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If you see me around Sheffield, you might notice that I’m wearing a small pendant on a fine silver chain.
It’s not particularly flashy or eye-catching – it’s silvercoloured, die-stamped, and only about the size of a fingernail – but it means a lot to me. My brother-in-law gave it to me once on a rare visit to the UK (he works abroad for his church). It’s a symbol of faith worn by thousands of Christians across the world: Mother Theresa was said to have given them to the people she met; Usain Bolt wore the same symbol in each of his record-breaking races.
Every time that I put it on, I think of the verse in Ephesians 6: “Put on the full armour of God, so that you
can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” I carry my faith with me out into the world each day – whether I wear my pendant or not –but when I wear it around my neck, I have a constant reminder of God’s love, and my role in channeling that love to others.
As I’ve been working on this issue of Arise! I’ve been so inspired by the way people around Sheffield are carrying their faith out into the world.
Whether it’s Alex Harris inviting us to escape the boxes that culture tries to squeeze us into (p.18); Daniel Ghinn encouraging believers to bring their faith with them into their workplaces (p.9); or Helen Ward creating Streets of Light to support believers to shine in their
neighbourhoods (p.6) : it’s clear that the grace and love of Jesus keeps on growing to shine through every aspect of our lives, if we’ll let it.
“Behold I stand at the door and knock”...Into which parts of your life is Jesus asking to be invited today? Arise is here to support you as you continue to grow in Him.
P.S. As we go to print with this edition, we’re already preparing for Christmas! The Arise Big Nativity Giveaway will be back this year to help you connect your community with Christ this Christmas, through the gift of Real Advent Calendars (chocolate calendars that include the original Christmas story). Ask your church leader how you’ll be giving yours this year.
First and foremost, thank you – the Arise community – for inspiring this magazine. Special thanks also goes to Worship.Works for sponsoring this issue of the magazine, to each of our Arise supporters, and to everyone who has worked so hard to bring this edition to life:
WRITERS: Pippa Baker, Beth Craggs, Phillip Dolby, Rachel Hall, Finlay Hammatt, Alex Harris, Bishop Ralph Heskett, Giles Holloway, Andy Patrick, Hannah Sandoval, Andrew Senior, Fiona Walton, Helen Ward, Ben Woollard. CONTRIBUTORS: Abi Alabede, Daniel Ghinn, Giles Holloway, Gina Kalsi, Leonie Martin, Dave May, Jon Watts, Ben Woollard. COMMUNITY QUESTION RESPONSES: Adekemi, Candida, Ken & Vivien, Kerry, Sheila, Stuart. MAGAZINE SPONSOR: Worship. Works. COVER AND ARISE HALLOW IMAGES: Hannah Soar, Soar Creative. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: And Machines, Avi Waxman, Benjamin Elliott, Dennis Jarvis, Insung Yoon, Kelly Sikkema, Napendra Singh, Pawel Czerwinski, Priscilla du Preez, Sole D'Alessandro, Tim Marshall, Tracey Hocking. DESIGNER: Ben Ashworth. PROOF-READER: Roger Hoyle. COORDINATOR: Cat Wiffen.
Arise Hallow 4
Wear Your Faith Fortnight 5
Streets of Light by Helen Ward 6
Worship.Works: a new vision for Christians in the workplace 9
Accepting Interruptions like Jesus by Pippa Baker 16
Escaping the Middle-Class Mindset by Alex Harris 18
What’s been bringing you closer to Jesus lately? 20
The Cost of Giving Crisis by Ben Woollard 22
My Sheffield Church Tour by Finlay Hammatt 24
Seven Sacred Spaces: Book Recommendation by Hannah Sandoval 26
The Wonder of God by Andrew Senior 27
Map of Unity 28
Talking Jesus 30
Am I confident of the Good News? by Giles Holloway 34
All Who Are Thirsty by Phillip Dolby 36
Christians in Sheffield Respond to Rising Youth Unemployment 39
A Comfy Kingdom by Fiona Walton 40
An Encounter with Holiness by Bishop Ralph Heskett 42
Good News for Sheffield 44
Let's Pray Together for Sheffield by Rachel Hall 46
Worship.Works is hiring in Sheffield! Find out more: scan the QR code or visit https://worship.works
The weeks around Halloween can feel particularly dark, and more than ever, Sheffield needs the light we carry.
With God on our side, the darkness cannot overcome us: let’s break free this Halloween and celebrate the Light together.
A ghoulish pumpkin might light up a doorstep, but can it be the light of the world? No: we are the light of the world. Let’s shine throughout Sheffield this Halloween.
Arise Hallow is here to support you as you shine in Sheffield this season:
Break free from cultural pressure and wear a symbol of your faith over the two weeks sandwiching Halloween. Whether it’s on a pin badge or necklace, a hoodie, bag or water bottle, when you shine brightly you inspire others to do the same.
Sign up at bit.ly/AriseHallow to receive updates and encouragement.
“...As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” – your house can be a powerful witness: a beacon of hope in your neighbourhood. Streets of Light invites you to shine in the darkness by creating a window display celebrating light, hope and love. Sign up by 5 October to be included on the printed trail map for your local area: www.streetsoflight.co.uk
4 Scan me to sign up or visit bit.ly/AriseHallow
Do you ever feel like culture is pressuring you to keep your faith locked away inside?
I love carrying my Bible with me in my basket when I’m out and about and working with volunteers on The Promised Land. It has a lovely bright flowery cover and I’m often asked if it’s a Bible and why I carry it. I carry it so I can have God’s living word available at all times and to share with others.” Katie
If I think of how often I'm stood waiting to pick up the kids, seeing the same supermarket cashiers, or chatting to neighbours over the fence, having a non-verbal way of showing my faith would be a great conversation starter." Jo
outward sign of my faith to all those I meet throughout my work.” Tim
My experience of first wearing a faith symbol (clerical collar) was that it was terrifying. When I first went out in public as a deacon I thought everyone would stare and I’d be abused. Instead most people smile. It opens lots of doors and lots of conversations. I still find it hard sometimes because I’m shy but God certainly used it.” Father Lee
I was at the seaside with my family this summer and noticed a group of teenagers near us. One was wearing a Christian symbol on a pendant. I asked him, “What does that symbol mean to you?” and he shared how he had very recently come to faith. He explained that no-one else in his family had a faith, but that he had woken up one day with the strong sense that Jesus was with him, and had started attending church. It was great to be able to connect with him through the symbol he wore, and encourage him in his faith journey.” Ben
Sign up by Wednesday 5 October
Streets of Light returns to Sheffield from Monday 24th – Monday 31st October 2022. Since it began in 2017, this simple idea to decorate windows with messages of Light, Love and Hope, as an alternative to Halloween, has spread across the city. Last
year more than 20 churches got involved, there were 520 windows decorated and 10,000 trail booklets were distributed to 12 Sheffield schools, as well as at a variety of other groups and locations, such as the Hallamshire Hospital, Foodbanks, Messy Church gatherings, toddler groups, and via local businesses and shops.
“It has been genuinely humbling and amazing in equal measure to see how God has used Streets of Light to bless people around our city. My prayer is that for one week in October, Sheffield would become
a place where messages of light, love and hope are displayed from 1000s and 1000s of windows, into each and every community and neighbourhood. Imagine if people could walk down every street in the city and see a display that tells them that they are loved; that in the darkness – there is light; and that in this time of great difficultly and challenge for so many – there is always hope. These are the simple truths that Jesus asks every Christian to share with those around them, and Streets of Light is an easy, accessible, low bar way of doing this.”
Family and Children's Team Leader, STC SheffieldIn 2022, these are some of the things that we are faithfully hoping and praying to see happen with Streets of Light: • Last year we had trail maps for 19 different suburbs of the city, covering 15 postcode areas. This year, we would love to have Streets of Light locations in every Sheffield postcode and at least 25 trail maps. It is simple to join in……just sign-up via the website: www.streetsoflight.co.uk
Louise Luck is a teacher at Westbourne School in Broomhill. This is her experience of Streets of Light: “Last year, we had a team of 6 students at Westbourne who created the design for our windows on the theme of peace and love. The school was delighted to be involved, and the students liked the window display so much that it has been left up all year! It was also fantastic to receive the free trail booklets – we were able to hand these out to every child in both the primary and the senior school, so they could head out with their families over half term and see other window displays around the city. We are looking forward to being involved again this year – there are a group of Year 10s ready to get started on this year’s design when we get back in September.”
The deadline to sign-up is Wednesday 5 October booklets can be printed and distributed before half-term.
We would love to double the number of schools that we distribute booklets to, going from 12 in 2021 to 25 in 2022. If you are a teacher or parent, do ask your school if they would be willing to send booklets home with every child. Completing the Streets of Light trails is a fun, free activity for families to do over half term! If you would like booklets for your school, please email us –contact details are on the website.
Bex Oldham, from Walkley, has found Streets of Light to be a simple way to connect with neighbours. She says: “Over the last five years, my husband and I have joined in with the fabulous Streets of Light trail initiative. Initially, it was something that we did as a household to spread the message of love, light and hope, but God challenged us to invite our neighbours into it, and so we did. Over the last couple of years, our neighbours have joined in by creating their own window display (often significantly more creative than ours!), making displays with us in our home, and we even made a whole street display which made the song lyric ‘Lover of the Light’ when read all together. Streets of Light is a really easy way to connect with your neighbours, and talk to them about the love, light and hope that we find in Jesus. We’re excited to declare those messages on our windows again this Autumn, and we also know that it is going to be a great opportunity to spend time with people on our street.”
Streets of Light is a great way to connect with neighbours and build relationships. It would be great to have whole streets decorated – a bit like at Christmas, when people tour various roads. We may even introduce a prize for the street with the most decorated windows!
Do help to spread the word about Streets of Light by following us on Facebook and sharing with others: www.facebook.com/ streetsoflight
The Worship.Works Marketplace Ministry
Career Programme is a missional, faithbased programme, where you will be placed into a demanding professional role serving multinational corporations, working among like-minded believers on the front lines of Christian ministry. Your role will come with an excellent salary, benefits, and career progression.
