A gift beyond words

Let me begin by saying that I hope this will be a very blessed Christmas time for you.

No doubt, like me, you are finding yourself busy in the run up to Christmas.  In my blog last week I mentioned that there were less activities in the diary but it has certainly still been a busy time.  Next week should also provide space for rest - or possibly tidying up my office!

My usual prison ministry on Tuesday was cancelled as another event kept the prisoners locked up and unable to attend.  So the only events in the diary were ministry at Yelvertoft on 16th, a school assembly at Lubenham on 17th and becoming Father Christmas on Wednesday.  For the assembly I did a simple summary of the events of the first Christmas, periodically saying, "Can you imagine that?"  The aim of the assembly was to encourage the children to imagine themselves into the events, and in particular to think through how Mary and Joseph might be thinking.  It seemed to work well.

Today we held our annual Christmas warmer at Yelvertoft.  This is a visitor-friendly event where we welcome our guests with mince pies and mulled wine (alternatives available for us Tea Totalers) and then sing their requested carols.  We had the best attendance ever and a wonderful atmosphere.  The biblical account gets woven into the programme in word and song.  The folk at Yelvertoft Congregational Church all put in a lot of work and we had a sense of what "Emmanuel" is all about.

On Friday I undertook some pastoral visits and gave out leaflets in the village.  I returned home footsore and weary.  The rest of the day and much of Saturday I spend building a new website for the church at Yelvertoft.  I had hoped it would go live around 5.00 pm on Saturday but a quirk in my router would not let me into the new website but kept looking for an older version.  Finally at about 1.30 am Sunday morning after shutting everything down and starting again it finally worked.

Thanks to all who let me know about typos as requested.  I put those right this morning before going to church.  If you haven't taken a look please go to www.yelvertoftchurch.org.uk.

While on the subject of Internet you can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ruralbarry (become a friend) and on Twitter (less often) at @ruralbarry (please follow).

In my many travels around the countryside if I need an overnight stay and haven't had an invitation somewhere I usually go to www.farmstay.co.uk and have found excellent B&Bs at good prices.  It's a great way of supporting the farming community.  Talking of farming do uphold your local farmers and pray for the work of Farm Crisis Network as farmers are sorely affected both by the bad weather and by the dreadful Schmallenberg virus.  Livestock feed is also in short supply in many places.

Doreen and I have been delighted to receive cards and messages via the internet.  The flow of news has been a blessing to us.  Thank you.  We have had some wonderful assurances of daily prayer support.  We have also received more gifts than usual and I am hoping this might just ensure we close this year without a deficit.  Perhaps I will be able to tell you more about that next year.

During the week our only meeting will be on Christmas morning.  Next Sunday, 30th, I am taking the morning service at 9.00 in Gartree Prison before going to Yelvertoft for 10.45.

As I close this blog my thoughts go once again to those affected adversely by the weather.  We have had heavy rain but nothing like what has been experienced in parts of the Southwest, Wales and Scotland.  If you have been going through a tough time please let us know how we can pray for you.

"Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful to describe." (2 Corinthians 9:15 ERV)

Barry

Pre-Christmas Praise and Prayer News

I'll keep this weeks Praise and Prayer News to a minimum.  If you are a regular prayer partner then you will receive our annual summary of activities in the post soon.  Doreen and I have spent today printing it and getting the post ready.  Hence this blog is being written early on Sunday.

Last Sunday, after our morning meeting at Yelvertoft, Doreen and I went to Gartree Prison for the Annual Carol Service.  It was great to see the Faith Centre packed with prisoners and approved visitors from outside.  I don't think there was an empty seat and extra chairs had been brought in.  On these occasions we are joined by the band and songsters from Kettering Salvation Army.  Our Male Voice Choir sang "Holy Child, how still you lie" and we received many kind words of encouragement afterwards.  A couple from the SA said that this was the highlight for them.  My colleague, Jeanne, had written a special witty drama for the occasion and the senior chaplain gave a marvellous talk.

Please pray for those in prison as this is usually a bad time for them.  Pray too that the gospel message shared at Christmas services will find a resting place in their hearts.  I'm back at Gartree on Tuesday, and taking the morning service on 30th December.

I took the Senior Circle's Christmas Service in the village on Wednesday and will be taking the morning meeting this Sunday (16th).  I incorrectly wrote that we were holding our Christmas Warmer (a user friendly event) this Sunday but it will be next Sunday (23rd).  Somehow I lost a week!  Please pray that there will be people beyond the regular life of the village churches attending that meeting.

It was a pleasure to meet with Jerry Marshall the new Director of the Arthur Rank Centre during the week.  It has always been a privilege to work with the ARC and i commend Jerry to your prayers as he takes up the reins from Gordon Gatward who has now retired.

While Christmas does bring some extra activity into the diary, it actually means that overall my pace of life slows down.  Doreen and I take a break at this time of year.  Apart from the Sunday ministry at Yelvertoft I will be taking a school assembly at Lubenham on Monday (also being Father Christmas on Wednesday), and going to prison on Tuesday.  Otherwise we start the annual office tidy up!

Thank you for your prayers.  I pray that this Christmas will bring home just how amazing is the love of God, and the gift of a Saviour that it has brought.

Yours sincerely in Christ

Barry

Ppromoting Good News in the Countryside

I take comfort from the fact that in some ways I am still relatively young but, of course, whatever years lie ahead it is logical that they will be much less than those that have passed.  One of the symptoms of growing older is noticing the more frequent passing of your friends.  This week I received the news that Bessie Bryers has recently gone to be with the Lord.  Arthur and Bessie were special friends because we share a common concern for proclaiming the gospel in rural Britain.  Arthur was General Secretary of the Friends Evangelistic Band (now known as Village Hope) when I came to know him.  He was one of those who saw the importance of different rural missions working in a generous and supportive way towards one another, and was a founding member of the Rural Evangelism Network.  Bessie was both a foil and a support to Arthur, complementing both his personality and ministry.  Our prayers go out to Grace Philip and Margaret, and to those friends in Village Hope that will be saddened at the loss of Bessie from this stage in life.

It has been a quieter week compared to those immediately previous, but it has still been busy.  So much so that I have yet to do the administration behind the itinerary in Ireland, now several weeks back.  In addition to the regular (but not routine) ministry at Yelvertoft on Sunday and Gartree Prison on Tuesday, a village funeral (always a significant ministry) on Tuesday and Bible Study on Thursday, I took part in a telephone conference planning for the 2013 International Congregational Fellowship Quadrennial Family Conference.  This is scheduled for July and will be held at Brunel University.  Please take a look at information at www.intercong.org.  I look after this website and a couple of Facebook Groups for ICF.

It was a thrill to receive a letter and book from Germany recently.  It deals with rural ministry and mission and I am one of a number of contributing authors.  Both the letter and book are in German, so I was grateful to a friend who kindly translated the letter for me.  Part of it read, "Your contribution has enriched the discussion in the rural situation - many thanks."  Please pray as this book edited by Dr Thomas Schlegel and Marin Alex of the University of Greifswald reaches rural churches in Germany.

