Keep The Faith magazine issue 121

S E K’ ND IC IN E U K A HN AZ TH AC I-ET MAG BL LT AN U M ISTI R CH

www.keepthefaith.co.uk

ISSUE 121

Keeping Christ in CHRISTmas

Celebrating Racial Justice Champions

RENEW, REFRESH, REBIRTH

COP26

WINDRUSH LEGACY CELEBRATED INTERVIEW:

PASTOR MIKE WHITE £4.95 where sold

DELENA THOMPSON: I AM NOT MY HAIR

What does it mean when God is presented as male?

What does it mean when – from our internal assumptions to our shared cultural imaginings – God is presented as white?

‘A profound gift to a Church that has much work to do. I commend it to all who are seeking a better, fairer future that truly reflects the face of Jesus Christ.’

– Archbishop Justin Welby ‘Thanks to McDonald’s incredible writing, I finally feel part of the theological story.’

– David Lammy MP ‘Not only did I feel vindicated and understood as a Black Christian woman, I learned so much from her.’

– Jendella Benson

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Editor’s

NOTE ISSUE 121

PUBLISHER Shirley McGreal

EDITOR Jackie Raymond

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Becky Wybrow

ADVERTISING Diverse Media Group Limited advertising@diversemediagroup.co.uk T: 0203 868 0664

MARKETING Josie McFarlane

PUBLISHED BY Keep The Faith Ltd 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden London WC2H 9JQ keepthefaithteam @keepthefaithmag keepthefaithmagazine www.keepthefaith.co.uk www.keepthefaithdirectory.co.uk

THE PUBLISHER WOULD LIKE TO THANK: Rev David Shosanya, Dionne Gravesande, Marcia Dixon MBE, Marnita Coleman, Gary Clayton, Tina Boyle Whyte, Serena Bailey, Mark Abrahams, Rev Dr Joe Aldred, Richard Reddie, Ben Harrell, Milton B Allen, Shirley McGreal MBE, Sharon Ann Phillips, Rev Rob Munro, Grace Gladys Famoriyo, Vanessa Grossett, Danielle McAlpine Johnson, Richard Gamble, Dave Hall, Robin Cade, Dr T Ayodele Ajayi, Lorna Green, Martins Agbonlahor supporters and advertisers.

The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher.

Wow, I can hardly believe we’re at the end of the year already! Not only has 2021 seemingly flown by, but when I think back to how the pandemic was ‘brewing’ back in December 2019, little did we know we’d still be feeling the effects of ‘All change’ at the end of this year.

Some things will never change though. Like the faithfulness of God, and the fact that Jesus, the Word, was made flesh and dwelt among us. At least that is firm foundation we can rely on.

Another change at Keep The Faith magazine is that Shirley McGreal has stepped down to enjoy ‘retirement’, which we announced in the previous issue.

Thank you to all those who were able to submit tributes for her farewell issue.

We honour her for all she has done. We know she’ll still be busy (!), but we wish her every success in her next season.

I guess you may be wondering who I am… I’m Jackie, a committed Christian, and I’ve been working with Shirley and the KTF team for over 10 years now. I have some pretty big shoes to fill, I know, but the Lord has assured me that He has crafted my own special pair of shoes to step into, and He has given me hinds’ feet. So the new publishers - Rev Ade Omooba and the NCLF - and I are really looking forward to building on the legacy that Shirley is leaving.

Our cover for this Christmas issue features Pastor Mike White from The Tab Church, and alongside our Christmas articles - including ones by David Shosanya and Gary Clayton - we have an NCLF special feature on ‘Church and prison’ by Joe Aldred, and an article by Marcia Dixon, entitled ‘I am not my hair!’, which talks about a brave six-year-old girl, Delena Thompson, who has written a book about alopecia. Also included in this issue are the usual favourites: Gospel News, Food 4 Thought, Lifestyle, Comment and Missions, plus a piece about the recent COP26 conference by Dionne Gravesande, which we hope you’ll enjoy.

Keep The Faith magazine is an important voice in the Black Church community, and long may it remain so. But we can’t do it without you - our readers, volunteer contributors, advertisers, churches, community groups and supporters. We hope this beautiful relationship will continue long into the future.

As we celebrate the birth of our Immanuel in our homes and churches, we remember those of you who may have suffered illness or bereavement and are facing an entirely different Christmas this year. We pray especially for God’s shalom peace to comfort you, and for His arms to strengthen you throughout this season.

Stay blessed, in Jesus’ Name

Jackie Raymond Find me on LinkedIn

To discuss how Keep The Faith could work with you, request a media pack or book an advert, please contact Diverse Media Group.

Call 0203 868 0664 or email advertising@diversemediagroup.co.uk

CONTENTS ISSUE 121

22

26 30 38

07 Latest News 07 This amazing Christmas Story

By David Shosanya

21 Beyond film-making to life-changing

By Shirley McGreal MBE

08 GOOD NEWS For Everyone!

22 I am not my hair

By Marcia Dixon MBE

10 COP26 - What’s theology got to do with it?

By Dionne Gravesande

24 Interview with Pastor Mike White

By Marcia Dixon MBE

11 Food 4 Thought

By Marcia Dixon MBE 12 Keeping Christ in CHRISTmas

By Marnita Coleman 13 Birth, death, weakness and strength

By Gary Clayton 14 The Bridge - Renew, Refresh, Rebirth

By Tina Boyle Whyte 16 The whys and wherefores of welcoming prison leavers

By Serena Bailey

26 London’s Calling: Maurice Griffin shares love, peace and happiness

By Ben Harrell 28 Milton B. Allen ‘The Dean of The New Breed’

By Ben Harrell 30 Why me? My fight for life from heartbreak to hope

By Sharon-Ann Phillips 32 Can consumer Christians know the true meaning of sacrifice?

By Rev Rob Munro 33 Smart, gifted & not broke

By Grace Gladys Famoriyo

17 Eyes like Elijah in prison

By Mark Abrahams

34 The eve of freedom

By Danielle McAlpine Johnson

18 Church and prison

By Rev Dr Joe Aldred

36 Will ‘cancel culture’ ruin the freedom of creative writing?

By Vanessa Grossett

20 Celebrating our Racial Justice Champions

By Richard Reddie

04 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

21

37 Has prayer been cancelled?

By Richard Gamble

38 Windrush legacy celebrated

By Dave Hall 40 Has the pandemic increased the Golden Rule?

By Robin Cade 42 Let’s talk about suicide

By Dr T.Ayodele Ajayi 43 The heart of the matter!

By Lorna Green 44 In solidarity with Egypt’s TikTok girls

By Martins Agbonlahor 46 Be the difference this Christmas

By MAF

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CTE APPOINTS NEW GENERAL SECRETARY Bishop Mike Royal will become the next General Secretary of Churches Together in England (CTE) in March 2022, when the current General Secretary, Rev Dr Paul Goodliff, retires.

Chine McDonald joins Theos as new Director of Faith Chine McDonald has been appointed as the new Director of faith-based think tank, Theos. Currently Head of Community Fundraising and Public Engagement at Christian Aid, Chine will join the Theos team in January 2022, taking over the leadership role from Elizabeth Oldfield.

A highly-respected author, public theologian, speaker and broadcaster, with 16 years’ experience in journalism, media and communications, Chine brings with her a wealth of executive and non-executive leadership experience across faith, media and international development organisations.

Having studied Theology and Religious Studies at Cambridge University, Chine is a sought-after commentator and broadcaster on religion and ethics, regularly contributing to programme slots such as the BBC’s Thought for the Day, Prayer for the Day and The Daily Service. Chine also sits on a number of charity boards, including Greenbelt Festival and Christians in Media. She was previously a trustee of Bible Society.

Commenting on her appointment, Chine said: “I have long admired the work of Theos: its clear-sightedness, its creativity, its ability to draw people in with differing points of view, its success at presenting to the world a credible Christian voice, and a non-anxious presence in a society that can at times feel increasingly fractured.

“I am thrilled to be joining Theos, so ably led over the past decade by Elizabeth Oldfield, and leading it into the next phase. I am looking forward to working with the excellent team on some of the most pressing issues facing our world today and in the years to come.”

06 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

Bishop Mike is currently the Co-Chief Executive of the Cinnamon Network, a national charity helping churches with community engagement and social action projects. He is a founding Trustee and former National Director of award-winning charity, Transforming Lives for Good (TLG), which works with children and young people at risk of exclusion from school. He is also a part-time Forensic Mental Health Chaplain with Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.

Mike has a wealth of ecumenical experience at local, regional and national level. He led the Street Pastors team in Birmingham, and worked with Telford Christians Together to launch their Cinnamon Faith Action Audit.

He has worked closely with Birmingham Churches Together on their ‘Standing in the Gap’ initiative, and is currently Co-Chair - with the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham - of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 Churches Together Working Group.

Bishop Mike said: “I am both

honoured and humbled to accept the role of General Secretary of Churches Together in England, as the Church journeys together to fulfil the mandate of Jesus: ‘…that they all may be one, as We are One’ (John 17:22).

“I pray, as our country and the Church navigate together through challenging and difficult issues, that we will all find a deeper commitment to God and to one another, as we travel together on this vital ecumenical journey.”

Premier Director of Content presented with Fellowship from the Radio Academy Charmaine Noble-McLean, Director of Content at Premier Christian Life, got a major surprise after she was presented a Fellowship from the Radio Academy during their Academy Festival. It is the highest accolade that can be awarded, and is given to those with a lifetime of dedication and passion in radio and audio.

Charmaine also took to social media to share some thoughts on receiving the award, writing, “I was awarded a Fellowship of the Radio Academy, and can’t help feeling God has/is doing something more through it (and it’s a big deal in the UK radio industry). He works like that, doesn’t He?!

“I’m humbled, honoured and grateful for the doors He has opened, those to come, the wisdom of friends and others I journey with along the way, and shoulders I’m able to stand on.”

Charmaine joined Premier Radio fresh out of university 23 years ago. She started out as a volunteer, then became PA to the CEO, before working as a presenter, producer, and programme controller. As Content Director, she has driven the Premier brand to a global multimedia operation, adding two spin-off stations along the way.

This Amazing Christmas Story

BY DAVID SHOSANYA

M

aking sense of life and the various, often contradictory, diversity of human experiences has been a challenge that has plagued human beings for millennia. Attempts to answer the simple but perplexing evasive question: ‘What is the meaning of life?’, have preoccupied philosophers, anthropologists, humanists and scientists alike.

It could be argued that the religiousminded individuals are most favourably placed to stumble across, or be rewarded, with the answer to that question, following a period of heartfelt self-examination, even introspection, and an intentional pursuit after God. It is a reasonable proposition and my starting point.

For me, the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers both a convincing and compelling account of the tragedy and glory of the human race, and of God’s relentless pursuit of, and longing for, a relationship with human beings. Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet, describes the human race as ‘being like sheep and everyone going their own way’ (Isaiah 53:6).

Isaiah 53 forms part of what Bible scholars refer to as ‘The Servant Songs’. They are series of chapters in the book of Isaiah that refer simultaneously to their contemporary historical context, while at the same time

pointing to a future historical reality: the coming of the Redeemer Christ, who will die on a cross and restore a previously broken, lost humanity into a relationship with the Creator God of Genesis Chapter 1. Isaiah’s prophecy is consistent with the prophetic words delivered

by God Himself, when He passed sentence on Adam and Eve following their disobedience in the Garden of Eden.

One of the things that contributes to my conviction that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the authentic way to salvation and a restored relationship with God is the sheer audacity of the premise of the story. God becomes a Man (John 1:4); lives a sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21); dies an atoning death; triumphantly rises from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-21); returns back to heaven (Acts 1:9), and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:5). That would not be my starting point for a faith I wanted people to follow!

The bar is set too high, and the expectation for individuals, families, communities, even whole societies to follow is unreasonable when considered logically. I would have made it easier.

However, that is God’s starting point.

It requires faith. Faith is a prerequisite for a relationship with God (Hebrews 11:6), and therefore encountering Christ. That is the Christmas story I will be celebrating on December 25th, 2021. I am not distracted by the fact that it may be a historical fact that

Christ was not born on that particular day.

History is only as certain as the last piece of evidence that is discovered, and sheds further light on what we already know. The fact is that Christ was born - the historical evidence of His birth is beyond dispute, and is comparable to any other significant historical figure we know.

The Christmas story still amazes me. It is a story of relentless and furious love that pursues humanity as a whole - and you and I as unique and invaluable individuals - and offers us a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, and created a pathway to God the Father.

Christ realised the conditions for God’s Spirit to live in us. The Apostle Paul, the writer of the majority of the New Testament, refers to the Christian Gospel as ‘an unspeakable or indescribable gift.’ How right he is!

Christ came that we ‘might have life and have it to the full’ (John 10:10). Given the past 18 months or so, these words have taken on a greater significance than at any other time in my life. If we have learnt anything at all, it is to ‘seize the moment’, make our lives count, and be ready to meet with our Maker when our time comes. So, in the Name of Christ, I wish you the most wonderful, faith-focused, family/friends-centred and fun-filled Christmas, and a prosperous 2022.

Blessings.

www.keepthefaith.co.uk

07

GOOD NEWS for Everyone! is the new ministry name for the charity that was formerly known as ‘GideonsUK’.

The charity distributes free Bibles across the UK, free of charge, with over 750,000 sent each year resulting in numerous testimonies from people coming to faith as a result. In this new chapter for the ministry and is now seeking new people to join the membership to continue its important work that has been happening in the UK for over 70 years.

As well as the new name, GOOD NEWS for Everyone! has recently made several significant changes in its Association, including inviting women alongside men as full members; creating new resources, such as the HOPE gospel magazine and developing its international outreach through planting the ministry into new nations.

With a membership consisting of over 3,500 members, GOOD NEWS for Everyone! represents a wide range of denominations and backgrounds - all with a passion to understand and explore Scripture; to live lives of prayer; to be compassionate and generous, and to be a witness to God’s goodness.

Bibles are placed and presented by members in schools, hospitals, hotel rooms, care homes, prisons, sports teams (such as rugby and football), the Armed Forces, and in many other areas of everyday life, and it continues to look for opportunities to place Scriptures in all sorts of locations.

Welcoming women as members One of our most significant changes has been the opening of its work for both men and women to join in their own right and on the same basis. The commitment of GOOD NEWS for Everyone! to share God’s Word far and wide remains the same: to provide every Christian – men and women alike – an equal opportunity to respond.

VALERIE – MEMBER STORY I have been a member of GOOD NEWS for Everyone! for approximately two years. Being a member enables me to have copies of God’s Word readily available, in order to bless others with the living and enduring Word of God which gives hope and strength.

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, I was working at a local hospital, where our branch regularly placed Bibles and HOPE gospel magazines on a free spiritual resources table, located in the main corridor of the hospital. I was astonished one day, to discover from one of the chaplains that patients, visitors, as well as staff members had helped themselves to over 1,000 Bibles from the table during this time. We rejoiced at how God was obviously working in the lives of people at a time of great fear and uncertainty, bringing hope to them through His Word.

Equally popular were the beautifully illustrated HOPE magazines, containing Bible verses of hope and encouragement. Amazingly, the chaplain’s last request was to order double the number of HOPE magazines, as apparently “they keep running out!”

This passion and love for Christ is the unifying force throughout GOOD NEWS for Everyone! and being with like-minded committed people spurs you on to take steps of faith, and to ‘step out of your comfort zone’, taking risks in the Name of the Lord. As a result, your faith, trust and confidence in God grows. He is able to take the weakest, most insignificant person and do extraordinary things in and through their lives.

The HOPE Gospel Magazine

Bibles for UK Schools

Recently, GOOD NEWS for Everyone! launched the HOPE magazine, with the Gospel of John, including extracts from the Psalms, which during COVID lockdown was distributed in prisons, hospitals and food banks, by churches to their communities, and in many other places. We have been truly amazed by the popularity of the HOPE magazine, with over 500,000 copies since March 2020 having been distributed.

