It is my hope and prayer that this Easter period will bring about a deepening of faith and a renewed commitment to share this amazing story with others.
I love the story of the two that walked to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35). Full of doubt and confusion they failed to recognise the person who drew near and walked with them. I note that it was he who took the initiative. Like many Christians I can look back and see God's presence in my life long before I had come to recognise it. He made their concerns his own. He had drawn alongside them in more ways than one. Only after he had reminded them of scripture and helped them understand its relevance did they reach a point of decision. Their hearts now burning within them they did not want to be deprived of his company.
I see this as a wonderful gracious moment. He did not ask to become their guest; rather he made as if he was going further along the road. This is the moment where they needed to seize the initiative, and they did. So it was through an invitation to become their guest, putting him before themselves, that at last they realised who their companion was. What a mind-blowing experience that must have been. They had been talking and possibly eating with the risen Christ! Now they could not keep quiet until the morning.
It would have been at least a two hour journey back to Jerusalem. It would have been dark, difficult, and possibly dangerous, but it could not be put off. I doubt they waited to do the washing up! News like that just had to be shared. Whatever reason had led them to travel from Jerusalem to Emmaus it now had no significance in the light of what had taken place along that road. There was now a new priority that eclipsed the former.
Three weeks ago I wrote about my personal Easter experience 50 years ago today. An evangelist called Sylvia Smith (how I wish I knew she could be aware of how God used her that night) spoke about her work as an evangelist in London, and then spoke on "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" (Authorised Version mostly in 1963). As she spoke about the various people who had been involved in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, weaknesses in my own character and faith were exposed. Again and again, after each character had been described she added, "Jesus prayed, 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do'"
For the first time in my life I not only understood how much I was loved - I felt that love! The meeting closed with singing Isaac Watts' great hymn, "When I survey the wondrous cross" and singing the last line of the last verse was my moment of unreserved commitment to Jesus. What I had wanted to do with my life no longer mattered; a new priority had eclipsed the former. While I wish with all my heart that my life might have been more fruitful, I am thankful for those whom I have helped to come to know Jesus. And the end is not yet!
So this Easter, please join with me in not only ensuring you have made Jesus the honoured guest in your life, but also that you identify with the enthusiasm of the two at Emmaus who found themselves with a burning desire to tell others that Jesus was indeed alive and to share their experience of him with others who might need to hear it.
Prayer Update
1. We had a good choir practise in the prison but missed 'T' who has been disturbed by some recent developments outside prison. Please pray for him that his faith will be strengthened at this time. We would love to see him back. No prison visit this Tuesday as there is an alternative activity taking place. There are changes about to take place within the prison so we value your prayers that this ministry will not be adversely affected.
2. Several responded positively to the unhappy circumstances I shared last week that have befallen Action for Christ. It wasn't easy to write those things but we do so need your prayers. We are still looking for professional legal advice (with no funds to pay for it), still have various issues to resolve from former mismanagement, and we have a review meeting with the Charity Commission on 10th and 11th April. We are not really 'under these circumstances' since everything that is over our head is actually under His feet! Please pray for my fellow trustees in Action for Christ as we seek to act righteously and discover God's purposes for the way ahead.
Thank you for your fellowship and prayers. I thank God for you, and pray that you will have a really blessed and life changing Easter.
Barry
Saturday 30 March 2013
Saturday 23 March 2013
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life..."
Two weeks ago I asked your prayers specifically for the Rural Evangelism Network Conference then about to take place. I am delighted to tell you that this concluded with an affirmation of the value of the opportunity for people actually doing rural evangelism in Britain to talk with one another, sharing insight and experiences. This has been followed by a flurry of emails stating the same. So thank you for praying.
This week I want to ask your prayers for two specific areas of ministry: the work I do in prison and the work I do for "Action for Christ".
