SEPTEMBER 2019
Enjoying God in Kenya
NEW TERM, NEW HOPE
Reaching out through school uniforms
ELECTION TIME
How do you choose new elders?
TIME TO INITIATE CHANGE
The dark side of university sport
CONTENTS | SEPTEMBER 2019
FEATURES 12 Speaking up
Highlighting imminent changes to NI law
14 New term, new hope
Reaching out through school uniforms
16 What do you want?
Moderator reflects on a recent mission trip to Kenya
18 Growing together in Spain New Youth and Children’s Project
20 Election time
How do you choose new elders?
31 Getting behind the smiles New video highlights the work of the Presbyterian Children’s Society
32 Time to initiate change The dark side of university sport
New term, new hope p14
34 95 years young
Celebrating 95 years of the BB Ganaway site
REGULARS 4 6 7 8 9 13 22 23 36 38 43
Letters News Arthur Clarke In this month… My Story Life lessons Talking points Mission Connect Reviews Life in PCI Betsy Cameron
Election time p20
CONTRIBUTORS
Cover photo: Amy Shepherd September 2019 No. 824 £1.50 (€1.80) Published by: The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Assembly Buildings, Belfast BT1 6DW. T: +44 (0)28 9032 2284 E: herald@presbyterianireland.org W: www.presbyterianireland.org
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Editor: Sarah Harding Subscriptions and Advertising: Elaine Huddleston; Phil Alcorn; Suzanne Hamilton Design and Layout: Edward Connolly Printing: Nicholson and Bass Ltd.
Cecil Graham is married to June and is an elder in Windsor Presbyterian Church and former clerk of South Belfast Presbytery. He has a long association with the Boys’ Brigade movement.
Ruth Bromley is PCI’s Children’s Development Officer. She is married to Brendan, mum to Bess and is a member of First Holywood Presbyterian.
Tom Finnegan is the Training Development Officer for PCI. In this role, Tom develops and delivers training and resources for congregational life and witness.
Mairisine Stanfield is minister of First Presbyterian Church, Bangor. She is married to Rev David Stanfield and they have two sons.
The views expressed in the features, news reports, letters and book reviews of this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor. Editorial comment and signed articles do not necessarily contain the official views of the Church, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply endorsement of the goods or services. The Editor reserves the right to decline any advertisement or letter without assigning any reason. Letters may be edited for publication. No correspondence can be entered into regarding non-publication of advertisements or letters.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is a Registered Charity in Northern Ireland (NIC104483); Registered Charity in Republic of Ireland (20015695).
Herald September 2019
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What do you want? The Moderator, Dr William Henry, shares his experience of enjoying God on a recent mission trip to Kenya.
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hat do you want? That was the very stark question posed in a book I read very recently. The writer was keen to point out that it is, in reality, the most fundamental question associated with Christian discipleship. Our wants and longings get to the very core of what we think is important and what we truly value. Jesus’ command to ‘come and follow me’ is really just an invitation to synchronise our lifestyles and choices along with his. It’s putting him first. It’s about wanting what Jesus wants. What do I want to do when I receive the invitation to travel with a group of young talented medical students who seek to work alongside a church in Kenya? That was the question in my mind the summer before I took up my moderatorial responsibilities. This team was facilitated by Rev Paul Bailie, CEO of Mission Africa. Here was a bunch of young committed
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Christians who desired to make the most of their summer break from studies and were willing to go overseas to work in a school for the poorest of kids and engage in a variety of other outreach activities. The team was a group of friends, my
Our wants and longings get to the very core of what we think is important and what we truly value.