Every year GOOD NEWS for Everyone! are welcomed by schools across the country to share and present assemblies and lessons to students all across the UK. As a result of speaking truth, hope and love into the lives of our nation’s children and young people GOOD NEWS for Everyone! receive responses of how many take great comfort from the personal New Testaments that are given to them – often igniting a life-long journey of faith.

Over half a million (500,000) HOPE magazines have been distributed since March 2020 International work GOOD NEWS for Everyone! want people all over the world to hear about Jesus. Working with its Canadian partners, ShareWord Global, the ministry is reaching thousands of people all over the world with God’s Word, including a specific focus on Eastern Europe.

“When I was in Year 7 we were given a red Bible. I looked on the ‘Where To Find Help’ page, and I found exactly what I was feeling. Even though I hate to admit it, I was close to suicide, but it really did help. When I felt like I had nowhere to turn and nobody to speak to, I had God.” MEMBER - JANE’S TESTIMONY

AARON – MEMBER STORY I became a member through a friend of mine through church, who invited me to give back and distribute the Word. The Westminster Branch has been a blessing to the many people we encounter on our outreaches. What I most enjoy are the people who encounter the Word of God for the first time, and knowing should they sincerely seek Him, He will be their ever present Help in times of need.

I love the diversity of people who come together from all walks, seasons of life and congregations. We are united in one thing: sharing and distributing the Good News.

The branch has been a place to pray, encourage and bring testimonies and praise reports of the great things that God has been doing, as well as the breakfasts, dinners and fellowships we have from time to time to break bread with each other.

I was born and raised in Uganda. I began to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ aged 16, during a time when Uganda was experiencing a revival. I then came to the UK in March 1983, and lived in South West London.

After some years at Wealdstone Baptist, I formed a friendship with GOOD NEWS for

Everyone! members, Neil and Rhoda, who told me about the ministry. I was invited to join them at a university Fresher’s Week at Imperial and Westminster.

I jumped at the chance of giving out free Bibles and talking to students about reading the Word of God. I felt such joy and pleasure as I gave students the New Testaments, showing them the guidance section at the front, having conversations, and sometimes praying when it was requested.

“As you hand someone a free New Testament… when you see a face light up, it is indescribable.”

I may never get to hear how someone’s life was transformed through reading the New Testament I handed to them, but I am confident the Word of God transforms people’s lives as they read it. Everyone deserves to hear the Good News of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace. How will they hear, unless we tell them?

An exciting new chapter for the ministry Since 1949, the forefathers of GOOD NEWS for Everyone!, by God’s grace, have built a wonderful foundation on which it continues to grow. It’s a legacy the ministry is proud of but recognises to adapt in line with God’s prompting in this new chapter. GOOD NEWS for Everyone! would like to invite individuals, churches and Christian organisations to partner in this new chapter of its ministry.

If you would like to join GOOD NEWS for Everyone! as a member of your local branch please get in touch through visiting its website at www.goodnewsuk.com or by telephone on 01455 554 241.

COP26 What’s theology got to do with it?

DIONNE GRAVESANDE

Global Ecumenical Relations at Christian Aid

N

o doubt Keep The Faith readers will have seen and heard about the activities, reflections, campaigning and statements coming out of the Glasgow COP26 event. Whether you heard politicians, such as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson; scientists, such Sir David Attenborough; royalty, such as HRH Prince Charles, or Christian leadership, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby... all these public figures had grim messages and warnings concerning the effects of a changing climate. When we see recordbreaking heatwaves, massive flooding and widespread forest fires in different parts of the world that have claimed thousands of lives and homes in recent months, we are seeing the effects of climate change. The COP gathering was the most important global climate gathering since COP21 in 2015, which produced the landmark Paris Agreement. All nations particularly the wealthiest countries, who are the biggest contributors to global warming - need to commit to net-zero by mid-century, meaning the world must achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 and cut dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a group of scientists whose findings are endorsed by the world’s governments. Their latest report is the first major review of the science of climate change since 2013, and was released ahead of the November COP26 climate summit held in

Glasgow. The report findings are stark; it evidences human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. A previous report found that beyond the 1.5°C threshold, tipping points triggering and accelerating irreversible changes in earth systems become more likely. The new report provides further evidence of the nearness of melting of polar ice sheets, causing sea-level rises and warning signs of the collapse of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic that regulates rain patterns, especially in India, South America and West Africa.

Such activities cause us to think it is too late to do anything about it. The answer is, it isn’t too late, but if humanity is to act, we need to do it now. According to the young Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg, “the days of blah, blah, blah words” is not what is needed. What is needed is action, cooperation and complete understanding; we are facing a climate emergency.

Greta Thunberg

I believe in the creation story. I believe God created man and woman; I believe God created animal life, fish life, plant life… In fact, I believe God created all living things. I don’t believe God created life to witness a climate breakdown, so as I think about the climate summit and the works of a Creator God, I am helped by the

reflections and thinking of Dr Ruth Valerio from Tearfund. She writes: “First, the Bible tells us that creation was made through Jesus and for Jesus (Colossians 1:16). That’s a stunning declaration of our planet’s worth. The Son of God loves this beautiful world that exists in Him, and we are called to care for it. But the climate crisis is wreaking havoc, intensifying threats, such as extreme weather events, sea level rise, melting glaciers and biodiversity loss.

Scientists are clear this is a human-made problem, driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

As God’s image-bearers, we can’t stand by while our common home is being destroyed.”

In his COP26 reflection, Professor Tim Gorringe writes: “The creation story begins by telling us that ‘Adam’ the man was taken from the earth (Genesis 2:4b). In other words, humans are part of creation. They do not live in an ‘environment’, but are indissolubly linked with every other part of creation.”

There are other Christian writers and activists today, who offer interpretations of God’s creative power - and the ways humanity participates in that power - and in doing so, have caused harm. Yet still we are reminded that we are part of creation, and can - indeed we must - listen deeply to the groans of creation.

In my own climate reflections, conversation and prayers, I am increasing my own actions and self-examinations about what more I should be doing more of concerning my own actions and messages. One thing I am clear about is I have a responsibility to future generations to do my bit. In her COP26 theology reflection, Frankie Ward reminds us: “Humanity needs to listen out for the wild patience of God, who creates and sustains the universe, despite the human sin that desecrates the natural world. The sound of God’s moral purpose is there not only for humanity, but for the whole of creation of which we are a part.”

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Be the practical arms and feet of Jesus this Christmas When Jesus started His ministry, He went to the synagogue and read from the prophet Isaiah, stating: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

(Luke 4:18-19) You may be wondering, what has this Scripture got to do with the forthcoming Christmas season?

My response is “Everything.”

Most Christians are aware of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, where Christ tells His disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

However, during the journey to discipling someone, there are times where believers have to take on board what practical support they need to give, before someone can accept the Gospel.

For instance, if someone is hungry, they are liable to want to eat a meal before being able to hear any Gospel message we might want to share with them. And if an individual is in financial straits, they may need support in dealing with their problem before they can embrace Christianity.

We also know being in prison can relate to a mental state. There are people imprisoned by fears, regrets, painful experiences or unforgiveness, as well as those who are physically imprisoned for a crime they’ve committed. Whatever state a person finds themselves in, it’s Christ’s desire for them that they experience psychological and spiritual freedom.

During this Christmas season, let us ask God to anoint us and send us to be figures of hope and support to those in need, the spiritually blind or the oppressed. Let’s also find ways to show love and compassion and provide practical support to someone beyond our family or friendship circle during this special time.

This may entail us volunteering to serve Christmas meals at a homeless shelter; giving away Christmas gifts to children of domestic violence victims; living in a refuge shelter, or donating money to a charity that helps the disadvantaged and vulnerable. The list of things individuals can do to demonstrate God’s favour and love are endless.

Be the arms and feet of Jesus this Christmas.

You’ll be surprised at the difference it makes.

It’s something you’ve been anointed by God to do.

OUR HEALTH IS OUR WEALTH One thing I have noted over the years is that we don’t always make our health the priority we should. And there are some who cite the Scripture: ‘For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come’ as a justification for not keeping physically fit!

Reading through the Old Testament, it is evident that many of the biblical characters were physically fit. For instance, Moses regularly climbed mountains to meet with God, including Mount Sinai which is 2,285m high. He’d have to be fit to climb that mountain!

And the key mode of travel in Jesus’ day was walking. People could walk up to 20 miles a day. Some journeys took weeks.

It isn’t always easy to remain fit and healthy. There’s a lot of food temptation, and it’s so easy to develop a sedentary lifestyle, especially if you work from home or spend a lot of time at your computer, like I do. However, you owe it to yourself, your family and to God to aim to be as fit as you can, because prevention is always better than the cure.

Eating the right foods - taking supplements if necessary, incorporating exercise or movement into one’s lifestyle, and getting regular medical check-ups will help in our fitness journey, as will having an accountability partner.

If we fail to look after our health, we do ourselves and God a disservice.

APPRECIATING THE REAL VALUE OF CHRISTMAS When I was younger, testimony time was a regular feature in Black Pentecostal church services. The elders would preface their testimonies with the statement: “Thanking God for life and strength” or something similar.

I now find myself saying something similar whenever people ask me how I am.

Maybe it’s because I am acknowledging the passing of time, and that I am getting wiser (the new way of saying getting older), or maybe, just maybe, since the pandemic, the subsequent lockdown and the loss of life, I, along with many others, have noted how truly precious life is.

That’s why, with the approach of Christmas, I’m not going to get too bothered about whether or not there will be turkeys in the shop, or if there’s going to be a shortage of toys, because again, these are not the things that make Christmas special.

Instead, I’m going to savour the opportunity to see family and friends, and celebrate the wonders of Christmas and the coming of Jesus Christ, the Hope for the world. www.keepthefaith.co.uk

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Keeping Christ in CHRISTmas

BY MARNITA COLEMAN GLOBAL MUSIC LINK EDITORIAL TEAM

W

hile Christmas is not a global holiday, some nations with small Christian communities allow secular observances of the occasion, such as giving gifts, Christmas trees and hanging stockings. In places where Christianity is widely practised, celebrations may include presents, sending cards, decorating with lights, trimming of trees, candy canes, carol singing, plays, religious programs and midnight Mass. These things accessorise the holiday, and make for festive family gatherings.

According to Psychology Today*, giving gifts to others makes us happy, carol singing in a group promotes social bonding, and thoughts associated with Christmas have been noted to increase brain activity in the sensory motor cortex. In other words, these activities are working for our good!

Christmas is the most popular holiday in the US, with a resounding 85% of Americans in annual observance. Celebrating the birth of Jesus seems to be trendy. Certainly, God intended it for a higher cause than what we are accustomed to in this century. Isaiah 9:6 states: “For to Us a Child is born, to Us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah’s prophetic birth announcement was received with great joy, and the story played out for 33 years before reaching its climax.

During the holiday, merchants are full throttle to razzle dazzle shoppers with unbeatable deals for Christmas gift ideas.

12 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

Therefore, believers’ eyes must be wide open to look beyond the hoopla of commercial predators, to the end of the historical drama of Jesus’ life. Nailed to a cross, barely breathing, John 19:30 records that, ‘Jesus said, “It is finished.” Then He bowed His head and died.’ His words declared that He accomplished what He set out to do. But wait, there’s more. A few days later, He rose out of the grave, as you well know, and handed the baton to His followers.

I submit that it is the Church’s assignment to walk after Jesus’ pattern by preaching the Gospel and advancing the Kingdom of God throughout the earth.

Acts 10:38 says, ‘And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.’ He is no longer a new-born in a manger, but the soon coming King of glory, expecting to find the Church without spot or blemish. Therefore, how do we keep Christ in Christmas, and disallow materialism and paganism from demeaning the glorious majesty of our Saviour’s birth?

The Word instructs us in the way we should go. Take heed to 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6, ‘For you are all children of the light and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night nor to darkness. This is why we must not fall asleep, as the rest do, but keep wide awake and clearheaded.’ We must ‘stay woke’, as they say, and not be distracted by 50” televisions at super reduced prices…

Below are a few affirmations that may help with keeping Christ in CHRISTmas: “I will seek God’s Kingdom first and His way of doing things, keeping Christ in CHRISTmas.”

“I will allow Holy Spirit to direct my gift giving and not spend wildly, keeping Christ in CHRISTmas.”

“I will focus on the needs and wants of others, more than myself, keeping Christ in CHRISTmas.”

“I will donate my time and/or money to charities that serve the disadvantaged, keeping Christ in CHRISTmas.”

“I will share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with family, friends and strangers, keeping Christ in CHRISTmas.”

“I will offer the prayer of faith to those who are in need of healing, keeping Christ in CHRISTmas.”

“I will invite someone to Christmas dinner who would otherwise be alone, if led by Holy Spirit, keeping Christ in CHRISTmas.”

There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, so do not cancel Christmas.

Your family needs the fellowship, so enjoy it because Jesus is the reason for the season.

However, be sure to include His priorities!

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year! (* https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ the-asymmetric-brain/201912/five-scientific-findingsabout-christmas)

Birth, death, weakness and strength

BY GARY CLAYTON Question: What do you get if you cross Harry Houdini with a less than sagacious Superman?

Answer: A judge who appears to have no sense of judgment whatsoever!

As we approach Christmas, I couldn’t help thinking about Jesus’ miraculous birth. This, in turn, got me thinking about other births in the Bible.

Isaac, Jacob, Samuel and John the Baptist were all conceived miraculously (their mothers were all barren), though only Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. All were ordained by God to play a pivotal role in salvation history.

But there’s another child who was also born miraculously: Samson, the twelfth of Israel’s judges.

Like Isaac, Jacob and Samuel, Samson is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as a hero of the faith. But, despite his miraculous birth, Samson is one of the Bible’s most flawed individuals. Scripture depicts him as reckless, wrathful, sensual and vengeful.

So what, apart from being ‘dedicated to God from the womb’, does Samson have in common with the One whose birth was heralded by angels, announced by shepherds and worshipped by the Magi?

Both mothers were visited by angels. And while one angel said Samson would “take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines”, Gabriel told Mary that Jesus would “save His people from their sins”. While Samson ate unclean food from a lion’s carcass, Jesus declared all foods clean, having earlier cast some demons into a herd of unclean pigs.

Like Jesus, Samson attended a wedding feast. But while Samson feasted with the pagan Philistines – an event which ended in tears, when Samson’s 30 companions threatened to burn his wife to death unless she explained his obscure riddle – Jesus turned water into wine and revealed His glory.

While Jesus said that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”, Samson saw a young Philistine woman and immediately wanted her. The same occurred with a prostitute and – fatally – Delilah.

Indeed, if you were to paraphrase Jesus’ words to the woman at the well, you could say that Samson had already had two women and – assuming he hadn’t married Delilah – the woman he now had wasn’t his wife. Jesus, on the other hand, pardoned the woman caught in adultery, and had mercy on the woman who had lived a sinful life (Luke 7:36-50).

Samson may have carried the city gate to the hill facing Hebron, but Jesus built a church that the gates of Hades wouldn’t overcome (Matthew 16:18). And while Jesus resisted the tempter in the wilderness, Samson gave in to the temptress Delilah, revealing the secret of his strength – having previously made three Houdini-like escapes.

Delilah, of course, received about eleven hundred pieces of silver for her betrayal, while Judas was given 30 pieces of silver for his.

Samson, who was captured, blinded, and made to grind grain for setting light to the Philistines’ grain fields (Dagon was the god of the grain harvest), was eventually mocked in Dagon’s temple. Jesus, arrested at Gethsemane, was blindfolded, beaten, ridiculed and flogged.

Samson was then made to perform for the Philistines, while, in Luke 23:8, Herod hoped to see Jesus “perform a sign of some sort”.

But while Jesus was perfect in thought, word and deed, Samson broke every Nazirite vow in the book. So, although God should have thrown the book at Samson for blotting his copybook, and removed him from the Book of Life, He had mercy on His imperfect servant. In prison, Samson’s hair started growing and, in the temple of Dagon, he remembered his God, turning over a new leaf and, in the final chapter of his life, redeeming his people by rescuing them from their oppressors.