Prison Ministry
Each Tuesday afternoon I enter a Category B prison for lifers. My role there is only a small one as together with a Methodist friend I lead a small choir. Three times a year we put on a concert for other prisoners and for a number of approved people from outside (e.g. prison visitors). We also take part in a special Christmas Carol Service led by the Salvation Army. The choir is a voluntary activity run through the chaplaincy. We have eight to ten weeks to prepare six or seven concert items to a good standard. They are a mix of Christian and secular items. Most of the men do not read music. For some, English is not their first language. So I work them hard and I am grateful for their expressions of appreciation at the end of each 45 minute practise session. "I wish every day was a Tuesday afternoon" is a common comment. After practise we share coffee and chat - sometimes very helpfully.
It is difficult to imagine what it is like for a man to face prison for life. Each will have a long tariff (the minimum amount of time served). There is no remission. At the end of their tariff there is no certainty that they will be released. If after release a crime is committed they will be back for life once again. In the main those I work with accept their sentence and realise the gravity of the crime they committed. Sometimes that crime was committed under the influence of alcohol or another drug. Sometimes it was the consequence of being sorely provoked. A single moment of stupidity has robbed them of their freedom, robbed them of their ability to be useful within society, and robbed their families of the role they should be undertaking as a father and wife. A life sentence might be a just punishment for a serious crime, but it is hugely costly. The opportunity to work hard to offer something of quality to others is therefore something they value. Further, I have witnessed the therapeutic and transformational affect brought about, at least partly, through this work.
Recently something that happened outside prison cast a shadow over our choir. It is not appropriate for me to go into detail but it was cruel, and in my view unfair and morally indefensible. As a result I may have lost at least one choir member, and could lose more. While some might think that they deserve to lose everything, live in misery and fear, and get nothing positive out of their many years in prison, such a view does not sit well with the teaching of scripture. No doubt you are familiar with the latter verses of Matthew 25. While Hebrews 13:3 probably refers to those in prison because of their faith it is capable of wider understanding.
So please pray for all the members of the choir at this time. Pray too for all who work in prison chaplaincy, often handling complex pastoral issues.
"Action for Christ"
Last June, my friend Elizabeth, the current chairperson of this Christian organisation contacted me and asked if I would become a trustee to help them through some difficulties in which the trustees had suddenly found themselves. What I anticipated might take a few months has developed into something far more serious.
Action for Christ is a charity set up in October 2010 to take over the work of Mission for Christ, in which I had worked from 1963 to 1988. After I had left it was discovered that the founder/director had committed several acts of sexual abuse. He came to trial around ten years ago and was sentenced to prison. Prior to this John Coltman, a man of whom I knew little, had become a trustee. In the years that followed he became chairman of Mission for Christ and appeared to be acting responsibly. By 2010 he was functioning as the executive trustee and was able to draw charity funds from the bank on his sole authority. The Charity Commission became rightly concerned about how he was running the charity.
When Action for Christ was established in October 2010 it was the Charity Commission's expectation that John would not only never be a trustee but that he would not have any financial responsibility. Unfortunately the degree of their concern was apparently not understood either by the new chairperson or the organisation's solicitor, even though the Commission had thought they had made this clear. Although John had been charged with the task of transferring the funds from Mission for Christ to Action for Christ and winding up Mission for Christ, he managed by a series of subterfuges to retain control of the funds and keep the new trustees in ignorance of what was happening.
A few weeks ago John came to court charged by the HMRC with VAT fraud. He pleaded guilty and has been given a prison sentence suspended for two years. He also has been given 200 hours community service. John had illegally charged VAT to the charity for services provided through his privately owned company. Although we were not the only victim he had taken over £26,000 from us in these illegal charges over several years. The illegal VAT charges were not the only consequences of his mismanagement of the charity. In October 2010 the charity had almost £500,000 in the bank. Twenty months later when I became a trustee it had only £50,000 and running costs were such that it had only three months to survive. While some of this money had been spent legitimately and with the knowledge of the trustees, this was the first time that the trustees had been made aware of the overall situation and it only happened because a member of staff blew the whistle.
