TACKLING BIG QUESTIONS • BANKER’S HOPE OF HEAVEN • SPORT’S EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER
FOR
ALL
BRINK
BACK FROM THE FAMILY CRISIS MEANT ALL CHANGE FOR DAD
DEBTS CANCELLED!
MEET ALAN & JEANIE
WHO’S GOT THE
X FACTOR? ARETHA FRANKLIN
50YEARS AMAZING OF WATCHING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
GRACE THE QUEEN OF SOUL
It’s time to be a hero! Ancora is a city where the Bible stories have been forgotten – only the Guardians (players) can go into the past, live the adventure, and save the city by bringing the stories back. Explore the Bible through quests, quizzes, videos, creative zones and more.
Download and play Guardians of Ancora FO R F R E E
Find out more at guardiansofancora.com
FOR Editor: Catherine Butcher Design: S2 Design & Advertising Ltd Print & Distribution: Belmont Press Photos: Rex/Shutterstock, Image.net, istock, BBC/2018 Digitalglobe, A Maxar Company Publisher: HOPE, 8A Market Place, Rugby, Warwickshire CV21 3DU office@hopetogether.org.uk 01788 542782 ©HOPE 2019. Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement. HOPE 08 Ltd. Registered Company No. 05801431 Registered Charity No. 1116005
HOPE for All is published by HOPE in partnership with Hope for Every Home.Visit hopeinfo.org.uk to watch videos linked to the features in the magazine.
04 WHAT’S THE X FACTOR? Ten top celebrities with one thing in common
ALL
08 A GLIMPSE OF GOD'S FACE The story behind Aretha Franklin’s film Amazing Grace
WHAT DOYOU HOPE FOR?
10 AWE-STRUCK! 50 years of watching Earth from space
D
o you have hope? Not some vague ‘I suppose it will all turn out alright in the end’ type of hope, but a confident, certain and personal hope? HOPE for all is a free gift from your local church. There is a common theme in each of the stories – each of the people we feature has found hope for now and for the future. We’ve put the magazine together to show how this hope is available for everyone. Whether you’re rich or poor; whatever your age, background, gender or ethnicity; the hope that has been found by people who follow Jesus is for all. To find out more about this lasting hope, ask the person who gave you this magazine, your local church or visit: christianity.org.uk
Roy Crowne, HOPE’s executive director
hopetogether.org.uk visit us online
15 HOPE OF HEAVEN A cancer-sufferer faces the future 20 HEALING DASHED HOPES Chaplains on the sporting emotional rollercoaster
22 DEBTS CANCELLED Meet Alan and Jeanie who found financial freedom 24 LIFE IN A DOWNWARD SPIRAL How Josh found answers to life’s big questions 26 A POTTER’S STORY Vinny tells his story with the help of a lump of clay
28 ALL CHANGE Back from the brink – when a family faces disaster
hopeinfo.org.uk
hopepublishing.org.uk
christianity.org.uk
watch the featured videos
order more copies of this magazine or discover other resources from HOPE
find answers to your questions about Christianity HOPE FOR ALL 3
WHO’S GOT THE
CELEBRITIES
XFACTOR? Check out these ten top celebrities of stage, screen and sport – what do they have in common?
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ritish actress and singer Naomi Scott stars alongside Will Smith and Mena Massoud in Disney’s new live-action blockbuster Aladdin. Naomi plays Princess Jasmine in the retelling of the 1992 animated favourite. She also stars as one of the three lead ‘Angels’ in the 2019 film remake of Charlie’s Angels.
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eteran of Rugby’s Super League champions Leeds Rhinos, Jamie JonesBuchanan, is now in his 20th league season. Known in the game as JJB, he has enjoyed great success at Leeds, winning 16 domestic competitions while also representing his country at the highest level.
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er mission is ‘To get everyone baking!’ Mary Berry, the Great British Bake Off judge has presented numerous other TV shows and has written more than 75 cookery books.
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merican singer, songwriter and actor Alice Cooper first took to the stage more than 50 years ago. In October 2019 he is back in the UK. Now in his seventies – unlike many of his contemporaries – the rock star is still alive, still married and still touring!
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nglish singer Jonathan ‘JB’ Gill was one of the chart-topping boy band JLS who were runners-up on The X Factor in 2008. JLS disbanded in 2013 but JB continued his media career, appearing on a number of other shows such as Celebrity MasterChef, Countryfile, Dance Dance Dance and Songs of Praise.
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anager of Premier League club Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, is a former player turned professional football coach. Born in Germany, Klopp managed Borussia Dortmund from 2008 to 2013, before moving to England. He is regarded by many as one of the best managers in the world.
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opular CBeebies presenter Gemma Hunt is best known for her role in Swashbuckle, a television show aimed at children aged two to seven. The children’s gameshow challenges contestants to win Gem’s treasure from the naughty pirates. Swashbuckle won a BAFTA for Best Entertainment show at the Children’s BAFTAs in 2015.
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ction-hero and TV personality Bear Grylls has climbed Mount Everest after recovering from a broken back; crossed the North Atlantic on an inflatable boat; and survived in crocodile-infested swamps in Indonesia among many adventures. As the youngest-ever Chief Scout, he is a role-model to an estimated 40 million Scouts worldwide.
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nown for her sense of duty and her devotion to a life of service, The Queen has ruled for longer than any other monarch in British history. Her extraordinary reign has seen her travel more widely than any other monarch, becoming a much loved and respected figure across the globe.
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he BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2019 went to Letitia Wright. Her film and TV successes include parts in Doctor Who and in the science fiction series Black Mirror. In 2018, her portrayal of Shuri in the American superhero films Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, won her global recognition.
HOPE FOR ALL 5
CELEBRITIES
AND THE
ANSWER IS... ake away the glamour and the glitter, and what do these ten very different people have in common? Each of these famous faces has gone public about the key aspect of their private lives. Each of our ten celebrities is a Christian.
