Church Charity
suggests - buy one giant Christmas card for church –
help save lives Charity
suggests - buy one giant Christmas card for church –
help save lives Every
Christmas it’s the same dilemma – how and when
will you find the time and energy to sign and write a
message on dozens, if not hundreds of Christmas cards for
friends, colleagues and family? It can be a real headache. An on-going
initiative from World Vision not only means less stress
and time spent writing,
but more importantly all the money that is saved from not
buying Christmas cards this year can be collected and
sent to help World Vision to work with many of the world’s
poorest children, their families and communities. For
the fourth year running the Christian relief and
development agency, World Vision, offers Christmas
shoppers a giant solution. The charity has designed a
huge Alternative Christmas Card, where everyone from a
church, office or even school can write a personal
seasonal greeting to each other and then place it in a
central place or notice board, for all to see and share. The
Alternative Christmas Card is delivered with a donation
sheet, a simple way to track everyone’s donations,
along with inspirational examples of how the donation
will help to improve lives. There’s a colourful
label for the collection jar and a return envelope. Each
card has space for approximately 50 greetings, but World
Vision can send as many cards as churches need. World
Vision is a Christian organisation and one of the world’s
leading relief and development agencies, currently
helping more than 100 million people in nearly 100
countries. World Vision is part of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY, a
growing coalition of more than 500 aid agencies, faith
groups, unions and other organisations in partnership
with the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. Signs
& Symbols - Christmas Tree Decorations At
this time of the year churches, shops and homes abound
with signs and symbols related to Christmas. Actually,
‘this time of the year’ is an understatement,
because the shops have been selling Christmas items for
quite a while now. Since
late September a visit to your favourite garden centre to
buy winter pansies has also been an opportunity to top up
your own Christmas Tree decoration stock. There
are stars and angels which are easily understood from the
Gospel stories but what about some of the other things? First
there’s Father Christmas. He’s based on St
Nicholas, a bishop from the fourth century who lived in Obviously
FC can’t make all the gifts himself so he needs
helpers. Now that’s like St Teresa of Avilla’s
wonderful quote that goes along the lines, God has no
hands on earth but ours. We are God’s helpers. But
why elves? No can’t help on that one – any
ideas? Then
there are the baubles in all colours in matt and shiny,
all shapes and sizes. They could be like us; people come
in all shapes and sizes, colours and tones. They’re
very fragile, like we are sometimes – quick to take
offence – and have to be handled with care. They
remind us to look after other people and not treat them
roughly. Of
course, they also make ‘unbreakable’ baubles.
Some folk put these on the lower branches of their trees
in case their cats decide to pull them off and bat them
around the room. They remind us that we all have
different uses and tolerances. But even they can get
broken. Then
there’s spiders and their webs. They come from a
lovely modern story about how a spider entertained baby
Jesus and kept him quiet while Herod’s soldiers were
searching and killing all boy babies; so he was kept safe. This
month Have
a look at your decorations and see if they need a bit of
refreshing, some TLC, (tender loving care), just as we
all do. Enjoy choosing a new one each year which has real
meaning for you at that time. A
gift with real meaning Editor:
If your church supports missionaries, why not contact
them for stories on the gifts they receive from the
people among whom they work? Or you could enlarge this
idea, and ask the missionaries to write you an article on
how they celebrate Christmas in a country so far from
their home... In a
remote village in Central America the word got out among
the peoples of the region that one of the American
missionaries that had served this country for many years
was about to return to the US to live out the remaining
years of her life. The
nationals desired to honour her for her years of service
with a public time of appreciation. News of the event
went to all parts of the country in which the missionary
was known to the people. One very old and very poor man
walked to the ceremony over mountainous terrain for four
days to bring his gift to the missionary. The
gift consisted of two coconuts, but it was all the man
had. The missionary recognized the man as coming from the
remote village in the mountains. "Brother, I cannot
believe that you would walk so far to present me with
this gift," said the missionary to the man. His
response? "Long walk part of gift." Acts
For Today: ‘The Growing Church in the Acts of the
Apostles’ No.