You will join a team of around 30 “Marketplace Ministers” – believers who work as a business team, delivering world-class research and consulting solutions to corporations all over the world –and you will be equipped to serve God in your work through the Worship.Works foundational teaching programme for Marketplace Ministers, which includes Biblical principles, faith-building testimonies, and practical application challenges.
If this inspires you, find out more or apply now for a role in the Worship.Works Marketplace Ministry Career Programme. We currently have the following vacancies:
∙
WORKPLACE MINISTERS
Research Analysts, Sheffield
∙ WORKPLACE MINISTER
Senior Healthcare Strategy Consultant
∙ WORKPLACE MINISTER
Full Stack Developer
To find out more about these opportunities, go to www.worship.works or speak to Chengi Guzha at Page1 Recruitment –chengi@page1recruitment.co.uk or 0114 383 0059
we know about you?
Daniel: I like a nice coffee! I have a real passion for seeing the church come alive, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and outside of the four walls of the established church building. For the church to be everything it was intended to be, it needs to be enacted every day: wherever its people are – in the workplace, in school and education, in the home and in neighbourhoods.
Ben: What is Worship.Works?
church leaders, for example –but it can actually happen in the everyday, wherever they are. We can minister if we simply choose to operate as a minister – as a servant of God – in our place of work.
Ben: What inspired you to create Worship.Works?
a business ministry and a ministry to the church that supports believers to put their faith into work in the workplace.
Ben: It's great to speak with you today. What else should
Daniel: Worship.Works is a ministry to Christians in the workplace, helping them to put their faith to work through the work that they do, whatever role or industry they’re in. Helping them to see that ministry and serving God isn't exclusively limited to people serving in ‘traditional church roles’ – full-time
Daniel: Well, we believe that worship works! That’s a key message for us. Not only does worship work, but work itself is an act of worship, which God has created as a good thing. So often the world sees work as a negative thing – ‘Oh no, it’s Monday, I have to go back to work’ – and people talk about aiming for work/ life balance as if work acts against life. Actually, work is a really important part of life, part of the wholeness of what God created, when he made us in his image. God is a God who works, so we want to celebrate work as –
Co-founder of Worship.Works Daniel Ghinn in conversation with Arise Sheffield’s Ben Woollard.
not only a good thing – but an act of worship.
Colossians 3:23 is a key verse for Worship.Works: “Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord”. I’m really conscious that Paul was actually addressing that to slaves, who would be doing all kinds of horrible work, but he is saying that – no matter what you're doing – you should do it as if you're doing it for Christ Himself. When you have that attitude to your work, it changes everything. If we're in a shop serving customers, if we're providing consultancy, if we're laying cables, fixing cars, whatever it is, if we think of it as a service for the Lord, our perspective changes and work transforms itself into an act of worship.
When we were building our business – and trying to see Jesus as the head of it – we connected with a movement called Transform our World, which is headed up by Ed
Silvoso. And through that movement, we met inspiring business leaders from all over the world who were carrying so many testimonies of how God was using them in really powerful ways through their work, to change lives, touch nations, and guide government leaders to the Lord. And that really caught my imagination: suddenly in my head I expanded what I believed was possible.
And then, God started showing me some of the things that he could do through me as a minister for him in the workplace and really brought that to life. When you see your work as ministry, and identify that you're a minister, I think it changes your faith and your level of faith: you start to believe there will be spiritual outcomes in whatever you're doing. And so since then a really important part of what
we do has been teaching this, the biblical principles behind it and sharing the increasing number of testimonies about how people are impacting their workplaces when they begin to see work as an act of worship.
Ben: Just to follow up on that one. Lots of Christians would say they know there's not a sacred and secular divide, and they know in theory that their work is worship. So what starts to look different about someone who's actually putting these principles into practice?
Daniel: From what I’ve seen, there appears to be a default position for Christians’ relationship to the workplace, which is that we gather together for prayer and worship with other Christians a few times a week to get ‘refilled’ with the Holy Spirit, or a bit of a boost from God. And we feel like that's what
we need to build us up to go out and face the world, face our work, for the week. And if we just keep our heads down, we’ll survive the evil workplace. That seems to be the perception – “Let me just survive the work week, staying as stain-free as I can until my next church gathering”. And that’s ok as a starting point: that’s the level zero position for Christians in the workplace. The next level is: “I’m a Christian and I can take my faith to work and I can make a difference. I can shine a light there, I can expect God to speak to me in my work, I can pray about my work and I can include my faith in my work.”
But for me the really exciting one is the next level: “My work is a ministry vehicle for me to actually change the spiritual climate: an environment for me to change my city from my workplace, and I'm expecting the kingdom of God to advance through the work that I'm doing.” That's the key difference we talk about at Worship.Works: we have this idea of a workplace minister or marketplace minister. It’s not a perfect phrase for it, but the idea is that – whatever my actual role – I’m first and foremost ministering through the work I do. I'm not just a software developer or consultant or market researcher: the work I do becomes a vehicle for my
ministry in the workplace.
And as you mentioned, most believers or unbelievers will totally accept that there's no sacred / secular divide, but so often we’ll still reduce worship to ‘that thing we do where we raise our hands and sing’. That’s a form of worship, for sure, but when you’re treating work as an act of worship – walking out with faith believing God's going to change things through you, believing He's going to give you a word for a client or a customer, that you're there for Him first –living that every day is the difference, and you'll see very different fruits coming out of that.
Ben: I’ve seen some people in church circles talk about how work is a vehicle for evangelism, but it sounds like with Worship.Works it’s not just about mobilising
evangelists, is that right?
Daniel: I think this is a really good point. Evangelising colleagues in the workplace, starting a prayer or discipleship group there, that’s all really good stuff, but it still misses the opportunity to work as an act of worship, in and of itself. It’s the difference between thinking ‘Who could I tell about Jesus today?’, and ‘How can I better pastor my clients, or my team?’ That's a completely different perspective. I can take the kingdom of God to my clients and my team –without preaching at them – just by living out those Kingdom principles. There's actually change that can happen in that team. Also, when I cover my team with prayer, that can change the way they think and therefore the way they act. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God as being like a mustard seed which grows and becomes the biggest of all trees; it’s not just evangelism that sows those mustard seeds. When we carry the Kingdom of God with us, it spreads
When you're treating work as an act of worship – believing God's going to change things through you – you'll see very different fruits.
and takes root in other places. So yes, ministering in the workplace is about much more than evangelism.
Ben: So the key is recognising that God can use you in the workplace and be with you in front of a spreadsheet as much as when you’re in church singing a rousing song?
Daniel: of that - Him being with you, even in front of a spreadsheet – is you can absolutely expect that if God is in your work, then the Holy Spirit wants to work with you. That God wants to co-create your work with you; if you ask him to, His Holy Spirit will give you divine insights to work more effectively.
Ben: Let’s talk about the new Worship.Works office in Sheffield. Why Sheffield, and why now?
Daniel: about this. We've been running Worship.Works in the South-East of England, bringing believers in the workplace together and supporting Christian workplaces and businesses that want to encourage their workers to minister for God. And one of those businesses is actually launching in Sheffield and we are supporting that launch. I'm really excited about that because there's this opportunity first of all to to send a small launch team - talented, skilled
I have some family and friends in Sheffield, and it's been amazing to hear and see what God is doing in the church here, to experience the amazing blessing that happens when brothers dwell in unity.
Worship.Works into another city or region, we really want to find somewhere in which the church is already operating: where there’s evidence of a healthy church environment that we can connect with, serve and be part of. We didn't feel called to go into somewhere where the church is really struggling and to help that but to get into somewhere where it just feels like the church is
God wants to co-create your work with you; if you ask him to, His Holy Spirit will give you divine insights to work more effectively.
thriving, and to be part of that hopefully to continue to accelerate what God's doing. From everything we’ve seen so far, Sheffield is that sort of city, so we’re excited about connecting into that and just learning where God is going to lead us to serve and serve well, and building relationships across the church. We see that as a great opportunity.
Ben: Right. That's really exciting. And tell me more about the Ignite events you’ve started running in Sheffield for Christian professionals. Can anyone come to those?
Daniel: Yes, somebody asked me recently, “Are these events for ordinary people? Or do I have to be in some kind of ministry role?” And that's a really important question because we talk about workplace ministry –and market-based ministry – but the whole point of the message is that it is ordinary people who do that. So yes, ordinary people are welcome! If you're in the workplace, and you are following Christ, then come along; but also, if you've got an unbelieving friend, and you want them to experience some of what God is doing in the workplace, bring them along too. The idea is that we usually serve free pizza or something similar, and have a bit of fellowship over food. We think of it as a kind of meet-up (we used to call it a networking meeting, but I think the cool kids call them meetups now) and spend time fellowshipping together. We do a little bit of teaching – usually a five-minute slot on a biblical principle for serving
God at work – and we'll have some testimony sharing. We'll encourage people that are there to get into small groups and share testimonies about how they've been able to apply some of these principles in their workplaces, exchange ideas with each other, and then pray for each other. We’ve found that people come away
It's been amazing to hear what God is doing in the church in Sheffield: there's a real sense of churches working together for the good of the city.
been invited to pray for others. And there’s been a lot of crosspollination of ideas between different Christians in the workplace coming together from different church congregations and sharing together. Through the Ignite network, we’re also looking to spread the word about upcoming job opportunities with us. We’d love to connect with people
where they can be supported, coached and trained in the biblical principles of how to serve God in the workplace, surrounded by other believers who feel a similar calling, and who pray together on a daily basis. Sometimes these roles might be in technology, consulting, sales and marketing, or account management: we’d love people who are excited about the idea of workplace ministry to come along and find out more.
Ben: I'm really excited, hearing the potential for professionals and Christians in work to just tap into some of this, because I see it as a whole new place of freedom in their faith. I'm also excited hearing you speak about the potential for church leaders to learn a bit from Worship.Works and what it looks like to communicate a more holistic theology around
work. How might people in church leadership in Sheffield benefit from engaging with Worship.Works?
Daniel: So first of all, church leaders are very welcome to come to Ignite events and they’re also very welcome to get in touch with Worship. Works through our website to ask us about meeting up to connect. We do offer teaching sessions in churches if leaders are interested to have us come in and share some of the vision. I think those can be really helpful in equipping church members. I’ve been speaking at a church in East London a couple times a year and it's always themed around serving God in the workplace. And one of the church wardens recently stood up and shared a testimony of how he'd been so encouraged to go into his workplace and see his role as a minister, it
completely changed the way he's able to interact at work.
