They gave to anyone as he had need

I came across an interesting post about the giving attitude of the early Church, from a random(ish) blog I've found (I think via a blog application on Facebook - I guess more of these applications are useful than I first thought). I've always wondered why modern-day churches that pride themselves on their sound Bible teaching and indepth knowledge of the Bible don't look much like this... In contrast, it seems it was the early Christians' gut reaction in response to the gospel, once they had begun living as a part of the family of God. What a challenge to those of us that believe!

Community spirit

Looking at one of the free papers lying around the house, the front of the Sentinel caught my eye. A nice friendly picture of lots of people outside a few houses with the caption 'Good neighbours'. A close in Worthing where people had got together, closed the road and staged a street party to 'celebrate the area's community spirit'.

Turning to the story on the inside, it was good to read about 'Big Lunch', a nationwide project to get neighbours across the country sitting down together. The pictures are great and demonstrate something that I think deep down a lot of people long for. It just so often seems so hard to get to! Something that looks so hard for us to achieve that it seems the effort isn't worth it. But from the smiles on the people's faces (well, except for the older guy at the front of the photo below!) it looks as though it is worth it.

It also reminded me of conversations I've had with my elderly next door neighbour. Being an atheist, he attached more significance to the solstices than to Christmas and Easter, and I remember that he said he'd like to see people walking through the streets on winter solstice together, and also wanted to see more street parties and people being community together. He went into hospital a few weeks ago, and at that time I was reminded of this desire he had expressed. I wondered whether, if he got better, as a few of us neighbours had been going to see him for a while before he even entered hospital, it might be good to have a BBQ or picnic, just to for him to experience what he longed for. Alas, last week he moved to St. Barnabas House, a hospice in Worthing, told he's not going to walk again. Seeing him tonight, unfortunately it seems he probably doesn't have long left at all. Having got to know him this last 18 months, it's reemphasised in my mind, that there are people nearby who are lonely, as he has been since his best friend, who he cared for at home for about a decade, died about two years ago. We don't know how long people will be around, and with him there was a sense that I got too know him too late to really make that strong a friendship.

As I said, he is an atheist, which means something at my very core is starkly different from how it is with him. And yet we seem to have such similar desires in many respects. I really want to explore what community is, to see neighbourhoods transformed and for people to grow together and to discover more of how life is supposed to be. I don't think this is just some massive coincidence, I believe it's because deep down we have an inbuilt desire to live in community, to have relationship. Whilst there is a part of us that is selfish and greedy, at our core we long to be relational. I believe that is because we are made in the likeness of God. God, although one, has been in community since before time began. The father, the son, the spirit, entwined in relationship, in a communion with each another. And so, for mankind, formed by Him in His image, that longing is there, waiting to be fulfilled. I want to experience it, to be a part of it, and I hope that I will continue to find it, in whatever shape and size, throughout this lifetime and into the next!

Bradford and Leeds week - the East End Park community

After Saturday off it came to my final day in Yorkshire, and it was great to be able to meet up with Andrew Grinnell. It was through a lot of what he said at Roots last year that my thoughts came together about this, well, desire to serve the poor I guess. His Forgotten 5% presentations about the work of NEO Salvation Army centres in particular (an area of ministry for which he has overall control), demonstrated the stark need of many areas and pulled at my desires and many of the things I had been thinking about during my time in south London.

We met for a chat and a coffee and then headed back to his local area, East End Park, which apparently is in the bottom 7% of areas in the UK as measured by the Indices of Multiple Depravation. If it's that high I wouldn’t like to see those places below it. Row after row of back-to-back housing, which, to give a picture, unless you're at the end of the terrace then you're surrounded by three houses. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure you could fit about least three of these houses in my back garden. Windows boarded up, metal grids on most windows and doors, unswept streets and nowhere for anyone to play except for where a few houses had been knocked down.

One girl we passed was a friend of Andrew’s daughter and was sitting outside playing with a few friends. He told me how his daughter was shocked going round her house and discovering she had no toys, and set about trying to get her some. The starkest thing for me was seeing one boy walking through a field on his own, wearing, on Easter Sunday, his school uniform. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but if someone has to wear their school uniform in the middle of the holidays then just how little must that family have?

We spoke about the possibility of me going there myself next year, and it seemed like it wasn’t necessarily the best option, but still a possibility. If nothing else it was good to have an idea of just how stark poverty can be in the UK. As Andrew said to me it’s nothing when compared to Africa, but when you see the relative luxury we have in many parts of the UK, it really does beggar belief how places like this can exist. I really pray that Andrew and the other Christians living in the community can bring the light of God into such a dark place and that He will be glorified on that estate.

Bradford and Leeds week - Caleb

Good Friday’s outing was to a cafe which runs every Friday and is for people at various stages of giving up drink and/or drugs. Throughout the week Caleb offers community rehabilitation to a group of people that are signed up, helping them through the trials they come across. Using the 12.5 steps project (like the 12 steps process used by AA but with a forgiving others section in it), they take step after step towards being free from addiction. Chatting to the guys there, it was refreshing to see just how normal so many of them are, how they were easy to chat to, friendly and not in my mind any kind of second class citizen. Quite a few of the volunteers there had been through the system themselves and were now wanting to give something back. The woman who showed me round said she’d been free of heroin and alcohol for quite a while now, but that coming along still and volunteering were really important as it is often the boredom and lack of anything to replace the previous routine that leads to lapses. It was just so good to see how many people really enjoyed coming along, and how many people want to help out those who’d been through the same as they had.