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Perhaps the most surprising of all is Alice Cooper who says: ‘People have a very warped view of Christianity. They think it’s all very precise and we never do wrong and we’re praying all day and we’re right-wing. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with a one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ.’ The American singer told the New York Daily News Confidential, ‘My wife and I are both Christian. My father was a pastor, my grandfather was an evangelist. I grew up in the church, went as far away as I could from it - almost died - and then came back to the church. There’s nothing in Christianity that says I can’t be a rock star. ‘ Having been diagnosed as a ‘classic alcoholic,’ Cooper realised that if he didn’t stop drinking, he would die. So he returned to the faith of his youth.The ‘Godfather of Shock Rock’ reads the Bible daily, goes to church on Sundays and is proud that none of his children have ever had problems with drugs or alcohol. 6 HOPE FOR ALL
While Alice Cooper is a veteran of stage and screen, Letitia Wright is still a ‘Rising Star’. But the foundations of her life are much the same as Cooper’s. In her acceptance speech for the BAFTA Rising Star award she said, ‘I identify myself as a child of God and I can’t get up here without thanking God. ‘A few years ago I saw myself in a deep state of depression and I literally wanted to quit acting. The only thing that pulled me out of it was God, my belief, my faith and my family.’ In a message to others in a similar black hole of depression she said, ‘God made you and you are important... God loves you.’
God is so good, so faithful, so loving and so kind
CBeebies presenter Gemma Hunt credits her faith in Jesus as the basis for her life. ‘! don’t know how I would have got this far without God,’ she says. ‘My faith has been my spine, and has kept me upright. God is so good, so faithful, so loving and so kind. He never gives me anything I can’t handle.’
Family life
Like so many Christians, Mary Berry found it was her faith in Jesus that carried her through one of the worst times of her life. Her
19-year-old son William died in a car accident. ‘William’s death deepened my faith; without its support, I really would have struggled,’ she said. Just as faith has been part of Mary’s family life, growing up in a Christian family is often the starting point for many who later find a personal faith. Singer and actress Naomi Scott’s parents lead a church in Redbridge, North East London, where Scott has led worship. In an interview with Vogue magazine, she said: ‘My faith is the foundation of every decision I make, and of my marriage.’ Her husband, Ipswich Town footballer Jordan Spence, is also a Christian.
Gradual change
English singer Jonathan ‘JB’ Gill was also raised in a Christian family and chose to study theology at university before joining the band. His faith took a back seat for a season as he pursued the limelight as part of the chart-topping boy band JLS. When Sam Hailes, editor of Premier Christianity magazine, asked him what being a Christian means to him now, JB replied: ‘It’s integral to everything... For a lot of people, God is reserved for a day, or for a time, or for a special occasion. But, actually, our faith should be with us all the time.’ Rugby player Jamie Jones-Buchanan became a Christian as an adult. ‘My Christian experience was a gradual thing,’ he says. ‘There was never one day when I went into church and came out completely different. I was always looking for the truth and where that fitted into my life, and the more I understood about Christianity, the more I realised how true it was. I had always believed in this higher power and that there was a God, and my own inner searching got married up to the theology of the Bible. I started
to learn who the person of Jesus Christ was. I never looked back.’ TV adventurer and Chief Scout Bear Grylls also points to Jesus when he says, ‘It’s my faith in Jesus that has so often brought light to a dark path, joy to a cold mountain, strength to a failing body. He has not only been a pointer of the way, but also a backbone, a companion, a friend.’
Jesus – a backbone, a companion, a friend
Forthright faith
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is similarly forthright in describing himself as a Christian. In a TV interview with Gary Lineker, Klopp was asked about his hopes for his future and the future of the club. He said, ‘I’m a Christian. I think other people can have success too. It’s not about me.’ In an article about his faith for fussball-gott.com he wrote: ‘Although there is no football God, I believe that there is a God who loves us humans, just as we are, with all our quirks, and that’s why I think he also loves football! But we have to score our own goals.’ Klopp is adamant that his faith is more important to him than the game. In an interview with fr-online.de, he said: ‘If anyone asks me about my faith, I give information. Not because I have claim to be any sort of missionary. But when I look at me and my life – and I take time for that every day – then I feel I am in sensationally good hands. And I find it a pity if other people lack this sense of security.’ In other words, as The Queen said in her 2014 Christmas broadcast, ‘For me the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life.’ HOPE FOR ALL 7
REVIEW
Aretha Franklin concert lost and now found
A GLIMPSE OF
GOD’SFACE n 1772 John Newton, a former drunken captain of the notorious slave ships, stood up in a Buckinghamshire church to read a poem he had written. It expressed the hope and redemption he’d found since he first called out to God for mercy and forgiveness in a desperate situation during a violent storm at sea. It was some years before that poem was published as the much-loved hymn we know today: Amazing Grace.
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Exactly two hundred years later, in 1972, the musical artist Aretha Franklin stood up in a California church to sing that hymn plus many others with the same message of hope and redemption, such as What a friend we have in Jesus and Precious Lord take my hand. Her deeply personal rendition of these hymns was recorded and became the best-selling live gospel album of all time: Amazing Grace.
Amazing Grace: the best-selling live gospel album of all time Spiritual significance
Moving amongst the church congregation that had gathered to hear Aretha record this live album was a camera crew led by the famous feature-film director Sydney Pollack. Warner Brothers planned to release
the film to accompany the album. But they never did, because attempts to edit the footage proved fruitless. No one knows quite why Sydney Pollack didn’t use a clapperboard to synchronise his cameras with the music. Perhaps he didn’t want to interfere with the spontaneity of Aretha’s singing, or perhaps he didn’t want to detract from the spiritual significance of this church event. Either way, despite trying to use lip readers and specialist editors, it was impossible to match sound to picture and make the film. So, the raw footage languished in backroom boxes, like a cinematic illustration of the hopelessness that so many of us feel in our own lives when we have made mistakes and all seems lost.