Just unlocking the power of your church congregation to recognise the ministry that they're in, is such a powerful thing. It also helps validate people who might feel like they’re really busy with work and therefore limited in the amount of ministry they can do. That’s really empowering for people – when they realise that they are being equipped not only to survive the workplace, but to thrive there and be light there and advance the kingdom of God through that work. It can give a congregation a real buzz of new energy.
Ben: And what I'm hearing loud and clear is that if someone is in the workplace, and they feel like they need to tread water for the next few years until they have time to do a ministry role, there's an
open invitation from Worship. Works to have a conversation, or rethink that mindset.
Daniel: Definitely. We have a six-part course called Foundations for Marketplace Ministry, which we deliver to all the marketplace ministers who come into the business ministries that we support. But we're now looking at the idea of running an open course like that so that people across Sheffield can access it. Its biblical foundations are really practical tools, and a small group setting can help us to hold each other accountable to those principles as well. So that’s something practical that we’re looking at doing to support Christians in the workplace in Sheffield.
Ben: Brilliant. And what are your hopes for Worship.Works over the next 12 months?
Daniel: I’d love to see believers Ignited in the workplace: to see that we are genuinely impacting lives, and hearing testimonies about what’s changing. One of our major measures of success so far is hearing testimonies from believers coming back and saying, “Wow, I heard this thing; I learnt this thing; God showed me this thing. And as a result of that I took this step of faith and here's what's happening in my workplace:” or, “Here's what happened in my job:” or, “Here's the feedback I had from my client:” That’s the evidence that people are growing, it's evidence of the fruit. That’s what success will look like for us.
What would you like people to do after reading this interview?
The next Ignite evening is on 27 October, so please sign up! Just go to Worship.Works/Sheffield (or scan the QR code below).
What should people read to learn more about workplace ministry?
Pray for the strengthening of the church on the ground. We want to find the right ways to connect to serve the church: to be able to listen well and hear well and be sensitive and understand where the opportunities are. You know, some church leaders said to me, “Hey, this kind of thing was on my heart.” Great! For me that says God's at work, He’s doing something. So we want to not miss those opportunities, to work well together, to serve well, and to see where God is leading us. So please pray for that.
Please pray for the group of workplace ministers that we're looking to bring together into the business ministry we're launching: pray that God would send the right people. And that through this, we'll be able to support a business ministry which is investing into the economy in Sheffield, and providing employment for people who are serving God through their work. And through that, touching Sheffield, touching the nation, and touching nations.
We have a blog at Workship. Works and you can also sign up to receive monthly inspiration in your email inbox: encouraging testimonies from some of our marketplace ministers or some perspectives on what God's doing. Then if you want to dig deeper, we've got a whole library of books that we recommend, but I’d suggest starting with Ed Silvoso's Anointed for Business – even if you don’t identify yourself as working in the business world – the principles of seeing God with you at work will be really helpful and encouraging.
What can you leave us to reflect on?
We talked earlier about seeing yourself as the pastor of your workplace and your team. It might be that you’re in a different place, so that ministry could be to your family, it could be your group of parents on the school run: where's that place for you? Where’s the group of people that the Lord has led you to minister to? What would change if you started to see yourself as their pastor? Even using that word can feel challenging because in our minds, we might think of a pastor as a really holy person that God has made. But no, you are a holy person, and you are their pastor. You may not be ordained, but God has called you to care for them and lead them and becoming aware of that can change the way you pray for them. It'll change how you turn up when you connect with them.
How do you feel when you’re interrupted? Imagine you’ve thought through your day, you’re ready to go about your business – ticking off boxes and completing tasks, working, praying, playing; it’s all prepared mentally in your mind. Then comes an interruption, and somehow the whole day winds up being totally different. For most people, interruptions are a regular occurrence, so how do you respond?
More often than not, my reaction is not great!
This really came to light recently when I went to France on retreat to stay with a contemplative community. I was out there seeking silence and prayer and rest for my soul. By day three of nine, I’d settled into the groove of the community rhythms. This new day was all planned in my head: I was going to spend some time in the morning in the church
in quiet prayer with the Lord, then I would work through a theology book that I’ve been really excited to read and journal with it – something I haven’t been able to make time for at home in Sheffield. I’m eager to start this day.
I go to Lauds (a morning prayer service) with the community and a priest asks me if I can attend an hour of Adoration (personal silent prayer in the presence of Jesus) at 11am. Perfect, I think, that fits in with my plan.
After Lauds, I grab a quick cup of coffee. I’m two sips in when a French nun walks up to me and repeats, “Cuisine, cuisine”. My French is poor, but my B in GCSE serves me today as I understand: What? They want me to work in the kitchen? I head across to the large community kitchen with more grumbling in my heart than I’d like to admit and realise, yes, I am very much expected to work this morning. My plan to read and journal was falling apart, and my mood had swiftly soured. It's clear for all to see, I’m definitely a work in progress! My interior disposition really challenged me that day. Particularly as I reflect on the fact that, as a follower of Jesus, I’m called to follow His ways, including the ways He responds to interruptions.
The Gospel stories are brimming with examples of Jesus being interrupted. Whether by a centurion (Matthew 8:5–13), a sick woman reaching through the crowds (which was an interruption within an interruption! – Matthew 9:18–26), a blind beggar (Mark 10: 46–52) or even by his disciples interrupting his sleep (Matthew 23:27), Jesus always responded to these interruptions with grace, presence, and love.
So how can we become more like the Lord with this? You’ll see I am not overly qualified to advise but I have found an inspiring person who can - St. Thérèse of Lisieux. One of my favourite books is called Interior Freedom, and the author – Fr. Jacques Philippe – uses the example of St Thérèse to explain the freedom available in interruption. He writes:
‘St. Thérèse did not like having her work interrupted. Sometimes she was asked to do work requiring quite a lot of concentration … [but] the schedule of the Carmelite community was so intense that she had very little time at her disposal. When she finally found an hour or two to devote to the job, she applied herself in the following spirit:
‘I choose to be interrupted.’
If a good Sister then came
by to ask her for some little service, instead of coldly sending her away Thérèse made the effort to accept the interruption with good grace. And if nobody interrupted her, she considered that a charming present from her loving God and was very grateful to him.’
I love this! Fr. Philippe and St Thérèse help us to see that - despite how hard it can be to welcome interruptionsthose are great opportunities for God to mould us into his image. No matter how frustrating the interruption, I always have a choice in how I respond. And, by God’s grace, we can go even further: learning to welcome interruptions is the first step, but we can even grow to the point of being able to will them, desiring the opportunity to lean on God at the times when we aren’t able to do what we want to do.
This is deeply inspiring to me. Since interruptions will always be with us this side of Heaven, we can face them with a new outlook and adopt the words of St.Thérèse as our own: I choose to be interrupted.
Full time missionary, Pippa Baker worked in the Advertising industry for 6 and a half years in Central London. In 2017 she felt the call to quit her job to pursue a life working with the Church all over the UK. Her passion lies in helping the next generation follow Jesus daily. She helps lead One Hope Project, a creative collective encouraging fresh expressions of worship in the Catholic Church.
The Gospel stories are brimming with examples of Jesus being interrupted... Jesus always responded to these interruptions with grace, presence, and love.
I'm going to excuse myself straight away if my tone is a little bit intense as we
If, today, you can say, “Jesus, I'm longing and attempting to trust you and follow you,” then amazingly, he is calling you to be one of his gospel carriers. And that is absolutely remarkable and desperately needed in our present culture
In the UK, 21% of Church of England churches will not reopen after the pandemic. 25 of the 35 Church of Scotland churches around Glasgow have closed in the last three years, and they have just
sold the cathedral in the centre of Glasgow, to Scottish Heritage as a secular site. Between 2015 and 2020, our weekly attendance at Baptist churches around the UK went down by 20% in five years1
This is not the moment for restrained faith. This is not the moment to flinch, or be hesitant or to be intimidated. In fact, what we actually need are barbarians. What we actually need is people who realise that the rules of modern society are not Jesus's rules, and so it is time to break them. I say that with caution and with care, but I say it with absolute conviction and clarity.
Barbarians are those who realize that the box that they have been told to live in by society is not the box Jesus is calling them to live in. And for a very long time, the way that we as Christians have responded to culture – myself included – is by saying, “I will place my Christian faith inside that box that society has put me in.”
For me, the box is, “Alex, be middle class. Do not let your Christian faith affect your middle classness.” And so I've defined how to live for Jesus within the parameters of being middle class. And Jesus is saying to me, “Alex, what on earth are you doing? Be my barbarian. Live by my rules. Even as they break the rules of middle classness!”
Why on earth do I think my car has to be less than 10 years old? Why on earth do I think that my children need to have their own bedrooms? Why on earth do I think that their education is such a high priority? Where does Jesus tell me that in the Bible? Nowhere. He says, “Go and make disciples, and do it by my rules.”
A couple of years ago, I walked into our little front room. Our oldest child and our youngest - they were aged about ten and two at the time - were sitting on the floor together playing a board game. And then I noticed they weren't playing it properly. And I said to Isaac, the oldest, “Isaac, why are you doing? You're not allowed to do that in this game.” And he replied, “Yeah, I know. But my brother couldn't win by the rules. So I just changed the
rules.” All right, it's cute. But it is also prophetic. The rules our culture calls us to play by as Christians mean people can't meet Jesus. And so our responsibility is to change the rules. If we cannot win the game by society’s rules, we need to change the rules.
Let’s look at Acts 16 together, and in particular at three people that Jesus calls to be his gospel carriers:
• Timothy, who as a teenager has a faith that probably terrified his family (verses 1–3)
• Lydia, a successful businesswoman who gave everything away for Jesus (verses 13–15)
The jailer, a retired soldier who lost everything but found true joy (verses 29–34)
I want you to start thinking, “Which one of these am I? And what is the new barbarian way that I live this out? What is the new, byonly-Jesus's-rules way?” Not the rules of my friendship group, not the rules of society, not the rules of trying to be middle class, but by Jesus's rules only.