I know that many of you have been praying as I have shared in the appointment of a Children and Families Worker for the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation.  Carrying out the interviews for this new post was not an easy task as we short listed four applicants and all had much to offer.  This morning a final interview took place and we reached a decision.  This is not the right place to make a full announcement but I do want to thank you for your prayers.  Between now and the beginning of February when the role begins there is quite a lot of important work to be done.  I ask you prayer for Mick, Anna and me as we carry this out.

The Bible Discussion Group in Yelvertoft is working through 1Corinthians.  If anyone would find commentary notes from these studies useful please let me know.  I am hoping to produce a set of papers for those who are unable to meet with us on Thursday mornings and can easily share them more widely.

Please pray for the ongoing work of the trustees of Action for Christ  This is not an appropriate place to record all the problems we are still working though from previous management.  Terry, Elizabeth and I need your prayers.

This Sunday morning Doreen and I will be at Yelvertoft and in the afternoon we will be at Gartree Prison where the Prison Male Voice Choir will take part in song and drama during the annual Christmas Service.  The choir is singing Timothy Dudley Smith's carol, "Holy child, how still you lie" (MP 236).  There is normally a good attendance so please pray for all the Chaplaincy Team as we celebrate the amazing gift of Jesus.

On Wednesday I will be leading a Christmas Carol Service for older people in Yelvertoft.   Then next Sunday morning we will be holding our Christmas Warmer event instead of a more traditional carol service.  This is strictly informal, with carol requests, mulled wine, mince pies, coffee and chocolates. The biblical story of  Christmas will be woven throughout.  Christmas is a great opportunity for us to share the good news, but it is easily lost among the drama of the non-biblical story.  The challenge is to make the message clear and plain - yet winsome to win some.  I believe that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and we need to tell it well.

So I pray that God will bless you as you get caught up with all the activities in the run up to Christmas.  May there be space in your timetable to spend some quality time with the Lord, and real deep sense of peace and joy from the Holy Spirit.

Your in his service,

Barry

Riding a Roller Coaster

The past three weeks have felt something like a roller coaster.  It started with the itinerary in Ireland, followed the next week by an itinerary in Cornwall and Devon.  Then this past week has been very full once again.  In between I have tried to set aside time to spend with Doreen and to rest.  Roller coasters are not necessarily uncomfortable but they present the impression - which indeed is real - that someone other than the passenger is in control.  While that might be scary, it can also be very assuring when you know that the one in control is omnipotent, omniscient and utterly loving.

A scene from the Cornwall Rural Mission Consultation

Last Sunday I was grateful that John Harris was taking the meeting at Yelvertoft.  It was good to sit under his ministry in the morning.  In the evening I shared in the meeting at Market Harborough Congregational Church which was led by members of one of the home groups.  My role was to bring ministry from God's word.  It was good to see the confidence and competence of those who spoke, and we felt the Lord's blessing.

On Monday around 80 people attended the service of thanksgiving for the life of Millie Couling.  It was an occasion full of praise for the goodness of God that had touched and transformed Millie's life.  It was an enormous privilege to conduct the service.  As it began I was reminded that I had failed to turn off my mobile phone as it began to ring.  I quickly silenced it and used it to remind others to do the same.  The irony was that the call, which I took later that day, was from someone else in the village asking if I could conduct another funeral service!

So it was that after taking the village school assembly the following day (Tuesday) I called on Sue and Ian to talk about a service for their friend who had just died.  Incidentally, school assemblies at both Yelvertoft and Lubenham are wonderful times of ministry.  It's a great privilege to take these occasions.  The response of children and teachers never fails to encourage me.  By 12.30 I had a reasonable idea about David, and regretted that I had not got to know him before he had gone into care with dementia.  Doreen had got a light lunch ready and I had just ten minutes before I was off once again - this time for my weekly activities at Gartree Prison.

This time I had an hour for a meal and a break before setting off for Narborough, near Leicester.  There I joined two other Congregational ministers to conduct two more interviews for the post of Children and Families Worker for the East Midlands.  All four candidates have much to give and ours is not an easy task as we seek the right person.  It is so important to pray that we get it right for the sake of all four we have interviewed and, of course, for the churches the successful applicant will serve. (see below)

Our final interviewee was delayed because of major traffic problems so we worked late and it was around 11.15 pm when I finally got home.  I had then to send off a report to the Director of Youth and Children's Work so it was early Wednesday by the time I hit bed.  Wednesday was spent on administration catch-up and preparation for Thursday's ministry at the William Booth College in London.  I had booked a room at the college for Wednesday night to avoid an early start from home on Thursday (and the risk of delay).

The working day started at 9.00 and the opening prayers were led by Major David Botting.  David was part of the team that I had the privilege of joining to write Time for Action back around 2001.  This book remains a significant authority on matters relating to the care and support of those who have suffered sexual abuse.  Part way through the production of this book (it was a report prepared for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland), David was appointed to a new position and his place within the Salvation Army Child Protection Unit taken by Dean Juster.  Dean quickly became a good friend and we seem to work together well.  There were 24, a mixture of Salvation Army officers, social work staff and others, on the three day course at which I was speaking through the morning and afternoon.  It was 8.30 pm when I walked in the front door of home.

Somewhere in the course of the past week I managed to produce a conference brochure for the International Congregational Fellowship, which will be held at the end of July 2013.  I also tweaked the website (www.intercong.org) to bring it up to date.  Another task was conducting a survey of members of the Rural Evangelism Network as we plan a 24 hour conference in 2013.  I was finally able to write and print off the newsletter this morning and with Doreen's help managed to catch the morning collection from our local post office.  The next task was preparing for Sunday, and David's funeral service.

Some of the afternoon was spent reviewing computer tablets (i.e. small but powerful hand-held computers).  As I have indicated two weeks ago I had concluded that obtaining a tablet would be beneficial to the ministry.  I have received an unexpected donation specifically towards this purchase but I have been struggling to determine which of three possible tablets I should acquire.  The Nexus 10 is the cheapest of the three.  The ipad has been dominating the market and works very well.  But it is the most expensive.  The Surface is a new Microsoft tablet and comes with all the main software I use pre-loaded.  Funds are limited and it's important to spend the money wisely.

So we come to another week.  At present it looks far less busy than the week just past.  This Sunday I take the morning meeting at Yelvertoft and then can rest through the afternoon before meeting with colleagues in the evening to pray about the appointment of the Children and Families Worker.  On Monday morning I take part in a telephone conference planning the ICF 2013 conference.  On Tuesday morning I will conduct the service for David and then go to Gartree Prison for my regular ministry.  On Thursday morning we continue our Bible Discussion group in the village.  The remainder of the time will be taken up with pastoral ministry and administration.  There's a lot of work to follow up the two itineraries.

