Emmanuel Wimbledon Newsletter June/July 2021

Emmanuel Newsletter

News and views from Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon

Beloved in Christ “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

1 Peter 5:10

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his is a verse that has become precious to me over the last few months, and which I shared with those who came to our recent AGM. As a church, we have suffered for a little while.

Whether that’s because of Covid and lockdowns, or bereavements, or mental health challenges, or the ongoing fallout from the abuse in our midst that came to light, it has been a season of suffering. And yet what a promise the God of all grace makes to us! He Himself—not another—will restore us (the word is used elsewhere of mending nets, making right, like a surgeon setting a broken bone). Then God will confirm us - that is, what has been lost in our suffering will in some way be restored. And He will strengthen and establish us.

June/July 2021

across the road as we seek to love both each other and our neighbours. As we remain in Christ and he in us, he promises we will bear much fruit, bring his Father glory, and show ourselves to be his disciples (John 15).

Looking forward, at the AGM we focussed on what is a season of re-building at Emmanuel. Like all churches, we need to be re-building post Covid.

Working on the assumption that lockdown restrictions will still be lifted on 21 June, we have designated 27 June ‘Back to Church Sunday’. We’re planning a great day of celebration. In addition to the 10.30am and 6.00pm services, from 12.00-3.00pm we’ll have lunch, games, popcorn and candy floss in the church garden. Please do join us! People often ask me, especially after the difficult time I’ve been having, “how can I encourage you?” Apart from praying, the most encouraging thing church family can do is the ministry of turning up. That’s always the case, but especially so after a year when Continued on page 2

It’s been a joy to see all the ways God is keeping that promise to us. Those who were at the AGM would have been excited to hear three short interviews highlighting just some of the ways the Lord has been at work among us, even during lockdown— perhaps especially because of lockdown. He’s been bringing people to faith, connecting us with people across the world and

www.emmanuelwimbledon.org.uk

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Emmanuel Believes we haven’t been able to meet, and when some of our church family have moved either to glory or out of London. More than ever, we need to give ourselves to the ministry of turning up. At some point over the summer, we plan to stop the livestream but we will record the 10.30 service and send it to those who for good reason can’t come in person.

We’re also rebuilding as we implement the recommendations of the thirtyone:eight review. In seeking to do this, we are being brilliantly served by the excellent implementation group led by Gilly Briant. We’re committed to the structural and cultural changes the review recommends. How we do that matters both for us as a church, and the wider Christian church, and is something we all need to be part of, however much we may not want to. As many will know, the ripples from what has happened at Emmanuel have gone wide and deep. If you haven’t yet read the open letter to Justin Humphreys from seven survivors of my predecessor’s abuse, I commend it to you. At every stage, we seek to put victims first, and that means listening to them, especially when they feel that their abuse is being weaponised.

The rebuilding we’re doing is not only spiritual but physical. As is increasingly evident, the Emmanuel church building desperately needs some significant work doing to it, and a team of architects have come up with some excellent plans. We will continue to keep the church family up to date with developments, but for the work to happen we’ll all need to give generously, sacrificially and cheerfully. Please join me in praying the Lord would motivate us by His amazing grace and incomprehensible love to do this.

Like local churches in the Bible, at Emmanuel we seek to be led by a team of elders and served by

a team of deacons (see Philippians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 3). So I’m hugely grateful for my fellow elders with whom I oversee Emmanuel. And also for our deacons who are the trustees (who make sure we are compliant in every way) and the church council. At this AGM we expressed our thanks to Jan Lawes and Baz Barrett, both of whom stepped down as trustees. Jan has been a wonderful chair of the trustees as well as church warden, and Baz has done a great job chairing the church council.

Please join me in praying for Tina McGhee and Simon Blows who are replacing them as trustees.

Emmanuel is also served by a fantastic staff team who have worked especially hard and flexibly during lockdown. Our curate Josh continues to flourish, and our associate minister Nick has a made a super start. Our other associate minister Sarah is on sabbatical and leaves the staff team at the end of August. We owe her the most enormous debt of gratitude for all she has done – not least in co-ordinating the response to the abuse that has come to light in recent years. We’re keen to replace Sarah with another woman on the senior staff, but are still exploring what role would be best for her.

