South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance Newsletter
Issue 29: December 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 ministry
S outh As i a n F orum of the
Evangelical Alliance
connecting, uniting, representing
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
Remembering the treasure By Clive Thorne
I love Christmas, don’t you? True, it can be stressful, trying to find the right presents for everyone, and hectic, preparing the annual family gathering. But Christmas also celebrates the wonderful news that God loves us enough to humble Himself and be born as a helpless baby in our world to save us from our sins.
It is good to give each other gifts and rekindle relationships once a year to remember this, the greatest gift of love and grace. Of course, it is not the actual day when Jesus was born but, as with so much else, it’s the thought – the remembering – that counts. And it is worth taking a moment to consider just what it is we are remembering at Christmas. Jesus, God, the only person who could choose where to be born, chose to be born in a stable to identify with the poor and homeless of the world. He came not with an awesome display of power but with weakness and in obscurity – only a few shepherds were told that night. He emptied himself, taking our form so that we could understand him better. And what do we see? A quiet humility that would live a carpenter’s life for more than 30 years; a grace that would say to someone his power had just healed, “Your faith has made you well”; a gentleness, kindness and mercy that would not break a bent reed nor snuff out a smouldering wick. A man who would sit with the despised and rejected, tax collectors and prostitutes, and become despised and rejected himself for their sake. One who preached only forgiveness and love for enemies and who would not raise the rebellion against Roman rule that the people wanted because he came to conquer death, not men and women. Yet he was falsely accused, beaten and tortured to death on a Roman cross to fulfil God’s judgement on sin, a judgement we deserved. The wise men brought their treasures – gold, frankincense and myrrh – but the real treasure was lying in the manger. Love incarnate, more precious than gold, indeed better than life itself. Do you see that this Christmas? That the gift of Jesus is worth more than anything else we could ever set our heart on. Christmas is such a great time to share this good news with others because almost everyone is more open to at least thinking about Jesus at this time. At Lighthouse International Church, Southampton, we try to make the most of the opportunities by having a
whole range of Christmas parties to which we can invite those who haven’t yet discovered him. There is one for the over 65s, one for primary school children, one for the Iranian members of the congregation with their friends and families, and another for students of our English classes, which include people from countries where it would be very difficult to tell people about Jesus, like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. As a predominately South Asian church, where about half the congregation are Christians who have come to faith from Hindu, Sikh and Muslim backgrounds, our main carol service is followed by a shared meal – of curry! No mulled wine or sausage rolls here, to avoid offending our Muslim guests. Over the Christmas period, by God’s grace, we can have more than 100 nonChristians, mostly Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, coming into the church. For me, this is what Christmas is really all about – remembering the God who came and sharing him with others.
So yes, I love Christmas! I love it because I love Jesus, the greatest gift of all. Why do we so often allow ourselves to be so distracted by all the other things that we forget him? He must be the only person who is so often forgotten at his own birthday party! Don’t let us do that this year – rather let us pray him to open the eyes of our hearts anew to seeing the value of the treasure the shepherds saw. Clive Thorne is the author of Hidden in Plain Sight (Instant Apostle, 978-1909728-64-6, RRP £6.99), available from bookshops and online.