Together with my fellow trustees we took emergency action to reduce the unaffordable overheads John had set up. Regrettably, we also had to terminate a grant scheme supporting the leaders of three small churches and advise another charity with which we had been working that we could put no more money into a shared project. Action for Christ has been able to fulfil ministry engagements with the help of friends. The charity's financial resources are now in the hundreds and, at a time when professional legal advice is needed, we can no longer afford it.
It is only after the conclusion of the court case that we are able to be more explicit about what has happened. We can also be more particular about what we ask for prayer. Since I became involved I have had several conversations with the leaders of two national Christian denominations with whom John had also become entangled. All testified to the fact that they had become convinced that he was a very credible and competent Christian leader, and were shocked to discover what had transpired.
So here are some prayer points:
This Easter may the amazing things that God has done for us in Christ become even more alive in your understanding and experience of his grace.
Thank you for standing beside us in intercession.
Barry
This week I want to ask your prayers for two specific areas of ministry: the work I do in prison and the work I do for "Action for Christ".
Prison Ministry
Each Tuesday afternoon I enter a Category B prison for lifers. My role there is only a small one as together with a Methodist friend I lead a small choir. Three times a year we put on a concert for other prisoners and for a number of approved people from outside (e.g. prison visitors). We also take part in a special Christmas Carol Service led by the Salvation Army. The choir is a voluntary activity run through the chaplaincy. We have eight to ten weeks to prepare six or seven concert items to a good standard. They are a mix of Christian and secular items. Most of the men do not read music. For some, English is not their first language. So I work them hard and I am grateful for their expressions of appreciation at the end of each 45 minute practise session. "I wish every day was a Tuesday afternoon" is a common comment. After practise we share coffee and chat - sometimes very helpfully.
It is difficult to imagine what it is like for a man to face prison for life. Each will have a long tariff (the minimum amount of time served). There is no remission. At the end of their tariff there is no certainty that they will be released. If after release a crime is committed they will be back for life once again. In the main those I work with accept their sentence and realise the gravity of the crime they committed. Sometimes that crime was committed under the influence of alcohol or another drug. Sometimes it was the consequence of being sorely provoked. A single moment of stupidity has robbed them of their freedom, robbed them of their ability to be useful within society, and robbed their families of the role they should be undertaking as a father and wife. A life sentence might be a just punishment for a serious crime, but it is hugely costly. The opportunity to work hard to offer something of quality to others is therefore something they value. Further, I have witnessed the therapeutic and transformational affect brought about, at least partly, through this work.
Recently something that happened outside prison cast a shadow over our choir. It is not appropriate for me to go into detail but it was cruel, and in my view unfair and morally indefensible. As a result I may have lost at least one choir member, and could lose more. While some might think that they deserve to lose everything, live in misery and fear, and get nothing positive out of their many years in prison, such a view does not sit well with the teaching of scripture. No doubt you are familiar with the latter verses of Matthew 25. While Hebrews 13:3 probably refers to those in prison because of their faith it is capable of wider understanding.
So please pray for all the members of the choir at this time. Pray too for all who work in prison chaplaincy, often handling complex pastoral issues.
"Action for Christ"
Last June, my friend Elizabeth, the current chairperson of this Christian organisation contacted me and asked if I would become a trustee to help them through some difficulties in which the trustees had suddenly found themselves. What I anticipated might take a few months has developed into something far more serious.
Action for Christ is a charity set up in October 2010 to take over the work of Mission for Christ, in which I had worked from 1963 to 1988. After I had left it was discovered that the founder/director had committed several acts of sexual abuse. He came to trial around ten years ago and was sentenced to prison. Prior to this John Coltman, a man of whom I knew little, had become a trustee. In the years that followed he became chairman of Mission for Christ and appeared to be acting responsibly. By 2010 he was functioning as the executive trustee and was able to draw charity funds from the bank on his sole authority. The Charity Commission became rightly concerned about how he was running the charity.