Robert is making a huge difference as Church operations manager and is ably assisted by Emily and Kathy. We’re grateful too to our ministry trainees, and are praying for Becky and Donald as they return to Mexico this summer. Rui is staying on, and will be joined by some fellow Portuguese as we welcome two new ministry trainees in September —Pedro and Ana. May the God of all grace himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Your brother in Christ Robin

Dates for your Diary SUNDAYS

10.30am Morning Meeting In person or Livestream via http://wimbl.es/livestream or the Emmanuel Wimbledon Facebook page 6.00pm Evening Meeting In person

BAPTISM & CONFIRMATION SERVICE

EMU MUSIC EVENING

Sunday 13 June, 6.00pm

Saturday 3 July

BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY

For up-to-date information, please see the Church family notices and the Emmanuel website

27 June

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UK Mission

Merton Street Pastors F or the past 15 years Emmanuel has actively engaged—via UK Mission Committee funding and Emmanuel volunteers—in the outreach work of Merton Street Pastors (MSP) that provide night time patrols in Wimbledon, Mitcham and Morden town centres. The Merton team currently has over 40 volunteers from different churches. Those involved from Emmanuel are Andrea Mukhtar (active Street Pastor and new Trustee) and Peter Harlock (Trustee), with Sue Gould, who was at Emmanuel until recently, volunteering part-time with office admin support.

Encouragements Affected by Covid, the work of MSP has been on and off, along with the lockdowns, but there have been some real encouragements, for: •

Those we serve—Last September during a patrol in Morden a small team were told of a girl in distress who was on the roof top of a car park.

We found her. She was crying and shouting at a young man. The girl was not interested in talking to us at this point. But standing some distance away we prayed for them both. We were back on the street when the same young man found us and asked us to go and check on her as she was still very upset. We talked with her intermittently while she was having conversations on her mobile phone. The story came out that she was due to start at university, she had just had an abortion a couple of days before and now the young man, her boyfriend, had split up with her. She slowly calmed down enough to speak with us and told us that her parents also had their own problems. In the end she settled down and went home to her parents’ house.

She was very vulnerable, as well as distressed, but the Lord used our prayers and encounters to calm her down and go home and enable her to hopefully continue to heal before starting

university a few weeks later.

•

The team of volunteers and our prayers— Prayer was not in lockdown! The team has a whatsapp group chat which we use to encourage one another, share prayer requests and also to arrange patrols when they have been happening. Although some of the street pastors are older or particularly vulnerable or have additional health issues, we had a weekly prayer time on Zoom during lockdown. There has been a real sense of ongoing prayer support for the different town centres and for the needs of the communities.

Brainstorming We have had Zoom strategy brainstorming sessions about the ‘new normal’ post-Covid environment and adjusting to meet those needs, for example: •

Different post-Covid needs, such as older and young people re-adapting after long periods in semi isolation; and those deeply concerned for loved ones facing the pandemic in India or elsewhere in the world.

•

Thinking that we could reach some of those groups by experimenting with day patrols, in addition to the usual night patrols. For example, in Wimbledon town centre/parks and Wimbledon Common (in the summer).

•

If successful in engaging people in the daytime then we envisage finding a new group of volunteers from churches who might find daytime patrols attractive.

The MSP volunteer team and trustees are very grateful to Emmanuel for prayer and financial and volunteer support.

Peter Harlock & Andrea Mukhtar

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International Mission

A Circuitous Route After three years in New Zealand, the Ballingers return to Japan

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ince the beginning of April, James has been the Director of the Samurai Projects, a Cornhill-type ministry apprenticeship scheme in central Tokyo. The scheme exists to raise up Bible teaching servant leaders for Japan, and we are thrilled to be applying to do this in partnership with Emmanuel. We’re conscious it’s been a while since we were last at Emmanuel in 2016 and so we wanted to introduce ourselves.

James first came to Emmanuel as a Cornhiller in the autumn of 2004. As he was a young Christian with no church background, Emmanuel became his home church, and you continued to support him through theological studies after Cornhill. The Lord used James’ experiences at Emmanuel, and several short-term mission trips to Japan with OMF, to convince him of the need for more bible teachers in Japan, and he applied to serve there.

