[This magazine has been jointly edited by CHRISTIAN TODAY and Torch Trust for the Blind. All the articles were first published on the CHRISTIAN TODAY website christiantoday.com over the last three months.]
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One year on from Katrina and Rita
Archbishop of Canterbury to visit China
Archbishop calls for Sustainable Middle East Peace
Churches Urged to Continue Campaign against Casinos
Fair Play – More than a Question of Sport
Iraq’s Christian Population Halved since 2003
Welcome to the autumn edition of Christian Today Digest!
We trust you enjoy a further selection from the Christian Today website, jointly edited by Christian Today and Torch Trust.
How are you enjoying the magazine? We would welcome any comments. We would be interested also to know whether you access the website itself, and if so how you find it. The address is www.christiantoday.com. Please submit any comments to Jill Ferraby at Torch House: jillf@torchtrust.org
God bless you all.
by Maria Mackay
One year on from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Christian relief organisations that played a key role in comforting and supporting victims from the outset look back over the year and celebrate the progress they have made.
With rebuilding efforts well under way, Church World Service (CWS) has been in the Katrina-struck regions of the Gulf Coast from the beginning. Through partnerships with local charities and support organisations it has helped rebuild homes and lives in the hurricane-devastated regions.
The Harrison County Long-Term Recovery Coalition is just one of numerous local recovery organisations that have been funded by CWS in the wake of the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. The funding from CWS – thanks to a grant from Habitat for Humanity – has helped the coalition rebuild many homes including that of Dan Meyers, whose home interior was destroyed by three feet of water.
The Rev Judy Powell Sibley is a United Methodist minister and the head of the CWS-funded St Andrews Mission and Southwest Mississippi Recovery Network.
When Elizabeth Mills had no choice but to remain in her hurricane-damaged home, with its interior destroyed, the recovery group showed up at the door and told her that a volunteer group would start rebuilding her home in the next two weeks.
Rev Sibley shared the grace that had touched the hearts of so many through the recovery operations. “While a hurricane the magnitude of Katrina is nearly unimaginable without seeing the destruction for yourself, it has proven to be so much more than that. The ruined areas such as ours, as well as the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans, have become places of grace where we have seen God’s commandments come to life. We are forever grateful to Church World Service and so many other Christian relief organisations which have helped us – through money, materials and volunteers – and put our love for our neighbours into action.”
Meanwhile, John Robinson who handles the disaster response in the United States for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, said the response of the faith groups to Katrina were the “first US effort of this scale”. So far the group has raised US$23 million to cover its long-term recover work in the Gulf Coast region until at least 2013. “The truth is this will take us beyond 2013,” Robinson said of the funds in The Philadelphia Inquirer. “The process of recovery is long and painful.”
The United Methodist Church also reflected on the work of the past year in rebuilding the lives of so many in the Gulf Coast region.
Thousands of volunteers have served in the cleanup operation through their local congregations and also contributed to work of the General Board of the Global Ministries of UMC through UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
UMCOR has served as a partner with annual conferences in the five affected states, contributing to the organisation of work and serving as the repository and steward of funds contributed to by United Methodists for Katrina aid.
General Secretary of the GBGM, the Rev R Randy Day, said: “Let me take the occasion of the Katrina anniversary to urge United Methodists to be generous in supporting the appeal of our Council of Bishops for the rebuilding and recovery of congregations in the Gulf region. All congregations are part of one church but it is on the local level that we learn to be disciples in mission, equipped by God’s grace and love to respond to the needs of others.”
by Maria Mackay
The Archbishop of Canterbury has announced plans to visit China this autumn in a tour that will cover five cities, including the capital Beijing. The visit comes at the invitation of the senior leadership of the post-denominational Protestant Church in China. Dr Williams’ tour will start in Shanghai on 8th October before he heads further inland, covering five cities in total before the visit’s end on 23rd October.
It is hoped the archbishop’s visit will “provide a deeper understanding of the Church in China and the varied context in which it is developing,” a statement from Lambeth Palace said.
“I am greatly looking forward to my first direct encounter with China. I very much welcome this opportunity to come alongside the Church in China, as well as to gain a fuller appreciation of China’s remarkable development in recent years and its unique cultural heritage. I am most grateful to Presbyter Ji Jianhong, the Chairperson of the National Committee of the Three Self Patriotic Movement, and to Revd Cao Shengjie, the President of the China Christian Council, for their invitation.”