Scan here for more on Timothy, Lydia, and the Jailer in the extended online edition of this article.
I spoke to a couple on the edge of faith and the edge of church just last week, who had just taken early retirement. She's 58. He's 63. They've been able to take early retirement. I asked how their weekend was going, and they told me that they had spent the whole weekend
looking at campervans and caravans: £80,000 for a bedroom on wheels. They told me that they wanted one so they could go to the seaside at weekends. And I thought WHAT A WASTE.
It reminded me of a famous story from John Piper about the couple who decided to spend their retirement collecting shells. He imagines them meeting Jesus and Jesus asks them, “What did you do with your retirement?
I let you have a job and a career, I gave you a life that meant that at 60 you could have 20 years to do whatever you wanted for me. What did you do with it?” Will they - like the couple in John Piper’s illustration - say, “Jesus, look at all our shells”?
And if you're in that stage of life, I'm trying to make you uncomfortable. Because we have become so comfortable with society’s rules, we don’t even know the rules are there. And we squash our Christian faith into society’s box. The rules of our culture say, “Have a nice retirement.” No. Jesus would say, “The closer to the finish line you get, the faster you run, the more careless you become, the more risks you can take.” Because really, what have you got to lose?
So: if you’re a Timothy: put us to shame. If you’re a Lydia: give it all away. Or, if you’re the jailer: you should be burning out, crashing out, arriving in heaven with nothing left, because you gave it all in that last stretch.
It’s time to be a barbarian for Jesus.
The passing of my beautiful Mum unexpectedly last summer has made me closer to God. As a lapsed Catholic from my teens, it really was the only thing that was there for me in my valley of tears and shock. I feel like it’s the last thing my Mum threw at me out of love.
The growing numbers in church, mainly due to the recent graft, and slowly getting to know new people.
My inspiration comes from my daily interactions with people. In this post-Covid era, the strength and energy to forge ahead despite individual daily struggles and challenges, I see God’s everpresent and divine abilities on every human being, His compassions, love and beauty, even though some may not understand or embrace it.
After all, He died for us all (John 3:16).
Well, I have been on a refresher course for volunteer Chaplaincy, and I am continuing with two other courses, even though I am nearly 79. I want to be there for people needing a listening ear and comfort in their time of need. I just want to be the hands, feet, ears and mouth for my Lord and Saviour, Jesus. He gave everything for me, so I want to give my all for him. I love the saying "What would Jesus do?"; well, he would be out there in the thick of it, wouldn't he, if he was on earth today. So, as long as I can go out amongst needy people, I will.
A deep appreciation of the Grace of God – that He should love me so much that he sent his only begotten son to save me from my sin
Candida CalvertParishioner and Volunteer at St Marie’s Cathedral
Ahh! That is such a good question! And my answer is threefold: it is the Word of God, the Holy Rosary, and fasting that are collectively bringing me closer to God.
Reading the Word of God has got to be my number one. It never ceases to amaze me how many of my questions are answered through my reading of Holy Scripture.
Whenever life throws me a curve ball and upsets my equilibrium, I go straight to the Bible: ‘What’s going on, Heavenly Father?!’… ‘Jesus! I need you!’. I pick up my Holy Bible, read it wherever it naturally falls open, and I keep reading until that familiar sense of God’s peace and joy has descended upon me once again. I can assure you that I have never walked away from my Bible empty handed. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your Word!
My second favourite activity has got to be praying the Holy Rosary. Now I know this is a distinctively Catholic answer (I am a Catholic), and – if truth be told – I’m a late-comer to the wonders of the Holy Rosary. (It all began for me in 2017 when I had an encounter with Our Lady of Fatima –but that’s another story…). To start with, I didn’t even know how to pray the Rosary, and when I have crossed that obstacle, I must confess that it also didn’t come easily. In fact, it wasn’t really until Lent 2020, when I set myself the challenge of praying the Rosary every day, that the real power of this form of prayer became evident. And how I quickly came to love it! Nowadays, my favourite time to pray the Rosary is when I am out walking my dogs; that way, I get to walk and talk with our Lord Jesus, and it can take us as long as we like. How we have laughed together at times! And how we have also cried… I have received so many revelations about my faith, my God and my life, and been given so many answers to questions, both asked and unasked. Anyone who regularly prays the Rosary will attest to its power. It seems to help you tune into God, and tune out of all the interferences that get in the way. I know that praying the Holy Rosary has certainly helped me to deepen and personalise my relationship with Jesus, for which I will be eternally grateful. Thank you so much, my Blessed Mother Mary, for bringing me ever closer to your Son, Jesus!
And finally, I want to talk about fasting. Rather like the Holy Rosary, I didn’t really understand what fasting was about until I actually tried to do it myself. It was Lent 2020, and rather than giving something up for Lent, I decided to fast from all food – until the evening – for two days a week. The results were immediate and quite incredible. Fasting like this has taken my spiritual life up to a whole new level… It has rocket-boosted it! So, you may be unsurprised to hear that fasting is no longer something I do just for Lent:
I make it a part of my normal week, and I do it out of my love for Jesus. When I fast, I always feel that the Holy Spirit is with me. My fast days are when I feel most confident that I am hearing clearly and can therefore be more purposefully obedient to God’s Holy Will. And they are the days I absolutely never feel alone! Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being with me. Thank you for making yourself at home in my heart, and for teaching me the way I must go! Please stay with me for always… Thank you, and Amen.
Hope is a kind of boundary a truce between limestone and grit where outcrops and edges pause and deep cut dales stop and sit, where honeycombed potholes scatter and old lead works rest in their pit.
Hope brings this valley together where Derbyshire rock divides and Mam Tor’s shivering face and Blue John’s glittering mines call city folk from near and far to raise up their hearts, eyes and minds.
Hope is a true kind of knowing when Derbyshire mists descend and Kinder Scout lies shrouded and Dark Peak’s a sinister friend, that Jacob’s Ladder rises still –and all will be well in the end.
© Leonie Martin 2020Written in response to Arts Derbyshire’s ‘Ticket to Hope’ Project in Autumn 2020 and featured in Helen Mort’s collaborative community poem funded by Arts Derbyshire, available to view here: https://youtu.be/S5uTFz0XPpg
The recent government intervention on energy prices has come as a huge relief to many people across the UK, especially those living in the poorest households.
The ‘cost of living crisis’, however, is here to stay, and as inflation increases, we’re all likely to have less disposable income.
How should we, as followers of Jesus, respond to this pressure to cut back?
Numerous studies show that the more people think about
money the less generous they become. This might explain why – during a 25-day hitchhike across Europe in 2010 – I wasn’t offered a lift by the drivers of any of the expensive cars that drove past at high speed. Instead it was the numerous drivers of more humble vehicles who pulled over and got me to the next stage of my journey. Blessed are the poor.
Perhaps this loss of generosity is one of the reasons why Jesus warned us about money so much.
True generosity always points to the Generous One who gave His life for all, that all may live for Him. When we choose to live generous lives as an act of faith, we live out the message of the Gospel.
Meanwhile the media cycle continues to bring the cost of living back to the forefront of our minds. The deceitfulness of wealth makes us less fruitful as followers of Jesus and we become more fearful, the more we meditate on our lack of resources.
The Kingdom of God is a counter-culture that invites us to embody a different perspective and now, more than ever, we have an opportunity to embody the faith we profess by choosing generosity and giving our worry to God at a time of cultural squeeze and stress.
CONSIDER:
• How can you be generous with your resources as an act of faith this month?
• How do your thoughts and feelings about money at the moment reflect Jesus’ teachings?
•
How often do you discuss a Christian attitude to money within your Church community?
• Asking your community for help if you are in financial need, or offering help to others if you are not.
moos, the horse oinks and so on. When reading the book, a colleague’s son – six-yearold Kalib – struggled to read the book. She recounts that he hesitated and mixed up words, expecting them to be different. Probably because the pages send mixed signals: the pictures presented and the words used don't follow the natural order of things. Each animal’s noise has been ripped from its context, and when the child sees the picture of a pig with the word ‘moo’, they’re confused: it’s not what they expected.
right-most bookshelf in the children's section, there’s a picture book called Rooster’s Alarm. It’s a thin book, with twenty-something pages, with beat up corners, and a cover bleached by the sun. The story is a simple one. It goes that the rooster forgot to set his alarm one morning, so the sheep, upon awakening, announced the morning by crowing “cock-a-doodledoo”. Next, the cow wakes up, and baas, then the pig
I was reminded of this book recently when I took a tour of different church services around Sheffield, trying to find the golden thread of unity that binds them all together in their worship of Jesus. What I discovered was that the words of each of the services took on additional layers of meaning when combined with the rest of the environment: the clothes worn, the layout of the building, the images, music, and overall atmosphere. Every church I visited was different, but together they display the beautiful diversity of Christian tradition around Sheffield.
I started at Emmanuel. It's a young church – planted
during lockdown – tucked away behind the Moor Market, on Arundel street opposite a car park. It has an unassuming facade, its front walls being covered in colourful graffiti. The atmosphere was lively: when I entered, they were already singing a Christian rock song, children were shouting in a playroom situated behind where the congregation sat, with only a thin wall dividing the two. The seats were filled with students, young adults, families and a few slightly older Christians. Church Leader David May said to me, “I often feel old here and I'm only thirty-five!”
During the course of the service, numerous people came up to speak, becoming the centre of attention; each of them made jokes and smiled contagiously. Two verses came to my mind when bearing witness to this scene. The first was John 4:16: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” The building was dingy, yet filled with light. The roof leaked, the paint was wearing thin, but despite this the atmosphere was angelic. Maybe it was because of this context that the second verse which came to mind was
Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
The scripture used in the sermon was - fittingly - from Nehemiah. Nehemiah was not a prophet like Malachi, or a priest like Ezra: he was a cupbearer to the king, yet had a relatively comfortable position in Persian society. The book documents his efforts to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. Under Nehemiah's leadership, the Jewish people overcame opposition to rebuild the city walls. Dave May linked the scripture to Sheffield’s social situation by showing pictures of new building projects in the city and then a thank-you video from charity Together for Sheffield, showing the impact of Emmanuel’s donation to an employment programme which aims to help young people struggling to find work post-pandemic build their skills, network, and confidence.
