SAF Newsletter - Issue 27, June 2017

South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance Newsletter

Issue 27: June 2017

The South Asian Forum (SAF) is a grouping within the Evangelical Alliance, it was set up to provide a place for South Asian Christians in the UK to encourage, support and equip each other for mission, and to represent their concerns to government, media and the wider Church. With the support of both individual members and church members totalling more than 20,000 people, SAF is steadily growing.

Visit saf.eauk.org to get involved in supporting this wonderful

S outh As i a n F orum of the

Evangelical Alliance

connecting, uniting, representing

ministry by becoming a member of SAF. Once you become a member, you will receive idea, the Alliance’s bi-monthly magazine, as well as regular newsletters from SAF detailing our progress. If you are already a member of the Evangelical Alliance you can add SAF to your Alliance membership at no extra cost. In this instance please send an email to saf@eauk.org

Listening well when sharing faith A while back, I was sitting in a very nice coffee shop with a Hindu friend who has very strong opinions of conversion; he was eager to tell me why it is so wrong.

He is someone I’ve got to know over the past couple of years and with whom I have had many robust and honest conversations. I am pleased that our mutual respect for each other has enabled a good friendship to form.

‘So why do you Christians want to convert everybody?’ he asked, ‘Why are you all so arrogant to think you have the only truth?’ I gave him the reply I have given to many friends of different faiths; I explained how I love being a Christian and I think it’s the best thing ever! It gives me hope for the future, it offers forgiveness and comfort now, and it is hugely enriching and fulfilling.

Consequently, I’d love others to also experience this and that is why I tell them about Jesus. But there’s no compulsion for anyone to convert, it is an offer not a demand. In the past, my friends have appreciated that answer and it has led to further conversation. In this instance, he looked at me and simply asked, ‘why do you assume I haven’t got all those things in Hinduism?’

I have to confess that his answer surprised me, and not wanting to upset him or prove his point that I was another arrogant Christian demeaning Hinduism I replied, ‘I didn’t say that. I don’t know what you’ve found in Hinduism, what I know is what I’ve found in Christianity and it’s that I’d love to talk about. If you’ve found all those things in Hinduism I’d love to hear about that too’. I don’t know what he was expecting me to say – but it wasn’t that.

That encounter encapsulates so much of the fun and challenge of ministry amongst people of different faiths.

Jesus spent a lot of time sitting and chatting to people of different backgrounds and, for me, being a disciple of Jesus means following him into those places too. It means being willing to sit and eat with friends who hold different views, being willing to talk about my faith in Jesus but also being willing to listen to them. So often we encounter people of other faiths who may have opinions of Christianity borne out of previous encounters with Christians or through things they’ve read about Christians (which may or may not be true or kind!). Once I would have found some attitudes to Christianity deeply challenging and even troubling, but I’ve come to see that

patiently listening and spending time with people like my Hindu friend can start to change their attitude towards Christianity, and my attitude towards them!

I have also come to appreciate that the Good News of Jesus needs to be shared with deep love and patience trusting him to do a good work, rather than me manipulating a conversation to get the outcome I want to see. When I started this kind of ministry over 20 years ago I wanted to do all the talking and control the conversation towards an opportunity for people to hear the truth and convert. I discovered that not many people respond to that sort of encounter. I have had to re-learn what Jesus meant when he said the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbours. In essence my journey of sharing faith has been about trying to work out what that unconditional love looks like in real life so that people like my Hindu friend can encounter it for themselves and decide how they want to respond. At the heart of this love is taking an interest in people and that means listening wholeheartedly to their views on faith, however different it maybe to my own.

Canon Dr Andrew Smith Director of Interfaith Relations for the Bishop of Birmingham

SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org

encouragement and discipleship of new believers, this event succeeded in providing an atmosphere of learning and sharing amongst some forty people, many of whom had not met each other before.

The speakers were varied in their approach and I was particularly impressed by Jagdish Singh who shared how he often simply gave people written prayers to say, often leading them to a real faith as their lives were turned round by God.

Beyond the Doorstep: Engaging the South Asian Family Following the success of the London event in March, Beyond the Doorstep: Engaging the South Asian Family is heading to Birmingham on 19th September, 2017.

This event being run in partnership with the Church of England, Birmingham (http://www.cofebirmingham. com/church-life/interfaith/), seeks to gather those with a desire to become more effective in reaching South Asian families for Christ.

There were displays of materials from the Billy Graham Organisation, Global Connections, London City Mission and South Asian Concern and this very effective day was beautifully led by Usha Reifsnider of the South Asian Forum, encouraged by Manoj Raithatha.

The Culturally Intelligent Leader by Hirpo Kumbi What kind of leader is needed in a multicultural, multi-ethnic age?

The focus will be on how we can build long-term friendships with South Asians and sensitively share the gospel with them. The format will be 6 concise presentations on successful engagement in outreach and discipleship by a variety of church leaders. This will be followed by a panel discussion and the opportunity to view relevant resources.

What is cultural intelligence and why is it essential to the future growth of the church?

Our speakers include Tracey John, Associate Pastor at Asian Calvary Church, Pastor Jagdish Singh, All Nations, Mrs Kam Kaur Parish, Missioner at St Christopher’s Hall Green, Rev Dr Richard Sudworth, Priest-in-charge at Christchurch Sparkbrook and Rev Jessica Foster, Curate at St Peter’s Hall Green.