Bracing himself against the temple’s two central pillars, Samson ended up in a position similar to that of Jesus who, arms outstretched, hung on the cross between two criminals. But while Samson prayed for revenge on those who had taken his eyes, Jesus asked God to forgive those who had crucified Him. Samson may have pushed against the pillars and brought Dagon’s temple down, killing more than 3,000 Philistines, but Jesus not only cleansed Jerusalem’s temple of the moneychangers, but prophesied that He would destroy the temple of His body, and raise it again in three days.

So, although one brought salvation and the other brought death, both accomplished God’s purposes.

While Samson all too often relied on his strength and poor judgement, let’s seek to ‘be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power’ (Ephesians 6:10), knowing that when we are weak, then we are strong.

As we enter a season where we celebrate the fact that ‘the people living in darkness have seen a great light’, let us allow our light to shine before others, so ‘they may see (our) good deeds and glorify (our) Father in heaven’.

Gary Clayton is married to Julie, the father of Christopher (17) and Emma (14), and works for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). To learn how MAF pilots share the Christmas message in some of Africa’s remotest regions, visit www.maf-uk.org

www.keepthefaith.co.uk

13

THE BRIDGE

RENEW, REFRESH, REBIRTH

BY TINA BOYLE WHYTE Global Music Link Editorial Team

2022 is upon us. Praise God! Looking retrospectively, I never would have imagined that 2022 would be literally around the corner. In fact, in March of 2020, the year 2022 seemed like an eternity away. After going through these months, many people are saying there is a sound in the earth for revival. Many are saying that God is prompting a REVIVAL for the Body of Christ.

As we look at the beginning of a revival, we must remember it must be born out of prayer.

The word reminds us in Chronicles about prayer: “And if My people, who are called by My Name, become humble and pray, and look for Me, and turn away from their evil ways, then I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 ERV).

At my local ministry, we just experienced a convocation with Michael Dow’s ministry, Burning Ones. It was a beautiful time as we experienced the presence of God. The theme of the convocation was READY THE BRIDE! We are the Bride. The ministry team exemplified what it meant to ‘ready the bride’. In preparation for the convocation, the team fasted and prayed as a consecration

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to God, and His presence was evident as the glory of the Lord filled the place.

As I think about the season we are approaching - the Christmas season and New Year - I am reflecting on being RENEWED, REFRESHED and REBORN. The birth of Jesus was a significant time; His arrival signified a new era. Jesus came to bring light into the darkness that was over God’s people. His arrival was the onset of being renewed, refreshed and the experience of a rebirth.

Jesus’ entry into the world was designed to restore God’s relationship with man and reestablish God’s Kingdom. As we are recovering from COVID, I believe this is a beautiful time to experience revival - a revival in our relationship with Christ. A revival leads you to be renewed, refreshed and a rebirth.

Robert Coleman stated that revival is “the awakening or quickening of God’s people to their true nature and purpose.” This is the season of revival; there is a true awakening to our true IDENTITY. As we shift into this holiday season and New Year, I encourage you to remember your IDENTITY. Our identity in Christ! We must remember what and how God thinks of us. He made us in His image. In Genesis 1:26-27, He was very mindful of us: ‘And God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our

likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.’

We have been made in His image. When we reflect on that, it shows us how much we are loved by God. He created us to be in His image and for His glory. How do we honour God? We honour God when we operate how He created us to be.

He created you to have dominion.

He created you to have authority.

He created you to have power in your words.

How does this apply to our everyday lives? I think about how people are responding to life situations that we have been presented with in these times. People are worried about what will happen to us next. Anxiety and worry as a result of circumstances are at an all-time high, but God never intended for us to succumb to our circumstances.

As we have been confronted with circumstances, I am reminded of how Jesus responded to the disciples in the boat in Mark 4.

‘And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, “Master, carest Thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still.”

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?”

Mark 4:38-40 KJV. We must remember that our relationship is about faith.

When we live a life of faith, we give honour and glory to God. This is a place where we experience victory. In this season, we must remember that God is greater than circumstances.

We give God glory when we rest. Romans 8:28 says: ‘We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him.’ These are the people God chose, because that was His plan. This Scripture assures us that everything has worked out for our good.

This past weekend, I experienced online worship with William McDowell and the Deeper Fellowship Ministry. I experienced the presence of God right here in my room. Why is this important? They sang a song about the Prodigals. The song’s lyrics captured my heart, and brought me immediately into the presence of the Father and His love and commitment towards us. REVIVAL is about returning to your place of IDENTITY, where He has designed you to be. The words of worship were ‘I am loved by You, You approve of me, I have found in You my identity, I am home.’ Are you home with the FATHER? As we think about Christ’s birth, it was truly our new beginning, our Genesis. Where are you? Have you slipped into a certain place and now you have to return home?

Have you forgotten who you were created to be? We are reminded in 2 Corinthians 5:17, ‘When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world. The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new!’ We were made NEW! In this season of revival, God is calling us

back to Himself. I believe that God wants us to return to our identity that He declared in Genesis. As Christians, we have found ourselves looking just like the world. Many have shifted to walking by sight and not by faith. Seeing is not believing. Also, in this season, many have suffered from shame and guilt. Many have lost their hope and belief. We must return to believing without seeing. The enemy’s sole purpose is to steal, kill and destroy everything that God has created you to be.

God is calling us back to our identity within Him. I am reminded of Genesis 3:9, ‘And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, “Where art thou?”’ Not that God doesn’t know where you are, but He wants us to know that He wants us back. Just like the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15. This parable demonstrates how God wants us to return to Him. Here is our new beginning. When we experience revival, we experience a renewal, refreshing and a rebirth. Choose to be REVIVED! He is calling you back home to Himself.

God bless!

Tina Boyle Whyte, Transformation Coach.

Please reach me at tinaboylewhyte@gmail.com.

I look forward to the opportunity to help you get from where you are to where you want and need to be.

don’t go to 95% of under-18s don’t go to church BUT many are open to faith.

You can make the most of that opportunity with Scripture Union’s Revealing Jesus mission framework!

su.org.uk/revealingjesus

BUT…

95% of under-18s in England and Wales don’t go to church.

BUT many are open to faith!

95% of under-18s don’t go to church BUT many are open to faith.

You can make the most of that opportunity with Scripture Union’s Revealing Jesus mission framework!

Scan to join for free

Together we can reach ‘the 95’! Join The 95 Campaign at the95.org.uk www.keepthefaith.co.uk

15

THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES OF WELCOMING PRISON LEAVERS

BY SERENA BAILEY

If a stranger entered your church, and told you they had been released from prison, how would you respond?

Many of us might respond with fear, hazily recalling characters portrayed in films or news headlines. But the truth is, people who have left prison are just people - people who have struggled, perhaps, but who are usually just desperately hoping and dreaming for a better life.

Each year, 12,000 people leave prison with a strong and active faith. Often, faith has been a saving grace throughout their sentence, providing a source of hope and meaning, supported by guidance from Prison Chaplaincy.

Sadly, 80% of these individuals do not go on to join new faith communities upon release, primarily due to fear of rejection or negative experiences. Inclusion within supportive churches is shown to help reduce reoffending but, for people like Andrew, missing out on such connections can leave them alone, vulnerable and lost.

Andrew’s story Andrew had a difficult start to life. Growing up in an abusive home, he spent his nights on the streets, avoiding the violence back home. On his estate, trouble with the police was worn like a badge of honour, so he became steadily more involved in crime - anything to fit in and find distraction. He ended up in prison, and recalls an overwhelming sense of darkness, a certainty that “if Hell was real, I was definitely going to go (there).”

He began attending chapel, and remembers a “penny-drop moment”, a realisation that God was real. “I was just filled with the Holy Spirit.

I felt this rush of power from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head.

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I was in God’s presence and it just transformed me.”

He continued to grow in his faith, and looked forward to a new life beyond the prison gates. The first Sunday after release, he entered the first church he found, expecting to be welcomed, as they were connected through a shared faith. Sadly, this didn’t happen… “It was a disaster. I went in there, and it was as if they thought I was going to rob the offering! I was so uncomfortable; I never went back there. After that, there was nothing. I started drinking again, and in the end, I went back to my old life.”

He felt the only friends he had left were the people he used to commit crimes with.

He found himself right back in the darkest of places, immersed in violence, afraid for his life and on the verge of breakdown.

At this time, he stumbled across a leaflet for a local Alpha course. He tentatively enquired, and was overcome by the welcome he received. “I went, and it was just amazing. In that church they were grateful for every person; in fact, having a colourful past was an asset.

They loved me for it!”

With the support of his church, he left his old habits behind. There were ups and downs along the way, but Andrew remembers the grace he was shown, and the way his community continued to show up to guide him and to walk alongside him in faith.

20 years on, he is still actively involved within his church. “I really am a different person.

I’m married, I have a job, four kids and a normal life. I am saved! I gave my life to Jesus, and now I’m just always busy serving people and loving people.”

I asked him what his life would have been like without that connection, and he said, without a doubt, that he wouldn’t be alive today without his church.

Right now, 9,000 people are missing out on those life-changing connections each year.

At the same time, countless churches are missing out on the God-given gifts of those individuals, who could uniquely enrich the congregations if given a chance.

The Welcome Directory works to make that possible. We maintain a directory of faith communities who are ready to welcome people leaving prison. Our resource is used by prison leavers, prison chaplains and probation teams, to forge positive connections beyond the gates.

We have 197 registered communities in England and Wales so far... Could your church be the next?

We invite you to consider: · Is your church willing to welcome people like Andrew, the same way you’d welcome anyone else who walked through your door? · Would you like to join our free online course, to learn more and see if you feel called to explore this further?

If so, please check out our website at www.welcomedirectory.org.uk, or contact us today at admin@welcomedirectory.org.uk

EYES LIKE ELIJAH IN PRISON

BY MARK ABRAHAMS

Chingford worship duo, Eyes Like Elijah, have landed themselves in prison – but thankfully it is just their CD that is doing time at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

Band member Mark Abrahams had been interested in synthesiser music for years, and had previously been in bands, but hadn’t really progressed beyond the confines of the back bedroom, in terms of playing live, since starting to write worship music. He happened to meet one of the elders at a local church in east London, who put him in contact with the JustWorship.org live event at Walthamstow, and a live appearance at a worship event was arranged.

After the initial excitement, Mark soon realised that a lot of hard work was going to be needed to turn many of the band’s half-finished songs into finalised

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tracks, but with perseverance and prayers the songs were completed, and the live appearance was soon followed by other performances and an offer of playing to inmates at a prison.

Although these plans were thwarted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, the duo weren’t deterred. “We’re all called to be disciples and spread the Word,” noted Mark, “and at times that may well involve approaching the task in a different way to what had originally been planned.”

Perhaps God always had a bigger plan, as instead of playing to a few inmates inside prison, the duo recorded and pressed 3,000 copies of their worship CD. The next hurdle was finding a way of getting the CDs into prison. Mark recalls spending a morning researching the names of prison chaplains, and trying to track them down and eventually making contact. “Sometimes they would be really enthusiastic, but would only be interested in taking one copy.

The Bible teaches us not to despise small

beginnings... I guess you just have to have faith that the remaining 2,999 CDs will find a home!” was Mark’s view.

But we serve a God who opens prison doors, and eventually Eyes like Elijah got the opening they were praying for, when prison charity Junction 42 agreed to distribute all the CDs using their network of contacts within prisons. “I had been reading the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18) around that time,” recalls Mark, keeping the matter in constant prayers. “It really does feel a bit like a prison break-in – a spiritual break-in.”

Junction 42’s approach was particularly appealing, as they provided other items to inmates, such as toiletries, etc, alongside the CDs. The duo also felt it was very liberating not having to worry about sales. “You can’t serve God and money,” noted Mark, “so we had budgeted from the outset to enable this CD to be funded as a free gift to prison ministries.”

The album can also be listened to via the band’s website, eyeslikeelijah.co.uk.

“We had to make it available via the Internet,” they said.

“We didn’t think anyone would want to go to prison just to hear it!”

The band are keen to carry on with this initiative, and would be keen to hear from anyone who can help with prison ministry work.

THE BAND CAN BE CONTACTED

BY EMAIL AT EYESLIKEELIJAH@ HOTMAIL.CO.UK

CHURCH AND PRISON

BY REV DR JOE ALDRED

T

he popular meaning of ‘prison’ is a place of confinement to which convicted people are sent as punishment for a crime they have committed. There are, of course, wider philosophical definitions that include mental conditions of confinement or restrictions, for example: being imprisoned or captivated by a harmful and undesirable habit or practice. We can make a distinction too between jail and prison: the first describing being confined pre-trial, and the latter as confinement after conviction. However defined, prison alludes to a loss or curtailment of liberty or ability to live freely according to the dictates of one’s free will.

Growing up, my religious and spiritual context had popular biblical stories about prison. Two come to mind. First is in Isaiah 61:1, repeated or paraphrased in Luke 4.18, that speaks of ‘proclaiming liberty to captives and opening of prison to them that are bound’. This concept of freeing imprisoned people is set as a central mission of God in Jesus, following to being an expressed will of God’s salvific will in the world. I suggest, however, that the point in Scripture is not that people should not be punished for crimes committed, rather that people unjustly imprisoned should receive justice and be freed. Taking on this mission of giving ‘liberty to captives’ is a sign of the Spirit of God at work in us – individually and as the people of God. Reflecting on those imprisoned unjustly, we quickly come to our context, where it has been shown in several reports that UK Minority Ethnic people, particularly UK African and Caribbean people, receive longer sentences than the UK

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White Ethnic Majority. We ignore this injustice at our peril.

A second popular narrative in my faith community is that found in Acts 16, where the followers of Jesus, Paul and Silas, miraculous escaped by divine intervention after being put in jail for preaching the Gospel. Even before they were brought to trial, the angels of God loosed their chains and set them free - to the astonishment of the guards tasked with ensuring they were brought before the courts and punished.

This was understood mostly as depicting that if one were persecuted for preaching the Gospel of Jesus, they could expect divine intervention to free them. Alas, there are other texts that clearly show not everyone so jailed or imprisoned received divine intervention to free them, some were killed without mercy, leaving us with theological questions about the ways of God and the complex outcomes between God, the imprisoned and the community of faith and non-faith.

To suggest that the prisoner is always freed is to be disingenuous to historic and contemporary experience.

As a young pastor, I recall becoming aware of the disproportionate numbers of particularly young Black people caught up in the British prison system.

Some speak of a pipeline that starts in school under-performance, leading to activity that engages the police, the criminal justice system, imprisonment

‘AS A CHRISTIAN, I AM A DEALER IN HOPE, AND THIS HOPE MUST BE KEPT ALIVE.’

and a life of delinquency. Thankfully, although disproportionately represented in the system, it is a minority of the Black community that travels in this pipeline. My church organised several visits to prisons and youth detention centres - all of which I found deeply depressing, as I engaged with young men whose futures seemed blighted from the start, and resulted in an apparently inevitable blighted end. These were sons, brothers, uncles, nephews, fathers, future partners, whose development as human beings made in the image and likeness of God was seemingly snuffed out. Several we encountered saw no future! One young man in particular, a teenager, told me bluntly: “Don’t bother with me, life is over for me. Talk to the kids and tell them to make sure they don’t end up like me in here.” He was a teenager!

Such hopelessness has no place in such a young life.

I saw glimpses of the role of the Church in those visits, as the mothers from the church cooked Caribbean cuisine, and those imprisoned youths ate, drank, talked and enjoyed something of what community should be and all too often is not, after being interrupted by imprisonment. There have been moments of upsurge in social unrests in the UK, when judges have used long sentences not just as punishment but as warning to the wider community. Young people, mostly male but female too, were put away and the keys proverbially thrown away. By the time they are freed - if they survive and live - they will be way past their youth, and will almost surely find adjustment to civvy street impossible.