Catholic Mass at St Vincent’s MissionHub has an entirely different aura to that of Emmanuel. The building is regal, the ceilings are high, the walls are white, the lights and chairs are modern. I was visiting in Lent, so the room was steeped in purple fabric, and the priest was dressed to match, in flowing white garments overlaid with purple vestments covered in golden detailing. The room's lighting draws the gaze to the central aisle: at one end is the entrance, and at the other stands the Eucharist: the bread that has become Christ’s body. Given that the word ‘mass’ is drawn from the
Latin phrase “Ite, missa est” – or, “Go, it is the sending”, it seems appropriate that the two key purposes of the service – receiving Jesus in order to take him out into the world – would be aligned like this.
The ceremony itself is radically peaceful and ritualised. Everyone in the room follows an ancient holy script. The tranquil nobility of the scene encourages reflection and contemplation. The lack of music and the relative silence – with the only words spoken originating from the scripture-based liturgy, the Bible and the priest – radically separates the ceremony from the regular rhythms of modern life. The discontinuity puts those who attend on a different beat, at least for a period.
In one mass I attended, the scripture quoted was John 5:19: “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise.” The synchronicity between all these physical, and spiritual attributes is hard to miss. The service at St Vincent’s MissionHub instils a holy obedience.
Visiting these churches on different days, in different moods, with different reasons, reminded me of an ancient Indian parable, about the blind men and the elephant. If you haven’t heard it before, it goes like this:
Once, a group of blind men heard that a strange animal called an elephant had been
brought to their town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, one said: "We must inspect and know it by touch." So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". To another, whose hand touched its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. Another person, whose hand was on its leg, said, “The elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk.” The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said, “The elephant is a wall." Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, and said, “The elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.”
Each of the blind men in the parable encountered just a small part of the enormous elephant, and each was able to testify to a different characteristic of the elephant. In a similar way, perhaps each of these churches is bearing witness in their worship to different aspects of the same God.
To use another simile, I was like someone too close to a great work of art, seeing a single brush stroke and thinking it a smudge; unable to bear full witness. But, at least, we can take satisfaction in the knowledge that this is not how God sees it. He sees the full picture and draws us all into His masterpiece. As Paul attests "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Recently I’ve really enjoyed reading George Lings’
Seven Sacred Spaces – an approach to discipleship and community life as a church that draws on monastic tradition and theology of space.
Lings suggests that seven spaces commonly found in monastic communities can act as a tool to help us think about our individual and communal spiritual lives.
They are:
• Cell (being alone with God)
• Chapel (corporate public worship)
Chapter (making decisions)
• Cloister (planned and surprising meetings)
Garden (the place of work)
• Refectory (food and hospitality)
• Scriptorium (study and passing on knowledge)
Lings writes about how these elements of the Christian life might be worked out by the individual and in community.
In my role as discipleship enabler, I have mainly been reflecting on how individuals can apply these ideas to their everyday lives. In the
Diocese of Sheffield we often talk about the importance of whole-life discipleship – of allowing one’s relationship with and worship of God to ‘spill over’ from Sundays into the rest of the week. We are called to be lights for Christ whenever and wherever we are – in all seven of the sacred spaces.
Lings’ book provides a helpful framework for thinking about this sort of thing. For me, it has been a useful tool for evaluating the ways in which my everyday life reflects my faith. I realised that I had carefully considered the way my work relates to God and the calling he has given me (garden), but that I hadn’t learned anything new for a while and would value taking part in a study course (scriptorium). I now also feel that I want to offer more hospitality as an expression of my faith (refectory), and so I’ve been thinking how I might go about that too.
For others, it may be that you are serving faithfully in church (chapel) but are left with little opportunity for time spent alone with God (cell).
Maybe you are an important Christian presence to those you meet in your everyday life (cloister) and want to think more about how you can be a Christian influence in places where you have authority to make decisions (chapter), such as at work, church or within your community.
Using the Seven Sacred Spaces as a framework for discipleship can help us to see which parts of the Christian life are bearing fruit for us, and which might need a bit more work. In our Diocese, we are encouraging people to take on a Personal Rule of Life – a simple set of habits and practices that help us to structure our journey of following Jesus. If you’re looking to re-evaluate your current rhythm and spiritual practices, or want to go deeper in your discipleship, I highly recommend Seven Sacred Spaces to you.
When I was young – preteen – without the distractions of responsibility and expectation that come with adult life, I sometimes found myself dwelling deeply on the mystery of why I existed.
How had I become a person? Why did I look like I did? Why did anyone look like they did? Where was I before I existed? If God made me, how did God get there? What was beyond God? For a few moments nothing around me seemed real. It was what I imagine an out of body experience is like. It is not a sensation I’ve really had as an adult.
In his 1927 essay “The future of an illusion”, Sigmund Freud wrote that “It would be a very long time before an uninfluenced child began spontaneously to have thoughts about God and matters beyond this world.”
By this definition, I was not an uninfluenced child. I was raised by Christian parents, I was taken to church each week, church community was a significant part of my life. Undoubtedly this upbringing sowed a seed and caused me to think as I did. But I do not feel, as Freud goes on to say, that I was “fed the teachings of religion” at a time when I was “neither interested in them nor able to grasp their scope.”
Freud’s essay focuses on the concept of religion as what he calls an item of culture, a set of ideas put upon people: “intellectual prohibition” leading to “intellectual enfeeblement,” and ultimately serving no greater purpose than wish-fulfilment. Rather, I was introduced to the idea of God as a living being at a young age and it unlocked something deeprooted and inherent to my sense of being, something that went far beyond mere religious teaching. Far from being disinterested or unable to grasp the scope, I remember contemplating the immeasurableness of God with fear and wonder. To my child’s “influenced” mind it was simply not feasible that I just existed, that I came from nothing and would return to nothing.
I grew up and read the Bible and found many places in the New Testament that corroborated my out-ofbody boyhood experience. Corroborated it and explained it in wonderful ways.
1 John is written with the firm conviction that it is possible to abide forever. John speaks of an eternal life with the Father. Something that exists already,
by Andrew Seniorelsewhere, in a different place. More powerful still, the Father has revealed this eternal life through his Son (1 John 1:2) and by believing in the name of the Son I can know I have eternal life (1 John 5:13). Not because I have loved God but because he has loved me and sent his one and only Son into the world to be the atoning sacrifice for my sins, I am alive in Christ (1 John 4: 9-10).
From my experience, I firmly believe that young minds can be filled with the magnitude and the unfathomableness of God, and to foster and encourage such contemplation is to his glory. I have witnessed him take my own wonderings and mould them into a living faith in him. Freud would dismiss my youthful sense of mystery and awe as a religious illusion, motivated only by something I wished could be true. Instead, I have had my eyes opened to 1 John 3:1:
“See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are!”
Andrew Senior lives in Sheffield and writes short fiction, poetry and reflections on faith: https://andrewseniorwriting. weebly.com
55 St. Helen’s Grindleford 56 St. John’s Chapeltown 57 St. John’s Park 58 St. Luke’s 59 St. Margaret’s and St. Thomas’ 60 St. Marie’s Cathedral 61 St. Mark’s 62 St. Matthew’s 63 St. Paul’s Norton Lees 64 St Paul’s Parson Cross 65 St. Philip’s 66 St. Thomas Crookes 67 St. Thomas Philadelphia 68 St. Timothy’s 69 St. Vincent’s 70 St. Vincent’s MissionHub 71 St. William of York 72
The Crowded House 73 The Vine 74 The Way 75 The Well 76 Victory Assembly 77 Wesley Hall 78 Wisewood Methodist Church 79 Wycliffe Church
28 Greenhill Methodist Church 29 Hathersage Parish Church 30 Heeley Parish Church 31
Hillsborough Baptist Church 32 Hope Valley Prayer Group 33 Hope, Castleton, and Bradwell Benefice 34 King’s Centre 35 Liberty Church 36 Meadowhead Christian Fellowship 37 Mother of God 38 New Hope Community Church 39 New Testament Church of God 40 Oaks Community Church 41 Oughtibridge Parish Church 42 Our Lady of Beauchief & St. Thomas of Canterbury 43 Our Lady of Lourdes 44 Richmond Church 45 Rock Christian Centre 46 Sheffield Cathedral 47 Sheffield Vineyard Church 48 South Sheffield Evangelical Church 49 Southern Light Community Church 50 Spa View Community Church 51
St. Andrew’s Community Church 52 St. Chad’s 53 St. Francis of Assisi 54 St. Gabriel’s
01
All Saints Ecclesall 02 All Saints Totley 03 Antioch Community Church 04 Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission 05 Beauchief Baptist Church 06 Bents Green Methodist Church 07 C3 Hope 08 Cemetery Road Baptist Church 09 Central Methodist 10 Christian Community Church 11
Chapeltown Methodist Church 12
Christ Church Central 13
Christ Church Dore 14 Christ Church Endcliffe 15
Christ Church Fulwood 16 Christ Church Stannington 17 Church on the Corner 18 Church on the Street 19 City Church Sheffield 20 City Life International 21
City of Refuge Foursquare Church 22 Crown of Life Community Church 23 Dore & Totley Christian Fellowship 24 Dronfield Baptist Church 25 Elim Church Central 26 Emmanuel Church 27 Eyam Parish Church
This year 4,000 UK adults completed a professional survey about faith, Christians and the Church, and their responses might surprise you.
The Talking Jesus report –published in April – sheds light on the current state of faith in the UK, how people come to faith in Jesus and how we, as the church, can talk about Jesus more effectively with our friends and in our community.
We asked a group of Sheffield church leaders to share their reactions to reading the report.
• Jon Watts, from Rock Christian Centre
• Abi Alabede from City of Refuge Foursquare Church
• Dave May, from Emmanuel Sheffield, Gina Kalsi from Attercliffe Centre of Mission
• Giles Holloway from King's Centre
• Ben Woollard, Arise Sheffield team
What surprised you most when reading the Talking Jesus report?
