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THEBAPTISTTIMES

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Why we have to love our neighbour

THIS IS the peak of the silly season:this weekend is the last bank holiday before Christmas and most people’s thoughts are on relaxing rather than working. With church programmes on hiatus,homegroups taking a breather and ministers enjoying rare Sundays off,we could almost be forgiven for taking it easy before launching headfirst into the busy autumn period: harvest,Alpha,inductions,preparing for Christmas and even thinking about next year’s summer holiday. But the news – ugly alpacas,backwards-running races and weather stories aside – has remained grim. Iraq and Afghanistan remain flashpoints,where violence and civil war are continuing to bring misery to thousands. Flash floods have killed hundreds in Ethiopia,while more flooding has hit North Korea and the worst drought for 50 years is affecting 18 million people in China.It brings our recent deluge into sharp focus. All this is clamouring for our attention,support and help.It is certainly no silly season for those caught up in such disasters. It’s also no silly season for those working in our airports.Last week,we reported the recent bomb scare and how chaplains have been at the forefront, supporting passengers and helping maintain a sense of calm during the long delays. The story also contained a call to reach out to our local Muslim communities.It was made by the Rt Revd Michael Evans,one of the presidents of the Christian Muslim Forum.As it turns out,the call seems to be prophetic – news that two innocent Muslims were removed from a flight because they ‘looked dodgy’– according to passengers – is a worrying turn. It should come as no surprise that the two men were innocent,but current security fears meant that the captain was forced to react to the other passengers who ‘were very panicky and in tears’. In times of crisis,it’s easy to demonise our enemies: we’ve fought the Frogs,the Krauts and,of course, Johnny Foreigner.We propagated segregation with weasel words like ‘no coloureds’.Now it appears we are trying to do the same with our Muslim communities. The war on terror is in danger of being boiled down to simple discrimination:if they’re wearing a burka, they’re a terrorist.This appalling – and offensive – logic feeds our desire to have an enemy.Fear breeds and allows us to do despicable things as a result. During the recent Middle East crisis,reports of antisemitic violence here rose.It can only be a matter of time before we hear of similar race hate attacks on our Asian citizens. And that’s why we have to take a different approach. When Christ said ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’,He gave no get-out clause.He illustrated what He meant through the parable of the Good Samaritan. There has never been a better time to love our neighbours.We cannot let fear change our mindsets. Welcome Jonathan WHILELeading Edge can only be considered a washout in terms of the weather,heavy downpours and a couple of tornadoes didn’t dampen the atmosphere of the ever-popular family week. Now that the tents have been dried and the camping stoves packed away,the week could become a distant memory.But leaders hope there was much in the week to inspire and challenge participants to bring about change and renewal in our churches. This year’s Edge will be remembered for something else too:the welcome of the Revd Jonathan Edwards as he prepares for his new role of BUGB general secretary. Campers prayed for Mr Edwards on Sunday,joined by churches all across the country.They were following a call from the President,the Revd Dr Kate Coleman. In this week’s issue,Mr Edwards challenges us to take prayer seriously.As he prepares to start his new role next week,we need to continue to pray for him,his family and our wider Baptist family. He starts his ministry at an interesting point in Church history – and he has an unenviable task of taking our denomination into the future.Let us look on this new era with faith and optimism.

