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Pastor: Rev. Simon King - 01227 274697Church website – http://www.swalecliffe-free-church.com/

We are more than conquerors. ROMANS 8:37 NKJV

How would you describe somebody who was an accomplished pianist at ten, a professional organist at eleven, had compositions published at thirteen, and was a member of the royal court musical staff at fourteen? Privileged? Born with a silver spoon in his mouth? Hardly! Ludwig van Beethoven was a black-haired, swarthy-complexioned, pockmarked boy who endured taunts and name calling in his hometown along the Rhine River, an area of mostly blond, fair-skinned children. His alcoholic father decided that Ludwig would support him, so he made him a slave to the keyboard. Looking back, Beethoven couldn’t recall a single moment of childhood happiness. His life was comprised of work, tears, beatings and angry tirades. In his twenties he encountered another more insidious enemy— deafness. When he could no longer play publicly he put all his energies into composing. His years of deafness were his most prolific. Although at the time his works weren’t well received, he influenced many of the great composers like Brahms, Wagner and Schubert. Nearing death and recognizing that the world had never fully understood or appreciated him and his music, he said with a smile, “I shall hear in heaven.” When life knocks you down don’t stay down, bounce back! Everybody stumbles or gets knocked off their feet from time to time; the winners are just the ones who keep getting back up! That’s what Paul meant when he said, “In all these things we are more than conquerors.” If you pray and look hard enough, you’ll find the seed of good in every adversity (See Ge 50:20). The difference between winners and losers, is their ability to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

( Source UCB - See final page for UCB contact information and a free booklet )

STUMBLING BLOCKS to STEPPING STONES

Contact Point.....

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‘The Lord Held Me Steady’ (Psalm 18:18 LB) Having hired a chain-saw, I set about felling the tall rotten elm tree in our garden. Up a ladder some 20 ft. above the ground, I had decided to remove the top 3-pronged trunk with a cut to the left and then to the right. My problem was, I didn’t know which way it was going to fall! I thought it best to go down and think it through! One step down the springy ladder decided it for me – there was a loud crack and a whoosh! My first instinct was to look up, and to feel immense relief that what had literally been hanging over me had now gone! But where? To my shocked amazement it lay on the ground directly behind me – in other words it had gone clean over my head, miraculously without taking me with it! My reading that night in the Living Light was Psalm 18:18 – wow! How true! Surely, you have been through situations, and possibly are right now, where you need to know those simple, direct words, ‘The Lord held me steady’! Perhaps you were wavering, beginning to doubt whether God or anybody cared? Well, He does care and also has the means to hold you steady and bring you safely through what you are facing. Another way the psalmist expresses similar truth is in the more familiar words of Psalm 121. Verse 5 says: ‘The Lord is your keeper’. We have a young friend, Richard, the son of missionary parents. I had baptised him, and before he left home and went into the unknown, I printed out a card for him with the words of Psalm 121 and emphasised verse 5. I’m glad I did, because he began to go downhill and get into bad company and drugs. It was not until a few years later that he stayed with friends at WEC, and got straightened out as he came back to the Lord. He’s now married with two children and is serving the Lord at BETEL, which majors in a successful rehab programme for drug addicts and others with various addictions. Richard knows the Lord as His Keeper, and would agree - ‘The Lord held me steady’! A favourite ‘picture’ for me is a stained-glass window at Spurgeon’s College in London. You may barely see the Latin motto, but it says ‘Et teneo et teneor’, which literally means ‘I both hold and am held’…. And the picture is of a hand upon the cross – your hand and mine. Sometimes our grip on the Lord may be weak, but His grip on us always remains strong! In a crisis in my life as a 20 year old, I remember the comfort of Jesus’ words in John 10:29 ‘My Father, which gave them (my sheep) to me is greater than all, and no-one can snatch them out of my Father’s hands.’ Again, I can praise the Lord, for this eternal truth –‘The Lord held me steady!’ In preparation for Mission England in 1989 with Billy Graham, I was sharing with a group of eager would be helpers at Garston . near Watford, that verse (John 10:29). The pianist asked if she could say something. She told us of how a group of Christians had escaped over the Ural mountains, and at a very dangerous precipitous point, where the path was extremely narrow they held each other’s wrist, so that if one gave way, hopefully the other would not! That’s true for us and the Lord – our grip may be weak, but His is strong! My prayer for all of you this June is that your strength will be renewed – if possible take some ‘time out’. Today, I discovered Pegwell Bay Country Park and a hide from which I was able to view through binoculars a family of 4 whimbrels (curlew-type birds), as they foraged in the grasslands bordering the sea. Oh, and I also heard the cuckoo, which a dog-walker had actually seen the day before! Jesus said ‘Do not worry…Look at the birds of the air…Your heavenly Father feeds them….Are you not much more valuable than they?’ (Matthew 6:25-27).Be encouraged and be an encourager - like the honk of geese!

Your friend and pastor, Simon

“I say, steady on now!”says Simon

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JUNE WORDSEARCHIn honour of the Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebrations, this month we are basing the Wordsearch on words found in the national anthem of the United Kingdom: ‘God Save the Queen’. The anthem dates back to London in September 1745, and first appeared as ‘God Save the King’ during a time of political tension. Both the words and tune are anonymous, but about 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, have used the tune in their compositions. God save our gracious Queen! Long live our noble Queen! God save the Queen! Send her victorious, Happy & glorious, Long to reign over us, God save the Queen.Thy choicest gifts in store On her be pleased to pour, Long may she reign. May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause, To sing with heart and voice, God save the Queen.

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A SALUTE TO THE QUEEN We are in a season of celebrating the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Elizabeth II. Her actual birthday is 21st April but the official celebrations will be in June, but for either (or both) let me add my voice to the many who are wishing the Queen a very happy birthday. Sometimes with birthdays of ‘a significant age’ you are celebrating no more than the fact that someone has survived for a very long time. In the case of Queen Elizabeth II, however, we do not simply celebrate years but virtues as well. For me I think our Queen has demonstrated three great virtues, all particularly commendable because they are rare in our age.

The first virtue the Queen has displayed is that of service. In 1947, at the tender age of 21, she said this in a broadcast to the nation: ‘I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.’ The ‘imperial family’ has long since faded into history but she has kept that promise. I know little about what the Queen will be doing this week but I imagine that it will be pretty much business as usual. She will maintain her conscientious daily watch on the affairs of state; will meet with the Prime Minister, where she will be consulted and will advise; and she will no doubt attend the usual functions with her habitual grace and charm. We take her service to the nation for granted but it’s worth remembering that we live at a time when putting yourself first is almost universally taken to be the first rule of life. Ours is an age of self-indulgence, self-expression and ultimately self-centeredness. Denying this, our Queen has served – and continues to serve – her people and nation. The second virtue the Queen has displayed is that of duty. We have a Queen on whose shoulders have fallen enormous responsibilities yet who has remained committed over six decades to fulfilling them. And duty it has been. One shudders to think of all the handshakes she has endured, the speeches she has had to listen to, the smiles she has been forced to make and the many times she must have had to hold her tongue. This lifelong commitment is striking given how unpopular duty is in our age. One of the overriding trends in Western culture has been the gradual erosion of commitment and obligation in almost every area of life. Whether in private or public life, we find that where there were once solemn bonds there are now only loose, breakable and disposable links. Behind this trend is the belief – now celebrated as a universal truth – that we human beings can only find the true purpose of life if we have the freedom to seek our own pleasure. Here, too, the Queen has gone against the flow. The third virtue Queen Elizabeth has displayed is that of perseverance. In one sense perseverance – steadfastness or ‘stickability’ might be words we prefer – is the least of virtues. In another, it is the rarest. After all, we can all do a bit of duty and service for a few hours or even a few days; the challenge is to do it for a lifetime. And that is exactly what the Queen has done. Here again we find that perseverance is not one of the values of our unsettled age. During her long reign the currents of shifting values and fashion have flowed so fast and fierce through British life that age-old traditions and social patterns have been swept away. Cultural moods have exploded on the scene and then, just as suddenly, vanished. Amidst it all, the Queen has persevered, enduring as a fixed element in the tumult of our time. Indeed as the bonds that unite the peoples of Britain seem to become fewer and more strained, her role as the embodiment of what we are as a nation has become even more vital. There can be no higher praise for the Queen’s role here than the fact that it is troubling to imagine the thought of Britain without her. The Queen has demonstrated service, duty and perseverance. That she has been able to do this against the spirit of the world is surely because she takes her bearings not from the world and its wisdom, but from something else. That something else is her strong Christian faith, something that Her Majesty has openly and unashamedly talked about. The qualities she has displayed are Christian virtues, lived out to the full in Jesus Christ who came to serve and to give his own life for the world. The Queen exhibits these virtues not simply because she seeks to imitate Christ but because she has a relationship with him.