When Action for Christ was established in October 2010 it was the Charity Commission's expectation that John would not only never be a trustee but that he would not have any financial responsibility. Unfortunately the degree of their concern was apparently not understood either by the new chairperson or the organisation's solicitor, even though the Commission had thought they had made this clear. Although John had been charged with the task of transferring the funds from Mission for Christ to Action for Christ and winding up Mission for Christ, he managed by a series of subterfuges to retain control of the funds and keep the new trustees in ignorance of what was happening.
A few weeks ago John came to court charged by the HMRC with VAT fraud. He pleaded guilty and has been given a prison sentence suspended for two years. He also has been given 200 hours community service. John had illegally charged VAT to the charity for services provided through his privately owned company. Although we were not the only victim he had taken over £26,000 from us in these illegal charges over several years. The illegal VAT charges were not the only consequences of his mismanagement of the charity. In October 2010 the charity had almost £500,000 in the bank. Twenty months later when I became a trustee it had only £50,000 and running costs were such that it had only three months to survive. While some of this money had been spent legitimately and with the knowledge of the trustees, this was the first time that the trustees had been made aware of the overall situation and it only happened because a member of staff blew the whistle.
Together with my fellow trustees we took emergency action to reduce the unaffordable overheads John had set up. Regrettably, we also had to terminate a grant scheme supporting the leaders of three small churches and advise another charity with which we had been working that we could put no more money into a shared project. Action for Christ has been able to fulfil ministry engagements with the help of friends. The charity's financial resources are now in the hundreds and, at a time when professional legal advice is needed, we can no longer afford it.
It is only after the conclusion of the court case that we are able to be more explicit about what has happened. We can also be more particular about what we ask for prayer. Since I became involved I have had several conversations with the leaders of two national Christian denominations with whom John had also become entangled. All testified to the fact that they had become convinced that he was a very credible and competent Christian leader, and were shocked to discover what had transpired.
So here are some prayer points:
- Pray for John that he will realise the gravity of his crime and truly repent;
- Pray for the trustees (Elizabeth, Terry and me) as we seek to manage the charity, maintain a ministry, and clear up the several serious messes John has left behind;
- Pray for Mary, who was running a design and print service within Action for Christ but had to be made redundant;
- Pray for Heather, still providing a little administrative support on an ad hoc part-time basis;
- Pray for wisdom in a meeting on April 10th and 11th between the trustees and the Charity Commission;
- Pray that we will find a Christian solicitor able to provide free legal advice as we grapple with some complicated situations;
- Pray for me as I seek to manage the time I have available to meet my wider responsibilities and avoid being overwhelmed by this aspect;
- Above all please pray that the trustees will be guided by God regarding the way ahead. Action for Christ needs an income at the present time sufficient at least to keep our heads above water. We have pared the organisation to a minimum and are being good stewards. Only after the legal problems are resolved can we determine the way ahead. But God already knows the way that this should be. We are in his hands.
This Easter may the amazing things that God has done for us in Christ become even more alive in your understanding and experience of his grace.
Thank you for standing beside us in intercession.
Barry
Sunday 10 March 2013
The Challenge of Rural Evangelism
In a few months' time it will be 50 years since my first introduction to rural evangelism. Easter 1963 was a time of profound spiritual experience for me. I was seventeen and during the year before this God had been working in my life. Looking back I know that this was in answer to faithful prayers made on my behalf by others.
Most of my teens had been spent seeking to get away from the church influence that had been so strong during early childhood. However, God had found ways of speaking into my life even then. As a member of a semi-professional boy band I had performed such numbers as "I believe" and "When you walk through a storm". At the same time I came under the influence of an RE teacher, Robert Dingwall, who showed how science supported scripture through archaeology and regular "Fact and Faith" science based Christian films.
At some stage in 1962 I began to realise how strong the force of sin was in my life. Then an incident in a drunken party brought me face to face with the truth that in a way that mattered my life was out of control and heading for disaster. I dug out the Gideon New Testament I had been given at school and started to read. A tract given to me by a stranger in the street brought home the message of John 6:37 that I did not have to make myself acceptable to God, Jesus said I could come to him as I was. In the privacy of my bedroom I asked God to accept me and come into my life.
