Direction Magazine issue 106 July 2010

Elim’s interactive prayer community How iPrayer is becoming an integral part of Mark Pugh’s online day Reclaiming Eden

Planting the kingdom of God in Britain’s worst dive estates

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‘Jesus became real to me’

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ALSO Haiti • France • Halesowen • Newcastle

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Elim helps with brilliant new gospel website

Ic ho an se d b to for elie be he ve pos ali Go itiv ng d e

Looking for God?

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Faith breaks cycle of violence, crime and guilt

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JULY 2010 Issue 106 £1.70

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International Bible Institute of London

What some people call revival, you can live in all the time – That’s the HIGH CALLING At Kensington Temple’s IBIOL we’re committed to training people to live in their high calling, not just visit it once or twice in their life. Learn how to: • maximise

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Accredited by the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education

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CONTENTS 5

EDITORIAL John Glass on renaming your road

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I RAN BACK TO CHRIST’S ARMS Evangelist Michelle Delaney says finding Christ stopped her cycle of destruction

10 NEWS from Elim and the wider church 12 OUT AND ABOUT WITH THE GS John Glass opens his diary 14 INTERACTIVE PRAYER SITE GOES LIVE Serious4God has launched an exciting new website that encourages interactive prayer 16 HELPING A MILLION TO FIND GOD Mark Johnston introduces an Internet drive to help a million who are looking for God 19 HOPE AND HEALING IN HAITI In the aftermath of the quake is healing, as Elim evangelist Mike Harris discovered 21 WHY I CHOSE TO BELIEVE GOD Retired Elim minister Terry Jacobs explains how he was healed from two cancers 22 PASTOR’S REACHING THE BIG ‘4-0’ George Miller was ready to retire, but God had other plans for him!

24 HELPING PEOPLE EXPLORE FAITH Janet Whitehead on her role in Halesowen 25 GOD DOESN’T ASK US TO ‘FIT IN’ Dr Sharon RM Johnson writes for Aspire

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26 EDEN GROWING HOPE ON TYNE Elim pastor Simon Lawton reveals a new social action project in Byker, Newcastle 28 HE’S SENDING OUT THE MESSAGE Direction talks to The Message Trust’s Andy Hawthorne about how it all began 32 GETTING PEOPLE BACK TO CHURCH Back to Church Sunday is a perfect way for Elim churches to grow says Michael Harvey 33 DON’T STOP GATHERING says church planter Justin Tattersall this month 35 HELPING THE CHURCH BLOSSOM Mark Pugh says it’s a lot like gardening 36 FOOTBALL FEVER POINTS TO TRUTH Whether we win or lose, eternal hope can only be found in Christ says Gary Gibbs 37 BOOKCASE reviews by Richard Dodge 41 AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION Christians have to be salt and light no matter who is in charge, says CARE’s Nola Leach 44 THE PROMISE OF A BAPTISM BY FIRE Barry Killick explains the need and the promise of the baptism in the Holy Spirit 45 MUSIC REVIEWS with Mark Wreford 46 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 49 ANSWERS with Jim Dick 50 AND FINALLY with John Lancaster

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Church Direction Representatives: please advise any alterations to your order before the 10th of each month

Direction Magazine is the official publication of the Elim Pentecostal Church @elimpentecostal www.elim.org.uk 0845 302 6750

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Elim Pentecostal Church

Editor-in-Chief: John Glass, General Superintendent Publishers: Elim Pentecostal Church Elim International Centre, De Walden Road, West Malvern, Worcestershire, WR14 4DF Charity no. 251549 (England)

SC037754 (Scotland)

Disclaimer: Views expressed in articles and news reports do not necessarily reflect the view of the Editor or the official position of the Elim Pentecostal Church.

The acceptance and publication of advertising does not indicate editorial endorsement. All submitted articles are subject to editing due to space restrictions.

By submitting articles, writers accept their articles may be edited.

Publishing agents: New Life Publishing Co, PO Box 777, Nottingham, NG11 6ZZ, England Tel: 0115 824 0777 Website: www.newlifepublishing.co.uk Email: editor@newlife.co.uk or orders@newlife.co.uk Printers: Buxton Press Limited, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE Back copies: previous issues are available while stocks last, at cover price plus £1.00 handling charge, incl. p&p, per order.

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John Glass

F I R S T WO R D S

Renaming your road During the years that I have been travelling in this country and abroad, I think I have stayed in almost every standard and spectrum of accommodation imaginable. On some occasions the stay has been accompanied by a few unexpected revelations.

In Uganda I learned, after already having been there for a few days, that in times past the facility I was in had been used as an interrogation and torture centre during the reign of Idi Amin. I was told that, of the thousands that went through it, few if any survived. The long road that I had frequently taken to and from my comfortable hotel had for them been a ‘one way street’.

More recently I stayed in Yorkshire in what appeared to be a barn conversion. However I discovered while I was there that it had once housed dungeons where prisoners were kept overnight before walking a short distance the next day to their death on the gallows. As I pulled out of the car park the next day to fulfil my preaching appointment I saw the sign in front of me, ‘Dead Lane’. Yet another ‘one way street’.

Though this may go down as my most gruesome editorial to date, I mention it because I have met far too many people who are walking a similar route. Such individuals lived in Bible days too.

Abram, whose name means ‘exalted father’, was condemned to childlessness before God changed his name to Abraham which means ‘father of a multitude’. The exercise would have been seen

as sadistic mockery were it not for the fact that God was trying to reveal to him that, however long he had been on the thoroughfare of unfruitfulness, the name of that road was about to change.

In the New Testament the impetuous Simon, whose name means a reed, had his life-path altered as Jesus designated him Peter, a rock.

Since then, countless thousands who had been told that ‘they would never amount to anything’ or that they were condemned to follow in the steps of an abusive or addicted parent have proved their pessimistic prophets wrong. An encounter with Jesus always changes the name of our road and the direction of our lives. It is not without significance that, long before the original believers were called Christians, they were designated people of ‘The Way’.

It’s not for others, man or devil, to erect their signage around us. Believing that the course we are on has been directed by his counsel, the highway he nominates becomes ‘our way’. Even on the roughest roads his gaze remains constant. This is something of which Job was well aware.

‘He knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold’ (Job 23:10).

John Glass General Superintendent Elim Pentecostal Church

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Former criminal Michelle Delaney had tried everything the world had to offer but her life had become a destructive cycle – before an encounter with Jesus turned her life around

I ran back to Christ and life has never been the same Above Michelle Delaney went from being in trouble to being an evangelist Main pic Michelle with her three children

At the age of 32, Michelle Delaney had two failed marriages behind her and was on the brink of losing a third.

But then something happened which turned her life around, as she went back to the God of her youth and saw her marriage and life completely transformed.

Now working as an evangelist, Michelle’s story is a testimony to God’s goodness and grace and reminds us that God doesn’t give up on his children.

Michelle, 48, wasn’t born into a Christian family, but when she was six her dad became a Christian.

‘Before he came to Christ, Dad was in and out of prison,’ says Michelle. ‘After he got saved he would take me to

church, but I found it boring and didn’t feel like I fitted in.’

It wasn’t long before Michelle became known to the police in York, where she lived.

‘When I was ten, I committed my first criminal offence,’ she explains. ‘I broke into a house and got in trouble with the police. Me and my friends smashed it up and set it on fire.

I just went off the rails.’

At the age of 16, Michelle married for the first time. By the age of 17 she was pregnant.

‘We both ended up in prison,’ she explains. ‘He was an armed robber and was really violent. They called us Bonnie and Clyde in the local press.

We broke into a shop, stole the guns and sold them. The marriage lasted four years and we had a little girl.’ Unable to cope

with the violence, Michelle decided to leave her husband and moved to Oldham to be closer to her parents. She remembers, ‘I then met my second husband.

He was an alcoholic and was also violent. I didn’t love him; it was just that I got pregnant straight away. I had another child with him and we lasted five years.’

Michelle’s life had become a cycle of depression and broken relationships so it wasn’t long before her next relationship got into trouble.

‘I met this other guy right away,’ she remembers. ‘He was a schizophrenic but I didn’t know this at first. He was in and out of prison and he was really violent. He tried to kill me a few times then I ended up stabbing him because he

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was trying to kill me. He ended up in Strangeways Prison. They arrested us both but he got nine months.’

Terrified, Michelle agreed to return to the man if he didn’t press charges.

‘That was three years of hell,’ she said. ‘Then I ended up in prison for fraud from the social services. After he tried to murder me the social services said that if I didn’t get away from him, I was going to lose my kids.’

Finally provoked by the love for her three children, Michelle plucked up the courage to leave the violent man, but once again she ended up on the streets.

‘I came back to Oldham and still had no home,’ she says.

‘I was staying at my brother’s and wherever I could.’ Michelle

‘I ended up punching her and that’s when God started to work on me’

met a man called Darren in 1989, and at first, it looked like the cycle of violence was set to continue as the couple fought.

It was so bad the police were regularly called to their violent disputes. But God was starting to move.

‘I lived on Holts council estate in Oldham, which wasn’t very good but we had our own place,’ explains Michelle. ‘I was always fighting and one time there was this woman and her daughter who had got together in a group and hit my eightyear-old daughter. I ended up punching her and that’s when God started to work on me.

‘Her daughter, who was 17, saw me do it and it started to play on my conscience. That in itself was a miracle because I’d never had a conscience – I was

completely hardened to it.

‘The police came and were going to arrest me until they interviewed the woman. She was frightened of getting prosecuted for hitting my daughter so we both got a warning. She ended up leaving Oldham.

‘But God lef t me with that. He started working on me through my conscience. I couldn’t get that woman out of my head. My mindset started to change because I had very much a victim mentality where I was always the victim and everyone else was to blame but this time was different.’

Michelle started to think even more about the meaning of life after the death of Darren’s father. She says, ‘It was such a shock because I’d never been close to anyone who had



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

died before. Then I started thinking about death and what was next.’

Michelle and Darren moved close to her parents, and they star ted to encounter God. ‘They were Christians and were having house groups but I was dead against it,’ remembers Michelle. ‘One day my mum came round and she just asked me what was the matter. I was down; really low, just trying to survive.

‘I used to wear a mask that I was this really happy person.

But I wasn’t. I wanted to know what life was really about and not have to fight to survive.’

Michelle’s mum gave her a Norman Warren tract, ‘Journey Into Life’, and it had a profound effect on Michelle.

‘I started to read it and it explained that I could start afresh and that Jesus died for me,’ she says. ‘The Scripture about being born again and starting afresh really stood out for me.’

Although she hadn’t yet given her life to Christ, the people closest to Michelle started to notice a change in her – starting with her cleaning up her language.

She explains, ‘Three days went by and Darren said to me, “That’s what’s different about you. You haven’t sworn for three days.”

‘Every other word out of my mouth was a swear word.

By that point in my life I had done everything else – drugs, relationships, drink, so I thought why not try this.

‘I said to God, “I’m going to say this prayer and ask you into my life but I’m not going to tell anyone.” I didn’t want to lose my friends. So I got down on my knees and asked Christ into my life. When I said that prayer, I experienced peace like I’d never ever known. Jesus became real to me.’

Michelle started to go to church and tried to set things right with Darren, but realised

she couldn’t live in sin so told him to leave. ‘I changed my friends and would pray and was always reading my Bible.’

Eventually, Darren took interest in Michelle’s new found faith and he too was saved after realising he needed Christ in his life. Michelle and Darren married in 1992 but life still wasn’t easy for the new Christians.

‘A year later, I had a breakdown because of all the guilt I was feeling over the way I‘d brought up my kids,’ explains Michelle. ‘I ended up in a psychiatric ward with suicidal depression. I was in hospital and I was so trapped in fear that the devil was closer to me than God. I thought the only way out was to kill myself. ‘ I was about to hang myself with my dressing gown when I cried out to the Lord, “God please help me!” Suddenly, it was like I had no breath and the Lord said to me, “Take my breath, today you are going to walk out of this hospital and never come back.” I felt his peace again. I had a word with the nurse and asked to go home – you can’t just walk out of hospital like that, but

‘I missed God so much but I didn’t know how to get back to him.

I felt ashamed because I’d let him down...’

Above Michelle and Darren now work together at Parakletos Ministries

20 minutes later she let me go.’ But once out of hospital, Michelle drifted away from church and her life started to go downhill.