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She knows, I believe, the great truth that in order to live out Christ’s teaching you must live in Christ. In Her Majesty Elizabeth II we see a great Queen, but her greatness comes from the fact that she has trusted in an even greater King. Happy birthday, Ma’am!Revd Canon J.John © Printed with permission

THE STORY BEHIND THE HYMN: Lord, for the years This well-loved hymn was written in 1967 by the Rev Timothy Dudley Smith, who later became Bishop of Thetford. He later confessed: “I wrote it on a train when I was very pressed for time. I’m thankful if something I write gets picked up, but I suspect anyone who does something in a rush later regrets that they didn’t find time to apply the sandpaper a bit more!” Dudley Smith had been asked to write a hymn for the centenary service of the Children’s Special Service Mission, now Scripture Union, in St Paul’s Cathedral. His commission was to write words that could be fitted to Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia, as it was to be accompanied by an orchestra with this tune in their repertoire. And so – ‘Lord for the years’ was written. Dudley Smith need not have worried about lack of time – his lyrics were a ‘hit’ in the cathedral on the day, and went on to become so well-loved that George Carey chose the hymn to be sung at his consecration as Bishop of Bath and Wells, and then again later, in 1991, for his consecration as Archbishop in Canterbury Cathedral. The hymn continued to be widely sung and loved, until in 2002 Timothy Dudley Smith was asked to write an extra verse for it so that it could even be sung around the time of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Many of the words in the hymn are true for the Queen herself, as she celebrates her 90th birthday this month. She does indeed thank God ‘for the years your love has kept and guided, urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way’… And so indeed the ‘extra’ verse added for the Queen has also held true:

Lord for our hopes, the dreams of all our living, Christ and his kingdom one united aim, Rulers and peoples bound in high thanksgiving, Lord of our hopes, our t9:st is in your Name.

Lord, for the years your love has kept and g:ided,urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided:Lord for the years, we bring our thanks today.

Lord, for that word, the word of life which fires us,speaks to our hearBs and sets our souls ablaze,teaches and t9ains, rebukes us and inspires us:Lord of the word, receive your people's praise.

Lord, for our hopes, the dreams of all our living,Christ and his kingdom one united aim;Rulers and peoples bound in high thanksgiving,Lord of our hopes, our t9:st is in your Name. …By Timothy Dudley Smith

NO NEED FOR PRAYER : Little Sam and his family were about to have Sunday dinner at his grandmother's house. Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. When Sam received his plate, he started eating right away. "Sam! Please wait until we pray over the food," said his mother. “Like we do at home.” “But we don’t need to pray here,” Sam objected. “This is Grandma's house, and she knows how to cook.”

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The Archbishop’s real father In April the Archbishop of Canterbury discovered that his father was not Gavin Welby, as he had always believed. Instead, DNA testing confirmed that his real father was the late Sir Anthony Montague Browne, a personal aide of Winston Churchill. In a personal statement Justin Welby spoke of his complete surprise at the news (confirmed by a DNA test following a Telegraph investigation) and said his mother has been a wonderful part of his life and continues to be so, praising her determination for overcoming alcohol addiction. “My own experience is typical of many people. To find that one's father is other than imagined is not unusual. To be the child of families with great difficulties in relationships, with substance abuse or other matters, is far too normal.” But, the Archbishop went on: “I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in Him never changes. Even more importantly my role as Archbishop makes me constantly aware of the real and genuine pain and suffering of many around the world, which should be the main focus of our prayers. “Although there are elements of sadness, and even tragedy in my father's (Gavin Welby’s) case, this is a story of redemption and hope from a place of tumultuous difficulty and near despair in several lives. It is a testimony to the grace and power of Christ to liberate and redeem us, grace and power which is offered to every human being. “At the very outset of my inauguration service three years ago, Evangeline Kanagasooriam, a young member of the Canterbury Cathedral congregation, said: ‘We greet you in the name of Christ. Who are you, and why do you request entry?’ “To which I responded: ‘I am Justin, a servant of Jesus Christ, and I come as one seeking the grace of God to travel with you in His service together.’ What has changed? Nothing!A full statement is on the Archbishops website

Editor: Tim Lenton looks back on a well-loved Christian writer.

G K Chesterton – THE ‘PRINCE OF PARADOX’Prolific author G K (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton died 80 years ago this month, on 14 June 1936. He always preferred to be known as a journalist, but he wrote at least 100 books, hundreds of poems, five plays and about 200 short stories, including the well-known series about the detective priest, Father Brown, recently broadcast on daytime television with Mark Williams in the title role. A large man in every sense, Chesterton died relatively young at 62, but wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years’ worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He was happy writing on history, politics, theology and philosophy, but he regarded

himself as an orthodox Christian, moving eventually from High Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. Born in Kensington, Chesterton attended art school, and got into writing when he was asked to write a few magazine articles on art criticism. His book The Everlasting Man was regarded by C S Lewis as “the best popular defence of the full Christian position” and he was held in high regard even by those who were philosophically his enemies. George Bernard Shaw described him as “a man of colossal genius”. Sometimes described as the prince of paradox, Chesterton often made his points with pithy remarks that stuck in the mind. For example, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried”, and “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions”.

