The Cost to the Butterfly

Do you know what imaginal discs are?

In 1 Corinthians 15: 35-58 the apostle Paul seeks to explain the difference between our earthly bodies and our post-resurrection being.  He uses planted seed as an illustration.  What goes into the ground is not the same as that which later emerges.  I wonder what he might have written to those who have some idea of cell development and DNA.  Obviously, Paul drew on material with which they were familiar.  

Recently I found myself pondering on the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.  The cartoon is used under a licence and should not be copied please.

During its life cycle as a caterpillar, it will gorge itself on leaves with a voracious appetite.  It has only that one driving force until the time comes when it starts to weave and becomes a chrysalis.  Then something truly amazing takes place. The body of the caterpillar dissolves into a kind of soup.  But this contains ‘imaginal discs’ which are the basis from which other cells develop producing eyes, wings and everything else a butterfly will need.  Then one day, out of the soup of what was something new and splendid emerges.

The cost to the butterfly is virtually losing its old identity and structure.  While this might be a helpful illustration of life beyond this life when we shall be changed and made like our Saviour, it also speaks to me about how we should be progressing in our Christian lives here and now.  I began 2016 reflecting on God’s call to Abram (see Genesis 12: 1-3).  This is Abram’s first encounter with God and is the foundation for all that will follow in his life, in the lives of the People of Israel, and all that follows to us today.  It starts with the call to leave. God has things to show him and wonderful promises to give him but the first step is leaving where he is.

During the years in which I have sought to walk with God he has periodically called me to let go of what I treasured and to leave the comfort of the place to which he has brought me.  It has never been easy.  But each time, leaving what was created the opportunity to experience what could be.

I wonder how much is missed of the blessing of God because of Christians attachment to what is and the refusal to let go.  I wonder how much blessing has been missed in churches that cling to the comfort of the past. Perhaps if a caterpillar knew that he would basically have to digest itself and dissolve it might not be too keen to start weaving that cocoon.  Change is usually very costly in one way or another, but if God is calling you to let things go, take care that you do not miss what could be in the future. What might be the imaginal discs that help build the future?

Do you have friends who are not Christians?

Do you wish your friends shared your faith or that you could share your faith with them?  Most UK Christians value their faith but talking about it is a different matter.  If this is true of you, please do not miss the opportunity to join me in a free online seminar on Friendship Evangelism.  It is being held at 7.30pm next Wednesday 27^th January and repeated on Monday 8^th at 7.30pm.  It lasts just 45 minutes.  You can simply watch and listen or ask questions.

To ‘attend’ the seminar from the comfort of your home you need to book in advance.  It will cost you nothing.  You will be asked for your name and email address but you are not joining anything and will not suddenly find yourself receiving unsolicited emails.  You provide this information so that you can receive the special link.  Use that link a few minutes before the scheduled start of the seminar and follow the instructions on screen.  This might involve downloading a ‘launch programme’.  This is perfectly safe.

People who previously attended this particular online seminar said that it was very interesting and helpful.  People who have learned to share their faith always talk about how it has also helped their faith to grow.  I would love to help you to confidently share your faith in a way that would not be embarrassing.  So please sign up to attend today (spaces are limited) and spread the word to other Christian friends who might find this helpful.

Click this link to register your place for the seminar

For Praise and Prayer

I have appreciated prayers for the three occasions this month when I have attended funerals.  The latest one was this week for an aged aunt in Hastings. Our thoughts and prayers are for those who heel the loss most keenly.

Deep appreciation was expressed by the 30 Salvation Army Cadets (officers in training) at the William Booth College on Wednesday where I had taken part in the Safeguarding training.  I teach three sessions exploring how and why sexual abuse can happen in a Christian context, and how to support those who have been victims.  Understanding enables us to have safer churches. I continue to be impressed with the high standards of the Salvation Army.  I also give thanks that one larger denomination has increased its safeguarding team from one part-time person to seven full time people.  Bad practise in the past leaves much still to be done in this area of pastoral acre and action.