Doreen is coping well but gets tired more easily.  That's not surprising as she keeps very busy.  We still wait for results from the scan and assume that if anything serious had been found we would have heard by now.  Apart from being a little tired I am OK and will get more rest through this week.  Of course Christmas is coming and I am not prepared.  I received an invitation today to record a thought for the day and do a small interview for a local radio station.  What a wonderful privilege it is to share the story of Jesus.  Let's all try to do that effectively over the coming weeks.  After all it's not our good news; it's God's and it is there's who need to hear it.

I pray that the Lord will super abundantly bless you this week.  Please drop us a line.

Barry

SW Itinerary blessings

In a previous Praise and Prayer, having mentioned about how Doreen was taken ill I mentioned that she had gone on her mobility scooter to the doctor after we had spent a day at hospital.  Several friends have since commented that I should have told you the outcome, and one person took me to task for letting her go on her own.  So here is the latest news.

I took Doreen for a CT scan last Wednesday and we are awaiting hearing the results.  There has been no further recurrence of the heavy bleeding but we await the results of the scan to see if any cause can be found.  Meanwhile in most other respects Doreen is well, though unable to walk far because of her peripheral neuropathy condition.  It is this condition that has already limited her activities (she hated having to give up driving) and she values her independence, and I certainly won't take that from her.  In many ways she supports me in my ministry while continuing to exercise a valued ministry of her own.  Thank you for your concern and prayers for her.

Prayer is so important and I have been continuing encouraging a greater awareness of this.  It was our theme last Sunday at Yelvertoft.

On Monday the Bible Discussion Group met at Yelvertoft and studied the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 12.  It was a useful time.  Afterwards I met with Peter Couling and his son Paul.  Peter is 90 and a wonderful Christian at Yelvertoft.  His wife, Mille had developed Alzheimers but retained a wonderful sweetness.  Her smile would light up a room and her loving concern for the welfare of others was amazing.  For the past year Millie has been in care, and recently slipped into the presence of the Saviour she loved.  Together, Peter, Paul and I planned the service of thanksgiving for her life which will take place this Monday morning.

Until I came to Yelvertoft and met Peter seeking opportunities to say a word for Jesus to others walking down the High Street I had never heard of the Bible Students, a Christian fellowship to which Peter and Millie belonged.  It was therefore all the more amazing to find out that the father of a very good friend in Hastings was an honoured speaker years ago in the Bible Students, and that she knew Peter and Millie well.  Two other friends from Hastings had camped on Peter's farm in their younger days.  Millie was well known and loved in the village so please pray that her testimony of faith in Jesus will shine through the service on Monday,

Following the regular visit to Gartree Prison on Tuesday I had the privilege of speaking at the SASRA conference in Northampton that evening.  SASRA is a Christian ministry that works in a forces context with soldiers and air force personnel.  See www.sasra.org.uk/ for more information.  Alf Lavender, with whom I had the privilege of working for 25 years came to faith through the work of SASRA in Singapore and I found many remembered the named of the men Alf met there.  My talk on rural evangelism was well received.

Once Doreen was back home and we were both sure all was well I set off for Cornwall with some concern regarding the weather.  It proved well founded as a stretch of the M5 was closed due to flooding.  The detour route was congested making driving all the more difficult on top of the heavy rain and road spray.  Accommodation had been arranged for me at Launceston on the border of Devon and Cornwall, and I was grateful that I didn't have to drive further.

Thursday morning I pressed on through more rain to Chacewater, a village near Truro, where despite the high winds and torrential rain, a good number had gathered for a rural mission consultation.  My friend and colleague, Gordon Banks, was unable to join me as we had planned as railway lines into Cornwall had closed because of flooding and land slips.  So I had to deputise for him in addition to my own presentation.  But it seemed a good day with many expressions of appreciation.

It's only a two hour drive from there back to Feniton, near Exeter, but it took me longer.  Many sections of road were flooded and I had become so exhausted that I had to break the journey twice to sleep for a while. Danny Beavan (of Rural Expressions) and his wife Helen made me welcome and I slept well.  It was good to wake to sunshine on Friday and I had a reasonable 45 minute drive to Crediton where few friends met in the area with me for coffee.  Then it should have been no more than a three hour drive home.  We were by then experiencing more heavy rain making driving difficult and I arrived home exhausted more than five hours later.

This morning (Saturday) we held the first two of four interviews for the position of Children and Families Worker for the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation.  Two more interviews will be conducted this Tuesday evening.  Immediately after the interviews I drove to Hothorpe Hall to conduct a Marriage Blessing Service for a young couple following their civil ceremony.  These are precious gospel opportunities.

I am grateful for a free morning tomorrow as John Harris, a retired Methodist Minister, will take the meeting at Yelvertoft.  In the evening I will be speaking at Market Harboorough Congregational Church.

Monday - Millie's Service of Thanksgiving.

Tuesday I will be taking a school assembly in Yelvertoft and making my regular visit to Gartree Prison.  In the evening there are two interviews at Narborough, Leicestershire.

Thursday I am teaching in the Salvation Army Training College on the pastoral care of those who have suffered sexual abuse.

Please remember all these activities in your prayers.  Join me in giving thanks for the Lord's protection in hazardous driving conditions, and the kind hospitality received,

I pray the Lord will abundantly bless you.

Barry

Exciting time in Ireland

I returned home from Ireland early this evening, tired but greatly encouraged by what I had experienced since Wednesday.  I arrived in Belfast and was met by David, the Mission Development Officer of the Board of Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and taken to the PCI offices. As he was  involved in filming a mission resource I took myself to the Faith Mission bookshop.  This was almost certainly the best Christian bookshop I have encountered in the UK.  I hope the Christians in and around Belfast realise how privileged they are.

I had arranged to meet Trevor, the Director of Faith Mission in Ireland and we shared a useful hour or so together talking rural evangelism.  Then back to meet with David who kindly took me to a country hotel where they had arranged accommodation for me.  We shared a meal and talked rural evangelism.

At 9.00 on Thursday David collected me and took me to Lisburn for their rural mission network conference.  My discussions with David and Trevor had helped to prepare me for this event.  Although I knew quite a lot about rural life and the churches of Ireland, I had not had any direct contact previously.  The morning proved a great success according to the testimony of several ministers who spoke with me afterwards. David emailed me afterwards in which he said, "the whole look and feel of the conference today felt just right."

While waiting for the train that would take me to Dublin that afternoon I took the opportunity to visit the Apple Store in the centre of the city.  I have been struggling as to what to do in the area of IT.  In 2009 my personal PC and personal laptop were both in need of an upgrade.  My trustees advised me to invest in a really good laptop and just use that.  So, using Sunrise Ministries resources I did so and have found it very helpful. However, just after it passed out of the guarantee period it developed a screen fault that has got steadily worse.  A repair would cost £150.  It is also heavy compared with newer machines and, of course, there have been further technical advances.  