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The Bible version used in our cross-word is the NIV.ACROSS CLUES1 Military tactic used by Joshua to attack and destroy the city of Ai (Joshua 8:2) (6)4 Place of learning (6) 8 ‘When Moses’ hands grew — , they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it’ (Exodus 17:12) (5) 9 Unpleasant auguries of the end of the age, as forecast by Jesus (Matthew 24:7) (7) 10 Stronghold to which girls in King Xerxes’ harem (including Esther) were taken (Esther 2:8) (7) 11 Where Saul went to consult a medium before fighting the Philistines (1 Samuel 28:7) (5) 12 Propitiation (Hebrews 2:17) (9)17 Turn away (Jeremiah 11:15) (5) 19 So clear (anag.) (7) 21 ‘I have just got — , so I can’t come’: one excuse to be absent from the great banquet (Luke 14:20) (7) 22 Long weapon with a pointed head used by horsemen (Job 39:23) (5) 23 Musical beat (6) 24 What the Israelites were told to use to daub blood on their door-frames at the first Passover (Exodus 12:22) (6)

DOWN1 Fasten (Exodus 28:37) (6) 2 Art bite (anag.) (7) 3 ‘The people of the city were divided; some — with the Jews, others with the apostles’ (Acts 14:4) (5) 5 Contend (Jeremiah 12:5) (7) 6 Possessed (Job 1:3) (5) 7 Sheen (Lamentations 4:1) (6) 9 ‘You love evil rather than good, — rather than speaking the truth’ (Psalm 52:3) (9) 13 Large flightless bird (Job 39:13) (7)

14 They were worth several hundred pounds each (Matthew 25:15) (7) 15 ‘A — went out to sow his seed’ (Matthew 13:3) (6) 16 How Jesus described Jairus’s daughter when he went into the room where she lay (Mark 5:39) (6) 18 The part of the day when the women went to the tomb on the first Easter morning (John 20:1) (5) 20 Narrow passageway between buildings (Luke 14:21) (5)

June ’16 Crossword

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ON REVIVALThe subject of revival is something that should be close to every Christian’s heart. Unfortunately there’s a lot of confusion about what revival is. So what does authentic revival truly mean? Let me suggest the following as a definition. Authentic revival is when men and women have an extraordinary experience of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit that either reinvigorates an existing faith or brings them to faith. Let me expand this. Authentic revival is a sovereign and supernatural work of God that defies all the rules of psychology or sociology. In a world where human beings like to be in control, we need to learn that true revival cannot be programmed or purchased. The uncomfortable reality is that God starts revival, takes all the glory from it and, in his own time, ends it. True revival has little respect for individuals, churches or denominations. Some of the most important revivals have come out of the most unpromising settings. The famous Azusa Street Revival of 1906 that gave rise to the Pentecostal denomination, began in a tiny African-American fellowship worshipping in little more than a shack in Los Angeles. God similarly controls the ‘where’ and ‘when’ of revival. Revival can affect an individual church, town, region or country. It can last for weeks or years, and can end as swiftly as it began. Revivals can be noisy and dramatic with the presence of extraordinary phenomenon. But they can also be unobtrusive, almost subdued events in which all the drama is going on in the hearts and souls of the hearers. Given that there are a lot of claims of revival and so many forms in which it can occur, how can we identify the real thing? Here I need to offer a caution: although much is made of extraordinary spiritual experiences and manifestations these are not universal and don’t in themselves authenticate what’s happening. There are, however, two unchangeable hallmarks of authentic revival.THE FIRST HALLMARK is that in authentic revival it is God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – not any human being who is glorified. With the real thing everybody is talking about God, not about any individuals he has used. Revival humbles those who are involved rather than elevating them.THE SECOND HALLMARK of authentic revival is that it is marked by the profound and lasting spiritual transformation of individuals. Those who have been touched by the Spirit in authentic revival are deeply aware of their sin, show repentance and have a new desire to live a holy life. They seek to display the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). And whatever the style or type of revival, the real thing always shows itself in a new desire to know God through his written word, the Bible. Authentic revival is always in accord with the Bible: no genuine work of God’s Spirit can contradict God’s Word. Is revival for those inside the church or for those outside? My feeling is that God prefers to reinvigorate existing churches. But if there aren’t any churches in an area then revival is perfectly capable of creating them. After all, if you are someone who has been affected by an authentic revival then you can’t avoid sharing your faith with those about you. Yet if revival is important for the church the fact is that we can get things badly wrong. Let me suggest four dangers.The danger of scepticism. Given the presence of overinflated or even false claims about revival, some Christians have come to deny that the phenomenon exists. Well it does. A little research will come up with any number of authenticated and remarkable events which defy all explanation in terms of psychology.The danger of staging revival. Impatient to see revival we can sometimes fall into the trap of creating a man-made event rather than the real thing. The Holy Spirit doesn’t dance to our tune, however loudly we may amplify it.The danger of self-importance. Although in authentic revival the spotlight of the Holy Spirit falls on God alone there is always a danger for men and women to try to tiptoe into that brilliance and take some credit for being either the herald or host of the revival. God does not share his glory with others (Isaiah 42:8). (Cont >)

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The danger of sensation seeking. Seeing God work in such a dramatic way is astonishingly exciting. Yet spiritual thrill-seeking can be catastrophic. We need to pray for revival but we must not neglect the ordinary, day-to-day work of evangelism and social action. Remember, revival is not a spectator sport and you can’t live off adrenaline.

PREPARING FOR REVIVAL?Prayer. Let’s pray confidently and daily that God will bring revival. But let’s not just pray for revival in our own fellowships but in other churches and other countries. So, for instance, let’s not just simply pray against the horrors in the Middle East, let’s pray for revival there that will build a dynamic church in that region.Purity. It’s a sad truth that while we can’t cause revival to happen, we can certainly cause it to stop. So, in preparation, we need to get rid of anything that blocks revival. Let’s seek to put aside all sin, including prayerlessness, pride and such wrong priorities as being preoccupied with church buildings, denominational structures and ecclesiastical paperwork.(Church bureaucrats be warned: revival is uncomfortably messy.) Here, too, let’s learn that gracious attitude that will still praise God if revival breaks out in the fellowship across the road.Persistence. Sadly, history is full of churches and individuals who, having decided that revival is vital, then go to sleep waiting for God to act. While we wait and pray expectantly, let’s get on with the day-to-day task of preaching the gospel and living it out in our lives. God visits revival on churches that are standing up or on their knees but not those that are sitting down. May you and I see authentic revival. In the meantime, let’s prepare for it!Revd Canon J.John © Printed with permission

Evan Roberts - whom God used in the Welsh Revival . )

The Parable of the Prodigal Son The top 10 Bible stories: Number10: This month we come to the last of our 10 Must Know Story from the Bible. The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) is one of Jesus’ most well-known stories. Yet it also beautifully presents the good news of the Gospel, through the theme of lost and found. The younger son is lost when he demands his inheritance early, deliberately making himself independent and treating his father as dead! This reflects our own lostness as human beings, when we cut ourselves off from the loving presence and grace of a loving heavenly Father. After squandering his wealth, he finally comes to his senses: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ (18,19). However, even before he arrives home, his father runs to greet him and welcomes his son back home. The celebrations for the homecoming of this son reflect the ‘rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents’ (7). This story graphically demonstrates the amazing grace of God for each one of us. The older son’s misunderstanding of the father’s actions is a warning not to harden our hearts to the work of God’s grace in ourselves and others. ‘There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less.’ (Philip Yancey). The story is told of a father and son who had become estranged and the father searched for him to no avail. In desperation, he put an advert in a local newspaper: ‘Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.’ On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up!!

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Prayer - JUNE 2016 ‘Our Father - your Kingdom come: Your will be done.” NEARBY: ... especially in the following Swalecliffe Roads!!- Southwood Road - Palace Close- Newton Road, - Bridgefield Road AT HOME• Our role as evangelists p16 • Pray that the resumption of services with St. John’s will be fruitful and a blessing to many.

These are scheduled for the 5th. Sunday of the month, and started on May 29th.• Praise that the new Bible Study Series has got off to a good start –‘7 Laws of Life’, produced

by CWR. Our opening Wednesday afternoon session on the priority of Worship got off to a good start. In addition to the usual dozen or so folk, we were joined by 2 others for the first time. The Thursday evening session, at the time of writing, has not yet met.