I have been having some useful pastoral conversations with some of the men at HMP Gartree where I work most Tuesday afternoons.  I shall be taking the Sunday Service for them on 31^st January.

Please keep Yelvertoft Congregational Church in your prayers as we process through various stages that will enable me to retire from that aspect of ministry in the very near future.

Give thanks that important work I have been doing for Action for Christ (Rural Evangelism) has been successful.  Pray for the trustees as we seek God’s guidance for the future of this organisation that has an exciting history but now faces changes.

Please pray that many will avail themselves of the opportunity to attend the online seminar on Friendship Evangelism next Wednesday.  Imagine what might happen if only more had the understanding, confidence and courage to share their faith with others. I would love to tell you that we had so many requests to attend this seminar that we have to repeat it through the year.

Please pray for my wider work within the Congregational Federation.  Currently I chair the Inter-Church Board and am a member of the Pastoral Care Board.  I am also part of the Mission Support Group for the East Midlands Area.  I need to review how much time I can commit to these roles and value prayers for wisdom so that I focus on what God wants me to do.  Sometimes it is better to do less and do it better!  There are some encouraging opportunities to help the churches in the East Midlands Area.

Please give thanks for the faithfulness of friends who though their prayers and practical support keep us serving the Lord.

Thank you for your friendship and prayers.

Barry

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

Change is here to stay

Some years ago, as part of my Open University Management Studies, one of the modules dealt with the management of change.  A catch phrase in those days was “Change is here to stay”.  I thought then, and have done since, that this ought to be a banner or poster put up inside every church.  As we enter into this New Year I find myself reflecting on the topic once again, most importantly as far as it relates to my own life.

New Year has traditionally been a time for making resolutions.  Most of these express aspirations for personal change.  I could think of dozens of changes that that are needed in my life but, knowing how hard it is to maintain such needed changes I plan to keep them all in mind and do the best I can through the year without actually encapsulating them into a resolution.  I certainly do not intend to bore you with a long list of things in my life that need improvement!

Something I read recently did make me think about the fact that some Christians will have resolved to do more for God or make more time for in 2015.  It was, “We are not saved by the promises we make to God, but by trusting the promises he has made to us”. Sometimes we try too hard to make ourselves more spiritual or holy, when the desired outcome cannot be achieved by self-effort.  

I remember at a time as a teenager, vexed by what I saw as besetting sin, I was sitting on Hastings’ sea front watching the incoming waves.  There are a number of granite groins along the beach that stretch into the sea functioning as breakwaters.  As I prayed I seemed to hear God say,” Watch the waves.” As watched I noticed that as the wave first encountered the breakwater it washed over to the other side.  But as the wave got further up the beach it was no longer washing over but had become separated from the other side.  I then felt God saying that sanctification was achieved not by self-effort to change but by pressing ever closer into union with God.  This wave (me) is still pressing forward with some way to go!

We have an unchanging and unchangeable God who is in the business of changing people.  In our relationship with God change will always be here to stay until that ultimate moment when we shall be so changed that we find ourselves in his presence and like our wonderful Saviour.  Doreen, my wife, reflects that, prior to her responding to Gods offer of forgiveness and salvation, her speech was marked by constant swearing which had given her notoriety.   After some time, she suddenly realised she no longer swore.  In 40 years of marriage I have never heard her swear. It was a token of the change God brings when we open ourselves up to him.

Sometimes we get worked up by the lack of change within the organisational life of our churches where, far too often, things have to be done the way they have ‘always been done’.  Doubtless we all know that the last words of a dying church were “We have always done it this way!”.  When responding to a request to serve what became our second church, I asked the small congregation whether they were open to change.  I was immediately asked in what way I wanted them to change, and had to point out that was not the issue.  What mattered was whether the congregation was open to hear from God and act in obedience as that always brings change.  Happily, they assured Doreen and me that they were and so began one of the most exciting phases in 50 years of Christian ministry.