To keep costs low on the flight to Ireland I decided to take only hand baggage but the laptop accounted for a large part of the allowance.  The question has been whether to replace the laptop or just use it at the office connected to a spare screen I have and invest instead in a tablet such as the Apple ipad.  My visit to the Apple Store settled the issue as the ipad would provide a much more portable facility useful both for such itineraries as the Irish trip, and for the research work.

The train journey to Dublin in the Republic took around two hours and I was met at nearby Greystones station by Sheila Norton.  Sheila's husband, Peter, was previously the vicar of a church in Cumbria where I shared in an evangelistic outreach in the 1980s.  Friday morning Peter and Sheila took me to meet three Church of Ireland (Anglican) rural ministers.  Each engaged in mission in different but interesting ways.  It provided a further opportunity to expand my knowledge and for me to share with them from some of my now almost 50 years experience.  The whole 72 hours itinerary has proved an excellent use of time.

Meanwhile (back at the ranch) Doreen has not had a recurrence of the condition that took us to hospital last week.  She now has the first of the exploratory outpatient appointments, this coming Wednesday morning.

Last Sunday's United Remembrance Service in Yelvertoft had also gone well with several men stating that my talk had really 'spoken to them'.  We had an excellent attendance both at the war memorial and afterwards at the service, which was led by the Reader, Ian, who also shares in the Bible Discussion meetings we hold.

I am also grateful for the wisdom of our Sunrise Ministries trustees who met in London on Monday.  It was a useful and very positive meeting.  Stan Acland, a retired Christian businessman, has chaired the trustees board since 1988.  He retired on Monday as a trustee and will be greatly missed.  Graham Wise takes on that role for the next year.

So much to praise God and give thanks for.

Prayers for this week
This Sunday I will be leading and speaking at the meeting at Yelvertoft.  I propose exploring some of the issues about prayer that the Holy Spirit has been stirring in my heart (and I hope yours too).

On Tuesday, after the regular visit to Gartree Prison, I will be travelling to Northampton to speak at a meeting of SASRA (the Soldiers' and Airmen's Scripture Readers Association).  My dear friend Alfred Lavender, with whom I worked for 25 years, was converted through SASRA when serving in the air force back in the 1950s.  They have invited me to talk to them about rural evangelism.

If all goes well with Doreen's visit to the hospital outpatients on Wednesday I will leave to keep my appointment in Cornwall.  Please pray that this local rural mission consultation will be as fruitful as the one undertaken recently in Northern Ireland. Please not only pray for me but also for my friend and colleague Gordon banks who will be sharing the programme.  Gordon has been through a tough time recently.  Pray too for all those who attend.

On the way back home I will be stopping off in Devon where I hope to meet up with some old friends over coffee in Crediton.  I will enjoy that immensely.

On Saturday I have a wedding blessing service at Hothorpe Hall, and ministry on Sunday as usual.

Special Encouragement
As I have previously indicated we have felt the impact of the global financial problems, as have other charities. The response to the letter sent out a few weeks ago has eased the situation a little but on my area of ministry we have started to eat into our financial reserves.  My colleague, Monica, is in a very similar situation.  We shared this with the trustees last Monday and made it a matter of prayer.  Monica rang me excitedly on Wednesday to say that she had just received an unexpected donation of £1,000 for her area of ministry.  How we rejoiced!

Please pray for Monica as she is off to Kenya again for the work we do there.  God has been very good and we particularly rejoice over the fruitful ministry we have experienced.  Join us in giving thanks and in prayer as we look to the Lord to sustain the ministry.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Barry

"The best laid plans...."

It was encouraging to welcome a number of visitors to our 'harvest with a difference' service last Sunday at Yelvertoft.  We had encouraged people in the village to bring supplies for our nearest Foodbank at Rugby and filled up the back of a car after the meeting with tins and packets to help people in times of crisis.  To find out more about Foodbanks go to www.trusselltrust.org.

On Tuesday evening I met with two colleagues to review the applications for the position of Children and Families Worker for the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation.  This covers some 33 churches, many of which are rural.  We short-listed four applications and have arranged interviews for later this month.  Please pray for all involved.  We are conscious that each applicant is precious to the Lord and we need his wisdom and guidance.

On Wednesday I met with members of my local rural ministry management group to whom I am accountable.  I was grateful for their support and wise counsel.  That evening my plans for Thursday were about to be turned upside down.  At around 8.45 Doreen, my wife, announced that she was tired and was going to bed.  Unknown to me she had been suffering from bleeding from her back passage for several days, and had experienced a severe bleed Wednesday morning.  I had understood she had a tummy upset.

At around 9.20 she appeared down in the living room and informed me that twice in the previous half hour she had experienced substantial fresh bleeds from her back passage.  I called the out of hours doctor and an ambulance arrived not long afterwards.  Because A&E at the hospital was already backed up with patients, and Doreen's blood pressure was only a little low and she had a strong pulse they decided to leave her resting at home.  At around 4.00am she had her fourth substantial bleed.  Her pulse was still strong so I made her comfortable and we waited for morning to break.

We arrived at hospital A&E in Leicester at 9.15 having first visited our GP.  Doreen was examined, questioned, and put on a drip.  We then had to wait 90 minutes for a transfer to another Leicester hospital where she was to be admitted onto a surgery ward.  This ward had experienced a high level of admissions and it wasn't until around 7.00 pm that we finally saw a senior doctor (in fact two came along almost at once).  He was very caring and there was more questing and probing.  There had been no further bleeding and he concluded that she would be more comfortable at home, gave both Doreen and me very firm instructions and sent us away to await for outpatients appointments for further examinations.

It is amazing how tiring standing around in hospital for ten hours can be!  Doreen was exhausted and I had to review my Friday programme which was to include a meeting with a solicitor in Cambridge at 11.00 followed by a drive to Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire for an important meeting related to Action for Christ (AfC). We both slept fairly well and concluded that I should keep my Friday appointments.  As I prepared to leave for Cambridge and did as much administration as I could, Doreen took herself off on her mobility scooter to the doctor.  As I was about to leave home for Cambridge the solicitor rang suggesting that she could proceed with the work without the need for me to travel to Cambridge.

The journey that afternoon to Yorkshire was tiring because heavy traffic doubled the travel time.  Together with another trustee I met with representatives of the rural church.  AfC had been sponsoring the pastor of this church and had also spent around £180,000 on essential building repairs to enable a local rural-based ministry to continue and develop.  Unfortunately both the trustees of AfC and the local trustees had been misinformed regarding resources available and in June 2012, when I became a trustee  it was only then discovered that there were insufficient funds to complete the project or the sponsorship of this pastor and two others in Kent.

The pain that the trustees have been caused and the work we have had to do has been exacerbated by the knowledge that the folk in Yorkshire have been misled and let down by someone acting in our name, having also misled us.  This situation will not easily be resolved.  Our primary concern is to minimise the problems for the local people and to do all in our power to help and support them.  However, in some respects our hands are tied and we have not been helped by the withdrawal of the services of our (AfC) solicitor just when he is needed most!  All this pushes more work on me.  Please pray firstly for our friends in Yorkshire that they will be guided aright.  Secondly for AfC as we seek to manage it through this deep crisis.  Thirdly, for the AfC prayer partners and supporters that they will stand by the organisation at this time.  Please pray for me as I seek to juggle this with my other responsibilities.