Whilst at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford James met me (Charley), who was also praying as to where, and in what way, Jesus wanted to use me in ministry. After marrying in 2008 we headed to Japan in October 2009, learning Japanese and then working under a Japanese pastor. In summer 2014 we returned to Emmanuel, with our first son Wren.

After much agonizing discussion and prayer, we made the difficult decision not to return to Japan as scheduled in 2015, due to ill health.

Whilst considering our next steps we spent a precious couple of years at Emmanuel. Our daughter Ena was born, and many friendships were forged.

In the second year James joined the staff team, helping with TNT and some other ministries. As we explored future ministries we were led to do further study: an MA in Theology at Oakhill Theological College. When a desperate plea for workers for New Zealand came to the college in 2017, again, after much agonizing, a trip to Japan (three children in tow this time) and a trip to New Zealand, it became clear New Zealand was where we could best serve the church.

James has now finished three years as an Assistant Minister, supporting the Senior Minister of an Anglican Church in Christchurch. At the same time the Anglican Church split over the blessing of

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same-sex marriages, resulting in our Senior Minister becoming a part-time minister and bishop to a new diocese. Meanwhile Rupert was born, in June last year.

As the assistantship was coming towards its close, we were praying about where the Lord could use us, when a friend asked us to pray about returning to Japan. For many of you this may come as a surprise: well, I can tell you it certainly was for us!

The role of Samurai Projects Director is one we had intended to return to Japan for in 2015. After a considerable detour the Lord has brought us back to Japan and the very same job. Our first question was: why this circuitous route? As we reflected on all that Jesus has taught us about himself, us and his people over the past seven years, we feel that we are now better equipped to take up this role.

Although James began the role in April, the Japanese border is still closed and so he’s running the course on Zoom. Please pray the borders would open so that we can join in person! For more information or to sign up for our prayer news please visit www.jclglobal.org/ballingers Charley Ballinger

Book Reviews

A Psalm a Day

by John Nugée

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n 1648 England was going through the agony of civil war which lasted six years, and outbreaks of plague were becoming increasingly common. During this uncertainty and desperation people longed for hope. At this time Revd William Bridge preached 13 sermons at Stepney in London on Psalm 42:11 [Why are you downcast, O my soul, Put your hope in God.] to bring God’s comfort to his congregation.

were unable to experience comfort at a time when it was needed most. It becomes even more significant as we learn from history that the last time the churches were shut was when Pope Innocent III placed England under an interdict, in order to admonish King John in 1208. However, John’s meditation on Psalm 16 is a wonderful assurance of God’s protection: “Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge”.

Over the centuries these beautiful writings have impacted the world in many ways. For example, Oxford University’s motto is, “The Lord is my light” (Psalm 27) and on the front of the London Stock Exchange building are engraved the words, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24). So I am not surprised that right at the beginning of the Covid pandemic when things were looking gloomy, John Nugée was inspired to write his reflections on the Psalms.

The book provides a historical backdrop to almost every Psalm, informing the reader of ways in which many people throughout history have found solace and comfort in these inspirational writings, “The Psalms show how the earthly life of the people of Israel intersected with their spiritual life to a remarkable degree.” He shows that they can be relevant to each of us, applying them to his own experience each day as things were unfolding during the pandemic. These experiences range widely from simple things like a car breaking down or technology not working to more complex issues, such as a relative suffering from long term illness, or bereavement. Such experiences reminded him of “the fragility of modern life ... (and) how much one relies on things working”.

In the middle of all this the Psalms helped him and his family to end some days with a glass of wine, acknowledging God as sovereign over every situation: “But I trust in You, O Lord; I say ‘You are my God’”.

John is a member of Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, and has been for many years. He is well-travelled internationally, and has written books on finance and economics. His thoughts are based on his own life experience. He wrote these meditations originally for his housegroup members, to strengthen them as the infection rate was escalating, causing anxiety and uncertainty for many people. He was then encouraged to compile them into a book so that many more Christians could benefit from them. They are concise, only taking the reader a few minutes to read and think about.

I like the way he made a journal for each day, with a particular thought which inspired him to seek comfort through the Psalms. For instance, “On Sunday, 29 Mar 2020. I think that the Church has been unwise to close so completely.” This comment echoes the sadness of many Christians throughout the first lockdown as, with church closures, people

At the back of the book John has provided a helpful thematic index of all the psalms. I am confident that it will be a great enrichment to our understanding of Psalms and will bring encouragement to the reader.

