War Cry 31 July 2021

Wood works for craft trainees

WAR CRY

31 July 2021 50p

Jungle all the way Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt search the Amazon in Disney film

Years of caring for children in Myanmar

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity providing services in the community, particularly to those who are vulnerable and marginalised. Motivated by our Christian faith, we offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK to all who need them, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. To find your nearest centre visit salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church

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.

WAR CRY Issue No 7536

Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk The Salvation Army UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Tel: 0845 634 0101 Helpline: 020 7367 4888 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org

PINGS from the NHS Covid-19 app permitting, people will be able to leave their homes more this summer as the UK opens up after 16 months of lockdowns and restrictions. It will be interesting to see if some of the hobbies people developed while isolating will be kept up now that there are more freedoms to enjoy.

Skills such as knitting, sewing, gardening and DIY were learnt or improved as people had to find new ways to keep themselves entertained. Only time will tell whether these activities will continue to be popular.

However, there is one charity in the northeast of England that will continue to provide opportunities for developing skills in areas such as cooking and woodwork. Handcrafted was set up to support a range of vulnerable people, including those coming out of prison, experiencing homelessness, seeking asylum or escaping from domestic abuse.

In an interview in this week’s War Cry, its founder, Dan Northover, tells us his motivation for establishing the charity.

‘The Bible verse Ephesians 4:28 was a key part of why we set up Handcrafted,’ he explains. ‘It says: “Let those of you who have been stealing steal no longer, but instead make something with your hands, so that you might have something to give to the poor.”’

He goes on, however, to point out that his work among clients coming from tough situations has also impacted him.

He says: ‘These people show us what the Kingdom of God is.

I’ve learnt so much from the people at Handcrafted and have been consistently challenged and impressed by them.’

Dan’s Christian faith encourages him to want to help others but, by doing so, he has found his own life enriched. That is often the case for people, whether or not they have a faith. Perhaps it should inspire us to develop the knack of ad the War C helping those whose circumstances are more e re ry v ’ u difficult than our own.

CONTENTS

Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies Published weekly by The Salvation Army © The Salvation Army United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

Printed by Walstead Roche Ltd, St Austell, on sustainably sourced paper

INFO Your local Salvation Army centre

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Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

From the editor’s desk

When yo

What is The Salvation Army?

6

FEATURES

3

Quest to branch out

The search is on for the tree of life in Disney film

5 All together now Audiences return to the Proms

6 Extended family care Providing a home to generations of

children

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9 Crafted with care Charity’s work to support vulnerable

people

REGULARS

4 War Cry World 12 Team Talk 13 Keys of the Kingdom 14 Puzzles

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15 War Cry Kitchen Front-page picture: FRANK MASI/DISNEY

DISNEY

IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE Cinemagoers get on board for the adventure of a lifetime Film preview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

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EGEND has it that deep in the adventure is based on Jungle Cruise, Amazon rainforest there is a tree which was one of Disneyland’s first of life that could change the world. In rides, the concept of a tree Jungle Cruise, which was released of life can be found across in cinemas yesterday (Friday 30 July), many cultures and religions researcher Dr Lily Houghton (Emily – including Christianity, Blunt) and boat skipper Frank Wolff which talks about the (Dwayne Johnson) embark on a quest tree of life that is first to find it. But they face perils along mentioned in the Book of the way.

Genesis in the Bible. It was It’s 1916, and the unlikely duo meet placed in the Garden of Eden, where when Lily makes her way from London Adam and Eve lived, and eating from it to the Amazon with her brother, having granted eternal life. acquired an arrowhead which she believes is the key to locating the tree. Desperate to make some money, Frank, who runs tours along the Amazon River, persuades Lily to let him help her find what she’s looking for.

If they are successful, the impact on Lily’s medical research will be huge. The tree is said to possess healing powers and could change the future of medicine, allowing her to help more people.

Frank is sceptical, however, and tells her she is ‘searching for something that can’t be found’. He should know – he has tried to find it himself. But Lily has the missing ingredient: the arrowhead.

The pair must trek through the jungle, fighting wild animals, an ancient curse and another, villainous adventurer who wants to get to the tree first.