own daughter included, who approached Mission Africa with the idea for a short-term mission trip. Based in Kikuyu on the mission station of PCEA, these young adults had the incalculable joy of sharing the love of Jesus with kids in a school run by Thogoto parish for orphans and vulnerable children: teaching, evangelising, singing, dancing and having fun. These were long days in the school, making the most of the time and opportunity, getting alongside the children and making a difference for God. It was a joy to encourage the inspirational teaching staff – all of whom were volunteers giving sacrificially to serve God. Time was also available to minister within a care home for the elderly, another expanding role as part of the work of the local church, and to speak to 400 slum children of God’s saving power. As medical students they had time to visit one of the local hospitals and
consider options for themselves in years to come, perhaps as part of their medical elective. And what cultural experience for students would not be complete without interaction with local university students, comparing notes and approaches, sharing their experience of knowing and following Jesus; and of course, joyous, active participation in worship on Sundays in local churches? The people we met were inspiring, despite hardship they were dancing, singing and praying because of the joy they had found in Jesus. What an inspiration. Truly they enjoyed God. Today, I could ask the question of any of the student team, “What do you want?” and I know the answer is to be part of what God is doing in our world. From the days I spent with them, I recognise their youthful passion and can see how their desires align with the kingdom of God. Here are young adults who hunger and thirst after God and crave to be part of a world where he is all in all. They want to make a difference and can now see that they have. Why did I go along with them? Well, I
Jesus isn’t simply content to give us new ideas, but he’s seeking that we follow him without reserve.
had ministry openings in a different way, meeting local church leaders and assisting Mission Africa develop and maintain older links and investigate possible new opportunities. I also had the occasion to speak to the student team, lead them in their evening devotions and be around to encourage over that time. If Jesus were to stop me and directly
ask, “What do I want?” What would I say? For Jesus isn’t simply content to give us new ideas, but he’s seeking that we follow him without reserve. I want to be part of what Jesus is involved in here. I want to willingly encourage those who have sensed the call of Jesus upon their own lives and who are daily chasing after him. Oftentimes it will take us out of our own routine and the ordered neatness of our own plans to be involved in something God lays in front of us. What a privilege as Christians who are a little bit older to give time and energy so that those who are younger on the path of discipleship can catch a glimpse of what God is doing. What a personal joy to help others find enjoyment in God. Can I encourage our church leaders and ministers to get alongside those younger people in our churches and be part of the work of igniting their passion for God and mission. That might actually mean going with them on a team and sharing in their learning and exploring, or facilitating their plans. It all boils down to what you want! Herald September 2019
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Time to
initiate change
Mairisine Stanfield shines a light on the dark world of sports initiations taking place in our universities and colleges.
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he young man was excited about leaving home for the first time. He couldn’t wait to go to the University of Aberdeen to begin the next stage of his life – to train to be a primary school teacher. He went as a young man who loved Jesus (he still does, more than ever) and a communicant member of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. What he went through in his first month in Aberdeen could not only have affected all that – it could have killed him. Why? Because Jonathan was like many hundreds of young people each year at our British university sports clubs, who are forced to undergo some horrific and potentially devastating ‘initiations’ when they join up. According to the journalist Martin Samuel, writing in the magazine GQ: “University initiations are degrading, outdated and sometimes even deadly.” Yet these rituals are still very common in British universities, despite the National
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Union of Students’ belief that there’s been a shift in the culture surrounding initiations and several universities trying to ban them. Speaking to a graduate of a popular Scottish university, I was told that their university had a very strict policy on initiations – they are banned completely. In fact, if your team is found to conduct one of these initiations, the team is banned from competitions for the year. However, the student also said that they knew in some clubs, initiations still went on in secret. Indeed, the Rugby Football Union is so concerned with the decrease in the number of students participating
…what he was put through by his so-called team mates…should never happen to any young person.