‘Darren and I split up, I shut my Bible for a year and it got so bad we were going to get divorced. I missed God so much but I didn’t know how to get back to him. I felt ashamed because I’d let him down.’

Michelle moved to York and started to slowly reconnect with God. ‘Darren came and found me and we gave our hearts back to Jesus,’ she says.

‘That was in 1994 and we’ve never looked back. We had three years in York then came back to Oldham. I started going on to the streets giving my testimony.’

Michelle has this advice for anyone who feels that they can’t get back to God: ‘If you’re away from God, it’s so important to just repent then get yourself in a Spirit-filled church.’

Michelle spent three years working in the Elim Four Square church in Oldham as the youth leader. In 2008 she took a course and now works as an evangelist alongside Darren.

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Pastor steps Church takes prayer into the down after heart of town’s market place four decades After 44 years, senior pastor Des Morton is stepping down from leading the church he literally helped to build in Keynsham.

With more than four decades of faithful service under his belt, he will become Pastor Emeritus, a title of honour at the Elim church in Balmoral Road which Pastor Nigel Somers will now lead. Pastor Des, 76, who has preached in Israel, Europe, America and Nigeria over the years, took the decision to retire after a major stroke two years ago.

He said, ‘I was asked if I would like to run the church and I said I would have a crack at it.

That crack has lasted 44 years. It has been a great journey.’

Though he has recovered his speech, he decided it was time to step down from the pulpit. Pastor Des and his wife will still be going to the church at least twice a week, where their son, David, is Assistant Pastor.

A special evening of celebration to mark Pastor Des’s retirement was held in May.

30 find Christ Elim Missionary Martin Davison reports that at a recent Encounter Weekend in Brazil 30 people committed their lives to Christ. Many alcoholics and drug addicts were freed from their addictions. Martin says, ‘This is just the beginning!’

Cash challenge The missions department challenged the Church on Elim’s World Missions Sunday in June to cut back one week’s shopping bill and give the amount they saved to world missions.

An Elim pastor is bringing prayer back to the market place. Pastor Steve Nancarrow’s church in Ammanford now has a prayer table right in the middle of the market, where members of the community can bring their prayer requests.

Pastor Steve Nancarrow explained, ‘It’s been amazing. The joy is that more and more people are coming to us with their prayer requests.’

And stories of miracles are already beginning to happen.

Co-ordinator and elder of the church, Peter Brazier, said, ‘We are already receiving encouraging feedback reports that God is meeting needs, with one lady experiencing a healing touch.’

The group has been mainly asked to pray for physical needs but other requests include practical issues, as well as desires to understand more about God. Peter said, ‘Not a single objec- The prayer request stall in the market place, Ammanford tion has been received; indeed to the contrary it has been an eye-opener to and become a place to visit. We desire to see see so many people, who perhaps never go to unemployment being reduced, better facilities church, being so willing to ask for prayer. for the elderly, good hospitals and improved ‘We are hoping that through this initiative we educational facilities to mention but a few. will see more and more people asking about the ‘We equally have no problem in bringing church and more importantly the love of God.’ these issues to God so that people can see that Pastor Steve added, ‘As a church we equally our God is alive and that he honours those who want the town of Ammanford to grow in stature honour him.’

Sponsored walk Pentecost marked Staff at the Elim International Centre joined local churchgoers for a sponsored walk over the Malvern Hills.

Members of the churches at Halifax and Ludlow joined together for the nine-mile walk in May, with all funds raised going to the Haiti fund and the Project Joseph feeding programme in Honduras.

Christina Barron, Missions Administrator said, ‘The walk started at Elim International Centre, up to the Worcester Beacon, on to British Camp, then back again.’

More than 20,000 people flocked to London for the third annual Pentecost Festival celebrating the birth of the Church 2,000 years ago.

Historic venues like the Methodist Central Hall and London landmarks including Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and the Hammersmith Apollo played host to an array of events reflecting the diversity of the Church.

‘People have again been amazed at the diversity of Pentecost Festival,’ said Andy Frost, director of Share Jesus International, the ministry behind the event.

‘We had everything from weightlifting to opera and fine art to hip-hop and flower arranging to comedy.’

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Hundreds of teenagers turn out for festival Elim Pentecostal Church in Burton put on a major Christian open-air music festival that was attended by hundreds of teenagers.

Breakthrough 2010 took place over the bank holiday weekend in May at the Rosliston Forestry Centre in Derbyshire. Campers were

treated to headliners The Band with No Name on their farewell tour, chart star BB Rox and speaker and comedian Mark Ritchie.

Pastor Rob Styles said, ‘It began as a vision for our own youth group in Burton then other churches got on board. The vision was to get lots

of non-Christians there. We were hoping for one non-Christian for every Christian attending but we ended up exceeding that.

‘Our youth group did concerts last year to fund it and we funded 100 kids from our own church and A poster advertising 270 booked in to camp.’ the event

Tributes are paid as Wesley Group’s set for mission goes to be with the Lord A man much loved and respected within the Elim Movement has gone to be with the Lord at the age of 96.

Elim members paid tribute to Wesley Gilpin, ex-Principal of Regents Theological College at his memorial service in April.

Current Principal Nigel Tween said, ‘Wesley was an inspiring example to the students of serious Christian commitment and dedication.

‘He had a pastor’s heart and many students benefited from his wise counsel. He was a powerful preacher and an effective teacher, a man of vision and determined purpose and who, by virtue of his position, had a profound influence on the development of the Elim Movement and the wider church.

‘He will be sorely missed by the many friends and former students who knew him. But he is now with the Lord he loved and served so faithfully for so many years. Elim has lost one of its fathers, but Wesley equipped many sons and daughters.’

Elim GS John Glass said,

to Romania

Wesley Gilpin with his wife Marguerite

‘Without doubt, the ministry of Wesley Gilpin ranks among the most significant contributions to our Movement in its 95 year history.’

Wesley spent 24 years pastoring in his native Ireland

before he assumed his role as Principal at the then Elim Bible College in 1959, a position that he held for 21 years.

Wesley is now reunited with his wife Marguerite, who died in 2001.

Missionaries’ prayers after six die in shooting Elim missionaries John and Rachel McDonough in Honduras have told how six teenagers were shot dead at the place where just an hour earlier they had been handing out food as part of their feeding

programme. The gang shooting has shaken the local community and the missionaries are praying that God will overcome this evil and that the Church would be the salt and light in the community.

Youngsters from Yeovil Pentecostal Church have raised £5,000 to go on a humanitarian mission to Romania.

A group of teenagers, members of the church’s Edge Youth Group will be heading out to the East European country this month to run a holiday club for local children. Nine teenagers from the church will head out to Sardu on 25th July to work with Elim missionaries Bob and Edith McDonald.

Youth Pastor Scott Higgins said, ‘The kids have basically funded this themselves. Some of them have done a 30-mile bike ride, others have done a quiz night at their school and others have had a non-uniform day at their school. I really want the kids to see that what they do can make a difference. This is about putting social justice into action.

God is a God of social action. I want them to see that what they do can make a difference in people’s lives who have nothing.’

Joy in Guyana The Elim Pentecostal Church of Guyana celebrated its 60th anniversary in April.

Leaders thanked God for all that Elim has achieved in the country so far and asked for his blessing on the ministry for the future.

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GS DIARY

Direction goes out and about with John Glass

Blackpool (Clifton) Sandy and Patricia Kirkwood (pictured right) have had a wide and varied ministry, and a little over a year ago took over the pastorate at Clifton – one of the three Elim Churches in the Blackpool area.

The excellent facilities are kept in immaculate condition but ‘church’ is not about buildings, it’s about people. While I was there I met five ladies who had been at the church since its earliest days.

They told me they had a combined age of 414 years and that two of them have been missionary secretaries for a massive

43 years! While thanking God for the growth in our Movement among young and middle-aged people, my visit to Clifton gave me reason again to thank God for the stalwarts in our churches who have served God over very many years. We appreciate them so very much.

Five mins old!

Gaston Claudel

Elim France Each time I visit the church in Thonon, France, I see growth numerically and in depth. Luc Favre has also transformed the building and is pictured above in the café entrance to the church, which is a hub for the people before and after the services.

After a weekend with the Thonon church, I spoke at the Conference for Elim pastors throughout France. Though only a small group at the moment, the President David Thabot is encouraged by the number of leaders from independent groups who have shown an interest in linking with Elim in this spiritually needy nation.

Gaston Claudel is a remarkable man by any standards. He was one of the 300,000 children around Europe snatched by the Nazis to create their master race, simply because, at the age of three, he had blond hair and blue eyes. He tells his story in the ‘Les enfants sur la lune’ (The children under the moon).

He entered Elim Bible College in 1964 and, after one of our Easter meetings in the Royal Albert Hall, noticed a man in a London street injecting drugs.

‘Immediately,’ he says, ‘I knew what my life mission would be.’

Returning to France, he has spent the past 45 years in that ministry and has received just about every award from the government and civil bodies that a civilian can get.

Now 74, and still in ministry, he was proud to show me his Elim credentials that he carries with him at all times. His amazing story will be the subject of a future Direction feature.

Worcester Ian and Liz Nicholson, pictured right with their son David and daughter Rachel, have pastored Worcester Elim church for 11 years. It was five years since I had last spoken at the church and it was clear that there have been developments in several dimensions of the church’s life since that time. Ian has a strong pastoral gift and Marilyn and I enjoyed our time with the family during the day.

Rachel and David are both in the worship team and play their own part in the life of the church.

As reports take some time to get from ‘meeting to magazine’ you can keep up to date in ‘real time’ by visiting elimgs.blogspot.com, or on

If you were to ask me to choose between preaching to five thousand people or leading one person to Christ – there is no contest.

After the close of one of my meetings in France I chatted, through my interpreter, to some of those who had attended.

Among them was Pierre. When I asked him if he was a Christian, he said that he was not but that he was only a few steps away.

Enquiring what it would take for him to make a commitment he told me that he was partly Jewish. I had the pleasure of telling him that the gospel was, ‘to the Jew first and then to the Gentile’ and that he was not rejecting his roots by coming to Christ, but completing the purpose that God had for him. We talked further and prayed together. This photo with my new French friend shows him five minutes after his New Birth.

and

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An exciting online prayer website www.iprayer.co.uk has been launched by Elim’s youth department Serious4God. Direction caught up with its Director, Mark Pugh

Website to help Elim people pray interactively goes live

Above Serious4God Director Mark Pugh Main image Just two of the pages showing how believers can use iPrayer

What is iPrayer? iPrayer is an interactive prayer community tool that puts the latest prayer information into the hands of people. Everything on the site is centred around prayer, be it for an individual prayer request or a prayer request for a community, online group or an organisation.

What are the key features?

We’ve searched around the world and can’t find anything that is like iPrayer, it really is a great resource. It allows a user to be part of an online community of prayer. Each user has a diary which enables them to schedule in times when they would like to pray. Also, you can set up what’s called an online community, which is similar to a group

on Facebook, which could be for your church, youth group, school or even your town. You then get reminders, telling you to pray for that community and you can click a button to say when you have prayed, so the community is aware of how many people it has praying for it. When you submit a personal prayer request you can either keep it in your private diary or you can submit it to your friends and they can see it. You can also submit it anonymously to the prayer pool, which is what everyone can see. Recently we had a girl who was struggling with suicidal thoughts so she asked people to pray. Within hours people were saying they had prayed for her and were leaving encouraging words.

Where did the idea for iPrayer come from?

About 18 months ago we had a two-day meeting in London and we were asking how on earth we, the Church, had made prayer appear so boring? The reality is that prayer should be about finite people connecting with an infinite God. It’s where someone comes with weakness and frailty and enters the presence of something so magnificence and glorious. It shouldn’t feel like a chore. We discussed prayer and discussed how we should make it accessible to this generation today. From that, one of our team came up with this term ‘iPrayer’ and we began to dream into it.

This technology has cost

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04/06/2010 11:03:46

Elim has also launched a new website, www.elim.org.uk The site includes a video message from John Glass, sections to all departments, as well as information on resources and events. Why not drop by and log-on, and send your feedback through the contact page!

thousands of pounds, has it been a challenge?

It’s by far the most challenging project I’ve ever worked on. It’s taken three different developers to make this happen. It’s been a real task and Elim has invested money into this to ensure it is launched and to make it be realised. It’s taken lots of work to get it out there and to use it in the way that we can. There have been disappointments and frustrations but this is happening and we are very excited.