THEBAPTIST TIMES Thursday,August 24,2006

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Support reconciliation 􏰁􏰁 The Council of Christians and Jews would commend The Baptist Times for its understanding and sensitive approach to the conflict in Lebanon. The conflict has been very tragic with great suffering on all sides. It has been a major setback for peace in the region at a time when the situation was beginning to look more hopeful. We believe that the Christian response must be to seek and pursue peace. The churches are uniquely able to speak to both sides and help each hear the pain of the other, which is a first step to moving forward. We are particularly concerned about the well-being of the Jewish community in this country. Since the conflict began there has been a significant rise in the number of antisemitic incidents. About 90 such incidents were reported in July, by comparison with only 30 in July of last year. We ask all Christians to take note of this and temper their comments accordingly, whatever their political opinions.ChristianJewish relations have made great progress in the UK and are a source of hope and encouragement for all of us. In these very difficult times, we ask all concerned to make every effort to sustain them and support our work of reconciliation. David Gifford, Acting Chief Executive The Council of Christians and Jews Holiday clubs and following-up 􏰁􏰁 I was interested to read the article on holiday clubs (August 10) and,though I understand the sentiments about children then having high expectations of church after the fun of a club, I was disappointed at the rather negative conclusions. I have been involved with many clubs and they can have a tremendous effect on children and the life of a church if they are not simply seen as a one-off. The church in Coverdale was closed for several years until 1999 when, after a holiday club, services recommenced with a midweek children’s club. The church I now serve in Radcliffe, Manchester,was essentially a church for the elderly until – in 2001 – we ran our first holiday club. It was followed by a midweek club which is effectively kids’church. Several families have now joined the church as a result. Now working with other churches in Radcliffe we planned three holiday clubs in different parts of town.The second club we ran last year was followed up with a new midweek club and the third, which ran two weeks ago will also be followed up with a new midweek club in an area where there is currently no church presence. It essential that we do not see holiday clubs as our annual foray into children’s work and expect to see the nation converted as a consequence. The task is much bigger and needs to be a regular input into the lives of children. A small church that does not have adequate people resources could team up with other churches in the area or ask for help from larger churches. The opportunity is too great to miss.

Then, of course, we do need to ask ourselves that other vital question – are our Sunday worship times really that boring? Probably! So do something about it! The Revd Trevor Rowe, via e-mail

A welcome call to prayer 􏰁􏰁 I am so pleased that Jonathan Edwards is calling us as a denomination to prayer. For some time now Christians in this area of South London have been hearing this call across the denominations. Some of these prayer groups only have four or five folk in them, some are prayer triplets or prayer duplicates – whatever they are they are meeting regularly and the group I attend in a local Baptist church in Carshalton has now been running for some five years, once a week, at 4.30pm on a Wednesday. Obviously those working far a field i.e.in the City cannot make this but some four of us have. We began by praying for the outreach of the local church, this moved on to praying for a Christian imprisoned in Belfast through wrongful accusation. We prayed earnestly about these two matters – the local outreach to the neighbourhood and the release of the lady in prison in Belfast.What a great day it was when we heard that she had been vindicated and released – it did not end there – she visited us in Carshalton and we had a memorial meeting up with her locally to rejoice in the Lord having answered prayer. Yes, Jonathan, keep up this challenge for us all to pray. Ron F Granger, Carshalton

Spend time with your children 􏰁􏰁 Having read the recent correspondence re: life in the manse, we feel sorry for those who are entering their first pastorate or beginning the path of ministerial training have children or contemplating having children.They must be having second,third or fourth thoughts. Having enjoyed both ministry and children – the latter, by God’s grace, have made their own personal commitment to our Lord – can we make the following comments observations? They are not all

A well-run holiday club can breathe new life into churches, writes Trevor Rowe (see ‘Holiday clubs and following-up’)

original,as some were given to us. • Make sure you spend time with your children from day one (even delay the start of meetings in the manse to say goodnight to them. • Don’t confuse what God wants with what the church wants/expects • Churches, please note children of the manse are very human – as are their parents. • When difficulties do arise in the fellowship, remember the ones causing the problems are usually a very small minority. They may be bullies as such need to be exposed, whether they are members, deacons or minister. And both regional ministers and future potential leaders need to be aware of the situation. A further thought, ministers have support through fraternals, their spouses through local groups and Connexion – but what support do we offer the children of the manse? We don’t know the answer but perhaps those readers who have been in that position come through it may be able to advise us as to how to help so prevent/reduce another generation of leadership children growing up rejecting the Church/God/parents. Our comments/observations are not exclusive to manse children, as deacons/ elders children can also face difficulties. To quote one person, ‘If you are seven and your dad’s not there it doesn’t matter whether he is in the pub or the church he is not with you’! Ken and Maureen Reynard, Belper

