Good News is for Sharing

For the last few weeks I have felt that I should write some basic things about faith sharing in one of the Praise & Prayer Newsletters.  One of the greatest thrills a Christian can experience is leading another person into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Many years ago I interviewed the UK’s premier evangelist at that time, a man called Eric Hutchings.  Eric played a significant part in brining Billy Graham to the UK.  He was the first evangelist broadcasting regularly on radio and led and preached in major missions across the country.

Eric was also a large man.  I have an enduring memory of having to help him out of the passenger seat of a mini!  As the interview progressed I asked him if he could remember the first time he led someone to the Lord.  His face lit up as he recalled the occasion, I think in Manchester, when the occasion had taken place late into the evening and he had missed the last bus home.  “Do you know,” he said laughing, “I was so elated that all the way home I skipped on and off the pavement like a little child,” 

Why is it so hard to get Christians to share their faith frequently?  Many have never done it.  Yet this is the one specific thing Jesus urges his disciples to do before he ascended back into heaven.  Imagine if Jesus turned up in your church next Sunday to ask how you were all getting on with the job!  I have heard many plausible excuses but I believe there is only one reason: we lack gospel passion.  If we truly loved our neighbours; if we had real compassion; and perhaps even if the gospel message had truly gripped our hearts, I don’t think we could stop ourselves from sharing the good news.  In my early days as an evangelist, I would never speak in a meeting without first reading Luke’s account of the crucifixion and the events leading up to it.

This Sunday morning, I felt urged to speak on this topic at Fleckney Baptist Church, Leicestershire.  This was how the service went.

After a simple introduction of my missional activities, especially working with small rural churches, and an opening prayer we sang “We want to see Jesus lifted up” (SoF957) . It had been chosen by one of the musicians in the church but was excellent in setting the foundation for the rest of the service.  I had set out two large sweet oranges and three small easy peelers on the table at the front of the church.  I picked on up and asked if the congregation would excuse me as I peeled it. As I did so I explained, quite honestly, that I had been suffering from a condition that sometimes made speaking difficult.  I told them that sometimes church can be like an orange or tangerine.  I asked the congregation what was great about tangerines.  All the usual answers came: they are easy to get into, usually sweeter than oranges, and less messy.

By now I slipped one piece into my mouth.  I told them it was so good I couldn’t keep it to myself, so I proceeded to offer it around.  Initial reluctance as more and more expressed how tasty it was.  Since only a few had the opportunity to enjoy the sweet seedless orange I was passing around, I gave another one to a woman and asked her to peel and share it.  By now, some were feeling they might miss out, so I asked who might like to try a small easy peeler, and passed out all three into eager hands.

I then gave the congregation two minutes to pair up and each talk about someone they knew who had impressed them in some way.  Soon there was a lot of eager chatter and even a lot of laughter as people shared their stories.  After this I asked if anyone had found it embarrassing or difficult. None had. They had enjoyed the pleasure of sharing in two ways.

This was followed by the telling dramatically how a young girl saved the life of a five-star general.  You know that Bible story, I’m sure.  The general was called Naaman and you can read the account in 2 Kings chapter 5. When I asked them afterwards who was the most important person in the story, two people thought it was Elisha, but the rest knew it was the little girl who shared her story.

We sang “Colours of Day” (SoF1038), after which the young people would normally have left.  But they chose to stay.

I reflected that most of us find it hardest to share the good news with our neighbour, and recited a challenging poem on that topic.  I told the congregation that I wanted to suggest four simple steps.  Of course, the Bible is not a handbook, so there is no one pattern for evangelism.  However, it does seem to me that these four steps are essential and biblical.  I suggested that these needed to be premised on the existence of some passion for the gospel and a longing that others might come to faith, quoting from Romans 10:1, and Paul before King Agrippa.