Lasting impression
But one young film producer never forgot the footage, or the dream of bringing it to the public. Alan Elliott first heard Aretha’s album Amazing Grace when he was eight years old, and it made a lasting impression upon him. Later he contacted Sydney Pollack and they began to discuss how they might redeem what seemed totally lost, using new digital technology to match sound to picture. Now, almost 50 years after it was filmed, like a cinematic illustration of the message of hope and redemption in John Newton’s poem, Amazing Grace was released in the UK on 10th May, accompanied by a Viewers’ Guide written by Nick and Carol Pollard of Ethos Media. Churches and community groups can request special screenings in their local cinema. Singing in the church pulpit, with a cross in front of her and a mural of Jesus behind her, Aretha is shown
using her amazing vocal mastery and artistic excellence not to draw attention to herself but rather to draw out the message of the music. ‘Extraordinary’, ‘transcendent’, ‘spine-tingling’. This is just some of the praise from film reviews in national newspapers. Indeed, Rolling Stone magazine says: ‘It will make you feel as if you’ve seen the face of God’.
The gritty reality of an open-hearted woman Gospel songs
Halfway through the film, Aretha’s father Rev C.L. Franklin, gives a short talk in which he refers to those who had said that she should come back to church (until 1961 she had mainly sung gospel songs, but in the intervening decade she had recorded a string of ‘secular’ hits). Quite rightly, he says, ‘she never left the church’. Certainly, Aretha faced many trials and challenges in her life and faith. And these can be palpably felt through this intimate recording of her emotional rendition of these powerful songs. Watching it on the big screen, the cinema audience are not distant observers of a slickly packaged musical performance. Rather they feel right there with her, in the midst of the gritty reality of an open-hearted woman honestly expressing, through her music, the grace that she has received – the amazing grace about which John Newton wrote, and through which we glimpse the face of God.
YOURSELF WATCH FOR
Amazing Grace is in UK cinemas from 10th May 2019. For the Viewers’ Guide and to book special screenings visit www.EthosMedia.org/AmazingGrace HOPE FOR ALL 9
Photos from the BBC series Earth from Space (BBC/2018 DIGITALGLOBE, A MAXAR COMPANY)
HISTORY
AWE-STRUCK! Breathtaking images of the Earth from space give fresh perspectives on our wonderful world prompting a response
Earth from Space
10 HOPE FOR ALL
mages from space are simply awe-inspiring... beautiful... epic,’ according to Jo Shinner, executive producer of the BBC TV series Earth From Space. ‘Sometimes you gasp at seeing places you know from a different angle. Other times you simply can’t work out what on earth they could be... Turquoise swirls like abstract art turn out to be gigantic ocean blooms of microscopic phytoplankton that are the lungs of our planet. Black dots on a sandy background turn out to be rubbish dumps of old tyres in a desert, and what looks like an exotic coral fan turns out to be a beautiful delta in Guinea-Bissau.’
‘I
In China, rapeseed flowers transform the landscape
‘It’s only really from space that you can see how tiny, fragile and unique this planet is, and also how everything is connected,’ adds series director Barny Revill. ‘You really get a sense of how, like the butterfly effect, something happening in one place can have an impact thousands of miles away. ‘Astronauts talk about the “overview effect” and to some degree this series gives the audience that. It is a very powerful way to look at the natural world.’
As seen from space: land divided up into strips for farmers in Bolivia
Satellite technology
The series has been filmed using high resolution commercial satellite technology where each pixel in an image represents 30cm on the ground. This means you can see buildings, cars and trees, and has led to the spectacular and detailed images we see in Earth from Space. ‘The images taken by satellites are so huge and so detailed that you can quite literally zoom down through them. If you can fly a drone high enough in the same location and under the same conditions you can combine the two to create a seamless zoom,’ explains series producer Chloe Sarosh.
The Northern Lights create a spectacular display (BBC).
We think of Earth as a blue planet, but satellite cameras reveal a kaleidoscope of colour. In the third episode of Earth from Space, we see the astonishing lights of the Aurora – towering vertical streaks hundreds of kilometres high. Phytoplankton blooms, which turn the ocean into a work of art, trigger HOPE FOR ALL 11
HISTORY
Encyclopaedia Britannica/Uig/Shutterstock
James Irwin standing by the Lunar Rover on the surface of the moon in 1971 NASA/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock
The photo known as 'Earthrise' was taken by the Apollo 8 crew in December 1968, showing Earth for the first time as it appears from space
a feeding frenzy, and China’s Yunnan province is carpeted in yellow, as millions of rapeseed flowers bloom for a few weeks each year. With access to cameras in space, the series allows the audience to marvel in the sheer scale of the wonders on Earth, without leaving the comfort of their armchairs.
First photos from space
The first photos of Earth from space, dubbed ‘Earthrise,’ were taken by astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission and were just as awe-inspiring to the astronauts who took them and to TV audiences of the 12 HOPE FOR ALL
day. On Christmas Eve 1968 Apollo 8 astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman wanted to find words to express the wonder of what they were seeing. Broadcasting to the largest-ever media audience at the time, they decided to read from the Bible book of Genesis: ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light...’
Marvel at the sheer scale of the wonders on Earth Fifty years later Borman recalled the Bible reading: ‘As we contemplated it afterwards, we all agreed we couldn’t have done anything more appropriate.’
Giant leap
The Apollo 8 team was the first to orbit the moon in December 1968. The following July Neil Armstrong,
(BBC/ESA/NASA)
Space secret
The Mississippi delta reaches out into the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the most beautiful views from space occur at that point where rivers meet the sea (BBC/Freddie Claire)
Greenlanders play football under the Northern Lights
commander of the Apollo 11 mission, took his ‘giant leap for mankind’. He was the first man to step onto the surface of the moon, closely followed by fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin was profoundly moved by the experience and radioed Earth saying ‘I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way.’ As a practising Christian, Buzz Aldrin then used bread and wine he had brought with him to celebrate communion – the deeply symbolic meal that Jesus invited his followers to enjoy to remember his death and resurrection. Aldrin later commented, ‘It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.’
The moon-landing communion was kept secret. Later Aldrin wrote about it in his book Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon published in 2009. He said, ‘Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion. Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists. But at the time I could think of no better way to acknowledge the enormity of the Apollo 11 experience than by giving thanks to God.’ Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin, the eighth man to walk on the moon, was also profoundly affected by the experience. He said, ‘I was just amazed to see the earth. It reminded me of a Christmas tree ornament – a very fragile one, hanging majestically in space. It was very touching to see earth from that perspective.’ At one point, Irwin was having difficulty with an experiment and decided to pray, ‘God I need your help right now.’ Suddenly Irwin experienced the presence of Jesus Christ in a way he had never felt on Earth. The experience changed his life forever. He said, ‘I felt the power of God as I’d never felt it before.’