The archbishop’s visit will take in meetings with religious leaders in China, academics, government officials, NGOs and business leaders. The meetings will give fresh insight into the contemporary challenges facing Church and society in China.
Although the programme is still being finalised, Dr Williams’ visit will build on his previous visits in 1983 and 1994.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
God wants to clean your house. He wants to cleanse your temple.
We should be challenged by the words of Apostle Paul.
Under the old covenant, the temple had been either a tabernacle in the wilderness or a building in Jerusalem, but ever since the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the temple moved to ourselves:
Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (John 4:21).
God does not live in a temple. John wrote in Revelation 21:3:
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
Under the new covenant, God lives in our hearts.
What does it mean therefore to clean our temples? It means to clean the inside of our hearts.
We are so careful about cleaning the outside of our bodies. But what about the inside? Is there something that needs to be cleansed inside? The Bible tells us, yes.
When we give our lives to Christ and put our trust in him, we are given clean robes, a new house. He comes in, embraces us, and makes us new again.
Let us not show disrespect to this love, by letting things become dirty again.
Let us prepare our hearts to be accepted by him once again.
by Jennifer Gold
The Archbishop of York held a week-long vigil for peace in August during which he made repeated calls to the international community to work for a resolution to the conflict in the Middle East that will lead to a sustainable peace.
Speaking at the morning Eucharistic service in York Minster, where he spent the week praying, fasting and sleeping in a tent, the Most Revd Dr John Sentamu said, “The events of the past weeks, in the Lebanon, Israel, the United States and Britain have demonstrated that we cannot afford any longer to leave the issues of the Middle East in the pending tray of unresolved business.
“There is no greater recruiting sergeant for would-be Jihadists than the conflict in the Middle East. Without urgent action on our part, for their sakes and our own, the spiral of violence that has lasted longer than the whole of my lifetime – and I am 57 – will continue unabated, as new generations become mired in the enmity of their forefathers. After seven days of fasting and praying I am more persuaded than ever that wars and violence cannot lead to a long-lasting solution. The road to peace is not an easy one, but we need to stick at it. The dividends of peace are incalculably greater than the wages of conflict which have been paid over decades in the Middle East in the countless widows, orphans and displaced peoples produced by conflict.”
The Archbishop also requested that all parties work towards an environment that would produce a sense of inclusion, safety and civic society in Britain.
He said, “We must each and every one of us hold responsibility for seeking peace in our own time, in our own streets and in our own homes as well as continuing to pray for the world... . We must look at our own nation, our own children growing in a society which does not always foster inclusion and generosity as our priority. It is surely fear and anxiety which leads to aggression. We must build a sense of safety. If we seek for others an integrity and legitimacy of civil society, we ourselves must strive to think about our own.”
Dr Sentamu stated at the time that his tent would remain pitched in York Minster as a symbol of the continuing need for prayer until a UN peace keeping force had been placed in Southern Lebanon.
“I continue to invite people to come and to offer prayers of peace in this place for the Middle East, for our nation and for peace in our own hearts.”
* * * * * *
The full text of the Archbishop of York’s statement is shown below:
In our peacemaking efforts the real problem is not one of re-inventing the wheel. The danger is re-inventing the flat tyre. This kills. I have always known that violence is not on, and after seven days of fasting and praying I am more persuaded than ever that wars and violence cannot lead to a long-lasting solution. Hate cannot defeat hate; the only way to overcome an enemy is to make them a friend.
I have been humbled by the thousands of people – of faith and of no faith – who have supported me over the past seven days with their presence, prayers and solidarity. With all these people I want to raise my voice and declare, like the Psalmist, that human life is too valuable and fragile. Each of those who have been killed were “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Why then is their life cheapened by those who control suicide bombers, Katusha rockets, airstrikes and gunships?
At the end of one of our hourly prayer sessions a five-year old lad, visibly upset, came up to me with his mother and said, “Thank you for what you are doing. I am very upset with all the killings. Why didn’t they get it sorted by talking?”
A teenager asked, “Why didn’t God stop it? Where was He when people were killing each other?”
“He was being violated,” I replied to her. “God was being violated. Do you remember Elijah and the wind, the earthquake and fire?”
“Yes,” she said. “God was not in them, but in a gentle, still voice.”