THE CHURCHES:- Tankerton Evangelical Church (TEC) - WHIT:: St.Alphege- WHIT: Hamilton Rd Evangelical Free - WHIT::Roman CatholicTHE NATION….• For Her majesty the Queen P4 etc• Revival in the UK p8 - For the ‘ prayer, purity and persistence’ (p9) required for it. • For the effectiveness and integrity of the Christian media reaching those who would otherwise

not hear the gospel. (eg UCB / SAT-7 in the Middle East)• For Christian leaders eg p6• Pray for the Bible Society’s ‘Open the Book’ used in primary schools – Isobel ( aged 7) says:

‘I like doing the acting with Open the Book because we do different things every week. My best story was the one with the giant, where the boy throws stones at the giant. I have never heard these stories before, but they are really good.’

• Pray that the Lord might begin to feature in the run up to the EU Referendum, and that each of us may be guided as to how to vote.

MISSION & CHARITY• BMS work in Tunisia p26 -27• The Gideons• MAF : See prayer requests in p19 item• Wycliffe Bible Translators: ‘Our vision is to continue pursuing new innovations that

accelerate Bible translation and the life-transforming impact of Scripture in language groups around the world. Our hope is to see that every identified Bibleless people group has a minimum of 10 prayer partners faithfully interceding for them.’

WORLD• Nigeria:One of the missing Chibok girls, Amina Ali Nkeki, who was abducted by Boko

Haram, has been found close to the border with Cameroon. For healing and restoration for Amina, who must be traumatised after two years in Boko Haram captivity

• For the safe return of the over 200 Chibok girls who remain captive, and hundreds of others who have been abducted by Boko Haram

• Pray for Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, where folk continue to suffer the traumas of war, and for the witness of Christians in these countries.

• For Organisations like Open Doors p22/23• For devout Muslims during Ramadan this year from 7th June (p23) - that they may find that

their little prophet ‘Isa’ is really the God they seek.• Praise for the turning to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of many devout Muslims

- p22

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Men’s Forum - 2016The format will be the same, i.e. the meetings will take place on Tuesday evenings; proceedings to start at 8.00 pm. This is the programme for the third series of the Forum.

14th June: Dr. Gehad Homsey makes a welcome return - this time to talk about the work of Mercy Ships. EVERYONE INVITED!19th July: The speaker is James Flanagan on the subject of Community.

13th September: Steve Press will discuss clips from the movie, ‘The Secret’, in order to examine the wider emphasis of the Christian life in relation to prayer and discipleship.11th October: This is an opportunity to learn about Whitstable’s City Church and its activity from Geoff Maile, who is a prominent member.8th November:Ben Crick will speak about his international experiences especially about the State of Israel, a country which he has visited on several occasions.

John Medlock

BE PREPARED In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.PROVERBS 3:6One of the most important questions you must ask yourself is, “What am I supposed to prepare for?” You don’t want to be like the Miss America contestant who recently told a late- night TV talk show host, “My goal is to bring world peace— and get my own apartment.” Ask God what you’re supposed to do, and keep asking till you get clear instructions as to your next step (or for that matter, your first step!).There are timeless principles in the Bible that work, whether you’re walking with God or going your own way. So be careful that you are not using God, rather than allowing God to use you. “In all thy ways acknowledge [consult, listen and submit to] him, and he shall direct thy paths.” What ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life, but what God says. The humbling truth is, all achievements will eventually be surpassed, records will be broken, reputations will fade, and tributes will be forgotten. In college Dr. James Dobson’s goal was to become the school’s tennis champion. He felt very proud when his trophy was prominently placed in a display cabinet . Years later someone mailed him that trophy—they had found it in a trash can when the school was remodeled. Dobson says. “Given enough time, all your trophies will be trashed by someone else.” Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal. You weren’t put here to be remembered, you were put here to do God’s will and to prepare for eternity. If you’re wise you’ll keep that in mind!

50 years of space exploration The space age started in earnest 50 years ago this month, when NASA’s space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon to collect data. It was the first US craft to soft-land on any extra-terrestrial body. The Soviet Union had achieved a landing four months earlier. Surveyor 1 transmitted an astonishing 11,000 photographs from the moon’s surface and showed that the widely predicted “thick layers of soft dust” on the moon were far from the truth. The mission demonstrated the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface, but it was said that nobody was more surprised at its success than the people who built it. Previous days’ newspapers had been full of management squabbles, budget problems and delays. But it worked perfectly. The information gathered was essential for the success of the American Apollo manned expeditions.

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SHOW SOME GRATITUDE!Let us continually.. .praise... God...giving thanks. HEBREWS 13:15 NKJV At a Women of Faith conference they were short of space for 150 people, so the staff brought in narrower chairs. Everyone had a seat, but conditions in the auditorium were cramped and nobody was happy. The director asked the guest speaker, Joni Eareckson Tada, to help calm the crowd. A childhood diving accident had left Joni quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair. As the attendants pushed her out onto the platform she addressed the audience: “I understand some of you don’t like the chair you’re sitting in. Well, neither do I! But I’ve a thousand handicapped friends who’d gladly trade places with you.” Immediately the hall went quiet and the complaining stopped. When Paul was training Timothy he said, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ” (2Ti 2:1 NKJV), and gratitude is an off-shoot of grace. The Bible says, “Let us continually [not just when you feel like it!] offer the sacrifice of praise to God... giving thanks to His name.” After the Bible expositor Matthew Henry was accosted and robbed he wrote in his diary: “Let me :be thankful, first, that I was never robbed before, second, that although they took my purse they didn’t take my life, third, that although they took everything I had, it wasn’t much, fourth, that it was I who was robbed, and not I who did the robbing.” If you’re struggling to find something to be grateful for today, here’s a good reason: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (Ps 118:29 NIV).

Editor: Lester Amann offers encouragement to anyone facing big problems.

You are my God…So many TV dramas, films and books these days depict family problems. They have all manner of emotions and attitudes - anger, bitterness, mistrust, bullying, lying and deceit – to name a few! Even when the ‘fighting’ has stopped it is just an interlude before another ‘bombshell’ is dropped! It is rare to see families happily united. The Bible records numerous family discords but one family upset does end happily – the story of Joseph. In Genesis chapter 37 we read of Joseph’s brothers turning against him. They plot to kill him but instead sell Joseph to merchants who take him to Egypt. It is likely that modern day novelists or film script-writers would use this opening scenario to give Joseph justification for revenge. Perhaps there would be a dramatic escape from Egypt followed by Joseph unleashing his vengeance on all his brothers! But the Bible story is very different. Joseph is not a young man filled with hatred. Instead he grows up as a slave in Egypt with a deep trust in God and love in his heart. When Joseph is eventually reunited with his brothers he shows no malice. He is so overwhelmed with love for his family that he cries openly in front of them. He hugs and kisses all of them. A family feud that concludes with forgiveness is not the expected climax for a blockbuster movie! Real life is often full of surprises! Joseph said to his brothers “Now do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me here. It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people’s lives.” Isn’t this an amazing statement? Despite all the physical and emotional pain Joseph experienced, he knew that God was with him. Joseph believed that nothing had happened to him by accident and refused to be crushed by his adverse circumstances. Joseph was convinced that God was in control of his life and was in Egypt for a specific purpose. This story is an encouragement to us because it shows that God is close to those who love Him. Even when we are bewildered by troubles, illness, family upsets, hardships and when life deals us cruel blows, God is with us. Whatever is our personal need, the life of Joseph gives us hope. God will never abandon those who belong to Him. My trust is in you, O Lord; you are my God. I am always in your care.  (Ps 31:14-15)

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Editor: The Rev Canon David Winter considers the Queen’s life…