Step One is finding the opportunities.  I suggested that since God longs that all would come to the knowledge of the truth, the Holy Spirit is at work and we need to be sensitive to these ‘appointed’ opportunities.  This was illustrated with a Bible reading from John chapter 4 verses 1 to 15.  Here a weary and thirsty Jew asks a Samaritan woman for a drink.  This was culturally and religiously contrary to custom.  The man was Jesus.  The woman of somewhat doubtful character.  Jesus presented himself with humility and needy. No aggressive or assertive approach here.  The conversation, which led to a whole community acknowledging his as the Messiah, started naturally, on a topic with which she was familiar.

Step Two is sharing the story. This was illustrated by a reading from John chapter 9 verses 13 to 25.  Here we find a man, whose life has been so changed that his neighbours find it difficult to believe he is the same man they knew previously.  Questioned about what had happened to him, he is unable to respond helpfully to a theological question, and can only witness to what he had experienced.  So, no need to do a theology course before we begin to share our faith.  The gospel is about what God has done for us.  Sometimes cluttering it up with Bible quotes gets in the way of what people need to hear.

Step Three is encouraging a response.  I once led a mission in a church where the vicar had preached the gospel for 36 years but had never given an invitation for people to respond to the message.  After much encouragement, he gave an invitation for those who wished to respond and welcome Jesus into their lives, to come forward during the singing of a hymn.  As the hymn began, he moved to the alter rail and knelt in prayer.  When the hymn ended he was amazed to see the width of the chancel filled with people who had responded.

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter concluded his message by urging his listeners to act upon his message.  Three thousand people did.  Paul, writing to the Christians at Corinth, writes about being Christ’s ambassadors, pleading for people to be reconciled to God.  It is not our role to persuade people into faith, but we should never fail to provide encouragement to respond. [Rural Mission Solutions can help you with that].

Step Four is follow through.  Illustrated this with Paul’s three years ministry at Ephesus where he had discipled the believers, teaching them each day.

We followed the talk by singing “One shall tell another” (SoF541), and the invitation in the refrain to “Come on in and taste the new wine of the kingdom of God” led us around the communion table and an opportunity for fresh surrender to God’s purposes in and through our lives.

The service ended with,” Go forth and tell”(SoF 178).

I share the story here in the hope that you will find it helpful to reflect that sharing something delicious is a joy, as is talking about someone who has made a difference in our lives.  It really isn’t that hard.  Over 300 people will read this in its email form and many more on the blog.  If we all try to put it into practise, who knows how many new Christians there might be by next week.  You might even find yourself skipping on and off the pavement like a little child!

Barry

From the Diary

There have been lots of blessings in the past 8 days.  Please pray for all who have responded to God’s word in any way.

Monday 16th October – School Assembly, Lubenham, Leics.

Tuesday 17^th/Wednesday 18^th – Germinate Listening Event, preparing for a major conference in 2018, Warwicks.

Thursday 19^th Churches Group for Evangelization (London)

Saturday 21^st with Capt Gordon Banks, presenting the 45-minute webinar on Mission Ideas and Resources for Christmas and the Winter Months.  Please do your best to attend from your home.  It runs from 9.00 to 9.45am.  You need to register in order to get a special link for your computer.  No travel needed; you can even attend in your pyjamas with a cup of coffee to hand!  No church is too small to benefit from this presentation.  To find out more go to www.ruralmissionsolutions.org.uk.

Microsoft Backs Evangelists

Microsoft Promotes Evangelism

If this is something new to you then you are likely to be surprised as much as I was when I heard this.  However, before you get too excited, please read on. Like other biblical terms the word “evangelist” has been hijacked to describe a secular activity.  Here is a description of this kind of role from Wikipedia:

“A [technology] evangelist promotes the use of a particular product  or technology through talks, articles, blogging, user demonstrations, recorded demonstrations, or the creation of sample projects. The word evangelism is taken from the context of religious evangelism due to the similarity of relaying information about a particularset of beliefs with the intention of converting the recipient.”

So how do you feel about the use of the word being adapted in this way.  Personally, I am wondering whether it could prove positive.  The “E-word” began to become unpopular in many churches at the start of the 1980s.  For this reason, the last major Billy Graham Mission in the UK was called Mission England avoiding terms like evangelism, crusade or campaign.  Could the term now become rehabilitated by its use in a secular context?