There is a role there for the Church too - plus the role of staying in touch with those in prison during their sentence, through visitation and educational programmes available.

As a Christian, I am a dealer in hope, and this hope must be kept alive. Not in some escapist way, but hope that works hard to bring about a more just Criminal Justice System for everyone, developing strong and sustainable family networks, including the extended biological family as well as faith and religious spiritual families. Hope gets alongside the vulnerable and strives for change for the better in individual and group prospects. We may not save everyone, but we have a duty to intervene to save as many as we can.

Fatalism is our enemy here, since throwing our hands up in the air or resorting to phrases like, “Brethren, all we can do is pray,” will not help.

Scripture says, hope makes us not ashamed - provided we understand hope as a verb! We have lost too many to premature deaths, too many to blighted lives of imprisonment, too many to hopelessness.

It is a startling reality that UK Black-minority communities’ experience finds parallels with dark-skinned minorities in White-majority countries around the globe. For example, in the USA, African Americans represent approximately 14% of the overall population, yet make up over a third of the prison population. In the UK, we find similar statistics with the UK Minority Ethnic population at 14%, while making up 25% of the prison population. It appears that systemic racism that inferiorises dark-skinned people in White-majority spaces is an enduring facet of today’s context. How we together tackle this phenomenon is a challenge society at large faces, and internationally. This conversation is one the Church must understand as a role to play in setting at liberty those who are bound up in prison and elsewhere.

There are signs that we are considering these matters. As I write, individuals and groups - religious and secular - are engaged in creative interventions. Some are actively encouraging youth development through mentorship into better education and entrepreneurship. There is increased boldness in projecting the value in a child’s development in having two parents bringing them up, with the security that provides in formative years.

Where there are not two parents, the wider family network have roles to play. There is greater political activism towards challenging the workings of the Criminal Justice System, to ensure people are treated fairer, not on the basis of the colour of their skin. Active involvement by our community in all strata of society will also provide the ‘leaven in the dough’ that western societies, including the UK, badly needs to bring greater cross-ethnic fairness and justice. Prevention is better than cure, the old saying goes, and as we work at building stronger and more resilient individuals and communities, I believe we will

be less negatively affected by unfavourable systems in society.

Finally, the Church will never deliver as much as some demand of it, but it can do more than it does in the area of setting at liberty those who are bound. A major obstacle in this and other areas is that church is hugely diverse in terms of denominationalism and religious ideological streams. We urgently must utilise the ecumenical and para-church agencies that already exist to make joined-up working more of a reality. Diversity is actually a strength, but as Scripture reminds us, ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand’.

I was encouraged recently by a project in Birmingham between two local churches of different denominations that historically would not mix, but had come together to provide a place of respite for people just coming out of prison, who could get advice and help at the intersection of incarceration and freedom.

We need more joined-up working across the community to make a dent in the revolving door that is recidivism. Our strength is in our unity that makes diversity work for the greater good. Those who commit crimes, those who go to prison, the victims of crime, families… all of us are part of one big community. We have a human as well as a religious responsibility to support each other in whatever situation we find ourselves. So, as we consider the relationship between church and prison, I pray and work for fairer societal systems, stronger individuals, stronger families, better education, greater social, economic and political involvement, and community healing across ethnic and religious diversity. Set the captives free, wherever they are and whoever they are!

Rev Dr Joe Aldred National Church Leaders Forum; Windrush Cross-Government Working Group; Honorary Research Fellow, Roehampton University

www.keepthefaith.co.uk

19

Celebrating our Racial Justice Champions RICHARD REDDIE

is an author and Director of Justice and Inclusion - Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

T

he tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA, in May 2020, set off a seismic response to racism across the globe. In Britain and Ireland, it became a ‘kairos’ moment for the churches to explore equality issues and address the racism that existed in their structures. While this new commitment to effecting change was most welcomed, it did appear to suggest that the churches were not previously cognisant of this problem. Such an implication fails to take into account the efforts of brave Black, White, Asian and minority ethnic Christian women and men who, over the last several decades, have championed racial justice in churches across our lands.

The aforementioned murder of George Floyd has seen ‘race’ come on to the agenda, with church and society being willing to explore the matter like never before. It appears to be the case that ‘racial justice is an idea whose

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time has come’. However, there was a time, not so long ago, when those who brought issues of equality and inclusion to the churches’ attention were regarded as ‘do gooders’ at best and ‘troublemakers’ at worst. Racial Justice Champions: Volume 1 is dedicated to those heroic individuals, who created the ‘right type of trouble’ at what was deemed the wrong time for churches and Christian organisations.

The truth is, there is never a ‘wrong’ time for justice, and this publication is an opportunity to celebrate the invaluable contributions of these often-unsung individuals, who spoke about racial justice when it was unfashionable to do so.

While this resource was launched to celebrate Black History Month in 2021, it was initially conceived to mark the 25th anniversary of Racial Justice Sunday (RJS) in Britain and Ireland in 2020. Various racial justice and equality officers in British churches and para-church organisations thought it would be apposite to mark this milestone with a resource that included some of the prime movers for racial justice over the last several decades. Those with a keen eye will note that certain individuals listed in this resource do not necessarily fall within the 25-year RJS anniversary timeframe (1995-2020), but all undoubtedly pioneered this issue long when it was off the churches’ agenda.

While some of the individuals selected are not clergy, they are people who have been inextricably linked to the Church; it has either been their main working role, or they have fundamentally been involved in church work or activity, in some capacity. Another part of the inclusion criteria was that all the contributors must have displayed a clear and consistent commitment to racial justice work (in Britain

and Ireland) throughout their lives, and have taken a proactive stance on racial justice. It was not enough (for inclusion) that they were Black, Asian or minority ethnic people in leadership roles in the British and Irish churches, or have been very vocal on racial justice issues since the murder of George Floyd.

Although there was a set criterion, it was not an easy undertaking to assemble a resource that adequately captures what has taken place on racial justice over the last two decades.

In the first instance, a long list was drawn up and subsequently sent to a number of key individuals who have taken a keen interest in racial justice in Britain. Those folks sifted through that list, adding to it where there were obvious omissions.

As a result, this publication features 25 women and 25 men. Many are thankfully still with us and continue to ‘fight the good fight’, while others have been ‘promoted to glory’ - as they say - but are not forgotten. Indeed, this publication aims to ensure that no one who has played a pivotal role in racial justice work will be forgotten! And in hearing their stories, let us be educated and encouraged, but most of all inspired to do likewise. As we all (should) know, this work is not over; indeed, in many instances, the journey has just begun.

Those featured in this resource are trailblazers, whose efforts must be continued by a new generation of racial justice champions. I very much look forward to reading the next edition of Racial Justice Champions, hopeful in the knowledge that that generation can finish off what was started by those featured in this resource.

If you would like to find out more, visit https://ctbi.org.uk/racial-justice-champions/

BEYOND FILM-MAKING TO LIFE-CHANGING

BY SHIRLEY McGREAL MBE

On the back of the success of his award-winning short film, Step Back, Enfield schoolteacher Leo Powell is filming again, using students from local secondary and primary schools in Enfield.

Backed by London’s Violence Reduction Unit, Leo Powell’s new short film, entitled Bros for Life, addresses topics such as friendships, choices, violence affecting young people and more, and is set to be released at the end of this year.

Bros for Life, starring Aaron Thomas Ward (EastEnders) and Xavien Russell (Top Boy and Step Back), follows the lives of childhood friends, Tyrone and Shane, who after receiving their GCSE results, seek out different paths for their futures, but one dramatic encounter changes their lives forever.

In a 2019 blog, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, states that for vulnerable youths, ‘falling out of school’ was a trigger point for getting into trouble with the police or ending up in prison. ‘The children at risk need mental health support, strong relationships, and role models in the community and help for their families. They need diversionary activities after school and at weekends, and additional support with communication and life skills.’

Students from two local secondary schools and a primary school in Enfield are set to be extras in the film. In addition to this, four of these students will gain work experience by being on set every day throughout filming, and will have the opportunity to shadow production crew members.

Aaron Thomas Ward

Due to the lack of extracurricular activities in the filming industry in Enfield, many of these students would not ordinarily be involved in film-making opportunities at such a young age.

Leo, who is currently Head of Year 11 at St Ignatius College, said: “This project can help to increase the self-esteem of young people through positive role models and involvement in a short film.

It will also help young people gain film-making skills, and enhance their career aspirations in the film industry. My hope is that this project goes beyond film-making to life-changing!”

Lib Peck, Director of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, said:

Xavien Russell

“Our focus is to champion the voice of young people, and to take action by supporting them through education, training, employment and investing in thousands of positive opportunities.

“A positive role model in a young person’s life is crucial – whether that’s at school, in the family or in the community. We’re really pleased to be working with Leo on this project that will tell an important story and opens up fantastic opportunities and experiences for young people.”

Leo Powell is one of the UK’s leading County Lines trainers and facilitators, demonstrating a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the area of gangs, grooming, exploitation and more. Leo has developed a comprehensive training programme that he delivers in primary and secondary schools, to organisations, churches, practitioners, parents, youth workers and more. His work in the area of County Lines has gained huge traction, where he has been awarded funding through MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime), and the Mayor of London’s Young Londoner’s Fund.

Bros for Life table read

Leo began working with young people in 2010, when he was first invited to become a volunteer youth leader for Jubilee Church London in Enfield. Over the years, including two years when he was a Senior Behaviour Supervisor at Chace Community School in Enfield, he has mentored, pastored and supported numerous young people, who were experiencing a variety of school and life challenges. He has also proven himself as a positive and influential role model within both a church context and in the community of Enfield.

In 2019 he took on the role as a mentor in Feltham Youth Offenders Institute, working for the organisation Roadlight, where he worked with the most challenging, high-risk offenders in the country.

Bros for Life, which will be released at the end the year, will be produced by Leo Powell’s production company, Nineveh Productions. For more information, visit www.leopowell.co.uk www.keepthefaith.co.uk

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I AM NOT MY HAIR

BY MARCIA DIXON MBE

6-year-old writes book about alopecia

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elena Thompson is a six-year-old girl, aiming to spread some love and light during this winter season.

This London schoolgirl, the eldest of three siblings, has just released her debut book, ‘I Am Not My Hair’. Published by BlackJak Media, the only company in Europe specialising in publishing books written by Black children, I Am Not My Hair is the true-life story of Delena’s journey with hair loss.

There was great excitement in the Thompson household when Delena received the hard copies of her book. Her family, including grandparents, celebrated along with her. Delena was even asked to autograph copies of her book that people had bought.

She got caught up in the excitement, and when things had calmed down a little, Delena went and sat in her mother’s lap and told her: “I’m so proud of myself.” And so she should be.

Delena suffers from alopecia – the medical term for hair loss. She was just four when she was diagnosed with the condition.

Alopecia is more commonly associated with adults and can be caused by stress, poor diet and even certain hairstyles.

Her mother, Telena Longman, a nursery manager, explained: “Alopecia wasn’t something I was aware of until my daughter was diagnosed with it.” “(Delena) had been sick for a month. She was having constant headaches, and her body always seemed to be aching. She did get better, but then we noted she had a coined-size patch on her scalp. We then started to find more patches and, by the time her brother was born, Delena’s hair was matting together. The doctors said there was nothing more they could do and advised us to cut off her hair.”

When the day came for Delena to get her hair cut, she told her mum: “I’m not going to be beautiful without hair.”

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Deeply moved by her daughter’s words, and in a show of solidarity, Telena got her hair cut as well, to practically demonstrate that it is possible to look beautiful with little or no hair.

Telena recognised, following the loss of Delena’s hair, that she would need to take steps to build up her daughter’s self-confidence, so during lockdown, she sent Delena to dance and drama classes.

And, when it was time for Delena to go back into the classroom, Telena sent a message to all the parents to prepare them for Delena’s new look.

Upon her actual return to school, Delena gave talks about alopecia and her hair loss to her fellow pupils in their classes. Telena recalled: “The children were very supportive, and some told Delena she was beautiful, even without her hair.”

It was during a chance discussion at a hairdressers that BlackJak Media founder, Juliet Coley, got the idea to approach Delena to write a book. Juliet recalled: “There are so many books out there about young Black

girls embracing their beautiful and natural hair and, after learning of Delena’s hair journey, I was impressed by the courage and strength she exhibited without any, and thought her story would make a great book.

“I’ve experienced hair loss myself, when I underwent chemotherapy for colon cancer. I found the experience traumatic, so when I met Delena, and heard about the positive way she was dealing with it, I had

nothing but admiration for her.”

Delena’s desire is to raise awareness and understanding of alopecia through her book, as well as to stand in solidarity with people whom society deems as different.

She said: “I wanted to write a book so I could share what it was like lose my hair.

I feel OK about having alopecia, because I’ve learnt about why I have it, and I know that having alopecia can’t stop me. I want people to be aware of it, and I want people to stop bullying people who have alopecia or who look different.”

She added: “I want anyone who feels or looks different to know they are not alone.

They are loved, and they will always have a friend in me.”

Everyone who meets Delena says she is a brave, beautiful child.

Her family feel the same too. “We are extremely proud of her - every single one of us. Delena hopes that through reading I Am Not My Hair, people will understand how people with alopecia feel, and gain an understanding of the condition.”

I Am Not My Hair is published by BlackJak Media. Visit www.younglitstars.com to get a copy.

www.keepthefaith.co.uk

23

KEEP THE FAITH (KTF): How did you feel when your congregation moved from your building on Algernon Road to your new 900-seater building?

PASTOR MIKE WHITE (PMW): ‘Move In Day’ felt like a monumental moment for our church family and indeed for our community. We marched from our old location to the new, along the High Street, while singing and celebrating!

The comments from those who marched with us suggest that it became for them a powerful symbol of what it means when people unite together behind a vision, and remain consistent and patient while waiting for that vision to come to pass. We felt overjoyed as we entered the building, which had in effect been hidden behind hoarding while the works took place internally to rebuild and completely renovate what had been a dilapidated, semi-derelict building.

KTF: What are some of the features/attributes of this new building, and what kind of work do you still have to do so that it meets The Tab’s requirements?

PMW: Once fully completed, the building will feature more rooms for us to expand many of our community initiatives, which include, among other things, our food drive for those most in need; our life skills classes, and recovery classes.

The building will also feature a café, serving both the public and those attending events. Like most establishments and faith communities emerging from lockdown, we are currently focused on regathering for main services, which so far have been a blessing for many people. The 900-seater auditorium and the atrium features have provided us with more space to be able to worship and reconnect with each other socially.

KTF: The Tab has long been one of the most well-known churches in Lewisham, and remains so. What do you think your dad, Bishop Leon White, a pioneering Windrush Generation church leader, would say about this development if he were still here?

PMW: I’d like to think that people like my late father and the

24 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

PASTOR MIKE WHITE

BY MARCIA DIXON MBE

Pastor Mike White is senior leader of The Tab, one of the oldest and largest Black Pentecostal churches in Lewisham.

He is also one of Britain’s most well-known Black church leaders, due to the thriving congregation he leads, his TV ministry and visible presence on social media.

In the latest development in The Tab’s ministry, Pastor White recently moved his congregation into a 900-seater building.

He spoke to Keep The Faith about moving into a new build, attracting millennials to church, the importance of social media, and his plans for Christmas.

amazing people from that Windrush Generation would look and say that their labour was not in vain, as they instilled in those of us who are their children and grandchildren firm foundations and spiritual principles on which we are able to stand, build and become what many of them dreamed of and believed God for.

KTF: Now that you’ve moved into the building, how are you aiming to continue to have impact on the lives of the people in Lewisham and beyond?

PMW: The Tab is very focused on continuing to expand on all we currently do to positively impact the community, and the building will be a tool to help us accomplish those goals. Once the building is completed, one of our key aims is to build more partnerships with organisations from within the borough who are already doing phenomenal work in areas that connect with our ethos, but who often do not have access to the quality facilities and human resources that we may be able to help with, and so our community impact strategy will be more about transformation through collaboration.