THE WAY I SEE IT: Our SERVANT QUEENThe whole country will this month be celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday. She has splendidly fulfilled the promise made on the day when her father, King George VI, died and she came to the throne at the age of 27. On that day she dedicated ‘the rest of my life, whether it be long or short’ to the service of the nation and the Commonwealth. She has certainly proved that she meant what she said. Hers is already the longest reign of any British monarch. Those years have seen huge changes in the world: the end of apartheid in South Africa, the transition of scores of countries to independence within the Commonwealth, the advent of space exploration and men on the moon, the arrival of the computer and the internet, social media, Twitter and so on. Through it all she has remained a calm, reassuring figure, head of state to 12 different prime ministers and leader of a resilient and growing Commonwealth of Nations. The Queen has quietly moved with the times. Her rather tortured ‘royal’ accent of the forties and fifties has broadened into a quietly spoken Received English. Uneasy about it at first, she has made herself an effective performer on television. And through it all she has openly acknowledged that her own Christian faith is the bedrock of all that she is and has done. In recent years she has been more willing to talk about that faith, notably in her Christmas messages. To mark her 90th birthday, the Bible Society has published an attractive illustrated book The Servant Queen, setting out largely in her own words the essential heart of that faith. The Queen herself has written a Foreword. The aim of the publishers is that the book should be widely distributed, so that people up and down her kingdom can share her evident enjoyment of a committed Christian faith. It’s subtitle is ‘And the King she serves ‘. As advertisers say, ‘every home should have one’.The Servant Queen is available from the Bible Society in packs of ten for £10, or singly. Go to: https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/landing/servantqueen/

Thanet

BibleWeek14-17June2016Mark Pickles ■ Lecturer, Oak Hill College TueandWedat7:30pm-SongsofExperience(ThePsalms) WedSeminarat12pm-TheOneThingNeedful

Warren Peel ■ Pastor, Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church ThuandFriat7:30pm-BeholdtheLamb(Revelation4and5) FriSeminarat12pm-MakingSenseOfTheBookOfRevelation

01843 446832St James Church

www.stjameswestgate.churchWestgate and Garlinge

Canterbury Road, Margate CT9 5JU

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Editor: Richard Bewes considers that moment ...

When you’re facing the lens“I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9: 57)

I still possess my old school photograph. There we were – squinting into the sun – ready for the swivelling lens of the motorised camera. “When the lens is opposite you,” we were sternly told, “that is your moment.” Five years of my life were thus frozenly captured by a lens during a single moment! When Jesus of Nazareth was on the move around Galilee, it could be said that the lens of God’s love was swivelling through him – upon crowds in every village. It was The Moment in Jericho for the dodgy taxman, Zacchaeus – hidden up a tree, when the eyes of the Carpenter-Preacher lighted on him – and he grasped the opportunity. In another crowd, a diseased woman seized her moment, as she reached out for a touch of Christ’s clothes…. and her life was changed for ever. Here in Luke, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, to achieve the salvation of the world. Three men, one after another, found themselves facing the lens of His appeal. The first came up: “I will follow you wherever you go!” The problem? 1. A case of hasty discipleship : Jesus warned of the hazards involved in following a Man who would have no true home of His own until His work on earth was done (Luke 9: 58). The moment came - and went…. and the lens moved on. The next recruit also posed a problem: 2. A case of conditional discipleship He seemed willing enough – but first he had to bury his father. But was his father dead, yet?! To ‘bury my father’ was a frequent middle-east expression of attention to a father - as long as he was living. Christ declared (verse 60) that time cannot wait for the kingdom of God. What of the third recruit? 3. A case of divided discipleship “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Christ’s reply about ‘looking back’ - after the hand is put to the plough – referred to the impossibility of maintaining two separate loyalties. Christ’s lens moves through humanity at every level. When it stops opposite US with the words “Follow Me, ” we must surely know how to respond!

NICODEMUS (Jn 3:1-17 )

It was night When I went to him,Truth teller,Time giver,Sign-man of God’s Kingdom.

It was nightWhen he spoke to meAs if I alone, lived.And he spoke of life,Of birth and re-birth,Of water and Spirit,Of the Father’s giving of the Son.

He spoke deep into my life,And stirring from my centre,Believing began.And when I left himThe night was over.

By Daphne Kitching

• Be ye fishers of men - you catch them and He'll clean them.• Before Pentecost the disciples found it hard to do easy

things; after Pentecost they found it easy to do hard things. - A Gordon

• Every age is an age for evangelism. God has no grandchildren. - E Smith

• The fruit of the Spirit is not excitement or orthodoxy: it is character. - G Duncan

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Top Ten Tips for Evangelism - BMS

WHAT CAN THE UK LEARN FROM THE WORLD CHURCH?  Part of the role of the UK Field leader is to ask and to research the question ‘What can the UK learn from the world Church’. I love reading mini summaries like the one Benjamin has written on 10 tips for evangelism. It helps stretch your imagination and increase your faith. I have had the opportunity to talk to some church leaders from the world Church who are familiar with the United Kingdom. I have asked them what they think the UK can learn from the world Church and a few of them have made the same observation. We can learn from the confidence in the gospel that those Christians beyond the Western Church have. I think there are many other ways we can learn as well. In many areas of the world fully funded ministry is not the norm. We are involved in business: development work; defending the poor, the marginalised and the persecuted and educating future ministers. In each of these areas there is something that we can reflect on and use to influence our effectiveness in ministry in the UK.Graham Doel, UK Field Leader, BMS World Mission

BENJAMIN’S TIPSOne vision, 13 years, 10,500 churches planted. Benjamin Francis shares ideas. On a mission to share Jesus with one of the most unreached people groups in the world, Ben Francis and his team have planted, unbelievably, thousands of churches. Journeying to rural north Indian villages to share the gospel message with people who have never heard of Jesus before is a daily occurrence for Ben, BMS Associate Team Leader for India. He’s encountered many dangers, witnessed amazing miracles and seen countless lives transformed by grace – so he has a story or two to tell of God’s power and provision.WE ASKED THIS GOSPEL-SHARING, CHURCH-PLANTER EXTRAORDINAIRE FOR TEN TIPS TO TURN US INTO EFFECTIVE EVANGELISTS. HERE’S WHAT HE SAID: 

1. PRAY: First, before you do anything: pray.2. MAKE CONTACT: You have to get people’s attention before you present them with hope; we call this an ‘entry strategy’. In the villages we do sports, or set up a medical camp, or tell stories.In the UK you may do something different – like asking people if their kids would like to do some arts and crafts, or hosting a neighbourhood BBQ. It could be as simple as saying, ‘hi, how are you?’ to your neighbours, so they are no longer strangers to you.3. DEEPEN RELATIONSHIPS: Use the relationships you already have, with people whose paths you regularly cross. That is your circle of influence. Slowly sow in the truth and show that that truth is applied in your life – because if you tell them something that is not showing in your life, people won’t listen to you.4. SHARE THE SIMPLE GOSPEL MESSAGE: Once we have made a connection we ask, if people are interested, ‘will you open your home so we can come in and tell you more about Jesus?’ We go to their houses, where they are comfortable, and start sharing the gospel: who Jesus is: the Son of God; what Jesus did: the miracles of Jesus that people really love to listen to; and what Jesus taught: the parables of Jesus.5. RENEW YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THE GOSPEL: I think that UK Christians, with all due respect, have to renew their confidence in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel still has the power to save, to