The word, evangelist, simply means someone who has good news to share.  It is not the word that is the problem but the image.  Take this cartoon, for example, which I use in order to help people articulate negative feelings about evangelism (I own the rights to the cartoon).  Certain TV evangelists have also helped to create a poor and unhelpful image of what evangelism is really about.  My opinion is that if something labelled evangelism does not come across as good news then it cannot be evangelism.

The secular word has been misusing the term evangelical for some time, in my opinion.  They have used it to describe someone who is passionate about something, so perhaps they would have done better to have said, evangelistic.  Again, sadly, the term evangelical has sometimes been used negatively as defining a rather extreme and unattractive kind of Christian.  For me, and evangelical is someone whose faith has the good news or gospel at its heart, and who has particular respect for scripture. 19^th Century evangelicals were world-changers campaigning against slavery and promoting much social good.  They were not aggressive bigots.

While I am happy for biblical terms to be used appropriately in a secular context, and am excited by the use of evangelist by Microsoft, I don’t wish to give away the use of these words within a Christian context.  I want to see them recovered correctly.  Perhaps what we need to do is to take a hard look at who we are, what we believe, how we live and what we say and ask, “Is all of this GOOD News?” But the adjective, good, should be from the perspective of those observing or hearing us, rather than how we define ourselves.

Last year I began running a programme entitled “Friendship Evangelism”. An introduction to the programme is one of our free online seminars (webinars) and it is also available as a one-day course for churches.  The aim is to encourage ordinary Christians to be good news and confidently and lovingly seek to help those they care about to come to know Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour.  Please note that we are running the introductory online seminar again later this month.  Whether or not you are comfortable about sharing your faith the opportunity to watch this on your computer could prove a valuable investment of 45 minutes.

If the term evangelist is not to be lost to the world we need many more ordinary Christians who can become comfortable sharing the good news in gentle and winsome ways.  Do you need to become one of these?  If so, please sign up for the free webinar.  Or you might be a church leader with people who are less than confident in sharing their faith; then you too should find this webinar helpful

Click here for more details.

Click here now to register for either seminar.

For praise and prayer this week

We thank God for his blessing at the burial and subsequent Thanksgiving Service for the life of John Bradley, a former trustee and long-term supporter of Rural Mission Solutions.  John was a greatly loved Methodist Minister with a heart of the wider church.  He wrote his own “last words” which were read at the Thanksgiving Service.  Do please read them.

Over recent months I have lost three former colleagues who have gone to be with the Lord.  Please remember those closest to them at this time.

This Saturday, 9^th January, members of Yelvertoft Congregational Church meet to reflect on the implications from my plan to retire as their Minister later this year.  Join me in thanking God for this church and its work in the village and surrounding area.  Pray for wisdom.

Please pray for Doreen (my wife) as she undergoes further tests this weekend to discover the cause for chronic gastric problems.

Please pray for the work on Obambo, Kenya and for Nigel Lindsay who will be travelling to there on 13^th January.  The loss of my colleague, Monica Cook, is keenly felt both in Kenya and in the UK Friends of Obambo team.

Give thanks for continued prayer and financial support for the Children’s Department of Sunrise Ministries and put your prayers behind finding a competent person with a heart for rural ministry to head up this work.

Give thanks for the completion of important work required for Action for Christ.  This took up much time during December and we now await an important communication from a government department.  Once this has been received, the trustees of AFC (which includes me) will start to take prayerful steps regarding the future of that rural ministry.

Tuesday 12^th January I will take a school assembly followed by regular ministry at HMP Gartree.

Saturday 16^th January “Get Messy” (Messy Church) at Yelvertoft with an all-age service on the following day.

Give thanks for the encouragement from those who attended the online seminars in 2015.  These were held on Saturday morning and we are experimenting to find the day and time most suitable for those who could benefit from these webinars.  Please pray as these need to be scheduled throughout 2016.