So it was that I returned to Market Harborough this afternoon, after spending the night with friends and former colleagues, Sue and Tony Newnham in Bradford.  I managed a few hours sleep this afternoon and prepared for the Joint Remembrance Day Service this evening.

Activities this week for which your prayers are asked

Sunday morning there is an act of remembrance at 11.00 in the village of Yelvertoft followed by a joint service at the Parish Church where I am preaching.

Monday 12th I will be attending a meeting of the Sunrise Ministries trustees in London.  Before this I have yet to prepare the papers for this meeting, having lost Thursday.  Sunrise Ministries is the proper name of the charity under which Rural Sunrise and now Rural Mission Solutions operates.

On Tuesday I will be at HMP Gartree for my regular work with the prisoners in the choir.

On Wednesday I fly to Belfast and on Thursday I will be leading a half day event for rural ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.  In the afternoon I will be meeting with one of the leaders of the Faith Mission in Ireland.  The Faith Mission is a partner organisation within the Rural Evangelism Network that I administer.

I will then travel to the Republic where I shall be staying with an Anglican friend for whom I and others conducted rural outreach work when he was in Cumbria.  I welcome the opportunity to learn more about the particular circumstances for rural churches in Ireland.  Plans are now also afoot for subsequent work with other mainline denominations.

I fly back from Dublin on Saturday morning ready for the Sunday morning meeting in Yelvertoft and another busy week which will include activities in Cormwall and Devon.

Please pray for safety in journeys and no hitches along the way, for sensitivity in the situations where I will be working, for God's wisdom in all I say and do, and that fruit will abound for his glory.

Thanks you.

Barry

The Power of Prayer

In the past two of these newsletters I have asked questions about how we pray.  I have done this because I believe that for many of us our times of prayer are superficial.  The Bible is full of examples about the power of prayer.  Let me share just three New Testament passages that stand out to me.  The first of these is the account of Peter’s imprisonment in Acts 12.  Luke tells us in detail of the impossible situation in which Peter was securely held in prison.  Then comes a “but”.  But prayer was made without ceasing by the church for him. The result?  Chains fell off and Peter walked out free.

Here’s another.  James tells us in chapter 5 that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  The illustration here is of Elijah, head tucked between his knees, as he seeks God to send rain.  What happens?  A deluge of rain.

My third reference (there are so many) is of a man called Epaphras.  We read about him in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, where we are told that he was “always wrestling in prayer” for blessing on the believers at Colosse.  All three references have a sense of earnest prayer that lasts for more than a few moments.

Somewhere in the back of my mind there is a line that goes, “We often say our prayers, but do we really pray?”  I feel that if the Christians concerned for the proclamation of the gospel in rural areas were really praying, we would see a revival. James also writes, “You do not have because you do not ask God”.  I certainly pray a great deal but I sometimes wonder if I am praying in the right way.  I want to see a revival in rural Britain before my life comes to an end.

Thank you for your prayers

Thank you for your prayers during the past week.  There have been some very real encouragements as I have sought to open up God’s word in various situations.  There have also been times of challenge, frustration and disappointment.

Key Points for prayer this week

Before I list various items for which I would very much appreciate your earnest prayers that in each situation God will be glorified, I want to ask you to take time over these.  Perhaps you could read through the list and then be still with God for a time and seek the help of the Holy Spirit as to how you should pray.  You may want to spread the items over several days of the week, but note that some activities this week are on specific days.

Please pray as with fellow trustees of Action for Christ I continue seeking to help this mission organisation through difficulties it has encountered. This is the new name of the mission in which I spent my first 25 years of ministry. 

Please pray as Mick Sawyer, Anna Lachowski and I review the applications for the position of Children and Families Worker for the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation on Tuesday.

Please pray for my ministry at Yelvertoft this Sunday (Harvest thanksgiving) and next Sunday (joint service for Remembrance Sunday).  I am so encouraged by everyone at Yelvertoft and by what has recently been achieved in alterations to our premises.  We are looking to expand certain areas of ministry very soon.

Please pray for a meeting with our solicitors in Cambridge on Friday as we revise our mission constitution.  After this I will be travelling to Yorkshire to meet with Christians running a rural project.

Please give thanks for the financial support that has come in and pray that the Lord will raise up the remainder of the Mission Link Partners needed to sustain our rural ministry.  We are not looking for vast sums but do need folk to sign up to give regular monthly or quarterly small donations.  These are tough times for many Christian organisations, and rural mission in the UK tends to be low on the list of concern for many.

Please pray for the trustees of Sunrise Ministries as they meet on Monday 12^th in London.  It is this team that are ultimately responsible both for my ministry and that of my colleague Monica Cook.

Please pray for those seeking to support rural evangelism in Germany, having translated some of my writing to help the rural Lutheran churches there.

Please pray for my visit to Ireland on 14-17 November.  I am going at the invitation of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland but I am seeking to add some other strategic meetings with those responsible for rural evangelism both sides of the border.  Please pray that the Lord will guide me to the right contacts.  Please pray for Peter Norton who has been assisting with this.  Peter is an Anglican clergyman for whom I shared in a mission in Cumbria many years ago.

Please pray for the work of the Rural Evangelism Network as we lay plans for our 2013 conference.  This was a very helpful network in the past and it is my hope that it will prove even more helpful in the future.  On 22^nd November, Capt. Gordon Banks and I will be heading up a rural mission consultation in Cornwall and we have a few empty places.  Please pray that God will draw in the right people.

Please pray for the Baptist Union of Wales with whom I will also be working in 2013.  They are planning an event and have asked me to speak at this.

Please pray as we begin taking bookings for the International Congregational Fellowship Conference in the UK in the summer of 2013.  I have to prepare publicity and organise the online booking system.

Finally, I ask for your prayers as November will be very busy.  Pray for my physical and spiritual health, and that I will be able to set aside times of rest between engagements.

Thank you.

Learning to Trust

I have been spending time this evening putting the finishing touches to tomorrow's Family Service at Goodwood Evangelical Church.  The theme on my heart has been "trust".  When I was a young lad in Sunday School one of the mottoes that was emphasised was from Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding..."  Of course trusting is easy if you are only talking about it.  It becomes a different matter if your life is in danger, or you are faced with some overwhelming crisis.

It is also a different matter when there is no evidence of God when we are in the time of crisis, when God suddenly seems far away.  A long time ago, while still a young minister, I passed through a several months where, for the first time, I had lost my sense of being in God's will for my life  It had begun with a strong and sudden sense that the Lord was calling me to leave the Mission in which I was working and take up the pastorate of a specific church in Kent.