While the fictional Frank and Lily embark on a search together

But the Bible – its own epic adventure – describes how Adam and Eve did something wrong by trying to make themselves the centre of everything and were banished from Eden.

They, and all humanity, were then cursed to face the consequences of their actions, which included hardships in life and, ultimately, death.

That, however, all changed when Jesus, the Son of God came into the world. He took on the punishment for all that Adam and Eve did wrong and all that we do wrong, once and for all, by dying on a cross.

But the story doesn’t end there. Jesus was raised to life, which meant that death was defeated for ever. The Book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, describes how people who have trusted in God will ‘have the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life’ (Revelation 22:14 Good News Bible).

We do not have to risk our lives by going on a quest to discover something that could change the world. All we have to do is put our trust in God. He will navigate us through the choppy waters of this life, and change our world by helping us to discover a future with him.

The tree is said to possess healing powers

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COURTESY OF MASS DISTRACTION MEDIA

GOSPEL singers Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson sing together in a scene from the new documentary Summer of Soul.

The film, which has been on general release in cinemas before being made available for streaming on Disney+ yesterday (Friday 30 July), tells the story of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, when over the course of six Sundays a long list of major music stars played to more than 300,000 people.

The event was filmed but, unlike the Woodstock Festival, which took place almost concurrently, its footage disappeared from view until the producers of the new film tracked it down and handed it to director Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson.

As well as the soul and funk of Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder and Sly and the Family Stone, the film features gospel music, including Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples duetting on ‘Precious Lord’ – which Jackson had been requested by Dr Martin Luther King Jr to sing at an event on the eve of his assassination the year before – and the Edwin Hawkins Singers performing their hit ‘Oh Happy Day’.

Footballers kick off ‘religious transformation’

DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE/ALAMY

‘BLACK British Christians and the best of their traditions were centre stage’ in the story of the England football squad’s recent success and a new sense of diversity, wrote Julian Coman in The Observer.

He reported that Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka (pictured) and Raheem Sterling wore their faith on their sleeves and that a religious transformation has taken place in football. ‘Signs of the cross on the pitch, and hands raised in prayer before games and after goals, are now commonplace,’ he commented.

The journalist wrote that the most successful England team since 1966 highlighted ‘the distinctive contribution that black British Christians are making to the national story’.

He quoted Selina Stone, former community organiser and now political theology lecturer at St Mellitus College in London, who said that the three players embodied ‘the best of the black British Christian tradition’, adding that they recognised ‘there is something of God’s blessing on them for them to be where they are, along with a recognition that, having been so blessed, they have to take responsibility for helping others’.

Do you have a story to share? a warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk @TheWarCryUK TheWarCryUK

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CHRISTIAN Aid has criticised the government’s decision to cut the overseas aid budget.

The decision to reduce the budget from 0.7 per cent of gross national income to 0.5 per cent passed through the House of Commons after MPs voted by a majority of 35 to back it.

Amanda Mukwashi, the international development agency’s CEO, tweeted: ‘The aid cut is deeply disappointing. This was an opportunity to show real moral leadership. Instead, we have let the world’s poorest communities down.

We will continue to stand with them.’

Bishops in the House of Lords had urged the government not to make the cuts.

Proms welcome back live audiences Report by Philip Halcrow

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HE Proms are back – and there’s a key change from last year when Covid-19 restrictions meant that the classical music festival revolved round broadcasts of concerts from the archives and a handful of live concerts to an empty Royal Albert Hall.

This year, as well as concerts being broadcast on BBC TV and radio, audiences are returning.

As David Pickard, director of the festival, said in a preview video on the Proms website: ‘There’s going to be an amazing atmosphere, because people are going to need and want to hear these concerts so much.’

Banging the drum for what the Proms always offer, he said he wants people to have a variety of ‘tastes and experiences and thrills, and different emotions as well, because music of any kind is about stirring emotions’.

Before September’s Last Night comes round, many emotions are likely to have been evoked. James MacMillan says that the piece he wrote for the beginning of the season, When Soft Voices Die, was about ‘the idea of music coming back after a forced absence’ and that, based on two Shelley poems characterised by a ‘wistful melancholy’, it explored ‘things that are profoundly important to us’ – such as ‘beauty, virtue, friendship, love and music’.