Thank you for your friendship, fellowship and support.

Barry

Sinners welcome here?

"When [Saul] came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, 

but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. 

He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord 

and that the Lord had spoken to him, 

and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus."

(Acts 9:26,27)

After Saul had his encounter with the risen Christ we read in Acts chapter 9 that Ananias, a rather reluctant servant of God, was sent to visit and pray for him for the recovery of his sight and that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit.  We then read that he remained in Damascus for several days during which time he preached in the Synagogues that Jesus was indeed the Christ.  Opposition developed and for his safety he left Damascus secretly and made his way to Jerusalem.

I wonder what kind of reception he imagined he might receive but doubt and fear clearly obstructed his welcome.  It took an intervention by Barnabas to open the way.  Similar advocacy is still required in some denominations even to get as far as the communion table.  I'm not sure that this is what we are supposed to learn from this passage. Is exclusivity a mark of a Christian community?

Some time around 1985 when I was studying with the Open University I had to attend Aston University for a weekend and hoped I could find a way to get to church early on the Sunday morning.  To my surprise a Church Army sister called Dianne was also on the course and when she discovered I was a Christian the two of us decided to set off to find a local church that had an early morning communion service (assuming it would be Church of England).  We toured the Area but discovered that none of the nearly churches had an early morning service.  I muttered to Dianne that perhaps this was how Saul felt when he arrived at Jerusalem eager to get into the life of the church, then added that all we needed was a 'Barnabas'

One evangelical vicar suggested we should contact the vicar at Erdington, the other side of the M6, but pointed out that he was from the catholic wing of the C of E. We rang him late on Saturday evening explaining that we were a couple of evangelists on an course at Aston for the weekend and asking whether he had an early Sunday service at which we would be welcome.  He informed us it was a Rite B service and that we would be welcome.

On arrival we found a small congregation in a glass panelled side chapel.  We were welcomed warmly at the door.  When the priest arrived I noted that his stole was decorated with symbolic flames.  He began by welcoming Dianne and me by name and explaining who we were and that we needed to get began to Aston for a lecture and whether the congregation would mind if he adjusted the normal Rite B do as to shorten it slightly.  All agreed and turned to us with welcoming smiles.  The service began.  

When we got to the point where we were encouraged to give a sign of peace to one another, both Dianne and I had a queue of friendly sisters and brothers.  The welcome and love was so delightful.  Suddenly, Dianne let out a loud sequel and when I asked her why she said she had just realised that the name of the church we were in was St Barnabas!

It would have been around ten years later, when I was minister at Herstmonceux Free Church (Congregational) that we had cause to review our practise relating to church membership.  Our services were open to anyone and we had seen steady growth.  We also kept an open communion table welcoming all 'who loved the Lord Jesus Christ' to partake of the emblems.  We even had open Church Meetings (these are the heart of our governance in the Congregational tradition), though only members could vote.  Membership is important in Congregational polity as the members at that time acted as managing trustees.

But the majority of our regular congregation steadfastly declined to become members.  This was due in part to unhappy experiences in other churches.  As we thought and prayed about this situation two things seemed significant.  The first of these was that the nature of membership reinforced the institutional aspect of church and we didn't want to project an image of church as an institution.  The second matter was more serious.  We preached a gospel in which Jesus declared that whoever came to him he would never turn away.  Not once did he restrict his love, welcome and ministry to anyone.  He never asked for a statement of faith or a definition of the nature of God, or the inspiration of scripture before he gave his touch of healing and blessing.  Our process of membership, which required a positive outcome after a visit from two deacons, seemed strangely at odds with the gospel we preached which was the very foundation of our church's existence.

So it was that we took the bold step to change.  We ceased using the term 'member' in public.  Instead we spoke of people as being 'part of the church'.  We introduced a simple covenant as the basis for being part of the church and determined that this should be signed annually by anyone who wished to be part of the church.  Each year the covenant signature was sufficient until the end of January the following year with an invitation to sign that year's covenant of fellowship once again.