Who’s who? 􏰁􏰁 Apart from the shadowy figure on the right of your picture (‘400 years of ministry experience’, August 10), I can count eight people more than you have listed as being in the photograph. Do they not have names, or is their contribution to those 400 years of so little account that no-one has bothered to find out who they are? It couldn’t simply be a case of male chauvinism,could it? Gill Barker, Sawston, Cambridgeshire

The editor welcomes all correspondence. Your letters have more chance of being published if they are short and to the point. We reserve the right to edit letters.

send your letter on-line:www.baptisttimes.co.uk/letters

Elvis has left the service IT DOESN’Thappen often, but this week seems to have been a week when popular culture and the church have collided – twice. It’s not often that pop icons inspire worship in a church, but Beattie’s heard of two examples this week. In Cornwall last week, Elvis impersonator Johnny Cowling had more than 1,000 churchgoers rocking in the aisles of Truro Cathedral. ‘It was a fantastic service. We’ve tried country music and classical composers but never Elvis,’ said Truro Cathedral’s Cannon Perran Gay. Most of Johnny Cowling’s songs were Elvis’s best known Gospel songs – Crying in the

BEATTIE’S Diary

Chapel , Peace in the Valley and His hand in Mine . ‘There was a very spiritual side to Elvis Presley,’ Canon Gay said. ‘In my sermon I referred to the late “king” of rock’n’roll as the young rebel in the parable about the Prodigal Son. ‘He squandered his heritage but never lost faith in his father.’ After Truro’s success, other churches are considering the Presley approach to boost the numbers in their congregations.

The US-born pastor of Elim Lighthouse Church in Bicester, Oxfordshire, the Revd Dennis Niziol, told the Church Times the crooning sounds of Elvis songs will form part of the local area festival to be celebrated in the place of worship in September. ‘It’s a bit of fun,’ said Mr Niziol. ‘I’ll wear an Elvis wig and dark glasses.’ Hmmn, Beattie thinks it sounds great, as long as the churchgoers end up worshipping the right King…

It’s not unusual MINDSwere more suspicious of a Tom Jones church in California however. Beattie heard last week that pastor Jack Stahl, who leads the church dedicated to the Welsh sex symbol, has had to deny using religion in vain. Stahl says his voice, which he calls ‘soulful, spiritual and supernatural’ helps him to contact God. He uses Jones’ music in baptisms, marriages, funerals and exorcisms. ‘I’m using his voice to get in touch with God and there’s nothing wrong with that,’ he said. And what does the man himself think? ‘It’s weird, but a positive thing,’ said Mr Jones. ‘I inspired Pastor Jack. He saw the light through me, so it works.’
THEBAPTISTTIMES Thursday,August 24,2006

comment • 9

When we should let children take communion Outside edge

SARAH PARRY

ALITTLE while ago, I brought the junior church children back into the service for a blessing while the adults had communion. One of the adults came to me afterwards to say it was wrong to bring the children in. That comment acted like a bit of grit, irritating my feelings.Jonathan Edwards once said,‘The kind of religion that God requires and will accept does not consist in weak,dull, and lifeless “wouldings” – these weak inclinations that lack convictions – that raise us a little above indifference.’ He believed that the work of the Holy Spirit makes us fervent in spirit and passionate in our feelings which become a springboard to action. The whole area of children and communion started off as a ‘woulding’ for me,but has become something I passionately want to do something about. There are guidelines in the CofE that allow children to have communion before confirmation. Incumbents can adopt them for their parish with the agreement of the diocesan bishop.This follows on from infant baptism. As many Baptist churches have moved away from closed communion and closed membership which required people to be baptised believers for entry,the question now being asked is:can children have communion before baptism if they exhibit signs of true faith? And if not can they belong to the proceedings at some level? It is clear that children need to be initiated into the community’s practices and often come to faith through a congregational community. When can we help them belong and become what God wants them to be? As Nigel Wright points out, children and adults are part of the ‘catechumenate’ – coming under the teaching and direction of the community of faith,and moving towards their own confession and expression of faith. They are also children of the promise in Acts 2:39: ‘The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.’ This promise includes the gift of the Holy Spirit. We know the Holy Spirit is at work in us before we make a profession of faith, before we ask for forgiveness of sins, because we can’t do such things without the Spirit. This is important.