So my New Year’s challenge (to myself and to you) is to start now by opening ourselves up more and more to God, enjoying sharing his life and his sharing in ours.  A man stood watching a sculptor as he worked away on a large block of stone to produce a statue of a horse. The man watched fascinated as the sculptor seemed to chip away bits of stone slowly revealing the form of the horse.  “How do you do that?” he asked in wonder.  The sculptor replied, I just remove anything that doesn’t look like a horse!”

Be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet!

Items for Praise

• Give thanks for God graciously using a still imperfect servant through the past year.  Give thanks for all who have found salvation or moved closer to God.
• Give thanks for God’s faithfulness in providing for our needs and keeping us safe in our journeys.
• Give thanks for the band of good friends who care about us and pray for us.
• Give thanks for blessings received personally while serving in four pastorates in Hastings, Herstmonceux, Theddingworth, and Yelvertoft, and for the good folk that continue the work in those churches.

Items for prayer

• That I will be so filled with the Holy Spirit that wherever I go something of God spills from my life to bless others.
• That I will always be open to God and able to hear his voice.
• For guidance in Sunrise Ministries as we seek to fill staff gaps and look to God that the vision he gave might yet become reality, which might not be in my lifetime, of course.
• For guidance in the trusteeship of Action for Christ (formerly Mission for Christ) as we continue on the pathway of recovering from the deep crisis into which it was plunged by earlier mismanagement.  2016 will be an important year of decision for this organisation.
• For wisdom in time management.  During 2016 I expect to lay down some responsibilities as I wish to focus on fewer things but do them better.  This includes being a better husband to Doreen and a better friend to others.
• For yourself as I depend on you in the Lord.  We are partners in the mission of God.  Serving God is an enormous privilege and we cannot do it alone.

And coming up in January…

• Regular ministry in Yelvertoft including facilitating a process of seeking God’s purposes for the church after my upcoming retirement.
• Schools ministry never fails to bless me as I seek to share God’s truth in creative and effective ways.
• My work in HMP Gartree and the men serving life sentences with whom I work.  We are still looking for another full time Christian chaplain on the team.
• My work with the Salvation Army and elsewhere helping make churches safer places for the vulnerable and better carers both for victims and perpetrators.
• The networking with rural church leaders and others engaged in rural mission, especially through the Rural Evangelism Network.  There is room for improvement in this area of ministry and aspects of service that depend upon this.