Chris Mukhtar A Psalm a Day is available online through all bookshops and Amazon, price £12.99 paperback, £18.99 hardback

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Emmanuel Believes

Christianity Explored T he thing I love most about Christianity Explored is the way in which it introduces people to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It is designed to do so over seven sessions taking participants through Mark’s Gospel, the shortest and ‘punchiest’ of the four gospels. The sessions cover the fact that the gospel is good news, who Jesus is, why he came (sin), how he dealt with sin (his death and resurrection), grace, and the cost of following Jesus. There’s a great honesty and clarity in the content of the course as it makes clear the seriousness of sin and the extraordinary advantages of following Jesus, and is up-front about the cost of following him. So it’s in line with what Paul said about his ministry in 2 Corinthians 4:2, “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practise cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” As has been the case with other recent Christianity Explored courses, both at Emmanuel and around the world, it is being held virtually. This has its disadvantages but there are also positives.

A particular positive is that it makes it possible for church family to bring guests who would otherwise be unable to come because of geographical distance or responsibilities at home. This has been the case on our current course. Because of the nature of Zoom we have shortened the course both in terms of length and the amount of time we spend together each week. We are meeting for five weeks for an hour each week. This gives us just enough time to catch up with one another, look at a passage of Scripture together, watch a short, pre-recorded talk from Rico Tice and discuss it, and have time for any questions. It feels a little tight, but it is perhaps a good thing to err on the side of brevity, leaving people wanting more.

It’s been encouraging to see church family members inviting people with whom they’ve been having discussions about the gospel and attending with them. It’s great to invite someone to Christianity Explored and come along with them as this means you know what they’re hearing and can have a follow up conversation later. There may also be people there who can answer questions that you can’t or are able to put things in a differ-

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Image from the new Christianity Explored Gospel animation. You can see the full video at www.ceministries.org

ent way from yours, giving additional insight into the gospel.

I’m very glad that we have a pattern of running Christianity Explored at Emmanuel and it’s well worth thinking about who you might invite to come along to the next course. But above all we must continue to pray. As J I Packer says in Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, “ We may not trust in our methods of personal dealing or running evangelistic services, however excellent we may think them. There is no magic in methods … When we evangelise, our trust must be in God who raises the dead. He is the almighty Lord who turns [people’s] hearts, and He will give conversions in His own time.”

This doesn’t remove our privilege of sharing the gospel with those who don’t yet know Jesus, whether through inviting them to Christianity Explored, one-to-one conversation, or other means, but it does mean that as we do so we must remain focussed on the one who is able to give life to the dead.

Nick Wooldridge

Emmanuel Believes

Church Finances E mmanuel’s Finances can be broadly split into two themes.

The good news

There’s a lot to be very thankful for when it comes to our current financial position. 2020 was a really good year, financially speaking. That was down to a few factors: •

A number of very generous one-off gifts. We received five gifts of more than £50,000, and a number of others as well. This meant that our income in the year was over £1m for the first time, probably in our history.

•

A good year on expenditure, especially: 1. Our staff costs being under budget, as we didn’t replace some staff straight away.

2. Our church running costs coming in under budget, as the pandemic meant less activity within the church.

The net effect of all this meant that we ended the year not with the projected deficit of £118,000, but with a surplus of £280,000. An extraordinary reversal, and one for which we should be very grateful to the Lord! When we were budgeting at the start of 2020, our position was one where we could envisage our reserves running down entirely. That is not the case now. We ended 2020 with reserves at £480,000.

The less good news We need to be cautious with our finances as we still

have an underlying issue, namely that our regular giving has been slowly declining each year and our regular costs are largely staying flat. The shortfall, which was £130,000 about six years ago, has now risen to around £190,000.

This has implications for all of us who call Emmanuel our home church and are on the electoral roll.

If you give on a regular basis—please continue! We need all the regular giving we can get, to ensure that the £190,000 shortfall doesn’t rise further. If you give on an irregular basis—please don’t think that just because we have a buffer at present, in the form of a large reserve, we don’t need irregular gifts. Clearly, whatever the church receives in irregular gifts reduces the impact of the £190,000 shortfall.