SHAUN LAMBERT

Open line

‘Communion as a remembering and retelling ofthe Gospel story should be an event that has an evangelistic edge’

If children are believers and have received baptism, then clearly they should receive communion.But what about other children? As John Colwell tells us, communion should be our greatest sign and expression of unity and not a tragic expression of our disunity. In Stanmore, we practice open membership and open communion. Any attending adult who professes faith can receive communion.They are not required to have been baptised by full immersion or be church members to take part. If we are to be consistent, children showing signs of true faith should be able to participate within designated boundaries. One of the arguments against children being baptised is that they might wish they had delayed it to a later time, when they understood it more fully. But the same argument doesn’t follow with communion. Bruner’s spiral theory of learning has been usefully applied to children. The child continually builds on what they have already learnt. This is how we should come back to communion – going deeper each time (we also need to find ways of helping people go deeper into their baptismal vows). I think children should be present as the community takes communion – and those showing signs of true faith should be able to participate with parental approval. The others can receive a blessing. The presence of children at communion is important for other reasons. They are members of the catechumenate –

it is a rite of passage they need to be initiated into with appropriately accessible language. Communion, as a remembering and retelling of the Gospel story, should be an event that has an evangelistic edge. It can be given an appropriate edge for children. As children of the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can trust the Spirit to be at work in the giving of the bread and wine, and the remembering of the Gospel story.We can trust the Holy Spirit to mediate God’s presence and wisdom and insight and understanding to children as well as adults. Children do not need to have an adult understanding of the Lord’s Supper before they can be blessed by God. There is a mystery at its heart: we need to make this attractive and intriguing, rather than skirted round or dumbed down.Symbols are often a powerful way of communicating with children. So let us not exclude children from the Lord’s Supper but include them as those who need to be evangelised and taught. Let’s include them as children of the promise trusting the Holy Spirit to mediate God’s presence. But underneath it all,let this issue not be a weak, dull and lifeless ‘woulding’, a little bit above indifference. Let it be passionately pursued and debated and enacted with all the love and energy and passion that Jesus put into dying on the Cross for us in the first place. The Revd Shaun Lambert is minister of Stanmore Baptist Church, Middlesex

IHAD TOchuckle as I listened to Radio 4 last week. Not because immigration law being broken is in itself funny (although…), but because of the delicious irony. For years I have listened to friends and acquaintances, mostly foreigners, complain about how they have given their details to recruitment agencies who have promised to pass them on to potential employers, ultimately hearing nothing. So, as I listened to recruitment agencies telling, with the frustration and incredulity I usually hear in my friends, how details about illegal foreign applicants that they have given to the Immigration Service have been ignored without so much as a follow-up phone-call, I had to laugh. I was sure that many of my friends, if they were listening, would either be whooping triumphantly or at least asking what it was about recruitment agencies that made any information they passed on so very unpalatable? The item on Radio 4, an exposé of Immigration Service policy not to detain or charge those working illegally in Britain, was told with a tone of moral outrage.

JONATHAN LANGLEY

Newsweek

The little book ofhealth

It tracked one illegal foreign worker as another documentary might track Osama Bin Laden. In hushed voice, the quarry’s house was described, along with plans for clandestine recordings which would hopefully catch the evil-doer out. Was the subject in question a drug-dealer? An arms-trader perhaps? Um, no. He’s a carer. The report told with horror that he sometimes cared for vulnerable adults in their own homes. What? A foreigner? Without the proper papers? Caring for a decent British-born man or woman? It makes my blood boil. No,wait,it doesn’t. Because, while the individual was clearly breaking the law (and I am aware of the arguments giving moral weight to legal transgressions), if he was doing

his job, I fail to see how this should worry me. Is he less capable of caring,of carrying responsibility because he wasn’t born here or lacks the proper visa? Or is it that you cannot trust someone willing to work illegally? If it were not for the fact that many illegal immigrants are escaping economic hardship most of us cannot imagine, I might be more willing to judge. So why is there a difference in approach? Do those born here really feel that they are fundamentally different from those who are not? The attitude has its amusing side. When I first arrived in this country as a foreigner I had to prove with chest X-rays that I was not a TB carrier. My wife, who had also never