In The Culturally Intelligent Leader, Hirpo Kumbi offers thought-provoking, practical answers to all these questions and more.

The cost for this event is £14.40 including lunch. With just sixty places available it is advisable to book early on the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-the-doorstepbirmingham-tickets-34744285092

Review of the Beyond the Doorstep London from Ann Bower, Global Connections What an excellent day I attended on 21st March at the Evangelical Alliance, run by the South Asian Forum!

Designed to bring together South Asian church leaders and members, to help them in their outreach,

Why may thirdculture children be the ablest leaders of tomorrow?

Skilfully highlighting the challenges and opportunities that an increasingly multicultural Western society presents, he shows why leaders from all backgrounds need to learn to work together across cultural divides.

Whether rooted in the host culture or working amongst new immigrant communities, indigenous leaders and reverse missionaries alike will need to adapt to reach the next generation and fully engage with the New Testament’s model of intercultural mission.

South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance

With many years’ mission experience working amongst multi-ethnic communities in multicultural settings, Hirpo Kumbi is a vital voice to the leaders of today planting churches for tomorrow.

Originally from Ethiopia, Hirpo previously worked as an entrepreneur before becoming a missional church planter in the UK in 2003. He serves as a member of the national leadership team for the Fellowship of Churches of Christ and is a Regional Director of ForMission College where he teaches Leadership and Reverse Mission modules. Hirpo Kumbi will be speaking in the Cross-cultural Mission track at Movement Day on 7th October.

The Culturally Intelligent Leader is published by Instant Apostle and available from September 2017 in Christian bookshops and from on-line retailers. Copies can be pre-ordered from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/190972873X/

Movement Day UK is about the love

God has for the places we live in, the future of our towns and cities and the role the church in its widest sense can play in that transformation.

It’s a growing vision to see more kingdom transformation across cities and towns, socially, culturally and spiritually. This vision has arisen out of a significant movement of unity that has been growing in cities and towns across the world with church leaders and Christians in the cultural spheres forming friendships, praying together and working together to seek the welfare of their places.

Movement Day is a major two day event, taking place in London on the 6th and 7th October in Central Hall Westminster; a large lounge where leaders from national denominations, city wide unity movements across the nation, and Christians working in business, arts, health, politics, local government, media and more

Become a member - saf.eauk.org

engage in a unique conversation as we imagine a better future for our places. What could your place look like in the next 20 years if you really worked in unity, as one body, alongside people of peace across your city or town? What are the main challenges your city is facing and how can you be more strategic and co-ordinated to meet those challenges? How can Christians in the cultural spheres of life really work together to see great transformation in business, politics or the arts?

Large delegations from our main cities and towns are coming, made up of business people, artists, doctors, civil servants, local politicians, journalists and church leaders. From Sunderland to Southampton and Aberdeen to the Isle of White the church is meeting to learn from each other, share best practice and be inspired to go back and redouble our efforts to see long term transformation.

At this hugely significant event, Global Connections, London City Mission, South Asian Concern and the South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance will be running a cross-cultural mission track.

We live in a multicultural age no longer do we have to travel across the globe to meet people who are different to us - diversity is seen in every city street.

As Christians, our call is to take the one gospel to these many cultures - it's an exciting task but it can be a daunting one as well. The cross-cultural mission track will build on the many years of expertise the church has gained in overseas mission and show how we can use the best of those principles in reaching out to people on our doorstep. It will tap into the shared expertise of our respective organizations and, using a combination of teaching, interview, testimony and panel discussions, will illustrate how we can all be involved in helping people from all backgrounds to come to Christ and grow in Christ.

We will hear from people who are reaching out to those from other cultures and in the process learn how we are called to re-orientate our hearts to love with new priorities, relate to others in new ways and re-tell the gospel story for new ears. We will hear testimonies from people who have become Christians from the background of other religions. And through case studies we will spur one another on to faithful, fruitful fellowship in churches that ever more value the many cultural expressions of Christianity that make up the global body of Christ.

Opportunities for geographical networking will be built into the day and it is hoped that prayerful, practical gospel partnership will emerge. Our hope is that at the end of the track, people will be excited about cross-cultural mission, equipped and inspired to →

SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org (continued from previous page) engage in it more and aware of resources that will undergird the outreach and discipleship our town and cities so desperately need.

Please come and join us so that you can be better equipped to work alongside others from churches and the spheres of business, arts, media, local politics and civic life to prayerfully re-imagine together God's heart and plans for your place. You can book at a special discount rate of ÂŁ65.00 at the following link: www.ecevents.uk/movement-day/friends/Site/Register Please use use the promo code GATHER10 that appears when you click on the two day pass circle. This promo code expires on 30th June 2017.

Further information about the event can be found at www.movementday.uk

SOUTH ASIAN

LEADERS GATHERING

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SOUTH ASIAN FORUM AND NAUJAVAN

SATURDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2017 STANMORE BAPTIST CHURCH, ABERCORN ROAD, MIDDLESEX, HA7 2PH 10.00am-4.00pm | Lunch Provided | Free Event (ÂŁ10 suggested donation)

This is a day for existing and emerging South Asian Leaders to come together to be inspired, developed and equipped.

With space to learn from those who've gone before, collaborate and build relationships, this day is designed to fuel your journey of faith and release your leadership potential.

We're unique and united, placed in this generation with purpose and ready to make Jesus known.

To register your free place please email: m.raithatha@eauk.org

sponsored by The Leprosy Mission