A concert of excerpts from operas is offering reflections on the topical themes of separation, isolation, loneliness and reconciliation.

And, as well as the happiness portrayed in pieces such as Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, the season includes many works that reference a source of strength and comfort which unnumbered people have found in trying times. It can be heard in Bach’s Christ lag in Todes Banden (‘Christ Lay in Death’s Bonds’) and in Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 5, which quotes from Martin Luther’s hymn ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’ – itself an echo of an ancient song.

‘God is our refuge and strength,’ says that biblical song, ‘an everpresent help in trouble’ (Psalm 46:1 New International Version).

It sums up the experience that people continue to have. They have found that God cares for them, accompanies them through even the darkest times and offers a message of ultimate hope that is music to the ears.

A concert is offering reflections on isolation

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© DAVID ILIFF AND © CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU

ONE of the girls kidnapped from a school in Nigeria by Boko Haram in 2014 has graduated from university – the type of achievement the abductors opposed.

When 276 schoolgirls were taken from Chibok State Secondary School seven years ago by militant Islamist group Boko Haram, whose name means ‘Western education is forbidden’, it sparked a high-profile campaign, backed by figures such as Michelle Obama, for authorities to do more to free them.

Mary Katambi, who was 16 at the time of the attack, later escaped with some of the other girls. However, 112 are still unaccounted for.

During her time in captivity, Mary’s family were sent messages of support from church communities around the world, and, after her release, Mary received trauma counselling from Nigerian partners of Open Doors, an organisation that supports Christians persecuted for their faith.

She was offered a private sponsorship to study accounting at the American University in Yola, Nigeria, and is the first of the kidnapped girls there to graduate.

Mary’s parents watched the graduation ceremony at the university.

Her mother, Saratu, said: ‘I never thought I would see Mary again. But the prayers of believers have brought her out of captivity and now she has graduated from university. Thank you, Jesus!’

Hear and now

‘They never turned I

N Taunggyi, a small village in Myanmar, one elderly woman runs an orphanage of 150 children. When Pamela Johnson heard about Daw Mya Shwe, also known as Emmerline, an 86-year-old woman from the Karen people, she decided that the woman’s story needed to be told in a book.

So Pamela travelled to the country four times, staying for weeks at a time to talk with Emmerline and hear about her life.

‘She could only talk to me a couple of hours every day because she was so busy with the children,’ Pamela tells me, ‘but we’d sit and do an interview and that was helpful. When I was back in the US, we also wrote each other letters, and I let her read the manuscript twice and make corrections for me, because I wanted to make sure everything was right and that she approved of it.’

The book, titled Though I Run Through the Valley, tells the story of five generations of Emmerline’s family and the various upheavals they experienced. The family’s work in caring for children began when Emmerline’s grandmother helped children who were displaced because of the war and other events.

The work of taking in children stayed within the family. After their grandmother died aged 100 in 1957, Emmerline, her aunts and her sisters decided to continue her legacy.

They built their own school, which opened in 1958 and within a few years became a place of learning for 200 children.

The children were taught English, which, under British colonial rule, was valuable.

‘The grandmother had started out just meeting those needs that she saw around her,’ says Pamela. ‘As she did that, you could tell that God entrusted her with more. God knew what was coming to the country in the years ahead, so the family became a refuge for the children that were suffering.’

A few years later, the family was forced to close the school because of a new Emmerline with military regime in the country. Schools children who live were then only allowed to teach in the in the orphanage

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down a child’ When PAMELA JOHNSON heard about a woman and her family who had been caring for children in Myanmar for more than 60 years, she wanted to find out more. Through her visits to the country, she met an octogenarian who has dedicated her life to looking after others despite facing difficulties of her own Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku native language of the country’s majority ethnic group.

There was a great deal of violence under the new regime, and increasing numbers of children began arriving at Emmerline’s family home. It was then that the family decided to build an orphanage.

Sixty children lived at the Daw Gyi Daw Nge Orphanage and Old People’s Home when it opened, and Emmerline, her aunts and sisters worked hard – sewing clothes or tutoring privately – to keep it open.

Pamela explains the circumstances that continue to bring children to the orphanage.

‘About 70 per cent of the children have either one or two parents, but some

children are there to avoid being conscripted into the military or into the ethnic group armies fighting against the military, which can happen when they are as young as 10 years old.