This past term we have had the privilege of reminding ourselves of the motives to give, from 2 Corinthians 8-9. We have all received so much from the Lord—way more than we deserve. Of course that is true materially, but it is especially true spiritually.

As Paul highlights in his letter to the Corinthians, Jesus, who was rich, became poor for us, so that we might become rich.

As we consider our giving to Emmanuel, please let that be your motivation behind any giving you do; never let it be out of duty or guilt. We are so grateful to everyone who gives financially and we hope, as we reflect on all Jesus has done for us, we will continue to give generously and cheerfully.

Ed Coleridge, Treasurer

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Emmanuel People

A Journey through Christian Assurance to Leadership Family, work, running, reading, cycling, iPhone repairs ... Church Elder Charles Westerby has plenty to keep himself busy Charles graciously interrupted his holiday for the greater good of the Emmanuel Newsletter—thank you! When we arranged a Zoom call for mid-May, Charles and the family were away in Anglesey, visiting Sioned’s parents – their first physical get together for nine months. Charles begins:

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’m from Huddersfield originally but moved to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire when I was about 10. I was back up north for university and for most of my twenties before a work posting took me to London in 2011.

Sioned and I were married in 2015. We currently have two children: Ffion, who turned four in May, and Ioan, who’s 18 months. God willing, baby number three will arrive in July. Sioned’s first language is Welsh and we are bringing up the children to be bilingual. I’ve managed to pick up some Welsh but it’s a work in progress.

We used to live not that far from Emmanuel, in Worple Road, but moved 18 months ago to Monkleigh Road, midway between Raynes Park and Morden. Before we were married I had a flat in Herne Hill and was a member of Grace Church Dulwich.

Where did you and Sioned meet?

At Lloyds Bank! At the time we were both working at head office near Liverpool Street station. We became friends and started hanging out but Sioned was never free on a Friday evening. I thought this was strange, but she explained that her priority at the end of the working week was helping to run the Friday night youth groups at Emmanuel—Acorn and Pathfinders.

It was around this time that I really started to think about Christianity. I come from a Methodist/United Reform church background but I’d never really grasped the significance of what Jesus did for me on the cross and the reality of the gospel message.

I had also begun to question the arrogance of the atheist message that was being pushed by people like Richard Dawkins. If Dawkins and others like him were so convinced that there is no God why

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did they spend so much time questioning the issue rather than getting on with something else?

What happened next?

I went back to the Bible, convinced that if I read it I would find it irrelevant and inconsistent. But I discovered the opposite: the Bible is relevant and I couldn’t find any inconsistencies. Sioned encouraged me to go to church to find out more. I suppose I wanted to test out the church and see whether it stood up to scrutiny. That’s when I started at Grace Church Dulwich. Simon Dowdy, the Pastor, was incredibly generous with his time. On a Wednesday evening, we’d read through John’s gospel, covering half a chapter a week. When we finished John, we moved on to Ephesians and then Titus. Over what must have been a year or so, these one-on-one Bible studies were incredibly helpful. And it was then that I began to fully understand what Jesus had done for me and how, through repentance, I was able to have a restored relationship with him.

Emmanuel People

I remember almost jumping and skipping down the road one Wednesday evening after Simon and I had discussed John 5:24.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

Previously, I don’t think I’d ever really understood the part about eternal life. I thought eternal life was some sort of nebulous hope for the future that might be possible for those deemed good enough. But eternal life is an absolute assurance for all those who put their faith in Jesus. As Christians it is something that we already have. This blew me away!

What does it involve being an Elder of the church?

The priority is the spiritual health and well being of the church family. We meet every three weeks to discuss and pray through issues affecting Emmanuel. Recently, we’ve spent a lot of time on the thirtyone:eight review but, for example, we’ve also been considering the format of small group meetings and how linking the Bible study with the Sunday sermon is working. The spiritual welfare of these groups—of those leading them and their members—is something that we pray about a lot.

I know having small children is a full-time job in itself but do you have any spare time for hobbies or interests outside family, church and work?