God’s voice is to be heard in the voice of an eight-year old Lebanese girl, injured and orphaned who had lost her eye in an airstrike, and in the voice of an eighty-five-year-old Israeli woman, sick, poor and unable to move out of reach of the Katusha rockets.
Where is God? Surely he is being violated with those who are damaged by the consequences of violence and being diminished with those who enact it.
The road to peace is not an easy one, but we need to stick at it. The dividends of peace are incalculably greater than the wages of conflict which have been paid in the Middle East in the countless widows, orphans and displaced peoples produced by conflict.
The continuing tragedy makes demands of us all and underlines the need to find peacemakers and mediators from the international community who will work for conflict resolution.
With the Archbishop of Canterbury I believe that one of the middle-to-long-term issues for any UN intervention will be, what kind of peace is expected to emerge now that a cease fire has been negotiated – who takes responsibility for anything that looks like a “common security” solution preserving the integrity and legitimacy of civil society and government in Lebanon and giving no possible handle to the rhetoric of groups that challenge Israel’s right to exist?
The events of the past weeks, in the Lebanon, Israel, the United States and Britain have demonstrated that we cannot afford any longer to leave the issues of the Middle East in the pending tray of unresolved business. There is no greater recruiting sergeant for would-be Jihadists than the conflict in the Middle East. Without urgent action on our part, for their sakes and our own, the spiral of violence that has lasted longer than the whole of my lifetime – and I am 57 – will continue unabated, as new generations become mired in the enmity of their forefathers.
The challenge for the international community is to make peace in the Middle East a priority for the sake of us all and to sacrifice their own self-interest in the short term for the prize of sustainable peace.
As in all conflicts, great and small, both sides have acquired supporters and protagonists. We as humans are prone to divide into camps named For and Against. Christians must continue to struggle to find ways to create communities which transcend tribalism, where we strive to love one another as God loves us. We must not give in to the fear which is in all of us but must seek to fan the spark of divine humanity which we all possess.
Today marks not an end but rather a spur to continuing prayer that God’s peace will come. We must not, however, just look across the water and pray for peace in the Middle East, and peace in the world. We must look at our own nation, our own children growing in a society which does not always foster inclusion and generosity as our priority. It is surely fear and anxiety which leads to aggression. We must build a sense of safety. Our Christian calling is to cry out for those who feel outside and to nurture love within. If we seek for others an integrity and legitimacy of civil society, we ourselves must strive to think about our own.
We must each and every one of us hold responsibility for seeking peace in our own time, in our own streets and in our own homes as well as continuing to pray for the world.
I believe that this is why I have been here in the
Minster this week. We must look into our own hearts and at our own demons as
well as seek to help others with theirs. We have in our world the ravenous
demons of idolatry; materialism, militarism and racism whose food is money,
status and power. These demons are like the demons in the boy whose story is
told in the Gospel of Mark chapter 9. Jesus tells his disciples that these
demons cannot be cast out except by prayer and fasting. Some demons have
settled deep within us.
We can nurture love, foster courage and seek wisdom, we can choose not to accept sentimentality, leave foolhardiness unchallenged or lapse into cowardice.
My hope and message to all of us is that in a world of short cuts, deception and death may we seek and find the Way which is of Truth and brings Life.
As a continuing symbol of prayer and hope for the Middle East I will leave my tent, my tent of meeting, erected in St John’s Chapel, with my crosier on the altar, until such time as a peacekeeping force is installed in Southern Lebanon. I continue to invite people to come and to offer prayers of peace in this place for the Middle East, for our nation and for peace in our own hearts.
The Diocese of York.
by Maria Mackay
The Evangelical Alliance has made repeated calls to churches across the country to continue their stand against government plans to build super and regional casinos.
The shortlist of eight possible sites for Britain’s first Las Vegas-style super casino was released in June by the Casino Advisory Panel (CAS), as was the shortlist of 31 applicants for the small and large casinos. Church and resident groups as well as councils that failed to make the shortlist are taking part in an ongoing consultation process that is taking place with CAS on the casinos.
The Evangelical Alliance urged churches to “play their full role in the consultation process”. Gareth Wallace, EA parliamentary officer, added that it was “an opportunity for churches and those who work with problem gamblers to ensure that if their local authority is short-listed they ensure that they are included on the list of those who have to be consulted by casino developers. Concerned churches and Christian groups need to take the initiative in engaging constructively with their local authorities if they want their views to be heard, especially where councils are already committed to casino development.”
