ‘weeping prophet’, did not deliver the kind of messages that God’s people wanted. During an era of turmoil and national defeat, he had to tell the remnant of Judah, left behind in Jerusalem, that they would be subject to God’s judgement (Jeremiah 29:17ff). It is to those who had been exiled to Babylon that the famous verse was written. And it did not come across as good news. The exiles wanted to go home. They had been told by a false prophet, Hananiah, that their banishment would be over in two years (Jeremiah 28). They wanted Jeremiah to tell them, like Moses had told their ancestors at the first Passover, that they should be dressed and ready to leave (Exodus 12:11). But it was Jeremiah’s job to inform them that, in reality, they would be in Babylon for seventy years. Instead of fastening their belts and strapping on their sandals, they were told to settle down in Babylon, plant crops, marry, and have children (Jeremiah 29:5-4). Most of those to whom the letter was addressed would not see home again. Their best hope for the future was that their children and grandchildren would be able to return to the place they longed for. On top of that, the people were told to ‘seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:7). For these exiles, success was working for the prosperity of their captors. Having been forcibly removed from the Promised Land to serve their enemies, and offered no prospect of restoration in their own lifetime, the people were asked to trust that God knew the plans he had for them. Only in the fullness of time would God restore the fortunes of his people (Jeremiah 29:14).

MEASURING UP As Christians today, we also live our lives in exile, not yet brought into the inheritance that Jesus has bought for us by his death and resurrection. So, what is success for us? The fallacious prosperity gospel reflects the values of a society which only really understands what it can commodify. Wealth, therefore, is the most obvious measure of success. This is reflected across the spectrum of our politics. Whether proposing a low tax, lightly regulated market aimed at allowing some of the prosperity of the fortunate and savvy to trickle down to the rest; or relying instead on the wisdom of the state to intervene, directing resources towards growth, and redistributing the results, the underlying assumption is clear. We measure our success by looking at how much stuff we’ve got, and in particular by looking at how the amount we have compares to the amount the next person has. The consequences are greed and discontentment; and also unwillingness to give anything up for the good of others. Everyone needs enough - poverty does not bring joy. But enough is enough. Excess does not bring joy either (Proverbs 30:8-9). Although usually shorn of the pound sign, measuring success by commodification can become part of the church’s thinking as well. Assessing how successful we are by the number of members or new Christians we have may seem reasonable on the face of it. This would allow us to declare Christianity to be the world’s most successful religion. Though we would also

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As Christians today, we also live our lives in exile, not yet brought into the inheritance that Jesus has bought for us by his death and resurrection. have to allow that Roman Catholicism is the most successful denomination. God does not measure success like this. The gate that leads to life is narrow, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:14). Success is not in numbers. And it is not evidenced by the means to build bigger barns (Luke 12:13-21).

SUCCEEDING Set alongside The Times Rich List, the Oscars and the Nobel Prizes, Jeremiah 29 gives a strange definition of success. ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare’ (Jeremiah 29:7). Jesus sheds more light on this in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:1430). He says that the kingdom of heaven is like a man going on a journey who entrusts his property to his servants. He gives a different amount of money to each servant, ‘each according to his ability’ (v15). On his return, the man ‘settled accounts’ with his servants. The servant given five talents and the servant given two talents have both put the money to work and earned more. They are rewarded. The third servant’s talent had lain dormant. He is cast out by his master. The parable shows that success in God’s eyes is not based on ability, nor on results. Despite having less ability and producing a smaller return than the fivetalent servant, the two-talent servant is given the same commendation: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’ (v23). It is not ability, nor results, but faithfulness which determines success. The Master wants to know, what are you doing with what I have given you? How are you using it to seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile? Are you praying on the city’s behalf? Are you loving your neighbour? Ability is apportioned to each believer as the Holy Spirit wills, not as we will (1 Corinthians 12:11). God also determines the results of our work. For example, the Spirit regenerates souls, not us — we do not have that authority. It is for us to use our talents faithfully. ‘Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ’ (Colossians 3:2324). Preserved by his grace, when we can say with Paul, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’ (2 Timothy 4:7), this is success. As it was for them, so it is with us. Jeremiah 29:11 was not written to an individual, but to the community of God’s people. Consistent with the rest of Scripture, it does not promise us temporal prosperity. God knows the end from the beginning. He numbers the hairs on our heads. He ordains what comes to pass and he has a plan for each of our lives. But it was not these plans that were given to Jeremiah to describe. Rather, he spoke of a future restoration. We now know what the exiles did not, that Jesus is the king who occupies David’s throne forever. That he is coming back to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). Most of the original recipients of Jeremiah’s message did not see the fulfilment of its promise in their lifetime. Similarly, generations of Christians have died not having seen Christ’s return. Nevertheless, he remains their hope and their future — and ours as well. No matter what circumstances we face as we seek the welfare of this city, we use the talents he has given us faithfully, in the knowledge that his promises are sure and certain. By his grace, we will enter into the joy of our Master. •

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FREE CHURCH NEWS TAIN AND FEARN LAUNCH CHARITY COOK BOOK

ain and fearn free church has released a book with a twist on the cl assic recipe format to help raise funds for their new

building .

Taste and See, by graphic designer and photographer Fin Macrae (the designer of The Record) is a collection of favourite recipes by members and an insight into their personal stories of faith. Readers are encouraged to ‘try out their recipes and enjoy reading their stories. Find out who they are and how faith has shaped their lives. Tain and Fearn assistant minister Rev. Andrew Macleo d said, ‘The recipes inside are good, the stories of each individual are really good, but most importantly each of them encourages the reader to come taste and see that our God is good.’ Contact Mairi Macaulay on 01862 892156 or email mairi.macaulay@yahoo.com to place an order •

ENSPIRE 2022

nspire is a day event for ministers’ wives which has taken place annually in march for the past few

years. It is an opportunity for ministers’ wives to come together to share experiences, encourage, help and pray for one another. There is worship, teaching and small group discussion, but the main purpose has always been informal fellowship and support around good food. After a successful ‘Virtually Inspired’ event last year, we look forward to being back in person and having Ann MacRae joining us the main speaker for Enspire 2022. Numbers have steadily grown over the years and it has been lovely to have student wives, widowed and retired wives along with ministers’ wives from other denominations attending. Feedback has consistently been really positive, and delegates have all agreed Enspire serves a useful purpose and that it is welcomed and appreciated by those attending. To help with catering arrangements, please book by emailing enspire.women@gmail.com •

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PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT GROUP RESPONDS TO ADDICTION RECOVERY CONSULTATION

public

engagement

group

the

‘buy-in’, which makes it more likely that people will stick with a recovery program. In their response, the Public Engagement Group highlight the importance of a holistic approach to care which includes faith-based and explicitly Christian based approaches. Many people desire a specifically Christian-based recovery programme, and there is much evidence to support the effectiveness of such programmes. While the Group recognises that a Christian programme might not be the right treatment for everyone, it has proven to be helpful to many. As such, they say, faith-based, or explicitly Christianbased, approaches should be offered alongside other options and receive equal access to funding. Rev. Stephen Allison, co-ordinator of the group, said, ‘We are all aware of the scale of Scotland’s drug problem and that behind the statistics lie many heartbreaking personal experiences. All in society need to come together to respond to these issues. The proposed Right to Addiction Recovery Bill is a good first step, but we must all continue to pray for and take action to help all those who are caught up in the drugs epidemic.’ •

free

church of scotland has responded to the consultation

douglas

ross’

proposed

right to addiction recovery (scotland) bill.

The group welcomed the proposals as they seek to remove some of the many blockages and barriers which currently prevent those suffering from addiction from accessing treatment. Whilst recognising that not all barriers can be removed (for example mental health issues may prevent someone engaging with treatment), removing as many barriers as possible is a good thing, the Group argues. They go on to acknowledge that there is no ‘silver bullet’ for dealing with addiction, but support the proposed Bill as ‘a step in the right direction’. The Public Engagement Group want to see a person-centred approach to support, because they see this as similar to the approach that Jesus took in Mark’s gospel. They make the case that in Mark 10:51 Jesus asked the blind man, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’, demonstrating a person-centred approach to help. The Group wants to see a similar approach to recovery support in order to increase

A HEALTHY GOSPEL CHURCH FOR EVERY COMMUNITY IN SCOTLAND BY ANDREW GIFFEN

ur vision as a denomination is of ‘a healthy gospel church for every community in scotland’.

Throughout 2022 we will be promoting that vision more and encouraging conversations about how we might grow in spiritual health. If you haven’t already seen the short video introducing the vision or been given a copy of the Healthy Gospel Church booklet, please visit the Free Church website or contact the office. We are hoping that the promotion of the vision will provide an opportunity for individuals and congregations and presbyteries and boards to further think and pray about the work to which God has called us. The Healthy Church Vision will also help the different parts of the denomination come together to better support healthy local church ministry. We desire to see existing congregations strengthened, new churches planted, and church leaders and ministers receiving appropriate training. We want to focus again on how we can better share the gospel message and make disciples. We recognise our need to pray, because ultimately it is God who grows a healthy church. In the coming months various people will be talking and writing on the topic of Healthy Church, but here are a few thoughts to get us started.

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Perhaps the place to begin is in thinking about Healthy Christians. Spiritually healthy individuals will be growing in their relationship with God, getting to know Him more, loving Him more deeply, being transformed day by day by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of His Son. Many of us, though, don’t feel that healthy spiritually. There are ups and downs on the Christian journey and some of us maybe begin 2022 conscious of our struggle with sin or feeling discouraged or knocked back by the circumstances of life. It is helpful to remember the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before, cheering us on. But it is also helpful to recognise the importance of the local church. We need one another to encourage us in this Christian life.

express the truth that God is worthy of our worship and helps to warm our hearts again when they are struggling. Healthy worship also recognises that, in view of God’s mercy and love, we respond with lives of worship, seeking to bring Him honour before a watching world. Healthy Prayer expresses our complete dependence on God for everything we have and are. We need God, by His Holy Spirit, to awaken faith in us, to strengthen and equip us, to provide for us, to lead us as individuals and congregations. Healthy prayer allows us to confess our sin, thank God for His blessings, ask for His help. There is something special about coming together for corporate prayer. God says that He will be present even if it is only two or

As Christians we are not supposed to be following Christ in isolation; rather we follow Him as members of a Healthy Congregation. There are many references in the Bible to the importance of meeting together, encouraging one another, supporting one another, and spurring one another on in the Christian faith. Healthy congregations help people come to know God better in the community of believers. How do they do that? Well, in a number of ways. Healthy Preaching teaches people the truth proclaimed in God’s word, the Bible. It helps us recognise our need of salvation and the grace and forgiveness that have been extended to us in Jesus Christ. Healthy preaching promotes the authority of God’s word and encourages us to live in accordance with the Bible’s teaching. It shows us what obedience to God looks like in our world today, and how to better think and act in a way that pleases our Heavenly Father. Healthy Worship acknowledges God for who He is, who He has revealed Himself to be, and seeks to give Him the glory and honour that is due to His name. Corporate praise allows us to hear each other

three who gather. Healthy prayer allows us to humbly submit ourselves to God’s perfect will. A vision for a Healthy Gospel Church also requires a focus on Healthy Mission. Healthy churches will be wanting to grow and multiply as the gospel is proclaimed and God’s Kingdom advances in Scotland and beyond. That is particularly challenging in a post-Christian, secular country. But we know that God’s desire is that many people in our world should yet be saved, and we pray that He might work powerfully in our nation. As individual Christians we might need to be a little bit more intentional in the coming year in sharing the good news. There is room to raise the evangelistic temperature across the whole denomination. There is opportunity also to plant daughter churches or partner with a missionary church plant in another part of Scotland. Healthy congregations will be engaged in Healthy Discipleship: teaching young people and new Christians what the Bible says and the things that Jesus has commanded us. Helping people think biblically about the world around them and the issues