What do you hope for future?

As we’ve been doing the Prayer Revolution tour we take a part of the tour to show people iPrayer.

Everyone we show it to says that it should go global and it should

‘It’s taken lots of work to get it out there and to use it in the way that we can’

www.iprayer.co.uk www.elim.org.

be something that lots of people get on board with. Our priority is to make sure people in Elim get online and are using it, but one day I hope that thousands worldwide will be using it. One day I hope we could contact our Prime Minister and say that every week 50,000 people are praying for him.

Critics might say that praying over the Internet isn’t ‘proper prayer’. How would you respond?

Everyone will connect with God in the way that works best for them. I spend a lot of time sitting at a desk or on the phone.

I always have a tab open on my computer with iPrayer open so prayer is becoming an integral part of my day, rather than a

30-minute or so ritual. I have it on my phone too and regularly go on there and pray for one or two issues.

How can Elim churches/ members get involved?

A church can set up an online community, which enables people to pray for them and for them to submit prayer requests.

There’s a section where they can e-mail their friends to come in and join. My prayer is that many thousands of members will find this to be a daily blessing in their lives. People from other networks and other denominations are wanting to use it and we want this to be a tool for the body of Christ. We think that many thousands of people will use this as a resource.

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04/06/2010 11:04:04

An Internet evangelism drive is aiming to see one million people converted in the next ten years. UCB’s Mark Johnston reports

Plan to help a million people who are ‘looking for God’

Above UCB’s Mark Johnston Main image UCB hopes a million people will turn to Christ via the site LookingforGOD.com

The Internet has become a 21st century Roman Road, market place, theatre, backyard fence, and office drinks machine – an open window to the whole world, and an invaluable resource for modern living.

Eighty per cent of the UK population – that’s 49 million people – use the Internet in various forms. The Internet, whether we like it or not, has reached every part of our lives – nothing is sacred.

Some may see this explosive growth of the web as a problem... but what an opportunity for reaching out to people with the amazing news of Jesus, right where they are.

UCB’s LookingforGOD. com website exists for people who have questions about God. It introduces the God of love to

people who don’t know who God is or how to find him.

Our goal is to see one million people become believers and followers of Jesus in the UK in the next 10 years, through this Internet evangelism website; and to see those believers get involved in a local church family, where they can grow in their faith and bring God’s light to the world around them.

Since June 2006, when the LookingforGOD.com project began, 500,000 people have visited the website and almost 27,000 have either committed or recommitted their lives to Jesus. In 2009 alone, 129,000 people visited LookingforGOD. com and just under 7,000 people made a commitment to follow Jesus – that’s 580 people per month on average.

If someone decides they want to invite Jesus into their live, or if they are wrestling with big issues and questions, they are given the option for their details to be passed on to a Christian mentor in their area who will provide support and guidance. The ultimate hope is that people will look to Jesus, be introduced to a local church family and begin the adventure of believing and following Jesus in their lives.

This is an exciting project, and one which has greatly benefited from the input of the Elim REACH evangelism director Gary Gibbs, who has been providing invaluable advice on how to make the site an effective tool in reaching people for the Kingdom.

And we would value your

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04/06/2010 13:36:25

• This is just one of the comments on the site: “Thank you for the videos on the website – I found them very moving and helpful... I pray this is one of the first steps on a new journey for me...” Phil, July 2009.

prayers and support. Here are some specific ways in which you and your church can help with the LookingforGOD.com project: Tell people about ­LookingforGOD.com The fact that the website exists needs to be widely promoted.

Do you or your church or organisation have a website?

You can add a banner to your website that will provide a direct link to LookingforGOD.com.

Alternatively, why not include the LookingforGOD.com website on the bottom of leaflets you are sharing with people in your local community? Or what about thinking of putting a local advert in the paper or exploring other creative ways of letting

‘In 2009 alone, 129,000 people visited the site and just under 7,000 people made a commitment to follow Jesus’

people know about the LookingforGOD website? Just visit ucb.co.uk/lfgresources where you can find out more about the website and download free promotional resources to use in your local community.

Become a mentor with LookingforGOD Taking the first steps of following Jesus can be exciting but challenging as well. Some may want to make a commitment to follow Jesus there and then... others may have questions and issues they want to talk through first. That’s why it is important that people who come through the LookingforGOD website and need support, are quickly put in contact with Christians in their local area who are part

of a local church family. We are looking for new LookingforGOD mentors, who are willing to walk alongside people who are wrestling with questions, or who have just taken their first steps in the journey of believing and following Jesus. If you would be interested in becoming a LookingforGOD mentor, please speak to the LookingforGOD team at UCB. Email me at mjohnston@ucb.co.uk Pray for the work of LookingforGOD.com Pray that the great news of hope and love and life through Jesus is presented clearly and faithfully in all aspects of the project. Pray for local churches across the UK as they seek to reach out to people in their local communities.

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04/06/2010 13:36:30

NEW LIFE

NEW LIFE NENW LIF EW LE IFE MARCH 2010

Issue 193 • 40p GOOD NEWS STORIES

MARCH 2010

FAITH STRONG IN SHATTERED COUNTRY – PAGE 4

FAITH STRONG IN SHATTERED COUNTRY – PAGE 4

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Issue 193 • 40p GOOD NEWS STORIES

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I’M GLAD I HAD A BIGGER BROTHE R WOMAN WAT A ‘WALKING CHINGMIRACLE’ ME...

STEPHEN BALDWIN REVEALS HOW HE GOT OVER HIS FEARS ABOUT TV REALITY SHOW – P3

FAITH STRONG IN SHATTERED COUNTRY – PAGE 4

Britain’s best outreach newspaper

www.newlife.co.uk

Issue 193 • 40p GOOD NEWS STORIES

MARCH 2010

HOPE IS IN HOPE HAITI IS IN HOPE HAITI IS IN HAITI

How I’ve HoHw o wI’vI’eve beaten bebat eaen ten cancer ca nc caner cer STEPHEN BALDWIN REVEALS HOW HE

GOT OVER HIS FEARS ABOUT TV REALITY

SHOW – P3

WOMAN A ‘WALKING MIRACLE’ WOMAN A ‘WALKIN G MIRACLE’ STEPHEN BALDWIN

A womAn considers herself a “walking

REVEALS HOW HE GOT

OVER HIS FEARS ABOUT

TV REALITY SHOW

– P3

by Becky Barlow

said we would have miracle” after beating specialist to wait and see.” breast cancer.

After being told about playA womAn Linda Whalley, from Blacking aconsiders waiting game, Linda, who Barlow

by Becky pool, had to have a mastectomy, was also told she may develop herself a “walking but it was her Christian faith bone cancer, decidedspecialist to turn to miracle” said we would have beating that helped her throughout her after her faith and prayed.to wait and see.” breast cancer. ordeal.

“This wonderful peace came After being told about playA womAn Linda Whalley, Linda 61, said: “They found over from me and I was ing as calm as Blackaconsiders waiting

by Becky game, Linda, who Barlow pool,in herself had to have two cancerous lumps my anything,” she said. was a mastectomy, a also “walking told she may develop but itI was breast – both primary. was her Christian “It didn’t matterbone whether I faith miracle” cancer, decidedspecialist after to turn to said that helped herlived beating riddled with it. or diedher because I knew throughout we would have her faith and prayed.to wait breast ordeal. and see.”

I would be OK cancer. going in God’s “This wonderful peace dying Linda 61, said: came Linda Whalley, After being told about strength.

“They found over me from Blackand playI was as pool,the ingcalm as game, two option had a waiting cancerous lumps to have “They said the only “After operation, as I a mastectomy, in my Linda, who anything,” she said. was also but it moved breast – both was told she may develop was surgery and then I might being into reprimary.

Christian I was was her “Itthe didn’t faith matterbone that whether helped I decided riddled and cancer, with it.covery have to have radiotherapy room, I suddenly felt her throughout lived to turn to or died her because ordeal. her Ifaith knew and prayed. chemotherapy as well. this hot burning sensation on I would be OK going in God’s Linda 61, said: “This wonderful peace “I asked if had gone too fardying my chest.

“They found strength. came two over me and I cancerous said the“Ionly – I didn’t want to go “They through was option chatting away to in a THE Beatles drummer Ringo year, says life improved after his lumps was as calm as “After themy operation, breast anything,” as Ishe said. was – surgery both surgery if I was going to die and nurse putting things away andI Starr has revealed how God has faith strengthened. He admitted then primary.

I might was being was into“Itthe moved re- matter have to worwith didn’t have radiotherapy anyway. I wasn’t actually whenriddled I wentand backit. to my room, he had “stepped off the path”. become a reality in his life. covery whether I room, I suddenly lived orfelt died because ried about dy i ng,chemotherapy because I as I felt need ● Full story... Page 5 Starr, who will turn 70 this well.fine. I didn’t this hot any I knew burning sensation dying I would THE Beatles drummer Ringo onWhalley “I asked be HEALED...

Linda knew where I was going.

Theif had ● Continued Page 5chest.

OK going in God’s gone too on far year, says life improved my after his strength.

Starr has revealed how God has – I didn’t want to go “They said the through faith strengthened. He admitted was option chatting away was surgery and “Ionly become a reality in his life. to the “After a surgery if I was going operation, as then to die he had “stepped off the path”. nurse I might was putting I have to away andmoved Starr, who will turn 70 this anyway. I wasn’t actually being have radiotherapy things wor● Full story... Page 5 into the rewhen I went and THE Beatles drummer back to chemotherapy my covery room, ried about dy i ng, because room, I suddenly well.

Ringo year, says Iasfelt fine. I didn’tthis Starr has revealed need “I asked Iif had knew after life improved hotany where I was going. burning sensation felt gone too on The ● Continued his become a reality how God has faith strengthened. farPage – I didn’t my5 chest.

HEALED... LindaonWhalley want to in his life.

He admitted he had “stepped Starr, who will surgery if I was go through “I was chatting off turn 70 this away to a ● Full story... Page the path”. anyway. I wasn’t going to die nurse putting 5 things away and actually worried about dy when I went back i ng, because to my room, I I felt fine. knew where I I didn’t need was going. The any ● Continued on Page 5 HEALED... Linda Whalley

Starr is shining... after Starr finding is God shining... after Star finding r is God shining. after finding God..

This Summer give your neighbours a New Life

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DIRECTION

In the midst of disaster and tragedy, the gospel is reaching thousands of lives in Haiti, as Elim evangelist Mike Harris found out

Hope and healing takes place in Haiti A man who had been deaf for five years was healed as more than one million people attended a three-day gospel crusade in disaster-stricken Haiti. Following the devastating earthquake, which killed hundreds of thousands in January, Christian teams and aid agencies (including Elim Missions), have been travelling to the nation to offer support.

At Easter, Elim evangelist Mike Harris joined a group of American ministers to host this incredible, timely move of God outside the Presidential Palace. Mike had watched coverage of the disaster on TV, and had privately prayed to God, saying he’d like to help.

So when the invitation came he was quick to respond.

He says, ‘As we began to pray for people, we ministered – first to trauma and then to grief. Then the miracles began to flow. Each night all 37 of the team members prayed for hours and the people kept coming. Thousands of people were healed.

‘We prayed for a man who had been deaf for five years and he was healed completely in both ears. Another lady who was deaf and dumb was delivered from 50 spirits before we dealt with the spirit that was causing her to be

Above Mike Harris with a lady who was healed of blindness Main image One of the thousands of homes devastated in Haiti

deaf and dumb. She left praising Jesus. Lots of the voodoo priests became Christians. One guy had a broken arm which was healed instantly.’

Mike believes the visit had great impact in the spiritual realm, in a nation plagued with witchcraft and occult practices.

He adds, ‘I heard a story about a whole football team who were playing football in Haiti on the day of the earthquake and the ground just opened up and swallowed them and they were gone. Then, the ground just closed back up. This impacted me deeply as, when my son was young, I would often spend my Saturdays on the edge of the pitch cheering him on.

‘We heard tales of rejoicing like one man who had rescued his brother after he was buried for six days. Then as Joan Hunter (team leader) preached it was like we felt the curse break that had hold of Haiti.