Blackpool is current favourite on the shortlist for the regional casino which also includes the Millennium Dome and Glasgow.
Other churches have taken an active stand against the casino plans, particularly the Salvation Army and the Methodist Church which ran a joint campaign that partly led to the government having to make a number of changes to its gambling proposals.
Captain Dean Pallant of the Salvation Army said in the Baptist Times that the church was “relieved” that the government had dropped the number of regional casinos from eight to one but that it remained concerned about the plans. “Christians do have to be very alert,” he said. “They have to keep on speaking out.”
Of particular concern to the Salvation Army is the impact that the casinos will have on the local communities, after research showed that casinos contribute to social problems within the surrounding localities.
The Salvation Army has been particularly vocal in calling on its members and local Christians and concerned citizens to write to their local councillors expressing their opposition to any casinos in their areas. The SA fears that the casinos will worsen Britain’s already growing gambling addiction problem and hit the most vulnerable people in society. “We’ve emphasised throughout that gambling is an addiction and shouldn’t be seen as a pastime.”
by David Spriggs
World Cup fever struck the nation for a few weeks but has now abated. Some of us will issue a sigh of relief, some will be coping with depression and other withdrawal symptoms, and a few thousand players, managers, ground staff and travelling supporters will probably be counting the cost either to their stamina or their bank balances. But in the words of a TV quiz, You think it’s all over, may I suggest that you are likely to be wrong. We shall be dissecting the results, learning of previously obscure players who have joined premier clubs and be seeing replays for many years to come. The World Cup may have been decided but it is far from over!
Almost two hundred years ago William Wilberforce and his allies, as well as his vast army of supporters throughout the United Kingdom, probably breathed a sigh of relief, maybe almost of disbelief, for after 20 years of effort the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill became law in 1807. But the battle to end slavery was far from over and the impact of slavery is still with us, evidenced by the poverty of Africa and the often-felt lack of worth among those whose origins are in slavery. Additionally we are having to face the challenge that there are many forms of slavery still extant around the world.
But neither the continuing legacy of the World Cup nor the continuing struggle against slavery should diminish the sense of achievement behind such events. Next year many Christian organisations and others are joining together to commemorate the achievements of 1807, to share our deep sorrow over the grim realities that in some way or other we are all involved in and to seek to make a difference. The lead is being taken by Set All Free, a group initiated by Churches Together in England, and by Stop the Traffik (to find out more go to www.biblesunday.org and click the relevant place).
For its part, Bible Society is devoting Bible Sunday this year to help churches prepare for the opportunities that 2007 will bring for building relationships with the communities around them as well as the more obvious justice issues.
Bible Sunday invites us to join a chain reaction to transform the world. The Bible’s impact significantly helped to change a nation and end the horror of the slave trade 200 years ago. This year’s Bible Sunday resources explore the powerful words that can unleash the chain reactions which transform lives, laws and countries.
Here is part of that story.
In the late 1700s some senior church leaders tried to use Scripture to justify the slave trade.
Newly converted, and a passionate Christian, William Wilberforce thought otherwise. William Wilberforce was converted in December 1785, after a meeting with his childhood hero, John Newton, author of Amazing Grace and former slave trader himself.
Wilberforce knew the slave trade was totally at odds with the dignity of all people made equally in God’s image. Nor did it fit with the Christian’s responsibility to follow the “Golden Rule” (Matthew 7:12) of treating others as we would have them treat us.
But where was there a source strong enough to battle with the powerful forces of greed and power which wanted to maintain slavery? For Wilberforce, who also became deeply involved in the founding of Bible Society in 1804, the answer lay in Scripture. The Bible had been for him and proved to be for many others, the start of a chain reaction that changed a nation and helped end slavery.
It was a fight that Wilberforce spearheaded for the rest of his career. His vision took wing 22 years after his conversion. In 1807 the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act became law. The chain reaction went on as millions of people across the British Empire were set free through the abolition of slavery just days before Wilberforce’s death in 1833.
Even before Wilberforce, former slaves like Jonathan Strong and James Somerset were among the first to benefit from the work of other Christian campaigners.
Granville Sharp, who became the Bible Society’s first chairman, found Jonathan Strong in London abandoned by his master and suffering from vicious beatings. He secured him treatment at Bart’s Hospital and found work for him, before his former owner tried to re-claim him. Sharp then went to court and won Strong his freedom.