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they are dealing with. Healthy discipleship will involve new ways of training and equipping, recognising that there is less Christian influence in Scottish society, and less biblical literacy. Healthy churches will also be characterised by Healthy Relationships. Jesus said that we are to be known by our love for one another. We are to be a visible demonstration to the world around us of what God’s Kingdom looks like. Perhaps this is one of the hardest aspects of being a healthy church. We are a community of sinful people — saved but not yet freed from the presence of sin. Unfortunately we often say or do the wrong thing and end up hurting one another. In healthy churches people bear with one another, forgive one another, they apologise, they don’t hold grudges, they try to love even those who treat them badly, they humbly put the needs and the wishes of others before their own. If churches are going to be healthy, they need Healthy Leadership: servant leadership that follows the example of Christ by serving the needs of God’s people through obedience to the will of God the Father. Church leaders are not to lord it over those

who are in their care, but are to be godly examples to God’s flock, leading diligently and fulfilling their God-given roles and responsibilities. Healthy leaders will equip God’s people for works of service and will provide clear direction to the local congregation so that it can become increasingly healthy. Healthy leadership will also need to be seen at a denominational level so that we are an increasingly Healthy Denomination. We want presbyteries to work well, providing care for ministers and congregations, thinking through strategy for the region, and praying for God’s leading. We want the various central boards and committees to be united in their pursuit of a Healthy Gospel Church. Our vision is of The Mission Board, the Board of Ministry, the Seminary Board, and the Board of Trustees coming together to support local church ministry. Working together, we might see ‘A Healthy Gospel Church for Every Community in Scotland’ Please start a conversation and choose to be intentional about spiritual health in the year ahead. • Andrew Giffen is Chief Executive Officer of the Free Church

WfM UPDATE BY FIONA MACASKILL

Please keep your eyes open for details of the upcoming AGM in May and the conference (hopefully in person!) in September. We are planning to meet for the first time in nearly two years in person for our committee meeting in February. We haven’t met our new treasurer Holly yet, apart from on Zoom, so it will be lovely to spend time together. Please pray for us as we decide which groups to support for the upcoming 2022/23 project. We also hope to have the recipe books, combined in one new book, reprinted later this year. Thank you for your patience, those of you who are emailing asking for copies. It will be ready soon! Please remember that we have our Heart4Home and Support a Volunteer funds. If you know a young person who is going to be doing mission or camp work this summer, please direct them to our website where they can find details of the support available. The Heart4Home fund issues small grants to churches and groups for various projects. Please have a look at the website to see if there is anything we can do to help your group. Remember to share your fundraising ideas with us. We would love to hear about what you are all doing to help. It is such an encouragement and inspiration to hear of the amazing things going on around the country and to know the impact the funds will have on the projects we are supporting. •

ven halfway through january i am always surprised by how quickly the afternoons start to feel longer and the long nights draw back.

As the Christmas holidays fade into memory there is a sense of hope, perhaps even more evident this year, as we look forward to spring and hopefully a return to better days. The last two years have been incredibly difficult for all of us, but we have been so encouraged at how the work of the WfM has flourished despite the difficult times we have all been experiencing. Allow me to share a few of the encouragements of the last month. As we looked to Christmas we thought it would be great to offer a giveaway featuring products from some of the talented crafts-people and food producers in the denomination. We advertised a fabulous hamper packed with goodies on social media and a very worthy winner was chosen. We hope they enjoyed, and are continuing to enjoy, the goodies. Christmas craft fairs and coffee mornings up and down the country raised some amazing funds for the current project. Some groups were able to raise over £2,500 from their Christmas fairs. If you have an idea for raising funds but need some support with advertising, then please get in touch; we would love to help you and are happy to share on social media. It is really encouraging to see the creative ways in which people are working to help raise what we need for this year’s worthy causes.

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WORLD NEWS

AMERICAS AFRICA EUROPE ASIA AUSTRALASIA UPDATE: ABDUCTED MISSIONARIES RELEASED All members of an American Anabaptist missionary group, who were kidnapped in Haiti in October, are now free. ‘We glorify God for answered prayer… All 17 of our loved ones are now safe’, Christian Aid Ministries said in a statement. In November’s Record, we reported that two of those kidnapped by the 400 Mawozo gang had been released. They have since been described as ‘sick adults’, and a source told the Miami Herald that no ransom was paid in exchange for their release. It has now been reported by Associated Press that an unidentified ‘donor’ got involved in December, paying a ransom on the promise that the remaining missionaries would be freed. Three people were let go, but then the captors ‘reneged’ on the deal, according to Barry Grant, CAM’s field director in Titanyen, Haiti. Grant believes their aim was to force the Haitian government to let the gang’s leader out of prison. However, in a dramatic turn of events, the remaining 12 people, including children, made contact by telephone on December 16th, reporting that they had escaped. At a press conference, representatives of Christian Aid Ministries, which is based in Ohio, described a daring getaway. They reported that the 12, including an infant and a three year old, were presented with an opportunity when their guards were sheltering from a rain storm. They forced open a door and fled during the night, walking for hours across difficult terrain. At daybreak, they found someone who assisted them to phone for help. They were subsequently flown home by the US Coastguard. None of the group was physically harmed. Contaminated water caused some illness during their ordeal, but the group are described as being in good health now. David Troyer, general director of Christian Aid Ministries, thanked the US Government for its assistance and for ‘understanding our desire to pursue nonviolent approaches’. Addressing the kidnappers, he said, ‘You caused our hostages and their families a lot of suffering. However, Jesus taught us by word and by his own example that the power of forgiving love is stronger than the hate of violent force. Therefore, we extend forgiveness to you.’ Troyer also said that the hostages had ‘prayed for their captors and told them about God’s love and their need to repent.’ •

UPDATE: PASTOR’S TRIAL SUSPENDED The trial of the Rev. Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, who has been detained without charge since July after taking part in a peaceful protest march, has been suspended indefinitely. Mr Fajardo leads the Monte de Sion Independent Church in Palma Soriano, Cuba. In October, The Record reported that Christian Solidarity Worldwide was collecting signatures for a petition demanding Mr Fajardo’s release. CSW has attempted to deliver the petition to the Cuban Embassy in London; however, embassy officials have refused to receive it. CSW’s Head of Advocacy, Anna Lee Stangl, said: ‘We welcome the suspension of Reverend Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo’s trial, but we continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of this innocent man. The current charges against him and his ongoing imprisonment are part of a long campaign targeting him and his ministry. ‘CSW encourages the international community to maintain scrutiny and pressure on the Cuban authorities in relation to this case until Reverend Rosales Fajardo is free and reunited with his family.’ • Photo: Maridilegnis Carballo, provided with permission by CSW

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CHURCHES UNDER PRESSURE IN DONBAS REGION Russian-backed separatists have controlled the Donbas region in south eastern Ukraine since 2014. In 2016, separatist leaders declared Baptists and Pentecostals to be a security threat. In 2018, rules requiring churches to register with the separatist administration were enacted. Without registration, churches are cut off from the gas and electricity grids, and continuing to operate is illegal. In November 2021, the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA) declared Donbas ‘the area of Europe where the church suffers the most.’ Christianity Today reports that the political situation is a source of tension among evangelical Christians. Most Baptist and Pentecostal churches belong to denominations headquartered in Kiev, meaning registering with the separatist administrations feels like a betrayal. Some have sought help to navigate their new reality from evangelicals on the Russian side of the border, but have felt little support forthcoming. Vitaly Vlasenko, general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, told CT, ‘Our brothers in Christ in Ukraine are crying out: “Why don’t you pressure Russia to stop this aggression?” We tell them we are a small minority with no standing and no clear information, and officially Russia is not a part of this conflict. ‘We all say we are part of the kingdom of God together. But when it comes to politics, we immediately divide again’. However, work is ongoing to increase mutual understanding of the near-impossible circumstances being faced by Christians in both Donbas and in Russia. Igor Bandura, vice president of the Baptist Union of Ukraine, said, ‘We understand the religious freedom situation in Russia is terrible and don’t expect them to speak out bravely for us. It is enough if they keep silent.’ Oleksandr Turchynov, is former interim president of Ukraine and a lay preacher in his Baptist church in Kyiv. He told CT that he wants to see Ukraine join NATO to fend off Russian aggression. But that, ultimately, his hope is elsewhere. ‘The Lord will ruin all the wrongdoings of the evil one,’ he said. ‘Truth is with us, and thus God is with us. And where God is, the victory is also.’ •

RELIGIOUS POSITIONS BEING STAKED OUT AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), speaking ahead of Nigeria’s presidential election in 2023, has warned that a ticket featuring a presidential and vice-presidential candidate who are both Muslims would be unacceptable and would put the future of the country at risk. Pastor Bayo Oladeji, a spokesperson for CAN, told Sahara Reporters, ‘Any party that tries Muslim/ Muslim ticket or Christian/Christian ticket will fail… Even when we have joint Muslim/Christians, the church still goes through hell. Only God knows the number of Christians that have been killed. ‘Imagine how bad it will be if we have two Muslims in power? The constitution promotes religious balance.’ The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has stated it has no problem with an all-Muslim ticket, and that competence is more important than religious affiliation when it comes to choosing a president. NSCIA Director of Administration, Zubairu Ugwa, said his organisation would advocate for peace, pray for a qualified leader and call on Nigerians to set aside the politicisation of religion. Meanwhile, International Christian Concern reports that 18 more Christians were killed by Fulani militants in Plateau State, central Nigeria in mid-January and more than 100 homes were burned down. A local youth leader told ICC, ‘the Nigerian government continues to remain silent. We are pleading with Christians in the Diaspora to come to our assistance.’ •

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CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL OPENS IN BAHRAIN The Kingdom of Bahrain has inaugurated the largest church in the Gulf region and the Arabian Peninsula, according to The Media Line. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia was officially opened by the king’s son, Abdullah bin Hamad. The church can reportedly hold more than 2,300 people, and the development includes offices, a bishop’s residence and a large courtyard. Bahrain is home to around 80,000 Catholics, many of whom are expatriate workers from India and the Philippines. However, the cathedral is expected to become a destination for the Catholic community across the Gulf, which numbers around two million people. Bahraini officials used the occasion of the church’s opening to promote the country’s credentials with regard to religious freedom. Dr. Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence, said during the ceremony, ‘This historic event confirms Bahrain’s keenness on tolerance and peaceful coexistence between different religions.’ The Rev. Hani Aziz, pastor of the National Evangelical Church in Bahrain, told The Media Line, ‘Although the minority is Christian in Bahrain, and Islam is the state religion, there is complete respect and complete freedom for all religions and civilizations to perform their rituals freely and comfortably. The opening of the cathedral is a clear evidence to confirm this.’ While Bibles and other Christian literature are freely available in Bahrain, the law prohibits anti-Islamic publications and mandates imprisonment for ‘exposing the state’s official religion to offense and criticism’. According to the US State Department, harassment of the Shia Muslim community is on ongoing issue. •

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OCCUPY EDINBURGH PLANTING CHURCHES AND REACHING SCOTLAND’S CAPITAL WITH THE GOSPEL

BY REV. NEIL MACMILLAN

IN THE WEST WE LIVE IN AN AGE THAT BANISHES GOD TO THE PRIVATE REALM.

Here are stories from four new congregations which are taking up different spaces in our city: a former bank, an office block, a masonic hall and an old school. They are all connected to Generation Church Planting. Two are Free Church, one is an F.I.E.C church and one is independent. These are stories to inspire you about what God is doing in Scotland’s capital today as new congregations grow and take buildings from secular to spiritual use.