set foot outside Africa but had a British passport, did not. That little burgundy book apparently has amazing healing powers. Why not give Aids sufferers citizenship instead of antiretrovirals? Ah, but that would encourage immigration. That would be bad. The Tories last week wheeled out the ageing spectre of immigration in the form of ‘new EU countries’whose citizens will come and steal our jobs, causing unemployment (why foreigners would naturally find it easier to find jobs than British people I’ve never understood). The Independent (hardly a right-wing paper) also revealed that proposed new anti-terror measures like detention without trial might also be used against (gasp!) British citizens. The revelation was meant to be shocking. It is. But what is more shocking is the assumption that the human rights of foreigners are somehow worth less than those of British citizens. That may be justifiable from a secular perspective, but can Christians see arbitrary national borders as acceptable barriers to justice, the sharing of wealth or opportunity? If not, then do we have a duty to challenge our politicians and media about it?

What not to wear? What not to say?

MY NEW SOURCEof amusement is watching television with the subtitles on.Try it sometime. It can add clarity or surprise to the dullest of programmes,but it’s the live programmes that you really want to catch. In this speed-spelling world things change unexpectedly: ‘champagne’becomes ‘sham pain’,‘nuance’‘knew ants’.It makes compelling viewing. I don’t suppose I would manage any better.Nuances in any number of guises catch me out,and probably have done just this week. To start with,people sometimes ask the most sensible and the most complicated of questions.Trailing across Shoreditch with holiday-crazed children in tow,one of them asks me,‘Why is she wearing that?’ ‘She’was a woman walking through Shoreditch,‘that’was the completely black burka covering all but a pair of spangly wedges. ‘That,’I’m thinking,‘is a deceptively tricky question. That is not a question I want to deal with when I’m counting heads through traffic lights and keeping the back markers out of the shoe shops.Thank you very much,but ask someone else.’ Well,what do you say? It’s in that category of doomed questions where – whatever I reply – I’ll find myself regretting it later.Only time,and lots of it,will draw out a thoughtful and appropriate reply.It’s not likely to come to mind jumping between cars as we cross the road. Of course,the obvious thing is to say it’s a cultural thing. ‘It might look a bit strange to you but it’s quite the normal thing for her.It’s part of the rich tapestry of life in Hackney.’ Yeah,right – cheap and corny. The very next day,two Muslim women come into the church centre,one of them wearing a chador,a full black cloak, and the other a head scarf,the hijab. They’ve come in because they want to make a donation to the church as a gift after an event with which we were involved went particularly well. Great,though what I really want is to ask them some questions about dress.But that seems crude and intrusive. These women have had a good experience in our centre;asking them impertinent questions doesn’t seem justified. What is my response? Partly caution.Doubtless my own prejudices are busy at work.I don’t want to add to racial prejudice that is already so strong.I’d rather look for ways of combating religious intolerance and racism. From my limited understanding,one of the challenges for Muslim women is to attain freedom in education,freedom in employment and freedom from violence:clothes,whether a chador,full burqa,or hijab are a subsidiary issue. Partly respect.It’s none of my business what someone else chooses to wear. Partly concern.I am told that modest dress among Muslim women is to moderate Muslim men’s sexual response to women.Isn’t that for the men to resolve rather than the women? Partly open-minded – that is to say I don’t want to support the culture so far that there is no possibility of change should such a desire materialise. Partly dissonant.As I stand in Hackney Road,I watch the woman in the burka pass the street sex-worker who wears rather less.The three of us look utterly unconnected,but life is rarely as it seems at first glance. While fear of the other grows in our disparate communities,we are all in danger of forgetting our commonality. Bother nuances – can’t live with them,can’t live without them.

‘I watch the woman in the burka pass the sex-worker who wears rather less; the three of us look utterly unconnected’

The Revd Sarah Parry is the minister of Shoreditch Tabernacle Baptist Church, London

􏰁􏰁 Send your comments to: Letters to the editor, The Baptist Times , POBox 54, 129 Broadway, Didcot, OX11 8XB, or e-mail: editor@baptisttimes.co.uk.