It was made even better by the fact I won a game of dominoes, plus a bit of Easter card making was great for me to give something to Caroline and Craig as part of a thank you for having me. It was also great to see guys who might often feel they don’t have much to give their kids and relatives something, being able to create something of their own in the hope of showing a bit of love to their dearest. Have a read through some of the testimonies - it'll make you day.

Bradford and Leeds week - erm... Newark

OK, so it's not exactly Bradford and Leeds (in fact it's over an hour and a half away on the train), but it's in 'the North' (as it is so helpfully signposted on motorways) so I thought I'd take the chance to go and have a look. The Salvation Army in Newark is led by more relatives, Uncle Tim and Auntie Jo (Justice), and they have been there about six years now (I think). In that time they've seen the corps grow, and they have a real focus on the things that are important. Jo herself said that they've tried to ensure that the focus is always on the Word and on God rather than anything periphery, which can often be the case in the Salvation Army, just as in any other church.

Tim showed me around the centre of town first of all, close to where their current hall is located. A rural market town, I was impressed by the town square, surrounded by trendy coffee bars and independent sandwich shops, with the market stalls in action and the spire of the Anglican church towering over. Apparently lots of civil war stuff happened here too, but that was before my time...

Currently, whilst their hall is the base for weekday things, their Sunday meetings happen round the corner in a local school hall. They also have a charity shop in an estate a little way out on an apparently-deserted parade of shops, but it brings in a healthy stream of income so someone must be going there!

I came down because Tim had asked me about what I was doing next year and whether I had any plans. Having spoken to Jo about my ideas and dreams at Christmas time they must have wondered whether I wanted to come to Newark to help put some of those things into practice and to learn about working in a church and its surrounding community. There were so many positive things that they spoke about and the hopes and ambitions they had were really enthusing and inspiring.

They should soon be taking over a community centre (pictured above) in an estate outside the centre. which would provide another base, and could accommodate kids clubs, a luncheon club, youth work and many other activities. This would be particularly useful, not only to expand their influence on the communities in Newark, but also because they have recently sold their hall and are planning on building a new one. Moving out to a new bit of land on the outskirts in a place called Balderton, plans are in place for a brand new steel structure building with meeting hall and plenty of facilities for day-to-day activities.

Finally, I was struck by their outlined plans for the next four years, under the banner of 'Going for Gold' (tying into the 2012 theme). I won't type the whole thing up, but their key aims were to be praying, welcoming, saving, nurturing, participating and Kingdom-focused.

It was great to pray with them when I left. I don't know exactly where I'm going these next few months and years and neither do they. We can make our best plans, we need them and there's nothing wrong with them, but if they are not God's plans then they are worthless and will be fruitless. So it is my prayer that both myself and them will seek God and do his will. God bless them in all the work they are doing for Him.

*****

As you can probably tell, I've taken to putting pictures in my blog posts, which hopefully makes them a bit more exciting. So I thought I'd try and find a picture of the hall, or where the new one would be built, but having spent ages looking all I could come up with is a screenshot of Google Maps. Enjoy...

Bradford and Leeds week - Holme Christian Community

Following on from my trip to CAP, I went along to Holme Christian Community (HCC), which is just down the road from where I'm staying and from the Salvation Army. HCC has an impressively varied programme of activities, with something for pretty much anyone in the community. In addition to their City Lights ministry, there's a cafe, a play centre, 'The Edge' youth club, a handyman service, training, an over-55s 'youth club', a financial advice centre, a management consultancy and an employment agency, and then you've got the church services and all that comes with that.

I was able to have a look around and get some ideas for what I could do if I moved to the area. HCC is particularly appealing because of the variety of the things they do. My annoyance with most churches is that they only really cater for under-18s and over-60s, with perhaps something for middle-aged women if you're lucky. But HCC is trying to impact everyone in their community, and that's a really great thing. It's great to see the difference they are making and to imagine the lives that have been and are being changed by God's power at work in them.

Bradford and Leeds week - Bradford Holmewood Salvation Army

Having spent Sunday morning relaxing (I'd had a whole week of Bible talks so I gave myself the morning off!), I spent an enjoyable time at Bradford Holmewood Salvation Army, which my aunt Caroline heads up, supported by my uncle Craig and 18-month year old cousin Edie, amongst others! It comes under the banner of NEO (New Expressions Of...) Salvation Army, which you can find out more about here.

Nice and chilled out on sofas, Caroline gave a talk about how we respond to Jesus in our everyday lives - are we like those praising Him on Palm Sunday, or like those denying Him later in the week or condemning Him on Good Friday? We also sung a few songs and watched a short video clip, in addition to creating a palm leaf, writing our praise on it and sticking it to the cross. It was really great to be there.

There's a lot of good stuff going on during the week at 'The Sally Bash', as it's known to the locals. Lots of youth clubs, kids clubs, and activities for the over-60s, despite having quite a small membership it is having a great impact on the community.  When they arrived there was only a small gathering on a Thursday night, in addition to a reasonable community programme. In the three years since arriving they've seen the community programme expand and many different ministries are currently in place, plus the main meeting has moved to a Sunday afternoon, with Bible studies and many other things coming through. It's my prayer that their ministry will be blessed, that it'll be guided by God and be everything that he wishes it to be, that the community will be amazingly impacted by them and the other Churches nearby, to the glory of God.