So compelling was this call that I drove to meet with the Pastor of the church to discuss it with him.  Imagine my excitement when he fairly leaped for joy and told me I was an amazing answer to prayer, as he had just informed the church that he was retiring.  That of course was unknown to me.  He contacted the Church Secretary who also indicated his delight.  The congregation was to be informed of our conversation as soon as possible.  I was to let them know the next morning when I had given notice of my leaving the Mission.

On my return to the Mission HQ, where I was living at the time, I informed the Mission Director, as I wanted to be honest and open about what had happened.  He hit the roof and pleaded with me to reconsider.  I was sure of my guidance but for his sake I agreed to 'sleep on it' for 24 hours.  He agreed that if I still felt as strongly after that he would agree to my departure.  So it was that 24 hours later I went back to the Pastor of the church, only to hear that during this time their Superintendent Minister had submitted the name of a potential minister.  As they hadn't heard from me that morning and the rules stated that they could only consider one candidate at a time, the door was now apparently closed.

Then I was informed that the previous day the Mission Director had pleaded with the church not to take me away from the Mission.  The Pastor told me "I have never had a man weep like that on the phone".  I wasn't sure who I was angry with.  I was angry with the Mission Director for interfering.  I was also angry with myself for allowing myself to defer what I felt so strongly God wanted me to do.  So began my months of darkness.  I had to preach and encourage people to put their trust in God.  I had to encourage people to surrender their lives to God and obey his leading.  But I felt a hypocrite and had lost all sense of direction for my life.  During this time the ministry candidate was appointed to the pastorate.  The door seemed closed and locked!

I think it was an old Strict Baptist preacher who unknowingly came to my aid by saying, "Some times we have to trust God when we cannot trace him".  He had no idea of the prophetic nature of that remark, but in a moment I was delivered.  I realised that God was greater than my greatest failures and that he was utterly trustworthy.  I decided to trust the one I could not trace, and re-surrendered my life and my way into his hands.  Looking back I wonder, was it all just a test of my ability to trust when all evidence of God's sovereign guidance were absent?  Frankly, I no longer need to know.  The path from that point to know has been marked with incredible blessing.

Are you passing through uncertain times? Are you facing difficulties or passing through trials?  Does God seem strangely distant?  In tough times as well as in good may God grant us the grace to trust him.

Praise for past blessings
Following all the blessing of our 350th anniversary celebrations at Yelvertoft last weekend, it seemed strangely quiet at first.  But towards the middle of the week things got busy.  On Tuesday I took a school assembly at Yelvertoft and had such a good time with the children there.  They seem to treat me like a big brother!  Then in the afternoon we had our final rehearsal for the prison choir concert that took place early evening on Wednesday.  The whole thing was a great success with the programme opening with a medley of songs about prayer followed by a drama about prayer.  The audience sang along with our sea shanties, and we had to give an encore performance!

Before the concert I had travelled to Stoneleigh, Warwickshire to chair the Churches Rural Group Meeting.  This brings together representatives from national Churches and some organisations.  We did useful business and had an interesting presentation about Foodbanks from the Trussell Trust.  I recommend you visit www.trusselltrust.org to find out more.

On Thursday I was back in Yelvertoft to host a visit from around 30 children from school who came to hear the story of the brave men and women who, at great personal cost, had followed their conscience and sought to establish a church that was led by scripture and the Holy Spirit.  They were dangerous times but they were laying foundations for amazing things that were to follow.

Prayer requests
If you read this in time please pray for the Family Service at Goodwood Evangelical Church (starts at 11.15) this Sunday.  But it's never too late to pray that God's word will bring forth all he intends.

On Thursday our Bible Discussion Group meets to continue our studies in 1 Corinthians.

On Saturday I am attending the Agricultural Christian Fellowship Conference and will take a small part.

On Sunday 4th we have our Harvest Thanksgiving at Yelvertoft when we hope to gather a harvest of tins and packeted food for the Rugby Foodbank.  Please pray that we will have many visitors and that hearts and minds will be touched by the Lord.

We continue to need your prayers that the Lord will meet our financial needs.  We are thankful for those who gave donations after the letter we sent out two week's ago.  We are also thankful for those who have promised some regular support to keep our ministry going.  Having run at a loss for the past three years we are in a difficult place.  No doubt we need to trust!

In a similar way, my fellow trustees of Action for Christ and I have sent a letter to all on our database explaining the difficulties AfC has been led into by recent past leadership.  Please pray for wisdom for the three AfC trustees (Elizabeth, Terry and me).  We need to discern whether the Lord still has a purpose for the organisation, and if so what this is.

Please continue prayers as I prepare for a consultation in Cornwall, my visit to church leaders in Ireland, and a talk at a Soldiers' and Airmen's Scripture Readers event.

A Thought!
When we pray do we take time to be still and listen, or do we just pour our requests into God's ear?  Sometimes we might hear an answer if we aren't rushing away.  Why not try being still before each item for praise and prayer above?  How does God want us to pray about these things?  Then after we have prayed did we sense God speaking?  It might help to pace out the praise and prayer items over several days, or even the whole week.

Barry

Recording the second coming?

"So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."  Matthew 24:44

It is rapidly moving towards midnight on Saturday 20th October and I have not long been in after a very busy day marking the 350th anniversary of the church where I am minister.  This morning we had an encouraging number of people visit our exhibition and enjoy food and drink.  This evening we had an excellent  concert led by the Yelvertoft Ladies Choir, and a brilliant young oboe player.  It would have been good to have seen a few more this evening but, of course, we were competing with the enticing Strictly Come Dancing on TV.

Clearly those who attended the concert, and who are fans of 'Strictly' could have left equipment at home set to record the programme, and then watched it on returning home. That way they would not miss the programme.  On the other hand if they had chosen to stay at home and watch TV they would have missed a superb concert.  So it is clear what should be the priority.

It's great that for many of us recording a favourite TV programme is so much simpler.  No need for tapes in cassettes.  A few touches on buttons and we can record onto a hard drive or, perhaps just watch it later on iplayer or similar.  

But there are some events that need to be personally unmissable as you wont be able to record and play it back, and you certainly won't want to miss out.  The second coming of Jesus Christ is one such unmissable event.  When I was a new Christian an older Christian told me that I should live as if Jesus had died only yesterday, had risen this morning, and was coming back tomorrow.  Not bad advice!

Back in the 1960's I had the privilege of hearing the late Dr. Herbert Lockyer speak on "The Next Great World Event".  A poem he recited that day stuck in my mind and I am able to recite it today as I believe I heard it nearly 50 years ago:

There’s a man in yonder glory I have loved for many years, 
He has cleared my guilty conscience and has banished all my fears.
He is coming in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, 
And no time will be allotted for you to utter one good-bye. 
No time to kiss the husband or embrace the loving wife, 
If they are united in the bonds of holy life. 
Are you ready, Christian, ready, for the trump and shout of voice? 
Will His coming make you tremble or cause you to rejoice? 
Are you walking with Him daily, making Him your care?

Do you live so close to heaven that a breath would waft you there?

(Internet versions vary slightly)

Some events just have to be prioritised!

