War Cry 15 June 2024

Turning over a new leaf for Independent Bookshop Week

WAR CRY

Lost and found

Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell bring people together in Long Lost Family

‘The Euros will be an amazing experience’

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.

What is the War Cry?

The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major

Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow

Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku

Staff Writer: Emily Bright

Staff Writer: Claire Brine

Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk

Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston

Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

Graphic Designer: Natalie Adkins

Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 1 Champion Park London SE5 8FJ

Tel: 0845 634 0101

Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org

Founder: William Booth

General: Lyndon Buckingham

Territorial leaders: Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main

Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn

Your local Salvation Army centre

Before the age of video gaming there was a game called Happy Families in which players had to collect the four cards of each family represented in the pack. The player who reunited the most families was the winner.

By today’s standards the game may sound old-fashioned. Yet in the real world, many people who have been separated from their families want to reconnect with them.

It’s why programmes such as Long Lost Family are so popular. In our feature this week on the return of the ITV1 show, we also report on The Salvation Army’s Family Tracing Service, which has been reuniting relatives since 1885.

As team leader Karen Wallace tells us, the motivation to carry out the work is grounded in the organisation’s Christian faith.

‘The Bible’s message is centred on God’s desire and plan for us to be with him in mind, body and spirit, so, to be reconciled to him as our creator,’ she says. ‘The Family Tracing Service seeks to mirror this for people needing reconnection, to provide an opportunity to find a way back to each other.’

The tracing service is not the only work The Salvation Army carries out for families. In this week’s issue we look at how one of its centres supported a family of Syrian refugees who fled to the UK in 2017.

Seven years on, one of the team that helped them, Jill Grinsted, tells us how the family has settled in the country and is making a contribution to the community.

Jill also says that her Salvation Army centre’s support of the family ‘has been living proof that getting stuck in does make a difference’. She explains: ‘We did it because of God and our commitment to love people.’

Christians believe that God loves everybody, and they want to show that love themselves by providing assistance people need. In the process, they are helping to create more real-life happy families.

INFO INFO

Presenters

A family af fair

Documentary provides answers about abandoned babies’ biological relatives

InOctober 1965, when only a couple of weeks old, Thomas was left under a waiting room bench at Reading train station. He was seen with his mother, who bought a ticket to Bristol but then disappeared.

Years later, when he became a father, Thomas wanted to learn about his history, but he couldn’t make much headway. So he began a fresh search to discover who his mother was and what happened to her – a quest followed by presenters Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell in a new series of Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace, which started on ITV1 on Monday (10 June).

After DNA testing, Thomas discovered that he had a maternal cousin, Martina, who lives in Dublin. Born about two years after Thomas, she too had been abandoned – in her case, at a church in the city a week before Christmas.

Martina, who was later adopted, wanted to find her biological mother to tell her that all was forgiven and that she still loved her. So she asked the programme to take on her search too.

Together, the cousins got more than they bargained for, learning lots about their biological parents and finding other family members. It gave them much-needed answers, and a sense of identity about who they are and where they have come from.

But finding answers to family puzzles isn’t purely the remit of Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace. Organisations such as The Salvation Army also seek to reunite people with their families. While the church and charity doesn’t work on genealogical searches or adoption cases, it still plays a role in family tracing across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Karen Wallace, team leader for the church and charity’s Family Tracing Service, explains that its desire to bring about reunions and reconciliation comes from its foundation of faith.

‘The Bible’s message is centred on God’s desire and plan for us to be with him, in mind, body and spirit, so, to be reconciled to him as our creator,’ she says. ‘The Family Tracing Service seeks to mirror this for people needing reconnection, to provide an opportunity to find a way back

to each other.

‘There are many reasons for the request to find someone, but the motivation of the family tracing service is always reconciliation. It’s wonderful that The Salvation Army’s Family Tracing Service can support people in the uniqueness of their story of separation, and help to achieve that desired reconciliation, which can bring forgiveness where needed and peace.’

Whether we know our biological family members or not, there is one relationship that can bring a sense of peace and fulfilment to us all. God, who is seen by Christians as their heavenly Father, longs for us to connect with him and to experience his love.

One early Christian urged his fellow believers: ‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are’ (1 John 3:1 New International Version). It doesn’t matter what our history may have been, God offers each one of us a relationship that will bring more to our lives than we could ever imagine.

Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall

TV feature by Emily Bright

talk talk Team talk Team talk ‘ ’

j TEA M TALK

Another precious day

Emily Bright gives her take on a story that has caught the attention of War Cry reporters

It’s a day for the dads on Sunday (16 June). For many, Father’s Day will be an opportunity to celebrate the sacrificial contribution that the important men in their life have made. But for others, it may stir up painful memories or grief.

I’m particularly thinking of people who are in a situation similar to that of the family of rugby league player and charity campaigner Rob Burrow, who recently died aged 41 after developing motor neurone disease.

After his death, the BBC broadcast a documentary tribute to him, There’s Only One Rob Burrow, which featured archive TV footage, home videos and exclusive interviews with family and friends.

Life is full of unexpected adversity

Watching the documentary, I was struck by how – as well as being a hugely successful sportsman – he was a doting and caring dad.

In a deeply moving final message, he said: ‘As a father of three young children I would never want any family to have to go through what my family and children have since my diagnosis. I hope I have left a mark on the disease. I hope it shows to live in the moment. I hope you find inspiration from the whole story.

‘My final message to you is, whatever your personal battle, be brave and face it. Every single day is precious. Don’t waste a moment. In a world full of adversity, we must still dare to dream.’

It’s such wise advice. Life is full of unexpected adversity. And I take my lead from a dearly loved member of my own family, who was diagnosed with a chronic neurological condition two years ago. Her courage, emboldened by her faith, has been an inspiration. She has taken strength from God in her personal battle, while treasuring every good moment in life.

Thinking of her example, I’m reminded of a Bible verse that has encouraged me through countless challenges: ‘Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’ (Joshua 1:9 New Living Translation).

Faith doesn’t make our personal battles disappear, but it does mean that, if we rely on God for strength, he will carry us through every day.

WAR

Former mob boss offers new direction

The Sunday Times carried the life story of former New York mob boss Michael Franzese, who found God while serving a 10-year prison sentence.

The paper described how the man who was known as the Prince of the Mafia was once estimated to be one of the highest earning members of the American underworld since Al Capone. Today he is a motivational speaker and spends time carrying out youth work around the world.

‘Kids get to the street,’ Michael was quoted as saying. ‘They gravitate to the local drug dealer and, before you know it, they’re criminals on the street. These young people have to have mentors, they have to have guidance.’

The article went on to describe how the former criminal keeps himself on the straight and narrow.

‘God keeps me accountable,’ he explained.

Michael Franzese

ORJAN ELLINGVAG/ALAMY

WAR CRYWnRLD

Bob Dylan

Pastors invited to form new cell groups

Church pastors are being invited to visit people in police cells in a ‘groundbreaking’ new scheme from Nottinghamshire Police, reported the BBC.

The media organisation said that church pastors will visit young people in police custody to help them turn their lives around.

Chief Superintendent Suk Verma, who is leading the force’s race action plan, said a disproportionate number of black 18 to 25-year-olds were in the criminal justice system. As many of them viewed the police as ‘enforcers’, the officer explained, the police tried to find a different method of intervention.

‘I’ve seen firsthand the amount of kudos and power that black pastors hold within their communities,’ he said. ‘I think they will have a huge influence in this environment.’

Joe Nipah, one of the pastors taking part in the project, said: ‘Custody provides an opportunity for young people to reflect on their lives and consider whether they are going to make changes.

‘But, on the other hand, it is a very intimidating and stressful place, and they can miss that opportunity, and that is where we come in.’

Dylan lyrics auctioned

Two pages of unpublished handwritten Bob Dylan lyrics which draw on biblical imagery were put up for auction earlier this month.

Written in ballpoint pen on two sheets from a New York City hotel message pad, the lyrics are thought to have been penned in the early 1980s. They included the phrases ‘a silly dove without a heart’, a reference to Hosea 7:11 and ‘those who deal treacherously with the Lord beget strange children’ which alludes to to the fifth chapter of the same Old Testament book.

Even before his conversion to Christianity in 1978, the musician often used biblical themes and religious imagery in his songs.

2.5

billion Christians urged to gather

AI translation technology will be at the forefront of a global Christian conference in March next year.

Premier Christian News reports that Gather25, a 25-hour event which will feature live music, prayer, talks and worship, aims to be accessible to all Christians via a global livestream.

Gather25 founder Jennie Allen said: ‘For the first time in history,

nNotre-Dame Cathedral’s Croix du Chevet is reinstalled five years after the building was devasted by fire. Measuring 12 metres and weighing 1.5 tonnes, it was the only piece of the cathedral roof that did not burn in the flames.