Some are there because of poverty – their parents can’t take care of them or send them to school.

Others are part of ethnic minority groups that are facing persecution.

‘I interviewed some of the children.

Some had seen their parents killed in front of them. One interviewee broke my heart as she told me how her father abused the family when he was drunk. She sobbed and sobbed.’

In the book, Pamela describes how a twoyear-old girl who was severely disabled was taken to the orphanage after being discovered abandoned inside a rice sack. She also tells the story of a seven-monthold baby and her twoyear-old twin sisters who were abandoned by their mother after her husband had tried to kill her when he was drunk. The father deserted the children in a field. They were found by a neighbour and taken to the orphanage.

Emmerline and her family, who have taken care of more than 1,000 children, lived through hardships themselves. In 1942, when Emmerline was nine years old, she and some relatives had to run to a shelter to avoid being bombed when the

Pamela Johnson Imperial Japanese Army attacked. Years later, they had to flee bombs from the United States Army. They were forced to uproot and move around to escape violence many times. They experienced loss and bereavement throughout their lives.

But, as Pamela says, their Christian faith helped them through it all. It was a faith that began with Emmerline’s grandmother, who was born into a tribe

The family suffered like everybody else that had learnt about Christianity from American missionaries and adopted it for themselves.

‘The family didn’t turn away from God when so many things seemed to be going wrong, because the grandmother’s faith was very strong and she instilled that into her children. They understood that their only hope was God and what Jesus had done for them.

‘They were all very musical and one of the things they always did as a family was to get together and sing to God. When things got difficult, their singing lifted their spirits.

‘They saw that people around them who didn’t have a faith in God suffered emotionally and spiritually because they lost hope. The family suffered like

Turn to page 8 f

The legacy of caring for children was passed down through the family from Emmerline’s grandmother 31 July 2021 • WAR CRY • 7

Reading time at the orphanage

She has gone through a lot, but doesn’t think highly of herself

From page 7 everybody else, they lost family members, but they also saw how God provided for them. Many people respond negatively when bad things happen to them. They blame God. But the family saw the opposite – that man without God is desperate. So they kept trusting in him.’

Having visited and spent time with Emmerline, Pamela describes her as graceful and eloquent.

‘She has gone through a lot, but she doesn’t think of herself highly at all. She adores her family, they are very tight-knit.

They weren’t a perfect family, but God used them. They were faithful to him and to what he asked them to do and he was faithful to them. Emmerline loves the Lord and has had complete faith that

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he would take care of them through all the upheavals they faced.’

Trusting in God though, says Pamela, doesn’t necessarily equate to an easy life.

‘The family once got to a point where they had to take off their jewellery and sell everything they owned in the home in order to care for the children that were being brought to them.

But they never turned down a child, even when they were down to basically eating watered-down rice. And God always provided.’

That provision arrived in various ways.

In recent years, it has come from major donors. But in the book, Pamela tells a story of how a widow once visited them, asking for food because she had nothing to eat. They were down to half a bag of rice, but Emmerline gave the last of it to the widow. Later that night, a friend went by and donated a whole new sack of rice.

Pamela sees parallels to her own life, having experienced challenges in her work but witnessed God’s faithfulness.

‘My husband and I were missionaries in Mozambique, and it was difficult. We got

robbed. I got cerebral malaria and was in hospital for a week. My husband broke his hip and ended up with sepsis. But God gave us peace. We were never in the red and we never had to worry that God wouldn’t provide.’

The message she learnt from her own life and from the story of Emmerline and her family is that ‘God is always there’.

She says: ‘Even in the darkest times, he is there if we are willing to go to him.

His light shines on the darkness around us. We don’t have to give up or feel like we can’t go on. God is still there. We just need to turn to him.’

l Though I Run Through the Valley is published

by Authentic Media

Charity crafts community DAN NORTHOVER wanted to help marginalised people in Durham, so he set up a woodworking and training charity called Handcrafted. He explains how his faith-based creative enterprise is transforming lives Interview by Emily Bright

A

S someone who can barely build flat-pack furniture, I was feeling somewhat out of my comfort zone speaking to the founder of woodworking charity Handcrafted. But Dan Northover quickly put me at ease with his enthusiastic approach to his charity, which was established 10 years ago.