12: In
this last study in Acts, we consider how the gospel came
to One
of the keys was a commitment to making disciples. Another
key was what John Wimber called ‘power evangelism’.
There was remarkable power demonstrated with the
preaching of the gospel, in a city dominated by the
occult. As people became Christians in increasing
numbers, not only was there a major confrontation with
those involved in the occult, but the new Christians made
a great bonfire of their occult charms and magic books.
This was a costly act, estimated at a day’s wage for
50,000 men! As a result ‘the word of the Lord spread
widely and grew in power’ ( What
have Starbucks and Church Army, the From
next spring Starbucks stores in the Church
Army evangelists hope that the slogan ‘What will
they believe?’, together with an image of a young
toddler on the mugs will spark conversations. Research
points to the fact that a lot of people are open to
discussing faith informally - often they just need a
prompt. The
guidelines encourage evangelists to ask if the person
they are drinking with: has
any idea what the slogan ‘what will they believe?’
could be about? what
do they believe about God, and what do they believe about
themselves? what
do they want the children they know to believe in? Church
Army's style of evangelism is about sharing faith in a
low-key way. It offers a wide range of action ideas for
mission and evangelism at: www.churcharmy.org.uk. If
you are interested in this form of evangelism, here are
some tips from Church Army: 1.
Nobody is expecting you to give an excellent fully
comprehensive presentation of the whole gospel over a hot
beverage. You can gain the person’s interest in your
faith so they want to know more. You don’t have to
convert them on the spot right away. So relax. 2.
Remember, you’re not on trial! You can ask them
questions too, for example... Is freedom of belief in
anything more important than belief in truth (whatever
truth might be!)? Try to think of some more you might ask. 3. If
you don’t know an answer, just say so. There’s
no need to feel awkward or embarrassed. It makes us more
‘real’ and says more about our faith when we
admit to not knowing everything. You can always offer to
find out an answer for next time. 4. If
you do get asked more searching questions then you can
make time for a proper in depth discussion using
appropriate literature and even some more support. 5.
Don’t forget to Pray. When someone asks you a
question it can help you to remember that God is in
control here. A quick silent prayer of ‘Jesus, help
me’ is all that is needed. The Holy Spirit will be
with you and you have silently handed the situation over
to God. If you are chatting to someone you see on a
regular basis, pray for them regularly to accept Jesus as
Lord and Saviour. 6. Be
aware that for a few people babies may be a sensitive
subject. Some people may have lost a baby or be unable to
conceive. If you sense something like this then listening
to how the person feels without offering platitudes may
help. You could offer to pray for them. This need not be
out loud at the time but a genuine offer to add them to
your private prayers. In this case you are being Jesus to
someone by listening to them and praying for them. Words
may not be necessary. 7.
Follow rather than lead – give people room to
explore their thinking. Try to respond to their inquiries
and avoid pushing or contriving a conversation down a set
evangelistic route. 8.
Listen and ask them questions. Sharing our faith is as
much about listening to people as it is about talking to
them. Listening to people shows them that you care about
them, and is a way of showing them the love of God. It
also helps you to know what they already believe before
you share what you believe. 9.
Tell them what you believe. Having heard what they
believe you can tell them what you believe. Tell them
about what your faith means to you and how God helps you.
You could tell them about a time when God has answered
one of your prayers. Try
to avoid giving too many ‘answers’ – That
might sound odd, but if we begin ranting that ‘It’s
like this...’ people can often feel that we have
simply acquired (or been brainwashed with) a dogmatic
understanding that allows no room to think for oneself. 10.
What to do next: resourcing Encourage
people to read one of the gospels or a leaflet so they
can find out about the life of Jesus for themselves-
it may be appropriate for them to watch a suitable video.
