Epistles From England Team-1984-England

8/13/2019 Epistles From England Team-1984-England

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from England A report from ministries challenging a

post- Christian nation with the claims of ChristFEBRUARY VOL 11 NO. 4

O lfOS JS

WEIGHING THE GOOD AND BADThis year s Carol Service, the Sundaybefore Christmas, finished leaving

mixe d r ea ct io ns . Those of us Involvedc ame to th e conclus ion t ha t we over d idit a bit . Befo re th e se rv ice w e had aChristmas party for Sunday School andclub chi ld ren a long with their parentsand fami l ies . It all s ta rte d a t 3.30 withgames and a party which ended withs a ndw i ch e s and cake s a t 5.00. T his w asfol lowed by the Carol Service to whichchurch mem bers and o the rs w e reinvi ted .

The not-so-good reactions turned outto be tow ard th e exces s ive t im e sch edule. It was too long for the chi ldren andsome adu lt s. By the time the servicebegan, the children were too restless tosett le which upset otShers at theserv ice .I do no t lll


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ERDINGTON REPORT Birmingham)

I d walk a mile for aOnly avid Epistle r eaders and close friends will remember that my desire fordown-to-earth authenticity In recreating the events surrounding the birth of our Lordhas led us to nearly every extreme. Ten yea rs ago, i negotiated with the CoventryZoo for a camel, a donkey, and a few sheep. Bev and Jan were the laughing stock ofthe fire station when they asked for help with transporting a camel. But the camelended up quarantined and the zoo offered the donkey, sheep, and a few rabbits I) ata price beyond our means . In Erdington, we have yearly had our donkey and once agoat for the live, outdoor Community Carol Festival, but the camel has always eluded

m My decade-long dream was fulfilled this year when a fellow-minister saw on TV aman who kept two camels on his farm. I rang the BBC to find out the address (and asa sidelight, ended up being asked to pray for one of the BBC staff's mother). We contacted the farmer (pictured in full costume ), went to visit our two-humped friend,and ar ranged fo r one of the wise-men to ride him from the East.The play for our Community Carol Festival was based on the life of Mary fortyyears after the birth of Jesus. She took a journey back to Bethlehem to remember theevents for herself and was a lso able to tell travelling companion Thomas (a fictionalvegetable seller from Nazareth) thestory of the birth. Her unique vantage point gaveher Insight which no one else could have and her forty years pondering let herexplain the significance of the birth in the light of the teaching of J es us as well as hisdeath and resur rec tion. Mary had experienced God living in her in two ways~thegrowth of the baby and now the Holy Spirit.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in all of us who put our trust in Jesus. And theHoly Spirit Is now God with us , so God is never far from me. He lives inside meagain.We wanted our two-hundred strong audience (main ly non-Chris tians) to unders tand the significance of this birth as unfolded by Mary, an old shepherd, and awise-man's scr ibe. This was no ordinary child and he could change the lives of ouraudience as well as those people who were there.Our life-size stable, characters, and camel in the large car park of a furniture storebrought rea li sm to an event which many people only sent imental ize. Our audiencedonned rainwear and needed umbrellas before we began, bu t our microphone cablessurvived being dragged through the pools and the rain gave us a reprieve for theh ou rs w e n e ed ed it mos t

Wet and cold after the 45 minute programme, people were g lad to have hot soupand potatoes to warm themselves Inside our next door church building. A bookstall,sl ide show, and ske tchboa rd a rt is t we re available to further their interest.Some were touched while o thers were only along for the camel ride. It was onesmall snapshot for our community to see the unfolding drama of the l ife of our Lord.The Holy Spirit has much more to reveal for many.ROGER


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A PERSON L WO R DMy last Sunday at the Church ofChrist in Erdington was New Year s Day. I nowembark on a yearofconcentrated study on the subject of Varietiesof Popular Unbelief Erdington Birmingham. Iprobably would have given up this started-long-ago project had Inot been given this opportunity with the blessing of my supporting

ch ur he sI hope to report from time to time on the progress of my work giving you anybenefit that Igain. My hope isthat the work will help form a base for understandingunbelief and unbelievers so that Christainscan knowat what point faith can touch it.Your prayers are very valuable tomeat this point ofextreme change in my life.I will coninue to live at the same address and maintain the friendships with theChristians in the Erdington church andelsewhere. Iwill be doing some preaching onthe weekends as well as visiting churches which I have not had opportunity to visitpreviously

R O G E R


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Tunbridge .Veils Reportc o n t i n u e d :

I believe that Jesus Is the Christ is amost difficult s t a t ement for those coming to Christ in post-Christian England.But w ith in the last month we have hadthe joy of two people confirming thats t a t e m e n t

The first was an older gentleman whohad been a member of the congregationa number of yea rs ago . Most tragicallyhis wife left him for a n o th e r m an a n ddivorce w a s th e resul t T h e c h ur ch a t th et ime thought divorce for any reason waswrong and he was forced to leave thechurch . He went to a second Church ofChrist only to experience the samerejection so he stopped attending churchall together thinking God would notw a n t h im

After a number of pastoral visits withthe man, he was finally able to acceptthe fact that Christ could make his pastn e w H e w as also ab le to se e t ha t th echurch had changed her at ti tude towardhim and was far more accepting and loving. With his past forgiven and a lovingchurch, he was able to once again take astrong stand for Christ within a group ofbe l ieversThe second person was a youngwoman who started attending servicesat the invitation of her next door neighbor. After she had attended a couple ofweeks she became involved in a weeklyBible study and she soon became con

E P IS T LE F R OM ENGLANDNor thwest Ch r is ti a n Chu rch1700 Anthony DriveChampaign, IL 61820U S A

AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTSTim Naocv Barber6 3 C s s l l e t o nCKampaigfi. IL61620U S A

TUNBRIDGE WELLS MINISTRY1 3 S t J a m e s ParkTunbridgeWells. KentT N I 2 L GEngland

HINCKLEY MINISTRY49 Clarendon R o s dHincklev, Leics.LE10 P JEngland

EROINGTON MINISTRY144 Gravelly LarwErdinglon, BtrmmghsmB 2 3 6 L TEngland

W E S T B R OM W IC H25 O x f or d R o a dW e s t Bromwich. W a s i M i dl a nd sB7 8 PEEngland

vinced of her need for baptism. (She hadbeen confirmed in the Anglican churchthough she had not attended for years.)So, on New Year s Day she began hernew life in Christ. It was the first baptism in the church in over four years.Her f iance and fu ture mother-in-lawa t tended the service and s ince then Ihave had the opportunity to talk to herf iance about the need for Christ in thei rmarriage.Growth has been very slow here, butw e a re conf iden t t h a t w hat w e h av e s e e nwill con t inue

C U R TCONGRATULATIONS TO:

Tony and Angle Calvert on the safedelivery of their third child, BenjaminRyan. Ryan joins Big brother Justin andsister Gillian. God be with you al l.

P R A Y E R NOTE:Peter and Jan Bowen and family havebeen hit by flu and colds over the holidays and are only just recovering fully.

Please pray for God s strength andencouragement to be with them.Thank-you.

NuT Hinckley/


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7 from England A report from ministries challenging a

post- Christian nation with th e claims of Christ.

Vol. I I No. 4 March, 1984TOO LONG A WAIT

Have you ever noticed how childrencan be selectively deaf? You call them toa meal while they are playing or watching TV and they don t hear you. You callthem several t imes-they may even verbally but unconsciously acknowledgeyour call. There are times when youmust physically intervene before theywill respond and obey-before they willlisten to you.Sometimes you might let them carryon and hours later they come in crossand hungry. Why didn t you call me?they cry.

I feel th er e a re t imes when I becomevery involved In what I m doing-studies, typing, Sunday School lessons,presiding, etc.-and I become too busyto listen. I m so involved in things that Idon t hear my Father call me. I may verbally, yet unconscious ly , say, Yes,God, I hear you-I m coming. bu t Icarry on with what I m doing.Suddenly either something happenedand I must stop and listen or I findmyself exhausted, empty, very hungry.I ge t cross because He hasn t refreshedme, built me up, given me deeperInsight into His love. I go to Him andcomplain. Why didn t you call me? Icry. He doesn t need to say a word, inthe silence I am convic ted. I have putanything and everyth ing before Him.H e had called and t he re had been hunger pains but I ignored them because ihad to do just one more thing.

Too often He has had to le t me carryon until 1 became aware of my helplessness and my need-until I cameprepared to listen and digest what He

h as fo r m eAnd when I come, when I sit downand m e e t with God an d l is ten to H isw o r d and t al k t o H im t he r e can be s u c hpeace. I always wonder why I waited solong]

J N E T

h f vHINCKLEY PRAYER REQUESTS:We are in desperate need for a pastor/teacher for our people here IHinckley. We have only one man andtwo younger men who attend serviceregularly but they are young Christianand need nourishing, as well amale fellowship.We also need someone with a real gifof communicating to the older teensyoung adults age group. We have contact with approx. 9 in this age group whare hungry to learn of God.We ask your prayers for the strengthto carry on in spite of difficulties and tolearn of God through the situations i

which w e f ind ourse lve sWe thank God for al l t he c ar e He hashown us and the many-many littlanswered prayers which remind us dailof His presence.We thank you for your care and concern and your prayers on our behalf.