Occupy was a social justice movement that began in New York ten years ago. Its aims were simple: occupying public spaces for days and weeks at a time, with the goal of unseating unjust accretions of power. Wherever the Occupy movement appeared around the globe, protestors against the status quo saw the importance of being physically present and taking up space in the city. They wanted to let people know that they were not simply going to disappear — they were going to be present in the city until change happened. In the contemporary world where so many causes and ideas jostle for attention, it’s important to visibly, physically represent the beliefs and convictions that we think will make this world a better place. One of the exciting things we as Christians are seeing in cities, towns and villages across Scotland is that churches are occupying new places and spaces, emphasising their physical presence as a witness to their community. I remember well my excitement when the church in Helmsdale took over and refurbished the old police station — a potent symbol that the church was committed to being part of the community for the long haul. The Capstone Centre in Alness, based in an old supermarket, is another great example of this. As new congregations are being planted in Edinburgh they are taking over and refurbishing different kinds of buildings — occupying space in the city and providing a reminder that the church is present and committed to the good of the city for the long term. This matters because in the West we live in an age that banishes God to the private realm. It is an age that reduces belief to nothing more than a set of ideas that have no impact on the day to day — an excarnated faith. Occupying buildings and incarnating our beliefs in this simple but important way reminds our secular neighbours that ours is an embodied faith — lived out in bricks and mortar, flesh and blood. Because the physical world matters hugely to the Christian, Christian congregations benefit from physical presence. As we move into and occupy different spaces in the city it speaks to the city of our resistance to the gods of our age, our ongoing presence as people of Christian faith who love and follow Jesus Christ and live by His Word, the Bible.

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REDEEMER EDINBURGH Redeemer Church Edinburgh is an independent church plant from Chalmers Church. It is situated in an old bank on Bridge Road right in the heart of Colinton Village, southwest Edinburgh Why, how and when did you plant? Chalmers Church Edinburgh wanted to plant a church in a new area in the city. As a trainee minister with Chalmers, Sam Orr was trained to lead a plant if people from the congregation would form a launch team. We carefully investigated where Chalmers could plant. Within five months an area was chosen and a launch team formed. The launch team was made up of people living in Colinton and those willing to move there. By Christmas 2019, a building had been acquired, refitted and moved into, ready for our first service in January 2020. What is your church like? Redeemer is an independent, evangelical community church in the Presbyterian tradition. We are a congregation of about 70 people, mainly young families with many children and babies, and young professionals. Our ethos is to reach the community for the gospel, build Christians up in their faith and train new workers.

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GRACE CHURCH LEITH Grace Church Leith is a church plant that joined the Free Church. Their minister is the Rev. Athole Rennie. Why, how and when did you plant? There are about 80,000 people in Leith, the vast majority of whom have little or no exposure to the gospel. We wanted to plant a church to reach those people. We moved to Leith in December 2009 and gathered a group in our living room over an 18-month period where we established culture and values as a church. The church launched public worship in September 2011 with about 25 people.

Tell us about your building. The old bank is the most central building in Colinton village and is well known by everyone who lives locally. It has tremendous footfall and is big enough to hold 120 people at full stretch. It has two floors, the upper floor with the open space used for services, and a lower floor with four meeting rooms and kitchen, used for children’s groups on a Sunday morning, and for small groups in the week. The building is the perfect size for a small church plant. Its size forces us to consider planting earlier rather than later if we outgrow the space. It is perfect for use by the local community for parents and toddlers, café events and classes. Without the building, we would not have survived as a brand new church in Covid. (We went into lockdown ten weeks after we planted.) We grew during that time with local community people connecting to us. Some of these people have come to know the Lord Jesus and been baptised. The building has been the most remarkable provision of God’s grace to us as a church.

What is your church like? The majority of our church family are in the 25-45 age bracket with a mix of singles, couples and families. The majority of children in the church are under the age of ten. We are a church of around 120 people now.

How can we pray for you? Please pray that we would be able to use the building to its full potential this year. We would love to see it full of community events and people coming in off the streets to hear about Jesus. Pray also that we would see people saved as we seek to regain skills that we have lost as a church over the pandemic.

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Tell us about your building. We have recently bought an amazing new building right in the middle of Leith Walk, one of the busiest streets in Scotland. It was built and owned by the Masons and is surrounded by student flats, a gym and coffee shops. The new tram line will stop right outside. The building is 14,000 sq ft over a ground and first floor. There is a ground floor auditorium which seats around 200 with two additional café areas (capacity 80 and 60). In addition we have an upstairs conference room (capacity 100) and a suite of offices. We are in the early stages of developing the use of the building as we come out of the pandemic and have been running a weekly toddler group and street barber work in addition to our regular Sunday and midweek ministries. As things return to more normality we hope to develop the use of our

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How can we pray for you? We would value prayer for a number of new people, including several nonChristians who have recently started attending. Pray that they would keep coming and would respond to the gospel. Pray, too, for wisdom as we think through ways to make the most of the resources God has given us.

café spaces through the week and increase access to the wider community. Amazingly, through the grace of God and the friendship of many churches and believers, we managed to raise and borrow £700,000 in six weeks. An additional £170,000 was raised in one week, the first week of lockdown.

HOPE CITY CHURCH Hope City Church is a member of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (F.I.E.C.). It is located in the Gyle, on the west side of Edinburgh. Matt Round is one of the church’s leaders. Why, how and when did you plant? We planted Hope City because our city desperately needs the hope of the Gospel and we believe planting new churches will help us reach new people with the good news of Jesus. In 2017, while I was working as the assistant pastor at Charlotte Chapel (a large and long-established evangelical church in the city centre), at the elders’ invitation, I started setting out a vision for what a new church could be like. We thought about how we might go about trying to share the hope we have in Jesus with the world around us, and how we could help people who wanted to explore faith in Jesus to do so. Through a series of presentations and topical discussions, a core group of around 35 adults, mostly from Charlotte Chapel, developed and committed themselves the vision for a new church and we launched in Easter 2018.

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What is your church like? We try to make sure each Sunday that we welcome people who are new to church, so we avoid church-y language where we can. We look and feel quite contemporary, and we make time each week for discussion and Q+A around what we’ve been learning together from the Bible. We try to keep everyone at Hope City believing and acting like they are missionaries, sent to the people around them with the message of Jesus. It’s slow going but we have seen some people come to faith and others come back to church. Tell us about your building. At first we met in a hotel, but once you start needing a main space, a crèche and some rooms for kids, renting that from hotels reliably gets tricky. In 2019 we signed a lease on a floor of an office block in the Gyle industrial estate and we’ve turned that into our weekly meeting place. We have space for about 200 people alongside rooms for our kids’ programme, and our vision is to fill that, and then plant again. Through the week, it’s an office for our staff and trainees, a studio for our musicians, and used for everything from parents and toddlers to Bible studies to hosting conferences. How can we pray for you? Please pray we’d all continue to hold out the hope of Christ Jesus to those around us day by day, and that we’d see more of the people around us begin to take steps towards faith.

CORNERSTONE EDINBURGH

CONCLUSION

Cornerstone is the Free Church congregation where I am minister. We were sent out from St Columba’s Free Church to plant in the EH10 postcode. Just as we were about to launch our new congregation we were gifted a wonderful building in Morningside, the Old Schoolhouse. Built in 1823, it was originally a school for Morningside and surrounding villages, but it always had a dual function as a place of worship. Thomas Chalmers preached at the Old Schoolhouse a good while back. For over 100 years it was home to a Brethren church. When they gifted it to us they did so in order that we could keep the building open with this dual function – as a place of worship and a space for the community to serve and enjoy. We have just refurbished the building and are indebted to many of you and to the denomination for their support in making this great building a significant and valued presence in Morningside for generations to come. We are a congregation of around 150 people with a lot of families from Spain and Latin America. We regularly host Spanish language worship. Pray we keep growing and planting new churches.

As we work together across the Free Church to plant 30 new churches before 2030, one of the huge challenges is providing these new congregations with buildings. Renting spaces is great, but over the long term it is both costly and unpredictable as rentals can be cancelled at short notice and congregations left with nowhere to meet. Keep praying for our church planters, that God will provide all that is needed. If you can help financially through a gift or a legacy, contact the Free Church Office and say that you want to give to the 30 by 30 Fund. All donations, large or small, are thankfully received. •

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The Rev. Neil MacMillan is minister of Cornerstone Edinburgh and is currently serving as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor Sarah Weddington (1945-2021), the lawyer in the 1973 Roe vs Wade case, died on Boxing Day 2021. In later life she commented: ‘I think of Roe vs Wade as a house that’s sitting on the edge of a beach, where the water is coming under it and taking the sand out.’ Tricky questions abound. Late-term abortion and infanticide are close cousins. The NHS ‘Dating Scan’ is a photographic personal record, arguably akin to a passport or driving licence. A viable life and pregnancy is present when a human embryo implants in the womb. Head and torso are seen on the scan at 12 weeks. Deluded Anglican bishops, failing to raise alarm about UK abortion, may need the moral equivalent of an emergency forceps delivery. Around one in four UK pregnancies is terminated. The late Desmond Tutu said: ‘If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.’ CBRUK are lifting a veil on our UK abortion scandal: ‘abortion protests itself once seen’. Some material displayed at CBRUK protests (or online) might make a Neanderthal head-hunter feel queasy. But are CBRUK filling a void created by the cynical silence and moral cowardice of ‘The Lords Spiritual’ — Anglican Bishops in the House of Lords? My journey to belief was profoundly influenced by a time of employment as an Associate GP, in Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris, when the dignity with which Christians bore illness ploughed and ripped up my atheism. The gentle pro-life witness of Christian doctors and reception staff also sowed seeds, which later sprouted. The short written text adjacent to the NHS 12-week Dating Scan is well worth examining and sharing. The black and white truth about abortion is told by the scan. The human torso and head, visible on ultrasound 10 weeks from conception, affirm biblical truth: ‘As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything’ (Ecclesiastes 11:5). Dr J T Hardy Belfast

We would love to hear from you…please write the editor at: The Record, Free Church Offices 15 North Bank Street, The Mound Edinburgh, EH1 2LS or e-mail editor@freechurch.org

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JAN/FEB 2022 PRAYER DIARY This month we have a great deal to pray about in The Record, from dangerous international situations to missionaries full of hope to our own denominational goals. Please send any future requests to Mrs Shona McGuire, who will be writing the Prayer Diary from next month: seonaid1954@hotmail.co.uk Sat 12th – Tues 15th Pray for the family of Clive Bailey, a dearly loved member of the Free Church and one of the gifted past leaders of Colegio San Andres. Let us rejoice with Clive, who is now enjoying his reward of knowing Jesus face to face, but also grieve with everyone who held him so dear. Ask the Lord to raise up others in our denomination with Clive’s graciousness, vision, passion for Christ, and leadership skills.

Church to be faithful in making Jesus known, and to see people showing an interest in learning about Him. And pray for Cornerstone to keep growing and planting new churches! Tues 1 March – Fri 4th Give thanks for Julie McAddock, the founder of Street Connect, a wonderful new ministry helping mothers to overcome their addictions while opening up the possibility to connect with and even keep custody of their children. Pray that her work will bear much fruit, and that lives of both mothers and children will be won for the Lord and find a new freedom they never dared dream of!

Wed 16th – Fri 18th Pray for Matt and Maria Lingard, who are going to Greece as Christian workers. Ask that they will stay reliant on the Lord, focused on His glory, ever conforming their will and vision to His own, and full of joy. Ask Him to lay power on their ministry of reconciliation, add grace to their ministry to poverty, and grant them an aroma of Christ that would lead all to desire Him.