Life-changing experience
This unusual encounter with Jesus, some 238,000 miles from Earth, changed Irwin’s life. Within a year of his return from space, he resigned from NASA and formed the High Flight Foundation, delivering a message of hope and peace around the world. ‘God decided that he would send his Son Jesus Christ to the blue planet,’ Irwin said, ‘and it’s through faith in Jesus Christ that we can relate to God. Jesus himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me.” ‘As I travel around, I tell people the answer is Jesus Christ, that Jesus walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.’ For two decades until he died in 1991, Irwin travelled the world to encourage others to take a leap of faith and experience the ‘Highest Flight’ possible with God. HOPE FOR ALL 13
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INTERVIEW
Facing death and finding peace; former banker Jeremy Marshall tells his story
HOPE OF
HEAVEN ou’ve got tumours everywhere. We can’t cure you.You’ve got 18 months to live.’ The consultant’s blunt words left Jeremy Marshall reeling. ‘Within 60 seconds my world turned upside down,’ he says.
‘Y
Jeremy had been diagnosed with cancer two years earlier. He had found a lump on his ribs. At first his doctor said it was nothing, but he sent him to a specialist to get it checked out. Jeremy was passed from one consultant to another until finally he was
referred to the Royal Marsden, which he knew is dedicated to cancer diagnosis and treatment. ‘It is a terrible thing, cancer, and is a thing we all fear,’ he says. But the specialist was confident: ‘It’s fine. We’ve caught this early.’ (It was a cancer of the muscle tissue.) Jeremy went through some operations and radiotherapy treatment but carried on working. ‘After about nine months they said “It’s fine. We’ve fixed it. Come back every three months for a check-up...” ‘A couple of years went by and I thought it was fine,’ Jeremy recalls. ‘Then one day I was at a friend’s house. It was summer and I went to adjust my collar as it was hot and I felt this massive lump on my collar bone. HOPE FOR ALL 15
INTERVIEW
I thought “Oh no. I know what that is.” It was like being punched in the face. ‘I went back to the hospital and they told me “You have tumours everywhere. We don’t know how we missed them, but we did.” (It turned out it was a completely different type of cancer... non-pulmonary small cell lung cancer.)’ When the oncologist said, ‘We can’t cure you and you’ve got 18 months to live’ Jeremy burst into tears. ‘It is the hardest thing – particularly the impact it has on your loved ones. I’m a Christian but I’m not some superman. I wish I didn’t have cancer and I don’t want to die. I’d like to live.’
Looking for hope
Jeremy had spent his career working in private banking for Credit Suisse and then for Fleet Street-based C Hoare and Co, a family-owned, private bank founded in 1672. Married, with three grown-up children, he was enjoying his working life when his world came crashing down around him with the incurable diagnosis. Working with very wealthy people, he realised that money doesn’t buy health and contentment. ‘Being rich doesn’t always make you happy. Some of the most miserable people I’ve ever met were people who had a lot of wealth,’ he says. ‘One of the things we can easily get wrong is to think that there’s some kind of ladder of success, and if you climb the ladder then at the top there is happiness. Different people look for different ladders. Some people are not
interested in money: some want pleasure; some want power; some want different things. ‘A wise man Jeremy with family and friends once said, “All careers end in failure...”.’ Jeremy quotes from Augustine, the early Christian theologian and philosopher who said, ‘God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.’ Jeremy explains, ‘The Christian claim is that we won’t find happiness in wealth or power or pleasure. We are made for God and we will only find true satisfaction in knowing him.’
The thing that keeps me going is I have hope beyond the grave
16 HOPE FOR ALL
Growing up
Jeremy grew up in a Christian family but says, ‘The worst behaved children in a church are always the vicar’s kids and that was the same with me.’ His father’s idea of a summer holiday in the seventies was to pack the family into a car loaded with Russian Bibles to smuggle into the USSR. Meeting Soviet Christians who were being persecuted for their faith prompted teenage Jeremy to ask why anyone would want to be a Christian if it meant they couldn’t get a job and risked being sent to prison. He reached the conclusion that the claims of Jesus must be true. In later years, as a historian, he examined the evidence, and again concluded that the eye-witness testimonies of Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were true.
Now, facing death he says, ‘The thing that keeps me going is that I have hope beyond the grave; that there is a person: Jesus Christ. Some might think “That’s wishful thinking. If I were in your shoes I’d find that a comforting thought.”’
Evidence
But Jeremy says the key question is ‘Is it true?’ and adds, ‘I believe with all my heart it is true. ‘Eddie Izzard was recently interviewed in The Guardian and said, “My whole life has been dominated by the loss of my mother to cancer.” He was about eight or nine. He said, “If only one person had once come back from the grave to tell us there’s something there.” ‘That is the Christian claim,’ Jeremy explains. ‘If you were there on Easter Sunday with a video camera you would have seen the stone being rolled away and Jesus coming back from the grave.’ Looking at the historical evidence, he adds, ‘I can think of no other alternative explanation that makes sense. The disciples who were defeated and ran away and betrayed Jesus, within a few weeks were standing a few hundred yards away from where Jesus had come back from the dead and telling people “Jesus has risen.” And more than that, many of the disciples then paid for that claim with their lives. Why would they have done that if it wasn’t true? It seems to me the only logical explanation, and that’s the basis on which I’m a Christian. ‘I believe that Jesus really did come back from the dead. Not as some metaphorical idea; no – really, physically there. Jesus was seen by 500 people at once.