As always, thanks for your prayers during the past week.  Here is a summary:

The theme the Lord put on my heart for Sunday morning about rest and trust in times of stress proved very appropriate for many in the congregation, though I had no knowledge of this beforehand.  In the evening Doreen and I went to Newton URC, near Rugby.   Again the ministry was appreciated.

Monday morning found me setting of to the Conference Centre at High Leigh, Hoddesden, Herts.  I was there for a 24 hour gathering of the Churches Group for Evangelization.  It was a valuable time meeting with those responsible for evangelism across the main UK Churches.  I also benefited from a precious time of prayer after sharing with my friends some current heavy burdens.

Among these very special prayers was one by a Catholic friend who prayed that God would cause his saints and angels to walk alongside me through the coming days.  It wasn't quite my theology but I went to bed reflecting on Hebrews 12:1, and realising I still have much to learn.  That prayer was both powerful and effective.

I left High Leigh mid-morning on Tuesday in order to get back for the choir practice in Gartree Prison (see below).

There was more ministry on Thursday as I led the Bible Discussion Group as we dipped into 1Corinthians chapter 6, where Paul addresses the issue of freedom in Christ; things that are not banned are not always appropriate or even right.

The remainder of the week was largely spent getting ready for our 350th anniversary.  This included printing quantities of a booklet written in the past about non-conformist life in the village since 1662.  I also assisted one of our congregation in writing his record of the village chapel since he was a lad.  Rob is able to trace his family connection with the chapel over more than 300 years!

Cllr Alan Chantler tries out the new ramp

We have also been keen to see some building work completed at the chapel in Yelvertoft.  We have a good team from the congregation but the builders seemed to have left too much to do at the last moment.  However, all the basics were completed in time after the builders worked late into the evening.  We now have wheelchair access from the road right through to the church and within the church.  This is a real step forward for our small rural congregation.

A local District Councillor and Christian friend cut the ribbon and tried out access from his electric wheelchair.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we continue our anniversary celebrations with ministry from my good friend, Dr Janet Wootton.

Upcoming Activities:

Tuesday 23 - 10.30 School Assembly in Yelvertoft; 13.30 HMP Gartree

Wednesday 24th - 11.00 Churches Rural Group (which I chair) at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire; 17.30 Prison Choir Concert, Gartree, Leics.

Sunday 28th - Family Service, Goodwood Evangelical Church, Leicester.

Do you need hymn books?

I have a quantity of the earlier version of Mission Praise (up to number 798) from Action for Christ.  Please let me know if these would be an answer to prayer for you.

Talking of answers to prayer I would be grateful if you would drop me a line and tell me about your latest definite answer to prayer.  Please try to put a date against it.

Finally please keep praying as, with others, i seek to find the right person to take up the ministry of Children and Families Worker in the East Midlands.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Barry

Devoted service or workaholic?

Where does the line lie between wholehearted service for Jesus Christ and being a workaholic?

These words appeared during the week in a 'tweet' from a friend and colleague, John Truscott, who works as a Church Consultant.  Church management is one of the areas in which he specialises and from time to time he broadcasts these 'tweeted' wise words to all and sundry.  My immediate response to his question was to suggest that it lies somewhere between the heart and head, by which I meant that service for Jesus should always be a matter of the heart.  Becoming a workaholic suggests, to me a problem of mental attitude.  I later added a 'tweet' of my own commenting that since God sometimes says "No" to things he is asked to do, it also means that it is right for us to sometimes say "No" too.

Of course, it isn't simple.  It may also not come as a surprise that I am often asked whether I am doing more than I should.  Many years I discovered that I was suffering from stress because I allowed myself to submissively accept all that my immediate superior dumped on me.  Every few months I would become mentally confused, unable to finish sentences because I couldn't remember what I wanted to say.  After giving me a thorough check up after one of these turns, my doctor told me that there were two possible things he could prescribe.  The first,he told me, was a course of Valium   I asked what the alternative treatment was, and was informed that it was learning to say "No".

I started saying "No" the next time a pile of work was about to be added to my existing heavy load.  I was informed that this was an 'ungodly reaction' but I stood my ground and haven't had a funny turn since that day over 30 years ago.  But I recognise that one of my weaknesses is not letting go or putting down that which God no longer expects me to carry.  I remember how surprised I was when I discovered that the Minister who had baptised me in my teens had some years later left the ministry and taken up a secular job.  But when I asked him about this he replied that God had called him into pastoral ministry and had later called him out of it.  If that is true then I wonder which step called for the greater faith and courage.

Of course there are some times when taking on a responsibility does not need a revelation from God.  In the parable of the Good Samaritan we are told that the priest and Levite just happened to be going that way.  We are not told that any of the three who saw the man were told by God to do something about it.  But one man did do something about it because he loved his neighbour.  Of course it was the right thing to do and he put the 'holy' men to shame.  But doing the right thing on that occasion was risky, inconvenient and costly.  I also surmise that he would have got messy in the process.

Avoiding doing the right think because we have not had a special revelation, or because of concern about the consequences will never excuse us in the Day of Judgement.  But perhaps when faced with a situation that demands our response we may need to say what do I need to stop doing or put down first.

The Past Week

It was a bit of a rush to get home from Yelvertoft and then back to Hothorpe Hall with everything ready for the service of marriage blessing in the afternoon.  Loraine and John had especially wanted this service and had even asked for communion afterwards.  All went well and the opportunity to share the good news through all the symbols was eagerly grasped.  I often wonder why Jesus used his power at the wedding in Cana just to ensure that folk had a good time.

It was good to meet in the week with Mike and Brian, two Methodist Ministers with hearts for rural evangelism.  I now have to follow up on the offers I made.  I get so encouraged when I find others whose heart God has touched for the millions of men women and children in rural Britain.

I am very grateful for those who sent donations following the letter setting out the need for extra support in these difficult financial days.  In addition to the gifts that were received there has also been a small response to the need to develop the Mission Link Scheme.  This is nothing to do with Doreen's and my personal needs; it is creating a strong base to ensure that the ministry is enabled.  Hopefully you read the Concerned About Rural Evangelism leaflet, but if not email me for another copy.  We do not need a huge amount of income but we cannot keep running at a loss!

Another great joy through the week has been the enquiries regarding the post of Children's and Families Worker for the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation.  Please pray as people consider taking up this post.  The deadline for applications is the end of October.  This is an exciting new opportunity and a very real need for the person with the right ministry.