Sat 5th – Mon 7th Pray for all those you know who are struggling with their mental health in these uncertain times, riddled with financial insecurity, virus restrictions and political change. These circumstances have often intensified whatever burdens people were already bearing. If you are struggling, know that the Lord sees you with great compassion. Pray for those with depression, anxiety and other conditions to also have their eyes opened to Jesus’ great care and purpose for them.

Sat 19th – Tues 22nd Give thanks for the Free Church vision of ‘healthy church’, and pray that this would be reflected in your own congregation and those you love. Ask too that it will be reflected in your own life. How can you look after a struggling minister or member? How can you practice healthy relationships by forgiving quickly and looking for the best in people? Ask the Lord to make us not only healthy, but health-giving to an ailing world.

Tues 8th – Thurs 10th Give thanks that all the members of an Anabaptist missionary group in Haiti were able to escape their kidnappers. So often we pray for our brothers and sisters in difficult circumstances but forget to return to the Lord in awe at what He has done in answer! May these folks be healed of any trauma from their ordeal, and serve God with even greater joy and passion because they have been released. Pray that their captors too may find such freedom in Jesus.

Wed 23rd – Fri 25th Pray for our brothers and sisters in Moldova, where tensions are high, with Russian troops lining up along some of the borders. Ask the Lord to grant protection to His people, but even more so to make them like Jesus, to grant them peace in every situation, and to make them a beacon of hope to those around them who are living in fear.

Fri 11th – Sun 13th Enspire, the annual event for ministers’ wives, takes place on the 12th. Give thanks for all the hard work these women do to enable their husbands to dedicate their lives to Christ’s kingdom. Ask that this may be a time of refreshment, renewed focus on Jesus, and loving fellowship that will lift up all their hearts. •

Sat 26th – Mon 28th Neil MacMillan highlights four churches in Edinburgh and their prayer requests. Pray for Redeemer Edinburgh, that they would use their God-given resources to see their church filled with unbelievers discovering and submitting to the offer of Jesus Christ. Pray for Grace Church Leith, that the new people attending there would accept Him and would keep coming along. Pray for Hope City

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And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment… Phil. 1:9

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‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.’ Hebrews 12:1-2

LET’S RUN THE RACE So, we’re into the New Year. But do you get the feeling that you haven’t quite started yet — that things are moving on but you’re still on the starting-line? Maybe you have reasons for the slow start; maybe fears are holding you back. Maybe you don’t know what you’re aiming for. The folk who got the letter we’ve quoted at the top of the page seemed to be in the same predicament. They knew they were in the race of faith, but weren’t really going anywhere. Like us, they may have said, ‘I found this last year hard work and running the race was slow going.’ ‘Well,’ says our writer, ‘are you dressed for it?’ That might seem an odd question, but not when you picture the race he’s thinking of. In ancient Greek competitions, runners would remove everything that slowed them down or held them back — which often meant all their clothes. Tunics were hardly running leggings, and sandals were no use. If we are finding the race a trudge, is it because we’re carrying too much baggage? It could be all sorts of things — we’re private to the point of silent about our faith because we fear how friends or family members might treat us; we don’t try to develop healthy spiritual habits because we don’t know where to start or we’re worried we’ll fail; we just have so many other top priorities that there’s no room for prayer or worship with the church. But if the faith race involves bold belief, a growing prayer relationship with God and joining with our brothers and sisters whenever we can (all things in this letter), then whatever keeps us from these is a weight we need to throw off. What does that look like for you? So with the weights gone, it’s time to run. But to do that — to pray, read the Bible, participate in church life, live as Jesus’ followers — we need inspiration and direction. That’s where the next part comes in, ‘fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith’. We know from learning to drive that we travel towards whatever we’re looking at. Straight road? Look ahead. Squirrel in a bush? Watch it and that’s where you’ll go. We’re running towards Jesus, says the writer, so He is what we look at. But what does it mean to do that, to fix our eyes on Him? It means in the first place to meditate on His character and actions. How are we in the race at all? Because as pioneer, He rescued us and welcomed us onto the path of faith. How are we ever going to complete this race? Because as perfecter, He is standing at the finish, crown of victory already on His head, beckoning us in His direction. He has won the race, and our win is guaranteed if our faith is in Him. We will finish. What’s more, Jesus ran it because He knew the joy of victory and glory waited at the finish-line, even to the point of enduring the shame of the cross for you and me. He ran the race ahead of us, and ran it for us. That’s the Jesus who stands at the line calling our names and shouting His encouragement. You may be looking at the race ahead of you this year, already out of energy and ideas. Take heart, because you are in the race and will finish it — its beginning and end belong to Jesus, in whom you trust. • Now for something a little different. The plan is to have another few of these reflections, and I’m keen to make these our reflections, not just mine. So, what Bible passages or topics or questions are on your mind? You are very welcome to share them with me (lochnessfreechurch@gmail.com), and perhaps we can use this page to gather our thoughts and shine the Bible’s light on them. May God bless your February and mine, and bring us back to this page in March further on in the race of faith.

The Rev. Sean Ankers is minister of Loch Ness Free Church (Glenurquhart and Fort Augustus)

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REFLECTIONS REFLECTIO Photo by Daniel Olah on Unsplash

BY REV. SEAN ANKERS

2022

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TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY MISSION — EVERYWHERE TO EVERYWHERE BY REV. MARTIN PATERSON

hat might god’s mission in the world look

wonderful couple who had been living in Rome but had relocated to Ephesus (Acts 18:2; 26). Here is yet another hint of the multi-directional nature of mission in the New Testament. And just so we get the point, Apollos moves from Asia to Europe, strengthening the believers in Achaia (Acts 18:27-28) and Corinth (1 Corinthians 3:4-6) with his teaching ministry. There is not enough space to chart the development of the Christian church through the Early Church Fathers, the Middle Ages or the Reformation, so please forgive this sharp move forward. We pick things up at the point where Christianity is predominantly concentrated in Europe and North America. As such, the concept of mission was often understood as the activity of churches taking the gospel from these regions of the world ‘to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). In many ways that was true, and the work of people like William Carey, Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor and countless others are to be commended. They wrestled with the Scriptures, were given a glimpse of the peoples of the world who were lost without Christ, and it moved them to action. Doubtless these brothers and sisters made mistakes in taking Christ across cultures, just as we do today. However, that does not mean we have nothing to learn. We can be too quick in our criticism of past gospel workers, when in reality many sacrificed their comfort for the eternal good of others. That poses a question to us. Can the same be said within our own churches about the pressing realities of our own time? Even so, can this paradigm for mission hold in the 21st century?

like as we move through the 21st century?

This is the question that I will return to over the coming months as I write a short series addressing recent trends and developments in global mission. There is no way that these discussions can be comprehensive given the size and scope of God’s world, what He is doing, and the word count of a Record article! However, I’m convinced that it is essential for us to take our role as global Christians seriously, to think deeply and to love sacrificially.

Photo ©thayra83 - stock.adobe.com

ALL DIRECTIONS With that in mind, let’s look at one of the most exhilarating trends in God’s mission today: multidirectional or polycentric mission. What on earth is this, you may be asking? It is best explained as the gospel being taken from everywhere to everywhere. Let me fill in some blanks so that we get a better picture. First of all, it’s worth noting that this is nothing new. Mission from everywhere to everywhere can be seen in the New Testament. Take Apollos, for example. He came from a Jewish background and was converted in Africa (Acts 18:24). There are no specifics, but it would make sense that he came to know the gospel through someone who was present at Pentecost since there were people from Egypt who knew the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:10). Jerusalem may have been the centre of gospel proclamation; however, the church in Alexandria produced one of the most gifted teachers in the early church. From Africa, Apollos sets off to Asia. We are not given any details about the purpose of his journey, but it seems that he has come to share the gospel of Jesus (Acts 18: 25). It is in Asia that he receives further discipleship training under the tutelage of a

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THE CENTRE I don’t think the answer is straightforward. On the one hand there are clear changes which mean that it can’t. Christianity is no longer dominated by Europe or North America, which means the gospel is no longer

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traveling in only one direction. This is a change leading us to wrestle with patterns of mission which have been the norm for our church culture over the past 200 years. Rather than this being a moment to retreat and become defensive, I would say this is a day of joy. Before our eyes God is proving Himself faithful to His promise to raise up a signal for the nations (Isaiah 5:26; 11:10-11); He is building His church (Matthew 16:18). This is cause for the church throughout the world to pause and praise God. There have often been moments of change in the growth and expansion of Christianity. As we have already said, this is no new thing. The late Prof. Andrew Walls helpfully explains something of this constant motion in God’s mission from everywhere to everywhere: ‘If you consider the expansion of Islam or Buddhism, the pattern is one of steady expansion. And in general, the lands that have been Islamic have stayed Islamic, and the lands that have been Buddhist have stayed Buddhist. Christian history is quite different. The original centre, Jerusalem, is no longer a centre of Christianity — not the kind of centre that Mecca is, for example. And if you consider other places that at different times have been centres of Christianity — such as North Africa, Egypt, Serbia, Asia Minor, Great Britain — it’s evident that these are no longer centres of the faith. My own country, Scotland, is full of churches that have been turned into garages or nightclubs. ‘What happened in each case was decay in the heartland that appeared to be at the centre of the faith. At the same time, through the missionary effort, Christianity moved to or beyond the periphery, and established a new centre. When the Jerusalem church was scattered to the winds, Hellenistic Christianity arose as a result of the mission to the gentiles. And when Hellenistic society collapsed, the faith was seized by the barbarians of northern and western Europe. By the time Christianity was receding in Europe, the churches of Africa, Asia and Latin America were coming into their own. The movement of Christianity is one of serial, not progressive, expansion.’ 01 On the other hand, there is a point of continuity with the paradigm under question. Whether it is the church in Europe, North America, Africa, Latin America or Asia, the message of Christ and our role as His witnesses remains the same (Acts 1:8). For mission to be truly Christian, the cross of Christ must be its source and centre. In genuine Christian mission, that never changes, even when Glasgow and Dornoch become the ends of the earth to churches in Kuala Lumpur and Lima. Wrestling with the Scriptures, seeing the peoples of the world without Christ, and being moved to action will remain.

everywhere? In reality there are endless possibilities, but let me suggest some which could connect with the churches in Scotland. First, would it be possible to invite believers from another culture to come and serve with us? How willing are we to display this sort of weakness and exercise this kind of dependence on the Lord? Mission from everywhere to everywhere requires a key ingredient: humility. It would be challenging, pressing us to surrender some of our cultural preferences. I’m not advocating for a mono-cultural expression of Christianity here. Rather, I am saying that the salvation of lost people and the glory of God are worth far more than something which makes me feel comfortable. It may be that the Lord desires us to receive workers to strengthen our hands in the growth of His kingdom. Next up, what about partnering with minority churches in Scotland to share resources and people as we seek to make Jesus known? No matter what cultural background minority believers come from, they too are engaging with the challenges of sharing Christ in a spiritually indifferent Scotland. Perhaps this is one of the ways God is at work for his barrier-breaking love in Christ Jesus to be put on display to the surrounding culture. What’s more, it would provide all involved with a great learning experience for our eternal norm as God’s people (Revelation 7:9). Finally, mission from everywhere to everywhere does not give us a free pass to sit out this round of global evangelisation. Our context may have changed and the church in Scotland is weak. However, God has blessed His people here with gifts, and in peculiar and Spiritappointed ways He will choose to use some in other parts of the world. The Lord is not finished with raising people up in Scotland to be sent out in service. Towns and cities across this small place will continue to have a role in the health and vitality of the global church. After all, His mission is from everywhere to everywhere. Are we listening to the Lord, offering up our gifts to the Lord of the harvest and waiting with expectation for His leading (Matthew 9:37-38)? As I said at the beginning, this is one of the most exhilarating trends in the global church. I’m convinced that the coming decades will see the movement of God’s people from everywhere to everywhere increase. My invitation to all of us is to gladly take up the words of the Psalmist, ‘This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!’ Psalm 118:23-24 • The Rev. Martin Paterson is the Free Church’s Global Mission Adviser Andrew F. Walls, ‘The Expansion of Christianity: An Interview with Andrew Walls’, Christian Century, 2/8/2000 (accessed via religion online 13/1/22) https:// www.religion-online.org/article/the-expansion-ofchristianity-an-interview-with-andrew-walls/ 01

TIME TO SERVE This is the point at which I want us to engage our imaginations. What might God’s mission look like with believers moving from everywhere to

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MISSION WORK IN

Maria and Matt Lingard leave for Greece on 8th February, where they will serve as missionaries. They are being sent by Kilmallie Free Church. The couple tell the Rev. Martin Paterson, the Free Church’s Global Mission Adviser, how God has called them to this work. Could you tell us a little about yourselves? Matt: I’m from the West Country, a place of good cider and questionable music. I’m very blessed to be able to say that I can’t remember a point in my life where I didn’t know the Lord. However, further understanding of who the Lord is and what he has done for me has come like waves throughout my life. We have now been married for seven months, which is great as we still treat each new place we go to as an extended honeymoon! Maria: I am Maria, from Argentina. I am an only child. When I was three years old Mum told me the parable of the Good Shepherd, and I asked her how I could relate with that amazing Shepherd…and I prayed for the first time. I felt so happy that, as I was an only child, I could have such a good friend as Jesus to walk along with me.