Yours in his service,

Barry

Stuck in a traffic jam

Stuck in a traffic jam Yesterday I was driving home from Kent to Leicestershire when I encountered a 45-minute queue at the Dartford Crossing.  It was dark, I was tired and planning a break at the services the other side.  As often happens, common life experiences have faith applications.  Right now, it feels like I am stuck in a work traffic jam made more frustrating because I am tired! Back to the traffic jam on the M25, the first thing that comes to mind is the question “Why?”; what has caused this? It was mid-week and I was ahead of rush hour (or so I thought).  Traffic jams are often caused by some incident but on this occasion it was just too many cars using the same route.  And I was one of these, of course. I expect there is a mathematical model for determining which is the best lane to drive in during a slow moving queue.  I usually choose the middle lane and stick with it. I see other cars ahead of me changing lanes whenever it seems that another lane is moving faster than the one they are in.  The strategy does not help that much as usually I find myself passing them after a while.  So what else could be done? About a month ago I was in a similar situation and decided that the best course of action would be to take an alternative route so I headed through south east London to cross the Thames only to find that the other side was also full of traffic in stop-start mode and an average speed of around 3 miles an hour! Another strategy, if you are not in a hurry, is to stop somewhere, take a break and wait for the jam to clear.  That’s fine if you are not on a busy schedule and have to get to a destination by a certain time.  I needed to press on and the length of queue was getting longer by the minute. Like many in Christian work, I am multi-hatted.  That normally does not present a problem and I can usually cope with the volume of work this generates.  To change the metaphor, it sometimes feels like the plate spinning activity where an entertainer has spinning plates balance carefully on poles.  A significant number of plates on poles can be managed provided you can keep them all spinning.  I usually feel happy about the number of plates I have to spin. But the traffic jam analogy seems more appropriate to my present circumstances as I find myself unable to hit various deadlines and making slow progress on some urgent and important tasks. So it is time for some serious self-examination.  Firstly, I need to identify the cause.  Certainly some incidents have taken place that have complicated progress hindering the usual steady flow of work.  However, perhaps there is too much traffic on the road.  Progress might be better if I had less things to do marked urgent and important.  Constantly swapping between tasks (rather like changing motorway lanes in a queue) does not resolve the problem and just adds frustration.  Maybe reducing the amount of traffic will help in the future but I still have to deal with the present situation. I am inclined to think that taking a break would be best.  But this will mean ensuring that I do not let anyone down.  But sitting frustrated and tired in a queue is not as sensible as taking a break and having a nap at the roadside. When I reached the Dartford Tunnels I found that the reason for the stop/start experience over the 45 minutes was a traffic management system to ensure that a traffic jam did not occur within the tunnels. That made sense.  I recently heard that Transport for London are experimenting with asking people to stand both sides of escalators rather than keeping one side for those who wish to rush.  Apparently, slowing people down speeds up the system! There are times in our lives when we feel the need to rush and to push forward when better (and possibly faster) journeys could be made by slowing down.  Such was the traffic at the crossing that I was obliged to pass the services there.  That resulted in my having to take two sleep breaks later on!  A three-hour journey took me six hours to complete, mostly because of my own poor traffic management. So, all this is to flag up the fact that I am currently stuck in a queue making painfully slow progress with some jobs I would have liked to have completed by now.  I shall be using the ‘take a break’ strategy as best I can, but otherwise this is like phoning ahead to explain the current situation and ask you to be patient with me.  I am still on course and will complete all promised tasks as soon as I can Praise & Prayer News may be a bit irregular.  I am not sure whether Christmas cards will go out and some thankyou letters will inevitably be delayed. Non urgent tasks can be put on hold. I also ask your prayers please as I consider reducing my overall ‘traffic volume’ to ensure that what I do in 2016 is done on time and done well. Recent News I was saddened to learn of the home-call of two more former colleagues and good friends in the last few weeks (bringing the total to three this year).  Graham Silver, a former colleague in Mission for Christ and long-term supporter of Rural Mission Solutions, and John Bradley, a former trustee of Sunrise Ministries (Rural Mission Solutions’ formal name) and another log-term friend and supporter are now enjoying life in the presence of the Lord.  Please pray for family members at this time. Please pray for the members of Yelvertoft Congregational Church as I have served notice of my intention to retire from this aspect of ministry.  We will be meeting to consider the implications on Saturday 9th January. I have had some wonderful school assemblies and several special Christmas-based events with opportunity to make God’s word clear and plain in an attractive and effective way.  I thank God for his inspiration and blessing.  Prison ministry has also been rewarding.  At the prison carol service, led by a Salvation Army band and songsters.  The prison male voice choir sang one item on their own and joined in with the songsters for another special item.  The band played a special band setting for a carol tune I wrote a couple of years ago.  It was unexpected and moved me deeply to hear this.  To cap it all I was asked afterwards if I would conduct the band playing it again.  What an honour! Coming activities Urgent administration work being done for ‘Action for Christ’ (I am taking a break to write this) Saturday 19th Dec.  ‘Get Messy for Christmas’ (form of Messy Church) and carol singing witness at the Marina both in Yelvertoft. Sunday 20th Dec. The Christmas Warmer at Yelvertoft Congregational Church (a friendly and informal opportunity to share the real message). Tuesday 22nd Dec.  HMP Gartree Friday 25th Dec Christmas Reflections at Yelvertoft In January there will be some important meetings.  If you do not pick up the news in a Praise & Prayer News please follow me on Facebook and Twitter for information.  Use the links below and bookmark them in your browser. May God grant you a very happy and blessed Christmas.  Please keep in touch.  Thank you for prayers for all our activities, especially prayers and donations for Rural Mission Solutions.