Prayers this week please

• Give thanks for the financial support so far received in response to the recent letter.
• Give thanks for opportunities to share God's word through the week, especially at last Sunday's Marriage Blessing.
• Please pray for the ministry at Yelvertoft this Sunday morning and at Newton, near Rugby this Sunday evening.
• Please pray for the residential meeting of the Churches Group for Evangelization as we meet on Monday and Tuesday at High Leigh.
• Please pray for the Bible Discussion Group meeting on Thursday morning in Yelvertoft.
• Please pray for our church at Theddingworth as they celebrate harvest and seek to us this to share the gospel.
• Please pray for the work of Action for Christ.  Together with two other trustees and our part time admin staff I have been working for the past few months to rescue this work following problems created under previous management.  The next few weeks are critical for that organisation.
• Pray for next weekend as Yelvertoft Congregational Church celebrates its 350th anniversary with special events on Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st October.
• Please pray that the gospel message shared through the past week will produce a harvest in the lives of those who heard it.
• Please pray for Brian, Rural Officer for Northampton Methodist District and Mike, a Circuit Rural Officer with whom I met in the week.
• Please pray for the trustees of Sunrise Ministries, that they may have wisdom in their responsibilities.
• Please pray for more small links in the Mission Link Scheme to keep our ministry on the road.
• Please pray for those who have received information about the Children and Families Worker that God will give guidance as we seek to fill this new post.

Thank you for your faithfulness.  We have a God who hears and answers prayer.

Barry

Proclaimed from the roofs

"There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs." Luke 12:2,3

The words of Jesus quoted above may seem to have some significance in the unhappy situations in the news over the last few days relating to a well known celebrity who, it is alleged, sexually abused young girls on multiple occasions.  As various accounts have been reported I noted the grief one middle aged woman felt that she was unable to blow the whistle on his behaviour many years ago and so possibly save others from being abused.

It appears that his behaviour was enabled because of his prominent status and also because of the fear of the impact that any revelation might have on his charitable activities.  Sadly it was his status in this regard that provided both the opportunities to abuse and an adequate cover to keep his activities secret.

This is familiar territory to those of us who work with the victims of sexual abuse that we come across in churches - especially if that abuse has been perpetrated by a Christian leader.  This recent news about the celebrity coincided with our Bible Discussion Group at Yelvertoft looking at 1 Corinthians 5.  Around five years before Paul sent this letter from Ephesus he had spent eighteen months preaching and teaching and establishing this church.  It existed in what would have probably been a cosmopolitan and pluralistic society lacking a clear over-arching moral framework.  The second issue Paul addresses in his letter is the failure of the church to act appropriately regarding one of their number engaged in a sexual relationship that even society around would deem inappropriate.

Paul's words in this chapter may seem harsh.  We have a tendency as Christians to want to be tolerant, loving and forgiving.  Exercising judgement does not come easy.  Indeed it is easier to hide behind the words of Matthew 7:1, so often poorly understood.  But Paul warns the church of the consequences of their attitude in this matter.  He uses the illustration of the affect of leaven.  In the UK we might talk about the consequences of a rotten apple spoiling a whole barrel full.

As individual Christians and as churches we need to have standards.  Where true repentance follows failure there needs to be forgiveness and acceptance (Paul addresses this in 2 Corinthians 2), but it is imperative that we do not shirk our responsibilities for the individual and corporate moral life.  Whatever the apparent cost of exposing that which is wrong, the real cost of cover-up  his far more serious.  In 1 Timothy 5: 20 we read, "... elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.".

Many will be wondering about how this celebrity got away with it so often.  We might wonder about the organisation that employed him.  Were they, as some have claimed, culpable by their silence and denial?  But before we seek to judge others, we need to start a lot nearer to home.  What was there in the culture of the church in Corinth that led to inaction?  What aspects of contemporary Christian culture might lead to similar failure?

 My News This Week

I want to start by thanking those who responded to last week's news, whether through prayer or a practical response.  We have received several one-off donations which are very much appreciated.  We also had a smaller response to the request for people to join the Mission Link Scheme.  The Link Scheme is very important as it enables us to plan and budget more sensibly.  Of course we will always have to trust God to keep the ministry on the road.  Through the Mission Link Scheme friends can make a small but regular donation (monthly, quarterly or annually).  Every link helps to extend our ministry enabling us to continue serving others.  Details were attached to last week's email, and I will be happy to send a copy again to anyone wanting more information.

We had an excellent service at Gartree Prison last Sunday morning.  There was a good attendance, 100% attention through the whole of the meeting, and a lot of positive feedback from the prisoners who attended and others on the team.  In the evening I took the meeting in Theddingworth, which also proved to be a blessed time.

Most of my time this week was taken up with administration and ministry preparation.  It is often harder to pray for these activities as there doesn't seem to be the same focus as exists if there is a meeting.  However, they are very important.  The phone often rings with someone seeking advice or assistance so my desk is just as much a place of ministry as the pulpit.

Work on our church building at Yelvertoft is progressing slowly and this week's Bible Discussion Group had to be held in the village Reading Room.  We are systematically unpacking 1 Corinthians at present and do so in a dynamic discussion.  If you would find it helpful to have some notes from our Bible studies please let me know.

The Congregational Federation's Area Meeting on Friday, at Leicester provided me with the opportunity to report on new ways in which we hope to enhance the work of our Mission and Development Worker and also progress on the appointment of a Children and Families Worker for the Area.  We are currently advertising this post and your prayers that the Lord will bring in the right person for this important ministry will be appreciated.

Upcoming Engagements
Sunday 7th.  Morning Meeting at Yelvertoft.  In the afternoon I will be conducting a Service of Blessing on a Marriage following a Civil Ceremony at Hothorpe Hall.  The middle-aged couple getting married have been very keen about the Christian element in their special day.  Please pray that I will bring God's word of blessing.

Tuesday 9th.  In the morning I am meeting with two key people from within the local Methodist District exploring how we might be able to support their activities.  In the afternoon I will be at Gartree Prison.

Items for Praise and Prayer:

• Give thanks for the donations received this week and the first links in the Mission Link Scheme.
• Give thanks for God's blessing on the ministry last Sunday and the Bible Discussion Group mid-week.
• Give thanks for those with whom I am working to resolve inherited difficulties in Action for Christ.
• Give thanks for all those in our informal networks seeking to proclaim the gospel, especially those working in rural situations.
• Give thanks for those ordering our mission resources through the past week.
• Give thanks for those (many are my friends) whose ministry includes seeking to make our churches and Christian organisations safer, and who have to clear up after the hurt and damage caused by sin.
• Please pray for our ministry this Sunday at at the start of next week.
• Please pray for the Lord to send the right person for the role of CF Area Children and Families Worker.
• Please pray as I seek with others to make my visit to Ireland in November as useful as possible.
• Please pray that the Lord will supply all the funds needed so that we can end this year without adding to the deficit of the past four years.
• Please pray for more people to join the Mission Link Scheme.
• Please pray for the many survivors of sexual abuse, especially those who come to our churches hoping to find understanding and support.  The high profile of the issue in the news will bring up a lot of hurt from the past for many.
• Please pray for the uncovering of abusive situations, especially where it might be happening in a Christian context.  Pray for those who perpetrate abuse, that they will be convicted of their sin, repent, and seek forgiveness from God and those against whom they have sinned.

Please spend a few moments each day reflecting on how good God is, and recognising his blessing in your life.  Then gently put your day into his hands to be what he wants you to be where he wants you to be.

The Lord abundantly bless you.