You’re getting ready to serve cross-culturally in Greece. Tell us a little of how that came about. Did you always know you were meant to serve in this way? Matt: I had been working in Forestry for some years, but realised I wanted to do something that would give me more opportunities to speak to people about Jesus on a daily basis. Whilst doing some studying at Highland Theological College I had some time to prayerfully explore some future avenues, one of which was cross-cultural mission. Maria: When I was 14 years old, I asked God what his purpose for me in life was. In a period of four months, many times I felt God calling me to missions. I prayed for many years and, at the age of 19, I realised that I had to do something about it. I went for the first time to a short-term mission trip, and God blew my mind! I felt convicted in my heart that was His purpose for me.

So that we get to know you a little better, here are some quick-fire questions just for fun. Tea or coffee? Matt: Tea Maria: Coffee

Okay, why Greece? Matt: I had a few connections with Christians who had served or were still serving in Greece. I was aware there was a need there, so I decided to go on a shortterm mission trip. I met some amazing people out there, who had been saved through or were working in some amazing ministries. But I also became aware that a lot of the ministries were thin on the ground, with more people due to leave soon. A couple of people asked me if I would consider coming back again. It was around this time I met Maria serving out there. After a few months of sincere prayer and consideration, we both felt together convicted to go to Greece on a long-term mission.

City break or beach holiday? Matt: Beach holiday Maria: Neither, I prefer mountains and rivers! Ice cream or cheese board? Matt: Ice cream Maria: Both! Walk in the hills or run in the park? Matt: Walk in the hills Maria: Run in the park

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As you get ready to make this move, what has the Lord been teaching you about Himself, His world and His people? Maria: Definitely that His church is a body. It’s been amazing how we’ve been supported in a variety of ways by so many different churches, individuals, organisations, and groups, all working together yet performing different functions. There is a great harmony when each member is connected to Christ. Also, that He really loves the world and feels His heart broken when He sees so much pain. He would do anything to reach them, and He is willing us to hear His calling and serve Him wherever we are and wherever He leads us.

Maria: When I started asking God where He was leading me, I decided to begin praying for different nations. Every time I was praying for Greece, it was something very special I can’t explain with words, a kind of deep conviction in my heart, that always started pounding very loudly. At the age of 19 I started learning Greek and, at 26, I did my first trip there. That moment I received all the confirmation I needed! You’ll be travelling there this month to begin serving. Could you fill us in a little about what sort of ministry you will be involved in? Maria: The main five ministries we’ll be involved with, doing evangelism and discipleship, are Poverty, Reconciliation (between Greeks, refugees, and migrants), Youth, Addiction, and Language Teaching. Matt: I will mainly be doing outreach in the poverty ministries of the local church and through reconciliation ministries, whilst doing what I can to help with the addiction counselling and support services being run. Maria: I’ll be serving in the university doing evangelism and discipleship with the students, teaching languages to both Greeks and refugees, and working for their integration.

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How can we be praying for you as you begin ministry in Greece? Thank God for how far He has brought us, and His consistent amazing provision. Please pray that our transition to Greece will go smoothly, including all the logistics, and that God would be working in the hearts of the individuals we will be serving, for real understanding and reception of His gospel, and building of His Kingdom. •

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STREET CONNECT

BY JULIE MCADDOCK

worries about their children. Many feel that their situation is hopeless, and this disables them from fighting. I do not believe God saved me from that life to not do something about this. For many years now I have prayed and looked for opportunities for a women’s rehabilitation service to become possible and it never has, until now. Our vision is to provide a safe residential facility which does not require anyone to give up their home or to agonise over the fear of children being placed in permanent care.

s those who are relatively new to the free church , this is a great time for us to be part

of things . Just reading the denomination’s vision is for a ‘Healthy Gospel Church for Every Community in Scotland’ is not only Christ-exalting but wonderfully inspiring. Within these communities the plague of substance abuse, the horrors and implications of addiction, and the trauma and emotional pain that so often sucks people into this world are invariably present. As a Christian recovery agency, we at Street Connect look to support congregations wondering how best to relate within a society consistently known as the drug death capital of Europe. One facility we are looking to establish is a shortterm, residential, faith-based rehabilitation facility for women seeking to break free from addiction. Let me outline what makes this so urgent and strategic by sharing a wee bit of testimony.

A BLESSING MULTIPLIED The key element is to reduce the time frame for residential care to 12 weeks, which is long enough for many women to experience life without substance dependency, yet short enough to allow much of ‘normal’ life to continue, including contact with children. If we help even just eight mothers in a year, this can easily translate into 16-30 children being drawn away from thoughts of abandonment, or grandparents carrying burdens of anxiety and worry, or siblings living with the tension of wondering if their sister or brother will end up another terrible statistic in our spiralling drugrelated death rate.

A HEART BROKEN For many years while struggling with substance addiction, I experienced first-hand the terrible pain of having my children placed in care while I was in a residential rehab facility. Even though I was in addiction, I loved my children so much and they loved me. This separation broke and convulsed our hearts, and we experienced the ongoing detrimental effects of being apart. Within the fellowship of Govan Free Church the conviction we have that God, in his providence, wants to use and sanctify our sorrows is being constantly strengthened. So, I have wanted for many years now to turn the pain I went through around by allowing the Lord to use it to help others. Knowing that within the world of addiction others are experiencing the same separation and wounding that I did, I want to put in place something to ease that pain, and facilitate healing.

A VISION BORN The possibility of separation remains a huge obstacle to women who are offered the opportunity of residential care. Despite the fact that such support is often a vital part of breaking free, it can mean moving away for long periods of time, giving up their home, and — crucially — seeing their children being placed in care. These are huge barriers for women to overcome. On top of that, women are often anxious that their children won’t be returned to them after treatment. Some leave residential rehabilitation early due to

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‘The pioneering Free Church work in Govan has had a powerful impact on the lives of many people struggling with addiction and brokenness. The ministry of Street Connect is central to this and the vision to establish residential rehabilitation for women is a huge and important step forward. I am excited to hear how this ministry develops. Let’s keep doing all we can to support and pray for the work in Govan and for the women and families Julie is serving.’ Rev. Neil MacMillan, Moderator A DOOR OPENED Since the inception of this vision we are excited to see lots of things happening. The Braehead House conference centre have agreed to allow us to run a pilot scheme, which takes away the pressure of having to purchase a property. We hope this trial will become ‘a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain’ (Isaiah 4:6).

OUTREACH CAFÉS I would be happy to share via Zoom with any groups who would like to hear my testimony, ask questions on addiction or homelessness and hear more about this project. One very simple but effective way of reaching our local communities is through outreach café ministry. Launching a café in conjunction with Street Connect is a good way to begin. The Street Connect team would love to chat about this and other possibilities. We are available to chat on Zoom with any Free Church group or congregation. To arrange simply contact: Ricky and Julie McAddock Street Connect (Charity no: SC044879) 340 Cathedral Street Glasgow, G1 2BQ Phone: 0141 237 5859 Email: info@streetconnect.co.uk

‘We are incredibly excited to hear of all that God has laid on Julie’s heart. She is someone whose vision has grown out of the soil of her own experience, and who has a heart for the people of Govan and other housing schemes. There is a stamp of authenticity upon this work since it addresses issues that couldn’t be more relevant for Scotland in our day. It is a message of hope in Christ where there is no hope.’ Alison Mackay, Govan Free Church 2022

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Heart Apologetics: Is God as Just as Me?

DAYSPRING MACLEOD questions the Judge

he number-one apologetics question that has

compassion on His creatures, but neither would it be just in Him to leave the guilty unpunished. There is then a mystery here. We do not know on what basis God judges those who ‘sit in the utter darkness’, if it is not on that of trust in Jesus Christ. How can He reward those who diligently seek Him, if, as Paul says ‘there is no one who seeks after God, not even one’? And yet, and yet, these verses are here to assure us that there is a true judgment, as well as a true provision for every man to know God (according to his lights) and seek righteousness. Here’s what this assurance does do: it tells us that we can trust God to uphold His own righteousness with all possible compassion. His Name, as He gave it to Moses, appears in Exodus 34:6-7. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” That is our God, standing at the intersection of mercy and justice. What this assurance emphatically does NOT do is absolve us of responsibility for people’s souls because we think that, if they are good enough people, or if they have it in themselves to truly seek the truth about God, they will be saved even if they die in ignorance. Yes, God will judge rightly, because that is His very nature. But what we do know is that His severest judgment is reserved for those who did encounter the truth of Jesus Christ, and rejected Him; or worse, who profess to serve Him but really set up stumblingblocks of hypocrisy and false doctrine and legalism that stop others from effectively finding or serving Him. And this is a good moment to pause. Have you received the Gospel of Jesus Christ and come under conviction that He is calling you — but you hesitate to commit yourself to Him? Don’t let your consciousness of your own sin stop you. Don’t be held back by what others might say or think. Don’t hold so tight to your own desires and pet sins that you are unwilling to surrender to Him. Go to Him and be healed and receive new life. As we sing in the classic hymn I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, ‘If you tarry ‘til you’re better, you will never come at all.’

always troubled me is ‘how can god send to hell all the people across the world that have

never heard of the true god?’