Trustees and staff of Rural Mission Solutions thank those who have supported the work through another year.  All donations are acknowledged.  Cheques should be payable to "Sunrise Ministries" please and sent to 4 Clarence Street, Market Harborough, LE16 7NE.  If using internet banking the information you need is Account name "Sunrise Ministries"; Sort Code 40-52-40; Account number:00016072;Reference add your surname and postcode please.

You can follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Visit the Website

It's About Time

It's About Time I first started writing this the day before the clocks went back to GMT in the UK.  Unfortunately I was unable to find enough time to finish the task!  Someone once told me that sufficient time can never be found; it has to be made.  That makes a lot of sense.  Time is a precious commodity.  When we are young we seem to have plenty of it but after a certain age each year seems shorter than the one before, and the days of a week rush by.  All the more reason to make good use of it. You may already know that there are two different Greek words for time used in the New Testament.  Chronos is the word used for the kind of time we can tell from a clock, for example.  The other word is Kairos which has more to do with a moment of opportunity.  Both can be wasted, but Christians should guard against that. Those that know me well often make two distinct comments about time as it relates to my life.  The first of these goes back into childhood when I was chronically late for school (Did you get the Greek pun?).  I still tend to leave things to the last moment and end up either rushing or arriving late!  The other comment relates to how much I do with some wondering how I fit it all in.  The latter situation might, of course, contribute to the former.  I certainly seem to have full days of work. Someone once told me that he built space into his diary so that if something cropped up he could fit it in.  I’m not sure how to do that as I would feel bad about unprofitable time as a result of intentional gaps in the diary.  Consequently, when unexpected tasks develop I have to manage the diary by changing priorities which might in turn mean something not being done where this does not cause a problem. The key to this is, of course, knowing how to prioritise, distinguishing between what must be done, what should be done and what could be done.  Priorities are determined by whether something is urgent or important.  Mark’s Gospel reveals a picture of Jesus almost frenetically moving from one task to another.  But we know that Jesus made time to pray, that he encouraged his disciples to rest, that he needed to stop and rest and that he was prepared to be interrupted and consequently change his agenda. (Please click the links to find the Bible references for these). A personal, but undoubtedly not a unique policy is remembering to offer each day to God.  Daring to believe that for each of us God has a plans we ought not to miss I consciously offer the time he gives me back to him asking for his guidance.  If you do this too then I am sure that you will also experience the way in which events seem to fit together in a timely way.  It’s wonderful experience. Even as I am writing, and as you are reading, time is slipping by with no possibility of recovering it.  So it is with our lives.  The best way to use this valuable resource is to spend it with God.  Some time that might mean in solitude and prayer but God loves to share in our activities too. I recently went on a train journey with a table seat reserved.  Suddenly a mother and four children settled around me, the three oldest sharing my table, and the youngest and her mother sitting on the other side of the aisle.  After a time, and after ensuring that their mother was comfortable with it, I fell into conversation with those at the table seats.  Here was a kairos and chronosmoment.  As part of our natural conversation I mentioned that I write and tell stories.  They asked me to tell them one so I told a simple story with a moral about the folly of pride.  “Tell us another”, they pleaded so I told them the story about the giant who thought he was so strong he could beat anyone in a fight but met his end in a battle with a young lad and a sling. While the children seemed enthralled others sitting near were listening too.  Before the family left the train the mother kindly invited me to visit the family, meet her husband and share an African meal any time I’m in Nottingham.  As I hurriedly gathered up my belongings to leave the train a young man tapped me on the shoulder.  “I’ve come to Manchester to join a mission”, he said, “and “I want to thank you for the wonderful workshop on evangelism”! It was a humbling experience and has left me wondering was the whole thing organised by God?  You’ll have to draw your own conclusion. Can you spare an hour next Saturday morning? This coming Saturday, 7th November, you can sit in on a seminar from the comfort of your home.  It starts at 9.00 and will finish by 9.45.  All you need is your computer switch on, an internet connection and your sound working.  The theme is an Introduction for Friendship Evangelism.  Whether you are an experienced personal evangelist or have never shared the gospel with your friends I hope you will find this Saturday Seminar helpful.  If possible pleasemake some time and join us.  It is free but you need to sign up before the event.  To do so please click this link. Other Saturday Seminars in November Saturday 14th November – Does Your Image Hinder Your Mission?  (Click here to register) Saturday 28th November – Mission through Prayer. (Click here to register) Please pray for wisdom as I prepare to lead these Saturday Seminars. The Past Few Weeks A considerable amount of time has been taken up with hospital visits to two members of my village church.  The hospital is some distance from home so each visit took at least half a day each time.  When one was discharged to home with a care package this also required a lot of time.  Rural churches where numbers are inevitably small means that there are sometimes no others available at the time to whom tasks can be delegated.  That said, I did have some wonderful help for which I am grateful. There have been a whole series of engagements for ministry and providing advice/guidance for mission.  There is not room here to share the outcomes but please join us in giving thanks to God. A New Children and Families Worker Sunrise Ministries’ trustees have put together a package so that someone can be employed to build on the work begun by the late Monica Cook.  We will soon complete the job description and have this available.  It has been delayed by unexpected and urgent additional work that had to be given priority.  Please pray with us through this process.  If you have already emailed your own enquiry about this position and have not heard back please be assured that I will contact you.  Any other enquiries should email us by clicking here.   Thank you for your prayers and practical support.  Your fellowship means so much to us. Yours sincerely in Christ, Barry