KTF: What are the main challenges you face as a Black 21st Century church leader in an urban area?

PMW: I absolutely love being in an urban context. The diversity and energy of the city is incomparable. However of course there are many challenges - far too many to mention here. But a challenge that I think is a positive one and unique to my being (as you mentioned) a Black church leader, is that it is important to consistently offer a counter narrative to what is often a eurocentric interpretation of Scripture, which some people from my ethnic community have sometimes seen as off-putting. The challenge I thoroughly enjoy is to try and help those people to understand that the God of the Bible is truly the God of the oppressed.

KTF: It’s evident that you preside over a large number of millennials – a group that all church leaders want to reach. What, in your view, are the unique qualities millennials bring to a church?

PMW: The Tab is a multi-generational church, which is actually one of the things I love most about us as a church family. The millennials in our church are often drawn because of that multi-generational aspect, as it represents family, and that authentic sense of family is a big thing that people are looking for today. I have found one of the many unique qualities millennials bring is that of being more cerebral, and therefore they greatly appreciate information not just inspiration, especially when it comes to preaching or teaching.

KTF: Christmas is fast approaching. What does Christmas mean to you and your family?

PMW: For my family and I, just like many other families, Christmas is a time for being intentionally generous, not just in terms of giving of gifts, but rather in giving of time for family, friends and loved ones, laughing and enjoying the atmosphere of love, all while reflecting on the ultimate gift of God’s Son given to us for salvation. We also love to serve others, having previously volunteered to serve Christmas dinner at shelters. I can testify that Christmas season is a great time to be able to practically make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate, and there is no greater feeling than helping in some small way to bring some light to the lives of others.

KTF: How will you be celebrating the Christmas season?

PMW: I will be celebrating Christmas by doing whatever my wife tells me to do! She is the boss during that season, and we as a family just follow her instructions. But it’s always a great time, with family celebrating to the soundtrack of laughter.

KTF: Finally what special Christmas message do you have for Keep The Faith readers?

PMW: As we close the year and emerge from lockdown into what we pray will be some sense of normality, I would encourage your readers by borrowing from the repeated phrase that appears in the nativity story: “Fear not.” We first hear the Angel Gabriel say this to Mary, and later the shepherds hear the same statement, “Fear not.” It’s almost as though God is sending the message of “Fear not” before they hear good news, because He wants earth to know that fear hinders the miraculous because fear hinders faith. If we are going to keep the faith and hope of a blessed and brighter tomorrow, then in the coming months we must guard our minds from words that forge fear, and rather feast on that which fuels faith.

KTF: Social media seems to play a major role in the life and witness of your church. What inspired you to utilise social media, and what impact has using it had on your ministry and the lives of people who’ve seen it?

PMW: The traditional ‘platform’ in a church is a stage from which a service is conducted or the Gospel is preached, however today, social media is the ‘platform’ which every ministry that is serious about positively impacting this generation in a relative and relevant way must engage with.

We are serious about presenting the Gospel message regarding the person and principles of Christ to this generation, and we have found that social media platforms amplify the message exponentially. www.keepthefaith.co.uk

25

LONDON’S CALLING:

Maurice Griffin shares love, peace and happiness

C

hart-topping Los Angeles ‘phenom’, Maurice Griffin, encourages us to smile with his single, ‘Love Peace Happiness’ - a song that not only reached No 11 on Billboard Top 30 Gospel Songs, but also has over 600,000 streams on Spotify. Maurice captures his life experiences in his music, which is the reason his music speaks life into your situation. His journey may have started in Virginia, but the gift God has given Maurice will change the world.

Keep The Faith dives into the story of Maurice Griffin - a story that is still in the process of being written.

Maurice is no stranger to persevering through trials and tribulations. In fact, he was homeless on the streets of Chicago before participating in BET’s Sunday Best Season 2.

On this stage, the world witnessed a young man who refused to be defined by pain. Instead, fuelled by God’s grace and mercy, he projected his passion for Christ. Maurice used his voice to glorify the one true God who continues to be faithful in his life.

As an alumnus of Sunday Best, Maurice would be ready to take on any challenge, walking by faith. “It’s been a rollercoaster, with ups and downs, yet God has still been with me all the way. I have never given up.” His love for God and music birthed multiple projects, such as ‘I am Somebody: 1 Peter 2:9’ and ‘Believer’.

The inspiration God gave Maurice to create and express himself would lead him to release more music. “God has been showing me that as long as I continue going down this faith walk, He will continue to open my eyes to other things.” Maurice received the inspiration for the praise-pumping, foot-moving anthem,

26 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

‘Love Peace Happiness’. The video has been streamed more than 2 million times on Facebook, with an international impact that continues to grow. “Next thing I know, I’m getting calls that Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Jamaica and even Trinidad and Tobago are all playing my music. It blew my mind!”

Doors continued to open for Maurice, and he found himself in London at the 2021 International Gospel Music Summit. He shared his gifts, and connected with new friends and artists whom he now calls family in the UK. The summit was an amazing opportunity to share his brand and help extend the reach of his production company, World Changing Entertainment. Never too far from a microphone, Maurice performed at the International Gospel Music Summit, SundayFest, at a virtual Bible study with the GOD Squad and The Tab Church.

His London experience connected him with something that makes him happy: people.

Maurice led an organic singing flash mob of hundreds of people at the Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre in London. His motive for worship was simply to “showcase the glory of the Lord through song in public”. Maurice ushered a peace into the group that may not have ordinarily come together because of COVID. “Since most people are scared of being in a confined space because of COVID, my goal was to bring God to the people outdoors,” and it worked. God made it work.

Maurice continued to travel though the UK and connected with various media outlets.

UGN Jamz, Premier Gospel, Visions TV Online, ReviveFM and Injection Radio are several outlets that opened their doors to Maurice and his music.

Maurice Griffin exudes an energy that can be felt in person but also through his music. This is how he shares love, peace and happiness. Through faith. “Trust God enough that you can succeed in anything you put your mind to.”

Maurice Griffin is now preparing to release a radio and television campaign to promote his upcoming album drop and pending world tour. Stay connected with Maurice Griffin on his social media platforms: @mauricegriffin on Instagram, @mauricegriffinonline on Facebook and TikTok, @singmaurice on Twitter. For booking enquiries, contact Management, Lori McNeil at +1-908-442-2749.

Ben Harrell, Global Music Link Editorial team. Ben is the founder of Ambitions of a Writer. Find out more at BenjHarrell.com.

Milton B. Allen

Milton B. Allen, ‘Dean of The New Breed’

‘Dean of The New Breed’

M

ilton B. Allen’s forty years of innovative frontline experience has made him a prime mover in the international sector of the Music Entertainment Industry. He is the Managing Director of Global Music Link, LLC and All Access Africa, LTD (London), specialising in licensing, marketing and distributing gospel music overseas. He directs international distribution efforts for MRNK (formerly One Music), and scores of independents from multiple territories around the world. Global Music Link has operations in the USA, London and South Africa.

Milton says: “I’ve always been an Artist Development guy, particularly since my days at Arista Records. I’ve always analysed trends in the market, and what I am seeing today is the rise of the Independents in the gospel music market. It was a blessing for me to partner with Felicia Day, the CEO of Ndamix Music Group and Executive Producer of Ndamix Entertainment Network, who are doing some amazing things in the Indie gospel space. Our first collaboration was What’s New In Gospel Vol 1, which is approaching 200,000 streams at the time of writing.” In 2020, Ndamix Entertainment will launch a 24/7 digital television entertainment network. The network will create a platform for independent music artists, musicians, authors and poets to broadcast their talents for digital streaming or video on demand.

He has been called ‘Dean of The New Breed’ because of his commitment to support, develop and open new opportunities for independent artists. Currently, he represents MNRK Entertainment and other major suppliers, as well as a cadre of Indie artists from London, Africa, the Caribbean and the States.

Milton’s career began as an on-air announcer at Howard University’s WHUR-FM. In 1976, he landed his first record company job as Regional Merchandising Coordinator for

28 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

United Artists Records. Within a year, he was the Pop Music Promotion Manager in New York City - the USA’s largest music market. While at UA, Milton broke key pop singles, including Kenny Rogers’ mega-hit ‘The Gambler’, for which he was rewarded an RIAA quadruple platinum award for ‘crossing over’ the song to Black radio formats.

Milton Allen earned a solid reputation as a consummate promoter, who had a special rapport with a wide array of talented artists.

Milton soon landed the position of Director of Artist Development, Black Music for Arista Records. He represented an impressive roster of artists, including Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Phyllis Hyman, Ray Parker Jr, Kenny G, Kashif, Gil Scott Heron, GQ, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, and GRP Records.

There, he helped guide the careers of Arista artists from the product’s creative inception of the music, through to the recording and marketing processes. As a product manager, Milton worked with every department in the company, and developed a close working relationship with music industry legend and label President, Clive Davis.

In 1988, Milton became General Manager of Gospo Centric East – the East coast office of the number one gospel record company in America. He helped redefine Gospo Centric’s International distribution and marketing efforts to garner triple-digit increases in sales volume overseas. Along with Sr VP, Vernice Watson, Milton crafted a distribution system through independent Christian music distributors in Europe, Africa, Brazil, South Korea and Japan.

Watson and Allen also coordinated selfliquidating promotional tours in Europe.

In 2002, Allen and Watson launched The Artist Company International Distribution, representing major Christian Independents overseas. In 2015, Allen launched Global Music Link, representing eOne

Nashville, eOne New York, SRG-ILS and other major Christian and mainstream suppliers, as well as a host of independents from the UK, Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and Australia. In 2018, he organised a four-country Africa tour with Todd Dulaney, which resulted in the Live Recording ‘To Africa with Love (Live).’

In 2020, Allen launched All Access Africa, Ltd (London) - a platform and distribution system designed specifically to give Independents a level playing field in Africa with the major acts, by offering guaranteed placement and marketing support.

The growth continues. Allen says: “I have never felt this positive about potential market growth for Christian Indie artists in territories and stages around the world.”

Ben Harrell, Global Music Link Editorial Team - Ben is the founder of Ambitions of a Writer, and the creator of Billboard and Bookings 101.

Find out more at BenjHarrell.com

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Why me? My fight for life from heartbreak to hope

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s I watched Casino Royale, the day after my dreaded chemotherapy treatment, there was a scene which I totally related to: James Bond’s drink was spiked as he sat at the gambling table. There was an expression on his face as the drug took effect, transforming his whole demeanour and clearly leaving him disorientated. A wry chuckle escaped my lips, as it so resonated with my current feeling.

And then I walked into the kitchen, put the kettle on, and proceeded to pour a bottle of cold water onto my teabag. Chemotherapy does that to you. That is me today; however, this journey started many years before.

My first real experience of losing a loved one was the sudden passing of my beloved sister, who was killed in a car crash. This tragic event ripped my heart out, yet could never prepare me for the loss that would occur in the short years that followed. I would lament the loss of both my parents, and my partner (the father of my three children), who all passed within two years of each other. Regrettably, those trials over 20 years ago were the beginning of my undeniable battle with devastating circumstances, and unfortunately, not the end!

In 2015, I was sadly left to battle a fatal disease called amyloidosis, attacking the lining

30 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

of my heart. This stemmed from myeloma - an incurable, life-threatening, bone-marrow cancer.

I went from a fit and active working mother of three, to someone I hardly recognised. I was pumped from the chemotherapy and steroids treatment; my condition left me frail, unable to climb a flight of stairs or make a cup of tea without fighting to catch my breath. Inevitably, my life would never be the same. As well as the onslaught of grief (now too many to mention), I live with the trauma that my heart could unexpectedly suffer a cardiac arrest. I was given six months to live and sent home from the hospital in 2015 to spend what the doctors alleged would be my last Christmas with my family.

‘I am baffling the doctors, and my circumstance became the catalyst that revitalised my writing’ My late Pastor, Rev Dr Curdell McLeod, was instrumental in my healing, emboldening my trust and devotion to the Word of God, especially standing on the Scriptures of healing. My faith was entrenched. Calling on God, I became determined not to allow my

BY SHARON-ANN PHILLIPS

medical condition to obstruct me or cause me to succumb to the doctor’s prognosis.

I fought back. I am baffling the doctors, and my circumstance became the catalyst that revitalised my writing. Laid off work and disabled by my illnesses, I penned my memoir, Why Me? My fight for life from heartbreak to hope, where I openly and honestly bare all in my story.

By combining my passion for writing with my strong desire to encourage, I shared my experiences in my book, bringing hope, insight and inspiration to all who may be dealing with devastation through loss and a typically

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One step towards that is our Access Bursary, designed to increase the breadth of our student body and to provide support for those from under-represented or disadvantaged groups. In 2021/22 we have been able to give over £100,000 in Access bursaries and we would love to support many more students next year.

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taboo subject. I became an overcomer, and showed others that they too could prevail over sickness, loss and misdiagnosis. It has truly touched lives.

Then the pandemic hit. I was high-risk with the underlying health conditions, so I took particular caution during the subsequent lockdowns. With my in-person hospital appointments cancelled, self check-ups became even more critical. Checking my breasts in October 2020, which happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I found a lump that unveiled my greatest fear: a grade three (rapid-growing) breast cancer. Who

would have thought that an unconnected cancer could be added to my fight? Already immunocompromised, I had to draw on God - and all the principles and methods I used in my book to encourage others - to now succour myself.

‘Regardless of what I am going through, I remain optimistic’ I underwent an invasive lumpectomy in December 2020, followed by more chemotherapy and radiotherapy in early 2021.

The breast cancer is under control; however, after five years in remission, the myeloma cancer has relapsed, hence the start (in September) of weekly chemotherapy for the next nine months. In the midst of all this, I lost another beloved sister to cancer in February 2021.

Assisting others has helped me to maintain an attitude of gratitude throughout. Regardless of what I am going through, I remain optimistic; I do not focus on my circumstance or suffer in silence, and I share my story with others, especially those who pray. Cancer is not a death sentence to me.

As a member of many groups and organisations, I volunteer and work with a leading hospital’s focus group to support the training of practice nurses (COVID-permitting).

I am also Treasurer at my church, assisting with administration and bookkeeping.

Whilst fighting my battles, I became an advocate for cancer, raised £24,000 for Macmillan, and was instrumental in their 2020 Christmas campaign, where I shared my story. The campaign subsequently raised almost £800,000.

My story describes how love, determination and belief can guide and help you through your world, sharing love, faith and hope, even when all you see is darkness, sickness and death.

I continue to fight the good fight of faith with determination and confidence. If you would like to read my story and learn how I became an overcomer, Why Me? My Fight For Life From Heartbreak to Hope is available from all major bookstores. www.keepthefaith.co.uk

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Can consumer Christians know the true meaning of sacrifice?

I

t’s easy to shut your eyes to the poverty in Britain. As the rector of an Anglican middle-class church for 18 years, I know all about that. To my shame, we’ve only recently started certain projects in our community that we’d previously turned a blind eye to.

The excuses are genuine, but they are still excuses. Sometimes the last thing I feel like doing on a Tuesday is sitting with adults who are unable to read. But I’m learning that in order to truly reach and impact people, I must be willing to pay a price and sacrifice.

So, what changed?

God did something in my heart, which has spilled into our church’s mission drive. A key moment for me came on a recent visit to Asia with GFA World, a charity that is sharing the good news and spreading God’s love in various ways across the continent.

I was exposed to a level of poverty I’d never seen before, and was inspired by a group of people who were willing to make great sacrifices to reach them. I saw a level of gratitude in people I’d never seen before.

We went to the city slums one day, where there was raw sewage running down the street. These folks were so poor that the gangs didn’t even bother with them because they had nothing worthy to steal. I can’t shake the image out of my mind of the pastor in a white robe, walking down the street with dirty animals alongside him and sewage all around. He stepped into that world to comfort a woman whose son had gone missing. He offered hope in the most heartbreaking and devastating of situations.