There are two strands of doubt within this question — ‘Is God really just if He condemns those who have had no opportunity to know Him?’ and ‘How do we know that we serve the true God and those with other faiths are wrong?’ I hope to get to the second of these questions in the next issue or two. For now we’ll look at the issue of God’s justice. Saying that, in a way what we’re really looking at is the issue of my sense of judgment. The ability to judge, and need of justice, is one of the ways in which humanity reflects God’s character. It is important to us because it is important to Him. Yet in the very question we pose — ‘Is God just in His condemnation’ — we are immediately interrogating Him: holding Him to our account. First, does God indeed meet our standards of fairness in the way He judges the people of the world? Here are some verses that help answer that question. I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. Jeremiah 17:10 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Rom. 1:18–20 For He will repay according to each one’s deeds: but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. Romans 2:6,10,11 There is some comfort for us in these verses, in that we are assured there is no blanket condemnation of the merely ignorant. Each person will be judged individually by what they did with the knowledge they did possess. But does that mean that non-believers in Jesus receive a free pass? No: because, as Paul goes on to explain in Romans 2, we have all broken even our own personal standards, and all stand guilty before God. The Lord is characterised by mercy and

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The Lord is characterised by mercy and compassion on His creatures, but neither would it be just in Him to leave the guilty unpunished. Are you a professing Christian that treats others with severity, contempt or enables their own weaknesses or sins? Are you teaching them according to your own preferences rather than holding up your doctrine to scripture? Are you judging them according to your standards instead of pointing them to God’s mercy? Then you must repent and learn to reflect Christ’s heart, not setting store on your own position or reputation. In His world, strength and respect are found in humility and service, not a show of authority. Finally, are you a loving and fulfilled Christian, delighting in Christ — and keeping Him all to yourself? Then hear the words of God to Ezekiel (33:7-9). “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.” There is much more to say about God’s judgment. We could speak about His promise to one day make

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us judges over the earth — the better we know Him, the more equipped we become for the task, and one day He will make us truly worthy, for we will judge as He does. We could speak about the scriptures that tell us He ‘judges the widows and the fatherless’, i.e. He upholds their cause. We could speak about the constant false judgment we inflict on those around us, whereas He looks not at the outward man but at the heart. We could speak about the judgment He poured out on His own Son. We could talk about that Son, whom the Father has appointed Judge over all, and how His full-time position at the Father’s right hand is as our Advocate, not our Accuser. We could even talk about the Court of the Gentiles at the Temple, and how God provided a place for those who were ‘not His people’ to come and worship Him, and how fiercely Jesus protected that space when He found money-changers filling it. But to finish, let’s look at the command He gives us to reflect His own heart and His own actions, in Micah 6:8. He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? •

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CLIVE BAILEY (1950-2021) BY REV. ALEX J MACDONALD

got a letter with a Macedonian cry from the young minister of Bishopbriggs Free Church — ‘Come over and help us.’ Thankfully they responded to my plea, and the rest is history; from then on they were firmly committed to service in the Free Church, at home and abroad. They settled first in Glasgow and then in Kirkintilloch, and Clive taught in Hutcheson’s Grammar School. They played a full part in the church, and Clive was made an elder. During this time their first two daughters were born: Judy in 1974 and Rachel in 1976. In 1977 they responded to the call for help in Colegio San Andres in Lima, Peru, where Clive became an English teacher. He also ran camps for the students, and some of the former pupils still remember his influence with affection. In 1980 they returned to Scotland to live in Cumbernauld while Clive taught in Glasgow High School. He also became an elder in Cumbernauld Free Church, and did great work with the young people and in pastoral work. In their time there, two more daughters were born — Vickie in 1980 and Catriona in 1987 — completing the family of four daughters. If Clive seemed surrounded by females, all the grandsons have made up for that! In 1988 they moved to Ayr where Clive became head of the English department and latterly Assistant Head Teacher in Wellington School. He was also again elected an elder in the Ayr congregation, and during this whole period Clive was a valued lay preacher throughout the length and breadth of the Glasgow and Argyll Presbytery. Then in 2008 there came a big change of direction — and a move back to Peru. The International Missions Board was faced with a dilemma. Colegio San Andres had just celebrated its 90th anniversary and the post of Headmaster was vacant. The aim was to transition the school to local governance before its centenary. A few months previously representatives from the IMB had visited the school in Lima and one name was frequently mentioned by staff and former students: Señor Clive. So, when the Headmaster’s post became vacant, it was obvious that Clive was the man to ask. A phone call was followed by a time of prayerful consideration and before too long the Baileys were packing. The cost was great; separation from family was particularly difficult. Yet Clive and Ruth felt a genuine call from God to serve, and they left Ayr for Lima. Under Clive’s leadership, the staff and the pupils of Colegio San Andres flourished. Enrolment soared and extra classrooms were constructed

live was born in leicester in 1950 to eric and connie bailey .

He had three sisters, Silvia, Jackie and Heather (who died very young). He attended Leicester Grammar School, where he was a great scholar and a normal teenager. He and a friend once went into a pub (both underage) and, instead of asking for a pint of bitter or whatever, they gave the game away by asking for two glasses of beer! They got thrown out. Clive loved to travel and from the age of 16 he travelled on the Continent with a friend or alone. Also from an early age the family spent several holidays in Scotland (as his father had been stationed in Orkney during the Second World War). This perhaps is part of the reason he came to Scotland to study English at Aberdeen University. It was there, in his 2nd year, that his life changed direction completely. He asked a girl out, but she said she would only go out with him if he came to church with her (sneaky, these Free Church girls!). Anyway, he did attend church, but he didn’t know what he was letting himself in for. The minister of Dee Street Free Church, as it was called then, was the late Douglas MacMillan, one of the greatest preachers Scotland produced in the 20th century. After the service, Douglas asked him if he understood the sermon. When Clive said ‘Not a word,’ Douglas asked him if he had a Bible. Clive answered ‘No,’ so Douglas grabbed one of the church Bibles and gave it to him, and told him to read it. Douglas met up with him regularly and some of the other students invited him to Bible studies. The outcome was that, before the end of the Autumn term, one Sunday as he was walking home after church, God brought home to him all he had learned and Clive trusted Christ as his Saviour and Lord. (A bit like his more famous namesake, Clive Staples Lewis, who became a Christian on his way to Whipsnade Zoo!) Shortly after this he got together with Ruth Wilson — who was not the original girl who made the bargain with him, in case you’re wondering. And just a few months later he volunteered to go on a mission to Fife. It’s so typical of Clive that right away he wanted to serve and tell others about Jesus. It was there he met up with two other Free Church students — Donnie Smith (until recently head of Lima Evangelical Seminary) and myself. We had a great time there in a caravan in Kinglassie and remained friends from that time on. Clive and Ruth got married in 1973 and moved back to Leicester where Clive did teacher training. During that year they were pondering whether to stay in England or return to Scotland when they

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to accommodate students from age three upwards. Clive arrived early every morning to welcome pupils and parents and was there at the end of each day to say goodbye. But he realised that the school’s future and good fortunes were not based on his leadership, but were solely dependent on the blessing of God. A staff prayer meeting was introduced and one key priority was to highlight, maintain and develop the school’s Christian ethos. Christian faith needed to be articulated, demonstrated and embodied. Clive led by example. From 2008 to 2013, Clive and Ruth served the Colegio and the Free Church with unstinting commitment, enthusiasm and prayer. When Clive left, the school was owned and operated locally. Colegio San Andres is now a Peruvian school run by Peruvians for the benefit of Peruvians — a truly momentous achievement! It is true to say that Clive enjoyed those five years in Peru more than any other part of his teaching career. He loved the pupils and the pupils loved him. On their return from Peru, Clive retired from teaching, and he and Ruth settled in Menstrie and attended the newly planted church in Stirling. Clive was again elected an elder and served with his usual enthusiasm, becoming Session Clerk and leading the singing of the Psalms, amongst other things. Outside of his professional and church life, he had many interests. He loved road trips and holidays through house exchanges in Europe. He loved walking, and he read widely — among Christian authors he loved C. S. Lewis and Tim Keller. Above all, he loved his family — Ruth, his daughters, sons-inlaw and grandchildren. In recent times Clive experienced some major health problems and two years ago had an operation for an aortic aneurism. He recovered, but

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problems persisted. Clive never made a fuss and tried to carry on as normal. He was delighted to be at a get-together with his whole family the Saturday before Christmas, but just days later he succumbed to a massive internal bleed. We are grateful to God for what he did through Clive’s life: his service, his example and his enthusiasm. Whatever Clive did, he did wholeheartedly; he was never half-hearted. Clive required no prompting to give his full and frank opinion; you never had to guess what his thoughts or feelings were! And he took seriously the catechism — ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever’. To be in Clive’s company, you realised that he sought to serve and glorify God and he did so with joy, and there was plenty of laughter along the way. I feel his loss keenly — he was a great friend for over 50 years — and I will miss our talks and laughs together. But I know that he is now with the Lord Jesus, who called him all those years ago in Aberdeen and whom he loved and served so unstintingly. But Ruth and the family will miss him even more deeply, and our hearts go out to them: to Ruth; to Judy and Norman, Daniel, Jude and Peter; to Rachel and Neil, Ben and Lucie; to Vickie and James, Casper and Sebastian; to Catriona and Paul, Millie Rose and Flynn; and to Clive’s sisters, Silvia and Jackie and their families. We commend them all to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Clive served so faithfully, and without whom his life, and ours, would have been very different. •

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BOOK REVIEWS It’s important to allow our beliefs to see the light and be challenged, as it’s often then that they are confirmed and honed. Our books this month will challenge, confirm and hone your faith — through the Bible, through Christian example and through the deep truth of our Saviour’s love. All are available from Free Church Books ((https://thefree.church/ shop) unless otherwise stated. BOOK OF THE MONTH TRUTH FOR LIFE: DEVOTIONAL, ALISTAIR BEGG (2021) Taking time to hear from God’s word on a daily basis is an essential ingredient to growing in the Christian life. However, it is not always something we find easy to do. The pressures of life and work can creep in and before we know it, it’s bedtime. Having a resource can be a real help in developing healthy habits of personal or family worship, and Alistair Begg’s new daily devotional Truth for Life is a great companion. The format is well thought-out, with a main reading and comment. It is followed by an additional section of scripture which can be read if time permits deeper thought and reflection. There is also a ‘Bible through the year’ reading plan incorporated at the bottom of the page. I highly recommend this book and will be using it in my house in the year ahead. Alistair hits the sweet spot of profound truth communicated in a straightforward manner, leading the reader to love Jesus more. Perhaps it is something that your home groups could commit to using in the year ahead. • Martin H. Paterson, Cumbernauld Free Church

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE: HIS UNPUBLISHED SPIRITUAL JOURNALS MICHAEL D. MCMULLEN (ED)(2021) William Wilberforce (1759-1833) championed the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament, introducing a bill in 1791 and persevering until it successfully passed into law in 1807. This publication of his spiritual journals allows glimpses of that process, and a great deal more. In particular, it reveals Wilberforce’s ordinary humanity as he identifies his temptations and perseveres with keeping guard over himself through various disciplines. One of these was the self-monitoring which journal-keeping afforded: ‘I must secure more time for private devotion, for self-examination, for meditation, for keeping the heart […] I have been living far too publicly for me […] Lord, help me […] Oh how sad, that after trying to lead a Christian life for twenty-eight years, I should be at all staggered by worldly company, Madame de Stael etc. I will not however, please God […] be drawn into that magic circle into which they would tempt me.’ Despite nearly 200 years of distance, to meet Wilberforce through his spiritual journals is to hear the same timely concern God’s people must grapple with in every age: how to use one’s talents, means and situation in life fully to the glory of God. • This book is available from Christian Focus. Gayle Maynard, Edinburgh Theological Seminary

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AMAZING SIMON PONSONBY (2019) The book is a short meditation on the person and work of Christ in order to make the reader remember (or realise for the first time) just how amazing Jesus is. The reader is taken on a simple theological journey from glory prior to creation, through the incarnation, ministry and suffering of Christ to His present ministry, and then on to the future prospect of His glory filling the earth. The journey is mapped out using a simple technique. Each page features a few sentences printed on a photographic background, helping the reader ponder and meditate on the truths presented. This would make a useful coffee table book to pique the interest of unbelieving visitors. Alternatively, it would make a good gift for a new believer or teenager to remind them of some core truths about Jesus in a simple and accessible format. • This book is available from eden.co.uk. Duncan MacPherson, North Harris Free Church