Sharp pursued many cases including that of James Somerset, a slave who escaped to Britain and was then put on a ship back to Jamaica. He won the precedent that “as soon as any slave sets his foot on English ground he becomes free”.
Two centuries ago, Scripture inspired a freed slave, Equiano, to campaign publicly in Britain for the freedom of his own people. As the Bible’s values were given a platform by the abolitionists, the hearts of the powerful were softened.
All of these people encountered the Bible’s chain reaction! So can we.
Bible Society’s free Bible Sunday resources focus on the power of Scripture to first change us, and then turn us into change makers when we hear God speak to us through the Bible’s pages. Under the banner, Chain Reaction: The Awesome Power of the Bible, the pack provides an inspiring, easy-to-use mix of drama, imaginative activities for all ages and a talk.
On the same theme, The Unchaining Word is another free useful resource for mid-week and home groups. It ties in with Bible Sunday and other bicentenary initiatives using the experience of slavery abolitionist pioneers and more contemporary activists. The informative booklet contains practical sessions based on biblical, historical and contemporary material as well as powerful questions and suggestions for action.
Author Sue Hookway says, “If God’s Word could create such radical reform 200 years ago, enabling Christians to ‘out-think’ the world, what changes might it bring to our society and to our lives?”
Fortunately, although the World Cup may be over, the power of the Bible isn’t. This chain reaction is something to celebrate. It’s also something to learn from, as we tackle the many forms of modern slavery – from human trafficking to bonded labour – that still keep generations in grinding poverty.
Go to the website, www.biblesunday.org, or phone 01793 418100 to obtain your free copy of Bible Sunday materials – Chain Reaction, Bible Society’s free resources for Bible Sunday 2006 (29 October). It includes:
· all-age material.
· sermon.
· PowerPoint presentation for youth and all-age.
· song suggestions, including a new hymn from Timothy Dudley-Smith, with specially written music.
· drama.
The Unchaining Word is also available as a free download or for a donation from the same website or phone number.
[David Spriggs has been a Baptist Minister for 20 years ... Previously headed up the Evangelism Department of the Evangelical Alliance ... Now working for Bible Society in various roles relating to the place of the Bible in the mission of the church in England and Wales, currently Bible and Church Consultant ... Author of several books, and many articles mainly on church leadership and growth, prayer and spirituality, the Bible ... Writes regularly for a number of daily Bible reading notes publishers, including, BRF, CWR, IBRA, SU and Living Light. For more information about the Bible Society please click www.biblesociety.org.uk]
(Anon)
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:37)
In an issue of Our Daily Bread, an incident in the life of English evangelist and Methodist leader, George Whitefield (1714-1770), is recorded. On one occasion Whitefield receives a critical letter from one of his accusers. His reply is most notably prompt and to the point: “I thank you heartily for your letter. As for what you and my other enemies are saying against me, I know worse things about myself than you will ever say about me. With love in Christ, George Whitefield.”
Though it may seem a little unforgiving in our eyes, Whitefield’s response does demonstrate a simple and important characteristic of faith. That though we are sinners, God unconditionally loves us, and embraces us. Knowing our faults and insufficiencies, he covers them over with His love.
Inside of us, we have this desire to appear “perfect”. This is a good and natural longing that is precious in the eyes of God ... but the problems arise when we don’t admit to our weaknesses so as to break this “perfect” image. This need to appear perfect always, needs to break down so that we can go before the Lord.
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said “God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. (Luke 18:13-14)
It is hard to accept; that God would forgive us and embrace us, but learning to accept this, building each other up, let us be the ones to serve each other in love.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye”, when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Luke 6:41-42).
by Maria Mackay
The auxiliary bishop of Baghdad has expressed alarm at the huge drop in Christians in Iraq as he warned that the Christian population in the country has halved since the US-led invasion in 2003.
“What we are hearing now is the alarm bell for Christianity in Iraq,” said Chaldean Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Andreos Abouna of Baghdad in a Catholic newspaper, The Universe. He estimates that the community of around 1.2 million Christians prior to the 2003 invasion has dropped to around just 600,000 today. When so many are leaving from a small community like ours, you know that it is dangerous – dangerous for the future of the church in Iraq.”