The cathedral hopes to reopen again at the end of this year.

the entire Church is actually able to gather. We are inviting all 2.5 billion people who love Jesus to come together to pray, to see stories of the Church, and to commission them to become missionaries wherever they are to reach the ends of the Earth.’

Organisations supporting the event include the Bible Project, 24-7 Prayer International and Bible app YouVersion.

If they hadn’t come to the UK, they might not be alive today

In February 2017 JILL GRINSTED was part of a group that welcomed a Syrian refugee family. To mark Refugee Week, which begins on Monday (17 June), she describes what life is like for the family now and how the community sponsorship scheme has been transformational for everyone involved

Seven years ago one refugee family made a journey that changed their lives. And not only theirs but also the lives of the people who gave them a new place to call home.

Two years earlier, in September 2015, Major Nick Coke, who was leading The Salvation Army in Raynes Park at the time, felt it was important to do something to make a difference to the refugee crisis, as did other people in the congregation.

He discovered that the UK government was considering running a community sponsorship scheme, which had been pioneered in Canada in the 1970s, and so he took part in conversations with the Home Office to discuss how it could be implemented in this country.

By July 2016, the community sponsorship scheme in the UK was open for applications, and Nick and a team from his church began to prepare for the arrival of a refugee family. Those preparations included finding housing for two years, raising money to sustain the family before they received government benefits, organising English lessons, setting up bank accounts, registering them with doctors and schools and

Jill Grinsted

Ghassan, Rayan, Mohammed, Manal with Bisan, after her bone marrow transplant

finding interpreters.

In February 2017, the family they were sponsoring – Ghassan Alnabulsi, his wife Manal and their three children – arrived at Gatwick airport. Having fled the war in Syria because one of their daughters was sick, they had been living in a refugee camp in Lebanon. The conditions there were not good, so when Ghassan learnt that he might be able to bring his family to the UK, he took up the opportunity.

They have lost other family members back home

In the lead-up to their arrival, both groups felt nervous and scared. But they made an instant connection.

Seven years later, I arrange a video call to catch up with one of the people who formed part of Nick’s team and was integral in welcoming the family.

Jill Grinsted, who is part of the church leadership team at Raynes Park, tells me that the family are doing well.

‘Bisan, the eldest daughter, has had her bone marrow transplant,’ she says. ‘She has just finishing sitting her A-levels,

having passed her GCSEs amazingly well. Rayan is sitting her GCSEs and Mohammed is in year four, Maths is his subject and he’s brilliant.

‘Ghassan is still doing his cleaning jobs – he cleans at Sutton Salvation Army – and he’s working in the kitchen in one of the local halal shops. Manal is an amazing cook, so she has been catering for different events.’

As Jill talks about the family, she isn’t just sharing facts – she is telling me about her friends. So when I ask what might have happened had the family not come to the UK, she gets emotional.

‘If we’re honest, I don’t think Bisan would be alive,’ she says. ‘She was really sick when they first came here. They have lost other family members back home since they’ve been here, which has been heartbreaking. And before they left Syria they had another daughter, who had

the same genetic disease as Bisan. She was having an operation in the hospital in Syria when there was a bomb attack, and she died on the operating table.

‘Seeing everything that is in the news

Turn to page 8 f

and Jill have developed a friendship

Ghassan with Major Nick Coke shortly after arriving in the UK

Manal

From page 7

now, they’re very grateful to have been part of this sponsorship scheme and being able to settle here. They see the UK as home now.

‘If they hadn’t come, I don’t think the children would’ve thrived and flourished like they have. Bisan wants to work in the healthcare system, as a pharmacist or a nurse. She wants to give back, to say thank you, and that says it all really.’

I believe God wants us to look out for other people

The family became and remained part of the community in southwest London. The girls attend youth events run by The Salvation Army, and Manal helps with one of the activities that is put on for babies and their parents every week. Jill fondly recalls the care that Manal shows in the baby song group.

‘The mums love her,’ she says. ‘We had a new mum come in once with a set of twins. One baby was asleep in the car seat and the other was awake. When the one who was asleep woke up, Manal said to me: “Do you think it’s OK if I go and ask if I can help?” I said yes of course. So

she was there holding this little baby.

‘She’s brought another friend to help and the two of them are part of our community.’