1 CORINTHIANS FOR YOU ANDREW WILSON (2021) 1 Corinthians is a tough Epistle for any commentator, as the Corinthian church faced a number of theological and practical issues which the writer must deal with. I commend Andrew Wilson, pastor at King’s Church London, for taking up this task. His commentary is divided into 12 chapters, based on various themes, from ‘A Surprising Start: 1 Corinthians 1:1-31’ to ‘A Triumphant Ending: 1 Corinthians 15:50-16:24’. It starts with a short but useful introduction which includes the historical and cultural background of Corinth and Paul’s founding and influence on the church. At the end of each chapter, there are ‘Questions for reflection’, designed to stimulate thought and meditation — again another useful feature. In addition, at the end of the book, there is a glossary which helps readers navigate their way through some of the trickier names and concepts mentioned throughout the book. Finally, its culturally relevant ‘application’ of spiritual lessons will appeal to the younger generation of Bible readers and preachers. For example, linking the ‘main point of a letter’ with the modern-day WhatsApp messages or the subject line of emails (p. 13). Or referencing the Western culture’s mistaken idea of love: ‘The Summer of love, love songs, Love Island and so forth’ (p. 143). Writing a commentary on 1 Corinthians is inevitably tricky because each commentator (and reader) will approach it from a certain bias with which not everyone will agree. The author, for example, interprets 1 Corinthian 11 as supporting head covering for women in the church. As he says, ‘I think Paul is saying that men should not wear a hood, veil or cloak over their heads when praying or prophesying, and women should’ (p. 118). Similarly, while pp. 149-156 provides a helpful summary of both the cessationist and non-cessationist positions (the latter building upon the work of Jack Deere in his 1994’s Surprised by the Power of the Spirit), he supports the latter view that the New Testament sign gifts are normative for today. Wilson writes, ‘Should we expect miracles, healings, prophecy and languages in the church today?... it is a good rule of thumb to assume that New Testament passages apply to us unless it is clear from the context that they don’t’ (p. 137). Space does not allow a discussion of the deficiencies of the non-cessationist views espoused by the author, but it is a view which undermines both the sufficiency and authority of Scripture. From a Free Church perspective, it also contradicts Chapter 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith (‘...which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased’). Overall, though, this is a useful ‘first’ commentary for the interested, discerning Christian and for message-preparers. • Jenson Lim, Dunblane Free Church These books are only a small proportion of the ones we review. You can find all our reviews online at https://books.freechurch.org or sign up to our monthly email to get them directly to your inbox: https://thefree.church/books-sign-up Email Address: books@freechurch.org Sales Phone Number: 0330 2233423 (Please note that this number takes you directly to our bookshop partners, 10ofthose.com. They are very helpful!)

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PAGES FROM ADAM’S DIARY The Key to Opening Locked Doors — Praise and Thanksgiving in all things!

Photo by wasil_ahammed on Unsplash

A brother, known to some of us as Dr Adam, has served the Lord among his suffering church for many years. Dr Adam has also ministered in various parts of the world among refugees. We have asked his permission to print some of the stories of his life and service for the encouragement of readers of The Record. For well understood reasons, some of the names of people and places have been changed or omitted.

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SPIRITUAL HEALTH

I was so shaken by the suddenness of this turn of events that it put a stop to my preaching on the trains. Once the minister of the church I was attending discovered what had happened, he gently tried to redirect my enthusiasm and suggested that I should join him to go knock on doors in our church’s neighborhood and invite people to our gathering and, as the Lord opened doors, I could share my faith with them. That developed into a habit in me which has continued to this day. The young people I have discipled, even among the refugees, as part of their mentoring, are taken with me to go and do public evangelism. In these encounters, one of the most frequently asked questions is: ‘How can a good and loving God, who is also all-powerful, permit suffering in this world?’ I now believe that the person who is able to give a satisfactory, definitive, all-encompassing answer to this question ought to be given a Nobel Prize! I surely do not have the answer. I am not certain that I even have a partial answer. However, not knowing the answer only points to the limits of our understanding. I do believe with all of my heart and mind that God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is infinitely holy, good, just, loving and also omnipotent in the midst of the pain and suffering in this broken world.

There are four fundamental principles for good physical and mental health. These principles are: 1) regularly eating quality foods, 2) physical exercise, 3) breathing fresh oxygenated air, and 4) socializing with other human beings. These four principles have analogous rules to a Christian’s spiritual health. Corresponding to eating is a regular diet of reading the Scriptures and mentally digesting the Word of God. Evangelism can be said to be the spiritual equivalent of physical exercise. By evangelism I mean sharing the Gospel and giving an answer for the hope within us (1 Peter 3:15). Prayer, the communion of a believer with our triune God, may be compared to breathing. And finally, the fellowship of the saints when believers come together to worship and build one another up in the faith is equivalent to spiritual socialisation. This is critical for our spiritual wellness, hence the exhortation by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews that we must not forsake assembling together (Hebrews 10:25). Of course, what I have noted is only an imperfect analogy. But I have used these principles in my teaching and discipling of young converts. I have also tried to apply them in my own life. I want to tell you a story concerning the second principle. Evangelism is not reserved for some believers only. All Christians are called to seize every opportunity to proclaim the Gospel in this fallen world and call men and women back to God through the One who says, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6).

OPENING DOORS About 14 years ago, on a cold November evening, I went with a friend of mine to the neighborhood of a university north of our city to do evangelism and see what door the Lord would open before us and to whom He would send us. We knocked on the doors of several houses and they all said, ‘No, thank you!’ It was cold, and I was not well. We were about to give up when I noticed a house at the end of the street about a hundred meters away. The whole house exuded sadness. I felt a prompting from the Lord to go and knock on that door. I told my friend this would be the last house and then we could go home. We knocked, and an elderly man opened the door and invited us in, at which point, we were also greeted by his wife. My friend and I sat down. During this time, I was suffering from debilitating joint pain all over my body. This infirmity was the aftershock of almost freezing to death on a roadside a couple of months earlier in Central Asia. Once I had returned home from that journey, I became gravely ill, and that illness led to the mysterious inflammation and pain in all my joints. It lasted for three months until Christmas Eve of that year. Periodically during the day, but especially in the evenings, I would experience excruciating joint pain. However, that is a story all on its own. Soon after we entered this house, the pain started. I was unaware that I was rocking back and forth because of the pain. However, the lady noticed it. She asked me what was wrong. I told her about my experience of being nearly frozen to death and then about the subsequent joint pain.

MIND THE GAP There are many stories I could tell you about my evangelistic endeavours. As a young Christian, and an international student in Chicago, I once tried to preach the Gospel on the subway. This was shortly after my conversion, and I sincerely believed that I had discovered the most beautiful life-giving message that very few people knew. As I got up to proclaim the Gospel and tell everyone about this wonderful message, my entire insides were shaking from fear of speaking in such a situation, but I felt this was what Christians were expected to do. I was going to tell my fellow passengers that I was a foreign student in their country and then explain how the Lord Jesus had rescued me from spiritual death and had given me life and light. There were three men standing right behind me. They looked more like Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4). As I began to speak in my broken English, they appeared quite annoyed by my foreign accent and particularly by what I was saying about sin and repentance. Once we reached the next station and the doors opened, the three of them grabbed me, lifted me up by my legs and the back of my trousers, positioned me like a horizontal rocket and catapulted me out of the carriage. I landed on my hands, knees and face.

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After a bit of discussion and an offer of herbal tea to perhaps soothe the pain, she asked, ‘You say that you serve a good and loving God. If God is who you claim Him to be, why does He permit this? Why would God allow such a dreadful thing to someone who loves and serves Him?’ I answered that, after 27 years of following the Lord Jesus Christ, I had learned not to ask such questions since they presupposed ideas about my Heavenly Father which I was certain were false. I told her that, amidst suffering, our temptation is to ask, ‘Why? why me, why this, why now?’ But when we ask ‘why’, underneath that question lies misgivings about God’s holy character. When we ask ‘why’, we are voicing doubts which have entered our minds about his justice, power, goodness, and wisdom and we express uncertainty about his faithfulness to his promises. We attribute to God what is absolutely untrue of Him. I told her that I had been taught by the Holy Spirit that we should always in all circumstances of life, especially amidst adversities, try to think and speak opposite of our natural inclinations. Instead of complaining, we ought to give thanks to God and say to him, ‘My Father, I do not understand why this is happening and I can’t see a way out. I am in so much pain, but I bless you and I trust you. I say with the Psalmist, ‘You are my hiding place, you always fill my heart with songs of deliverance, whenever I am afraid, I trust in you! And let the weak say, I am strong in the strength of the Lord’ (Psalm 119:114). I explained to them that I had learned that, instead of protesting, I should be praising God for the very experience I find so painful and unpleasant. When we thank God in health, peace and prosperity, what achievement is that? Any sensible person should do that. But when we offer praise and thanksgiving to God while our world is crumbling around us, that is an act of worship. We say to him, ‘I do not understand this circumstance, but I trust you and I have confidence in your goodness.’ Thanksgiving and praise is the path to deliverance and the key to opening and unleashing the floodgates of God’s blessings upon us and bringing healing to our hearts. As I was talking, tears were streaming from the eyes of this dear elderly couple. Then she discreetly got up, came over to where I was sitting, sat down next to me and held my hand. I told them that, as a Christian, I had come to learn that God allows suffering primarily for two reasons: as a warning to change course to those who heedlessly abide in sin and recklessly race down the road to destruction; or as an affirmation of his great love toward those whose hearts are unshakably devoted to him. He uses affliction in their lives as the refiner’s fire out of which he brings forth pure gems, purified hearts which reflect the face of God. When I stopped, she told my friend and me that it was God’s providence which had brought us to their door. She explained that she and her husband had

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lost their son in a tragic motorcycle accident and they had been asking, ‘Why, why?’ ‘But now,’ she said, ‘I feel this evening peace has entered our home.’ My friend and I stayed for the evening meal. The following week, when I went back to see them, they both gave their hearts to the Lord.

PRAISE AND THANKFULNESS There is so much in this life about which we will not know or understand the reasons. Why would this elderly couple be subjected to such a trial? Ultimately only God has the answer. I sometimes think the ink in which the history of mankind is written in this broken world is pain. The Scriptures acknowledge this. Job complained, ‘For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards’ (Job 5:6-8). Like grass, we flourish and wither before the day is out (Psalm 103:15-16; Isaiah 40:6-8; James 4:13-14). These things happen to both the just and the unjust, as the rain falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous. It is impossible to whitewash the suffering of humanity with pious words when the pain is so profound. Our Saviour told His disciples, ‘In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33). It is important that He began that statement by saying, ‘These things I have spoken to you, that in me you might have peace’. If there is any peace, we find that peace in Him and in our relationship to Him who is the Prince of Peace! Suffering is the means by which God frees our grip upon this world and locks our hands into our Saviour’s hands. Suffering reminds us that this world, as beautiful as it is, is only a temporal dwelling for all. We are sojourners passing through it. I have learned that all those through whom our heavenly Father chooses to change this present darkness are first sent to pass through the furnace of trials. But we are assured: ‘When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, my grace, all-sufficient, shall be your supply. The flames shall not hurt you, I only design, your dross to consume and the gold to refine!’ (Isaiah 43:2-3; 41:10; see the hymn How Firm A Foundation.) Those whom God intends to use mightily, He mightily presses until they are empty of themselves. All self-sufficiencies and pride are squeezed out! And then He fills that emptiness with His Holy Spirit. Trials and sufferings are the means by which believers are conformed into the likeness of our Saviour, whom the prophet Isaiah described as ‘A man of sorrow, familiar with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3). It is impossible to be changed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus without suffering. However, it pleases the Lord when, amidst our anguish, we open our mouths to bless Him, to praise Him, to thank Him rather than question Him. That willful act of offering thankfulness and praise to God in adversity is a true act of worship! •