In a single day most of the adults who had declined to become members happily signed the Covenant.  We were also delighted that a number of children and teenagers also signed.  I had explained that only those 18 and over would assume legal responsibility for managing the affairs of the church.  In introducing this change the Church Meeting had also determined that the leadership team could suspend anyone's rights as part of the church on the grounds of heresy,immorality, or unhealthy contention.  There was a right of appeal to the Church Meeting.

As far as I know the practise at Herstmonceux has been continued and we adopted it in my current church at Yelvertoft.  We have had lots of enquiries from other churches who have found this expression of church membership attractive.  Of course, legal requirements of many churches would not allow such liberty.  But I share this story because institutional church is a major turn-off for many.  In a desire to keep the church 'pure' we might find that our practise does not sit well with the message we proclaim.  I hope that like St Barnabas, Erdington, people feel truly welcome and included, and that we ensure that any hoops they might have to jump through are large and low, presented as a positive step rather than an examination to be passed.

Of course church membership based upon an annually renewable Covenant is not unique to us.  Our Covenant of Fellowship states, “In response to God's gracious promises and commands, we covenant to walk together in all the ways of the Lord, as he has revealed them or will reveal them through his Spirit and through the scriptures.  We freely and gladly bind ourselves, his grace enabling us, to live in loving communion with one another as becomes members of a church of Christ.”  Some Christian friends who hold a more conservative view and require an assent to certain doctrine essential for church membership might think our approach rather liberal.  But that has never become an issue in our experience.  

Of course I understand and respect alternative views on the subject.  I don't expect everyone to agree with everything I write.  But how does your church express God's loving welcome to fullness of life in Christ?  Who are your Barnabas's?

Items for Praise

I am grateful for safe and happy journeys to and from Northern Ireland this week.  I am also grateful for the welcome, kindness and hospitality expressed by the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.

I give thanks that the prison authorities have confirmed the date for the event which gives the choir members an opportunity of serving others.

Items for Prayer

For those survivors of domestic abuse (sexual or otherwise) who will find Father's Day a painful reminder.  Pray for wisdom and sensitivity as we talk about a father's love.  It means something different to some.

Ministry at Yelvertoft on Sunday and Thursday mornings.

School Assembly at Lubenham, Leicestershire on Monday.

The penultimate choir practice before the event on Tuesday.  A lot of polish and confidence building still needed among a willing group of men.  All have committed serious crime and carry a burden from which they might never find relief. Chaplaincy is a challenging ministry and prayers for discernment and wisdom for the chaplaincy team are always appreciated.

Thank you.

Barry

What do we mean by 'Believing'?

An evangelist is essentially a messenger of good news.   But is the telling all there is to it?  I was still in my teens when I felt God's call on my life as an evangelist.  Apart from the biblical accounts my examples at that time were the various missionaries whose biographies had been given to me with each successive Sunday School anniversary, the evangelists I encountered through monthly events called Hastings and District for Christ, George Verwer (founder of Operation Mobilisation) and, of course, Billy Graham.  What they all seemed to have in common was not just telling the story but encouraging people to make a positive response by receiving Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.

When Jesus told Peter and Andrew that by following him they would become "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19) he was talking to men who knew what fishing is about.  Fishing was not about merely influencing fish; it was about catching them.  More recently I have noticed that some who might have soft-pedalled the issue of encouraging a response have now started using the term "intentional evangelism".  This is a term I have used commonly and made clear in my analysis of evangelism into three stages.  My earliest experiences as a teenage evangelist were in tract distribution among seaside tourists, engaging in conversation with other teenagers in coffee bars and speaking at youth events.  While I was always ready to listen and have a respectful conversation I remember making clear that the listeners would inevitably make a response.  It would be either to welcome Christ or to reject him.

From 1964 to 1988 I was part of an evangelistic team and had a number of responsibilities as we conducted many evangelistic missions each year, mostly in rural settings.  One of my tasks was to encourage a response after the main evangelist had spoken.  I saw this as "drawing in the net"; it was the Holy Spirit who put the fish there.  So I sought, and still seek, to avoid emotional manipulation of any kind, but always to make it easy for someone to take that important step of faith.