Everything that Jill does within church and the community, including the sponsorship scheme, is motivated by her faith.

‘It’s the whole point of being a Christian,’ she says. ‘I believe God wants us to look out for other people, to share love and put our love into action. Often we can speak words and say we’ll do things, but do we actually want to get our hands dirty?

‘This experience has been living proof that getting stuck in does make a difference, not just for other people, but for us. We did it because of God and our commitment to love people – that’s what The Salvation Army’s mission is about and we’ve been able to put that into practice.’

Although the initial commitment was to support the family for two years, the connections made have outlasted that initial period.

‘They are still living in the same house as when they came,’ says Jill. ‘They’ve changed it and made it their own. Now when we go round to see them, it’s not because of the sponsorship scheme, it’s because we see them as family. They

miss us when they haven’t seen us, and we miss them.

‘We don’t have much to do with any of the day-to-day stuff. They’re sorting their own finances now. But, they know that if anything happened, they could ask us for help.’

As the family recently gained their British citizenship, Jill has been reflecting with them on the early days of their arrival.

‘Before they came, the worry was not being able to communicate. At the start they couldn’t speak English, and our Arabic is still very poor. But over the years their English has become perfect, so we’ve started going back and reliving some of those first memories and what they’ve been through. They can communicate with us how they were feeling and we can share how we were feeling too.

‘I’ve had a really special connection with Bisan, going to visit her in hospital before she went through chemo. Watching her going through the operation was horrific. But seeing her now, if somebody had said she would be sitting her A levels seven years ago, we couldn’t have believed it.

‘They’re a special family, and our relationship with them has been a real blessing.’

Jill and her family with the Alnabulsi family

Back in the game

Returning to the pitch just a few months after surgery, Crystal Palace centre back MARC GUÉHI is set to represent England at the Euros, which begin this weekend. He speaks about his love of his career and the thing that keeps him grounded on the pitch – win or lose

Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

Twenty-four teams are getting the ball rolling for Euro 2024, and central defender Marc Guéhi is at the centre of the action. The 23-year-old Crystal Palace centre back is part of England’s squad for the Euros in Germany, his first time at a major tournament. Having recovered from surgery earlier this year, he is grateful to be back in the game.

‘It’s going to be an amazing experience to be involved in the team, experiencing something new,’ he says. ‘And afterwards I will look back on it and be able to see how far God has taken me.’

The south Londoner, who thanks God for his success, has come a long way from when he was first inspired by a popular player.

‘My love of football started at maybe three or four years old,’ he says, ‘especially being from Ivory Coast. Didier Drogba became a massive figure for the country and an inspiration for me. Watching him – how people spoke about him and loved him, and what he did not just on the pitch but off the pitch as well – definitely made me want to play football.’

Marc started playing soon after that inspiration struck, and he was signed up by Chelsea’s academy, playing in under-9s all the way through to the under-21s and making a handful of first team appearances

Turn to page 10 f

Marc playing for England

From page 9

before going on loan to Swansea and then making the move to Selhurst Park.

‘Under-14s is when I realised it got serious,’ he says. ‘Before those ages you’re just having fun with your friends. But from the age of 14, contracts are being given out and clubs are taking you in. That was when it became something that I believed I could go on and do as a profession.’

Having been immersed in the world of football since he was a youngster, Marc says it’s all he knows, but it has taught him a lot.

‘It has taught me patience, especially in an environment where there are so many young talented players. You learn patience with yourself, making sure that you continue being diligent. It’s taught me to make sure that I work hard and to trust the process and trust that God has a plan for me.’

As well as football, faith has been foundational for Marc.

‘It can be difficult,’ he admits. ‘Sometimes you get caught up in one world. I was so

Marc has been a centre back for Crystal Palace since 2021

I trust in God’s plan, that he wants the best for me

focused on football sometimes, and I forgot that God is in everything. He’s involved in every part of life. Going to church and having faith has helped me, as has trusting him and trying to allow him to show himself to the world through me – whether I’m talking to the manager, being with team-mates or even engaging with fans.’

Earlier this year Marc faced another of the challenges of being a professional football player – serious injury.

‘I never thought I’d have surgery, especially on my knee at such a young age,’ he says. ‘I tried to kid myself in saying that the injury and the rehabilitation wasn’t difficult, because I usually get on with things quite quickly.