FEBRUARY

POETRY PAGE THE SERENITY PRAYER BY REINHOLD NIEBUHR God, give us grace to accept with serenity The things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things Which should be changed, And the Wisdom to distinguish The one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

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Karl Paul Reinhold Neibuhr (1892-1971) is often considered the most influential American theologian of the 20th century, given the impact of his thinking on American academia and on foreign policy in the 1940s. Dissatisfied with Protestant liberal theology, but concerned with social and political issues, he sought to apply the historic Christian doctrine of human sinfulness as a way to explain and address issues of justice. As well as being a preacher and political activist, he taught at Union Theological Seminary, New York, for thirty years. The first stanza of Niebuhr’s ‘Serenity Prayer’ has been adopted by 12-step recovery groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, across the world. •

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MISSION MATTERS A monthly take on some of the mission work the Free Church is involved in by our Mission Director, DAVID MEREDITH

hell

been

airbrushed

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Bonar one Monday and inquired what Bonar had preached on the previous day. Bonar replied that it was ‘Hell’, to which M’Cheyne asked, ‘Did you preach it with tears?’ To be blatantly theatrical about eternal punishment is just as abusive as ignoring its reality. My purpose today is to make a plea for a clear but compassionate inclusion of hell in the context of our mission. Our task is to proclaim the teaching of Christ and to make disciples. The foundation of the gospel is the announcement of good news: Jesus has died for sinners. Christ took the wrath which we deserved, which means that hell will not be our experience. We get in line behind Jesus, who willingly drank the bitter cup of damnation that we would feast with the best of wine in the kingdom of God. If we do not understand hell then we shall never grasp the significance of the cross. When Jesus experienced the abandonment of God he banished all the hells of all the people who would ever be part of his kingdom. Jesus was the only one willing and able to ‘march into hell for a heavenly cause’: that cause was the glory of His beloved Father and the rescue of His equally beloved Church. When Jesus was preparing His disciples for mission, He told them a story about a rich man who opened up his eyes in hell, pleading for a drop of water to soothe the agony of the fire. When he is told that none may cross over to him, he begs Abraham to send a messenger to warn his family ‘so that they will not also come to this place of torment’. The Puritan John Mason said, ‘The reason why so many fall into hell is because so few think of it.’ Whatever else, let’s make people think of it. •

the

conversation of the contemporary church ? is it the idea that dare not speak its name ?

There was a day when the solemn reality of eternal damnation was a major driver in mission. People were prepared to sacrifice everything to tell others that there was a heaven to win and a hell to lose. William Carey, the founder of the modern missionary movement, preached ‘standing on a hogshead’, pleading with the people in India that ‘if they continued in their paganism and idolatry hell fire would be their portion’. How times have changed. One analyst, Preston Sprinkle, goes as far as to say, ‘My prediction is that, even within conservative evangelical circles, the annihilation view of hell will be the dominant view in 10 or 15 years.’ Sprinkle’s book, Erasing Hell, made third in the New York Times bestseller list in 2011. The metropolitan elite like what they hear. There are many reasons for this reticence to speak of hell. We fear feeding ‘selfish repentance’, the mindset which speaks to a basic attraction to pleasure and repulsion to pain. This is a message of ‘turn or burn’. Jesus is never mentioned. John Owen called this out in On the Mortification of Sin in Believers. ‘The business in hand being to awake the whole man unto a consideration of the state and condition wherein he is,’ wrote Owen, ‘that he might be brought home to God, instead hereof he sets himself to mortify the sin that galls him — which is a pure issue of selflove, to be freed from his trouble, and not at all to the work he is called unto — and so is diverted from it.’ I like that expression, ‘brought home to God’, there are shades of the prodigal son. A whole generation were exposed to preaching which was fear-driven and thus man-centred. We have all heard preachers who employed scary tactics of emotional manipulation. The screaming wild man in the pulpit inhabited a different place to Murray M’Cheyne, who met his friend Andrew

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Bithibh misneachail (Be of good courage) LE JANET NICPHÀIL

eughaidh sinn na facail sin glè thric anns a'

Aige-san a ghlaodhas Ris airson muinntir nach eil a' toirt mòran spèis Dha fhathast. Tha iomadh rìoghachd agus Facal Dhè aca nan cànan fhèin. Is e nì air leth prìseil a tha seo, oir tha Fhacal-san 'nas gèire na claidheamh dà fhaobhair air bith'. Is ann an seo a tha an cumhachd, chan ann anns na nithean a chanas sinne mu dheidhinn. Chan eil an sin ach beachd dhaoine, a tha gu cinnteach air leth feumail, ach is ann anns an Fhacal a tha an cumhachd. Gu cinnteach, tha iomadh nì nar saoghal a bhios gar mì-mhisneachadh, ach aig a' cheart àm, feumaidh sinn a bhith dòchasach gu bheil A shùilSan fhathast air gach nì, agus gun atharraicheadh E staid chùisean ann am prioba na sùla, nam b'e sin A mhiann. Tha Esan fhathast, 'na shuidh' am-feast na Rìgh' agus is E a bheir neart dha phoball Fhèin, agus is E a dhòrtas A bheannachd ma tha seo na rùn. Tha e air iarraidh oirnn' a bhith a' tagradh Ris, agus gach nì mur timcheall ag iarraidh ar misneach a thoirt bhuainn. Feumaidh sinn a bhith a' misneachadh càch a chèile ann am facal agus ann an gnìomh. An-dràsta, nuair a tha sinn fhathast ann an suidheachadh far nach eil co-chomann agus conaltradh mar a bha e, bhiodh e glè fheumail dhuinn a bhith a' suidhe sìos agus a' cunntadh nam beannachdan a th' againn, a bharrachd air a bhith a' coimhead an-còmhnaidh ris gach nì a th'air àicheadh oirnn'. Gheibh sinn a-mach gu bheil uiread de bheannachdan ann agus nach gabh iad an àireamh. Tha an Cruthaidhear a' riaghladh, agus ma tha eòlas againn air Criosd mar FhearSaoraidh, nach ann dhuinn a bu chòir a bhith taingeil gun do dh'fhosgail An Spiorad ar sùilean agus ar cridhe? Nach bi sinn ag ùrnaigh gun dèan E seo do mhòran? •

's iad air an cleachdadh ann an caochladh shuidhichidhean. Bhiodh e math an cumail nar cuimhne nuair a bhitheas sinn a' smaoineachadh nach robh cùisean a-riamh cho dorch 's a tha iad an-diugh. Ann an eachdraidh a' Bhìobaill, lorgaidh sinn ceannairc anns a' chiad ghàrradh, leughaidh sinn cho aingidh 's a bha na làithean nuair a sgrios an Tighearn' an talamh le dìle. Cha robh beò ach Nòah agus a theaghlach, 's iad sàbhailt' anns an àirc a chaidh ullachadh airson gu robh iad a' creidsinn rabhaidhean a' Chruthaidheir. Chùm E beò iad, agus gach nì mun cuairt air a sgrios. Nach do threòraich Maois sluagh a bha glè cheannairceach airson ceathrad bliadhna? Chunnaic an sluagh-sa mìorbhailean iongantach de fhrithealadh bhon Chruthaidhear, ach bhiodh iad tric a' gearain, a' miannachadh gu robh iad air am fàgail nan tràillean san Eiphit. Nach robh Maois ag ràdh aig aon àm, 'Is beag nach eil iad gam chlachadh'. Tha àitean eile san t-Seann Tiomnadh far an lorg sinn ceannairc agus daoine eas-umhail. Anns an Tiomnadh Nuadh chì sinn Criosd a' gul os cionn Ierusaleim, a' miannachadh gu robh an sluagh air èisteachd agus air gabhail ri nithean a bhuineadh don sìth, ach cha b'e sin a bha iad a' ròghnachadh. Nach do lorg E ceannairc a-measg nan deisciobail, agus aon ga bhrath? Chan e eachdraidh glè mhath a th'air a bhith san t-saoghal bho linn gu linn, oir tha smuaintean cridh' an duine glè thric a' ròghnachadh an uilc. A-rèist, a' coimhead ri staid ar là, tha e cinnteach gum bi sluagh a' Chruthaidheir a' faicinn gach nì cho dorch, ach tha A shluagh Fhèin

bhìoball,

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BY CATRIONA MURRAY

POST TENEBRAS LUX

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ebruary is a month which , for many people ,

Every time I ignored Him, or mocked Him in thought, word or deed, I earned the loss of His love — but it never happened; He loved me still. Aye, very good. That’s so easily said: ‘God loves me, blah, blah, blah’ — but how do you know? How do WE know? The absolute truth of the matter is that we have not got it in our power to make the doubters feel the reality of God. For a control freak like myself, it’s one of the more difficult aspects of the Christian life, not being able to persuade (by which I probably mean ‘force’) others that what we have experienced is not only real, but more real than all the tangibles to which they so desperately cling. If I may, respectfully, turn a Bible verse on its head, the things that are eternal are unseen and, therefore, liable to be disbelieved...until grace and love intervene. And there it is. God does not merely love: He IS love. In the weakness of human affection, we are all liable to do what is not right. My love would have held my late husband in this world if it could have had its way — but God’s love was stronger. Stuart Townend’s beautiful song ‘How Deep the Father’s Love’ has much to say on this theme. There is, however, one line with which I cannot wholly agree. Regarding Christ upon the cross, the lyricist says, ‘It was my sin that held him there, until it was accomplished’. Don’t worry, I am not about to try mitigating my guilt. Without doubt, as Jonathan Edwards said, I contributed nothing to my salvation except the sin which made Christ’s death for me a necessity in the first place. The weight and power of that sin could — and should — have pressed me into hell long since, and many times over. But sin and all the powers of darkness are no match for my Saviour. It was not my sin that held Him there, but His compassion. I need no flowers and no poetry when His love for me is carved into the palms of His hands and writ large in this costly redemption. •

represents a celebration of romantic love .

The shops will be full of everything heartshaped, and florists bursting at the seams with red roses. How you regard it depends very much on your disposition. Cynics view it as a huge commercial opportunity, and romantics see it as a chance to show someone special just how special they are. Some people find it a difficult reminder of their singleness in a world which seems to glorify coupledom and, of those, a few have begun to mark Galentine’s Day — the 13th of February — which centres around the idea that women do not require a man in their lives to make them fulfilled and happy. As Christians, we can see that God has ordained singleness for some, and not for others. The secret to happiness and fulfilment, therefore, cannot lie in whether we have a husband or wife, but in our acceptance of the status conferred upon us in His great plan. This might sound trite, but like Joni Mitchell, I’ve looked at it from both sides now, and I can testify to the fact that it is not the absence or presence of this kind of relationship which determines your happiness but, like everything else, how your circumstances enable you to experience more of God’s love. Unregenerate people might well roll their eyes and ‘harumph’ at this. Even those who kind-of believe in the existence of God think that His love can, at best, be imagined by us. It is not, they think, the same as being loved by a living, breathing companion. No, indeed, it is not the same. Let’s think about God’s love. In fact, let me tell you about it as I have experienced it in my own life. He has never sent me a gold-foil card or a dozen roses. God does not take me out to dinner, or write me poetry, or buy me diamond bracelets. Actually, no one has ever written me poetry, unless you count limericks! And God has never hired a plane to write ‘I love you’ across the sky. He hasn’t even cooked me a steak from Willie Macleod’s or brought me breakfast in bed. But He gave His only Son for me. Christ suffered the pains of hell so that I never will. Mired in sin though I was, God loved me unconditionally.

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And there it is... God IS love. 40

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The Record - February 2022

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