In the past I was a big cyclist and an active member of a cycling club in Dulwich. I’ve much less time for cycling nowadays but a while back I and a few friends took a day off work and did the round trip to Brighton. It was a kind of last hurrah, at least for the time being, given some of the group have young and expanding families.

I also do a little running, usually in the evening – perhaps a few laps of Cannon Hill Park or, if I’m feeling energetic, I run up to Ridgway and Wimbledon Common. I’m currently reading a very interesting book by Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. It looks at how members of a native Mexican tribe are able to run great distances and at great speeds without wear-

ing modern cushioned running shoes, which McDougall argues adds to the risk of injury.

I’m also something of a gadgets man. I like tinkering about with old mobile phones and fi xing them when they’ve stopped working. I’ve got a drawer full of them! There’s a lot of useful information that I’ve picked up by watching YouTube videos.

Quite often I buy broken iPhones on ebay, repair them and then sell them on. I might make a few pounds but I do it out of interest rather than for profit. If I make a small amount of money along the way, I’m more than happy.

Is there a Christian book that you’ve read recently and would recommend?

I seem to have several books on the go at the same time and I’m also into audiobooks. I’m currently listening to The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes, the 17th century Cambridge academic and preacher. Audiobooks have an advantage in that you can listen to them when you’re doing something else and they can also be speeded up. I’m listening at 1.4 times the normal speed. It’s still easy to understand and allows me to cover more ground.

I’m also reading Rebecca McLaughlin’s Confronting Christianity, which I’m finding very interesting and enjoying the perspective Rebecca brings to Christian apologetics. She draws on her own experiences to answer 12 topical questions, meaning the book is not just an academic discussion. It is also accessible to non-Christians so I would recommend it to anyone investigating following Jesus.

Nigel Rendell

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Out and About

Letter from Kazakhstan “Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” Psalm 139:10

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retired at the end of last year and moved to Kazakhstan! Admittedly, this isn’t your typical retirement path. Certainly, when I started working in London some 37 years ago I wasn’t planning on retiring to what was then part of the Soviet Union. But God’s plans can be unexpected, as well as being a little daunting and a little exciting at the same time.

Towards the end of 2018, my wife, Hilary, a Finance Director with ExxonMobil, was offered an assignment in Kazakhstan. We prayed about it a lot, asking God to show us the way forward. We had lived abroad before; my job had taken us to Singapore in 2003-05, an experience the whole family enjoyed and benefited from immensely. But Kazakhstan would be different. The children are now older, with their own careers in the UK, and to start with, at least until I reached retirement age, Hilary would be going to Kazakhstan in expat-speak as ‘unaccompanied’—by herself. In the knowledge that she would return to London fairly regularly, we stepped out in faith!

During 2019, Hilary was back and forth every month or so and I managed a couple of visits to Kazakhstan later in the year. In 2020 Covid made travel much more difficult, but suffice it to say, in January this year, free from the shackles of work and with a newly stamped Kazakh visa in my passport, I flew from London to Atyrau, for what is likely to be the final year or so of her assignment.

In the expat world I had become a ‘trailing spouse’.

Atyrau is situated on the western side of this vast country, near where the Ural River flows into the Caspian Sea. The city experiences extremes in temperature, ranging from minus 40 degrees centigrade in the winter to plus 40 in the height of summer. We’re fortunate to be living in a modern, spacious, air-conditioned apartment overlooking the Ural. While Hilary has been balancing the corporate books I’ve been doing a little part-time work (requiring the occasional Zoom call), getting fit (running and three gym sessions a week) and learning some basic Russian. We’ve taken in two abandoned kittens that were little more than scruffs of fur when we found them – Charlie and

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Gracie. Remarkably, both were answers to prayer, but that’s a story for another time.

One of the biggest joys of living here has been the opportunity to meet other Christians from around the world. We are part of Atyrau Christian Fellowship which currently gathers by Zoom on a Sunday morning for praise, prayer and worship. There is no minister – this is not permitted in what is a Muslim country—so each Sunday we watch a video of a Christian talk, usually by a well known American preacher or evangelist. In the evening we reconvene for an hour of Bible study: we are nearing the end of Hosea having recently completed 2 Thessalonians. We may be a small group—typically 8-12 in total - but what we lack in numbers we make up with our shared enthusiasm for the gospel. Our gathering includes Americans, Canadians, Nigerians, Indians and other nationalities, as well as Hilary and me as the token Brits.