‘I saw it as a moment that happened, I didn’t blame anyone, I didn’t blame God. I just carried on. But at the end of the process and coming back to the game, I was a bit emotional, because it actually was tough.

‘It was also a massive blessing though, because I got mental space and time with my family, which I don’t get too often because, when you’re a footballer, you’re working all the time.’

Marc describes an average working week with his club.

‘I’m in at around eight o’clock in the mornings Monday to Friday,’ he says. ‘We get ready, have breakfast, then stretching

and warm-ups in the gym, then we train at around 11 or 11.30am. Training can last from one to two hours and the first two days are usually the most intense. Thursday we get a bit of rest time, and Friday we do a bit of sharpness before a game on Saturday.’

Given that he has a faith, I ask Marc if he prays to win.

‘I tend to just pray throughout the week as opposed to just one day,’ he says. ‘I pray for training, that my team-mates stay safe, because we don’t want anyone to get injured. As a child of God, I feel I have a responsibility, not just for myself, but for others around me and that’s really important. I try to pray for others as well as praying for myself. I did used to pray to win the games, but the most important thing is that you stay safe.’

While he doesn’t pray to win, experiencing wins, losses – and the general ups and downs of the game – can be challenging. He admits that finding the balance has been difficult.

‘I try to be as thankful as possible in every situation, like it says in the Bible, but I’m also a competitor, an athlete, I want to win, so it can be difficult. It is so up and down. You can lose a game and be down and disappointed, but then you win a game and you’re on a high.

‘The most important thing I think is to try and keep level-headed, whether you

lose or win. That’s something I try to do, but it is tough.

‘My faith is very important in that. I trust in God’s plan, that he wants the best for me. I just make sure I stay rooted in him, in prayer and in giving thanks.’

Footballers can also find themselves having to tackle ups and downs with the praise and criticism of the media or fans.

‘For me, I know when I have a bad game and I know when I don’t. I’m able to look at it objectively,’ he says. ‘And I understand football myself – I don’t need the media to tell me what I’m doing well or not. I analyse the game and see what I could have done or what I did do. When you’re looking inward as opposed to outward it helps.’

Despite the challenges, Marc loves the opportunity that God has given him to play football. ‘It’s not really a job,’ he says. ‘I’m doing something that I love to do. I come to training, I’m with my team-mates just constantly joking around and having fun.

‘Then there’s the games themselves. It’s hard to replicate or try to explain the feeling when you get on the pitch and the crowd is making noise, when there’s a tackle or a goal or a foul – the whole atmosphere. If I could bottle that up and share it with someone just to experience for one day, I would, because it’s such an amazing feeling.’

The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

jBecoming a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

Lord Jesus Christ,

I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

a thouNow, ther NO W, THERE’S A THOUGHT! Statue commemorates

by Martin Whybrow

Taylor-made verses

Statues of hymn-writers are rare. Statues of writers of nursery rhymes are even rarer. But earlier this year the city of Colchester broke the mould to unveil a statue of two sisters, one famous as a writer of hymns, the other famous as the writer of a nursery rhyme.

Ann saw the sky as a poetic boundary

The sisters Ann and Joan Taylor first came to the public’s attention when in 1804, with a friend, they published Original Poems for Infant Minds. Some 200 years later, they are being brought to the public’s attention again in statue form. The driving force behind its creation was former Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell, who was well supported by a team that raised £90,000 to make the statue a reality. Local sculptor Mandy Pratt designed the statue to show the sisters both gazing up into the sky. It is believed that Jane was inspired to write her poem, ‘The Star’, after looking out of her Colchester bedroom window at night.

For Jane, the sky was a boundary between the known world and the unknown universe. She wrote: ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star,/ How I wonder what you are!/ Up above the world so high,/ Like a diamond in the sky.’

Similarly, Ann saw the sky as a poetic boundary between Earth and Heaven. In one of her most famous hymns she wrote: ‘Jesus, who lived above the sky,/ Came down to be a man, and die;/ And in the Bible we may see/ How very good he used to be.’

Both poems invite us to consider that which is bigger than ourselves, and to find meaning in it. The Bible explains that God created the heavens, the Earth and the stars, which point us to his power and his greatness. But the Bible also tells us how that same God sent his Son, Jesus, to the Earth, to make amends for the sin that separated humans from him, so that we could have a relationship with him.

No matter who we are or what we’ve done, we can experience God’s love in our lives. Infinite and all powerful, it’s a love that is out of this world.