‘Some people who were living on the streets of Durham started coming into our church, wanting to turn their lives around,’ he recalls. ‘We gave them something to eat and somewhere to stay for the night. I was preparing meals for people who had previously worked in high-profile restaurants as chefs. We had a conviction that these people had a lot to offer.

‘We saw a lot of disadvantaged people who were having their hearts and minds transformed by the gospel and who were starting to see its message of hope. But we also saw that there are some terrible practical realities of turning your life around when you’ve lived for decades in a chaotic, destructive cycle. So we wanted to get alongside people.’

Dan and a couple of people from his church were keen to help people carve

Dan Northover

out a new life for themselves. They set out to find practical, rewarding and effective activities to do with them and organised sessions of woodwork and gardening.

Since then, the charity has evolved into something much bigger.

It now has three training hubs: one for woodwork in Durham, a training kitchen in Chester-le-Street and a makerspace in Gateshead for woodworking and working with plastic.

Handcrafted has also partnered with a café called Refuse, which recycles spare food that would otherwise go to waste, to develop products such as pickles, jams, sauces and soaps. It runs a training kitchen out the back of the café.

What is striking is not just the range of

No one else would give him a chance

g Handcrafted teaches woodworkin start h fres a for ing look skills to people

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Former Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi, a Handcrafted patron, stops by to meet trainees at its Durham hub

From page 9 training opportunities, but also the sheer diversity of people that Handcrafted supports.

‘We’re working with men who are street homeless or coming out of prison,’ says Dan. ‘We’ve got a significant proportion of women as well, with some sessions set aside especially for them. A lot of people are coming out of domestic violence or trafficking or are seeking asylum.

‘We also work with teenagers who are leaving the care system as well as people in their sixties who have been made redundant or have become isolated.’

Having a shared interest binds this diverse group of people together, Dan explains. ‘People are working, cooking and making things together, which is actually a very effective way of breaking down communication barriers.’

Handcrafted also offers supported housing. Dan tells me its origins.

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‘We had people who had some trade or building experience, and there were a lot of derelict houses around the area. So we decided to make them into good-quality houses where people could live.

‘We’ve got 34 properties across the northeast now. People who had been kicked out of all the other supported accommodation now have a home that they can feel proud of and hold down.’

Dan takes a moment to share stories of lives transformed by Handcrafted.

‘One guy came along to an outreach group in the Salvation Army building in Durham, Sanctuary 21. He’d just become homeless due to drugs, alcohol, violence and family breakdown. On that first night, we were able to find him somewhere to stay, and then we got him involved in one of our workshops.

‘He found his creative outlet and a positive community that believed in him.

He started doing up a place where he could live. He also upgraded our kitchen in the workshop and was cooking for other people. Now he has a job and is still living in one of our properties.

‘Another lad we’re working with at the moment came out of the care system and

had no social support around him. He had left prison on Christmas Eve, and we housed him that night. On Christmas Day, we got him some food and presents.

‘He is now making his own coffee table in one of our workshops. He has not gone back to his old life or reoffended for six months, and he has done so against the odds, when no other people would give him a chance.’

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, demand for Handcrafted’s help has soared. It has doubled its staff over the past 12 months, and Dan has seen an increased need for housing and for the workshops to keep running.

‘People who were already clinging on by their fingertips and were already quite isolated have been significantly impacted by the lockdowns,’ he says.

Handcrafted has supported vulnerable people during lockdowns with door-todoor meal deliveries, further education courses and support groups for those at very high risk of serious self-harm, suicide or relapse.

As we talk, the theme of redemption,

We want to empower people with dignity

Making pasta in Handcrafted’s training kitchen

Graham, a regular participant in one of Handcrafted’s woodworking workshops

which runs throughout the charity’s work, comes up. Dan emphasises his belief that every person, regardless of their circumstances, has been created with a purpose.

‘That’s why we’re called Handcrafted,’ he says. ‘Theses people are made to be creative and to be themselves. We want to get alongside them and empower them with dignity.’