J N E T


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TUNBRIDGE WELLS REPORT

R fl ri tlLinda NordhielmHCurt ordhielm

Doneita Nordhielma Gail Burns

Rita Ide

WITNESSING TO POST-CHRISTIANSThe telephone rang. It was Barbara.She wanted to know if Linda and I wouldlike to come over for dinner and would Ibe willing to bring the same ooks I hadgiven her some months ago aboutChrist. Needless to say we accepted theinvitation and books were taken.The reason for this change is thatBarbara s sister had just acceptedChrist in a local Baptist church someforty miles away. Until that point Barbara and her husband Hugh were onlymoderately receptive to any discussionabout Christ. But now they s tarted the

d i scuss ionSome days later Hugh gave me a bookwhich introduced the Chr is tian fa ith .He said that his s is te r-in- law had givenIt to them. Would I please read it andtell them what I thought.I cite this example to show that witnessing in Europe needs patience. Wehave been friends with Barbara andHugh for some twenty months. The firsttime I gave them some books to look atthey decided that they did not want todiscuss Christianity. I could have, atthat time said Well if that is whatyouwant Iwill find someone else who ismore receptive to the Gospel. I did notdo that. Instead I waited and manyprayed. Who was to know that someforty miles away God was at work on as i s t e r ?This example is given for another reasonthe need to have non-Christianfriends. In a recent survey of AmericanChristians it was discovered that onlytwenty percent of them had close non-

Christian friends. If we here do not gainthe trust and love of people, there isvery little chance of sharing the Gospel.To put it in the form of a question, whydid Hugh give the book to me? Doesn the know any other Christains? As amatter of fact, he does. But Barba ra andHugh tr ust me to tell them what I think.It is because of that basis the Christ canb e s h ar edOf course, this way is much slowerbut in the long run it is the only way toseriously influence people.I hear someone asking what if Barbara and Hugh reject the Christ thistime as well? I think I would continue tobe their friend until I thought I was casting pearls before swine. Who knows?Maybe God is at work on someone elsethey know

CURT

WHY THE CHANGE?

A missionary changes-changes a lo twhile he s away. So much happens thatchange comes constantly and Is necessary In order to adapt and become a partof the community in which he is working. Never again will he be the sameperson that left his native land a fewyears back. His maturing as a Christianhas t aken a d i f fe r en t t r ack than if he hadrema ined h ome And when h e ar riv esback home for furlough, he may haveto face the disappointment of home no tbeing home anymore.A missionary changes-he becomess omeone who ha s a love fo r two countries, fo r two peoples. He becomesneither a citizen of one country nor theother; there s a sense of non-belonging,as well as a lmost belonging . It can bevery hard to face, especially during thef irs t f ur lough. Oftentimes he doesn ttalk about it because he usually does no trecognize it at first due to dashing aboutfulfilling speaking engagements. ThereIs not the t ime t o r ef le ct And if he doesrealize this bi t of displacement , he maystill keep It to h imse lf. It s often saferthan opening up his feeling to discuss ion


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A missionary changes-the greatestservice Ills supporting churcties andfamily can do for him Is to recognize andaccept this changed person; praise Godfor the work He has done within themissionary; show understanding andaccpetance. Love and care given to themissionary while on furlough means hewon' t r eturn to the field exhaus ted andin need of a fol low up furlough. It meanshe'll know he's really cared about andnot just another expenditure listed on achurch budget. GAIL

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:

A^OCIETY'SIOSS OF INNOCENCEThe . . . most important aspect ofpost-Christian society Is the very factthat It has experienced Christianity andleft It behind. Contemporary societycannot, therefore, be regarded as a simply pagan society. It does not have theinnocence and simplicity that come fromignorance of Christianity and of all itentails. Post-Christian society Is marked

by Its experience of Christianity and atth e s am e t ime It thinks It knows what itis turning away from.Pos t-Chr ist ian soc ie ty has beendeeply affected by Christianity, andbear s the lat ters ' mark: the mark of original sin, of the desire for salvation,hope and a kingdom of God of the conviction that a Saviour is needed, of theanxiety of those who are aware of radicalguilt yet know that they cannot pardonthemse lves W e have not ceased to beproducts of the Christian era, but wehave managed to reject what is specifically Christian in this product and retainonly it s psychic aspect. Thus, post-Christian society is a society of men whoare at the point to which Christianitybrought them but who no longer beleivein th e s ame specific truth of the Christian r e ve la t ion

At the same time, post-Christiansociety is convinced that it knows allthere is to be known about Christianity.Christianity has degenerated into religiosity as Gabriel Vahanian puts It notindeed in itself but in the eyes of ai l wholive in post-Christian society. Revelationis identified with religiosity, and consequently f ai th no longer has any meaningor content. The very movement whichinspired Christendom has betrayed it :Christianity absorbed mankind's wholereligious past (and thus identified Itselfwith rel igion) , therefore Christianity isnow seen simply as one of the great religions and must take it s place among allthe other religions in mankind's pantheon. From now on, people can be atpeace, for they know just where th eyare: Religion?We know al l about that

All that is left of Christianity is morality, a bourgeois morality with whicheveryone is familiar, and a few conventional ideas (the clergy have a role toplay In society; the cathedrals are anattract ive element of the civic scene).Post-Christian society, therefore is notsimply a soc ie ty which followed uponChristendom. It is a society which is nolonger Christian, a society that has hadthe experience of Christianity, is theheir of the Christian past, and believesit has full knowledge of the Christianreligion because it retains vague memor ies of It and sees r emnan t s of It allaround. Nothing new, surprising, orunexpec ted, above all nothing relevantto m od e rn l ife can c o m e from hr is tianity: the church and the faith are simply vestiges from the past.That is the contemporary situation towhich the name post-Christian eramust be given; that, and nothing else, isth e hea r t of th e m atte r On ce w e h av ese en th at, we can add any number ofother points that are purely secondary:the decadence of the churches, the lukewarm faith of believers, the f all-o ff inattendance at Sunday worship, and sofor th Jacque Ellul, The New Demons.


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WEST BROMWICH REPORTWest Midlands ^Pete Jan Bowena nd G are th

Prayer is an ac t of unhooking fromth e harness of t h e wo r ld 's secur i t ies .

The Dese r t Father s

You can do more than pray after youhave prayed, but you cannot do morethan pray until you have prayed.S . D. Gordon

God will do nothing but in answer toprayer. John WesleyBelieving in the importance of prayer

and of God s action in the l ives and situations with which we are dealing weurge you to continue to join with us inpraying fo r our work.Especially remember:

Two new study groups-to look inGod ' s Word and find Hi s d ir ec ti on forour lives. One group is open for thewhole church, the other is for youth.Both groups are small 4 or 5 In each)but our p rayer is that God s life transforming Word will have the effect Hedes i r es in us .EP ISTLE FROM ENGLANDNor thwes t Ch r is t ia n Chu r ch1700 Anthony DriveChampaign, IL 61820U.S .A .

AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTSTim Nancy Barber603Cast le tonChampaig). IL61820U.S.A-

TUNBRIOGE WELLS MINISTRY13S t . J ames ParkTunbridgo Wells, KentTNI 2LGEngland

HINCK LEY MINISTRY49 Clarendon RoadHinckley. Leics.LE10 0PJ ,England

EROINGT0N MINISTRY144 Gravelly LaneErdington. BirmtnghsmB236LTEngland

WEST BROMWICH25 Ox f o r d R o a dWes t Bromwich. West MidlandsB708PEEngland

RETURN REQUESTED

Two teenage girls 8) who havattended our meetings in the past andwith whom we are still in contact. Bothhave been in trouble with the lawrecently. Continue to pray for Alice after hetreatment fo r cancer. Doctors are stilconcerned a bo u t h er .

Susan is a nurse with whom we havcome into con tact . She Is from Trinidaoriginally, baptised when she was 12Since being In this country she hanever really got involved in regulafellowship with a local church. A recenInvolvement with a group of Chrlstadelphlans {a cult) led her to re-examinher own bel ie fs . Now renewal is takinplace toward genuine faith.Pray that there will be continuegrowth and that she will settle in a locach urch and if God wills tha t it will bwith our group.

PETE

NEXT MONTH WE INTRODUCE ANEW LOOK FOR OUR NEW EPISTLEWE WILL HAVE THE ADDITION OFNEW WRITERS AND NEW MINISTRIES . AND WILL WELCOMEMANY NEW READERS .WATCH OUT

Sh f t r l o t t e RayM i ss i o n ervlcdsBox 2 4 2 7Knoxv l l l e . IN 379

Dan and Amy YarnellDavid

W I T N E S S I N G R E S U R R E C T I O N

On Sunday, 3 Ju ne 1 984, we witnes sed thedeath and r e s u r r e c t i o n o f SHIRLEY ORAN Certainly t hi s would make an interest ing newspapers t o r y or t i t l e of a new book, bu t th e ev en tbeing described is th e picture portrayed in abaptismal service. And it was t h i s theme whichwas s ha re d w it h th e three^ churches which gathered together t o w it ne ss Shirley s new birth andl i f e . e took the image from P a u l s descript i o n i n Romans 6 a b o u t t h e d e a t h t o s i n andt h e li t o God f o r t h e C h r i s t i a n which i s s oadequately portrayed in th e p ict ue of baptism.Thus we wathced th e old Shirley die to her sinand i t s power and emerge from th e waters of

the grave of baptism as a new creation, claimin g allegiance to Christ .

I t may seem strange to American readers thmore than one church would share in a baptisms e r v i c e . But s i n c e o u r church d o e s n t have abaptistry nor a church building, we alwaysattempt to share with a second chu rch , t hu sencouraging our other brothers and s i s t e r s awell as giving fur ther support to ou r new bel i e v e r . Therefore, the s e r v i c e was conducteda t th e G r e a t F r a n c i s S t r e e t Church o f C h r is tBirmingham making use of thei r f a c i l i t i e s .Further blessing came about due to a problem.Our e l d e r s wife took i l l whi le on vacation awas unable to retu rn for th e s erv ic e to playth e musical accompaniment, thus, we were ingreat need. But od provided through th e SelOak Church of Churs t who ha d decided t o comealong fo r th e service. They no t only provideth e music fo r the songs, but two of their members provided a special musical number Inthis way a ll three churches were able to witnand part icipate in a death and resurrection.

After th e service, we invited everyone bacto our home for an evening meal (tea) and welcwned Shirley into th e membership of th e churI t was a real day o f r ej oi ci ng and celebrat ioI t was special fo r Shirley no t only to becomenew believer, but also to have he r husband,parents , and in-laws present, most of whom ano t Christ ians. They too were able to witnesh er d ea th an d r e s u r r e c t i o n . Almost a l l o f h efamily have expressed an Interest in knowingChrist , and we a re e xc it ed about t e st i fyi ng tth e One who d i e d an d was r ai s ed f or them aswell. Even though th e death and resurrectiononly take place once, the e f f e c t carries onthrough th e years and centuries. Witnessingresurrection can trasform l ives , even today

DAN


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or non-objective. Michael s is metaphysical . And no doubt he will want to say that view of God is not the traditional Christianone. I ll retort by saying that t he ob je ct iveGod, in my view, is simply th e devil .