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heal, to restore and to give hope for eternity. Sometimes we forget that. I think, as believers, we have lost confidence in the gospel and that’s why we don’t share it with anyone else.6. SHARE YOUR STORY: Start gossiping Jesus wherever you go. Start sharing your story and there will be a change. And the best bit about it is that it is your story, no one can refute it. Some days you won’t feel like sharing. It sounds crazy, a guy whose job is church planting sometimes gets up and doesn’t want to talk to anybody. But then I think, oh my goodness, every time my heart beats two people die and go into a Christ-less eternity in my part of the world. How can I keep quiet?7. PRACTISE: Our story has three parts – life before knowing Jesus, when we came to know Jesus and how we are living today. Practise. Write it down. No one wants to hear a long story. You just need a minute for each section. It’s very simple actually. When I started practising I thought, oh, this is not that tough.8. WAIT FOR GOD TO SHOW UP: No evangelism is complete without a supernatural element: there may be a dream, there may be an answer to prayer. You and I can be blue in the face talking about this, but if God doesn’t show up that deal is not complete.9. EXPECT MIRACLES: Seven to eight out of every ten village churches we start come out of a miracle – God starts doing things and people say wow, this is a real God. Miracles are not only for India, but for everywhere God’s people are called. Miracles don’t happen where they are needed, they happen where they are expected.10. K I S S – KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID: Keep sharing your story and keep it simple. If something’s working, keep at it!

• Have you ever noticed the difference in the Christian life between work and fruit? A machine can do work; only life can bear fruit. - Andrew Murray

• We can do more good by being good than in any other way. - Rowland Hill • When we invent our own ideas of God, we simply create Him in our own image. -

Kenneth Prior• When we take least notice of our good deeds ourselves, God takes most notice of them.

- Matthew Henry

ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW YORK... An old Italian priest lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant

his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard. A member of his church, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. So the old priest wrote a letter to his parishioner and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent, I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days. I remember you in my prayers! Fr Louis

A few days later he received a letter from his parishioner. Dear Fr Louis, Whatever you do, don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried. Thanks for your prayers. Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old priest and left. That same day the old priest received another letter. Dear Fr Louis, Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances. Vinnie

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Helping earthquake victims in EcuadorUpdated 19 April 2016MAF's affiliate organisation in Ecuador has evacuated children who were injured in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Ecuador's coast.'The health minister of Ecuador asked Alas de Socorro del Ecuador (ADSE) to make a flight from Manta to Quito to evacuate two children with cranio encephalic trauma,' shares David Montero, director of ADSE. Two other patients were also taken to hospital on the same flight. At least 413 people have been confirmed dead so far according to news reports, with 1,500 people injured, but that number could be revised upward. On the western side of the country, many buildings and roads have collapsed. Manta was very hard-hit and its air traffic tower collapsed in the quake. Quito was without power or phone service for several hours, but those services have now been restored. 'The hardest hit town was Pedernales,' said pilot Dan Whitehead on Sunday, 'and we have heard from a reliable source that they fear more than 1,000 have died there. The communications with the small towns along the coast are patchy so we don't yet know all that has happened.' On Monday, ADSE did an assessment flight for Samaritan's Purse and a second flight is scheduled for Tuesday. Additional earthquake-related flights are expected for the rest of the week. It is not yet known how much need there will be for ADSE's services, as the areas most affected are not isolated, with transportation and other infrastructure. However, many many buildings have been totally destroyed and many roads are not passable. ADSE and MAF are assessing needs and will remain on standby, ready to respond if they can help. MAF began working in Ecuador in 1948, serving isolated mountain and jungle areas. The operation began transitioning to an Ecuadorian entity in 1986, and came under full Ecuadorian management in 2009. The two organisations maintain a close working relationship. ADSE has 20 staff and 5 aircraft. Shell, where ADSE is based, is some 200 miles from the epicentre of this earthquake.HERE'S HOW YOU CAN PRAY:• Pray for the many families and communities devastated by this tragedy.• Pray for those who may still be trapped in the rubble.• Pray for healing of the

injured.• Pray for those involved

in relief and search-and-rescue efforts.

• Pray for the ADSE/MAF team.

And of course you can support the work of MAF round the world by your giving.

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PRAYER: a beginner’s guideThe good thing about prayer is that there’s only one way to go wrong, and that’s not to do it. The best way to do it is to just get on and do it. If prayer at its simplest level is listening to God and talking to him, you don’t need long books to tell you how to do it, you just need a conviction that prayer is a good thing to do, that you’re someone God wants to hear from and that he’s worth talking to. Is prayer a good thing to do? Never mind for the moment about whether prayer ‘works’ or not: Jesus prayed and he encouraged his disciples to pray too, so if we’re following him, we need to be praying. Full stop. Are you someone God wants to hear from? The message of the Bible is that however unworthy, sinful and useless we may feel as human beings, God can’t wait to hear from us and is sitting on the edge of his seat like a lovestruck teenager, hand poised ready to pick up the phone the second it rings. Is he worth talking to? He’s the one person who knows us inside out, the one person with infinite power at his fingertips, the one who has the true perspective on an entire world’s story. Not a slot machine to pay into in the hope of one day getting ‘an answer to prayer’, but a person. Who likes us. How might you begin to pray? What sort of a person are you? Do you like a good gossip? Then gossip to God. Are you the strong silent type? Then be silent in his presence. Say hello... say the Lord’s Prayer ... say ‘Oh God’ and mean it... deliberately be silent and still for one minute ... read a story from a Gospel and imagine what you would say to Jesus if you were there... tell him about what is worrying you or thrilling you ... copy the great pray-ers of the Bible and of the Church... write a letter to him ... listen and look for a few moments in a place you consider holy... You can’t go wrong. Prayer is good. God longs to hear from you. He’s worth it.

Editor: June brings Wimbledon:Richard Bewes muses on tennis – and discerning God’s will for our lives.

Wimbledon…. tennis… and ‘Ebenezer’Many of us can look back to some visible sign that galvanized us for the next great adventure of our life. Take the former Wimbledon champion, John McEnroe, for example. McEnroe was sitting by the Pacific Ocean with fellow-player Tony Graham. He was down-hearted, and confided to Graham that a recent defeat was perhaps a sign that he should retire. “No, mate,” insisted Graham, “Maybe there’ll be another sign to start you playing again!” At that moment, a Pacific wave rolled all the way up the beach, and deposited at McEnroe’s feet… a tennis ball. That, for him, became the sign – and his ‘retirement’ was over! Certain emblems can also stand for moments to remember. A small terracotta urn, The Ashes, marks the England-Australia battle for cricketing supremacy. Certain preserved steps down to the sea at Plymouth Harbour remind us of 1620, when The Mayflower took The Pilgrim Fathers to America. Are these examples of an Ebenezer Moment? Forget the frosty Ebenezer Scrooge of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The original Ebenezer episode occurred through the Bible prophet Samuel, following victory over the Philistines. Setting up a great stone, Samuel gave it the Hebrew name of Ebenezer – the ‘Stone of Help’, and declared, “Hitherto has the Lord helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12). Visiting California’s San Bernardino mountains, my wife Pam and I recently stopped by a massive engraved commemorative stone that marks the spot years ago when the young Billy Graham dropped to his knees, placed his Bible on a log and prayerfully accepted God’s inspired Word as the authority for all his future preaching. The rest was history. Do you have such a milestone in your life? Indeed does God have His own Ebenezer? Evidently so! In His mind, it stands forever as a Cross of wood where His Son died for the sins of the world. Men and woman in gratitude for their forgiveness will sing: In the Cross of Christ I glory, Towering o’er the wrecks of time! And – on a rather different scale - you and me too – are Living Ebenezers for God in the here and now…. this very day! Why not? The Lord HAS helped us.