‘The story goes that 150 years ago, the land had been given to Satan and the voodoo leaders. God gave Joan a spiritual picture of what happened with the football pitch and said that is what had happened in the spiritual realm. God had swallowed

up the curse on the land and it was gone forever.’

As well as praying for the sick, Mike was able to help with some of the rebuilding work. ‘We were working with a local senior Pastor named Rene Joseph who has taken on the task of helping 500 children left orphaned because of the disaster,’ he says. ‘The foundations for the new orphanage are already being built.’

Mike will never forget what he saw in Haiti but is optimistic about the future.

He says, ‘Even in the darkest moments of life, when everything seems to be closing in on you and there seems to be no hope, I have seen that God can bring a light into that situation. I believe that Haiti is going to be radically changed in the next few years and that there will be a spiritual move of God in the nation.’

Meanwhile, Mike believes the event was a fulfilment of a word he received from God some years ago.

‘There’s always been a desire within me to pray for the sick and to explore the realm of the miraculous. In 2004, I had a vision of Jesus and he laid his hands on me and anointed me with a healing ministry.’

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04/06/2010 11:08:01

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New Life Publishing, PO Box 777, Nottingham NG11 6ZZ 19/05/2010 15:15:28

DIRECTION

God still works miracles today, as retired Elim minister Terry Jacobs explains how he was healed from cancer of the kidneys and lungs

I chose to be positive and believe God



The year was 2008 and the beginning of autumn showed promise of warm sunshine. The motorhome had been serviced and stocked ready for a holiday trip to southern Spain.

My wife and I had been celebrating a grandson’s birthday, but as we came back to our home in North Wales… wham!

Serious symptoms showed that something was medically wrong with me. Within a week, I was admitted to hospital for tests and scans. The surgeon broke the news to us that I had kidney cancer. It is called the ‘silent’ cancer and had been growing in my body for at least a year.

Surgery took place a month later. Two things happened the day before. To show how well I felt, I was sawing logs with a chainsaw to make sure there was enough fuel while I was out of action. Secondly, that evening, I had a phone call from Pastor John Glass. Both he and a group of ministers at the college prayed for God to give healing and success in surgery.

By this time, through the email network, hundreds of people were praying throughout Elim, Southern California, Southern Spain and Africa. Surely God would answer prayer.

Following surgery, I was told that the operation was successful but the cancer had spread to my lungs. We were totally aware that this was a life-threatening situation. The professor of Oncology for North Wales started me on a course of the drug, Interferon.

The treatment entailed three selfinjections a week. I was physically

‘By this time, through the email network, hundreds of people were praying throughout Elim, Southern California, Southern Spain and Africa’

Above Terry and Barbara Jacobs

and emotionally reduced. Chest pains were so severe I had to take liquid morphine regularly along with pain patches and painkillers. I lost a stone-and-a-half in a few weeks and was only eating to live.

After three months of treatment and the lungs no better, I was given a respite from the injections. The professor would talk to me again after six weeks to discuss further treatment. This was when the miracle began.

Each visit to the hospital was preceded with either a CT scan or x-ray. You can imagine our joy when my wife and I were told at the next visit there was a definite improvement in my lungs. The following visit was even better – my lungs were clear.

The professor turned to us and said, ‘I suppose you will call this an answer to prayer’. I still see him every three months and still the results show complete healing. Gradually my physical strength and appetite returned.

I want to share some spiritual pointers that helped my faith during those dark times to encourage

other cancer sufferers: 1. It was incredibly supportive to know that other people were praying for me. There were even a few churches in Uganda that fasted as well as prayed.

2. Even in my darkest moments, when the outward signs were bleak, I could still choose despair or hope. I chose to be positive and believe God for healing.

3. With my emotions so easily stirred, I regularly quoted Scriptures out loud, some of which I had known from childhood, such as Psalm 27 and 34, the beatitudes, Philippians 4 and especially 1 Corinthians 10:13. God’s Word is powerful. Be encouraged and use it!

4. One Sunday in church I went forward for prayer and among the words spoken were these, ‘there is no cancer in heaven’.

This wonderfully linked with the words of Jesus’ pattern prayer: ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ This was real faithbuilding stuff.

5. I remember saying to the Lord every time my arms were around the x-ray machine, ‘Now, Lord, is the opportunity for you to show your glory.’ I still do it.

6. Psalm 23:4 brought hope and comfort to my mind and spirit.

The Lord assures us of the power of his presence, the rod of his Word and the staff of his security and rescue.

7. Every night before I went to bed, my wife anointed my chest with oil and along with friends prayed fervently the prayer of faith. God had spoken in my heart to do this and we responded with obedience.

 21

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04/06/2010 11:09:53

DIRECTION

Elim evangelist George Miller believes the 40 toughest areas in England are on the verge of a move of God

Out of retirement to help the big 4-0!

George Miller says he gave God a ‘great retirement speech’ months before taking on the biggest project in his ministry’s history. The veteran evangelist, then 63, felt he was too old to travel the nation and preach the gospel in some of the nation’s toughest communities.

Inspired by a TV documentary which outlined England’s 40 worst areas, George knew something had to be done, however. He recalls, ‘I watched this programme which featured 40 areas in Britain where drugs, drink and anti-social behaviour issues were rife. The Government were particularly concerned about these areas and labelled them as the worse 40 places in the nation.

‘What really got me was watching a young lady who had been boozing and was drunk and was lying on a park bench at 1am with a pint next to her.

I said to God that somebody ought to do something about this. Six months later God said to me, “What are you doing about it?”

‘It was then I gave God a great retirement speech, which I thought was rather good, and said that I wasn’t far off retirement age and there

Above Evangelist George Miller Main image A map showing the places being targeted by Project 40

was no way I was the man for this job! But God spoke to me through several prophecies and also through Joshua chapter 14, saying he was giving me a spirit of Caleb. At 85 Caleb took mountains, so I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that God was speaking to me.’

Not long af ter wards, George and his team began to identify the areas, and that was the start of Project 40, an evangelism initiative which George believes is the answer to many of Britain’s anti-social behaviour problems.

His vision is to unite churches of all denominations in these cities, before establishing prayer centres and launching huge evangelism projects. His hope is that rather than creating a one-off successful evangelism event, churches in the area will continue the good work and continue to reach unbelievers in their communities.

George – who has travelled for more than 40 years as an evangelist – adds, ‘Continuous prayer and continuous evangelism will result in a move of God across all of these places, I am sure of that. I see evangelism right now in England as the most important thing!

Still reaching out to people of the Caribbean Evangelist George Miller continues to reach thousands of lives in the sunny climes of the Caribbean.

The gospel preacher prints 30,000 copies of the Word for Today Caribbean edition each quarter. The booklet, which features a daily

Bible devotional and an evangelistic message, is printed in Jamaica and distributed and sold throughout most of the Caribbean islands.

George says, ‘We have had stories of people finding Christ because of it. Some people pay for it and it is also given away.’

‘We’ve had prosperity doctrines but we must get back to the straight preaching of the gospel. We must preach heaven and hell and salvation.

We are in a mess in our nation because we haven’t preached the gospel and the Church has to come back to its main message. As we continue with prayer and evangelism, we will see a divine explosion of God’s power. Why? Because I believe the gospel is the power of God unto salvation!

‘We want to go into the pubs and clubs and into the darkest places. We will speak with leaders and pastors in each area and see the best strategies for reaching these particular areas. I have cleared my diary and given my priority to these 40 cities. I will keep going with this for as long as it takes.’

George admitted that he cannot take 40 cities alone, and is appealing for other evangelists to join him in reaching these communities, whilst he also hopes to train younger preachers up.

‘I’m under no illusions because I know this thing is bigger than me. I am getting in touch with evangelists all over because I need some of them to work in some of these places with me.

‘God has got evangelists in all of these places but they don’t even know it yet! They are going to be trained up and released and they will help us in seeing people find Christ.’

• Interested in getting involved?

Visit www.rmiuk.org or call 01562 861788

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04/06/2010 13:39:01

DIRECTION

Kingston upon hull

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04/06/2010 13:39:13

DIRECTION

Janet Whitehead discusses her role as Evangelism Director at Elim’s Zion Christian Centre, Halesowen, and its importance to the church

I’m helping people ‘Explore’ the faith Janet Whitehead has packed a lot into the past 26 years since she gave her heart to Jesus.

Since becoming a Christian at the age of 19 at a Billy Graham mission, she soon developed a heart for evangelism after joining Youth For Christ in 1989.

She says, ‘I had a fantastic job in a bank so I spent a year wrestling with that, but I knew that God was clearly telling me to give it up. I was with YFC for 15 years after initially joining for a year out.’

Janet went on to lead an evangelistic residential programme, Fort Rocky, before taking on her current role as Evangelism Director at Elim’s Zion Christian Centre in 2004.

She explains, ‘My role is part declaration evangelist and part demonstration. We do evangelism events and I run a course. It’s like a mini-Alpha called Explore.

It’s a seeker course. We look at questions like who created the world and does God exist?

‘I’ve been running that for five years. I found that because it was only five weeks people were turning up for it. It’s just eight hours to check out the most amazing truth.

‘But for people who’ve come from no church background, we found it was a lot to expect them to change their lives around in just eight hours. So now we run another course called Explore More and most people carry on to that.

‘They feel safe in that environment and feel able to ask their

‘Because it’s only five weeks people turn up for it. It’s eight hours to check out the most amazing truth’ Above Janet Whitehead

questions and be themselves.

Explore goes a bit deeper looking at issues like forgiveness. It’s like the early stages of discipleship.

‘We’ve also had a comedy and curry night where we had Garry Gibbs and Nicky Rogers.

We had Henry Olonga the Zimbabwean Christian cricketer. He’s a phenomenal singer.’

As well as arranging the outreach events to the unchurched, Janet points out that there is another aspect to her job.

‘The other part of my role is to mobilise the church,’ she says.

‘I don’t just see myself being an evangelist to lost people but as an evangelist to the church – so that they can come to an awareness of what their mandated mission is as a Christian.

‘It’s not just me who seeks out lost people. I make sure that the ministry of mission and evangelism remain of the utmost importance so that we don’t sink into comfortable complacency.’

Janet came up with a simple way of ensuring that the whole church can be involved in evangelism.

‘We did a series called one by one,’ she explains. ‘The idea is that you pray for one person then you commit yourself to speak to them once a week, see them once a month and ask them a direct question about God, once a year.

‘For our people here, they really engaged with that and it gave them a framework to work with. Evangelism can sleep – it needs someone to constantly bang that drum.’

Janet is also keen to lead by demonstration.

‘The other part of my role is to interact with the community and make sure that we are not just telling people that God loves them, but that we’re demonstrating it,’ she says.

‘We do this through our prison ministry, our food bank and our outreach to the elderly people. We also had a community action day where we did practical work on people’s gardens and fence painting and DIY.’

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Aspire A passionate ministry for women in Elim

God doesn’t look at whether we ‘fit in’ In recent days I have been studying the life of Ruth, and God has challenged me in the area of living a life conducive to receiving his favour.

Finding favour outside of the box God is not just interested in people who ‘fit’ nicely into attainable categories. He equally cares for and sees those of us who don’t quite make the mark, or comfortably fit inside of the boxes that society and sometimes even Church, create for us. The same is true of David, Rahab, or John the Baptist.

Ruth also had to deal with the fact that her difference was evident to everyone around her, in fact it was identifying.

People would have known what she was and what she wasn’t when she arrived in Bethlehem with her motherin-law, Naomi.

Many of us enjoy having subtle differences which set us apart from others, but sometimes our differences can be isolating. In fact, as women we often spend countless amounts of time focused on our negative attributes. We talk about them; we watch them in the mirror. We compare them with others.

and differences? Suppose we viewed them as an avenue through which God’s loving kindness, mercy and grace can become greater than the things we are hard pressed to change about ourselves? Paul said that, amid his many prayers for God to remove his ‘thorn in the flesh’, what he received was the assurance of God’s grace which makes up for his weaknesses or inadequacies (2 Cor 12:9).

Purpose in imperfections?

But what if God has purpose in allowing for imperfections

Definition beyond society For Ruth there was yet another point of disorientation, she had

By Dr Sharon RM Johnson

Sharon is the speaker at Aspire Unmasked, 2nd October 2010 at Lighthouse Church Manchester.