This is not one or two people having some kind of apparition. People saw him and they touched him. ‘Being a Christian is believing that Jesus came back from the dead, believing that he is the Son of God and trusting your life to him. I think that the eye-witness evidence is reliable. Look at it for yourself. People sometimes think that being a Christian is some kind of leap in the dark. I’m a historian by training. It’s factual. It’s rational. It’s evidential. We have four eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life. They were circulating orally within a few years of Jesus’ death and were written down from 20 or 30 years after that. ‘There are something like 5,800 extant whole or partial New Testament manuscripts – the oldest fragment is in the John Rylands Library in Manchester.You can see it. It’s from approximately 150 AD. There is an evidential chain that to me makes sense. ‘If the Christian claim is true; that there is life beyond the grave; that one day each of us will meet God; that Jesus really conquered death, then it’s worth investigating. God doesn’t play hide and seek. In the Bible God says, “If you seek me with all your heart you will surely find me.” ‘God wants to reach each one of us. He wants to rescue us from the mess we are in in the world – cancer – all these things. ‘Being a Christian is a logical rational belief based on hard facts. It is also more than that. It is meeting and encountering the risen Lord Jesus – we can actually know him now.’
God wants to reach each one of us
HOPE FOR ALL 17
INTERVIEW
Certainty
Going home
Asked to sum up Christianity in a Even though he is confronted daily by few sentences, Jeremy says, ‘It’s hope. cancer and death, following Jesus has Not like “I hope the weather’s going given Jeremy hope for the future and to be OK tomorrow” or “I hope a profound sense that God is with him Watford are going to win throughout all he faces. Jeremy as a younger man the Premier League.” ‘I don’t want to make out I am That’s a vague use of the word. The some kind of super person, I’m not. Christian hope means certainty. If It’s nasty, unpleasant, painful – I wish there is no truth in what I’m saying then I wasn’t ill. But the Bible is packed there is no hope. We might as well “eat, full of promises and these are drink and be merry for tomorrow we die”. available to everybody. One of ‘The heart of the Christian message is those promises is “I will never leave hope. I feel passionately, in the time I’ve got you or forsake you...”. Cancer is very left, that this hope is so powerful, I want to lonely sometimes. You are sitting in share it with other people. I especially love the hospital for hours at a time. doing that one-to-one using John’s Gospel. You can’t move because you are Not doing this would be like having a cure wired up to all kinds of Jeremy with one of his sons for cancer but not telling other people chemicals or you’re waiting for about that. Being a Christian is not an operation. Then I feel that we have everything together; powerfully the presence of we are just sick people who have God. He is with me and he found a cure. holds me. That’s amazing. ‘Benjamin Franklin famously said, ‘The presence of God is “You can avoid everything in life not just about him doing apart from death and taxes.” I can tell you that’s not something for us, it’s about him coming to live with us altogether true, but the death rate is 100%. The and eventually to take us to be with him.’ question is more immediate for me, but it will come to Because of his relationship with God, Jeremy says each one of us. with confidence and hope: ‘I believe when I die, ‘Our basic problem is not only death, but our whenever it is, I am going home.’ relationship with God which is broken. The wrong things in our lives break our relationship with God. The good news is that God did not leave us in this mess. It’s not just that God sympathises with us. He actually came into the world and suffered. He did that because he loves us. ‘That is the Christian message; that there is a way back to God. This world is a mess and death is terrible. It breaks human relationships and yet there is hope beyond the grave; there is a way back to God which Jeremy Marshall told his story to Mark is why Jesus came.’ O’Donoghue, Vicar of Christ Church Kensington. You can watch the video at hopeinfo.org.uk
The heart of the Christian message is hope
YOURSELF WATCH FOR
18 HOPE FOR ALL
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Go to Christianity.org.uk Find answers to your questions, or have a con dential conversation with a Christian. It may just be the best thing you ever did. Christianity – find out more
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SPORT
Sports journalist Stuart Weir describes the role of chaplains on the sporting emotional rollercoaster
DASHED HOPES Healing
cottish swimmer Kirsty Balfour went to the Beijing all the money and the time that had been Olympics as a medal invested in working towards the Olympics was gone.’ As a follower of Jesus Christ contender, having won a world from childhood, Kirsty was able to championship silver the previous process the disappointment, but it was year. In the event it was a disaster. Kirsty Balfour a tough experience to live through. Her time in the heat was three An experienced sports chaplain once described seconds slower that her best. She did the Olympics as ‘Four funerals and a wedding’ not even make the semi-finals. Four years – for every happy winner there are several disappointed competitors. In the moments after preparation for the Olympics had just the event ends, it is natural to feel disappointed, gone up in smoke. Tears flowed.
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‘I felt very confused and disappointed’, she said. ‘I had just wanted to do a good swim for the team, for the country, for my family. My first thought was of people I had let down, like sponsors, my family who had flown out to China to watch me, and my coach and my team mates. I just felt I had let people down – 20 HOPE FOR ALL
embarrassed and that you have let everyone down. This is the world in which sports chaplains operate. Jules Wilkinson was a chaplain at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she helped to lead an Easter Sunday service for athletes at the Team England camp. She said of her experience in Rio: ‘For athletes,
selection, competition, from coaches, the Olympics is the pinnacle of from ourselves, from teammates, their sport and therefore it will from the media: the pressure of be the most pressure they will expectation, even pressure from experience in their careers. It’s the expectation of family and very important to say that I’m others who are supporting you. not a psychologist. I’m not adding anything to their sport and not trying to. I’m simply there to represent Jesus and open God’s Debbie Flood with a fellow competitor Word [the Bible] with people. Mostly, my role is just an extension of what I do day to day, meeting up with athletes and encouraging them to keep lifting their eyes to Jesus - something we all need to do.’ Olympic chaplains conduct daily services in the Multi-Faith Centre, but much of the real work is The danger for the athlete is that just listening, encouraging and, when you become your results; that appropriate, opening the Bible with your identity is wrapped up in an athlete. your results. And it is the nature Katie Taylor In her book My Olympic Dream, of sport that you can go from Irish boxing gold medallist and now world professional hero to zero overnight through injury or a bad result. champion Katie Taylor said of church services in the So, athletes are on an emotional rollercoaster. Olympic village: ‘I really enjoyed the service so I went As a Christian athlete, I massively valued the support back on the Sunday morning … the place was jammed of someone drawing me back to those deeper truths with athletes. The service was run by the athletes of who I am and that I am secure in my identity as themselves, many of them got up and shared a story a child of God, regardless of my performance in the of something amazing God had done for them.’ boat.’ Now working as a chaplain, she sees her role in supporting other Christian athletes as ‘to draw them back to God’s truth. It’s about him and how faithful he Support in a crisis is and how he’s walking with them, strengthening them Sports chaplaincy is a branch of Christian ministry to and encouraging them but also in recognising who the world of sport. Sports Chaplaincy UK, established they are in Christ.’ in 1991 reports about 550 sports chaplains in the UK In the cauldron of professional sport, it’s good working in football, horse racing, Rugby League, Rugby to know that there are professionals who can help Union, cricket and athletics. Sir Alex Ferguson, former sportsmen and women discover value that’s more manager of Manchester United, was a supporter of than gold. chaplaincies saying: ‘Chaplains can be of help to all sorts of people involved with sport, when crisis, need or difficulty comes.’ You can read more about Debbie Flood, who won two Olympic silver medals Christians in sport and as a rower and who now works for Christians in Sport sports chaplains at in their performance team, understands both sides. christiansinsport.org.uk and In a dozen years as an elite rower, Debbie experienced sportschaplaincy.org.uk ‘daily pressures from all directions - the pressure of
‘Chaplains can be of help to all sorts of people involved with sport, when crisis, need or difficulty comes.’