Be
aware what enquirer courses such as Alpha are running in
your area. Sometimes it may be appropriate to
suggest that a person may get benefit from being
able to ask their questions there. Most
importantly... Relax... Just be you... Simply be ready to
share why you believe in Jesus. Vicars
and stickers at board game launch Getting
saved is a dicey business in a new board game recently
launched at the Scottish Christian Resources Exhibition,
Edinburgh. In Salvation Challenge, each player has to
land on the More
information: www.Mission316.com A
challenge to the Government’s respect agenda The
Evangelical Alliance has challenged the Government to
look at the underlying causes of anti-social behaviour,
rather than simply promising to eliminate ‘disrespect’
by the next general election. David
Muir, Director of Public Policy at the Evangelical
Alliance said, "The Home Secretary wants to
eliminate the anti-social behaviour and disrespect that
blights so many people's lives. But, in reality, what we
have are mechanisms that fail to address why so many
people feel unconnected to society and therefore feel no
obligation to make a positive contribution. Young people
will model respect if they believe the authorities and
institutions in this country value them. This is what the
Government needs to address." Dr
Muir drew attention to a project run by the He
added, “I would like to see the Government putting
more money into these sorts of projects which actually
try to impact young people before they are faced with an
anti-social behaviour order.” Hymns
versus Choruses Old
farmer Joe went to the city one weekend and attended the
big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how
it was. “Well," said the farmer, "it was
good. They did something different, however. They sang
praise choruses instead of hymns." "Praise
choruses?" said his wife. "What are those?" "Oh,
they're okay. They are sort of like hymns, only
different," said the farmer. "Well,
what's the difference?" asked his wife. Joe
said, "Well, it's like this - if I were to say to
you, 'Martha, the cows are in the corn' - well, that
would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to
you: "Martha,
Martha, Martha, "Then,
if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times,
well, that would be a praise chorus." The
next weekend, his nephew, Charles, a young, new Christian
from the city came to visit his Uncle Joe and Aunt Martha.
He attended their local church in the small town. When he
went home his mother asked him how it was. "Well,"
said the young man, "it was good. They did something
different however. They sang hymns instead of praise
choruses." "Hymns?"
asked his mother. "What are those?" "Oh,
they're okay. They are sort of like praise choruses, only
different," said the young man. "Well,
what's the difference?" asked his mother. The
young man said, "Well, it's like this - if Uncle Joe
were to say to his wife, 'Martha, the cows are in the
corn' - well, that would be a praise chorus. If on the
other hand, he were to say to her: "Oh
Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry "For
the way of the animals who can explain "Yea
those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight "So
look to the bright shining day by and by "Then,”
concluded Charles, “if Uncle Joe’s minister
were to suggest that the congregation sang only verses
one, three and four and do a key change on the last
verse, well that would be a hymn."
Author unknown Pressure
mounts on Religious Hatred legislation Pressure
mounted this autumn on the proposed religious hatred
legislation when over 2000 people protested outside
Parliament. The
demonstration, organised by a coalition of over a hundred
Christian and secular groups including the Evangelical
Alliance and the African and Caribbean Evangelical
Alliance (ACEA), was timed to coincide with the first
full debate of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill in
the House of Lords in October. A
spokesman for the Evangelical Alliance said: “This
Bill will undoubtedly restrict freedom of speech and we
are concerned on behalf of the whole of society to
protect this vital human right for everyone. We hope this
protest may prompt the Lords to press for amendments
which will, at the very least, make the Bill less
destructive.” Christians,
who made up the majority of those outside Parliament,
sang and prayed during the three hour protest which
started at The
Evangelical Alliance also put its name to a letter in The
Times calling on Peers to reject the Racial and Religious
Hatred Bill. The full page advert stated, “If the
Bill is passed in its current form it will create a
barrier to open communication on religious issues and
endanger an individual’s right to freedom of speech.
“There
is further concern that due to the broad and confusing
wording used in the Bill, it could potentially be misused.
If applied with the wrong motives, the Racial and
Religious Hatred Bill could undermine civil liberties in
a democratic society; it could also stop Christians
legitimately proclaiming their faith and expressing
accepted Christian teachings.” |