Jon Watts: What surprised me - positively & negatively:
1. The percentage of those impacted by reading the Bible (24% of Christians said that they became followers of Jesus through reading the Bible)
2. The percentage using Google to find out about Jesus (26% said they would find search Google for
information to answer questions they had about Jesus)
3. The amazing percentage of people who believe in the resurrection of Jesus (16% said they believe word-forword the account in the New Testament). I think it links to the concern about ‘what happens when we die?’ and shows many people want to believe in miracles. This means Easter evangelism is really important.
I wonder if a question should be added to future research regarding the percentage of those coming to faith whose first point of contact were social action projects such as CAP / Foodbanks / Eden Projects etc.
Ben Woollard: Yes – that second point really struck me too, Jon. The majority of people ask Google about Jesus before they ask a person! When I was younger and exploring faith, I don’t think I did any internet research on Jesus, I spoke to people I knew first.
Dave May: I noticed that as well. Immediately made me wonder what answers you get if you ask Google! Perhaps the thing that jumped out to me most overall is the shrinking % of people who believe Jesus was a real person.
Giles Holloway: I was struck by people's impressions of Jesus, and of Christians more generally: they’re both
viewed more positively than I imagined. I was also really encouraged to see that those who are sharing their faith are doing the right things. For example, hearing others’ stories and sharing their story of faith is having an impact: 18% of Christian adults came to faith this way. This means that there is then the potential to make a disciple directly – rather than just a convert – which is the problem with some of the other routes to faith, like the internet or a pamphlet. Having a relationship with other believers is key.
Regarding the % of people who believe Jesus was a real person: how might that affect what you focus on in outreach?
Dave May: I think at the most basic level I take this as an encouragement not to make assumptions, but to ask questions about what people think about Jesus. For me, asking questions often
leads to opportunities to then share lovingly some of my experience/beliefs. The Alpha course is pretty helpful on this – both for those seeking and equipping Christians to share.
In a weird sort of way there is encouragement in realising people aren’t turning down Jesus based on true knowledge of him and his message! Maybe many would be interested if someone takes the time to listen to them and share with them something about who Jesus really is.
Ben Woollard: Yes! And I think the challenge is finding the spaces where those real conversations can happen. Alpha is great for that.
What did you think, reading the findings about how non-Christians describe the church, and practising Christians they know?
Ben Woollard: 26% of nonChristians describe the church as hypocritical and narrow-minded. As someone who loves the local church this one is tough! Especially because it's so different from how people view Christians [only 9% and 10% describe the practising Christians they know as hypocritical or narrow-minded]. Perhaps we should focus more on empowering the person to share their faith, rather than the church? I think a local church that is well-connected to its community can become a draw as people see it serving the area, but the research suggests it's an uphill battle.
Gina Kalsi: Yes, as you say, the disparity between what non-believers think of the Christians they know
best, and what they think of ‘the church’ was striking. I wonder how much of this is about relationship. When 'the church' is quoted it is often about something negative (especially in media) but if you know an individual, it seems to reach beyond the general. Personal faith vs institutional religion.
There is also a deep mistrust of establishment and institutions for many. I wonder if small, informal Christian gatherings are more accessible to people who have been hurt, or don't trust organised religion? A challenge for churches where large single gatherings are the main focus.
Abi Alabede: People are free to say what they think about Christians but some of the points [on the chart above] got me thinking. We should
be the happiest people on earth. The Joy of the Lord should be seen in us. I will not like to be described as an unhappy (miserable) Christian. Also, I think being selfish is not a trait that we should have. God, help us as we reveal God's love through our attitudes and being intentional about our character.
From the report, what strikes you as the biggest challenge for Sheffield this year?
Ben Woollard: That only 53% of non-Christians think they know a practising Christian: this is the biggest challenge for our church and for me personally I think! To give space in my
life to know and be known by more people outside the church. We've recently heard lots of exciting stories of people receiving dreams about Jesus and coming to churches in Sheffield: however, I wonder if this is also a loving challenge from Jesus: he has to give them dreams because they don’t know any Christians. Or, perhaps those who they do know are 'secret believers' who are unsure how to share their faith.
What will you be doing differently as a result of reading the report?
Giles Holloway: We need to encourage the 50% who don’t share their faith and equip the 30% who don’t feel confident. We also need to empower the whole church to get to know more nonChristians as half the country doesn’t seem to know any! So, I’m going to be more intentional and focussed on helping myself and others get to know more non-Christians and become more confident in the gospel and sharing Jesus with others.
Find out more about the Talking Jesus report – and what it could mean for your church – here:
bit.ly/arise-talking-jesus
“We were created for unity, saved to be unified, and will spend eternity
as one Body.”
by Giles Holloway
When I am not confident of something, I hang back, I dither, I avoid, I keep quiet. When I am in a group and someone starts talking confidently about characters and plots in the latest Marvel film I begin to withdraw from the conversation and keep my head down, because I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t got a clue! But it’s a different matter when someone starts talking about sport! Suddenly I perk up and start to share stories and talk with confidence about what I know, because I love sport and know enough to pitch in. Sharing our faith can be like that. When we feel close to Jesus and know His Word we feel confident to talk enthusiastically about Him, but when we feel far from Jesus we question what He has done for us and we find ourselves shying away from opportunities to introduce Him to others.
I don’t get the impression that Paul of Tarsus was a shy kind of guy. In the opening to his letter to Romans he said: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The GNB translation is “I have complete confidence in the good news”,
but that doesn’t quite do the original justice. Why would Paul use the negative version of this? Firstly, it may have been because those who were opposed to the gospel saw it as foolish (1 Cor 1:23) and secondly Paul may well have been tempted to feel ashamed – certainly taking news of the resurrection of an unknown man who had just suffered a Roman execution to Caesar’s empire was no easy task (1 Cor 2:3). Paul didn’t always have the rub of the green as he experienced stonings, shipwrecks and snakebites, but nevertheless Paul was always keen to stress that his confidence was on the good news of Jesus rather than in himself.
Why was Paul so confident in the gospel?
The odd word “gospel” comes from the old Anglo-Saxon term god-spell, meaning “good story” or “good news”. The news that Paul was bringing was of the death and the resurrection of Jesus and His power to save us, heal us and restore us through faith. He had confidence in this news because he knew that it was true, having come face to face with the risen Jesus. He had become convinced of Jesus’ power to save through visions, through scripture, through the church and through prayer. If our news
is going to be good, we need to be similarly assured by the reality of our relationship with Jesus that He alone has the power to save (Acts 4:12).
Are we confident in the good news?
Our journey to faith will obviously be different to Paul’s, so we all have our own story to share. However dramatic or unremarkable it may be, we need to be able to communicate without jargon how we know Jesus and what difference He makes to our life. There are many aspects to that, but we are only called to speak of what we know –like the woman at the well announcing “come see a man who told me everything I ever did (John 4:29) and the healed blind man declaring “all I know is that I was blind, and now I can see!” (John 9:25).
How do I know if you are confident in the gospel?
As I said at the start, if you are confident in something you will find yourself talking about it with others. If you are a passionate extrovert like myself the you may well bring it up even without being invited! The key is that you will share your faith simply even when it may risk damaging your reputation because you are confident that the benefit of the good news for them far outweighs the inconvenience to you. The nervousness about sharing may never fully recede but the knowledge that it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes should be sufficient for us to share faith simply.
When we feel close to Jesus, we feel confident to talk enthusiastically about him, but when we feel far from Jesus we find ourselves shying away from opportunities to introduce him to others.
Phillip Dolby is a freelance journalist, editor and PR consultant based in Sheffield. His specialist subjects include: local and national news, politics, the arts, religion and international development. He loves the adventure of working in the media industry and wants to use his voice to speak up for the poor and disenfranchised. In his free time he loves reading, mountain biking, trail jogging, cooking and a round of golf.
Website: phillipdolby.com Twitter: @PhillipDolby
“A moment with Jesus can change everything.”
That’s the good news according to the Spirit Café, a special outreach project at the Well, Sheffield, which reaches the unchurched with the power of prayer.
The café team offer a menu of spiritual treatments to those passing by the church building on Ecclesall Road, including spiritual direction, physical healing and peace.
Those thirsty for authentic spirituality and an encounter with Jesus - but perhaps aren’t used to traditional church - can come in and receive prayer from the team over a cup of tea or coffee.
The project - which is currently being run one Saturday a month - reaches about 10 people each session, and aims to relate classic Christian ministry to today’s generation who are often open to spirituality but unsure
about organised religion.
Senior leader at the Well, Marjorie Allan, says the café outreach project has Jesus’ ministry at its heart and has made quite an impact for good in the local mission field.
A number of attendees have become Christians for the first time and many have experienced the blessing, healing and freedom Jesus can bring.
“People just come in off the street with their pizzas and cans of beer, and their shopping,” laughs Marjorie, “They don’t plan to come in 90% of the time but they are drawn by God’s Spirit or by the street team inviting them.
“We have fun stories of people having passed by thinking the Spirit Café is a regular café or bar, and then have powerfully met God.”
The vision of the café is simple: “Our heart is to introduce the unchurched to the fact
How the Well’s Spirit Café is reaching the unchurched with the power of prayer
there is a God in heaven who really loves them,” explains Marjorie. And this can be communicated through the treatments on offer.
“Our experience of Holy Spirit is that God is wanting to reach people,” she continues. “We have people coming to the café after being stirred by God in supernatural dreams, or through suddenly meeting a Christian, or on reading the Bible – all different ways.
“But it shows me the Spirit of God, Holy Spirit, searches after people, runs after people, collides with people.”
The Well’s Spirit Café was started in 2015 by Marjorie and church team member Amanda Curtis after they had come into contact with Harvest Ministries’ Spirit Café model based in Birmingham.
The duo attended the ministry’s training course to learn more about running a Spirit Café themselves, and then, in turn, trained their own team of volunteers in Sheffield.
The cafe team is now divided between the street team, the reception and cafe host team, the ministry team and the intercessory prayer team –each with an important part to play on the day.
The language and experience of the café is very much tailored to the unchurched, and is like both a café and a clinic. People drop in and choose from a menu of treatments and then have the opportunity to connect with three-person ministry teams around café tables for around 15 minutes.