Then there was rural poverty - slightly different but still as striking - where the huts were built of sticks and mud. The church building and toilets installed by GFA World were the only ‘modern’ advancements within the village. Again, I witnessed pastors – trained and resourced by GFA World – coming alongside and serving those communities.

When people were starving, they went to the pastor, who readily shared the little he had with them.

Visiting one school touched my heart, as a little girl gave me a doll she’d made out of clay as a gift. She had very little, but still wanted to show generosity. Meeting us meant so much to the locals, and they wanted to say Thank You. They had nothing to give us but their gratitude, which they did in volumes.

Returning to Britain was quite an eye-opener. I realised that those of us, who

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My trip to Asia taught me what real poverty looks like, and challenged me to do something about it. We are moving from conversations with people to taking action. I’m busy; I work long days and deal with a lot of people, but I’m determined that I’m going to give a few hours of my week to sit with these guys who will possibly never be able to contribute to the church. But that doesn’t matter. They’re people in need, and it takes personal sacrifice to reach them and share God’s love.

British Christians have become sacrificeaverse. We’re entitled, and believe we deserve the world. But what would Jesus do? What would His approach be like? It sounds a cliché, but He’d be right there in the thick of it. He’s the ultimate Servant King... What a privilege to follow His sacrificial example. identify with our Christian status, were still very much consumers. We weren’t living truly sacrificial lives. I began to pray. I’d always spoken to the homeless and the disadvantaged and vulnerable, but what had I done about it?

In Cheadle, near Manchester, we pick and choose what we want. We assume education, healthcare, luxuries and the right to decide which church we attend. In other parts of the world, people don’t have that option.

Our church is close to a large council estate, but we’d gone years without noticing some of the needs within that community. For instance, we’d never had people in our congregation who couldn’t read – yet now I am working with a group from the local estate where only one in four of them can read. There are many more like them who are often overlooked by wealthier Christians and churches.

So we began to pray more intentionally for the entire estate. We went beyond a quick Hello and started having proper conversations.

We started an Alpha Course and the folks started coming.

BY REV ROB MUNRO

Rev Rob Munro has been Rector of St Mary’s Parish, Cheadle in Chester Diocese (C of E) for the last 18 years. He is actively involved in the Chester Diocese, particularly in Mission and Outreach and as Chair of Clergy and through the General Synod.

He visited Asia with GFA World.

Visit www.gfauk.org for more information.

Grace Gladys Famoriyo Author, Speaker and Founder, Monetise Your Expertise Bootcamp.

Visit gracegladys.com

SMART, GIFTED & NOT BROKE

R

ecently, I was blessed with the opportunity of speaking on God TV about the subject of monetising our gifts and expertise, especially in these unusual times. The impact of the pandemic has been seismic, causing all of us to rethink different areas of our lives - including our finances. Yet, I believe, as always, the Bible is a blueprint for us to model our lives.

Use what you already have As a child, I remember reading the story of the widow in the Bible (2 Kings 4). She was flat broke and in serious debt. It was so bad, the creditors were going to take her two sons as slaves. So the widow goes to Prophet Elisha to ask for help.

In my mind, as a child, I thought the prophet would simply wave his staff or pray and cause money to fall from Heaven. Or perhaps, he would cause the creditors to wipe the debt (or even make them forget… I had an imaginative mind as a child).

But what happened surprised me. Elisha asked the widow what she had at home.

In short, he was asking, “WHAT DO YOU ALREADY HAVE THAT I CAN USE?” In her case, it was a small jar of oil. The prophet then gave her instructions on what to do - which was a miracle in itself, as he asked her to fill as many empty containers with oil. Then, she was to sell it to clear her debts and live on the remainder.

Uncover your Jar of Oil Notice what the widow needed to get out of debt and poverty was already within her reach.

The mistake I find many people make is to think they have to take a degree course, get

qualifications, etc. While I am a firm believer in education, the fact remains that both you and I already have our very own Jars of Oil. This could be your God-given gifts, passions, abilities, experiences, skills, expertise, know-how, etc. Yet, after over twenty years as a transformational coach, I have come across many who place little or no emphasis on their jar of oil, even though it is available to be monetised, like the widow’s.

Let me break it down: Your jar of oil can be your ability to do hair. By the way, do you know some hairdressers get flown out, by private jet, to meet their clients? So do chefs, coaches, trainers, stylists, assistants, beauticians, care providers, nannies, etc. So nothing should be overlooked as a potential source of oil, because everything has its use.

Apply the Jar of Oil blueprint Going back to the story, I believe the role of the prophet was to help the widow understand she already had the solution to her own pain point: the lack of funds to pay her debts and take care of her family. His role was simply to give her a blueprint to get out of debt.

So here is my five-step Jar of Oil Blueprint to monetise your assets: 1. Get clarity on your assets: Identify assets around you, within your reach or that you already have access to. Do not discount anything, no matter how small! After all, in the story, the starting point was a small jar of olive oil. Remember, small things eventually grow.

2. Adopt healthy mindsets: The widow had to fill her pots with her asset, and think BIG whilst doing so. This was not the time for fear, small thinking, unhealthy or self-sabotaging mindsets.

3. Take specific action: Sell your asset to make money. Notice she was not told to give it away, to be a blessing, to sow into her neighbours’ lives, etc. She was told to sell it!

Sometimes, we church folk get it twisted by not following the leading of the Holy Spirit. There is a time for everything, but on this specific occasion, the required action was selling. By the way, your pricing needs to bring in a profit.

4. Adopt a strategy: Use the funds you earn to clear your debts. This is not the time to eye a new handbag or set of wheels for your car.

The strategy is simple: clear the debts and don’t create any more!

5. Reinvest your profits: So it does not just end with clearing debt. Rather, there is now an element of future planning too, to ensure you have enough for your future needs. This can be as simple as a savings plan, reinvesting into your business, etc.

If you want to learn more, download my free eBook, Five Financial Mistakes The Smart & Gifted Make That Keeps Them Broke which is available at http://gracegladys.com/ www.keepthefaith.co.uk

33

THE EVE OF FREEDOM

BY DANIELLE McALPINE JOHNSON GLOBAL MUSIC LINK EDITORIAL TEAM

F

olding back the corners of distant memories stuck to our fridge, I long for the fragrant hue of our Bahamian family and the Caribbean Sea. Out of the mouth of babes comes: “How long till we go back, Mummy?” Words, although ever so sweet, carry a sting whilst contemplating the answer. Are these vibrantly telling, yet faded photos as close as we will get anytime soon?

Will our children only experience the culture that runs thick in their being through a library of memoirs? Sadness and rage, wrapped in a sense of justice and hope, ring true in my spirit tonight. The ‘eve’ of freedom for Victoria, Australia... at least for now.

Having spent a cumulative 262 days (almost nine months) under stay-home orders since March 2020, our once “world’s most liveable city” now holds the record for the world’s longest lockdown - a title contrary to the heart of her people.

Watching my nine-year-old son play drums with his teacher, through the lens of an iPad, I ponder where our society is headed. Seems familiar to a ’90s Schwarzenegger film. The reflection on the screen is a child, who far more

often than not is full of joy, charisma and laughter, yet today seems sombre and unenthused. A lack of social connection with young friends must take its toll on our babies no matter how much we try to fill the gap.

“No jab, no job,” the news has screamed these last few months, followed by a barrage of what many see as government overreach and a proven steep decline in the mental health in our society.

Barricaded children’s playgrounds, beaches, parks. No visitors to the home. 8pm curfews. Helicopters patrolling the sky. No more than five to ten people at funerals. Must scan the QR code before going to the dunny!

Travel reduced to 5km from your home.

Only essential shopping allowed. Only one household member at a time. International and state borders closed. Thousands of people locked out of their own state… And the list of news items goes on.

With experts estimating the overall recovery rate of COVID-19 as being between 97% and 99.75%, many are questioning whether such extreme measures are just?

After intentionally removing judgement, assumption, opinion and emotion (which, to be frank, took many months of internal wrestling), I too admit to questioning whether all decisions of those in current power are truly driven by a deep-rooted desire to protect, and wonder what else sits at the very core of this current landscape? Is our society heading towards a totalitarian regime? What does the future of our next generation look like? Because the decisions we make now will impact our children and our children’s children. Those of us who still have a choice need to be prudent in our decision-making.

Mindful of what opinions and attitudes float in the atmosphere around our children during this season, I have been cautious with what has been expressed outwardly, both in our home and on our social media. But with the ever-increasing undercurrent of this season, I feel compelled to share my frustration - a frustration in the way people are approaching the pandemic as a whole.

Having witnessed first-hand the beauty and heart of humanity during the Black Summer Bushfire crisis, to only two months later experiencing such a contrast in human behaviour, I am saddened at the current climate.

There is an undercurrent carrying the spirit of division and segregation, many completely unaware. Fogged by cloudy judgement and puffy-chested opinions, many lack the empathy and love once shared between churches, society, families, friends, brothers and sisters, the vaxed and unvaxed - who were once aligned, but no longer agree… on something.

I highlight the word something, because it is only one facet of our multifaceted society. Yet how can something affect everything? Because we have given it power. Our time. Our energy. Our discussion. Which it deserves, but not all of it.

Has it become somewhat of an idol for some?

What would happen if we redirected our focus on love and restoring relationships?

Removing all stigma, all judgement, putting all opinions aside and focusing for just a moment on the heartbeat of humanity? Surely this would be a catalyst to change the state of our society’s mental health for one.

Irrespective of each other’s beliefs and opinions surrounding the pandemic and vaccination, is our first responsibility not to love?

To nurture one another? To take a giant step

back and look from an eternal perspective?

And, freedom. Is it not the greatest gift of all? Freedom to speak. Freedom to make a choice about our health. Freedom to think.

Freedom from judgement and condemnation.

Freedom from bondage. Freedom from old wineskins to create new. Freedom to be who we are designed to be. How can we attain this, unless we walk in love? If Jesus was bipartial in whom He chose to love and heal.

How many people would have missed out on the choice of eternal freedom?

If our greatest commandment is about ‘relationship’, is that not the call we should be responding to at this time of duress?

Responding to others in love, irrespective of our opinion, choice or political agenda. It is the very foundation upon why we exist. As a human race. Without it, who are we?

So tonight, whilst teetering on the threshold of a new season in Victoria, I choose the liberty to air my thoughts at the risk of losing followers, friends and even ruffling the feathers of some family members and pose these questions. Where, as a society, are we headed?

Are the thoughts rattling around in many heads - including my own - of tyranny giving birth to evil dictatorship, really that far-fetched?

For now, I think we are safe… but I am concerned about where we are headed. Yes.

Are we seeing the mark of the beast and the book of Revelation play out before our eyes? Personally, I don’t think so. But is this a season of preparation both in the physical and the spiritual for what’s to come? Perhaps.

As someone who is torn between the obedience of Romans 13 and the final verse of Romans 14, I am choosing to prudently sit and wait for deeper revelation. If we have been chosen for such a time as this, surely the answers are woven into our very DNA, and it’s only a matter of time before they surface.

For many, answers, revelation and confirmation have already arrived. For those, I am happy. I’m hopeful in the waiting, in listening, in seeking and in the soaking. And in the meantime, focused on mission and loving those around

Each year we place hundreds of thousands of Bibles and New Testaments into the hands of those that need them most as we seek to introduce everyone to Jesus.

us irrespective of opinion. And... thankful for the remnant of magnificent humans in this world, who, no matter their journey, thoughts, decisions, will love hard regardless. Blessed is the one who knows those kinds.

Tomorrow is a new day; our children are beaming with joy at the fact they return to school on campus. Their smiles are an immeasurable reminder of the goodness of God. One thing I’m not, is fearful. Jesus is still on the throne. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Unfailing and never changing. And... these are things to celebrate.

Danielle McAlpine Johnson is an Australian writer, producer and director currently living with her family in Melbourne, Australia.

“If no Bible had been in that prison cell, I would be in hell right now instead of living my life in the joy of the Lord!” Andy, former inmate, and recipient of a Bible from GOOD NEWS for Everyone!

Everyone needs to hear GOOD NEWS Will you join with us and share it?

“And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” Romans 10:14 Visit www.goodnewsuk.com/membership to find out more GOOD NEWS for Everyone! is a Registered Charity in England and Wales (221605) and in Scotland (SC039224)

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35

Will ‘cancel culture’ ruin the freedom of creative writing?

VANESSA GROSSETT

is a Literary Agent at The Authors Care Agency. For more information, visit www.theauthorscareagency.co.uk

Before I start this article, I realise the ‘cancel culture’ subject is not always a straightforward one to discuss. That is why, for the purpose of this piece, I will be putting my views across in terms of creative writing, since I have noticed ‘cancel culture’ making its way into the publishing industry.

Recently, a Christian author had an award that she’d won revoked. Her book had stirred up controversy with some readers and even with authors. Elements of the book, At Love’s Command by Karen Witemeyer, are about genocide, and readers and authors alike believed it “romanticised” the genocide of Native Americans.

I have not read the book so I cannot give a review, but the very fact that her award was revoked because of the perceptions of others got me thinking: how free can writers be with their story? Does an author now need to start

thinking about every word they construct to make sure it doesn’t offend anybody, as they don’t want to ruin their career? And, if you’re in this industry you know that overthinking is not an author’s best friend; it can put blockages in the way rather than allowing the story to flow.

Do authors now have to change genres, for example from contemporary to historical, as they don’t want to be forced to put characters into their books they don’t want?

Though what is perceived as ‘cancel culture’ can be empowering in a positive way, in terms of combating intentional wrongful harm or abuse to others, and holding those accountable, it can also have devastating effects on the livelihood of someone, who just

has a different opinion, or has made past mistakes, is genuinely remorseful and wants forgiveness. A career that can take a year or more to build can be destroyed overnight.

Where does this leave authors and creative writing? Will their freedom to express their stories be taken from them? What can authors do? Since this is a new journey we are embarking on, authors need all the support from each other they can get, so I would suggest finding a writers’ group, where opinions can be shared freely and confidentially. If you are not self-published, it is important to gain support from your editor or agent. But do keep in mind that editors who work in publishing houses may have company procedures they need to abide by. If there is a disagreement, it isn’t always the case that the editors are not on the author’s side; they just don’t want to risk being ‘cancelled’ either.

Ultimately, authors should continue to allow the freedom-to-write flow. There are so many book genres that can cater to everybody.

It’s unnecessary to cancel a writer just because a person does not agree with what they have written, or because they have a different perception of the book.

I don’t believe it is any writer’s job to do intentional harm. If an author is including characters from a different background, it’s so important that thorough research is done so that the portrayal of the character is authentic.

If there is a scene in the story that readers don’t agree with, and they express their views, I don’t think these should be dismissed either.

Authors need to take time to acknowledge their readers’ views, and maybe give them an explanation into why a scene, story or book is written the way it is. Connecting with the reader doesn’t need to end in a heated exchange, but one must know when to end the conversation if it’s veering off into another direction. It isn’t always possible to do this every time, especially when the author is very well known, however I do think it is now even more important than ever for authors and readers to engage. Despite the negatives, social media can also be used in a positive way, where nobody has to be cancelled.

Happy writing.

HAS PRAYER BEEN CANCELLED?

BY RICHARD GAMBLE

T

he power of prayer is being neutered in the UK. Since the pandemic, studies have found an apparent and vital openness to spirituality. A study commissioned in May 2020 (source: The Guardian) found that one in 20 adults had started praying. The Church of England also received 6,000 phone calls to a prayer hotline in its first 48 hours of operation in the same month. And it isn’t ‘just a COVID thing’. Since the pandemic, churches are being flooded with newcomers and a recent Savanta ComRes survey found over 50% of 18-34 year olds now pray regularly, with 36% attending church or taking part in a service – whether online or offline – at least once a month.

These statistics were challenged widely by the press. Alongside this scepticism towards an apparent spiritual renewal, social media algorithms and the woke bandwagon have aimed to diminish prayer to something that is irrelevant and even impotent - an activity that is hidden and shameful.