As we approach the end of our financial year for Rural Mission Solutions we currently have deficit.  If you are able to help with a donation at this time it would be very appreciated.  Sincere thanks to  those who have supported the work financially over recent weeks. Account Name: "Sunrise Ministries" Bank: CAF Bank plc Sort Code: 40 52 40 Account Number: 00016072 Reference: Please use your surname and post

Fruitlessness

It is sad that among many Christians there is a desire to always appear successful.  We don't like admitting to failure.  A Minister attending a Ministers' Fraternal in a large town was perplexed as in turn each one present spoke of the wonderful things that were happening in their churches.  He became concerned that something about the meeting inhibited people talking about problems they were confronting.  As an older man himself he knew that church leadership and ministry often produces tears.  So when his turn cam he deliberately only spoke about a current difficult situation in his church.  He hoped that his contribution would release other Ministers to speak more honestly.  He waited expectantly for the next man.  His opening word were "I'm glad I haven't got any problems in my church like that!"  Not one other among the 20 to 30 Ministers there were prepared to admit to problems or weaknesses.  Why can't we be more honest?

My fruitlessness story this week is about my attempt to upgrade my laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 10.  I have an early version of Windows 8 on my Surface Tablet and knew that W10 would be a better experience.  I goit ready by transferring data files to an external hard drive to maximise space.  I checked that my computer and system passed the test for the upgrade and was delighted to see the update downloading and installing automatically late one evening.  But at the critical moment it failed to load.

The next day I ran some checks and repeated the download and installation successfully.  But once more it failed on startup.  A phone call to Microsoft resulted in a very nice lady in their technical department spending a couple of hours working on my laptop remotely but every time she loaded W10 it failed at startup.  She kindly booked me a session with a senior technician and this Saturday morning he rang and we made a confident start.  During the following five hours, during which time a second senior technician joined the exercise, the outcome was fruitless.

So I wasted about a day and a half with these fruitless attempts.  I wonder how the men felt who had tried so many things to get it to work.  After all they are experts and the problem is with my laptop and not their skills.