Cupitt s desire is to radically reconstructChristianity so that i t is a new kind o f fai thon the f a r s ide o f the loss of the o ld . Hestates, The truly religious person is distinguished by a particular kind of pur ity of heartor integrity of will , a qua li ty of unconditionaldedication o f his whole l i f e , a sense of vocationand of a l i fe as a pllgrimmage which is unmist a k a b l e .

I t emphasizes not what one believes but theway in which one believes. I t centers religiousthought on the human subject, the believer andhis commitment. . .a fully man-centered view ofl i f e . Faith comes to be seen as human, voluntary and subjective, a personal cotmiitment to away of l i f e .

We are th rown back on our own resources .There s nothing lef t fo r faith to be except afree voluntary, and creative decision, simply tochoose a cer ta in shape and d ir ec ti on f or one sl i fe . As a believer I jus t choose to l ive byand for these symbols, these spir i tual goals,these pract ices , this e th ic . And since by th eway there is no objective t ruth in the old sense, this way of l i fe I choose works and makessense of l i fe , i t s as true as anything can be.

To say th at th is is inadequate for a Christ i an ba s i s fo r l i f e i s an unders ta temen t .Goulder agrees and quotes Paul s I f Christ hasnot been raised, our preaching is useless and sois your faith. 1 Corinthians 15:14)

However, I th ink tha t we must cwnnend thesemen s d es ire fo r honesty. These two men a tCupitt s admission, S hare a compulsive need tobe truthful in public that almost amounts toindecent exposure. In our modem age, perhapsthere ar e many who no longer b eli ev e in God whos i t in the pew or speak from the pulpit , who donot have th e in tegri ty of Michael Goulder togive i t up.

nd we, too, want to get rid of th e superstit ion on which Christ ians sometimes build t he i rl ives. I t will no t be enough fo r Christia ns toaccept the cultural assumptions of their forefathers, which ar e eventually rejected by everygeneration.

But we must also call our world (includingth e church with i t s wor ld li ne ss ) t o look at theunexamined sc ientif ic assumptions by which wel ive ou r l ives . As one man I interviewed sa id,Ithink fai th is going to be shaken in yearsto come. I think more people are going to become disbelievers mainly through science.

I have many questions about God that I cannot answer, some which burn a t the heart of myexistence. But even though I cannot understandi t a l l , I s t i l l must stand in mind and heartwith that old impulsive fisherman, We did notfollow cleverly invented stories when we toldyou about the power and coming of our LordJesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:16) The new kind offa i th must st ll be based on the God of JesusChr i s t .

ROGER


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WIGSTON REPORT

Bob an d S ue H artm anKari and Christopher

TOO FAR TOO FAST

Last week Britain s newest T.V. stat ion,Channel 4 broadcast Squaring the Circle ,playwright om Stoppard s witty and insightfulanalysis of th e r ise and fall of Solidarity.One conclus ion S toppard draws is that Solidari ty failed to make really radical changes inthe Polish system because i t tried to go tofar,too fast , eventually bringing down uponi t s e l f the wrath of both th e P olis h and Sovietgovernments .

Too far , too fast . Rapid change within anyinstitution risks strong reaction. Over thel as t four years , that lesson has been madeclear to time and again. I thought I hadlearned i t , and s t i l l believe that , on balance,we have managed to implement constructionchanges in ou r situation without reprisal .No t too f a r , not too f a s t . But an inc identthat took place a few weeks ago called much ofthat into question. I share i t with you because i t taught me a few things. And because Ithink you can learn from it as well .

One of ou r teens, Ian (17), asked to be bapt ized. This decision came about, largely, because he and another of our teens, Lewis (18)had been studying th e scriptures and discussinthe Faith together. As a re su l t of th i s , Ianasked i Lewis, who has been a Chris t ian fo rtwo years, could baptize him. Wonderful,I thought, this is jus t what I ve been waitinfor. I d baptized everyone up to this pointan d here wa s a chance fo r someone e lse to shathat privelege. Of course, I sa id , th atwould be great. Somewhere a sign flashed:too f a r , too f a s t .

I t occurred to me, a t ime o r two, to mentiothis to the deacons, simply to i nf orm them, bI couldn t see how anyone would mind. Thepract ice was certainly scr iptural , and, anywaI reasoned. Churches o f Chris t were withou tministers for much of the i r history; thereforcandidates must have been baptized by membersof the congregation. I t seemed obvious.

On th e day of the event , I was chatt ingwith one of ou r deacons and jus t happened tomention what was going to happen. Oh heremarked, with an Oh-oh kind of look on hisface, i t s al r ight with me but have youmentioned this to anyone else? No, I saidand then explained to him the conclus ions Ihad d rawn . Maybe you d bet ter talk to th eothers , he suggested.

I did . And what I discovered was t ha t ,while they hadn t had min is te rs in th e pas t ,baptizing had a lways been done by highly respected leaders within th e congregation--usualy elders or deacons. One teenager baptizinganother simply did not f i t t h at t ra d it io n .Too f a r , too f a s t .

What d id I l e a r n f rom t h i s s i t u a t i on?1. Not to assume too much even a t this stagof my relationship with the congrega tion: a lthings were goin g v ery well, indeed. I thinkbecame a bit over-confident . y humility and


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consideration waltzed off together and I failedto co ns ult with th e other leaders. In doing so,I avoided alternative viewpoints and probablyviolated the Body.2. I also learned a great deal about th egrace of God and the willingness of His peopleto bend, understand, and forgive. Even whentheir minister goes Too far, too fast. Aftera l l we re no t Solidari ty and th e Polish government, are we? We re th e Body of Christ .

And so , with the cautious blessing of thedeacons, the baptism went ahead as planned.And praise th e Lord, i t went beautifully. Yes,I suppose some fe l t uncomfortable seeing Lewisin th e re an d no t me. But he d id it so wel l andwith such meaning that I may be hard-pressed tobaptize anyone again.

Too fa r too f as t . The s i tuat ion could havebeen a setback. But by the grace of God a twork through His people, i t became anothers tep forward.

BOB

A NEW* ANNIVERSARYThe f i r s t weekend of June brings with i t th e

anniversary cel eb ra ti on f or th e Platt Bridgechurch. This year was t he 101st , and thoughsomewhat of a come-down from l as t year s celebration, i t was s t i l l a good weekend. Saturdayis the special day: an early evening servicefollowed by sandwiches and te a served with generous helpings of cha t. Sunday is the usualschedule: communion service a t 10.30, SundaySchool in th e afternoon , the gospel service(so-called) at 6.00 p.m., but with better thanusual attendance. As you will have gatheredby now the British churches pay more attentiont o annive r sa r i e s than most ric n churchesexpect for the biggies in the anniversaryworld (25, 50 , 100 year anniversaries).

PLATT RI GE REPORT

Melissa and Jim DahlmanSarah

What made this anniversary sp ecial to mewas that th e atmosphere was so lively and encouraging. Yes, i t was a grand 100th anniversary l as t year, bu t we must have been to o busyand t i red with a l l those grand arrangements toreally appreciate I t . This year we could s i tback a b it and actual ly enjoya rare opportuni ty . had special music as usual, as well aa g ue st s pe ak er for th e weekend. Dr . RobertWetzel, Springdale College pr incipal . Therewere two new i tems, however. For th e two evenservices , we used a new songbook, Mission Praiwhich was produced fo r Mission: England, th enational evangel is t ic program. recentlypurchased a se t for th e church, but the finecombination of new songs and choruses with oldfavori tes is already making i t a popular supplement to our usual book. A new songbook mayno t sound l ike much, bu t when a church has usea cer tain book for almost ha l f i t s l i f e th i ssort of add it ion takes on almost a symbolicsignificance, pointing to a new wil li ngne ss to


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bring in new ways of work and worship. Theother new item was a sketch on Saturday givenby two of ou r teenagers. The sketch is calledWhen you Pray, Say. . and shows us a person praying the Lord s P raye r for th e umpteenthtime by rote memory, bu t this time she getsan audible answer from her Addressee, whowastes no time showing her what i t reallymeans to be a praying Christian. That sor t ofinvolvement by our youth is being encouragedmore and morea healthy sign.

Bob Wetzel gave his usual good messages,encouraging the church to keep building on thegroundwork of faith and faithful work alreadylaid. Saturday s message was especially relevant. Comparing anni ve rs ar ie s t o Bri tain sGreen Cross Code (the look-both-ways-before-you-cross-the-road taught in schools here), hepoi nt ed out that we look both ways at thesetimes. look back to th e heritage and faithwe have been g iv en, b ut we also look to th efuture with new ways to express our faith. Inother words, learning to t e l l the Old, OldStory in some new, new ways. That is always as tr uggl e f or Christians everywhere, but in somecases the struggle is more urgent, crucial , anddiff icult . As Dr. Wetzel pu t i t , we have tolook back to the firm conviction of bibl icalfaith while being flexible in the way we present i t . He reminded usall o f usthat wecan easi ly mistake our stubbornness for fa ithfu lness .

hy spend so much time and energy on anniversaries (or, for that matter, wri ting aboutanniversaries)? I t s a good opportunity tocelebrate and evaluate. nd th is y ea r s wasparticularly encouraging to me, bu t no t becausethe re are loads of great new things happening,but there seemed to be a new spirit around inthe air during the weekend that I ve missedbefore. It might have been the larger thanexpected attendances. I t migh t have beenspringtime, complete with rain and sun going

four rounds on Sunday Sun won, because i t wasclear when dusk came). I t might have been inth e comment made by one of our faithful oldermember, Cissie Ashton. After Saturday s affaishe said on the way home, I really enjoyed insel f . This was a nice change from dwelling onthings in the past and talking about old timesand fr iends. It was about looking ahead.Maybe Bob Wetzel got i t in a nutshell when hepointed out that people only celebrate anniversaries when they plan to keep the thinggoing wel l into th e future.