According to Bishop Abouna, around 75 per cent of Christians in Baghdad had fled the Iraqi capital to escape the daily chaos and outbreaks of sectarian violence. He said that the number of Chaldean Catholics – the largest Christian denomination in Iraq – had dropped from 800,000 to below half a million as they fled the country in search of new lives in Syria, Jordan and Turkey. Many of the Christians now remaining in Iraq were those too poor, old or sick to leave, and even priests and religious leaders were finding it difficult to continue ministering to them.
“It is not easy for them (the priests),” the bishop said. “When they want to travel to other parts of Baghdad, they have to be very careful. They are doing their best to contact the families and bring them to church.”
Bishop Abouna expressed the desire of Christians in Iraq for an end to be found to the violence.
“The constitution and the political developments of the past 18 months or so have not helped at all. Everyone is asking: when will the violence stop? They want to rest. They cannot live like this – every day there are these terrible things.”
Bishop Abouna said that the only thing keeping people going is hope, because “the country is rich but lacking stability”.
“Once the stability returns, the country will rise up again,” he said.
Hope Rwanda ended this past weekend after uniting Christian leaders and churches worldwide for a massive 100-day cooperative effort in Rwanda. The project’s goal was to replace the memories of horror of the 100 days of genocide with “the Hope of Christ.”
Awarding-winning songwriter and worship leader Darlene Zschech and her husband Mark, founders of Hope Rwanda, in an email interview reported about the “overwhelming” success of the project and the embrace that it received from Rwandan churches, Christians in Africa and around the world.
What expectations did you have for Hope Rwanda and how did they compare to the actual events that took place during the 100 days?
Darlene: What has been happening during Hope Rwanda has far exceeded our expectations. Mark and I have been overwhelmed by the fact that Rwandans themselves have embraced the project as their own.
From the opening ceremony onwards, I have truly seen the power of God at work in so many ways. God is definitely on the move in Rwanda.
During the official opening ceremony back in April, my husband Mark, to whom God first gave the vision of Hope Rwanda, gave a simple account of how the Lord had touched his heart for Rwanda, and many were soon in tears. He ended with a prophetic word for the nation from Isaiah 62:1-2, which brought a hush of awe as the implication of the words dawned. Rwanda would no longer be called “Deserted” or “Forsaken by the Lord”, but would be known as the Lord’s Delight. “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you,” Mark prophesied.
There has been such a wonderful display of unity. The project truly has caught the imagination of the Rwandan people. Mark and I are thrilled that the local churches have taken ownership of the vision. As Mark has stated so often, this was never meant to be just another event, but the beginning of a big change for this beautiful nation.
Is this an annual event or a one-time event? If it is annual, then what would you like to keep and what would you like to change or improve next year?
Darlene: When God first spoke to us about Rwanda, we knew we couldn’t do it on our own. But we just felt that with a lot of our friends around the globe, if we just concentrated on one nation for 100 days, we could actually change a nation like Rwanda.
Mark and I were invited to speak to leaders in Washington DC, last year about Hope Rwanda. Again and again, we were told by several people in Washington that this could really be a template for a realistic way of bringing about change – and that’s just amazing to me.
Since that time onwards, the project has just taken on a life of its own. Many of those who have travelled to Rwanda have been so impacted by the people that they have forged life-long friendships with them and they are committing themselves to going back again. The awesome team of builders and tradesmen will be continuing their work with the building of an orphans’ village over a long period of time. Members of the education team are also talking about going back. So many of the church leaders who took teams over to Rwanda are saying that they plan to return to Rwanda to continue what God began during the project.
So Hope Rwanda ended on July 15, but the hope for Rwanda will go on. God has begun something in the hearts of everyone who took part in the project, and that effect will continue well beyond Hope Rwanda.
How was Hope Rwanda received by the people of Rwanda and the government of Rwanda?
Mark: Right at the very beginning, after the vision was clear to us and beginning to generate lots of support, I knew I needed to go back to Rwanda and find out if 100 Days of Hope was really what the Rwandan people wanted. I was introduced to about 20 church leaders from different denominations. These men had been meeting for the last 10 years and I began to share the vision with them. As I spoke, I could see some of these old men with tears in their eyes. They told me, “This is what we have been waiting for – where the Church in Rwanda will help lead the nation.”
Darlene: According to an article in the New Times newspaper in Rwanda, leaders from around the nation are speaking of peace, prosperity, reconciliation and new beginnings. Hope Rwanda has ignited a vision and a passion in the Rwandan people for a better future.