in the game after secondary school, as a result of this culture, that it has set up an ‘educational working group’ to seek to address the issue. They estimate that 10,000 school leavers were lost to rugby in the recent past, many blaming the sport’s “penchant for humiliating initiations and stupid, laddish excess.” But that’s a naive view of what is happening. What is actually taking place is potentially life threatening. Jonathan was a student at Methodist College, Belfast and while there played rugby for the 1st XV. When he went to university he played in a freshers’ tournament, was awarded ‘Man of the Tournament’ and subsequently invited to play for the University 1st XV. He understood that there were practices that a first-time player was supposed to undertake, including a pub crawl around the city. He was not a drinker, which he explained to the club captain, so he didn’t go on the specific night. He was told that
was ok, he just wouldn’t start on the 1st XV as a result. He didn’t mind. However, a few weeks later at the team’s first away match, Jonathan was made to pay for not undergoing the normal initiation. He, along with another fresher on the team, had two two-litres of cider taped to their arms, were physically forced to drink it all along with another litre of the cider each and a whole bottle of port. A large chunk of blue cheese was also forced down their throats. On the trip back home to Aberdeen, the cars stopped at the side of the motorway and both boys were brought out, had their trousers and underwear removed and left exposed to both the elements and the other travellers. By this stage in the day, both boys were so drunk they could not remember where they were or understand what was being done to them. Jonathan ended up being carted into his flat, and left alone, along with a note asking him to let the person who left him there know he was OK the next day. He proceeded to be violently sick most of the night and perhaps might have choked on his own vomit had it not been for the kindness and attentiveness of his landlady. The next day he sent me a photo – his skin was pale and his eyes were completely blood shot, the vessels having burst because of the violent nature of his vomiting. Jonathan is not simply a member of my congregation – he is my son. And what he was put through by his so-called team mates – this degrading, dangerous, and evil practice – should never Jonathan Stanfield happen to any young person. As I have researched these so-called initiations in sports clubs across the UK, I have found some awful stories and testimonies, some of which are far worse than Jonathan’s story... Students having to drink until they vomit, shaving their heads, apple bobbing with dead rats and sliding around in excrement, are just some of the things they have to do. Members of a hockey club from an English university were forced to have drinks that had been mixed with dog food and live goldfish. And according to The Times last year, initiations at another English university hockey team involved freshers having cooking oil poured into their eyes.
Just in case we think it’s only the boys who are involved in such things, let me tell you about one young woman, a great athlete who enrolled at another English university. She made the netball team, like Jonathan, one of the few freshers who did. Before the first training session began, there was a team bonding evening. The theme was ‘ladies and the tramps’.
…these barbaric practices highlight the issue of identity. Young people…need to be taught about the truths of who they are, whose they are… The established team members got to be the ‘ladies’, wearing gowns, tiaras and long gloves. The new girls were the ‘tramps’. They were ordered not to wear make-up and were dressed in bin liners. Dirt was smeared on their faces and dog food in their hair as they were taken to a nightclub. Like those thousands of rugby players, this young woman doesn’t play anymore. In 2016, Jeremy Farmer’s life changed forever when his son, a student, died of a heart attack as a result of a university initiation ceremony. Ed was a 20-yearold student and had had five times the legal drink drive amount of alcohol in his blood. At one bar, the group that Ed was part of ordered around 100 triple vodkas. Jeremy now wants any students found participating or involved in such practices to be immediately expelled from university. He and his family were frustrated at the lack of effort made by the university and the Students’ Union to get to the heart of this culture. Also in 2016, Gavin Britton, a university student, died from alcohol poisoning after an initiation at a golf club. In a BBC report last November, Universities UK said many institutions are doing proactive work to tackle the behaviour and a working group of students, parents, experts and university leaders has been established to develop
policies to tackle the problems linked to these practices. The National Union of Students believes there has been a shift in the culture surrounding all this, though they admit that it’s still going on. I do not write this to shock people, but to warn and prepare young sportspeople if they are about to go off to university for the first time – and their families. We as parents were left profoundly upset by all that our son has experienced. Jonathan ultimately decided that he couldn’t play rugby with those who had abused and humiliated him. So, he went on to play for Grammarians, the top rugby club in Aberdeen. Now teaching in Manchester, he still plays competitive rugby today. For me, these barbaric practices highlight the issue of identity. Young people, going away from home for the first time, seeking to ‘fit in’, need to be taught about the truths of who they are, whose they are and the offer of Christ’s presence with them, wherever they go. We must encourage our young people to understand that they are loved by the Lord Jesus and that they can trust him for their lives and future. To parents, grandparents, friends of young people about to head off to university or college for the first time, please talk to them about all this. Help them to have the tools that they need to face these hurdles with grace, confidence and strength. For anyone reading this and feeling appalled, let us not just wring our hands and feel despair – let’s do something about it. Why don’t you do what I have done and write to the following people: The Right Hon Boris Johnston MP, Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA; Universities UK, Woburn House, 20 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HQ. For universities in the South of Ireland, write to: Leo Varadkar TD, An Taoiseach, Department of the Taoiseach, Merrion St, Dublin 2; and Irish Universities Association, 48 Merrion Square, Dublin, D02 PK02, Ireland. Ask them to do whatever it takes to end these initiations and to encourage the leadership of our universities to deal severely with those sports teams and individuals who engage in them so that no other young person will die as a consequence. Mairisine Stanfield is the minister of First Presbyterian Church, Bangor.
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