Fur ther details www. aspirewomen.org.uk

to cope with the fact that she had a status change. She was no longer a couple. She had nothing to define herself by. She had lost her sense of support, connection and protection. All she could speak of was what she had in her past. But for her, now in another land, her past was irrelevant to her future.

In today’s world, many of us have suffered through the realities of broken or fragmented relationships, and the need for redefinition in order to survive in the Church and society. The same was true for Ruth and Naomi.

Although Ruth was invisible and unacceptable within the community, what she had was her character. She chose faithfulness and loyalty to a God she had only heard about through her mother-in-law, Naomi, a woman who had faced repeated devastation and loss. She stood firm in her beliefs and convictions when faced with adversity; this very same challenge we face in our walk today.

Faithfulness and service rewarded Favour was extended to Ruth when she was willing to follow directions instead of creating her own guide book for living.

She was teachable when guided in how to be safe by staying in Boaz’s fields. Later she was

guided in finding her husband, and once again she was receptive to counsel. Often we move towards pushing limits or doing our own thing in what could be defined as unnecessary wilfulness. On many occasions God has already provided an easier route to our destinations, but it takes an open heart to find it.

When she first encounters Boaz’s kindness Ruth asks the question: ‘What have I done to have found such favour in your eyes that you notice me – a foreigner?’ Boaz’s reply tells her story from Moab to Bethlehem. He begins by saying, ‘I have heard...’ (Ruth 2:10).

It is reassuring for us to know that God keeps track. He has seen all our days and those to come. And if that is not enough, he sent Jesus to make amends for when our track record isn’t worth noting.

Truly, we all are in need of mercy and grace. Our job is to stay loyal and faithful, be open, teachable and ready to serve as God guides us.

In the final analysis, Ruth’s greatest personal gains were associated with coming into contact with a faithful God who was gracious and merciful. In her deep desire to know him she stood with her integrity and character. We, too, can choose to trust a God who sees and provides for us as we aspire to walk positioned for his favour.

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Byker became a household name when Byker Grove launched the careers of TV’s Ant and Dec. The Newcastle suburb is now the home of the first Eden Elim project

Eden is growing hope close to the banks of the Tyne

Above Ant and Dec made the name Byker famous in Byker Grove, a children’s TV series about a youth club. Interestingly, the building used for filming was in Benwell, west of Newcastle, not Byker Main image Elim pastor Simon Lawton with wife Julia at the famous Byker Wall

TV presenters Ant and Dec aren’t the only people who have a lot to thank Byker for. The area in the east of Newcastle is now the home of an exciting social action project, which is hoping to help transform hundreds of lives.

Simon Lawton, pastor at Newcastle Elim explains, ‘What a great place to launch the first Elim Eden. Everyone knows Byker Grove so we’re grabbing a headline without even needing one.

‘The actual meaning of Byker is a village with a church so there’s almost a sense that God was involved in Byker from the beginning with that sort of name.’

Simon, 46, and his wife Julia moved to Newcastle Elim in 2008, with a heart for working

with inner city youth. ‘I’d been in Crewe in Cheshire and I think we’d had a growing heart to work in an inner city where the poorer people are and where the mess is,’ says Simon.

‘We loved our church in Crewe but it was in a very middle class area and we felt that God was calling us to the poor.

While we were in Crewe we started to develop ministries working with a women’s refuge and putting on a camp for kids in the summer.

‘When we came up here for the interview we drove up a road where all the kids and the people were, right in the middle of the action and we knew this was where we wanted to be.’

About six months after Simon took over, he was introduced to Andy Hawthorne (see

p28). ‘Andy was invited to come and share with the local ministers in Newcastle at Together in Christ,’ recalls Simon.

‘When I sat there listening to him speak about his vision to take Eden national to the most deprived wards, I knew that Byker, the closest ward to my church, fitted that description. I knew then and there that I had to go for this and be the one to launch Eden in Newcastle. The next thing I knew I was sticking my hand up.’

Now, Simon is looking forward to the launch of his Eden project later this year. He says, ‘It’s an opportunity to meet the needs of the community and it may well develop into a church plant.

‘We’ve not picked our team leaders yet but we have seven

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people who are keen to get involved. There’s an interview process that started last month.

‘Eden are quite happy for people to slowly move on to the estate, so we’re aiming to have the first people moving on around September/October time. It’s incarnational living.

Over the years, churches have stayed in the centre of these sink estates but people have come in on a Sunday then stayed away for the rest of the week. But Eden has proved that incarnational living brings spiritual restoration to the community.

‘We’ve visited several of the partnerships in Manchester and seen what a difference Eden makes to the communities.

‘It’s not just about community and a group of people;

‘It’s not just about community and a group of people, it’s about individual real people who matter to God’

For more on Andy Hawthorn and Eden, see following pages

it’s about individual, real people who matter to God, and who are often desperate and feel that they are being forgotten.

‘But they matter to God and my heart and vision is that we can send a team in who will just love the people to bits and then be given, through that, the opportunity to minister to them and share the love of God with them. We’re really excited. I think it’s going to be amazing.’

And Gary Gibbs, Elim’s Director of Evangelism agrees. He says, ‘I’ve known about Eden for years and years, and looked on from a distance and admired what they’ve done in terms of reaching out to disaffected young people.

‘We’ve been friends with the guys up in Manchester for years and when they decided

to go national, Newcastle was one of the places that flagged up as having some of the lowest wards in terms of deprivation and poverty.

‘Elim holds similar values with Eden in terms of pioneering. Eden by its very nature is a pioneering initiative among young people who are disaffected and despairing.’

As well as the Byker partnership, Elim is also involved in two further Eden Projects in the North East – Blyth, Northumberland, and in Teesside.

Gareth Lloyd Jones, Eden Regional Development Consultant, explains: ‘There’ll be one in Blyth in partnership with Elim. This will be different for Eden because there is no existing church, so Elim is planting a church.’

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Becky Barlow talks to Andy Hawthorne about his charity The Message Trust and his innovative social action work, Eden

A man of many talents who is sending out The Message!

Above Andy Hawthorne, of The Message Trust Main pic Andy turned his back on his lifestyle and now helps others find Christ. Inset, a still from a video used to launch Eden

Andy Hawthorne is a man of many talents. Many will know him as lead singer of Christian rap band the World Wide Message Tribe, others as a dynamic preacher to young people and others as the director of the Christian charity the Message Trust.

The truth is, he is all these things and his story is an inspiration to Christians everywhere of how one man with a vision can change thousands of lives.

Born in inner city Manchester, Andy’s first experience of church wasn’t so great. The dad-of-two says, ‘From as far back as I can remember, I was made to go to church and I found it boring. At the age of 11 when I was given a choice, I stopped going.’

But at the age of 12, Andy became a Christian. ‘A band came to play at my youth club

in Cheadle Hulme. They were called The Sheep and were evangelists. It was amazing for a 12-year-old me. ‘ T h ey d i d a c o n c e r t , preached the gospel and at the end I went to the front and gave my life to Christ. For six months everything went fine but I really struggled at school to maintain a witness.

‘The person I have the most respect for and I believe has the hardest call, is that one young person at school. You so want to fit in and that’s one of the reasons why we focus so much of our time on schools work – to give these Christian kids a boost and for at least one week in the year, make Christianity credible.’

By the age of 16, Andy was living for himself. ‘When I left school, the headmaster’s last words to me were, “If you come

on these premises again, you’re trespassing.” I just went wild for a year. I really lost the plot, out clubbing and in the pubs every night.’

But God hadn’t given up on Andy. ‘All this time my Mum was praying for me and my brother Simon, who was a punk rocker, and always in trouble with the police,’ he explains. ‘Simon was going out with a girl called Lesley. Every year, without fail, Mum would buy us a Christian book which would remain untouched on the bookshelf.

‘One day on a trip to Blackpool, Lesley went into a book store and, because a friend had been telling her about Jesus, she bought a book called, Turned on to Jesus by Arthur Blessitt.

‘She was so impressed that she gave it to Simon and when he opened the cover, it said, “To Simon, with love from Mum,

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Christmas 1972.” To this day we don’t know how that book ended up in that book store, but when Simon read that inscription it was like it said, “with love from God,” and Simon became a Christian.’

It wasn’t long before Andy noticed the change in his brother. ‘The next time I saw him, he was a changed man,’ he remembers. ‘He still had his Mohican but he was different.

He took me to church and I found it as boring as ever.

‘But I had this thought at the end of the service that this was the first good thing I’d done for years. My life had become so worldly. All I seemed to do was get drunk and fight and I was so wrapped up in it.’

But Andy still wasn’t ready to give up his lifestyle.

He says, ‘I was living it up in Manchester during the week

‘My life had become so worldly. All I seemed to do was get drunk and fight. I was so wrapped up in it’

then in church on a Sunday.

Then Simon gave his testimony.

It was 1977, and I was 17. I went home and I prayed, “God, if you will have me back, this is it. I want to go for it.” I didn’t speak in tongues but I believe God filled me with his Holy Spirit and gave me the gift and heart of an evangelist.

‘I woke up the next morning and all I wanted to do was tell people about Christ. The first thing I did was get back connected with church.

‘We got beer mats printed and gave them out in the pubs round Cheadle Hulme. On one side they said, “Come to your local” and on the other side, it said, “Church.”

‘I started to see my friends come to Christ. I had the bug for evangelism.’

Andy and his brother went into business. ‘We made belts

and braces,’ he explains. ‘In 1987 because of a certain Princess Diana, braces came into fashion for girls. We ended up with orders for hundreds of thousands. So we went to the local job centre and basically asked them to send us anyone.

‘We ended up with these 30 young lads who no one else would employ.

‘We were very vocal about our faith and it really shocked us that not one of these lads knew anything about the gospel. For them Jesus was just another way of swearing.

‘We wondered how we could present our faith to them.

Then we had this crazy idea to write to all the churches in Manchester and ask them to support an event that would reach the city’s toughest areas and make it a massive youth mission. I prayed, “Lord if you really want



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us to do this, and take this huge step of faith, please confirm it.” I opened my bible and it fell open at Isaiah 43:19, “For I am about to do something new. See I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

‘So we got a mailing list and wrote to every church in Manchester – then we booked the 3,000-capacity Apollo for a week. That was The Message 1988 – 20,000 people turned up at the Apollo over that week.

Lots of people came to Christ and the churches were working together.’

This was to be the start of the Message Trust which now works with 100,000 young people across Manchester each year.

A Christian rave band was formed, the World Wide Message Tribe, fronted by Andy.

Touring schools for 30 weeks of the year, then going off around the world, they became big on the Christian music scene, selling hundreds of thousands of records. From this The Message grew.

‘The WWMT was always just a platform for the gospel,’ says Andy. ‘It was never meant to be a big band selling CDs around the world. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth to find a heart fully committed to him.”

I think that’s what God found and he was pleased with The Message.

‘The WWMT turned down all sorts of massive events all over the world because our focus was on the schools in Manchester. Our goal became reaching these lost kids with the message of Jesus.

‘We always thought the toughest places were our mission field and that meant inner city Manchester.’

On a guided tour of ‘The Message’ headquarters on an industrial estate in Sharston,

‘We always thought the toughest places were our mission field and that meant inner city Manchester.’

Above The Eden team in Manchester

To find out more go to www.message.org.uk or www.eden-network.org

Manchester, the scale of the operation becomes clear.

There is a prison team, Reflex, which helps young exoffenders. There are two Eden buses which go into inner city areas, and there is Genetik, an academy containing dance studios and professional recording facilities.

The Message spreads the word via several bands, its own theatre group, graphic designers and a video editing suite.

The Message is also involved in a school for 25 kids who have been repeatedly excluded from other schools and is responsible in part for the recent rise in church attendance in Greater Manchester.

But at the heart of the charity’s work is Eden – an initiative which sends workers and volunteers to live in blighted communities, where they organise youth clubs, arts groups, football teams, cyber cafés – whatever it takes to give young people useful and rewarding things to do.

‘In 1996, we did a couple of

schools in Benchill, in Wythenshawe, then officially the worst ward in Britain on the indices of deprivation,’ says Andy. ‘We were working with this little church with 20 people in it.

At the end of that week, 100 kids turned up at church, and they were tough kids. All these wild kids were there to praise the Lord.’

Eden has had its ups and downs, but 13 years on it is well established in Manchester with 11 partnerships with local churches and on the brink of going national.