In 1974 when there was a lot of fresh thinking about evangelism I remember an older and more experienced man at a conference for evangelists state that he felt that the 'Gift of an Evangelist' was seen in his ability to draw in the net.  He was implying that almost any Christian should be able to tell the story, but the ability to bring about a response was most effectively done by those whose gifting within the body of Christ was that of an evangelist.

The biblical record of such net drawing is quite limited.  On the day of Pentecost the crowd asked what they should do (Acts 2: 38-41), to which Peter called them to repent and be baptised.  A similar request came from the Philippian Jailer who wanted to know what he had to do to be saved (Acts 16: 30) to which Paul responded "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ..."

The language of response to the gospel has been expressed with various words such as repent, believe, commit, trust, receive, accept, etc.  On most occasions where I give such a call it will include the opportunity to say a brief silent prayer following phrase by phrase what I have prayed.  Typically evangelists in the past have then invited people to indicate that they prayed that prayer by raising their hands while others are bowed in prayer, or speaking to the evangelist or a counsellor afterwards, or picking up a response card, or inviting people to come forward publicly.  This last example was one we rarely used in village evangelism where the cultural context militated against a public show.

The Bible does not offer a template for response to the gospel or model wording.  We need to be careful that we don not develop an evangelistic culture which we anticipate is the right or even the only way for God to work to bring men and women to himself.  Personally I struggle a little with the word "believe" in this context.

The earliest evangelistic activity was targeted at Jews where the heart of the message involved a mental consent that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah or Christ. On his missionary journeys Paul always started by proclaiming Jesus as Messiah in the synagogues, but he also employed the concept of believing when speaking to gentiles (for example the Philippian Jailer).  But within the Greek culture of the day the word we have translated as "believe" implies trusting in and committing to.

My problem in the UK today is that when we use the word believe, the dominant concept is one of mental or intellectual assent.  Now I know that faith is fundamental and I also do not want to suggest that a response to the gospel should be 'mindless'.  But sometimes I wonder if using the expression "believe in Jesus" we are actually using jargon that might mean one thing to those of us who know him and have a biblical knowledge, but another thing for those whom we long to know him.

I suspect that 'trust' and 'commitment' carry a better understanding of an appropriate response in our culture.  So we might urge someone to trust that Jesus has taken their guilt and punishment by his death on the cross, and urge them to commit to following Jesus, making him Saviour and Lord of their lives.  Is there a danger in allowing people instead to infer that to become true Christians they have to be able to intellectually accept things that they might at that moment find unbelievable in the intellectual sense?

Those three stages of evangelism to which I referred earlier are (a) engaging with people, (b) telling the story, and (c) encouraging a response.  To do (a) and (b) but neglect to do (c) is, I suggest, like someone going fishing with a rod and line and bait but no hook.  But to an experienced fisherman what kind of bait and hook he or she uses will always depend on what kind of fish they are after.

It has been confidently asserted that one Christian in ten has the gift of an evangelist.  If we are not seeing evidence of a harvest in our churches what does this imply? We urgently need to discover, develop and deploy such people.  Evangelism can be carried out in many different ways in many different contexts, but all with the same aim, because that is what God intends.  Potential and embryonic evangelists in rural areas are likely to be both isolated and challenged by the social context of village life.  During 2014 I hope to offer more support advice and training in this area.  If I can be helpful to you or your church please let me know.  Whether or not you need such a service I hope that you will give me your support especially though prayer.

IMPORTANT: Did you receive last weekend's Praise & Prayer News on "Not settling for Normal"? We missed the usual response we  get from these emails.  If you did see it through an email please would you let me know at barry@ruralmissions.org.uk.  Thanks.