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Door Openers - FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT"... there is nothing as wonderful as seeing God at work, leading people from darkness to light.” Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Recently a number of us from SFC attended the special Cathedral service and celebration which concluded the period of prayer called for by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. In his address, Justin Welby included a continuing challenge to pray for those close to those present who had not yet come to faith in the Lord Jesus - and maybe to limit it to five. Subsequently, browsing through the Open Doors magazine I was struck by the fact that although the world the secular press has reported in vivid detail the recent atrocities perpetrated by Muslim extremists, Open Doors was reporting an altogether different phenomenon ... Lisa Pearson of Open Doors writes ...

“On Pentecost Sunday (15 May), we celebrate the birth of the church and the coming of the Holy Spirit. In the days leading up to it, the Archbishop of Canterbury has encouraged a wave of prayer in churches across our nation, which can only be a good thing! Of course, God's Spirit is already active in every part of the world, it's just not reported by our national media. Sadly, the story we hear most frequently is of terrorism, ........ There is another news story, ... but has the power to transform the face of the Middle East: the amazing growth of God's kingdom. There is a great move of the Holy Spirit occurring amongst Muslims, with large numbers turning to Christ. Many of the churches or groups we partner with are witnesses to this and it has significant implications for our work. That's because, very often, the first experience of a new believer from a Muslim community is rejection - in some cases by their own families. One brother, who has become a dear friend, has been both shot and stabbed by his own family for turning to Christ, and is not able to have any contact with any of his male relatives. ....Although we can't all offer a home to believers from a Muslim background, we can all be family to them, ensuring that they are befriended, discipled in their new faith, and strengthened to meet persecution. I'm thankful to God for every person who is playing a part in this story because, in His gentle hand, our persecuted brothers and sisters are strengthened to become catalysts for peace. And that's not all. With faith in God and hope for the future they can bring stability to their communities: feeding families, building wells, running clinics, giving children a more normal childhood - and through it all, leading people from darkness to light.” This magazine not only underlines our ability to help this process through our support to the supporters of these brothers and sisters in Christ but it also urges us to prayer. Here are two examples of God working in the minds and souls of devout believers in Allah...

“KNOWN TO GOD: "I sing a song of joy and praise in silence for my risen Lord. How do I know He has risen? He came to me in my dreams and called me by my name. No one knows what is in my heart."These are the words of a secret believer from a Muslim background. As he bows for the daily prayers that are expected of all Muslims in his nation, he doesn't pray to Allah - he prays to ’Isa’, the Arabic name for Jesus. We can't tell you the name of this brother in Christ for his safety - but his name is known to God.

MEETING JESUS DURING RAMADAN: "I felt very empty and distant from the God I prayed to every day,"says Mushir, a man in his sixties from the Middle East. He was once an extremely devout Muslim, and did everything required by the law of the prophet'. "But I desired more," he says. One year, during Ramadan, Mushir was fasting and praying. He was in a room in his home, crying out to God and asking to really know Him. Suddenly a picture fell from the wall and smashed into pieces. It was an old picture with a traditional painting that had been on the wall for years - but behind the original was a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. (Cont > )

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Editor: David Winter recalls the iconic poster of WW1.…

The greatest poster ever?Hundreds of thousands of young men saw it. Indeed, they could hardly miss it. The poster was everywhere – a stern-faced distinguished figure and, most prominently, a finger pointing straight at them. Below it were the words, ‘YOU - Join your country’s army!’

The year was 1914 and Britain was at war. Our army needed recruits in huge numbers, to be trained and then sent across the English Channel to the battle-fields of southern Belgium and France. Lord Kitchener, who died a hundred years ago this month, was a hero from the Boer War and now the Secretary of State for War.

The idea of the poster had developed from a newspaper advertisement which read ‘Your King and Country Needs You’ by way of hand-bills to a full-size poster. It was Kitchener himself who proposed making it a personal appeal

to ‘Britons’ to ‘join the country’s Army’. They did, and it was not until 1916, following massive casualties in France, that conscription had to be introduced. The poster has subsequently had many imitators, but no equals in emotional impact.

"I was speechless, shocked, and in my heart I knew this was the answer to what I asked for," Mushir says. "I knew that I had found God. God had shown me who He was - Jesus Christ was His answer."Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, and begins on 7 June this year. For 30 days, all healthy adult Muslims will be expected to fast during daylight hours, and many Muslims become more devout during this period, sincerely seeking answers from God. Stories like Mushir's are often reported during Ramadan - and we hope and pray for many more 'Mushirs' this year. Our field workers and partners are seeing a great move of God among Muslim people. "Never before have so many come to Christ from Islam as in the last fifty years," says Andreas, Open Doors'Middle East Director."A few decades ago, in countries such as Mauritania and Qatar, you only found Western Christians. Now, even in these countries there is a living community of indigenous Christians."

So it seems we can be instruments in this process of turning Darkness into glorious LIGHT, through our support of organisations like Open Doors and directly through our prayers. How about it this Ramadan? Ed

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First Love Lost? A few weeks ago, I spent some time with old friends, whom I have known over many years. Our children grew up together in Sunday School and Youth Club, and we shared a lot of our Church life together. These days, although often tough, were times when we walked closely with God, encouraged one another, and prayed and worshipped together. Our love of Jesus was what kept us going and we blessed each other with what He was doing in our lives. Having been apart now for some years, and living in different parts of the country, it was interesting to catch up and see how each was doing.Somehow everything was different, and the group no longer seemed to have a common purpose. Why was that? I wondered. We had been great friends for years, and actually still believed we were, but somehow something was missing! It was like ‘the gel’ that had kept us together in the past was no longer there! I noticed there was no conversation about God, unless I brought it up, and then it was quickly dismissed. Three of the group no longer went to church, and the other two, although attending church, were in no way involved with it as they had been before. We chatted about many things and got on to all the issues facing our world today. I said that I believed the Lord was coming back soon to sort it all out, and at this point, I was met with great opposition! One friend was horrified and said she didn’t want that to happen, as her grand-children were small and she wanted to watch them grow up! Another, who had just had a massive extension to her house built, said that she wanted to be able to enjoy it for some time to come! It really got me thinking as to what is important for us in our lives? We do, unfortunately, live in a very materialistic world, and if we are not careful, we can easily lose ‘our first love’, which John spoke of in the Book of Revelation, when he addressed the Ephesian Church in Revelation chapter 2.To begin with the church is commended for 4 things:-

• Their hard work• Their perseverance, suffering, patience in hardships• Their intolerance of evil men• Their hatred of the Nicolaitans, who were ‘compromisers’

The one thing held against this church was the serious lack of their first love – that love for Jesus, so much more important than all the good points they had.Jesus reminds us in Matthew chapter 10 verses 37&38 about our commitment to Him. These are strong words, but as we look at the world we are living in with so much apathy, indifference and compromise towards God and His ways, I believe that we are indeed in the last days These are all signs, as we read in the Bible, of the imminent return of Jesus. What can you and I do? Well, we do not want to lose our first love for Jesus. If we have wandered from Him, or if He doesn’t mean the same to us anymore, then we need to return to Him. We need to remember our past…. Think back to those times when Jesus was very precious to us and then we need to repent that we have wandered from Him, and express our desire to return to our ‘first love’.

‘My Jesus I love you, I know you are mine,For you all the pleasures of sin I resigP;My blessed Redeemer, my Saviour arB Thou,If ever I loved you, my Jesus, it’s now.’

If you feel you have lost your first love for Jesus, you can return to Him now and ask Him to be Number One in your life.‘Liz

?