MORE FIND OUT
HOPE FOR ALL 21
REAL LIFE
Meet Alan and Jeanie who found the financial help they needed
DEBTS CANCELLED eanie had to give up work to care for her grandson and her daughter who had developed a brain tumour. Without work, finance soon became a problem.
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Telling their story, Jeanie and partner Alan explain they were having a really bad row one morning. Jeanie recalls ‘I said, “We can’t pay any more mortgage. We can’t pay the electric.” I just went upstairs, got my coat and ran out of the house. I was going to put myself under a bus.’ 22 HOPE FOR ALL
‘Living from day to day, hour to hour, with no hope and no future – nothing. It gets you down,’ Alan adds. When a friend recommended Christians Against Poverty (CAP), Jeanie phoned the charity. CAP’s mission is to release families from poverty through award-winning debt counselling and community groups. They work through local churches and they are bringing hope to more than 21,500 families every year – families of any faith and none, not just Christians. Martin Lewis from Money Saving Expert says, ‘CAP are unsurpassed when it comes to the debt help they give to people across the country.’ And on a debt crisis
phone-in on the ITV Daytime programme he added, ‘If you can’t even cope with thinking about your debts, I’d go to Christians Against Poverty.’ When Steve, a CAP debt counsellor, visited Jeanie and Alan, he explained how CAP works. The couple felt a glimmer of hope and agreed to accept CAP’s help. ‘Looking back on it now, it is probably the best thing we did,’ Alan says. When it comes to facing debt, Jeanie explains, ‘If you go with CAP they will sort it out for you and they will support you every step of the way.’ Relief from their financial worries wasn’t the only change that came from their contact with CAP. Jeanie decided to go to the church that was running the CAP Debt Help centre. ‘As soon as I walked in I knew it was the church for me,’ she recalls. ‘It was so happy.’ Jeanie decided to become a Christian and a few months later she was baptised. She now describes Jesus as ‘number one’ in her life. The transformation has been so remarkable that friends and family have noticed the difference. ‘People have seen a massive change. I’ve never been so happy,’ she says. ‘It’s so wonderful!’
and offer a lifeline to those trapped in debt. John knew that people all over the country were struggling in the same way and he began looking to replicate the work across the UK. With the vital ingredients of a church to partner with, a passionate person to be trained as a debt counsellor, and the faith that God would provide, four new CAP centres were opened at the end of 1998. Since then, CAP has grown its debt centre network and expanded its services to tackle the causes of debt and poverty too. From one man helping people on the estates of Bradford, CAP has become a charity that supports 645 projects tackling the main causes of UK poverty debt, unemployment, life-affecting habits or a lack of vital life skills. As well as CAP Debt Help, the charity now helps people step into employment through CAP Job Clubs. It helps people get control of their habitual dependencies through Fresh Start, and a brand new service, CAP Life Skills, equips people to live well on a low income.
‘I’ve never been so happy’ says Jeanie
How it all started
John Kirkby started Christians Against Poverty in 1996 with a small donation and big faith. He believed God was calling him to sacrifice his career in finance and use his knowledge of the industry to help the poor. John began in his hometown of Bradford working from his kitchen table. His adventure of faith led him to people crippled by debt: parents who couldn’t feed their children; families facing eviction; desperate people living in fear and without hope. He used his expertise to negotiate with creditors, set up budgeting systems
Find out more at capuk.org and watch Alan and Jeanie tell their story at hopeinfo.org.uk
John Kirkby, the man who began Christians Against Poverty, was recognised for his work when he received the CBE in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours. He says, ‘Our vision is to bring freedom and good news to the poor in every community through a nationwide network of CAP projects.’ HOPE FOR ALL 23
INTERVIEW
Josh explains how he found answers to his questions
JOSH’S STORY
MY LIFEWAS IN A
DOWNWARD SPIRAL rom the age of 16 I started drinking quite heavily and got involved in football hooliganism, which was a dark world fuelled by adrenaline and violence.
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I played the part of the big tough guy, but it was just a front. Deep down I was a scared and angry young man. The anger added to the fear, because I didn’t know where it came from, what it might make me do. It made me more vulnerable than I could ever admit to anyone. I found myself in a very, very dark place. My then girlfriend broke up with me out of the blue, which completely took me by surprise. I wasn’t prepared for 24 HOPE FOR ALL
it and didn’t have any tools to deal with this blow, and so my drinking stepped up massively. In the couple Josh of weeks following I spent thousands on the wrong things, trying to escape my own mind.
More to life?