Even the President of Rwanda called it “Our Hope Rwanda”. And the Prime Minister has told some of our team members about the impact Hope Rwanda is having in his country.
The Rwandans themselves call the 100 days of genocide “the time the world forgot us.” The feeling over the last 12 years since the genocide has been that the rest of the world had forgotten them, that we had ignored their plight, that we had turned our back on the over 800,000 Rwandans who were slaughtered over 100 days in 1994. Our aim was to convince them that they are not forgotten. Today Rwandans are telling us that they now feel like they are a part of the global community. I love hearing that.
Were other African nations involved?
Darlene: Yes, we had teams of people from churches in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya go to Rwanda to take part in Hope Rwanda. Also, the 1st lady of Burundi has attended many of the more public gatherings. It is certainly an incredibly exciting project to be a part of.
Can you tell us a little about how the Rwandan churches and Rwandan Christians who helped, were involved?
Darlene: They have been involved from hosting international teams, interpreting for us and the many others from around the world who have travelled to Rwanda; young men are helping the builders, and they have provided venues and transportation for us. They have been supporting us in prayer, even financially. The Rwandan government has contributed to the medical work. The list goes on and on.
What were some of the reactions from Christians around the world who helped? How did they respond to the situation in Rwanda?
Darlene: Many have been overwhelmed by the need ... and after you have visited the memorial site in Kigali, the reality of the absolute hell that took place becomes so incredibly confronting that it is hard to even start to understand what we could possibly do. But the Hope Rwanda project has been having an impact on everyone from western nations going to Rwanda. Ongoing, lifetime relationships have been established. Many people are now planning how they can go back to help their Rwandan friends even more, over an extended period of time. They have seen the real needs over there and their hearts are embracing these beautiful Rwandan people. Joyce Meyer, Delirious?, other church leaders and worship teams, medical teams etc have committed already to long term relationships.
What is your reflection? What did you learn from this experience?
Darlene: My heart is actually still completely overwhelmed, but I have learned that people are people – same kinds of dreams, same desire to live a life of some sort of eternal value, mums want their children to flourish, dads want their children to be educated and immunised ... and fed more than once a day. And the basic cry of humanity is the same – we all want to be loved and valued. But so many on the earth have to fight each day just to survive, rather than live, and we are desperate to be part of bringing the answer. 30,000 children are dying every single day of mostly preventable disease. It is an injustice of insane proportions and needs to be addressed now!
[Editor’s Note: Christian Today correspondent, Michelle Vu, conducted this interview]
by Maria Mackay
Christian humanitarian and development agency, Tearfund, has called on the Christian community to pressure the government to make spearhead efforts to tackle the growing impact of climate change on the developing world.
According to the agency, the world’s poorest communities are those suffering the most from the impact of climate change more than western countries.
The impact of changing rainfall patterns and increasingly extreme weather events such as floods and drought are being felt the most severely by some of the most underprivileged communities in the world.
And according to the World Health Organisation, 150,000 people die every year as a direct result of climate change, and the vast majority of these are in the developing world.
Tearfund’s Advocacy Director, Andy Atkins, has responded to the development by writing to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, David Miliband MP, urging him to take urgent action.
The humanitarian agency has called on Christians to join this campaign by writing to Mr Miliband echoing Tearfund’s call for action.
Tearfund is also urging Christians to lobby the government in the run-up to the meeting of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Partners (COP) to take place in Nairobi in November.
Paul Cook, Tearfund’s Head of Policy, said: “Climate change is already damaging the fight against poverty and if urgent action is not taken at the COP in Nairobi, then precious advances will be lost. Tearfund has written to David Miliband and I would urge all Christians concerned for their neighbours to do the same.
“The UK government must take a lead in helping poor communities adapt to climate change as well as doing all we can to limit the future devastation that will be unleashed if we don’t rapidly reduce our carbon emissions.”
Tearfund is making three key demands in the lead up to the COP.
· that the Kyoto Protocol agreement on reducing carbon emissions, which ends in 2012, will be renewed and improved.
· that the government uses its influence to help poor communities adapt to climate change. The Least Developed Country Fund and the Special Climate Change Fund need more finance. In addition, a Programme of Work to help countries adapt to climate change must get more funding.