Handcrafted has changed not just the lives of others, but also Dan’s own perspective on life and faith. He says that many who go to Handcrafted have to ‘ask searching questions of themselves, which requires a lot of honesty and struggle. In that, I see them engage with questions of suffering and forgiveness, and find hope, grace and a future. I’ve learnt profoundly from that.’

Although Handcrafted is not an evangelistic charity, the Christian faith lies at its core.

Dan explains: ‘The Bible verse

Ephesians 4:28 was a key part of why we set up Handcrafted.

It says: “Let those of you who have been stealing steal no longer, but instead make something with your hands, so that you might have something to give to the poor.”

‘We loved the scale of that vision of someone leaving behind a life of crime, destruction and chaos. Not only that, but they can then work again, contribute to society, look after themselves and help the poor.’

Dan sees the truth of the Christian faith in his every encounter with the people he supports.

‘These people show us what the Kingdom of God is,’ he says.

‘I’ve learnt so much from the people at

Handcrafted and have been consistently challenged and impressed by them.

‘Jesus is so loving and gentle and has such a big vision for people who are written off by society. Everything we need comes from him and the example that he gives us. I’m trying to live by his way and to be guided by him. That’s where I see the real transformation and miracles in people’s lives.’

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Prayerlink 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, 101 Newington Causeway, Lon­don SE1 6BN. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

j

Becoming 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.

talk ‘ ’ Team talk TEAM TALK Sportswear can be a hurdle for women athletes Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

AFTER competing at the English Championships, Paralympian Olivia Breen made newspaper headlines – not for her sporting achievement, but for her sporting attire.

The double world champion – who is set to compete in Tokyo next month – tweeted that, after she took part in the long jump, a female official commented that her ‘sprint briefs were too short and inappropriate’.

Breen explained that she had worn the same briefs for many years, which are ‘specifically designed for competing in’.

In the same week, at the European Beach Handball Championships, the Norwegian women’s team made headlines for what appears to be the opposite reason: their kit covered too much. According to The Independent, the European Handball Federation fined the team for wearing ‘improper clothing’ – basically, shorts instead of bikini bottoms.

‘The most important thing is to have equipment that athletes are comfortable with,’ argued Kare Geir Lio, head of the Norwegian Handball Federation. I agree.

If an athlete is comfortable, surely they are more likely to perform at their best. And isn’t that what sport fans want to see?

Comments on the clothing worn by women athletes are nothing new. In 2018, tennis champion Serena Williams attracted criticism for wearing a catsuit during the French Open. Thirty years earlier, figure skater Katarina Witt was chastised for wearing an ‘indecent’ costume at the 1988 Olympic Games.

When women athletes receive negative comments for their sportswear, is it any surprise that teenage girls are dropping out of sport? According to research from Women in Sport, 8 out of 10 girls with low body esteem avoid trying out a sport because of a lack of confidence, while 64 per cent of all girls will have quit sports by the age of 17.

These statistics make me sad – especially when I see that 55 per cent of girls admit being happier when they are physically active. By its very nature, sport makes people feel good, rather than bad. It drives them to be the best they can be. It promotes teamwork and personal achievement.

Surely anyone taking part in sport should be encouraged rather than running the risk of a dressing down.

Girls are dropping out of sport

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

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War Cry 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN

Basic reading about Christianity Information about The Salvation Army

Looking for help?

Contact details of a Salvation Army minister Name Address Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

Or email your details and request to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk 12 • WAR CRY • 31 July 2021

Q

QUICK QUIZ 1

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Which current British coin has 12 sides?

Alder, birch and sycamore are names for which type of plant?

What is the first name of the character played by actor Paul Ready in the TV series Motherland?

A 4

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What are the three colours of the national flag of Germany, in order from top to bottom?

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo plays for which national team?

What catchphrase did actor Arnold Schwarzenegger first say in the 1984 sci-fi film The Terminator?

ANSWERS

In this occasional series, Nigel Bovey unlocks the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus speaks to his disciples about in Matthew’s Gospel

The right way to go I

N his teachings, Jesus encourages his listeners to be righteous, saying that ‘the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father’ (Matthew 13:43 New International Version). He also says that unless his followers’ righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees – considered to be very righteous people – they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (5:20).

It is clear, then, that being righteous is a key of the Kingdom, but what does that mean?