Elim General Superintendent John Glass praised the work of Eden.

He added, ‘The Eden network is more than a good idea – it is a prophetic initiative rooted in the biblical principles of justice, mercy and care for the marginalised.

‘Andy Hawthorne, apart from being a good friend, is in my view one of the most significant people in the evangelical world in the UK today.’

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From Elim’s evangelism and church planting department

Back to Church Sunday takes place on Sunday, 26th September.

REACH caught up with the founder Michael Harvey, and found out more about this simple but effective outreach

Only bravest go into church on their own for first time...

Above Back to Church Sunday founder Michael Harvey Main image Few people are brave enough to go back to church on their own for the first time, which is why Back to Church Sunday was created. Inset, an advert for the campaign

Michael, tell us a little about yourself I live just outside Manchester with my wife Eike and three children, Ben, Kirsty and Lydia.

For six years now I have tried to weave my day job of being a self-employed business consultant with various ministries aimed at unlocking growth in the kingdom of God. As Back to Church Sunday has grown both in the UK and internationally, it has been more challenging to find the time to fit in the paid work! I made a commitment to Christ at 13 but really the Lord got a-hold of me at 19 after I had failed to get into university. I can remember going into my church one day

during the week, lying flat on the floor and telling the Lord that I was available for his use completely. There were no flashing lights but just a sense in which God had taken my vow seriously. It would be many years later, after a series of hard lessons in which the Lord was shaping me, that he began to open an incredible path which I am still walking.

What is the idea behind BTCS and how did it start?

The idea behind Back to Church Sunday is simple. God appears to have prepared for a personal invitation in the UK hundreds of thousands of people outside the four walls of church build-

ings. However, it takes a brave person to walk into a church building on their own for the first time or the first time in a long time. Back to Church Sunday is helping the Church see that people are waiting for a personal invitation to come.

We have almost convinced ourselves that we need to go on a 12-week evangelism course so that we know the answer to very question an unbeliever might ask before we go out on mission.

Back to Church Sunday reminds the Church that our Father does the work of conversion, we just need to play our part in simple invitation. It is rather like the story of Andrew

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The diary of a church plant...

t

With Justin Tattersall

Stories and insights into Elim’s newest pioneer church plant in Grangetown, Middlesbrough.

Don’t stop gathering

bringing his brother Simon to Jesus. He brought him, physically into Jesus’ presence through the strength of their relationship.

Jesus did the rest.

BTCS started in Manchester in 2004 with a less than unique idea about a welcome Sunday.

No rocket science behind it, nothing that we hadn’t done before as individual churches, just simply asking a friend to bring a friend to church.

How successful has it been?

Little did I know at the time that Back to Church Sunday would be repeated annually on the last Sunday of September across 15 different countries. It has seen 200,000 Christians invite

200,000 friends. The statistics show that some six months after Back to Church Sunday 15 per cent of those invited have become regular worshippers at the church to which they were invited.

We have some wonderful stories of people who were just waiting for the invite, people who have gone on to be missionaries, people whose lives have been revolutionised through a simple invitation.

Why should Elim churches get on board with BTCS? O n e church l ea d er s a i d, ‘Michael, we do this every week, why do we need Back to Church Sunday?’ My chal-

lenge to Elim is different than that to other churches. I want to challenge you to double your congregations in a day, by mobilising every congregational member to invite a friend; one Sunday where you go from 100 to 200, 500, to 1,000, 2,500 to 5,000. I believe God has done the work and we can grow again exponentially.

Back to Church Sunday provides a focused day when a church can ask God who he has been preparing in their life for the invitation.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the whole of Elim in UK actually double its congregations in a day? I challenge you to do it for the extension of his Kingdom.

It’s pretty trendy at the moment to be called a deconstructionalist! You might not have heard it called that before, but essentially it means doing away with church and meeting in the traditional sense in favour of something that is less structured, less formal and something more spontaneous. Maybe some reading this might quite like the sound of it? Well, before we give all our pastors heart palpitations, let me start where I began – don’t stop gathering!

In the early days of church planting, when you have discussed values and philosophy, talked logos and designs, the point of gathering as a small group can sometimes fade a little. We have to decide that it is worth it. It is fine to deconstruct, deciding what is really important when you gather; but unless you actually gather instead of waiting for the first few new members, then it will never happen. We have to model something that is to come. Call it prophetic or just plain sense, but the act of gathering is what matters.

When to gather?

In church planting, assuming that 10.30am on Sunday morning will work is presumptuous. A few issues earlier, I wrote about forming a gathering around your community. One friend discovered young families had been awake since 7am so started a congregation at 9am with young families in mind. Within a short while there was a thriving group of 20–30 families with their children meeting for an all age meeting. My first article for Direction was about a congregation for students which met at 4.30pm on Sunday afternoon in Costa Coffee. The point is where we meet, when we meet, even how me meet – doesn’t matter. What matters is we actually do meet.

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Get your shorts on and help church blossom I am what people call a ‘fair weather gardener’ – I believe that if the temperature is not suitable for shorts and a T-shirt then it’s not suitable for gardening.

If my day off doesn’t coincide with good weather then the growing lawn and shrubs are allowed to flex their photosynthetic muscles and get one step closer to reproducing a scene from the Day of the Triffids film.

After a progressively wet summer, playing football with the kids in the garden can seem more like a game of ‘hide and seek’ as we tiptoe around trying to see over the top of the grass. For me, gardening is not to be enjoyed – it is to be endured.

But even the gentle persuasion of sunshine beating upon my sweating brow is not quite enough to get me powering up the lawn mower. Being a compulsive ‘multi-tasker’ means that I need to find an accompanying activity to coincide with any such ’green fingery’. Favourites include listening to the radio or a Christian podcast but if I could find a way of attaching my laptop to the handlebars of the petrol powered rota-blade in order to catch up on my e-mails then I may just find gardening a bearable pastime.

This has been our first spring/ summer season in our new Malvern home and I’m beginning to wonder if the previous owners impregnated the soil with miracle grow. Not so long back, the garden looked trimmed, complacent and content without any apparent pretensions regarding colour or growth. ‘It’ was happy to just sit there, Consistent, Constant and... (I need another ‘C’ or I can’t call myself an Elim preacher!!)

As I stood at the kitchen sink in the winter months (whilst

‘I like life – life is good and I’m pretty sure I would prefer to be surrounded by ‘messy life’ than ‘plastic death’

washing dishes and answering e-mails) the view through the window on to the garden may have been plain, boring and colourless but it was tidy, unchanging and maintenance free.

Then the clocks went forward and overnight I’m wondering if my kids have swapped ‘daisy the cow’ for some ‘magic beans’ which my wife has thrown out through the kitchen window.

But something undeniably beautiful begins to happen! ‘Colour’ – vivid strong colours that illuminate the thriving green landscape – flowers that stretch out their petals to the golden God-ordained rays of sunshine which are taking a day trip to the UK from Australia. It looks amazing and I had no idea it had been there all along, hiding its potential in the plain appearance of a hibernating garden.

But along with the beauty of such growth comes the predatorial weeds – manoeuvring their way into un-vacant areas, muscling in on the action, challenging the legitimacy of flowers whose names I cannot spell. As I don my shorts, put the buds from

my iPod into my ears and strap my laptop on the gardening fork, I’m ready to do battle with these illegitimate plants – Mr Muscle v Mr Weed!

After a hard day of garden battles and a well deserved Radox bath, I’m able to sit on the decking and look out over the manicured garden whilst enjoying an organic Fairtrade cup of tea.

It’s time to enjoy the fruit of my labours and be overwhelmed with that sense of satisfaction that comes from a job well done – but in the back of my mind I’m fully aware that this job is going to be never ending. Quicker than I can empty the contents of my gardening waste bag at the local recycling centre, there will be plants that need pruning and weeds that need wrestling.

Maybe I should get rid of the lot and lay a plastic lawn with plastic plants?

Plastic may have lots of appeal.

It would be in bloom throughout the year, would never need pruning and I could donate my lawn mower to a neighbour. On the contra side, it would be false and lifeless. I like life – life is good and I’m pretty sure I would prefer to be surrounded by ‘messy life’ than ‘plastic death’.

Life in the Church can be messy – it probably involves installing ash trays in the car park or needing to remind people to keep their handbags with them in the service. It probably means someone sits in our favourite seat or an unsanctified word gets dropped into a ‘word of testimony’. That’s what happens when the Church decides that they treasure reality over the plastic alternative.

May our churches blossom with life and colour and may we all get our shorts on to get on with the job!

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In this month’s Summit column, Gary Gibbs asks, ‘Do rainbow colours work when you’re supporting football teams?’

Win or lose, certain hope is in God through Jesus Christ Above Gary Gibbs Main image The World Cup has the potential to unite England’s population behind the team.

Jesus sees us as equals at all times

THE

C O L U M N

I have a dream. It’s the evening of July 11th. Wayne Rooney elegantly controls a raking pass from Frank Lampard. With the deftest of touches, Rooney chips the ball over the Brazilian goalkeeper’s flailing arms and into the net. The Johannesburg air is filled with songs of victory – 34 years of hurt are over. England win the World Cup! Another dream is that when ‘the boys’ bring the trophy home, the England fans standing in the streets and cheering will constitute a whole variety of skin colours, racial and ethnic backgrounds. Some would want us to believe that you can only be English if you are white and Christian.

This type of racial and religious bigotry and prejudice knows little about our history

and shows nothing of the generous and hospitable Spirit of Christ.

The issue of immigration and asylum has been used much in recent months, often by the more extreme political groupings, to stir up passion and even hatred towards those who ‘are not like us.’ It’s not that we should necessarily have a wide ‘The vast majority of Englanders came from somewhere else at some point in history!’ open door policy for anyone coming from anywhere, but this nation does need to remember that the reason why there are fellow citizens in our land whose recent origins were geographically elsewhere is because many came and brought something

important to ‘the party’.

Oh, and the vast, vast majority of Englanders came from somewhere else at some point in history!

South Africa and the World Cup It is known all over the planet as the Rainbow Nation. Desmond Tutu and then Nelson Mandela used this title to signify that in a post-apartheid country, there was the opportunity for peace and reconciliation. While not wanting to underestimate some of the wonderful changes that have come about in South Africa, there are still massive areas of life which require change.

It has been only a few months since black workers on his farm allegedly murdered white supremacist, Eu-

36

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04/06/2010 11:23:53

BOOKC A SE with Richard Dodge

Adoption, Sonship and the Family Business Geoff Blease Life Publications (purchase from Geoff Blease)

gene Terre’Blanche. Rumours abound of those in sympathy with what Terre’Blanche stood for, organising to cause problems at both the World Cup and among the majority population.

We shall pray that this does not happen.

In some ways, football is very much a religion: it has the power to unite and divide; it can demand fierce loyalty; at its best it can bring a sense of joy, freedom and well-being. ANC members who were political prisoners on Robben Island during the apartheid years testify to how football sustained them during those dark times.

A recent television documentary suggested that young black South Africans in the townships make lifestyle choices between murder, drugs or football. Even for those who choose to play, ‘the healing power of football’ has a limited effect.

It may provide a distraction for a while from the harsh realities of the shanty town, but in a society where the temptation

to engage in crime, gangsterism and drugs is never far away, many will, and do, succumb.

More precious than football What is certain, whether there or here, is that national sports teams do have the potential, at least for a while, to galvanise a country’s population with a sense of pride and belonging.

We can recognise our common nationality, wherever we originally came from or whatever our religious background might be.

But once the tournament is over, two equal truths remain for followers of Jesus: the first is a recognition of the intrinsic value and worth of every person, England supporter or not, Christian or not, new to this nation or not! The second is the loving imperative to reach out to everyone with the message that win or lose, in triumph or despair, our certain hope and fulfilment is found in a relationship with God through Jesus.

I am always pleased when a fellow Elim minister gets into print. This book should be read by every Christian who’s desperate to move up into God’s destiny for them The original teaching this book unpacks began as a seminar at the 2007 Elim Conference at Minehead. Since that time the message has been edited, expanded and now presented to a wider group of people who are hungry for God. Coming from an engineering background and service in the army as an officer, Geoff Blease’s attention to detail is obvious. By ensuring that the written word clearly conveys his teaching he has done the reader a great favour.

On reading this book I was both challenged and comforted by its message.