· for adaptation to climate change to be central to all future development work.
by David Spriggs
You can’t go far without seeing one, and you can’t buy much without it having used one. I am referring to “containers” those huge metal boxes that you see stacked at dock sides and rushing down the motorways on flat bed lorries.
It was yesterday that I first heard what an impact they have had on the world. Until then, although I’ve seen them around, I hadn’t realised how important they are. According to the radio programme I was listening to as I drove home (thankfully not stuck behind a container lorry) they have had as great an impact as the IT revolution. Mind you, it’s not simply the containers themselves; it’s a whole integrated transport system: trains and lorries, cranes for handling them, special ships for their sea passage by the hundred and so on, right to the end of the supply chain. Instead of 50,000 dockers in New York, they now require only 2,500, and working conditions have greatly improved. Goods, like bottles of wine, shoes or furniture are handled far less times. So, the transport time as well as direct costs are vastly reduced. Theft has been greatly reduced as well. Factories can be located far away from the docks and even in other countries. Without them globalisation as we know it would not have been possible. And all I thought until yesterday when I saw one was “What an ugly nuisance to be stuck behind” or on a good day, “There go more articles to purchase”! Now I know these rather despised objects have changed our world.
Which brings me to my favourite subject: the Bible. Most homes in our country have one, but it isn’t highly prized by most, in fact it’s far less likely to be read than the Ikea catalogue! Most people regard the Bible as archaic and boring. Many regard it as an ugly nuisance – with all its demands and commands. A lot consider it is confusing, finding it very difficult to make sense of, even when it is in a newer translation, because where are you supposed to start and how do you find the right bit to help you, should you want to do so?
In fact, of course, it’s the book that has probably changed the world more than any other. You needn’t take my word for it.
Through this Bible ... English became the ruling tongue of two world empires ... The Bible has had more impact on the ideology of the last four centuries than any other creed, manifesto or dogma ... The publication of the Bible in English and its reach ... enabled there to be common debate and discussion. This undoubtedly helped lay the ground for democracy. (Melvyn Bragg, 12 books that changed the world, Hodder and Stoughton 2006, p272).
If we stay with this quote for a minute it has remarkable parallels to the container story I outlined above. Take just two factors Bragg mentions: the spread of the English language and the establishment of democracy. Without them globalisation as we know it would hardly be possible. Often it is English which enables people from different countries to communicate, because their birth language might be Mandarin or Welsh, Urdu or French, but frequently they will all speak English. Often it is democracy and the commercial enterprises it has spawned which enable the interchange of goods, cultures and peoples which is part at least of the globalisation process.
But like the containers it’s not simply the objects themselves, it’s the whole systems that have grown up around the Bible that count. Much of our music, art, law, education and politics owe inestimable amounts to the Bible. Many of our finest institutions and customs have grown out of the lifetime’s work of people who have been shaped and influenced by the Bible in profound ways. Yet like the one to whom ultimately the Bible witnesses, it is despised and rejected! What a tragedy.
This is where Christian Today comes in. We are all part of that complex system which gives effect to the Bible. At Bible Society we speak of “A credible Church needing a credible Bible and a credible Bible needing a credible Church”. We are passionate about seeking to get the Bible back into the heart of our “Britishness” to use a current phrase. We want to see a world where the wisdom and inspiration of the Bible is nourishing every individual and each community. We have undertaken several fascinating experiments to see how this might be accomplished. One of the early ventures was with Vogue magazine. We wondered whether they would reject our overture out of hand. They were cautious to begin with but were soon engaged at a deep level. We held Bible Studies with their creative team who became extremely captivated by the parables of Jesus. One of them even admitted that fashion had lost its soul and wondered if it might be the Bible which could help them find it again. The outcome was that they published a fashion shoot retelling the story of the “prodigal daughter”, completely in their style, mainly photographs not words, beautifully constructed scenes and so on, but through this projecting into many a doctor’s waiting room as well as tens of thousands of homes some of the key moments of that story.
We are encouraged to think that people’s negative stereotyping of the Bible can be changed. But we know it will take far more than we at Bible Society alone can contribute. It will require every Christian to become part of an integrated system so that together we are living out the reality of the Bible, the good news of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, and so impacting people all around us all the time with the sense that this book which changed the world once, can change us all and our world again. Our world, as well as each individual in it, needs saving by God. This book is his chosen vessel for renewing the church and transforming the world, not by itself, but by a Spirit-empowered body of believers who take it seriously and offer it creatively and authentically to the world.