My friends invited me to watch their son play football. It was a welcome distraction, as I knew that whenever
I hung out with them I was sober, due to the kids being around. We started having discussions about faith; I’d always had an inkling that there’s got to be more to life than this. As it happens, there was an Alpha course starting the next week, run by Redeemer King Church in Chesterfield, and I thought, what the heck – it will keep me out of the boozer, it will keep me distracted, and maybe, just maybe, answer some questions I had about life. So, I turned up for the first week, slightly anxious, but willing. Also, slightly hungover, but at least that night was going to be a sober one. The topic we talked about that night was ‘Is there more to life than this?’ This had me hooked because that was the biggest question in my head. I found myself coming back each week, listening intently, and although I did come armed with questions every time, I found them being answered in conversations before I even had a chance to ask them. On Sunday 2nd December 2018 I went with my friend to church and although I hadn’t bought into the Jesus thing fully yet, I loved it! So many people came up and asked how I was, and a few of the men at church prayed with me. I felt at home.
I’ve got a completely new set of tools to deal with the harder days in life Back to the pub
Later that day however I had a bad conversation with my ex that sent me spiralling again, so I spent the remainder of that Sunday at the pub, drinking my sorrows away. I spent hours there and only one person spoke to me and that was to ask for a lighter. The next day I felt horrible. The overriding feeling was desperation. I felt I was dying inside and I just wanted to live! I spoke to my friend that day, and she urged me to go to Alpha even though I probably didn’t feel like it. When I came to pick her up, she said I looked like I had a massive thundercloud over my head. But off we went to speak about the resurrection
of Jesus. We talked through it, and at the end of it the leader said ‘if you can take this onboard, and believe in it, you may as well go all in’. So that night, Monday 3rd December 2018, I gave my life to Jesus Christ!
A massive difference!
Since then life has been awesome! Before I met Jesus, the doctors told me I was in fairly poor health which, thankfully, is now improving and I’m on the way to fully recovering. Now I’ve got hope for the future. One night after I became a Christian, I dreamt I was a football manager trying to sign a player called Jeremiah, but he would only play in the number 29 or 11 shirts. This dream happened a few times, and as soon as I woke up I was instantly drawn to read the passage from the Bible Jeremiah 29:11 which says ‘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.’ I’ve now experienced what it’s like to live life to the full. I’ve got a completely new set of tools to deal with the harder days in life. I’m so passionate about sharing what I’ve learned about Jesus Christ with people, because it’s made such a real tangible difference in my life. My life used to be like going down a spiral staircase of drink, drugs, shame and regret, and now my direction has changed and I’m in an upwards spiral heading towards heaven and my life is now full of thanksgiving, prayer, joy and worship. What a massive difference!
ALPHA? WHAT’S
The Alpha course offers people the chance to talk about the basics of the Christian faith through a series of talks and discussions. Alpha courses are run around the world in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and other locations by Christians from a variety of different churches. Find out more about Alpha from alpha.org HOPE FOR ALL 25
INSIGHT
As Lancashire-born Vinny tells his story he makes a pot from a lump of clay to show how life can turn out
A POTTER’S STORY inny was brought up in Nelson, Lancashire, by Irish parents. He says, ‘There was one great love in my life. It was football. I used to play nearly every day. I didn’t have much thought about God until I got to the age of 12 and my friend Simon was killed on his motorbike on his birthday. That really shook me and rocked me on the inside.
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‘When I was about 13 I ended up at Blackpool FC, then I went to Bradford FC. But I thought my chances of being a professional footballer had gone completely until the age of 17.’ 26 HOPE FOR ALL
At that point a football scout from Manchester City invited him to Maine Road Manchester, the ‘Wembley of the North’ as it was known. ‘I went along, but I didn’t get in the first team. I got to youth level and I enjoyed playing. While I was there something very big was happening on the inside. My life seemed very empty, it seemed pointless. I didn’t really know where it was going. It didn’t have a lot of purpose, a bit like a piece of clay spinning out of control.’
My life took on new meaning
Fresh start
The professional football career didn’t materialise and
eventually Vinny took some A-Levels, passed, and went off to teacher training college to be a sports teacher. While he was there he went to a Christian meeting where he found out about Jesus and how it is possible to have a fresh start in life by making God central in life. He recalls sitting on his bed one night and crying out to God: ‘God, if you’re there please forgive me and live within me.’
because he’s changing me on the inside. Being a Christian means that you’ve got purpose and meaning. And it also means you’ve got eternal life. It means that Jesus gives you hope in the most dire of circumstances. When we allow him to do it, he shapes our lives to make something wonderful.
God gives anyone who comes to him a fresh start as a gift. It can't be earned
Looking back, he says, ‘That night, first God was to bring my life on centre and transform me, but secondly he was to make me into person, or start the process of making me, what he wanted me to be. I didn’t realise that Jesus died for me.’ Vinny had thought that being a Christian meant trying to be good, but the Bible explains that God gives anyone who comes to him a fresh start as a gift. It can’t be earned by good behaviour.
Turning point
That late night prayer was the turning point. Up until then, he describes his life as being ‘off centre’. If you see clay that’s off centre on the potter’s wheel, it creates a lop-sided pot. But that prayer expressed Vinny’s decision to centre his life on God. ‘Wonder of wonders he began to take control of my life. He began to make something good of it. He forgave all my past; all my sins were washed away. He gave me his peace and he gave me his joy. And he gave me purpose; my life took on new meaning. I began to understand why Jesus died on the cross. He died instead of me. In football terms we’d say he was a substitute. He died in my place.’ As Vinny tells his story, he is shaping a clay pot on a potter’s wheel. ‘Just like me making this piece of clay into something nice now, ‘ he explains, ‘God is shaping my life. I used to steal and I don’t want to steal any more
‘One day when I make it to heaven by trusting him, God will have completed his work in my life.’ When a potter finishes working with a piece of clay he puts the clay in a kiln and he glazes it. Continuing to use his pot as a picture of what God has done in his life, Vinny says, ‘Sometimes I use a pure white glaze. That pure white glaze covers all the infirmities in the clay.’ In the same way, when he became a Christian, it was as if all his sins – his shortcomings – had been covered over, because of Jesus’ death on the cross. When Vinny finishes making a pot he decorates it to make it beautiful, just as God can make something beautiful of each person’s life as they respond to his love.