“Before I visited the Spirit Café, my life was a complete nightmare. I had been involved in the New Age, and I felt really under a lot of spiritual oppression. I was disillusioned and felt like I didn’t have anything to live for.
I was struggling with the idea of ending my own life, and I was doing everything I could possibly do to feel better. I was obsessed with healing and therapies. And nothing was getting me anywhere.
I spoke to a woman over the phone, who told me to pray to Jesus and when I did, I felt the peace of God in my heart.
I visited my friend soon after, and told her about my experience. She said, well, that’s brilliant. Why don’t we go to the Spirit Café and see what happens there?
So we made an arrangement to go there and I sat with three people who all prophesied over me, in a very different way. And it all came together. I didn’t know anything about Christianity.
And my spirituality at that time was everywhere, but speaking to these people and being prophesied over just brought real peace into my heart."
“People often encounter God’s Spirit and experience His love and transforming presence,” says Marjorie. “The teams are trained to share the gospel and, if appropriate, lead people to a relationship with Jesus.”
Visitors to the café are also invited to sit in the sanctuary and experience a worship set, as well as receive a Bible and ‘Why Jesus?’ booklet.
The Well firmly believes God can heal and perform miracles through the Church today –and the team has seen that first-hand at the café.
Says Marjorie: “Our whole ministry is the ministry of Jesus. And He is unchanging.
In Matthew 10 he said: ‘Heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons. Freely you have received so freely give.’
“Of course we have to be appropriate for our context and our culture. We have to be very careful with how we do that with the unchurched. But the whole message and call is unchanging - that’s who Jesus is and we’re following Him.”
Leader of the Well’s Deeper school of ministry, Naomi Fennell, says there have been many “incredible” healings which have taken place at the café when the team have prayed for people – both Christians and not.
She said: “A lady who was actually a Christian travelled to the church to see what we were doing and she had arthritis quite seriously in her hand, so she couldn’t pick up a cup.
“We prayed for her; in fact we prayed for her a few times, because each time we prayed for her, it was getting better, incrementally. By the end of the evening, she had picked up a cup with one hand, no problem.
“She stayed in the city to come back on the Sunday, two days later, to testify she was still healed.”
The prophetic, where God conveys His heart and direction to a believer for someone else, is also powerfully at work at the Spirit Café.
Says Naomi: “Many times people have come in and a member of the team has given them a prophetic word – or a word of knowledge –where they’ve spoken into or prayed for something which they couldn’t possibly have known about that personthey’ve not revealed anything.
“And generally what happens
of like, ‘Wow!’ because Holy Spirit has been able to point at something in their lives which has brought them a level of freedom, or helped them make a decision or brought them peace.”
One of the challenges of doing outreach ministry to reach a non-religious generation is for the church to get rid of its churchiness to better connect with people, says Marjorie.
“We’ve found that we need to keep it really simple, the language; so sometimes we use funny language as Christians – we all do it. You know an extreme version might be, we can’t pray for the unchurched and refer to ‘the blood of the lamb’.
“Also, describing someone as being ‘on fire for God’ – just sounds weird. Where’s the fire, we need to get out of here!
“I think, above all, love has to be the heartbeat of what we’re doing. Sometimes it’s not exciting and supernatural; it’s just being out there with the street team – faithful people – standing in the cold and ice having dull conversations to love lonely
grounded in that way is so important.”
The Spirit Café opening times are advertised in advance on The Well’s website (www. wellsheffield.com). The team is currently recruiting more volunteers and people interested in getting involved are always welcome.
If you’re excited by what you’ve read here, how might you respond? Marjorie Allan has some suggestions:
“Pray for people to actually come to the café and then through this to encounter Jesus.”
“Reflect on taking opportunities to pray with the unchurched in our everyday contexts –shops; neighbourhoods and workplaces. We are increasingly inviting unchurched people to read the Bible with us.”
“'Miracle Work' by Jordan Seng - a book designed to raise faith and normalise the supernatural. We use it in our Spirit Café training.
“Also people may want to access the Well's course and online resources: 'Naturally Supernatural.'“
“Anyone interested in finding out more about Spirit Café is welcome to email: info@ wellsheffield.com”
For 18 months, churches, Christian volunteers, businesses and charities have been working together to create job opportunities for 18-24-year-olds at risk of long term unemployment. Together for Sheffield has been helping coordinate these efforts.
Ben Woollard, CEO of Together for Sheffield says, “We want young adults to be supported by one of the healthiest, most thriving social networks that exist – the Christian community. This has been a front and centre aspect of the initiative and is inspired by the overt Christcentred approach of Christians Against Poverty (CAP). We need not be ashamed of Jesus Christ and what our communities can offer.”
With initial Government support, Together for Sheffield developed a programme of training, work experience placements and mentoring that supported over 65 young adults at risk of long term unemployment. 80% of those are now in permanent work and a number have also made decisions to start following Jesus and join the churches that supported them.
Josh Cutting – church leader at The Way – and Nikki Williams have been running fortnightly training days for the young adults involved.
“We’ve seen friendships formed and young adults become more who they were made to be through this work.”
The loving core of the training shines through all they do, as Nikki and Josh engage the young adults as neighbours, encouraging their confidence by creating a safe place to thrive.
Growing a support network for each young adult is a key focus of the employment programme. The workshops are designed to provide the opportunity for the young adults to connect with and support each other; they also invite business professionals to visit the group and share their stories.
Wilster – one of the participants – said, “Being part of this has literally changed my life.”
Together for Sheffield also runs a mentorship program alongside the work experience and skills training. Giles Holloway – one of the church leaders at Network Church Sheffield – is one of these mentors. He said, “This is a fantastic opportunity and something that the church has some expertise in; helping out youngsters”.
Giles continues, “My role as a mentor is to listen to my mentee’s story – his aspirations, what makes him tick – engaging, encouraging and advising him.” Giles’
mentee now works for Network Church Sheffield on a permanent basis.
With Government funding now closed for young adult employment projects like this, Together for Sheffield is now partnering with local businesses to fund a programme that draws on the experience and successes of its predecessor. Now called Ascend, the programme continues to provide work experience, mentoring and training to 18–24 year olds at risk of long term unemployment.
HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUNG ADULTS BECOME WHO THEY WERE MADE TO BE:
• Please pray now for the young adults signing up to the Ascend programme
• Put us in touch with any employers you know who could offer a life-changing placement for a young adult
• Become a mentor, giving just one hour a fortnight to support a young adult
• Give financially to help fund Ascend to continue supporting young adults in Sheffield into permanent employment
If you’d like to know more about Ascend, or if you’d like to support the programme, please contact Ben Woollard: ben@togetherforsheffield.co.uk
When my three children were very young, they loved to drag all the duvets, blankets, cushions and pillows they could find into the lounge. They made a den from them and called their structure a ‘comfy kingdom.’
by Fiona Walton
Fiona Walton has 3 part-time jobs. She works for Christians and Sheffield Schools, Open the Book and as a teacher. She is a mother and a granny. She enjoys walking long distance trails with Chutney, her chocolate Labrador, and listening to Springsteen.
Statistics about children and young people’s relationship with the Kingdom of God do not make for comfortable reading. A staggering 95% of under 18s don’t have contact with a church.
I wonder whether we have made faith – or God – too comfortable or too uncomfortable for them?
Perhaps they don’t want a God who is smaller than their life, their difficulties, their hopes/dreams, and their fears. Perhaps they want to be introduced to an authentic God who excites them and challenges them to take risks and step out of their comfort zone?
Each generation has its own unique challenges and characteristics. Our young people today have their own difficulties to grapple with. For example: cyber bullying, sexting, pornography, poverty, self-harm, knife crime, loss, post pandemic anxiety, stress, and mental health issues. Are we walking by, like the priest or Levite, and leaving them
wounded at the side of the road? (Luke 10.25-37)
How can we help children and young people, show kindness to them, be good news to them, be present with them and serve them?
Christians and Sheffield Schools (CaSS) believe to be servant-hearted and to do life with the next generation we need to be where they are – in schools. Schools are amazing places full of learning, life, potential and possibilities. We need to take the Kingdom of God ‘into their midst.’ (Luke 17:20-21) We need to be the word of God with them, moving as ‘flesh and blood into our neighbourhood’ schools (John 1.14 The Message.)
CaSS also believes that after parents, it is teachers who are on the front line with our children and young people. The expertise, enthusiasm, and commitment that teachers show in classrooms each day is incredible. Children and young people spend around six hours per day with their teachers, and about 190 days per year. If a child spends 14 years at school this adds up to 15,000+
hours: much more time than any youth worker or church leader could hope to spend with the next generation.
The statistics surrounding teachers also make for uncomfortable reading. An increasing proportion of teachers quit within a year of qualifying (Financial Times 2019), a third of newly qualified teachers quit English classrooms within five years (The Guardian 2019), four out of 10 teachers plan to quit in next five years (BBC 2019) at least 70% of teachers say their workload is unachievable within contracted hours (TES 2019) and almost half of headteachers plan to leave prematurely after Covid (The Guardian 2021).
We need to take care of the teachers who stay. As the Duchess of Cambridge observed: “It is clear that the positive development of our children is directly linked to those who care for them: teachers, carers and parents... it is therefore vital that we support teachers with their own well-being, so that they
can provide the best level of care for all children in their schools and communities in which they work.”
If we take up this challenge to serve schools it is important to make any contact carefully: there is a cost to getting it wrong, for you and any subsequent or potential visitor.
Christians do not have a right to go into schools, it is a privilege. We visit by invitation – we are guests and not the host. So, we must conform to and respect the ethos, culture, and expectations of the school, as their guests. Our presence must be negotiated.
We need to (metaphorically) ‘take our shoes off’ if that is what is done by our host regardless of what the rules are in our own ‘home’. We can not just plan to do church in a different building; when entering a school, we enter a shared, public space.
CaSS sees itself as an armour bearer – taking what is needed to those on the frontline in schools. It aims to help Christians make positive,
productive, and professional links with schools, through encouraging concern for schools, offering training and resourcing. Examples of our work include an annual school ministry and school chaplaincy training course, the Joined Up Conference (www.joinedupconference. com), prayer cards and a website (www.cass-su.org.uk) full of links and ideas.