Many now perceive prayer as an activity of last resort, with no expected outcome other than a self-serving sense that we are doing what we can in times when we feel powerless.

As our Prime Minister contracted COVID last year, the newspapers ran the headlines: ‘Pray for Boris,’ but did anyone expect God to answer? ‘Praying’ has become shorthand for showing solidarity in trying circumstances, rarely translated to an earnest seeking of our Creator for help. There has been a significant cultural shift that we have seen in this generation, moving from the appreciation of God at work to the denial of any possibility of divine intervention.

Yet throughout history and the current generation, hundreds of thousands testify to prayer as the most intimate, meaningful and

powerful activity in their lives, believing that God listens and acts. So how have we got here?

Has society simply grown up, or has political correctness - and latterly woke culture cancelled the power of prayer? It was not always like this.

On 23rd May 1940, His Majesty King George VI announced a National Day of Prayer the following Sunday. As British, Canadian and French soldiers fled under torrential Nazi fire toward the beaches of Dunkirk, the King of England asked the nation to ‘turn as our fathers before us have turned, in times of trial, to the God Most High’. Over a million people visited churches across the nation and prayed for the boys on the beaches. Then came the ‘miracle of Dunkirk’ and 330,000 were saved.

On 9th June the nation returned to church to thank God for His work. The bizarre strategic decisions, meteorological improbabilities and physical miracles that led to the preservation of so many lives has been erased from populist history. The power of prayer that contributed to the miracle of Dunkirk has been removed from our national consciousness, and downgraded to an account of extraordinary human effort, which, though worthy of major appreciation, should not be viewed in isolation.

For Christians, faith is fuelled when we share and celebrate the things Jesus has done in our lives. Being on a 17-year journey to collect one million of these stories for a piece of public art called the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer - a sculpture which hopes to preserve the power of prayer by being built out of one million bricks, each representing an answered prayer – I have discovered the Christian Church on mute. Stories are, at best, whispered not proclaimed. Christians in the UK are hiding for their livelihoods, as ‘wokery’ embeds itself in the legal and political machines. Christians

working in the political, health, education and entertainment sectors cannot say what they believe, for fear of being cancelled, and offering to pray for people - outside the aforementioned anaemic version - would risk their job and their families. In particular, Christians seem to be singled out as the naughty religious children who should be seen and not heard.

Sure, the fearful majority are not shouting about it, but secretly the belief in the power of prayer remains. While we are growing into a more diverse nation, we must hold fast onto the importance prayer has had to our national identity, and the positive impact the Church has had on our society – especially in the last year.

Our nation has a rich heritage embedded in Christian prayer and, while many will take the viewpoint that prayer is merely a false hope, a comfort blanket when you can do nothing more, we’ve got to be bold in sharing the spiritual power of prayer. If younger generations are exploring faith and prayer, it shouldn’t be a matter of debate, but should be encouraged, embraced and an example for all of us.

RICHARD GAMBLE co-founded a software business and a marketing consultancy. With a keen love of football, he became CEO of Sports Chaplaincy UK, and was former chaplain of Leicester City Football Club. Richard lives in Leicestershire and is married with three children.

For more information and to contribute, please go to crowdfunder.co.uk/eternalwall

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ may/03/british-public-turn-to-prayer-as-one-in-fourtune-in-to-religious-services www.keepthefaith.co.uk

37

Windrush legacy celebrated

B Y D AV E H A L L

The River Windrush flows for 35 miles through the picturesque Cotswolds before joining the Thames.

It gave its name to the one-time German troopship, which brought more than 1,000 immigrants from the Caribbean to London in 1930.

While the original name Windrush meant, ironically, White Fen, the vessel – renamed the Empire Windrush by the British after the war – has come to be known more for the Windrush generation, the Caribbean people who came to work in the UK. “An estimated 500,000 people followed within 30 years,” said Roy Francis, a former BBC TV Songs of Praise producer, music consultant and author of Windrush and The Black Pentecostal Church in Britain, “and the many Christians among them have laid a huge legacy in church worship and bridging the Black-White divide.”

Roy was speaking at the three-day Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park, Surrey (Oct 12-14), during which large sections of each day were used to highlight the way Black-led churches have influenced worship in the UK. The sessions included a celebration of the history of British gospel music, a panel discussion on the Caribbean story, chaired by Roy Francis, and a look at how Black-led churches are now taking a leading role in leading Britain back to God through “reverse mission”.

The musical presentation was by the Ken Burton Singers, under their international choral and orchestral conductor, singer and instrumentalist. The singers – regular contributors to BBC’s Songs of Praise – also took part in the opening ceremony.

“There are a lot of misunderstandings, and CRE National is the ideal place to celebrate what Windrush Christians brought to Britain and the impact their inheritors – African Christians – are now having on the country,” said Roy. He pointed out that Black-led churches should be seen against the backdrop of the times when Africans were taken as slaves to work on plantations. “Their songs were slave-working songs which became known as spirituals – but they had a dual purpose: they presented an escape plan and marked resistance,” he said. “The two most popular songs were Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Steal Away. Swing Low, which has been hijacked by English rugby fans, was a coded song telling slaves how to travel undercover and where to find a safe house, in the north or in Canada.”

A group of experts explored diversity and difference in the church at CRE. Host of the seminar, Elaine Bowes of the Pentecostal Credit Union, said: “Our discussions were based essentially on John 17:21 – ‘…that all of them may be one’ – and asked if we are mirroring what Scripture is saying, what Christ is saying. I think the conclusion was “Yes and No”. And we looked then at how the Church can join together in practical ways to build unity. Eating together. Going places in groups.

We can do lots of things that build community between different people.

KEN BURTON SINGERS ROY FRANCIS

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DAVID SHOSANYA

We have to do that to show that Christ is here and that Christ is alive.

Groups like Black Lives Matter are only there because the Church isn’t.”

David Shosayna, former regional director of the London Baptist Association and now principal at Paideia, said: “There’s a big difference between Black people being present and their presence being felt, and that difference is around the axis of power. I go to many churches with a multicultural leadership, but seldom do Black people hold the treasury responsibility or any form of administrative control of resources, people, physical or cultural assets of the church. I think sometimes representation of Black or Asian people being present can be an optical illusion around unity.

“Institutions are the aggregated behaviour of individuals. Individuals exist as an institution and they create a culture. Often the institution is a way of blindsiding us from the individuals that sustain a culture.

Individuals can’t say ‘I can’t do anything about it’. Yes, you can, because you are the institution!”

He also said that African churches were an invaluable part of the fabric of the churches in the UK. “Many come over to England as students, with the aspiration of returning to Africa, but they get concerned at the spiritual state of the UK and it gives them a passion to bring the nation back to God. They are committed to seeing the nation prosper with an open relationship between White and other Christians.”

He continued: “These three days have been fantastic – there has been such a broad range of subjects discussed, and it has brought much blessing. We see things that we didn’t know the churches needed. The vision for examining the Windrush legacy was brilliant, and I believe it will help many go forward and develop a real close relationship between all communities.”

If the music of the Caribbean delighted visitors, there was a lot of interest in the wide variety of exhibitors from puppets to pews, sound systems to stewardship, and many other areas.

As Steve Goddard, owner of CRE, said: “Visitors arrived with more purpose than I have ever known - to discover fresh, innovative ways to re-build their churches following the pandemic.” As one visitor commented: “I simply cannot believe there is so much happening in the church and so many organisations offering specific help. It has been a wonderful day.”

Re-configuring the exhibition on two floors instead of one, to give wider aisles, proved an extremely welcome safety measure.

“We expected fewer visitors because of the impact of the pandemic,” said Steve, “but the numbers, though lower than two years ago, were high enough to encourage dozens of exhibitors to re-book for next year.”

If you would like to know more about the Christian Resources Exhibitions, visit www.creonline.co.uk

Helping parents keep their children through fostering Not everyone grows up in a loving and nurturing environment to know what it means to provide good parenting for their child. Many are faced with challenges on how to parent their child, and that is where parent and child fostering comes in.

Essentially, parent and child fostering is supporting parents to have their children remain in their care. A mother, father or both come into care with their babies or toddlers to receive guidance and life skills such as cooking, providing stimulation and providing a routine for their child. A parent and child foster placement offers a parent the opportunity to learn these valuable life skills in a home environment.

What is entailed?

Parent and child fostering is different to other types of fostering because the parent is responsible to care for their child, the role of the foster carer is to provide guidance and support to help the parent care for their child effectively.

With specialist training from the Fostering Support Group (FSG), our foster carers share their skills with young parents who have different difficulties.

Can you foster?

Our foster carers come from different backgrounds and experiences. Working with FSG is like one big happy family where you are provided with 24/hour support, guidance and training.

Foster carers can be employed or unemployed (even if you are on benefits), single or married, have children or not, homeowners or renting. We want to hear from you.

FSG offer a competitive fostering allowance with robust 24-hour support from a dedicated supervising social worker, ongoing training and encouragement. Working from home as a foster carer has never been so rewarding.

Get in touch with us to discuss your individual circumstance and see how you can foster.

Call 020 8778 5656 or visit www.fosteringsupportgroup.com

www.keepthefaith.co.uk

39

Has the pandemic increased the importance of the Golden Rule?

BY ROBIN CADE

What is the Golden Rule?

The Golden Rule is something we are all familiar with, but perhaps are unaware of its name.

The Golden Rule exists to provide harmony. It is a tool to direct people towards positive outcomes and enhanced happiness for those who give and those who receive. It can be just a simple gesture – such as a smile - or something more involved, but whatever it is, it is essential you know that the receiver will appreciate and welcome it.

‘Treating others the way you want to be treated’ is a maxim taught in most religions and cultures; the Golden Rule is a way of expressing that how you treat others influences the way others treat you.

The Golden Rule is centred around empathy. Empathy is at the core of kindness, compassion and understanding. Building the ability to understand and share the feelings of others is essential when looking at the way you treat people. If you are aware of how others react to you, instinctively, you will adjust how you behave. Whether negative or positive, we need to acknowledge the impact of our actions on others, and consider their well-being before we act.

The origins of the Golden Rule The Golden Rule is a way of life that is widespread across the globe and throughout most languages and religions. In fact, the principle of the Golden Rule appears to have been one of the earliest common requirements that our ancient hunter-gatherer ancestors needed to live by, in order for them to live together. Sharing and caring was not natural. Like most other top predators, the human reaction, for perhaps at least 200,000 years, may have been similar to their ancestors – a case of survival of the fittest. It was the change to adopting the Golden Rule principle that meant humans were able to adapt and develop the communities, which has led to the success of Homo sapiens.

One culture that summarises the Golden Rule is the ancient Egyptian - and the Goddess Ma’at in particular. For over 2,000 years, living according to the principles of the Golden Rule was a large influence of the contentment of the population of ancient Egypt. Gradually, over more than a 1,000 years, individual desire for power and greed abused the religion, and created the situation where it appeared ridiculous to many.

40 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

One belief is that the Golden Rule enabled tribes to come together and then thrive - in terms of quality of life – only to suffer from those seeking selfishness and power, which has at least aggravated and is at the core of many of today’s problems.

The Golden Rule is the principle by which many of the poorest people have some of the highest quality lives, and is still the case in many traditional hunter-gatherer and native cultures.

An increase in mental health challenges Everyone’s lives will have been deeply impacted by the pandemic, and people will have had to adapt to the ‘new normal’. With mask wearing, social distancing and furlough, there have been a number of changes that have challenged our daily lives. Four out of five adults (84.2%) said they were worried about the impact the coronavirus had on their lives, with 53.1% saying it affected their well-being, and 46.9% noting an increased level of anxiety. These numbers are not surprising, when our only way to connect with others had been reduced overnight to virtual calls, Zoom quizzes and group chats. 76.9% of people stated that keeping in touch with friends and family throughout lockdown was the most effective way of coping with having to stay at home.

Supporting each other On 12th April 2020, the Sunday Times reported: ‘If one good thing comes out of this coronavirus crisis, it will be the greater sense of community and of the importance of being good neighbours, and doing something for people who are struggling’ - in other words, living a little closer to the principle of the Golden Rule. The pandemic demonstrated how

OUR SONS WERE VERY INVOLVED IN OUR ADOPTION JOURNEY #YOUCANADOPT

“We love our children and treat them all equally. I can’t imagine or remember what my life was like before my daughter joined our family of four.”

ERRORD

numerous people care and share with, and for, each other, but also how societies are based on assets, both individual and national.

COVID-19 caused many people to reach out to those they had not spoken to in a while. People were checking in on old friends, colleagues and relatives to make sure they were doing OK during this difficult time. Not only that, but when someone was instructed to isolate, due to having been in close contact with someone with coronavirus, or having contracted the disease itself, people were volunteering to do food runs and buy essentials. One in four had gone shopping or completed tasks for their neighbours.

Communities came together to support their local businesses, to help them through the pandemic, and 53.8% of adults said they had checked in on neighbours who might need help at least once.

The pandemic has put everyone in the same boat, and the importance of the Golden Rule has been demonstrated through everyone’s behaviour and how people are looking out for their neighbours and local businesses.

To find out more about adoption visit

WWW.YOUCANADOPT.CO.UK/BLACKADOPTERS

Protecting ourselves and each other When the pandemic hit, everyone went into a panic and emptied supermarkets of essential foods, sanitiser and toilet roll. People’s concern with hygiene has increased, with 88.9% of adults saying they wash their hands with water and soap or sanitiser, when they return home. 96.8% of adults have stated they avoid physical contact with other people from outside their household. People are aware of the risks and how easily transmittable the virus is, and are taking steps to ensure they are keeping their distance from others to help prevent the spread.

Upon the lifting of restrictions on 19th July, 2021, 64% of adults have said they are going to continue to wear masks in shops and on public transport, and 90% feel that continuing to social distance will help to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The pandemic has not only helped to bring together local communities, but people are also thinking about how their actions are impacting others, and are working hard to beat this virus in whatever way they can.

Long may this continue.

SOURCES: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/ healthandwellbeing/bulletins/coronavirusandthesocialimpactsongreatbritain/16april2020 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/ healthandwellbeing/articles/

www.keepthefaith.co.uk

41

Let’s talk about suicide

How to engage in a conversation to create hope DR T. AYODELE AJAYI is a Consultant Psychiatrist, a radio host, author and is on the pastoral team of his church

N

o matter how you look at it, suicide does not make for great dinner party conversations. Annually, 10th September’s World Suicide Prevention Day presents a global opportunity to broach this knotty issue. The 2021-2023 triennial theme, ‘Creating Hope through Action’, calls out to each of us as individuals to engage in those conversations with the distressed and struggling, who are potential suicide victims.

Suicide is a devastating event. Each of us has a role to play in supporting those experiencing a suicidal crisis or those bereaved by suicide. Preventing suicide is often possible.

Annually, over 6,000 lives are lost in the UK - an average of 16 deaths daily. Globally, men are twice as likely as women to die by suicide. In the UK, men are even more affected, accounting for three out of every four suicides, and a person suffering from depression is 20 times more likely to die by suicide.

Warning Signs Hopeful action starts with knowing which warning signs to look out for that someone is not OK. Suicide results from a complex interplay of often multiple factors, but we know that life events, social stresses and mental disorders - along with a family history of suicide and a personal history of self-harm or past attempts are all risk factors. The warning signs that someone may be struggling, include a change in behaviour, such as becoming tearful, aggressive, irritable, restless, withdrawn or distant. The suicidal often feel trapped and think they are a burden to their friends, family and community. This results in believing they are alone, and have no other options aside from suicide.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further compounded these feelings of isolation and vulnerability. It is not uncommon to hear these feelings verbalised as expressions of being hopeless, worthless or helpless.

42 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

A change in routine - such as excessive or diminished eating and sleeping patterns, and also harmful coping strategies, such as excessive alcohol, use of street drugs or engaging in gambling or violence - are additional alarm bells.