YOURSELF WATCH FOR
You can watch Vinny throwing a pot and telling his story at hopeinfo.org.uk HOPE FOR ALL 27
INTERVIEW
Where does a dad turn when his business collapses and his son becomes critically ill? Manoj Raithatha tells his story
ALL
CHANG
ramatic changes have been part of life for Manoj Raithatha. He began a career as a teacher before turning to writing. His work includes a Bafta award-winning children’s TV series My Life as a Popat. In 2003, Manoj changed career again. Turning his hand to business, he set up a property company. But ultimately it was the ill health of his two-year-old son in 2008 which was to prove the biggest turning point in his life.
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‘I was a businessman, a property trader, and my whole world revolved around trying to buy as many blocks as I could throughout the UK to make the most amount of money that I could in my lifetime,’ he says. 28 HOPE FOR ALL
‘In terms of my business, 2008 was going to be the big year for us but then we all know what happened in 2008: the mortgage market collapsed. For me the credit crunch was like literally being in an earthquake. Everything just started to crumble overnight. ‘It was during that same time that my son became ill. It wasn’t the first time and we knew the drill: race him to hospital where he would be given the nebuliser. Except on this occasion the nebuliser failed to work. He was subsequently rushed into resuscitation where I vividly recall holding him as his airways shut down – essentially he stopped breathing. He was intubated and later transferred to St Thomas’s Hospital in London.
Prayer power
‘There were all kinds of complications but what do you do when you’re ushered into the room next door? I turned to God in the hope that he would somehow come and help us.’ A Christian couple who had moved from the USA to live near Manoj and his family had become friends and they told Manoj they were praying for his son. Manoj had been brought up a Hindu but he said, ‘It really impacted me because they called us so many times and talked about the church lifting up my son in prayer. It really gave me a lift and what really, really impacted me was the fact that this lady wept as she prayed for my son. There was something there that I felt that she had that was different. ‘When the consultant came to see us on the fourth day and said, “I’m really sorry but your son is not going to open his eyes for some time yet” I was hugely strengthened by the prayers of the Christian couple we had recently met. Then, to our utter disbelief, my son suddenly bolted upright in bed, no more than an hour after the challenging conversation we had had with the consultant. It was a miracle. My son was alive! ‘As you can imagine, there was so much joy and I remember turning to my wife and saying “When we get out of this hospital, let’s just go to that couple’s church that prayed for our son.” ‘A few weeks later, I would be walking to the front of a church and giving my life to Jesus – the one who gave his life for me. God had heard those prayers and saved my son, but his own Son he had not saved.’
Hindu roots
With his Hindu roots, church was new to Manoj. He recalls: ‘It was a big sort of experience that I had in that church in the sense that I literally walked out a different person. My wife really didn’t recognise me. My mother thought I’d joined some kind of cult because suddenly I wanted to try and do everything differently, particularly in the area of business. ‘Before that I was very, very arrogant, very ruthless, and very money-driven and someone who had essentially lived such a sinful life, and in the midst of all of that sin, there’s a God who says I forgive you and I’m going to wipe the slate clean. ‘Encountering Jesus Christ was a truly life-changing experience. My gradual realisation that this loving God was relational and not religious brought a deeper freedom than I ever imagined possible. I had never known that God could be so close, personal and real.’ Today, Manoj leads the South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance, which provides a setting for South Asian Christians in the UK to encourage, support and equip each other, and to represent their concerns to government, media and the wider church. He says, ‘As someone who came to faith from a Hindu background, I love sharing the awe-inspiring story of Jesus Christ with others. This gospel message meets our innermost need and deserves to be heard by everyone.’
Jesus frequently ate meals with people as he got to know them
Food and faith
Inspired by the Bible accounts of Jesus and how he HOPE FOR ALL 29
INTERVIEW
frequently ate meals with people as he got to know them, Manoj has recently published a book called Simply Eat to encourage friendship and faith to grow as people eat together. ‘When we read the gospel accounts of Jesus’s life, it soon becomes clear that Jesus intentionally allocated time to eat with people, and that these meals were about far more than just food. We see him eat with his disciples at the Last Supper, and with the multitudes at the feeding of the 5,000. Then there is Jesus’ meal with Levi the tax collector, where his welcome of ‘sinners’ at the meal table offends the religious Pharisees. ‘Sharing a meal with someone always builds intimacy, and Jesus was clearly seeking to do this with all sorts of people. While they ate together, people had opportunities to experience “God with us” in a way they could relate to and understand – after all, what better way to demonstrate God incarnate than to share lunch? ‘As people’s physical needs were met and relationships established, the way was opened for them to acknowledge spiritual needs and how they too might be met through Christ. By eating with Jesus, people got more than a conversation with him, they got more than a message of hope, they got to experience hope himself, to encounter God in relationship.’ Realising that eating together can have such a profound impact on people was a revelation to Manoj. ‘I was astounded I had missed it, given that eating with Christians had been so pivotal to my own faith
journey. A key thing about the Christian friends who had prayed for my son was that they had regularly invited my family over for a meal. It was around food that trust had been built, enabling us to go deeper in our conversations about faith, and for the Holy Spirit to speak. ‘I distinctly recall one particular meal where the conversation focused on the historical evidence for Jesus Christ, a discussion that couldn’t have happened in a less intimate setting. This may have been less dramatic than the miraculous answer to their prayers, but my journey would not have been complete without it. I began to realise that spending time around the meal table had brought me closer to God himself through the work of the Holy Spirit operating in my friends’ lives. ‘As we built deep relationship over food, meeting my physical hunger together with them made space to speak into my spiritual need. Unbeknown at the time, the Holy Spirit was clearly present, revealing Jesus and convicting me of the truth as we ate and talked. Spending time around the meal table brought me closer to God Himself.’
I had never known that God could be so close, personal and real
30 HOPE FOR ALL
YOURSELF READ FOR
Simply Eat is a coffee-table book full of inspirational stories and recipes celebrating the power of food and faith, published by Instant Apostle.
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The secret of This beautifully illustrated, large format paperback explores the question Jesus asked 2,000 years ago: ‘Who do you say I am?’
Using Scripture, pictures and personal stories, it takes readers on a journey to discover who Jesus is, why he died and what the resurrection can mean for people today.
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