One of the ways this book could be used is in the local church’s programmes for spiritual development, increasing spiritual growth and training potential leaders. Buy the book and be blessed!

Paperback, £8.99 Grace and Forgiveness John and Carol Arnott New Wine Ministries

and Carol Arnott’s teaching ministry is not just for ‘spiritual’ people.

This remarkable little book will give readers a sound understanding of the relationship between ‘grace’ and ‘forgiveness’. When people are converted give them a copy of this book – then take them through it step by step.

Paperback, £6.00 Personhood and Christianity Oliver Forshaw The Lutterworth Press This book begins with the question: What is human wellbeing? You may have your own answer to that question, but this book will help you to examine the depth of your view. It is not an easy read but it will repay your perseverance in following the writer’s arguments.

Paperback, £25.00 Kingdom Principles Myles Munroe Destiny Image This is the second book in Dr Munroe’s K ingdom Series and seeks to lead God’s people into making a priority of ‘seeking first the Kingdom’. Each chapter ends with a summary of the principles taught and I found this very helpful. I look forward to reading the whole series!

Paperback, £9.00

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Listed here are just a few of the hundreds of Elim churches.

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For more details visit our website: www.elim.org.uk

PUTTING YOUR CHURCH ON THE MAP Chilterns Christian Fellowship CHILTERNS FELLOWSHIP 28 HighCHRISTIAN Street, Princes Risborough Bucks, HP27 0AX

www.chilterns.org AT THE01844-275822 HEART OF THE CHILTERNS email: office@chilterns.org

Visiting the

Blackpool area?

We offer you a warm welcome.

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BIRMINGHAM Sunday services: 10.30 & 6.30

Request map at admin@birminghamcc.co.uk (EN93)

Senior minister: Colin Dye

9am & 11am Celebration Service 2.30pm Teaching Service

Services in English, Sundays 11am & 6.30pm.

Many Weekly activities.

Rev Howard Coley, Rev Susan Coley and Rev David Hodgson extend a warm welcome.

elim @ bristol city church

5pm Equipping Service 7pm Revival Service

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Plaza Ibenza, Benalmadena Costa, Malaga, Spain

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Christ Harvest Centre Unit C30, Hastingwood Trading Estate, Harbet Road, Edmonton, London N18 3HT (Same road as Costco)

Sunday: 10am Wednesday: Bible Study/Prayer, 7pm First Friday: 10pm – Night Vigil

Ministers: Victor K. Macarthy and Wale J. Grillo christharvestcentre@yahoo.co.uk

Sat 7pm – Revival Celebration

LEYTONSTONE ELIM PENTECOSTAL CHURCH Hainault Road, Leytonstone, London E11 Sunday Services: 11.00 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Mid-week Prayer Meeting: Weds 8.00 p.m.

MINISTERS: MERVYN TILLEY & SAMUEL GILL Telephone 0208 539 2286 E-mail elimleytonstone@aol.com

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CHELMSFORD Elim Christian Centre

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Nr. Notting Hill Gate Underground

236 2997

00 34 695 115 496

Kensington Temple Kensington Park Road, London W11 3BY

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173 Upper Richmond Road West, East Sheen, London SW14 8DU Welcome to

For full details Contact Barry on 0115 824 0777 or email ads@newlife.co.uk

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visit www.newwaters.co.uk

Reach Others.

Place your Elim Church here for as little as £10

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We meet in: The Frank Townend Community Centre, Kensington Road, Cleveleys (nr Blackpool) FY5 1ER Every Sunday at 10.30am and Thursdays at 7.30pm

For details of where we meet visitInour site us a call. theweb Heart of or thegive Chilterns We offer you a warm invitation to come and enjoy fellowship 28 High Street, Princes Risborough, during the week in our Oasis Coffee Lounge and Bookshop Bucks HP27 0AX Sunday morning meetings held at :The01844 Community Centre; Wades Park; Stratton Road; Princes 275822 www.chilterns.org Risborough from 10:30am. River Meetings and Soaking Senior Pastor: Centres on Sunday evenings. Phone for more information Geoff Blease 344556 Senior Pastor – Geoff01844 Blease 01844-344556

43

03/06/2010 12:23:46

DIRECTION

After the election The election is over... and Christians need to be salt and light no matter who is in charge, as Nola Leach Chief Executive of CARE explains

Well, it’s all over! We have watched the debates, we have seen the polls fluctuate, we have attended hustings, we have had the upsets! We may be feeling pleased, but we may be feeling disappointed that the result was not what we expected or hoped for. So what now? Is our involvement really all over? I would venture to suggest not. Politics has been defined as the 

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DIRECTION



‘art of living together in community’ and the Bible is precisely about what it means to be part of God’s people living in God’s world.

It is true that the world will not be put right by politics, but it is also right to have hope for politics, to have expectations and demand good things from it.

In Romans, Paul reminds us that we must recognise the legitimacy of State government ‘for God is the one who put it there’. However, political office is granted under God’s authority – governments are required to carry out God’s mandate for ruling their people. Just as Paul and Silas stood up for their rights after being released from prison, so we have a right to have our rights as Christians respected.

As Christians we want a spiritually healthy country. The Christian voice needs to be heard and the best way we can do that is by getting to know the politicians, not least by caring for them – by finding out their needs and praying for them. We have a huge opportunity now to build relationships with our local MPs, many of whom will be new to Parliament. Consider inviting them to your church, perhaps by sharing a meal.

This keeps both us and our MP informed and aware of how the church is meeting the needs of the local community.

We in CARE were so thrilled that over 280 hustings meetings were organised by churches.

Christians were engaged in a way many of them had not been before. But, as we have seen, this engagement does not end now. That is why we have produced a What to Do Now resource which you can download from our website www.care.org.uk.

As Christians we are well aware of the growing secularisation of our nation and Parliament. How can we possibly change things? One way is by

‘The Christian voice needs to be heard and the best way we can do that is by getting to know the politicians, not least by caring for them’

Above CARE’s Chief Executive Nola Leach www.care.org.uk www.prayforschools.org

actually joining a political party.

This allows us to shape policy from the inside. It entitles us to vote on party issues and share in the selection of candidates for election at local and national level. Who knows, ultimately we too could be selected to stand for election!

There are huge opportunities here. A few years ago CARE encouraged its supporters to consider this. A few months later Lyndon Bowring (CARE Exec Chairman and Elim minister) had an email from a supporter telling of his experiences. He had joined his local party and within three months was the chairman of his local branch!

Lyndon will never forget when a newly elected MP walked into his office and greeted him with the words ‘I am only in Parliament because of you’. He had heard Lyndon preach about getting involved and accepted the challenge.

We need to continue to be

informed and aware of what is happening in the local and national scene. Many Christian organisations produce regular updates, of which CARE’s Impact Direct is one. Each week there is news and advice about action to take and issues to pray about. This is a valuable tool to help you make your opinions known.

Jeremiah’s timely reminder to the exiles in Jeremiah 29:7 to ‘seek the peace and prosperity of the city’ and ‘to pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers you too will prosper’ applies to us just as much today. They were told to build houses, get married have children and settle down. It probably was the last thing they wanted to hear.

Like them we are called to bring hope where there is despair and justice where there is injustice.

There are so many areas in which we can be salt and light. Take the local school for example. There is an excellent project, Pray for Schools, with the vision that every school becomes a prayed-for school.

Why not consider setting up a prayer group? Christian contributions like organising worship for assemblies and taking part in RE lessons are often welcomed. School Governors can have a significant influence on a school; why not consider this as an area of service? (www. prayforschools.org for more information).

Then there are street pastors; neighbourhood watch schemes; residents’ associations; trades unions. We can help to shape what is broadcast and written in the media by commending the good as well as expressing concerns about the bad.

We are, as Peter reminds us, ‘aliens and strangers’ in the world. Yet we are also a people of hope – we have been ‘given a new birth into a living hope’. Let us together ‘keep singing songs in a foreign land’.

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04/06/2010 11:28:54

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cop: praying has cut crime A ToP oP police inspector has revealed that he believes prayer has helped cut crime.

Insp Roger Bartlee, of devon and Cornwall Police, said that following prayer from local Christians, crime rates dropped. etection rates have soared, road detection accidents have fallen — and Mr Bartlett is convinced it is evidence of divine intervention.

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‘Use christian values to be a better boss’ Good business leaders are those who put Christian values at the heart of their organisations, the Archbishop of Wales has said. dr Barry Morgan, below, said it was important that leaders believe in the people working under them, recognise their gifts, inspire them to achieve, and value their contribution.

He said: “The world of business often uses spiritual, even religious, language. Businesses talk about the need for vision and having a mission plan.

“In fact the literal meaning of the word ‘company’ is a place where people ‘share bread with each other’,” he said.

“This highlights the fact that personal relationships are crucial in business.

People need to feel valued and cared for as people in their own right, not as cogs in a machine,” dr Morgan told the Leading Wales Awards.

He added: “When that happens they feel they matter, have a contribution to make and that enhances their sense of wellbeing which in turn affects their attitude to everything and everyone else.

“Th is is a rel ig ious concept, because Christians maintain that that’s the attitude of God towards his people and ought to be our atat titude towards one another.”

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James Burke-Dunsmore will play Jesus in the Passion play in Trafalgar Square

Picture: Graham Turner/Guardian News & Media

easter play plan for trafalgar Sq. THE HARROwINg death of Jesus Christ is to be played out this Easter in the centre of London.

Trafalgar Square will be turned into a biblical

scene on Good Friday as thousands watch the reenactment of the crucifixion and resurrection.

More than 20,000 are expected to spectate as actor James Burke-dunsmore is “nailed” to a cross as the story of Easter unfolds.

The show’s writer and producer, Peter Hut-

ley, said the crucifixion, which involves Jesus being winched up a cross, would not “pull any p01.indd punches” in its presentation.

1 “We can adapt to any space,” he added. “We find Trafalgar Square a daunting place. Where do you ● Continued on Page 3

Elim’s in prayer teractive commu How iP ra nity part of yer is becomin Mark Pu g an inte

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04/06/2010 14:58:23

04/06/2010 14:53:35

Elim minister Barry Killick emphasises the need for every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit today

The ministry of Jesus has promised a baptism by fire

Above Barry Killick says we need to re-emphasise the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The doctrine of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues is as relevant today as it was in the 1900s when the Spirit was first poured out in Britain. We all need the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of our faith, and we also need to fan into flame our prayer language of speaking in tongues.

The ministry of Jesus begins and ends with the promise of a ‘baptism by fire’. John the Baptist introduces him as the one who would, ‘Baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire’ (Matthew 3:11). The final words of Jesus before leaving the earth were instructions for the disciples to, ‘Wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 1:5). Luke’s

Gospel describes this as being ‘clothed with power from on high’.

Historically there have been three basic approaches to this subject. There are those who think that at conversion you receive everything, and therefore don’t need to seek a ‘second’ experience. Technically called ‘cessationalists’ these folk believe the baptism and gifts of the Spirit ceased after the first century.

Secondly the evangelical approach taught at the Keswick Convention that you receive the Spirit at a second blessing when Jesus becomes Lord of your life requiring a yielding and emptying of yourself. The emptier of self you are the fuller of the Holy Spirit you become.

Then there is the traditional Pentecostal doctrine suggests a ‘subsequent’ experience of

the Holy Spirit. The Christian needs to ‘wait or tarry’ for the ‘Baptism of the Holy Spirit’ and expect ‘signs’ to follow this separate experience – primarily that you will speak in tongues as happened in Acts 2.

On five separate occasions in Acts, the early history book of the church, the Holy Spirit comes with power with the most remarkable results. Jesus had already breathed the Holy Spirit on his disciples in John 20:22 but in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, there is a deluge of the Holy Spirit upon those 120 disciples resulting in 3,000 conversions – who then go on to be baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8 describes an evangelistic crusade where people are clearly converted through the ministry of Philip but subsequently he asks two other

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Music Reviews with Mark Wreford

apostles to come and lay hands on the new converts that they may receive the Holy Spirit.

We see Paul’s dramatic conversion in Acts 9 on the Damascus Road but subsequently (three days later) Ananias comes and prays for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 10 there is a different pattern with the conversion of Cornelius and his household.

They are born again, filled with the Holy Spirit and then baptised in water. The Apostle Paul at Ephesus, recorded in Acts 19, asks the question, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ Paul preached the clear gospel to them; they were baptised in water and subsequently (and separately) were prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit baptism.