Nothing dramatic happened at that time but as I look back I can see how God continued to work as I approached Easter 1963 when I was to be baptised by immersion, having confessed that Jesus was my saviour a few months before at a youth meeting. But my lifestyle was still not what it should be and I had far more doubts and uncertainty than faith. But that Saturday evening I attended a meeting of Hastings and District for Christ on Hastings Pier and heard an evangelist called Sylvia Smith (a member of The Evangelisation Society) speak about her faith and work and then to speak on the prayer of Jesus from the cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". That night the gospel migrated from my head to my heart, and I surrendered my life without reserve into the hands of God.
So it was that a radically changed young man was baptised that Easter Sunday evening singing with new enthusiasm "And can it be" and "To God be the glory". Within just a few weeks of that weekend I knew myself called to be an evangelist. Exploring that led me into contact with a small organisation that undertook village evangelism part time and by May 1963 I was part of the team as a trainee. The organisation grew into a national ministry with a core evangelistic team, a network of associates, and a contextual training programme. I grew alongside it my ministry developing and diversifying along the way. From 1968 pastoral responsibilities came along and a teaching ministry also developed. While the pastoral and teaching aspects have always felt right I have tried to stay faithful to God's call to be an evangelist and I have almost exclusively sought to express that in responding to the challenge to re-evangelise the rural areas of the UK.
This Wednesday and Thursday the Rural Evangelism Network will hold a conference for its members in Selly Oak, Birmingham. It is to this event that I ask you to focus your prayers please. Approximately one person in six in the UK lives in a small rural community or in an isolated rural dwelling. In the main the churches have small congregations, often overwhelmed by maintenance issues and with feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty when it comes to evangelism. Many are saddened to find some Christians in the village who commute to nearby large thriving town churches.
The Rural Evangelism Network was established in 1982 out of a meeting of representatives of national Churches and rural evangelistic organisations. This was a new and unique forum that sought to encourage the sharing of our insight and experiences in rural mission, and together to encourage good practise. I drafted the first constitution and since its start until now have provided the administrative services. Over the years it has run valuable conferences, produced workbooks on rural evangelism, and generally had a helpful influence.
This week around half of the member Churches and organisations will be represented. It's Lent and getting people together for a national gathering these days is a challenge. In my opinion the value of the Network has been diminished by several factors. The conference seeks to call the members back to the original vision and develop a road map for realising its potential. Rural communities and the church scene have changed much since 1963 but the underlying challenge is much the same. Today there are fewer identifiable evangelists working in the rural areas and it seems we are all working with smaller budgets. We used to say that UK rural evangelism was the Cinderella mission activity, and I guess that's still true today. So how can you pray?
Most of my teens had been spent seeking to get away from the church influence that had been so strong during early childhood. However, God had found ways of speaking into my life even then. As a member of a semi-professional boy band I had performed such numbers as "I believe" and "When you walk through a storm". At the same time I came under the influence of an RE teacher, Robert Dingwall, who showed how science supported scripture through archaeology and regular "Fact and Faith" science based Christian films.
At some stage in 1962 I began to realise how strong the force of sin was in my life. Then an incident in a drunken party brought me face to face with the truth that in a way that mattered my life was out of control and heading for disaster. I dug out the Gideon New Testament I had been given at school and started to read. A tract given to me by a stranger in the street brought home the message of John 6:37 that I did not have to make myself acceptable to God, Jesus said I could come to him as I was. In the privacy of my bedroom I asked God to accept me and come into my life.
Nothing dramatic happened at that time but as I look back I can see how God continued to work as I approached Easter 1963 when I was to be baptised by immersion, having confessed that Jesus was my saviour a few months before at a youth meeting. But my lifestyle was still not what it should be and I had far more doubts and uncertainty than faith. But that Saturday evening I attended a meeting of Hastings and District for Christ on Hastings Pier and heard an evangelist called Sylvia Smith (a member of The Evangelisation Society) speak about her faith and work and then to speak on the prayer of Jesus from the cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". That night the gospel migrated from my head to my heart, and I surrendered my life without reserve into the hands of God.