To Melissa and me, and to other full-t imeworkers , progress and growth can look verys low coming and even hopeless at times. Butwith weekends and comments l ike these, Godhelps keep things in perspective. Not all iswell , but not a ll is l o s t , e i ther . That s agood message to haveat least once a year.

JIM


Curt NordhielmGail Burns

Linda Nordh ielmDonnet ta Nordhielm

Rita Ide


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A N O A S I S IN T H E D E S E R T

ome (perhaps even a good portion) of ourministry here i s th e same kind o f min is tr y inwhich you find yourselves. By t h a t I meanyou would never f ind us travell ing by Jeep overrough country to a small , remote band of head-hunters to sh are the Gospel. Most of ou r mini s t r y i s very norma l.

Our Tuesday night Bib le s tudy i s a point incase. Almost without fail every Tuesday nighta group of about ten gather a t my house fo r astudy. But, even though this might be a normal part of th e ministry, there are a coupleof aspects about our s tudy which makes i t d i ff e r e n t .

F i r s t an d foremost i s t h e i n t e n s e d e s i r e t olearn and to put i nt o p ra ct ic e what we havelearned. I t i s not unusual for someone t o sa ya f t e r d is cover ing the meaning of a passage, Ihave fai led here. I t i s not j u s t an academicstudy, bu t often results in changed attitudesand b e h a v i o r .

This is not to down play th e academic side,for during our stu dy we often ask t he que st ion, Is this th e t ea ch ing of th e whole Bible? Fori n s t a n c e as we s tudied I Corinthians 7 andPaul's discussion on marriage, that questionwas asked. y response was no and that le d

us into a six week s tudy on marriage and divorcetaking the whole Bible into account. So, ourstudy on I Corinthians, which started some ninemonths ago, is s t i l l not completed.

The second aspect t h a t is encouraging i s t h awe are growing. Ue even have one member who,i f she i s away at college, has th e study recorded so t h a t s he m ig ht l i s t e n to it l a t e r .

In a culture where the Word of God is ignored, despised or not known, our Tuesday nightstudy is an oasis .

CURT

PR Y RC O N C E R N S

I f you would please use th e power God givesyou in prayer for the fol lowing, we would app r e c i a t e it and know t h a t God w i l l bless a l lconcerned 1EvangelismMr. and Mrs . S a n d sMr. and M rs . S u l l i v a nMr. and Mrs . Washburn

(Their children attend our Sunday School)C h r i s t i a n GrowthKarenOwen FamilySueThe Team

Plans fo r summer camps and clubsChurch buildingif i t can be wrong with a building, i t s wron

with ours Well, maybe not t h a t bad, but asCurt and Allen a member of the church) tearup the f loor b oa rd s, t he extent to which th edry rot has damaged floor boards and j o i s t si s being realized--much to our dismay. Thebaptistry i s under th e platform on which th eccMimunion table s i t s and th e old baptistry


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leaks. Curt wonders why the platform hasnot collapsed under sc^ poor unsuspectingpresider. There is a lo t of work to be done--some of i t quite extensive. Please praythat workers ar e willing money is availablewhen needed and that all can be accomplishedby Holiday Bible Club time August 20-24).

THANK YOUGAIL

PRAYERS PLEASE

pisitl from nglanbf jorlhwesi Chrifl tan Church 1700AnrheinvDrive Charr^pitiqri. Ill/nnis 61820

J im Melissa Dahlnyan4 Raskin CrescerylAhram WicjanLar\rs. WNPSPX

Roper Edrhgtor t144 Gravelly LaneErdinqton. BirminqharrB 2 3 6 L T

P e t e Ja n B o we n25 Ox fo r d S t ree tWest BromwichBirminejfinm B708PE

Dan A m v Yarnel l10 1 R ed s to n e C l o s eChu r ch H i ll N o r thRedditch . Worcs .8 9 8 9 A F

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Bo h S u e H a r t m an46 A s h bo u rn e R o a dWlgston. LeicesterL B S 1 F E

J a n e t B ain es49 C l a re n d on RoadHincklev. Leics.L E 1 P J

C u r t L i n da N o r d h i e lm13 St J a m e s P ar kTi inhr idoe Wel l sK e n t T N I 2I G

Gail Bu rn s A Rita Id e20 Ct i lve rdon P a r k R o a dTunbridpe WellsK e n t T N 4 9 Q Y

AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS :M r A M r s Ti m B a r h e r6 3 CasHetonChampaion. I ll inoisU S A 6 1 8 2

Bedlam Castle East Sussex

Sh? r lo t te HayMission ServicesBox 2427Knoxville. IN 379Jl

NON PROFIT OUS P O S T A G E

P AIDPERMIT NO. 2CHAMPAIGN.


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^ r vCptieitlt from Cnslant. . .A report from ministries challenging apost-Christian nation with th e claims of Christ.

VOL.11 NO. 10 AUGUST 1 9 8 44 THEp^BUDGET^Early in the Spring on a Tuesday afternoon

in Parliament th e Chancellor o f th e Exchequer(the man responsible for the British budgetrises from his chair to speak to th e membersof Parliament. The content of his speechwhich has lasted as long as f ou r h ou rs affectsevery individual l iving in Britain. The Chancellor determines how much income ta x will bepaid, how much excise tax should be on gas,tobacco products and alchohol and how muchshould the unemployed and retired recieve inbenefits. Anything and everything which concerns the government s income and a good percentage of its outgo is determined by theChancellor o f th e Exchequer.

To Americans, who ar e used to battles overthe budget which often lasts months, thispract ice might seem strange. The U budget,is fo r all practical purposes, settled in oneafternoon. This is no t to sa y that th e Chanc e l l o r does not talk to i ndus t r i a l i s t s pressure groups and other concerned people beforehe makes hi s speech. e does. And after thespeech there will be a debate on the budget,bu t a t th e end of th e day what he has saidbe c ome s l a w .

That means in practice prices can rise immediately. For instance at the last budget

in March, the Chancellor put seven cents on agallon of gas. That took effect from 6 that night. Of course, motorists flocked tothe gas pumps to save themselves a bit ofmoney. Several years ago when the Conservatives came to power, they doubled the salestax (applied to most purchase items and services and that became effective the followingMonday.

One might think that listening to a two-hour hour speech of figures and speculationmight be a bi t boring. That is not the case.Pariliament never known fo r their polite manners and often found hurling insults a t thespeaker, r ises to the budget speech with renewed fevour. . .The l a s t Chancellor was apipe smoker and when he came to the amount ofta x increase on toabcco products i t excludedpipe tobacco. Another member of Pariliamentyelled sarcastically, Thanks, Sir Geoffery,I too smoke a pipe . At the last budgetth e current Chancellor who is a heavy investo r in the stock market, reduced the cost ofselling and buying shares. Most of Pariliamenresponded appropriately.

The British ta x system is quite complicated and often th e Chancellor s edicts makef o r i n te r es t in g results. For many years


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taken out of a res tauran t to be eaten d id nothave any sales tax a t 15 ). However, sinceMay that has all been changed. If the foodi s hot incurs th e t ax Bu t how hot is hot?The chancellor answered that question the nextday when he determined that anything above5 F was hot. ne ingenious fish and chip(french fries) operator stopped charging forthe fish and chips (which are hotthus avoiding tax), but did charge for the salt andvinegar which most Britons put on their chips.This being cold incurs no tax.

Most of the recent Ch an ce ll or s a re notnoted fo r their speech-making abi l i ty. Theyare tax experts, more used to numbers andgraphs, than words. Oust after the Conservat ives came to power their f i r s t budget had anumber of verbal gems. The f i rs t budget isvery important as i t provides a drastic changeto direction from th e previous government. Howi t is received by the populat ion i s a good

J.B.'S JOTTINGS

J a n e t a ines

indication how they may fare In th e comingyear . So , when the Conservatives came topower in 1979 they changed th e whole ta x strture The Chancellor began by saying he wasgoing to reduce the income tax thus givingeveryone a raise). But, of course, thegovernment has to make ends meet so he hadto get back the lost money somehow So, hesaid, What 1give with one hand, I takeaway with the other. He then increased indi rec t taxat ion. I t i s said tha t the PrimeMinister cringed at his choice of words.

If you are ever in Britain in early Marcand you want an entertaining two hours, fina TV or radio on th e a fte rnoon of th e budgeand l is ten. However, i f you want to purchasomething, do so before the budget ends aswill , most l ikely, cost more at th e end oft he a ft er no o n

Despite ourselves feeling, If only we ha ministerl so many times, God has shown te can use ^ and has been teaching us ourneed for each other and th e importance ofstudying His Word and of sharing needs andpraying together.

There are three new people with whom wehave contact as a resul t of relationships aor friendships with members of t he chu rch.SUE, a young mother, is a friend of JanetChamberlain and has been coming to both ouMothers and Toddlers study and Friday LadieBible study. She b el ie ve s i n God and dec ided was t ime sh e found ou t wh o He was


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J NE our second new contact, is Janet's16 year old ni ece. She has come to the Friday studies as a result of Janet's witnessand sharing with her. Last week, at BillyGraham s MissiontEngland gathering in Bi rmingham Jane decided i t was time to take astep. She went forward and we were so excited for her. e ar e now preparing for he rbaptism.

Our third contact , OULIE, is a young mother who has been studying fo r about sixmonths with Jehovah Witnesses. When heraunt, Jane Payne, found out, she warned Julieof th e twisted truths they taught . Jul ie wasupset, like the ladies she was s tudying with,but she wanted to know th e t r u th . So she hasa tt ended the Mother's study a few times andwe've visi ted her. Recently, Harold Herri t t ,of S pringdal e Col lege, came to study with her,and she jus t lapped i t upl She is in greatneed of your prayers. Pray her eyes will seeth e t ruth clear ly.

e are grateful fo r all the help we ve hadfrom th e nearby ministers , and for all th eprayers that have gone up on our behalf. Godis working, despite our feelings, and e isanswering prayers. Praise Himl

JANET

PLATT BRIDGE REPORT

Melissa a nd Jim DahlmanSarah

jVem ^ a / / ^amefIn a country which has had an official

church of some sor t for all i t s modem history say 900years), evangelism and witnessing hasoften been neglected. Of course, when virtually the whole village is called Christian andgoes to church regularly, as i t did a centuryago, such an attitude can be understood.