The problem was not with the men who had gone fishing.  They spent time and effort fruitlessly despite drawing on their knowledge and experience.  They were experts but after fruitless hours had to admit defeat.  Fortunately there was another expert on hand who understood the problem and had a workable solution.  I'm sure that you know the two occasions that are mentioned in the gospels, (Luke 5: 4-7;  John 21: 1-8)

How are you feeling about your service for the Master right now.  If it proving fruitful then give thanks to God.  On the other hand if you are going through a frustrating and difficult time, don't despair. Acknowledging our failure and listening to God's response may well change the situation.  His presence and his wisdom changed the situation for the fishermen.  However, trust in God is not the same as triumphalism, which is usually a bad thing.  Sometimes, it is part of God's plan that we live with our failure so that our faith and commitment are tested.  Many a wonderful servant of God has felt that they laboured for nothing.  Remember that success is getting up one more time thaan you fall down.

Fruitfulness in ministry of any kind is not down to our ability or goodness.  When things are not going right in our ministry then trying harder is not usually as effective as trusting more.
 

Current items for praise & prayer
Thank you for your prayers for the Sunday ministry at HMP Gartree and Yelvertoft.  There was quit blessing in both locations.  Thank you also for your prayers for Holiday at Home (10-14 August) in Market Harborough.  There was a good attendance each day and a real sense of the joy and blessing of God.  It was particularly encouraging to see how both the team and our guests worked together for the blessing of others.  We lose our leader, Rev Brian Kennard, next year but the team is in good heart and keen to keep going.  Brian and his wife are former associate evangelists from Mission fro Christ days.

Last Tuesday was my last day as Chair of the Churches Rural Group (a Coordinating Group of Churches Together in England).  While I shall continue to be part of this Group I was happy to pass responsibility on to fresh shoulders.

On Thursday I met with others responsible for Area Mission workers fro the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation.  After much prayer, consultation and reflection we have come up with a plan that has excited us as we seek to support some 30 churches in their mission.

This Sunday I share in a Joint Open Air Service in the village of Crick, Northants.
Monday 24 I share in a telephone conference responding to various requests for financial support for mission within the Congregational Federation.
Tuesday 25 there is more planning - this time with the Yelvertoft group from various churches as we plan the next two term's school assemblies.  From there I go to HMP Gartree for my regular activities.
On Wednesday 26 we hold our summer holiday Messy Church Event in Yelvertoft.  Please pray for a good attendance by children plus parents.   Please pray for the team of which I am a part.

I have been doing some important writing recently and there is more to be done.    I am also busy in several aspects of ministry so although there are no meetings for the rest of the week I expect to be very busy.

CHRISTIAN SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
I am looking for some additional members for the Webinar Team, especially people with reasonable confidence using a computer who would help monitoring questions raised by those who attend the webinars.  Email me to find out more.

Sunrise Ministries is looking for people who understand rural life, love the Lord and have ability in children's work.  At the moment we have sufficient funds to offer a part time post. This position involves work as an enabler with rural churches to help build appropriate programmes of mission and ministry to and with children.  Email me for more information about this post.

Thank you for your prayers and practical support.  Your fellowship means so much to us.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Barry

Release the Potential

Release the Potential

The famous 19th Century evangelist Dwight Moody, having returned home after speaking at a meeting, is reputed to have told his wife that three and a half souls had been saved that night. A little perplexed his wife asked him whether he meant three adults and a child.  To this Moody responded "No, three children and one adult".  His point was that the adult had already spent half his life and could only live the remaining half for God.

Moody, together with his song leader, Ira Sankey, grew up in the USA won acclaim as an international evangelist and established a pattern for evangelism later taken up by Billy Graham.  But his ministry began with children.  Unable to obtain an opportunity for ministry he focused his attention on reaching the poorest children in Chicago.  He rented and filled three pews in his local church each Sunday and grew his Sunday School to around 500 if I remember the account aright.  I love it that this great man of God had such a vision for ministry to and with children.

In my rural ministry children have played an important part.  Through the labours of my late colleague, Monica Cook, hundreds of children have found a saving faith in Jesus and grown in discipleship,  Some now occupy positions of leadership in various churches.  This would never have happened had we not treated children as seriously as we do any adult.  We do so because that is exactly what Jesus did.