What can you do?

Each one of us can become skilled at starting potentially life-saving conversations if we spot mental distress. The Samaritans (www.samaritans.org) have devised a simple plan to engage in this hope to engender conversations. It is an acronym for active listening: SHUSH. S: Show you care This is about expressing care for the distressed by giving undivided attention. Ensuring there is privacy is a key point here. This is not about offering advice or trying to fix their problems, but being a non-judgemental listening ear. It is also about creating a safe space to reflect on difficult emotions. The other ways to show care will be making eye contact and putting anyway all distractions, such as your phone.

Resolving not to talk about self; aiming to learn at least one thing about the other person; keeping a listening diary to record and reflect on your strengths and challenges with listening are additional handy tips. The Samaritans also say: “Getting into this habit takes practice, so don’t be too hard on yourself.”

H: Have Patience It is important to bear in mind that you may need to ask the opening questions about whether

they are OK more than once, because it may take several attempts before someone is ready to open up. Trust can take time to build, and it is crucial for the distressed not to feel rushed. Articulation of difficult emotions can be challenging. Be comfortable with pauses, and don’t feel obliged to fill the silence. Using encouraging body language in form of nods, hums and open posture can help to move the conversation along. R U OK - an Australian Suicide Prevention Charity (www.ruok.au.org) - has an excellent interactive and simple-tofollow role play on their website to give guidance on persisting with the enquiry in an empathetic way.

U: Use Open Questions Avoid using questions that lead to a simple Yes or No response, and also aim to use conversation facilitators, such as “Tell me more” or “What does that feel like?”

S: Say It Back Summarising back what you think you heard - and checking to confirm accuracy - is a profound way to communicate with and connect with the distressed. It is important to avoid putting your own interpretation to the conversation.

H: Have Courage It takes courage to ask upfront if you suspect someone is suicidal. The common worry that this may actually sow the idea is unfounded.

In fact, research shows that asking gives permission to the distressed to talk, so it is best to follow your gut feeling and ask if you are in doubt. You could be saving a life.

Next time, I will be sharing on how to support the struggling by creating a safety plan.

I am keen to hear from you, so please email me at tripartcare@gmail.com

The Heart of the Matter!

BY LO R N A G R E E N

The Friends of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, has just published a book that chronicles its amazing history since its formation in 1980.

The Friends of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, or FHFJ for short, is a London-based charitable organisation that sends a range of medical equipment to Jamaica to prevent and treat a range of cardio-vascular diseases in Jamaicans.

Its new book, ‘Taking Jamaica to Heart’, explores the origins of the charity, which was established by Jamaican-born Iris Gordon OD, a committed Christian, in response to the heart-related problems experienced by her brother, Stanley. Iris, who was born in the parish of St Thomas, Jamaica, came to Britain in 1962, settling in the London Borough of Wandsworth. She immediately found work in the healthcare sector, and worked at several hospitals.

In the late 1970s, Stanley suffered a heart attack in Jamaica and, on visiting him, Iris saw the need to support the Heart Foundation of Jamaica in its work throughout the island. Her intention was to show that as a Christian she was her brother’s keeper, and when she returned to London, she prayed about what she should do in response to this need. As a result, and with the assistance of her husband, Peter Gordon (also a committed Christian), and the Reverend Graham Hayles at her local church, St James in Streatham, south London, she committed herself to the establishment of an organisation that would ‘give heart to Jamaica’.

The FHFJ gained charitable status in 1984, with its key aims being to promote health education related to the heart and circulation, and to provide grants for education and training relevant to cardiology and other health-related disciplines in Jamaica.

The organisation has grown since the early days, and now has a sizeable number of members and supporters in London and across the

DAHLIA STERLING

TONY LEIBA

country. It raises funds via events, such as garden parties, barbecues, walks, concerts, golf days and an annual black-tie ball. Moreover, members’ fees and donations from churches and community organisations also go toward helping those in Jamaica. While its work is primarily focused on Jamaica, the FHFJ supporters - many of whom are linked to the church - are British people of all races, and Black people with roots from across the Caribbean and Africa.

Over the years, the charity has sent a number of vehicles (mobile units) to Jamaica, which have enabled the Heart Foundation of Jamaica to travel around the island, testing Jamaicans for blood pressure and other cardiovascular matters. Equally, the UK charity sponsors a health educator who visits schools and community groups, as a further way of disseminating information about healthy lifestyles.

Those wanting to know more about this inspiring story can read the book, ‘Taking Jamaica to Heart’, which is published by Golden Grove Books, ISBN 978-1-3999-0270-0. For more information about the book or the organisation, contact Lorna Green, Chairperson FHFJ, at fhfjamaica@gmail.com.

WINIFRED SMIKLE www.keepthefaith.co.uk

43

In solidarity with Egypt’s TikTok girls

BY MARTINS AGBONLAHOR

E

gypt is in the news again - and for all the wrong reasons.

Innocent young girls, enjoying their blossoming youth and exuberance, were recently clamped down on so violently by the State for ‘violating family values’, simply because they danced, sang and encouraged their numerous followers on TikTok – one of their numerous platforms – to do same. This was their ‘sin’, as decreed by the prosecuting judges in a Cairo court, and like child’s play, the effervescent and amiable TikTok girls, Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham, were sentenced to ten years and six years respectively, in a judgement that flew in the face of justice, equity and all tenets of fairness.

I have written extensively on Egypt’s state of affairs and General al-Sisi’s brinkmanship in my collection of critical essays (Sifting the Grain from the Chaff, available from all online bookstores or on my website, www.martinsagbonlahor.com), and so I won’t spend any more time or ink on him here. I must, however, with renewed vigour, call for the immediate release of these young girls, whose freedom of expression has been violently curtailed.

To take this further, the orchestrated trial of the TikTok girls was simply to sound a note of warning to their teeming social media followers, and to remind them that the Egyptian State does not tolerate free speech - especially when it comes from women, who,

by Egyptian so-called ‘values’, are meant to be seen and not heard.

Women are always made the scapegoat in a country where sexual harassment is rife, and gang rape a far too frequent occurrence, not to mention the frightening rate of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The dicta of culture, religion, traditions and customs are also there.

These combine to debase womanhood, making women mere appendages to men. No wonder Egypt is regarded as the worst country to be a woman in the entire Arab world. And to think, too, that this country was the first to bring civilisation to the entire world is complete anathema to me!

TikTok girls, Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham

My heart is greatly troubled by this development, and the rush at which these girls were arraigned and condemned seemed to have had the seal or imprimatur of Big Brother in the seat of power who, true to form, had surreptitiously monitored the proceedings. Egypt is without doubt an ugly sore on the conscience of humanity when examining her human rights scorecard. When the country’s poor citizens staged their own ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011 – an action meant to cleanse the Augean stables and provide food for their hungry stomachs – little did they know that their collective efforts would be betrayed by the head of the country’s Armed Forces, a relatively unknown General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who manipulated the volatile situation to his advantage by overthrowing the legitimately elected Mohamed Morsi, thus plunging a dagger into the soul of the Egyptian constitution.

Now the citizens, who had agitated for a transparent government then, are the very ones hounded through the nooks and crannies of Egypt and out of the country. Put succinctly, the current Egyptian leader has gained notoriety for silencing dissenting voices, railroading real and imagined enemies to prison, and promoting a culture of fear.

44 Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag

President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al Sisi CREDIT: LEV RADIN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Again, when did it become a crime for teenage girls to make some cash as influencers posting videos on social media platforms, when young Egyptian boys are doing the same and going scot-free?

And, as if this isn’t enough, the law court has added another charge to the present one: that of human trafficking - the final nail in the coffin, and one in which these teenage girls may not be able to extricate or exonerate themselves.

The human trafficking ‘crime’ these girls are now accused of is, to me, a cruel joke. No matter how it is construed by the Egyptian courts, it cannot pass the test of civilised standards, as three vital elements must

Community spirit comes to a family’s rescue

A

fter giving birth to her third child, a beautiful baby girl, Deannah, things took a difficult turn for Alecia’s mental health. Struggling financially, Alecia and husband Deon had a lot of mouths to feed. When their local church, The Church of Pentecost UK in Wolverhampton, became one of 151 churches to partner with national children’s charity, Transforming Lives for Good (TLG), to run Box of Hope, everything changed.

In solidarity with Egypt’s TikTok girls continued...

be established for this crime to gel, as enshrined in Article 3(a) of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 2000 – or as we have it in jurisprudence: ‘The Palermo Protocol’, of which Egypt is a signatory. The accused must be in the action of recruitment, transfer or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force, coercion, abduction or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim for the purpose of exploitation, forced labour, slavery and the removal of organs.

The emphasised words above are the three elements – and I make bold to say that the Egyptian judges cannot prove these girls are really guilty of this offence, except they – the judges – mangle the Protocol or carve out their own ‘home-grown’ legislation to have these girls guillotined. In truth, this is a sheer Potemkin façade: a decision-before-trial ‘judicial process’, aimed at obtaining a predetermined verdict. I mean, why punish these innocent girls, who simply want to enjoy themselves like all youngsters?

And don’t be surprised if General al-Sisi goes for the jugular in defiance of pleas from human rights organisations and other world bodies. To me, these girls should be freed with no strings attached, and compensated financially for having gone through excruciating physical and mental torture for no just or justifiable reason, not to mention they were their poor families’ mainstays and breadwinners.

Now is the time for General Fattah al-Sisi to show some goodwill and do what is right, else he will be buried under the huge tide of public opinion on this matter.

Box of Hope was TLG’s national emergency response to COVID-19 restrictions that prevented TLG from serving hot and healthy meals through its Make Lunch clubs, based in churches. Through Box of Hope, the charity served the equivalent of more than a million meals through food parcels, which also included well-being resources.

“When the pandemic came, my eldest daughter was home from university, so we had three children at home to feed,” says Alecia. “It was hard to provide for the family. During that time, I had postpartum psychosis, so having to think about extra things, like finding food, was really difficult.

“Box of Hope was a big help — both emotionally and practically. Not having to worry about finding food took that bit of stress away from me, and the support also helped me to recover from my mental health condition.”

“The food was great,” says Deshaun, aged 12. “One box had Jamaican water crackers, which I enjoyed. I could see that it helped my mum out; it had been tough seeing her struggle.”

“The Caribbean food in the parcels made it personal, because it was stuff we would normally eat,” Alecia says. “I was happy about that; it made me smile. It was inclusive.”

Heather, The Church of Pentecost’s TLG Box of Hope coordinator, said: “Box of Hope made a huge impact within our neighbourhood, with local businesses getting involved and families getting support!” With the demand continuing to grow, the church used its allotment to grow food for the boxes, ensuring families received healthy produce to eat alongside the emotional support Box of Hope provided.

Alecia adds: “I know there are people at the local church, who will support my family when we need it. If it weren’t for TLG, we would have struggled much more.”

To find out more about TLG’s impact, and ways you can get involved, visit tlg.org.uk/keepthefaith

Martins Agbonlahor is a criminologist, journalist and author based in Manchester. His recent novel, Another Poor Cow – the Dangers of Tradition in Rural Nigeria, is available on Amazon and all online bookstores. www.keepthefaith.co.uk

45

Be the difference this Christmas This year has been one to remember. We’ve been told to isolate and avoid contact with others — an alien concept for many of us in the UK. Yet, for those living in countries like Liberia, being so far from roads, education and effective healthcare is a daily reality Saving time, saves lives

Facilitating rescue

Recently, our MAF Liberia team received a call for an urgent medevac. Five-monthold baby Sangai needed treatment for a condition that was eating her flesh. If she could get medical help, all would be well. But Sangai and her mother Blessing, couldn’t because healthcare in Liberia’s countryside is extremely limited.

A journey from their isolated village to Monrovia — Liberia’s capital — meant a ten-hour journey by motorbike. Even if they made it to the hospital, suffering Sangai would probably have died.

However, thanks to MAF pilots Roy Rissanen and Steven Biggs, they were flown immediately to the capital — saving nine hours. ‘On Friday afternoon at a remote village,’ Roy recalls, I picked up a baby who was infected with a flesh-eating parasite. She was extremely ill.’

Fortunately, following a safe landing, MAF drove mother and child straight to ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa), a hospital run by Christian missionaries. ‘She received regular treatment to remove the parasites,’ reports nurse Margot, ‘and she’s such a little fighting champion.’

Without MAF’s speedy light aircraft, it’s unlikely sweet little Sangai would have survived. However, thanks to MAF she is excited to be able to celebrate Christmas back home with her family.

Imagine losing a child this Christmas.

For Anna in Adjumani, northern Uganda, MAF flights mean something different.

MAF has facilitated the launch o f Tu t a p o n a ’ s C h i l d r e n ’ s Tr a u m a Rehabilitation Programme. Now this 13-year-old refugee, forced to flee from her home when civil war broke out, is gradually finding her life restored.

Today, MAF Uganda pilots like Matt Eagar enable staff and resources such as felt boards, peg people and clay to reach Adjumani, northern Uganda, to assist the Christian charity’s Heroes’ Journey programme.

Tutapona’s rehabilitation initiative enables children who’ve endured unimaginable experiences to explore therapeutic activities that will help heal the trauma they’ve experienced; equipping them with the skills they need to survive, thrive and grow.

MAF IN NUMBERS

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light aircraft across hostile landscapes to eliminate hours, even days

3,500,000 kg of cargo transported — that’s like 7.7 million Christmas jumpers

Every

5 minutes an MAF plane takes off or lands bringing medical care, emergency relief and hope to thousands

In Liberia there is

1 doctor for every 25,000 people, 70 times fewer than the UK

‘I really enjoy school,’ explains Anna, who escaped the fighting in Juba, South Sudan six years ago. ‘I really love learning how to write. I remember the fighting and having to drink sewage. I remember the armed gunmen who came to loot and kill.

‘When we first arrived, I was relieved.

But at night I couldn’t sleep. Even during the day, I would just sit here, feeling miserable. But God is good. My mother was told about Heroes’ Journey, and when I found out I was coming here, I was very hopeful!’

‘It’s inspired me to study hard so I can accomplish my dreams and support my family. When I grow up, I want to help people. This programme is strengthening my brain. It makes me feel fresh again.’

‘I’ve also learned to be thankful, to have faith and hope. Now, I sleep better, am getting better, and have hope for the future that things will change’.

This school is only able to run thanks to MAF supplying the staff and resources.

For more than 75 years, MAF has been flying over jungles, mountains, rivers and deserts to help vulnerable people in hard-to-reach places.

Every six minutes, an MAF plane is taking off or landing somewhere in the world to bring medical care, emergency relief and Christian hope to thousands of communities.

Facilities like this change lives.

Imagine a child suffering this Christmas.

Be the difference this Christmas and help MAF change more children’s lives.

£10 could buy 12 precious miles of flying, saving lives like Sangai’s and rescuing children like Anna. Plus, thanks to a generous charitable trust, the one-off donation you make today will be DOUBLED until our £50,000 target is reached, enabling MAF to impact even more lives!

MAIN Anna, happy after attending the Heroes’ Journey programme Candice Lassey / Tutapona LEFT BAUBLE Baby Sangai and her mother Blessing in ELWA Hospital RIGHT BAUBLE Mother and baby met at the airport by Nurse Margot BELOW Anna with Tutapona Facilitator Patricia Candice Lassey / Tutapona

I WANT TO BE THE DIFFERENCE THIS CHRISTMAS £10 will buy 12 precious miles of flying and save lives. Help us save more lives and give a gift today.

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Share the good news of Jesus' birth with children this Christmas tbc

The Impossible Promise is for ages 6–11, written by the brilliant Bob Hartman. It’s the perfect gift for children in your family, church, school and community.

Children can colour in their favourite characters and fill out speech bubbles to imagine what they’re saying. £2 per copy, bulk discounts available.

To order The Impossible Promise and check out the whole host of Christmas resources go to biblesociety.org.uk/christmas2021 Bible Society, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon SN5 7DG Registered charity 232759