While we are sensitive to national customs we talk about our Christian faith and the Sunday church activities with both locals and expats. Pre-Covid, it was particularly encouraging that one of Hilary’s colleagues came along to several of the weekly housegroup meetings and found them very helpful. We pray that God will continue to use us during our time in Kazakhstan.

Nigel Rendell

Praying for the

Staff

Robin Weekes Josh Skidmore Nick Wooldridge Sarah Hall Emily Blows

8946 5613 07794 860836 07534 040554 07802 314697 07849 083530

Kathy Fopp Robert Frazer

07597 578344 07597 578331

Reader

Ed Coleridge Tim Malton Martin Osborn Mark Shand Josh Skidmore Robin Weekes Charles Westerby Nick Wooldridge Martin Andrews

07779 096671 07803 160502 07711 026896 07985 225113 07794 860836 8946 5613 07837 285853 07534 040554 8870 1000

Church Warden

Ian Buchan

07843 069765

Pakistan A resolution adopted by the European Parliament has called for the abolition of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law. Members of the European Parliament cite “an alarming increase in accusations of ‘blasphemy’”, adding that Pakistan’s judicial system does not deal properly with accusations due to judges’ fear of exonerating those falsely accused. MEPs therefore called upon “the Government of Pakistan to review and ultimately abolish these laws and their application”.

Elders

Honorary Assistant

Robin Thomson

A particular example is given of Christian couple Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar, who were sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2014 and have not yet been allowed to appeal. The resolution notes the dearth of evidence against the couple, as well as that while in prison Shafqat Emmanuel has not been receiving adequate medical attention for a spinal injury.

Music Production

Clare Green

07970 887465

Treasurer

Ed Coleridge

07779 096671

Crèches

Brenda Powell

International Mission

Tim Harris

07813 881516

UK Mission

Mark Shand

07985 225113

Sunday School (3-7s)

Harriet Greene

07740 148763

The resolution also calls upon the European Commission and European External Action Service to review Pakistan’s GSP+ status, a status which waives tariffs on European Union imports from Pakistan. This status is subject to whether countries such as Pakistan properly implement international conventions relating to human rights.

Explorers (8-11s)

Jo Svarovsky

Pathfinders (11-14s)

Rachel Evans

07976 507008

Acorn (14-18s)

Josh Skidmore

07794 860836

TNT (20s & 30s)

Trevor Dearham Sarah Hill

07901 612593 07812 739469

Firm Foundations

Robin Weekes

Mums & Tots

Bibi Boas Bondesen mumsntots@emmanuelwimbledon.org.uk

Dads & Tots

Robert Pringle

07833 248623

Men’s Bible Study

Jim Wallace

07944 926644

Senior Men’s Bible Study

Simon Watts Roger Evans

07977 241546 07702 250844

Women’s Bible Study

Sarah Hall

07802 314697

Women’s Meeting

Sarah Phillips Caroline Rawlinson Norah Andrews

Bookstall

Caroline Standing

8879 0523

Flowers

Jacquie Hughes

8942 1608

Safeguarding officer

Gilly Briant

8942 9160

DBS Co-ordinator

Sheena Osborn

8949 6097

Pastoral Care Co-ordinator

Tracy Garrett carecoordinator@emmanuelwimbledon.org.uk

Bookings/Premises

bookings@wimbl.es

Newsletter

Nigel Rendell

MEPs conclude that the blasphemy laws are “exacerbating existing religious divides and thus fomenting a climate of religious intolerance, violence and discrimination” as well as being “incompatible with international human rights laws”.

•

Pray that this resolution will be taken seriously by the Pakistani government and have a positive effect on the lives of Christians in Pakistan.

The August/September edition of the Emmanuel Newsletter will be available on Sunday 1 August 2021. If you would like to contribute an article - and to check space/page availability - please email nigelrendell@yahoo.co.uk in advance.

The copy deadline for articles and photos is midnight on Monday 19 July

Emmanuel 24 Ridgway, Wimbledon, London SW19 4QN

8540 7748

8288 1882

8946 6824

8946 5613

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07702 887475

www.emmanuelwimbledon.org.uk 11