So it was that a radically changed young man was baptised that Easter Sunday evening singing with new enthusiasm "And can it be" and "To God be the glory". Within just a few weeks of that weekend I knew myself called to be an evangelist. Exploring that led me into contact with a small organisation that undertook village evangelism part time and by May 1963 I was part of the team as a trainee. The organisation grew into a national ministry with a core evangelistic team, a network of associates, and a contextual training programme. I grew alongside it my ministry developing and diversifying along the way. From 1968 pastoral responsibilities came along and a teaching ministry also developed. While the pastoral and teaching aspects have always felt right I have tried to stay faithful to God's call to be an evangelist and I have almost exclusively sought to express that in responding to the challenge to re-evangelise the rural areas of the UK.
This Wednesday and Thursday the Rural Evangelism Network will hold a conference for its members in Selly Oak, Birmingham. It is to this event that I ask you to focus your prayers please. Approximately one person in six in the UK lives in a small rural community or in an isolated rural dwelling. In the main the churches have small congregations, often overwhelmed by maintenance issues and with feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty when it comes to evangelism. Many are saddened to find some Christians in the village who commute to nearby large thriving town churches.
The Rural Evangelism Network was established in 1982 out of a meeting of representatives of national Churches and rural evangelistic organisations. This was a new and unique forum that sought to encourage the sharing of our insight and experiences in rural mission, and together to encourage good practise. I drafted the first constitution and since its start until now have provided the administrative services. Over the years it has run valuable conferences, produced workbooks on rural evangelism, and generally had a helpful influence.
This week around half of the member Churches and organisations will be represented. It's Lent and getting people together for a national gathering these days is a challenge. In my opinion the value of the Network has been diminished by several factors. The conference seeks to call the members back to the original vision and develop a road map for realising its potential. Rural communities and the church scene have changed much since 1963 but the underlying challenge is much the same. Today there are fewer identifiable evangelists working in the rural areas and it seems we are all working with smaller budgets. We used to say that UK rural evangelism was the Cinderella mission activity, and I guess that's still true today. So how can you pray?
- Pray that we will discover a sense of God's presence among us as we come together with diverse visions and from various Christian traditions.
- Pray for a vision of what God is doing and wanting done in rural evangelism in the UK.
- Pray for discernment regarding the role of the Network within the wider life of the churches in rural Britain today and tomorrow. If it cannot fulfil a unique and profitable role then it would be better to spend energy elsewhere.
- Pray for the team that has been leading over recent years. Two of these have now retired and a new team is needed to take the work forward.
- Pray about my own role. I am not ready to cease activity but certainly do not want to hold onto ministries that should pass to others.
- Pray that in some way the 24 hours we spend together this week might serve to fulfil God's purposes for the millions who live in the rural areas and still need to hear the gospel and see it being lived out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you.
Barry
Saturday 2 March 2013
Power and Authority
Jesus called [the twelve] together and said, “You
know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high
officials exercise authority over them. Not so with
you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and
whoever wants to be first must be your slave –just as the Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25 -28
When I did my university studies in business management we spent some time considering power, authority and influence. We explored their nature, where they come from, and how they are exercised. Put simply, power is the capacity or ability to make things happen. Authority is the right to exercise such a power. Influence is the potential to make things happen but probably without relevant authority. Power is sometimes innate. So we talk about someone having a powerful personality. It can also come from resources at a person's disposal. So a person in possession of a weapon would have the power to take another's life. But to have power without having authority is a dangerous thing. In a Christian context it often leads to hut and damage.
It is implicit in authority that this is almost always something that has been delegated. Almost anyone will have the ability to exercise influence. So, within a Christian context where does authority come from if not from God? Within Churches and organisations it will be derived from whatever constitutional form that enables it. A trust deed will authorise the trustees by granting them certain powers and responsibilities. In some denominations ordination is understood as bestowing authority. While I recognise and respect the legal aspects of authority generated by such regulations, I see that often this sits uncomfortably with the teaching of Jesus, as illustrated in the passage quoted above.