To receive basic reading about Christianity and information about The Salvation Army, complete this coupon and send it to

Cry

Or email your name and postal address to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

QUICK QUIZ

Who had a No 1 hit single in 2000 with his song ‘Life is a Rollercoaster’?

Who directed the films Priscilla, Marie Antoinette and Lost in Translation?

Who narrates the children’s cartoon show Hey Duggee?

What is the surname of tennis champions Serena and Venus?

In which ocean is Easter Island located?

What does the German phrase ‘danke’ mean in English?

Chapter and verse

Week gives the lowdown on the importance of independent bookstores

Feature by Emily Bright

It’stime to start a new chapter. Independent Bookshop Week, which highlights the essential role that smaller stores play in their communities, starts today (Saturday 15 June).

Launched in 2006 by the Booksellers Association, the annual campaign encourages consumers to buy their new books locally. Nearly 700 independent bookshops are taking part, hosting quizzes, story times, book club nights and discussions with celebrity authors to draw in the crowds.

During the week, Ebb and Flo bookshop in Chorley, Lancashire, is hosting a conversation with Clive Myrie – who has written a memoir Everything is Everything – at Bolton Albert Halls, Serenity Booksellers in Stockport has invited the Gruffalo to its store for his 25th birthday celebrations. And Pages of Hackney, in east London, is holding a Guardian Live online book club, where the Rev Richard Coles will speak with the paper’s columnist Zoe Williams.

Ahead of the week, Richard, who wrote the Sunday Times bestseller Murder Before Evensong, reflected on the importance of smaller shops in promoting reading.

‘It all began for me with an independent bookseller,’ he says, ‘the Oundle Bookshop in Northamptonshire where, when I was eight years old, my grandfather bought me my first proper book – The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories – and without knowing it set me on this gilded path.’

We all have our own stories of the books that shaped us. And there’s one particular text that has changed more lives than most. The Bible, which is printed an estimated 80 million times a year, tells the story of the Son of God, Jesus.

He was born in humble circumstances – miles from his family’s home town – but he would go on to preach a radical message of God’s love for all humankind. He would then die and be raised to life in order to restore our broken relationship with God and enable us to experience eternal life after death.

Ronan Keating.

If we read about Jesus’ redemptive power for ourselves and choose to put our trust in him, we’ll discover a story that will transform our lives for the better.

The Rev Richard Coles

NATALIE DAWKINS

PUZZLES

21. Listened to (5)

22. Deception (5)

23. Post (4)

24. Way out (4)

25. Incline (4)

26. Relate (4)

HONEYCOMB

Chickpea and bean casserole

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

160g new potatoes

½ tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1tsp paprika

400g can chopped tomatoes

½ tsp dried mixed herbs

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped into thin batons

½ x 400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

½ x 400g can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

Freshly ground black pepper

Parsley, chopped

INGREDIENTS

20g sunflower spread

6 small slices wholemeal bread, lightly toasted

75g dried fruit, chopped

1 large egg

1 large egg, yolk

2tsp caster sugar

400ml skimmed milk

1tsp vanilla extract (no alcohol)

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Cover the potatoes with cold water in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a separate medium saucepan and cook the onion on a medium heat, stirring, until transparent. Add the garlic and paprika and cook for 1 minute, stirring.

Add the chopped tomatoes, mixed herbs and the cooked potatoes, then stir. If the dish appears dry, add half a can of water, then bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the carrots, chickpeas, beans and some pepper. Bring back to a simmer and continue to cook with the lid off for a further 8 minutes, until the carrots and potatoes are just tender and the sauce has slightly thickened. Stir occasionally.

Season with more pepper, to taste. Spoon on to warmed plates, then garnish with the parsley, to serve.

Wholemeal bread and butter pudding

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3.

Spread a thin layer of sunflower spread on one side of each slice of bread, then cut each slice in half. Arrange layers of bread, spread side up, with the dried fruit in an ovenproof dish.

Make a custard by beating the egg and egg yolk in a mixing bowl, then adding the sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Transfer to a saucepan and stir continuously over a medium heat until it starts to thicken. Stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour the custard over the bread and dried fruit and leave to soak for 5-10 minutes.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until the edges of the bread are golden and the custard starts to set. Serve immediately, or allow to cool before covering and refrigerate to eat within 3 days.

We receive grace as a gift from God, not as something we toil to earn

Philip Yancey