Evangelising children calls for sensitivity and common sense but in many ways it is no different to the way in which we share the gospel with adults.  The method and language is adjusted to suit the audience and care is taken not to employ methods that might manipulate emotions.  Telling the story simply is always best.  Those with whom we share the gospel story should always be encouraged to make a response, but children could simply respond because they want to please you.  It has always been our practise to encourage children who might want to ask Jesus Christ into their lives to talk with us after the meeting.  We then ensure that there are distracting and fun activities before the meeting ends.  Those children who seek us out afterwards are usually sincere.

Jesus spoke about the value of childlike faith and I think that there are few greater privileges than to pray with a child who understands and sincerely gives their life to Christ.  One soon discovers just how real this is and how much we can learn from the faith of children.

To talk of children as the church of tomorrow or the church in waiting is nonsense.  Regardless of age anyone who has placed their trust in Jesus and his work for us on the cross is part of the church of today.  We do not control admission; it is the work of the Holy Spirit.  But this then begs the question about how children develop in discipleship.  This is a glorious contrast to what extreme Islamists do with children.  We do not seek to mould their attitudes or coerce them into service.  We simply explain the resources God has given, help them learn to pray and know how to read the Bible and encourage them to seek the fullness of God in their lives.  This is no different to how we counsel adults.

If some children are real Christians it follows that they are also part of the body of Christ with gifts and ministries given them by the same Holy Spirit who gives gifts and ministries to us all.  That's where releasing the potential of our children comes in.  I have witnessed children with the gift of evangelist or a gift of pastoral ministry showing the love of God among their peers.  Monica often ran Prayer days for children with great effect.  I once went to a church where over 50 children voluntarily met for prayer for half an hour before Sunday School.  I know of schools where children have established their own fellowship meetings where staff have not been available.  If we fail to take seriously that Christian children ought to be disciples, with growing faith and ministry experience, we fail them, we fail the Church, we fail the world and we fail our God

Too often we treat children as second class.  We marginalise them when it comes to allocating space and resources.  We withhold from them what is not ours to withhold. When I was the Minister at Herstmonceux Free Church in Sussex we had the joy of having many children who had become Christians.  We celebrated communion (Eucharist) once a month and at first the children were mere spectators. Since I could find no biblical justification for refusing them the elements (we used non-alcoholic wine) I moved to inviting any children who wished to take the bread and wine to do so "if their parents approved".  A Christian father urged me to remove all qualification as he did not feel he should be the arbiter of his childrens walk with God.  I did so.  What a blessing!  But best of all was the first Sunday when the children served the bread and wine to the adults!

We need to affirm Christian children as part of the Church of today and encourage them to grow in faith and realise their potential in Christ.  Their experience and faith is only limited by our attitude.

Current items for praise & prayer
Thursday 6th - Communion at HMP Gartree, Leicestershire.
Sunday 9th - Sunday Service at HMP Gartree followed by the Sunday Morning Meeting atYelvertoft CC
Monday 10th - Friday 14th - Holiday at Home, Market Harborough.  Each morning we run various activities under the auspices of Churches Together for older people in the community.  We share good news but this is not overt evangelism.
Tuesday 11th - HMP Gartree in the afternoon.
Sunday 10th - Yelvertoft CC.

Wednesday to Friday last week was spent in Kent and Sussex.  We encourage your prayers for Dunks Green Evangelical Free Church as we work with them on constitutional matters.  This is a part f the ministry of Action for Christ. We also encourage your prayers for Herstmonceux Free Church where a great Christian has gone to be with the Lord recently and whose funeral service I attended on Thursday.  It is good to see the church going on well.  Pray too for one of my colleagues, Canon Elizabeth Ingram and I as we seek to manage a difficult situation elsewhere in Sussex.

On saturday I met with others to explore possibilities for ministry with children and young families in the East Midlands.  Your prayers for wisdom and God's guidance will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Barry