If power is exercised without authority it becomes bullying and certainly unloving. Far too often that conduct is experienced. It accounts for many who have fallen away from the faith, and for many more for whom attendance at church business meetings at various levels is something they wish to avoid.
Is there scriptural evidence that God grants anyone the authority to exercise power over another? In 1 Thessalonians 2:6 Paul asserts that apostles could have (but chose not to) exercise authority. This is an authority exercised in love and gentleness and not autocratically.
In Titus 2:15 Paul urges Titus to exercise his ministry to teach, rebuke and exhort with all authority. But this authority is derived from his appointment by Paul who had deliberately left Titus in Crete to complete a task Paul had entrusted to him. Incidentally the same Greek word Paul uses in 2:15 is found in 1:3 where Paul speaks about the ministry with which he was entrusted. In other words Paul believed himself to have been acting under Christ's direct authority and had delegated some of that to Titus.
The only other possible reference to authority (only in some versions) within a church that I am aware of is in Hebrews 13:17 and the word for authority is not found in the Greek text, though the text does assert obedience and submission.
Those that heard Jesus bore witness that his teaching was with distinct authority. People witnessed his authority over sicknesses and demons. But as our passage from Matthew sets out plainly, he did not exercise any kind of authority over people, and that is the example he calls us to follow. I cannot find any scripture to justify an elder having a right to exercise authority over another person. In 1 Timothy 3 the qualifications set out for those desirous of assuming such responsibility to take care of the church of God clearly would not suit someone eager for personal power. Elders/Bishops are overseers and not lords.
I can find plenty of evidence for God delegating responsibility to serve him and proclaim his word. But that is very different from the kind of authoritarian leadership sometimes found in some churches today. Of course, as I have already pointed out authority may come from man-made constitutions, and that might well bring obligations upon those charged with leadership. But that in no way excludes us from following the example of Jesus. Leadership in a Christian church should always be marked by humility and gentleness. Any other style of authority exercised within churches or Christian organisations certainly does not have its origins in God.
Let's all pray for those in any position of leadership that they will stand firm against all that challenges their ministry in these days; and pray too that their ministry will exemplify the values of the kingdom of God. Give thanks for the many godly Christian leaders.
Recent Ministry Activities
Ministry at Yelvertoft continues to be encouraging. A significant schedule of building work has been completed. Sunday attendances have seen new folk coming and the Bible Discussion Group has been very stimulating (working through Hebrews).
Rebecca, our CF Area Children and Families Worker has made a good start. My own schools work has continued to bring joy as has my work in prison.
I recently met with some other leaders of rural mission organisations as we explore ways of helping one anothers' ministries.
Matters for Prayer
Regular ministry in and from the East Midlands.
Preparation for the Rural Evangelism Network Conference on 13th and 14th March in Selly Oak, Birmingham. Despite this falling within Lent I am encouraged by those attending. Not all those who are part of this Network have booked in so please pray as I follow this up. The better the representation in this conference the greater the value to the participants and to the kingdom of God.
Many Christian and other charitable organisations are suffering badly from a lack of income. 2013 is likely to witness the loss of several of these. At the same time many of the denominations have had to cut back on mission activities because of lack of funds. Because of the way we are structured I am able to conduct my rural ministry activities for around only £5,000 per year, which is incredibly little.. But we value your prayers that all needs will be met.
Later this month the trustees of Action for Christ will be meeting with people from the Charity Commission as we seek to explore our future. This is the ministry in which I worked from 1963 to 1988, and I am now a trustee. The organisation was plunged into extreme difficulties as a consequence of the conduct of an executive over recent years. Please pray as I work with fellow trustees and the charity commission. There is a lot of paperwork before the event, and wisdom is needed.
Thank you for your fellowship and support.
Barry
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