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BMS & TUNISIA:

Life after SoussePut Tunisia in a search engine and one of the first things you are likely to see is advice against all but essential travel to the North African country.The 2015 terrorist attacks, most notably in the beach resort of Sousse where 39 people lost their lives (30 of whom were British), have made Tunisia a no-go zone for tourists. But BMS Director for Mission Peter Dunn, who visited the country last week, feels that the attacks Tunisia in an unfair light, and in particular, given an unfair impression of Tunisians.“Tunisia in many ways is the country that went through the experience of the Arab Spring and came out relatively peaceably at the end of it,” says Peter. “When that atrocity [Sousse] was happening, local unarmed people were trying to disarm the shooter. Tunisian people as a whole feel ashamed and would say, ‘This is not our people – we are a peaceful people.’” Peter, together with Philip Halliday, BMS Team Leader for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, were in Tunisia last week to be updated on the work that BMS workers are doing in the country. No BMS personnel left Tunisia following the terrorist attacks, but rather re-dedicated themselves to helping transform the provision of palliative care and support for Tunisians with disabilities and their families. Both of these areas have been neglected in the past, often for cultural reasons. Having a disability can be a huge challenge for someone in a Middle Eastern country like Tunisia. “If people are disabled, there can be a view that they are disabled because of some wrongdoing in the life of their family… or because of some wrong or sin in their life,” Peter says. “People with disabilities can therefore almost have that shame upon themselves.” BMS has been supporting special needs education in Tunisia since 2002 and over the last four years has been involved in a programme to promote social, economic and educational inclusion for people with disabilities and to develop the quality and opportunities for community-based care. This has included training for educators and families of people with disabilities. A mother of a disabled child felt incredibly encouraged after attending a seminar on self-advocacy, the practice of encouraging those with disabilities to speak for themselves and control their own affairs, rather than others automatically assuming responsibility for them. “The seminar has been very useful. I have changed my attitude,” she says. “I have started again to use the hearing aid, glasses and prosthesis for my child. The seminar has helped me to not stop hoping, and to work on what is working – my child’s abilities.” An educator of disabled children who also received training from BMS and our partner organisation felt a lot more confident about teaching her group. “She finally felt like she knew how to come up with new objectives for her lessons and her expectations of her students had significantly increased and had seen results,” Silas, Sector Co-ordinator of the Disability programme, said in his report on the project. As with disabilities, palliative care is helping to change attitudes in Tunisia, says Peter, thanks in part to the work of BMS. “Very often people when they’re dying are simply left to die,” he says. “Palliative care journeys with them and their wider family at a time of real stress and strain, enabling them to preserve their dignity, be that in a home or hospital setting.” (Cont > )

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Until the end of 2015, BMS worker Louise* was one of the team building up the provision of palliative care in Tunisia. “When you are dying and you don’t have enough medication to control pain, you are living in poverty where there are no windows in your house, and there is no running water, life is so much more difficult,” Louise says. “People should not be dying in pain. Palliative care is incredibly important.” The emphasis of the BMS team is on making professionals and families more aware of the benefits of palliative care to those that are dying and providing training to enable a better quality of service for palliative care patients. Whether terror or tourists will return to Tunisia is not certain, but BMS is as dedicated to improving the lives of ordinary Tunisians, as it is to transforming lives around the world.

Editor: Nigel Beeton writes: ‘I was born in 1960. Britain has changed a lot in that time, but some things haven’t changed....beautiful landscapes, thatched cottages, soldiers in bright red uniforms, and the Queen. Like anyone younger than 64, I have never known another monarch, and frankly I find it hard to imagine Britain without her. Happy Birthday, Ma’am!’

Elizabeth our Queen Through hope and trial, peace and strifeFor ninety years she’s beenA vital part of national lifeElizabeth our Queen. The language that I’m writingOur hills of vibrant greenOur pealing bells, delightingElizabeth our Queen. Old houses, thatched, appealingOld England’s rural dream;A Royal house, revealingElizabeth our Queen. The guards’ red coats are gloriousTheir horses are pristineThey cry, “Send her victorious!”Elizabeth our Queen. Our country, land of beautyWould be half of what it’s beenBut for ninety years of dutySo sing, “God save our Queen!”By Nigel Beeton 

June 2016 page 28

Dates 2016MaySunday 29th 10.30am Morning service - Joint service with St John’sMonday 30th Bank Holiday

JuneWed/Thursday 1/2nd NO BIBLE STUDY - Half Term WeekSunday 5th 10.30am Morning service of Worship 6.30pm Monthly Evening FellowshipMonday 6th 9am - 10am Prayer meeting in the church lounge 2pm - 4pm Afternoon meeting point (tea coffee chat)Wed/Thursday 8/9 BIBLE STUDY 2- Count your BlessingsSunday 12th 10.30am Morning service of Worship.Monday 13th 9am - 10am Prayer meeting in the church lounge 2pm - 4pm Afternoon meeting point (tea coffee chat)Tuesday 14th 8.00pm Men’s Forum but open to EVERYONE - Dr. Gehad HomseyWed/Thursday 15/16th BIBLE STUDY 3- Keep on keeping onSunday 19th 10.30am Morning service with CommunionMonday 20th 9am - 10am Prayer meeting in the church lounge 2pm - 4pm Afternoon meeting point (tea coffee chat)Wed/Thursday 22/23rd BIBLE STUDY 4- Remember to forgetSunday 26th 10.30am Morning service Captain Roy Hollands with CommunionWed/Thursday 29/30th BIBLE STUDY 5 - Give yourself to others

JulySunday 3rd CTW Westmeads Open air service (no morning service at SFC) 4pm service at SFCMonday 4th 9am - 10am Prayer meeting in the church lounge 2pm - 4pm Afternoon meeting point (tea coffee chat)Wed/Thursday 6/7th BIBLE STUDY 6 - Stay close to GodSunday 10th 10.30am Morning service of WorshipMonday 11th 9am - 10am Prayer meeting in the church lounge2pm - 4pm Afternoon meeting point (tea coffee chat)Wed/Thursday 13/14th BIBLE STUDY 7 - Cultivate your soulSunday 17th 10.30am Morning service of Worship

CONTACT INFORMATION

• SFC details: Swalecliffe Free Church :Herne Bay Road Swalecliffe Kent CT5 2LR'.

• UCB - United Christian Broadcasters Ltd from whom free copies of their “Word for Today” can be obtained direct: P0 Box 255 Stoke-on-Trent ST4 8YY Tel:01782642000. Website www.ucb.co.uk.

• BMS Tel: 01235 517700 BMS World Mission PO Box 49 129 Broadway Didcot Oxfordshire OX11 8XA

• MAF - Mission Aviation Fellowship Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2TN Tel: 0845 850 9505Website: www.maf-uk.org

• Open Doors UK PO Box 6, Witney, Oxon, OX29 6WG +44 (0)1993 460015 inspire@opendoorsuk.org

FRONT PAGE PICTURE: THE STORY... This picture was taken on a lovely August day last year somewhere between Swalecliffe and Southend. It was the annual Barge match that starts off at Gravesend and sails pell mell down the river to the end of the Thames somewhere off Southend. John the Ed.

Editor Spot

1. Thank-you to our contributors for this June 2016 Edition.

2. The next newsletter (July 2016) is scheduled for 3rd JULY with items NEEDED BY Tuesday 21st June.

3. PLEASE continue to send me items for the newsletter - (01227 450708) or Email: joprose@gmail.com or handwritten. John Rose

Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Visitors are very welcome to join us for our Sunday services &

other events as indicated.