Many Christians are already serving South Yorkshire schools. We hope to explore some of the ways they are doing this in the next edition of Arise. Their stories are inspiring!
For now, may I challenge you with a few (perhaps) uncomfortable questions?
• What is the difference between a God of all comfort and a comfortable God?
• How often do you pray (individually and corporately) for children, young people, teachers, school chaplains and other staff in schools?
• How do you support and encourage the teachers in your congregation?
• What difference could you make in a school?
Christians do not have a right to go into schools: it is a privilege. We visit by invitation, we are the guests, not the host.
Travelling on pilgrimage is a common practice in most religious faiths. It is hoped that our visits to those holy sites will enrich and renew us spiritually. By stepping out of our daily routine we can perhaps more easily connect ourselves with God.
by Bishop Ralph Heskett Diocese of Hallam
One of the best-known places of pilgrimage is Lourdes: a little town in the Pyrenees where it is believed that Mary appeared to a local girl – Bernadette Soubirous, or St Bernadette as we now call her – on a number of occasions in 1858. It has been a place of pilgrimage, prayer, and miraculous healing ever since, and more than 5 million people now make the pilgrimage to Lourdes every year. Many are of the Christian faith, but it is also visited by those of other faiths and of none.
As you know, the Covid-19 pandemic made it difficult, if not impossible, for people to travel on pilgrimage. I know many are still anxious about travelling nationally and internationally at present. However, this autumn, Lourdes has come to the UK in the form of the relics (remains) of St Bernadette, which are being brought to various cathedrals – including St Marie’s in Sheffield – for the very first time. Believers from around the UK will be taking part in local pilgrimages to the cathedrals in which the relics are being hosted. The tour is attracting active believers and curious onlookers alike, creating focal points for prayer and healing across the country.
As Cardinal Vincent Nichols says, “The pilgrimage St Bernadette’s relics will
St Bernadette’s relics visiting Sheffield
undertake this autumn offers us a welcome opportunity to bear active witness to our Faith, joining with one another across our many communities to encounter God’s love and find spiritual, emotional, and psychological healing and renewal.” Please pray with us for all of those who are participating in the pilgrimage: that each of them will encounter God in a new and deeper way.
Why are relics special to so many Catholics? In the Bible, there are several moments in which God chooses to work miracles through physical objects related to His servants. In the Old Testament, for example, we see a dead man come back to life when his body touches the bones of the prophet Elisha. In the Acts of the Apostles, we even have ‘handkerchiefs and aprons’ touched by St Paul being carried away to sick people to bring them healing. The writer of the Acts, St Luke, is clear though, that God is the source of the power in these items, and we believe the same today when God chooses to work through the relics of his Saints and Martyrs.
I know that some struggle with the idea of the veneration of relics, but I think that there are three key elements worth clarifying, to help with our understanding.
Firstly, when Catholics speak of venerating relics, it is important to be clear that, while this is a high form of honour, it is very distinct from adoration, which is the true worship we give only to God.
object linked to someone who is now in Heaven, we are honouring God, the source of all holiness.
Secondly, it is rooted in our natural human instinct to treat with care and reverence anything connected with those we have loved and lost a while in death. I am sure that many of us have keepsakes of our deceased loved ones, perhaps of no value to others, but of huge value to us; this attachment we feel is similar to the devotion some Catholics have to items related to Saints.
The third element that helps us to understand the veneration of relics is that being in their presence can help us feel close to these holy individuals and connect us with the community of the faithful - on Earth and in Heaven. When we feel more connected to this ‘great cloud of witnesses’, it can be a real encouragement to our desire for holiness, helping us to ‘run with perseverance’.
So, relics are a tool that help us draw closer to God,
natural instinct to treasure items that remind us of loved ones, and through visibly connecting us with God’s holy Church – in Heaven and on Earth.
But, perhaps the final word on the significance of the veneration of relics should go to Pope Emeritus Benedict, who expresses it far better than I ever could:
“By inviting us to venerate the mortal remains of the martyrs and saints, the Church does not forget that, in the end, these are indeed just human bones, but they are bones that belonged to individuals touched by the transcendent power of God. The relics of the saints are traces of that invisible but real presence which sheds light upon the shadows of the world and reveals the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst.”
Can you think of any physical objects or items that help you to draw closer to Jesus?
This summer, teams from Churches across Sheffield were working to support Christian festivals such as New Wine. One volunteer from Sheffield shared this story of a dramatic and moving healing:
“When we arrived to help at the young adults festival on the New Wine showground, the New Wine leaders told us they had seen so much physical and emotional healing over the last two festivals – more than they had personally ever seen before – including stories of two deaf children receiving
hearing for the first time.
“Then, on the opening night, I had the privilege of praying for a deaf lady (who had been deaf since young childhood) and watched as Jesus healed her and she instantly received hearing.
“She had removed her hearing aids and could only lip read, and then suddenly she could hear me praying – and the music in the room – and then began to receive her speech back quite fast. It was extraordinary and vulnerable and you can never really prepare for a moment
like this. I cry as I write about it now. She was very shocked, and so was I.
“We met several times more over the following days. She continued to be able to speak and hear like everyone else! She would regularly slip into sign language as it was so strange for her to be able to hear herself speak. Her church community was so excited and her parents were beside themselves – they had prayed for this to happen most of her life. I will never forget her joy at hearing the birds sing! Jesus is wonderful.”
At the end of May, I was admitted to hospital.
Having been perfectly healthy just a week beforehand, I had turned as yellow as Bart Simpson, and was in a lot of pain. The doctors established that I was jaundiced due to problems with my liver, and looked for gallstones, but test after test came back negative. After a week of being unable to figure out what was wrong, the consultant scheduled a liver biopsy for the following day. As they described the procedure it sounded horrible and I was not at all keen to go through it.
The next morning, just before I was expecting to be taken
through for the biopsy, a different consultant came in to talk to me. She had good news: my bilirubin levels had dropped dramatically in the previous 24 hours. In fact, all my liver function tests had dramatically improved in that period. I’ve spoken to a number of doctors since and they have all said that when this level of change happens naturally, it’s much much slower. They had never seen such a massive improvement over just one day. The improvement was so good in fact that I was able to go home that same day. It was such an amazing example of healing that the consultant actually used the word “miraculous”, unprompted by me.
The day that I was healed was
the very same day that my church – Emmanuel Church – was having a day of prayer and fasting for me, as was Emmanuel Church in Oxford.
I also know that many other church leaders and believers around the city were also praying, and it was just such a humbling and encouraging experience to see how many people – from so many church backgrounds – united to pray for me.
I hope my story is an encouragement that can build and raise faith. I know there’s sometimes mystery and frustration around prayers that we’re praying that don’t work out like this, but I want to encourage you to keep going, keep praying, keep trusting, never give up in prayer.
Over the last year, we have received increasing reports – from different churches across Sheffield – about:
• Increasing numbers of people coming to faith from completely unchurched backgrounds.
• People claiming they have had Jesus appear to them in dreams and then turning
Behold, how good and pleasant it is When brothers and sisters live together in unity!
On Saturday 24 September, church leaders from across the S17 postcode and beyond met at Christ Church Dore Community Centre for the Sheffield West Filling Station to make a commitment to work together in sharing the Gospel in a spirit of unity and collaboration.
up at churches seeking answers. Many of them have then made decisions to follow Jesus and join a Church community.
One recent story from a church leader in Sheffield:
I recently had the privilege to lead someone to give her life to Jesus. She came to our church for the first time, and
I was sharing some stories of people who had had dreams about Jesus in Sheffield and had started following him. It turned out that – two months previously – she had dreamed vividly about Jesus. When she heard me share about people turning to Jesus in dreams she was flabbergasted and knew she had to respond to God.
Together for Sheffield CEO Ben Woollard led a prayer of unity drawing on Psalm 133.
In an act of prophetic imagination, church pastors and ministry leaders made a wall of prayer using foam bricks that had been handed out to all present. On these bricks the names of local churches and mission organisations were written, seeking the Lord's blessing as Christians work together
to see God's kingdom grow across the community. The leaders donned builders’ high-vis jackets and hard hats as they prayed, as a reminder that we are co-workers in God’s service... God’s field, God’s building.
It's truly encouraging to see the growing friendship and commitment to prayer in S17 as churches and groups partner together. Where there is unity there is blessing.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” – Romans 15:13
So much has happened in our nation since the last edition of Arise! magazine. Our city has experienced changes in leadership (locally and nationally).
We have experienced grief resulting from the loss of our Queen, a faithful and constant leadership figure. The war in Ukraine continues, and now we also approach Winter with many in fear about the cost of living and energy bills.
So what is heaven's perspective at this time?
Christ is indeed the Hope in which we put our trust. What does ‘Christ’s kingdom come’ look like and how do we agree with heaven in prayer to see this manifest in our city?
Bring these topics before God and look to Christ as you pray and ask for His perspective;
1. Change in leadership and the Queen’s passing
Comfort, O God, all those who are impacted by the death of Queen Elizabeth in our city. We ask for opportunities to share the truth of Jesus – the Everlasting One – to all those who are feeling shaken. May we have the courage to live out our faith displaying your gospel at this time.
Bless all of those in leadership positions in our city. Lord, we ask for heavenly strategy and partnerships to be released, for our city to prosper. Give our government and local authority wisdom to lead well through all the current difficulties we face.
2. Cost of living/ energy crisis
God, thank you that you know all the needs of those people living in our city. You are a good Father and you desire to meet our needs. We ask for a release of generosity and innovative ideas so that all can have food, housing and warmth this winter. We ask for wisdom for your church to
know how to respond to those in need and the grace to be generous and faithful – not fearful – at this time.
At this time we believe that unity across the body of Christ is a key focus for prayer. We have seen unity increase in Sheffield, but we know that there’s so much more to do.
Father, in your word, you call us One in You. We ask that you would lead us into a greater knowledge of this truth. Help us to love one another, to show mercy over judgement, to be quick to forgive and to build one another up. We ask for our church leaders to build strong connections and friendships across the city and for many to see Jesus through the unity we display.
We ask all this in your precious Name. Amen.
Rachel Hall is the Prayer Coordinator for Together for Sheffield, and a part of the Arise Sheffield team.
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