That situation has changed, of course. Nowev ang elism must be a priority. But when achurch and he r mentiers have grown up in thatold atmosphere the move can be painful andpainfully slow. It 's as though the Christianscame ou t fo r a game, but in mid-course, thegame changed with no one noticing. It 's hardto play cricket when one is dressed for footba l l

Working in that sort of way can be veryfrustrating, except fo r the bits of en co uragement which we get every so often, and usually at just the right time.

For instance, D VID C MPBELL about 40 ,was baptised about a year ago. He s been keento leam and grow s ince then, though he hashad h i s diffi ulties

He s in a good position, however, to understand jus t what Platt Bridge needs as he'sunemployed and has experience in working withcomnunity associations. So it was great onenight in July when he came up to me and toldme that he had met this young couple throughhis loca l 06 club . He had invi ted them tochurch and took the time to t e l l them something about the Church of Christ. David saidthey were interested. I t was perhaps one ofthose small steps and giant leaps.

I t dawned on me th at th is was probablythe real way to growth in Platt Bridge; thefolk from here making those new and nervoussteps to bring someone to chu rch and t o Chr isI t s a lovely sight to see

JIM


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love directed through His people will challenge them to c on sid er Him an d to l e t Himmeet them i n t h e i r n e e d s .


C u r t N o r d h i e l mG a i l B u r n s

L in d a N o rd h ie lmD o n n e t t a N o r d h i e l m

R i t a I d e

^jUou^nin^Just two weeks short of he r ninety-sixth

CpiStlc fromCnglaniNnnhwem Christian Church MOOAmh wv Or i v p Chamnaign. Illinois 61830

J im i B a r h e r6 03 C a s l l f l o nChampainn. ///;nfi>sU S A. 6 1 8 2 0

birthday Mrs. Haf fenden went to be with he rLord. Up until two days before her death shewas singing th e praises of her God.

He r l i f e as well as he r death was a witnessof th e joy and confidence of God. Her threedaught er s a re a l l ser v an t s o f th e Lord in d i fferent parts of th e country r e f l e c t th at sheknew how to tra in up a c hi l d. The minute booksof th e church ar e peppered with Mrs. Haffenden sname as sh e gave constant service to th e Lordin t h e c h u r c h .

But perhaps he r best witness was at herdeath. As already mentioned, you couldn tkeep he r from singing. People who visited thenursing home where she sp en t th e l a st fewyears of her life heard the gospel message insong. Even though sh e was nearly blind ando ften b ed -rid den the joy of od kept flowingforth in praise.

At her funeral though there was mourning,there was a mourning full of hope. We unlikethe world a re co n f i d en t t h a t the same God whobrought light ou t of darkness will bring lifeo u t o f d e a t h . To such wa s Mrs. Ha ffe nde nf a i t h f u l . To t h a t God w i l l be f a i t h f u l .

M i s s i o n ervi esP O B o x 2 4 2 7K n o x v i i l e IN 3 7 9 0 1

N O N - PR O F IT O RUS P O S T A G E

P A I DP E R M I T N O 28

C H A M P A I G N . I

ADDRESS C OR REC TION R EQUESTED


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NEW FORW RDING AGENTSJoe and Fran Aloi, our forwarding agents,

win have moved by the time this reaches you.Please send all your correspondence fo r theDahlmans to

Mr. Joe Aloi6306 Dogwood Drive SouthNew Port Richey, FL 33553

Following up on our June report concerningth e Christian Fellowship magazine in Jun e, th egood news is that is a va il ab le i n the U.S.You can get a subscription by surface mail wewill a ir mail i t at request and with extra payment from you). Contact Mr. and Mrs. WilliamNorris, Route 6, P.O. Box 544-B, Johnson City,TN 37601, for a subscription. The Norrisesa re ta kin g over this work from Miss SheilaNewton, who has done a splendid job fo r almostfive years.

WEST BROMWICH REPORT

Jan and Pete BowenGareth and David

Sn^andin

tAiid/andi^We have j u s t come to th e en d of a week of

Billy Graham meetings at a football stadiumin Birmingham. During the eight days 257,000people attended th e meetings. Of these, over26,000 made some sort of response to the appeal. Obviously not all of these are newChristians but many are.

During th e week, ou r church took a bus totwo of the meetings. Five of our people re-dedicated the i r l ives to Christ . Anothercouple of Christians from other churches whot ravel led with us also rededicated the i r l ivest o Chr is t. A further three people made somesort of responsemore at the searching stagethan a definite receiving of Christbut thati s a s t a r t

mong t he se p lease pray fo r KIERON He isa 13 iear old who has been attending ourmeetings these las t two months. He i s from aRoman Catholic background and there is a lo tof con fu sion as to where th e gospel f i ts inwith some of the things he has been taught.(In some cases I t simply doesn t )I had a very good talk following one of th emeetings with some others who went with usLORR INE N C ROL (18). We have been In contac t with them for a few years Lorraine,especial ly, knows that Jesus is th e One sh eneeds but Is going through counting th e cost ofwhat will mean to her l i f e s ty le to followJesus. As fo r us a l l I t Is hard to le t go ofsome things . But what Is what we le t go o fcompared to the surpassing greatness of knowingChrist as our Lord? Pray for Lorraine andCarol. Also pray that what God has begunthrough Mission:England will continue and grow,both in the Midlands and throughout the Nation.

PETE


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REDDITCH R E P O R Tx w

Da n and Am y YarnellDavid

ficm ^odwo months have passed since our f i r s t

Ladies F e ll ows hip m e et ing, which met in ourhome. Having seen many mothers in ou r church(some single-parents with children a t c ri ti ca lstages who needed encouragement in theirroles as Hums , and having learned a lo t yself from reading ou r study book, MasteringMotherhood, we as a group ar e growing tounderstand more about God s view o f m o t h e rhood and how He h a s n t lef t us t o s tr ug gl ealone to raise our children, but e has givenus many g u id e lin e s in His Word.

While I a w a i t e d fo r th e f i r s t l ad ies toarrive t h a t f i r s t meeting, I was anxious anda l i t t le nervous, but equally e xc i t e d. Butwhen only two out of th e possible te n womenarrived for the study, my e x ci t eme nt t u rn e dto disappointment. I had a nt ic ip a te d f iv enon-Christians who had s ta te d t ha t they wereinter ested in coming. Yet I saw God ministerto one o f ou r members in a very s p e c i a l way

t h at afternoon who probably would not haveshared so honestly ha d others been there a tt he m ee ti ng . The Lord showed me jus t how muchHe c a r e s fo r e a c h o f u s a n d wants to m e e t u sin o ur own n e e d s , j u s t as He did fo r SUE.

I have come to t erms w it h many changessince t he n. The meeting place which was originally in our own home has been changed toa n o t h e r . Var ious c i rc ums t a nc e s h a v e causedt hi s change. 1 was anxious to share ou r homefo r t hi s mi n i s t ry , and th e c ha ng e d oe s d isappoint me, but the s i t ua t i on di d demand I t .Though new women have come to th e meetings,t hose non Chr is t ians wh o had e a r l i e r indica tedan i n t e res t have as ye t to meet with u s. Bu tth e group Is g ro wi ng a nd meeting needs.

The ha rd es t s tr ug gl e f or is acceptingt h a t many o f th e ladies ei ther d o n t haveth e time or don t se t aside, as priority,time to do th e reading and study fo r themeeting. Yet, when I think back on y college days I m sure y professors were quiteoften frustrated when I wasn t prepared( though I m no t a professor . I hope thatin time studying becomes a pr ior ity forthem, s ince God ca n te a c h us so much when wear e w i l l i n g t o take time to r e a d, l i s tenan d m e d i t a t e on His Word. Als o , th e womenwon t have to l isten to me review th e chapte r as o fte n o r in such deta i l which w i l lgive us more time to deal with specif icneeds o r areas t h a t they have been personally challenged in from th e reading.

Even though t he n on -C hr is ti an s h a ve n tcome, God ha s given me many o p p o rt u n i t i e sto show I ca re an d l o v e th em. God ca l l s u sto l ov e p eo pl e no matter what, even whenthey disappoint us, since He loves us l iket h i s u n c o n d i t i o n a l l y .

Please pray fo r those mums who have no tas ye t come a s w ell as those who are alreadyp ar t i ci p at i n g in t he g rou p. Pray t h a t God s


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NOV 5 98Cpigtle from nglanb. . .A report from ministr ies challenging apost-Christian nation with the claims of Chris t.

m LOOK AT Vo l . No. 11 S e p t . 19847ISSION ENGL NDA minion attended. Nearly one hundred thousand made decisions. nd churches across England are s t i l l buzzing with excitement, hopeand new-found vita l i ty . Year two after Mission:England, which incorporated the vis i t of Billy Graham to e ight B ritis h ci t ies thissummer has been an overwhelming success.I d never been to a Billy Graham Crusade before. I didn t reallyknow what to expect. Along with the great majority of people, here,I assumed i t would be a high-powered, emotional affa ir . But when Ia ttended the meetings designed to train counsellors and orient us tothe nature of the crusade , I began to see how wrong my presuppositionswere. The organization ran l ike a well-tuned machine. But there wasalso a sensitivity to the needs of the British people. And therefore,i t was made plain from the star t that emotionalism was the last thingbeing aimed for. There will not even be any music during the invitation, we were told. Dr. Graham will simply ask people to get up

out o f t h e i r seats and come to th e f i e l d .Frankly, I didn t see how i t could work. But the next thing Iknew there I was, supervising a group of counsellors on the f i r s tnight of the crusade. The stadium was full , not packed. The servicewas--well. . .--ordinary. Yes there was a great sense of occasion( i t s not often that thousands of Christians do anything together inBritain). But otherwise, the meeting went much as any Sunday worshipmight. A few hymns a very good choir, too many announcements the oddspecial musical number and a message. Not a profound message. Not anespecially deep message. Not even in the same league with theButtrick or Thielicke type sermons I d read in Seminary. But a messagedelivered clearly and honestly. A straightforward presentation of theGospel. nd then the invitation: I want you to get up out of your seats.No drama. And as promised, no music. Just the words. nd a momentary hushed stillness. Which was followed by a flood. People pouredinto the aisles, and in a moment all my counsellors had been assigned.Sitting near the bottom of the stands and looking up and around I was