From the Diary:
Sunday 19th - Yelvertoft Congregational Church.  The morning meeting will be followed by lunch and an envisioning Church Meeting exploring where we believe God is leading us.
Monday 20th - Research into rural evangelism
Tuesday 21st - Gartree Prison Ministry
Wednesday 22nd - Teaching at the Salvation Army Training College, London, on Safeguarding and appropriate pastoral response to victims of abuse.
Thursday and Friday mostly writing and administration related to rural evangelism.
Special Note:  You may have read or heard on the news about the man from Market Harborough who died after saving his sons from drowning in the sea off Australia.  He and his family attended a local church and his parents are neighbours of one of our village church members.  Please pray for the Priestley family as we offer pastoral support at this tragic time.

Thank you.

Barry
You can find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ruralbarry
Main website: www.ruralmissionsolutions.org.uk

The Gospel Prism

During the course of the past week I had the joy of taking the school assembly at Yelvertoft Primary School.  The visitor assemblies this term are based upon the Acts of the Apostles.  Each week we have a Bible passage and a theme that can be picked up by the school.  This week is was Peter’s vision of unclean food and the theme was prejudice.  The invitation to go to the home of Cornelius was every bit as unusual for Peter as had been the invitation to partake of ‘unclean’ food.  I think it is probable that he might not have gone had he not had first had the vision followed by God’s instructions.  The record of Acts presents Peter previously preaching only to Jews and the heart of his message to them is that Jesus is the Messiah affirmed by his resurrection from the dead.  The challenge of a different cultural context Peter seems to modify his message.  Now there is no obvious reference to Jesus as the Messiah, but as Lord of all, judge of all and the one throw whom everyone who believes can find forgiveness.  Perhaps most radical of all is his opening statement that "God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation..."

The children had a clear understanding of the dangers of ungodly prejudice.  As the talk concluded I encouraged the children to turn to one another a declare "You're special because God loves you".  Then after the closing prayer they pointed to all the teachers and proclaimed the same with great enthusiasm to them.  Afterwards I had a queue of children who wanted to talk with me.  The last two came with a gold star that they had just made, which they gave to me.  I asked them why and was told it was because I was special too!

Of course I had only been able to give them one aspect of the gospel, just as Peter's sermons on the day of Pentecost and at Cornelius' house had.  Once at a communion service when children were present we sang a hymn full of Old Testament sacrifice language.  I knew it was over their heads and prayed for guidance.  Immediately I saw a way in as there had been an oil tanker disaster not long before.  The children had all seen the pictures on TV and explained to me that  because of the accident many birds died.  Some were rescued because people went to save them.  They also explained that in order to clean the filth of oil from the birds and set them free the people ended up getting the mess on themselves.

The gospel is too great, too marvellous and too mysterious for anyone to fully comprehend it let alone to find the words necessary to communicate it.  All we get is a glimpse of the light as if it were split into elements like light passing through a prism is split into seven colours that themselves merge to form other colours.  The best form of evangelism is not some ability that seeks to communicate head knowledge of theology but that lets the bit that has shone into our hearts shine out to others.  That might be as simple as the realisation that Jesus died because he loves us.  At the same time, what we share should always be culturally relevant to those to whom we are talking.

Items for Praise and Prayer

• Thank God for the opportunities to share the word of God with people through the past week and pray that it will bring a harvest in due season.
• Thank God for the ability to complete the written material now sent to the university in Germany.
• Thank God for income received this week for Sunrise Ministries that keeps our rural mission work going.
• Please pray for guidance about Renny (see last week's blog).
• Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up men and women of vision and commitment to help carry forward the work of the Rural Evangelism Network and Rural Mission Solutions.
• Please pray for a good attendance at the Congregational Federation's Leaders Conference (straight after Easter) in which I have some input this year.
• Please pray for our work in Yelvertoft (Sunday morning and Thursday morning this week)
• Please pray for a school assembly in Lubenham (Monday)
• Please pray for the work in Gartree Prison (Tuesday afternoon)

The ministry at the home of Cornelius was interrupted as the Holy Spirit came to those who listened.  Please pray that we too might experience God at work as we seek to be obedient to his call and guidance.

Thank you.

Barry