In the New Testament, the Greek word diakois is translated as ‘righteous’ and ‘just’. Righteousness and justice are the same thing.

The word ‘righteous’ comes from the Old English ‘rightwis’, meaning ‘right way’. Righteousness, therefore, literally means ‘right-way-ness’. If, in our relationships with others, we are living the right way, we will be law-abiding and, therefore, just.

Righteousness is linked to relationship. Jesus says that if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we need a right-wise relationship with God. The Pharisees appeared to be in such a relationship. These highly religious Jews rigorously kept God’s law, dutifully observed the Sabbath as a day of rest and fastidiously strived for purity.

But, says Jesus, the right-way-ness that God requires is more than religious fervour.

When Jesus heals a man with a shrivelled hand on a Sabbath, the Pharisees accuse him of lawbreaking, but he points out their lack of compassion (12:9-14).

As well as being hard-hearted, the Pharisees could also be self-righteous and judgmental. Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector at prayer (see Luke 18:9-14). The Pharisee thanks God that he is superior to the criminal classes and reminds God how pious he is. The tax collector simply prays: ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ It is the tax collector, says Jesus, who ‘went home justified [right-wise] before God’.

We cannot make ourselves right before God by being religious or doing good things. It is when we admit our sinfulness and appeal to his mercy that God puts us right with him.

Being righteous is a key of the Kingdom

31 July 2021 • WAR CRY • 13

1. The £1 pound coin. 2. Trees. 3. Kevin.

4. Black, red and yellow. 5. Portugal. 6. ‘I’ll be back’.

PUZZLES Quick CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

ACROSS 1. Custom (5) 5. Cereal (5) 8. Happen (5) 9. Farewell (5) 10. Slacker (5) 11. Haggard (5) 12. Excise (4) 15. Putrefy (6) 17. Deception (5) 18. Rage (6) 20. Guide (4) 25. Snake poison (5) 26. Supple (5) 27. Lever (5) 28. Tend (5) 29. Israeli resort (5) 30. Ogles (5)

DOWN 1. Warmed (6) 2. Shining (6) 3. Hardy (5) 4. Scour (5) 5. Squirmed (7) 6. Enrol (6) 7. Apathy (6) 13. Employ (3) 14. Make mistakes (3) 15. Merriment (3) 16. Epoch (3)

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

6 3 1

5

1 9 9 6 5 1 2 4 2 3 8 7 5 2 3 6 7 4 5 1 2 17. Intense (7) 18. Dozen (6) 19. Fatal (6) 21. Cajole (6) 22. Restraint (6) 23. Trap (5) 24. Urge (5)

WORDSEARCH

9 6 3 4 7 8 2 5 2 1 4 5 3 9 6 8 Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally 8 find5 these 7 British 6 2 bands 1 9 3 on the grid to 1 3 8 7 9 6 5 4 I G T S V D X F T Z M Q X V Y A T D 5 7 6 1 4 2 3 9 O Z J C Z W W B Q Z T S N Z P Q W X L D U R A N D U R A N Y Q 4 9 2 3 8 I 5S Z N Z 7 1 K S T A H T E K A T Z E N L Q O J S 7 8 5 2 1 3 4 6 O C T Y F E O Z H H P K G G S S Q Z K S G A N W S M E 3 2 T 1F N D Z N H U J 9 6 4 8 7 S E N O T S G N I L L O R E H T Q E 4 9 8 5 7 I 1 R O 2 Z L A A W U L 6L O C P M C P N

M O HONEYC B

Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number

W T R N Q F S Y Q W K C Y Z Y M E K Q A K I E F D Q V G Z I Q P G S Z O I E S C G T J E U J Y T T L Z E T U D B F Z A E F N Y O L C X T Q H V C L E B Q D S C C W Z L R Q K E T G Z O H R X R A D I O H E A D W B N T O F T Q V C O L D P L A Y H H F Z A Q F X N H K Q D Q T S Z O N Q F S Q S C D B R T S D V N X Q N Q J I C S K H P Z Q B R V P B D D S V S X Y N Q

1. Study of eggs 2. Disease formally known as BSE (3, 3) 3. Fine particles of a solid 4. Warm confined place (3, 3) 5. Reddish-brown colour 6. Ladies’ tightly fitted undergarment