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overwhelmed. According to instructions, I then plunged into the floodand, along with 3,000 others, was washed onto the f ield.Each night, that same scene was replayed. Some came forward to re-dedicate themselves some to seek help for specific problems. But avery large percentage, particularly in the Midlands, came forward tomake a committment to Christ for the very f i rs t time. Stories arebeing passed around the country of congregations that have doubled insize, of dead churches that have come back to l i fe of a new-foundinterest in evangelism and Christian committment. Among our ownchurches there have been some significant effects, as well. At Red-ditch, a congregation of 16 received 12 referrals. At Platt Bridge aninflux of r ef er rals is bringing encouragement and new hope. nd at Wig-ston Magna, my own congregation the six-week follow-up program ishelping to create a real sense of Christian community. What can we dowhen this is over? they re asking.I look at all thisat the response to the messages at the effecton the churchesand ask Why? The answers seem plain: Billy Grahamis a big name. He draws crowds. His organization is effective atplanning and promoting such events. The three-year Mission:Englandeffort has capable leaders and provides helpful material. Those arethe obvious answers. But the real answerthe factor which made i t allpossibleis prayer. From t he very beginning of this effort, Christiansin Britain and around the world have been praying. For God to direct.For God to Bless. For God to work. And in response to that, God has.The long term effects of this mission are s t i l l to be realized. Wehave another officially organized year to go. A year of follow-upnurture, and further evangelism. Whether Mission:England will star tthe renewal that this country so desperately needs remains to be seen.The 97,000 new or re-committed Christians can t do anything but help. nd I am grateful to God for them. But I am even more grateful that,through Mission:England the Lord has taught us something about thepower of prayer.

BOB H RTM NB|B|E|B|ElBlB|BlBlBlBlBlBlB|ElBligEnBIB|BlBlBlElE|EIBlB|B|E|BH5|Week n A Church s LifeIn the US Vacation Bible College puppet group came in 1979School is pretty well established and again last year when a groupin many churches as part of the of high schoolers came from oursummer program. In Britain, Hoi- living link church in Tarponiday Bible School is just begin- Springs Florida. Both of thosening to catch on. were highly successful in many re-Platt Bridge has had two HBS s spects. nd both were organisedbeforeone when the Milligan and mainly staffed by Americans.


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PL TT RIDGE REPORT

Melissa and Jim DahlmanSarah

This year was different . Theonly Americans in s ight were yourst ruly i n addition to the materialfrom Standard Publishing). Forthe f i r s t time, we could sayPlat t Bridge had a home grownHBS.

knew when we planned i t thatthere was a strong possibil i ty thatwe would f ind t was the Americanguests who a t t r ac ted a l l the a ttention in the past. Some of uswere secret ly scared of preparingfo r the usua l 100 kids in thecourse o f th e week, and have 25show up.As t turned out , we had morethan 125 show up in the course ofthe week, with 81 on one day andabout 69 average of the five days.

Without trying to put too muchimportance on one week of HolidayBib le Schoo l, i t was very encouraging to us, as sent workers, andto the other people who worked inthe week to see that , yes, i t couldbe done. I t was done, quite well,withou t th e s pe cia l gue sts andthe natural crowd-drawing theybring. Numer ical ly , the week wasas successful as the previous e f

forts . And on the following Sundayseven new scholars appeared atSunday schoolall of whom had beena t HBS.

We came over here , of course towork ourselves out of a job.After years, perhaps that isstar t ing to take hold. The irony ithat when such things happen, thatis when you want to stay more thaneve r

JIMMelissa and Sarah have gone backto the States to spend time withfamily in I l l inois , leaving me to

fend for myself unti l October.From October 1 to November 28we will be together on furlough,visi t ing churches in I l l ino is ,Ohio, Tennessee and Florida. ask for your prayers as we t ravel ,and we look forward to seeingmany of you, some af te r a longt imesome fo r th e rst t ime .

REDDITCH REPORT



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in and i n t roduced us to JENNY.Jenny and I talked for some time,and i t became apparent that she hadjus t come through a rough patch:a divorce, nervous problems, andthen th e news t h a t h er f iance wouldhave to spend time in prison.

Jenny started coming along toChurch. On Palm Sunday, I spokeon the theme, Who Killed Jesus.The congregation played detective,searching for clues hidden aroundthe church building and lookingthem u p in the scriptures. eworked our way through the possib i l i ti e s the Jewish l eadersJudas, the Romans--and then weread when Jesu s d ied to bea r ou rpunishment. Who Kil led Jesus?I asked, and Jenny, s i t t ing in thesecond row, answered very sof t lyWe d id .Jenny asked to see me the next

day and told me tha t she wouldl i k e to become a Ch r i s t i a n . Shealso sa id tha t TIM, her f iancehad been attending chapel in pri

son and tha t he, too, wanted tofo l low J e su s . Af t e r Tim wasreleased from prison, we all gottogether and talked quite extensively. On June 17, both Tim andJenny were united with the Lord inbaptism. A few days la ter one inChr i s t and w ashed c lean o f a l lthat had gone before, they wereunited in marriage. When Tim wassent away, confessed Jenny, Ialmost turned away from God. Butthen I thought that maybe this wasHis way of dealing with us, of helping us. And from that moment onHe jus t kept drawing us closer toHimself. e thought i t was theworst thing in the world, but Hewas watching over us, and He knewbe t t e r .Just before the wedding, Wendyvisi ted us and told us somethingI m sure by now you ve guessed.Remember that prayer request?she asked, Well, the person wewere praying for was Tim.

BOB

CpiStIt from nslanbNorthwest Chrimian Church 1700AnthonyDr ive Champaign . Illinois 61820

NON-PROFITOUS POSTAG

PAIDPERMIT NO .CHAMPAIGN

J im Mel i ssa Dah lman4 Raskin CrescentAhram. WiaanL ane s WN2 5PX

Roger Edrington144 Gravelly LaneErdinqton, BirminghamB236LT

Pe te J an Bowen25 OxfordSt r ee tWest BromwichBirmingham B708PE

Dan Amy Yarnellt o t Reds ton e CloseCh u r c h H i ll Nor thRedd i tc h , Wor c s.B989AF

Bob Sue Har tman46Ashbou r n eR oa dWigston. LeicesterLE81FE

J a n e t Ba in e s49 C l ar e ndon Roa dHincklev, Leics .LEWOPJ

Cur t Sf Linda Nordhie lm13 St . J am e s Pa rkTunbridge WellsKent TNI 2I.C

Gai l Burns Rita Id e20 Culverdon Pa r kRoa dTunbridge WellsKen tTN49QY

AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS:M r Mrs Tim Barbe r603 Ca . i tl e tonChampaign. UiinnisU SA 61820

Sharlot te RayMiss ion Se rv i c e sEox 2427Kn 0cVi 1 l/a)DR^^coR^E^Qi4 requested


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One f a m i l y sJo3^

I t all began when we baptizedShirley i nt o C h r i s t . She co u ld n tkeep s t i l l about her new relatio nship with Christ and was soonsharing with others in her fami l y . He r husband STEVE an d Is h a r e d a b o u t h i s n e e d t o make apersonal commitment to C h r i s tduring one afternoon meal. I ha dhoped t h a t th e seeds would taker o o t in h is l i f e b ut no one e v e rexpected what happened during theBilly Graham meeting in Birmingha m a t V i l l a P a r k .Our prayers were answered whenSteve told me he was planning onmaking his personal commitmentto Christ when we got on the busto tra ve l to Birmingham. Hi ss i s t e r GERALDINE had also comealong with h is mother SHEILA.And a l l o f them committed t h e i rlives to Christ. I t wasn t longbefore t h e i r daughter CASSIE madeh e r c o m m i t m e n t . An d s o d i d G e r -aldine s daughter CAMILE andSteve s aunt JOSIE. A whole familywas u n i t e d i n C h r i s t b e f o r e t h eweek w as o u t . S t e v e h a s f o l l o w e di n o b e d i e n c e t o C h r i s t a n d h a s b e e nbaptized an d th e r e s t of his fami l y will follow shor tly.

I f t h i s wasn t enough excitement a s i s t e r JACKIE who hadchos en t o remove h e r s e l f from t h efamily and made h e r s e l f an d herpresence unknown appeared on thescene sh o rtly a f t e r a l l these liveshad been given over to C hrist . Sheme t S h i r l e y in the s t r e e t in Red-

ditch and the walls of separationcame tumbling down as they embracewith te a rs o f rejoicing and forgiveness.Steve s dad was in hospital a tthe time and Jackie went up to sehim s i n c e she d i d n t know he wast h e r e and was rejoined with ther e s t o f her family as they a l lhugged an d c r i e d . She i s now int e r e s t e d in finding out more aboutC h r i s t a nd w h a t He can do i n h e rl i f e a f t e r seeing what He has already done in th e l i f e o f he rfamily.What a powerful example of whatGod in Christ can and i s doing inl i v e s o f b el ie ve rs and s e e k e r s inBr itain. Certainly there weremany angels rejoicing in heavenwhen a ll t hi s happened. And therewas no le ss r ejo ic in g here in Red-d i t c h a s we w i t n e s s e d t h e reconciling power of God a t work in ourmidst. hope you will join inwith us in praising God fo r Hisw o n d e r f u l work in th e l i v e s o f t h eOram family. One family s joy isthe jo y o f the r e s t o f God s fami l y .