It is clear that all Christians should grow in grace and faith, which will mean being more full of the Holy Spirit, but the language of the New Testament is of a definite and separate and subsequent ‘experience’ of being baptised in the Holy Spirit, often by the laying on of hands. Theologians call this the

doctrine of ‘subsequence’ Someone described the whole idea that you are filled with the Holy Spirit when you are much more mature as being like a general saying to his soldiers, ‘right men, go out and fight and, if you do really well, next time you can have a gun!’

The idea that ‘speaking in tongues’ is no longer important or relevant is just not borne out by the many references in Scripture. Paul the Apostle spoke in tongues more than anyone and encouraged all to do so and told us not to forbid it (1 Cor. 14:5; 18; 39); Christ mentioned it among the consequences of faith (Mark 16:17); it accompanied the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in outstanding cases in Acts (Chap 2; 10:44; 19:6); it is one of the nine gifts deliberately chosen for the enriching of the Church (1 Cor. 12:10); it edifies us as believers 1 Cor. 14:4,5; It is listed with the ministry of teachers, apostles and prophets (1 Cor. 2:30).

Now, more than ever we need to re-emphasise the baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied with speaking in tongues!

Consumed Jesus Culture ‘Consumed’ pretty much sums up the Jesus Culture mentality. The live recordings were clearly done at venues packed with enthusiastic worshippers who simply wanted to give God praise, and it’s this abandonment that comes through on the recording. Jesus Culture has rapidly made a name for themselves among worship aficionados and their albums have become well-worn ‘old favourites’ immediately.

What perhaps helps this cause is that you’re likely to know a bunch of the tracks on the albums.

While the guys have developed a fine reputation for carrying the presence of God both live and on the CDs, they aren’t as well known for writing original material.

When your offerings sound like this, it’s not exactly a problem, but with the spontaneity

and creativity, it almost feels like we’re missing out on a new set of songs to sum up the cry of a worshipping heart.

My pick for the stand out track is slightly unusual! The penultimate song is a simple re-working of a Keith Green song, Oh Lord You’re Beautiful. A fine cover of Delirious? song Obsession also lives long in the memory as do Dance with me and Holy.

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my fai leukaetmh beat ia

A friEnd confirm of Michae talked ed the pop l Jackson’s about star consta has God in our ntly Augus in his last days. reveale t issue, Crouch d that gospel new Life singer Jacko, and sister sandra Andre weeks pictured below, prayed a before for his death. a couple A nd of man, rea, th rough said: h is spoke not reject “he did sthe prayer Jesus or when prayed we joined , and gladly in prayer “there . was no tual ‘sinner acs prayer howev ’ er, but did talk they anoint and pray about ing of the holy Jesus and And now, the who works friend spirit.” dr Arnold for Jacko’s Jason Pfeiffe the thrille Klein, has dermatologisr, t also r supers of heart tar had revealed in his a change final days.

Pfei change ffer sa id: “he compl d in the was saying final etely fore passin goodby two weeks. g. Everyoes the week he out by beit. he ne was was talking in the creepe last few d about weeks.

God ”

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A Chris tiAn was launch prayer group for those ed after that 9/11 is affecte swine prayin flu outbre d by the escalat g the Christ ak. ing work (CEn) ian believe Emergency answe nets r fected for the illnessGod is the only a million , which CEn found people has worldw af“this warran er Mary Marr ide. prayer ts an said: urgent ration. and personal/chu call to rch best at the church is going prepathree many to be the will be things: Prayin found, spared g that and by many that God , a cure will becom be throug es known the Method h the crisis.” aging those ist Church is virus to dial housebound encouron the in with the interne to church t. service s

A 20-ye ten per ar-old given a survival cent chan ce an aggreafter developinof leukaemiassive form g miraculous has made of recovery. a Calum Gillies healed

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D I RE C T I O N

A n s w e r s

ELIM E X PERTS K EEP YOU POS TED

You frame the questions for Elim experts to answer. This month: long-serving pastor, Jim Dick

Cosmetic surgery makes no difference in eternity I’m considering plastic surgery, partially to help with a nasal problem, but partly for cosmetic reasons.

Is this OK? Plastic surgery to relieve a physical problem will obviously be very helpful to you, but when you move into the realm of plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons it becomes a much bigger subject. So often it can be used to attempt to create the perfect shape that will make us more attractive and acceptable to others, the thought being that if we look better we will feel better and therefore be better.

As Christians we understand from the Word that what we are on the inside is much more important to God – after all, he looks at the heart not the outward appearance.

I believe that Christians should be taking a stand against the world’s obsession with outward form. It will make no difference in eternity and it can only stem the tide of physical deterioration for a short time. By saying this I am not implying that Christians should be renowned for their dowdiness, but when considerably large sums of money are spent to enhance (temporarily) the outward appearance I think it may be time to examine where our priorities lie.

I’ve just found out that my husband was unfaithful to me several years ago.

Is it right for me to divorce him?

This is not an easy question to answer because there are some relevant factors that are not known. For example, did your husband confess of his own accord or was he ‘discovered’? Also did he show real repentance and contrition, and how has his behaviour been since the ‘discovery’? You may have the ‘right’ to divorce your hus-

band, but there is also the choice prompted by grace to forgive and rebuild if there has been true repentance. Divorce may be the person’s ‘right’ but it is seldom an easy route, especially if there is the least hope of reconciliation and recovery How should I go about starting to speak in tongues?

Speaking in tongues is not the goal of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples quite clearly to wait in Jerusalem for the infilling of the Spirit and that after this they would receive power to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. So power for obedience to fulfil his purpose in evangelising the world is the ‘main thing’. The baptism in the Spirit begins with a desire to receive power to obey Christ in all things.

I would suggest that you familiarise yourself with the Scriptures on the baptism with the Spirit, then spend time in worshipping Christ and praying for the fulfilling of his promise of the Spirit. Tongues is an initial evidence of a Christian receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues is a gift to enable us in prayer, but the abiding evidence of the Spirit’s infilling is not tongues. 2 Tim 1:7 is a verse worth studying to help you to understand the all-round blessing of the empowering Spirit in a person’s life: ‘God has given us the spirit of power, love and self-discipline’. This describes the beautiful threefold cord of the balanced Spirit-filled life – power, love and self-discipline.

Why does Jesus make such a big point of how hard it is for rich people to enter heaven? What does that mean for the ‘wealthy West’?

Jesus spoke a lot about money but he

never implied that money was evil. It is ‘the love of money’ that is the root of all kinds of evil. Money takes on the morality of its owner. When Jesus condemned the rich he was condemning the fact that they were trusting in their riches for acceptance with God. They took the fact that they had so much of it as evidence of the favour of God towards them.

Christians in the West do have enormous wealth compared with believers in other parts of the world. This can be a burden and a blessing. It can be a burden in that just like the wealthy that Jesus condemned, our materialism can breed a smug complacency. But our comparative wealth can also be a Kingdom blessing if used to support poorer Christians in the spreading of the gospel. It is a fact that the poor Christians in this world are doing far more with their ‘little’ than the rich Christians are doing with their ‘plenty’. In a materialistic society dominated by consumerism it can be a hard choice to live simply so that we can enable others to simply live.

If God has already forgiven all my sin, why shouldn’t I make the best of it?

God wants us to ‘make the best of it’, but I suspect that what you have in mind is not what God has in mind for us to make the best of our lives. The liberty of sins forgiven is not an excuse for license to do what we like. It is a reason to do what he wants. The spirit of the world is the desire to be free from all restraint and be able to do whatever we want. After all ‘you’re worth it’ is the world’s slogan.

But the Spirit of Christ who is in all true believers calls us to find the freedom of doing what he wants.

If you have a question, email it to: editor@newlife.co.uk Keep your questions coming so that thousands can benefit from the answers!

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04/06/2010 11:31:07

DI R E C T I O N

A n d f i n a L Ly . . .

by John Lancaster

Grace ‘through the looking glass’ Serendipity, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is ‘the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident’.

Something like that may have moved William Cowper to sing, ‘Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings.’ Those special moments come not only when the Christian sings, but also when he reads his Bible. One such moment came to me recently when ploughing through the latter part of the book of Exodus with its detailed descriptions of the construction of the Tabernacle.

Trying to visualise the various items of furniture is not always easy, but perseverance brought a moment of serendipity in Exodus 38:8: ‘They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.’

I had read that verse a number of times without seeing anything special in it, but this time it ‘winked’! It seemed to be saying, ‘Wait a moment, come over here and take a fresh look at what I’m saying.’ I obeyed!

On the face of it, the verse was simply describing the manufacture of a piece of ‘church furniture’ – the laver, or basin in which the priests were to wash their hands and feet before officiating

at the altar, like the wash basin in many a minister’s vestry. Made of bronze, it was created out of the bronze mirrors of the women who worked at the entrance to the tabernacle. What their duties were is not explained, but possibly they were the equivalent of that noble army of cleaners who faithfully keep our churches looking nice. It was then that the significance of the verse rang a bell: the important sacrificial ministries of the tabernacle were made possible by women who had made a sacrifice of their own – surrendering their muchprized mirrors!

Probably taken from the Egyptians when they left on that fateful Passover night, the polished bronze mirrors must have meant a great deal to these women, as their modern counterparts do to their 21st century sisters – and brothers! In them they could see themselves, touch up their personal blemishes, improve their appearance, and take pleasure (sometimes) in what they saw. It is not only the wicked queen in the story of Snow White who seeks self-affirmation from her mirror; for all of us our mirrors become the focal point of self-interest, for better or for worse. But

‘Like Narcissus in the Greek fable, we can become so absorbed with ourselves that in the pursuit of self-fulfilment we isolate ourselves from relationships with God and others’

now, suddenly, these Hebrew women who were already serving the Lord were being asked to surrender these precious possessions so that they could be transmuted into something which would facilitate the ministry of the priests in leading the worship of God. It can’t have been easy for them.

My ‘mirror’ may not be of bronze or glass, but it is the thing that reflects my self-interest – my personal well-being or success, my ambitions, possessions, reputation, even my ‘ministry’; the things that make me feel good and look good – and sometimes even my obsession with my own failures. We live in a ‘me’ generation, when personal interests take pride of place.

Like Narcissus in the Greek fable, we can become so absorbed with ourselves that in the pursuit of self-fulfilment we isolate ourselves from relationships – with God and others – which would both enrich us and make us a channel of blessing. And in the end we lose ourselves in the river of self-contemplation.

In contrast, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 16:24-26 that in losing ourselves in following him, we actually find our true identity.

When the mirror of self-interest is yielded and melted down with others in the divine recycling programme, the work of God is facilitated and the worship of God is enriched.

To adapt Lewis Carroll’s famous title, it is ‘Through the looking glass and what Grace (not Alice) found there.’

50

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04/06/2010 11:32:05

e

‘Satan was out to kill me’

K A U k Q o I ho IT ter s

n

st

12/04/2010 08:23:30

dw he

I lo

Faith helps former champion turn his life around Suzette Hattingh is back on her feet after a year ministering from a wheelchair

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ever y mon th E

Top darts player hits bulls-eye

ALSO Peterborough • Silverdale • Ledbury • Manchester

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Manchester • Halesowen • Timothy Initiative

&

Just because you’re called doesn’t mean you’re prepared, says Nigel Tween

a dis

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an d?

ALSO

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Shell Perris tells how faith transformed her life

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b y jo m

Ever thought of Bible college?

i sl

PL O YE

Megachurch leader talks about ministry

God healed my anorexia

We talk to rock musician turned worship leader, missionary & Bible Week guest, Lara Martin

Direction Magazine re w

D

Church took a chance on me

ROMANIA CALLING

W

08/03/2010 16:45:27

The Evangelicals must be heard Believers are getting political, says J John

N

LIF E

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Beverley Trotman • Barry Killick • Neil Hudson

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But it made my faith grow stronger, says Sheila Jacobs

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IP SH S? LEIOU ith CIPLIR tin sSumieew DISDE Mar isinterv

at The Gathering 1,700 young people head for Telford and an uncompromising message

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How one Elim church is helping meet the need for leaders

My Mum’s got dementia

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Church growth explosion rocks Ethiopia

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‘I see a time of miracles again in the UK’ AoG’s National Leader to speak at Elim Conference

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