ANSWERS 9 2 8 1 5 4 7 3 6

6 1 5 3 7 9 8 2 4 4

4 7 3

3 4 7 8 6 2 5 1 9

4 5 6 7 1 3 2 9 8

7 3 2 9 4 8 1 6 5 6 5

2 3 8 5 2

8 9 1 6 2 5 3 4 7

2 6 9 5 3 7 4 8 1

5 8 3 4 9 1 6 7 2

7 1 2

1 7 4 2 8 6 9 5 3

HONEYCOMB 1. Oology. 2. Mad cow. 3. Powder. 4. Hot box. 5. Russet. 6. Corset.

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Habit. 5. Wheat. 8. Occur. 9. Adieu. 10. Idler.

11. Gaunt. 12. Duty. 15. Fester. 17. Fraud. 18. Temper. 20. Lead.

25. Venom. 26. Lithe. 27. Prise. 28. Nurse. 29. Eilat. 30. Leers.

DOWN: 1. Heated. 2. Bright. 3. Tough. 4. Scrub. 5. Writhed.

6. Enlist. 7. Torpor. 13. Use. 14. Err. 15. Fun. 16. Era. 17. Fervent.

18. Twelve. 19. Mortal. 21. Entice. 22. Duress. 23. Snare. 24. Impel.

14 • WAR CRY • 31 July 2021

7 3

ARCTIC MONKEYS

RADIOHEAD

ATOMIC KITTEN

SPICE GIRLS

COLDPLAY

STATUS QUO

DURAN DURAN

TAKE THAT

KEANE

THE BEATLES

OASIS

THE ROLLING STONES

PINK FLOYD

THE SMITHS

QUEEN

THE WHO

7 4 2

1 7 4 2 8 6 9 5 3

Mango and orange pork chops with spicy tails Ingredients

Method

4 lean pork loin chops (bone kept in)

Take each pork chop from the tail end and cut off the meat to expose the bone. Reserve the chops for later.

1tsp baharat spice powder

Cut the remaining ‘tail’ meat into small pieces, sprinkle with the spice powder, cover and set aside.

150ml mango and passion fruit juice

Place the chops in a large shallow bowl and add the fruit juice, garlic and the zest and half the juice from an orange. Mix together, cover and allow to marinate in a refrigerator for 2-3 hours, if time allows.

1 orange 2 garlic cloves, peeled For the sauce ½ mango, peeled, deseeded and chopped 1 orange, peeled and segmented 2tbsp freshly chopped mint

Preheat the barbecue. Alternatively, preheat a grill to a moderate heat.

Pour the juice from the marinade into a small pan.

Bring to the boil for 10 minutes until heated through and reduced slightly.

Cook the chops on the barbecue or the grill for 12-15 minutes, turning once, until brown and cooked through, but still juicy. If the meat starts to catch, cover with foil.

To make the spicy tails, cook the remaining small meat pieces on the barbecue in a small foil dish with a little oil or in a pan on the hob, until the meat is crispy, golden and well cooked.

Mix together the mango, orange and mint in a small dish to make a sauce.

Serve the pork chops with the spicy tails and sauce.

SERVES

4

Pork sausage pasties Ingredients

Method

4 pork and apple sausages

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Gas Mark 4.

3tbsp apple juice

Split the sausage skins, remove the sausage meat and place in a large bowl.

1 eating apple, cored and Add the apple juice, apple slices, sage thinly sliced and some pepper. Mix gently.

Black pepper Thinly roll out the pastry and cut into 1 fresh sage leaf, roughly chopped

6-8 circles. Roll the pastry again to make more if possible.

500g packet puff pastry

Place a spoonful of the sausage mixture in the centre of a pastry circle. Wet the edges of the circle with water, fold it in half and crimp the edges, to seal. Repeat with the other circles.

1 egg, yolk 2tbsp milk

Mix the egg yolk with the milk.

Transfer the pasties to greased baking trays, then brush with the egg mixture and cook for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Serve hot or cold.

Recipes reprinted, with permission, from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board website lovepork.co.uk

MAKES

6-8 31 July 2021 • WAR CRY • 15

Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New Living Translation)

WAR CRY