DAN

C h u r c h s O n ef o u n d a t i o n ?You might ask What have youbeen doing this summer? WellI l l tell you. I have been diggingin the dirt; I have been practicingmy new found skills in brick layingI have been building blisters bychipping pl a st e r o ff the walls; Ihave been learning all kinds ofthings about c en tr al h ea ti ng ven-


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t i la t ion problems, sewers, gas andwate r piping and what to do whenyou find dry rot , woo worm anddamp.Want to know what I hope to learnyet? Let s see. There is how tomend leaky bapt is t r ies , what i sneeded t o i n s t a l l a new toil t andthen how to put own new floorboards.A few of the advantages of working a t the church building is thatI am finding muscles I didn t knowI had and gett ing r id of a few extrapounds,

RITA


Cur t Nordhie lmGail Burns

Linda Nordhle imDonne t t a Nordhie lm

R ita I daThough the church had some money

saved for her repair work the cost toput the whole building r ight will probab ly exceed what we have. But God i sa t work among our peoplepeople whohave historically never been challenged to give or sacrificeand unsolicited gif ts have been arriving. Mostof the members realize that they arereceiving freely from the i r American

brothers and s i s te r s and they arenow showing their commitment tothe work here through increasedgiving. s t i l l have a long wayto go and much money to raise,but we a re conf iden t God i s withus and will supply our every need

CURTWIGSTON REPORT

Bob and Sue Har tnnanKari and Christopher

Pa rdonedTorgiven

The prayer request came spi l l inout among a l i s t of others: Pleak eep Wendy s cousin s brother-in-law in your prayers. He s int r oub l e with th e l aw . The l ad i e sin our ums and Tots group prayedabou t t h i s s i t ua t i on and l t itin th e Lord s hands .

Several months l a t e r , Norman anI were passing out Billy Grahamleaf le ts and Gospel portions topeople in the apartment buildingac ross from the chu rch . We knocka t the door of Barbara Knight onof our contacts) and she invi ted


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Cptfftle from Cnglanb. . JK report from ministrias challenging apost-Chri^an nation with thedalmsofChrist

dec^/OrO5 1984

VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1 OCTOBER 1984

T h e leventh f i n a nc i a l Yeai^Money is something that all of us need to work, to l ive, to serve our God, and yet i t is the mostdifficult topi c f or us to discuss. This is no t because we feel i rresponsible with the various giftsof Income given to us to support ou r service to Christ here in Britain. Nor is i t because any of usare interested in becoming rich through minis te ring in Christ s name. I t mainly is due to th e overemphasis that socne people pu t on i t know i t is important and necessary. could no t do the thingswe attempt to do fo r ou r Lord without t he impor tant f inancia l assis tance that each of us receives fromour various resources. But we do no t wish to appeal to either your conscience or your pocketbook, bu tonly appeal to God fo r our needs. He has been faithful in always providing what we need to serve Himhere, and that mainly through you. Thus we say thank you to our God fo r using you to minister to usthrough us as we share th e burden of coninunieating Christ to this nation.

also wish to share that this year has been fo r all of us a year of financial freedom. By thatI mean that with the dollar being the strongest i t has ever been against the pound, recently reachinga new record low of 1.25, we have all fe l t that we can do further work fo r Christ as well as providefor ourselves and our families ) with less financial pressure. I hope tha t th is does no t reflect thatwe have been or will be i rresponsib le or negligent with th e f unds which we receive to work here. all try to do ou r best , a t least a good portion of th e time, through the financial resources we allr ece ive

As you will be able to t e l l from th e f inanc i al s ta temen ts , each of us receive ou r funds in d ifferent ways, each receive varying amounts, and each of us face various situations. Some of us needmore or less funds than others due to location of our work, varying degrees of payments in this countrysome pay taxes in Britain, some pay National Insurance, some pay none , as well as various situationsback in the States to which we a re responsibl e. All-in-all , though, none of us has ever gone without,at least for very long that I know of. God has always been our Provider through all circumstances,and it i s t o Him we tu rn to in t ime o f need .

Please join with us as we again thank our God fo r His care of His children who seek to be responsible servants of His Word and His provision in Britain.DAN YARNELL

NNOUNCING . .Joshua Luke Will iam Yarne l l lBorn 14 September, 2.43 PM a strapping81bs. 5 oz. and 21J inches long.Mother, Father and Brother David all doinggreat 1 Baby Joshua s t i l l considering lightnot worth sleeping through.


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WEST BROMWICH REPORT

Jan and Pete BowenGareth and David

Positive DevelopmentsFour specific areas of prayer have seen answerscome from our God recently. We have prayed thatGod would 1) add to His church, 2) deepen thosein Christ, 3) strengthen the church by bringingin a few more stable Christians and (4) lead usin serving and reaching out in the community.God added to His church when MARIE NDERSON15) was baptized i nt o Chr is t on Saturday, 18thAugust. Marie has attended meetings on and offs ince th e church s tar ted here. I t is e xc iti ng t ose e he r now beginning in he r new l i fe w ith our

Lord. Me look to God to continue th e addi t ionsOur midweek Bible Study and our Youth Study areseeing ou r young Chr is ti ans ge tt ing a deeper understanding of God and His word and there are someencouraging signs of growth i n ind iv idua l l ives.

have particularly been emphasising th e importance of a personal time with God each day.God has been bringing some othe r Chri st iansaround to our meetings recently. are veryg ra te fu l fo r th e input of one couple. Bil l andFlo Haliday who hav e bee n Christ ians fo r manyyears. Their desire for God and desire for othersto grow is proving a very positive stimulus.Regarding ou r fourth area of prayer, we havefound God putt ing us in touch with people in ou rconmunity who need help. I have had opportunityto vis i t and share with some families with problems. Two couples who are struggling in the i rmarriage and one family with trouble with teenagechildren. Pray that God gives us wisdom to sensi t ively serve in these areas and that God willdraw these people to build their lives in Him.The developments we are seeing are not verydramatic in one sense, but to us they are veryposi t ive and encouraging signs that God is verymuch a t work in ou r s i t u a t i on .

PETE

ROGER S RESEARCH REPORT

Roger Edrlngton

W ha t k in d o f believersa re we?I have jus t finished writing up two chapters(about 150 pages) of my thesis on varieties ofpopular unbelievers. 1 fel t very priviledgedto have been able to enter th e p riv ate liv es o fthese fifty men, which o ften are never revealedto anyone. Several told me things they had nevtold anyone, including their wives. One sixty-nine year old man told me after my hour intervieYou know more about me than my wif e doe s.They somet imes had tears in their eyes when theytold me important experiences. I was told ofghosts and angels appearing as well as hopes and

f e a r s .Of th e f i f ty men, te n called themselves athei s ts twelve some kind of agnostics , wh il e tweneight designated themselves as some kind of bel iever or almost a believer. There were agnos t i c s who a l so t e rmed themselves Chr is t ians anfour of the ten atheists prayed at some time.Only five of a ll th e men regularly attendedchurch. Another nine attended church occasionawhich usually meant three or less times a yearwith onl y one an agnostic) a t tending mass withhis girlfr iend about te n times l as t year.The overwhelming majority 72 percent) of th emen have never (o r a few once or twice) a ttendedany church service on a Sunday since childhood.The only time these men have been to church sincchildhood is the proverbial funerals and marriages and christenings. Of these, two hadnever attended a church or Sunday School a t a llin t h e i r l i ve s . One o f th e l a t t e r ca l l ed himself a Christian and a believer. Speaking of hworkmates, he added a comnent which relates tomany of the men, We all believe bu t don t p artcipate. In Britain, we must at least be certathat evangelism cannot be accomplished th echu r ch .


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The most s t r ik ing point , however, was tha tthere was often very l i t t l e difference in what aperson believed or pract ices whether he termedhimself athe is t , agnostic, o r b el ie ve r. Therewas l i t t l e difference In th e q ua lity o f the i r def i n i t i ons o f a Chr i s t i a n . Be l i ev e r and unbe l i eve ralike defined in terms of ethics and cognitivebel ief . Being a Christian was mainly either living a decent l i fe and helping people or jus t belief In God, Christianity, rel igion, etc .Where they did differ was sometimes not veryhelpful for ou r position as followers o f J es us .The more these men believe th e less l ikely theyare to believe that they have done anythingwrong. Seventy-eight percent of th e athesits, 67p ercen t of the ag nost ics and only 29 percent ofth e bel ievers were clear about the i r own personalwrongdoing. On t he o th er hand , 22 percent of theatheists, 17 percent of th e agnostics, and 46 percent of the believers saw t hems el ve s a s h av ing notever done wrong. {The la t ter group of bel ieve rsincluded three of those who regularly attendedchurch while th e other two were at th e oppositeextreme, clearly aware of the i r wrongdoing.) I fwe look at th e grouping of those who se e themselves as no t doing wrong Inc luding those who fe l tthat t he y a lmost n ev er did wrong, we find 22 percent of th e atheists, 34 percent of th e agnosticsand 71 percent of the believers in this category.One has to contemplate th e meaning of thesef indings. Does being a be li eve r ac tua lly makeone better morally and without sin? Or does beinga believer go together with self-r ighteousness,u sing th e belief as a way of jus t i fy ing or camouflaging th e wrongdoing? One would wonder why th ebel ievers have not l ea rn ed t he message of th e oldApostle, I f we claim to be without s in , we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8) . (Most have no tr ead th e Bib le s ince chi ldhood e i t h e r - - bu t t h a t sanother story.)In my descr ipt ions of belief and believers, Ishall not always agree tha t some of these men whodescribe themselves as such truly have evidenceo f th e e l emen t s o f b i b l i c a l b e l i e f which I havese t out in my research. Bu t cer ta in ly for thoseof us in Britainand perhaps for those of youe ls ewhe re i n t he wor ldit makes us ask questionsabou t what k ind o f Ch r i s t i an be l i ev e r s t h e r eare in th e world and In th e pew, not only next tous bu t in ou r own s k i n .

ROGER

U Ta lkThere are few things more sobering than totake some time to figure out how much money hasbeen sent and spent, except perhaps to see howi t has been spent. feel, like many others, adeep responsibility to be good stewards, yet c ir

cumstances and unforseen needs of t en s t r e t ch us toth e lim its o f our check. For instance, twice in

PLATT BRIDGE REPORT

Melissa and J im DahlmanSa rah

1963 our car needed major mechanical work. (Oncewe had to be towed th e 90 miles from Birmingham tWigan when our engine died after the Thanksgiviget-together at Springdale College.) By April1964, I t was apparent that th e redone Insidesneeded a repainted outside.Of cou rs e, b ig expenses ar e not always unwelcome: Sarah became a major i nv es tmen t I n December, but no one 's complaining

Through a l l , we are very thankful for several things In regard to ou r budget. Firs t , wethank God for all th e faithful supporters we havethey t rust Him to supply and they in turn t rust uto use t he ir g if ts wisely. We hope we have mettha t t rus t well . Secondly, we thank God for he lping us to meet those times when the cash flowseemed, e r . . . , worrisome. He never le t us-sinkIndeed, He has stretched us and given us abundanin many ways. And also, a whisper of thanks to tinventor of th e sav ings account .

So here's th e balance sheet for September 198to August 1984:INCOME SSETS (UK)Salary Housing Allowance $14,736.0Gif t s 253 .0Refunds Reimbursements 115.8Service Link (car , o ff ic e, t ra ve l,teaching) 5,312.0Savings, Bank accounts 615.6TOT L t21,232.6EXPENSES (UK)Deductions taken in US (tax, IRSinsurance) 1,656.6Living Expenses 12,249.6Service Link ( ca r , o f f ice , e tc . ) 7,124.3TOT L i2U232.6Thank you for all your suppor t and kindnesses, i nprayers , le t ters and in funds. You do have a shain our minist ry. The Dahlmans will be on furlough in th e US( I l l inois, Ohio, Tennessee, and Florida) from Octbe r 1 to November 28 .

J


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I c illonep ^ou ^atoeFISCAL YEAR - SEPTEMBER 1983 TO AUGUST 1984

RECEIPTSErdinqton

Roger Edrington 16,430.18Tunbridqe Hells

Gail Bums 6,500.00Rita Id e 5,400.00Curt and Linda Nordhielm 17,535.00Gift fo r trip to USA 1,350.00West Bromwich

Pete and Jan Bowen 13,902.00Other gifts 1,700.00Hinckley

J a n e t Baines 6,980.00Other gifts 704.46L e i c e s t e r

Bob and Sue Har tman 13,800.00Other g i f t s 2,500.00Redditch

Dan and fisay Yarnell 20,809.88P l a t t Bridge

Jim an d Melissa Dahlman 21,232.64

US TE M FUN (EPISTLE)Balance Septetnber 1, 1983 705.35Receipts 865.06Expenses 1,465.14Balance August 31 , 1984 105.27

Her biggest fear was in sharing he r new faithwith he r parents, bu t when she did share openly,she found out t h a t her own s i s t e r also believedi n Je su s. We re now anxious to see if her s i s t e rw ill also make a personal conmitment to Christ asL e t t i e has done.Lett ie s husband, DAVE, is a Gentile and was,unt il r ecen tly, no t a Christian. But throughLett ie, and other Chris tians, Dave has seen thereal need fo r Jesus in his l i fe, too. They havemany problems to work out (from a drinking problem to a poor marriage relationship), yet nowthey ar e looking to th e Greatest Healer for theirhelp.God is faithful and often works in many wayswhich we a r e n t aware of unt i l lateisometimesyears l a t e r .Please pray fo r Lettie and Dave as they growtogether i n Jesus, and learn to be one in Him.

AMY

Cptsitle from nglaniiNorthwestChristian Church-1700Anthonv Drive Chempaigrt. Illinois 61820

NONPROFITORUS POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO . 28CHAMPAIGN. IJ im Melissa Dahl tvan4 fhiskin CrescentAbram . W in anLanes. WN2SPX

Roger Edrington144 Gravelly LaneErdington. BirminghamB236LTP e t e J a n Boviren25 Oxford S t r e e tW e s t BromwichBirmingham B708PE

Dan Am y Yarnell10 1 R e d s t o n e C l o s eChu r ch Hi l lNorthRedditch. Worcs.B 3 8 9 A F

Bo b S u e H a r t m a n4 6 A s h b o u r n e R o a dWigston. LeicesterL E8 1 F E

J a n e t B a i n e s4 9 C l a re n d on R o a dHinckley. Leics.L E 1 0 0 P J

Ciirt Linda Nordhielm13 St . J a m e s P a r kTunbridge WellsK e n t TN I 2I.G

Gail B u r n s S Rita Id e2 0 C u l v e r d o n P a r k R o a dTunbridge WellsK e n t T N 49 Q Y

AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS:M r. M r s . Tim B a r b e r6 0 3 C a s t t et o nChampaion . Il l inoisU S A. 61820

S h a r l o t t e RayM i s s i o n ervi esB o x 2 4 2 7K n o x v i l l e TN 37901

ADDRESS CORRECnON REQUESTED


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WIGSTON REPORT

Bob an d S ue H ar tm anKari and ChristopherBillys Graham CrugadeThe Billy Graham Crusade was truly a blessingto everyone who attended. On th e Sunday , 30 of uswent along and 37 on th e Wednesday. On the f i rs tday, as we waited fo r a late coach to appear, wereally Teamed th e meaning of the verse in Romans 8

ve r se 28 :In everything God works fo r good withthose who love Him, who are cal ledaccording to His purpose.At f i r s t we were wondering what good could come ofthe coach being late and of our missing all theCrusade But then, th e weather was beautiful andwe just enjoyed one another's company and gettingbetter acquainted. Then we realised that , due tothe two hour late s tar t , two more might be able tocome so we went and invi ted them and they camealong, too.Then, because we were late, ou r coach was ableto drop us off r ight at Villa Park, cutting ou tthe long walk from the parking lot. Also, becauseBirmingham traffic had been bad, the Crusade beganla te , so we only missed the beginning and werethere fo r all but about two minutes of Or. Graham smessageThe most good happened at the end when twoof our ladies wen t forwa rd to conmit t he i r l ivesto Christ: I t was a perfect finish to a ratherunusual day . _._c. t td

Neh. 2:18

JlL- :

TLWBR CX E WELLS REPORT

Cur t NordhietmGail Burns

Linda NordhielmDonne t t a NordhielmRi ta Ide

Something NewThey say you learn something new every year.This year we learned that i t will not be bestto extend the age range of our 7 to 9 year oldcamp: I t no t only makes the lea rn ing gap toobig, i t also makes the camp too big~we had 307 to 11 year olds at Collet t House, Bexhill thiyear. By crikey, i t were noisy to quote oneo f the s t a f f

Many of the children at camp from TunbridgeWells (a London church a lso joins in ) do not goto Sunday School, but do attend th e C.A.T. 'sClub. I was a b it f ea rful t hey'd feel a bit ont he outs ide because they'd not know the choruseor be familiar with the Bible. Shows you howmuch 1 know. The children enjoyed themselves tmendouslyall of them. They heard about the Gwho loves them and cares infinitely for each ono f them.

t rus t God no t to le t His Word go s ter i letheir young livesand we will work to help mathe Word of God live within them--w1th God s heand s t rengthGA

Hazel and Betty Turne r have been members oth e Tunbridge Wells Church of Christ for 20 andabout 15 years respectively. Their sister Pegwho shares an apartment with Betty, has been al ife-long member of th e Anglican churcha veryactive and fai thful member. Both Hazel and Behave discussed adult bapt ism with Peggy over thyears, but Peggy , in talking with her vicar hasalways maintained that she had been baptised onas a baby and that was suff ic ient


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At th e beginning of Septeinber, Hazel, Betty,Rita, Curt and 1 witnessed the bapt ism of Peggy( f i rs t time I d ever been to a Candleli t baptismat th e side of a heated physio-therapy pool). Inher own way, in her own time, Peggy decided thats he n eed ed t o r e- af fi rm th e vows t h a t ha d beenmade for her when sh e was a baby and be imnersedin Jesus name. Joy would no t quite describewhat we a l l f e l t a t t h at s er vi ce l

Another woman was baptised at th e same timeas Peggy. ERYL l ives around th e comer fromBetty and Peggy and is committed to Christ , buthas not found a real church home yet . She and Iare to s t a r t a personal Bible Study soon.Peggy will continue to serve God a t St. Paul shurch of England. I truly believe that throughher and her witness, God has several surprises instore for th e vicar and members of S t. P au l s. Ihope that in time, though. Beryl will join with usand find a church home in fe llowship with us.

GAIL

Jane t Balnes

H i nck l ey e reported in the August issue of the Epistleon Jul ie Rey, a young mother who had been studying

with the Jehovah Witne s se s . Afte r severa l s tud i e swith Harold Merritt of Springdale College, Juliehas given herself to th e Lord and was baptised onth e 26th August. I t wasn t an easy step fo r herbut we re joice with her courage to t r us t God tosee her through.Me also have taken a big step as a church inconmitting ourselves to the weekly support of anintern from Springdale College . Chris Sewell,

REDDITCH REPORT an


There is no Jew orGenti le in Christ .During th e Billy Graham meetings we saw manypeople give themselves to th e Lord. There wasmuch rejoicing as we witnessed those who steppeout to sa y yes to Je su s. But along with thecomes a great responsibil i ty to disciple theseChrist ians. Most of them ar e d es ir in g t o grow

the i r new relat ionship, and many church membershave taken the i r responsibil i ty to care for thenew babes ser iously. All of us have grown awe ve opened ourselves (which sometimes meansbeing stretched In different areas) as well ashaving been encouraged by the growth we ve already seen in their l ives. Along with that , Goha s already worked to bring or challenge othersthrough these new Christ ians.

I d l ike to introduce you to one o f these nebelievers so you can also se e how faithful Godi s to us. LETTIE i s a Jew by n a ti on a li ty , y e thas believed in Jesus for 12 years . In thesepast few years, God had worked in various waysher l i fe spi r i tua l ly through poetry.

Me came to know h e r a f t e r she had met withBarbara Haines, one of our members, about her dsire to get to know about Jesus and ChristianitWe s ha re d t he book Christ iani ty is Jewish, byEdith Schaeffer with her, and th is was followed

Epistles From England Team-1984-England

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