War Cry 13 March 2021

Priest reveals the dangers for Christians in Iraq

WAR CRY 13 March 2021 20p/25c

Mum and dad will never no Film shows comic consequences when parents always say yes

Widow’s story of heartbreak and adoption joy

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity providing services in the community, particularly to those who are vulnerable and marginalised. Motivated by our Christian faith, we offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK to all who need them, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. To find your nearest centre visit salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church

What is the War Cry? The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

WAR CRY Issue No 7516

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk The Salvation Army UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Tel: 0845 634 0101 Helpline: 020 7367 4888 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies Published weekly by The Salvation Army ©The Salvation Army United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

Printed by Walstead Roche Ltd, St Austell, on sustainably sourced paper

Your local Salvation Army centre

INFO 2 • WAR CRY • 13 March 2021

EDITOR From the editor’s desk TOMORROW (Sunday 14 March), many mothers will be receiving the traditional burnt-toast-and-cold-coffee breakfast in bed from eager young children who want to show their mum how special she is.

However, with lockdown restrictions still in place, Mother’s Day this year will be very different for some mums. There will be no big family get-togethers with bouquets, chocolates and cards. Sadly, though, for other mums and their children, a Mother’s Day spent apart won’t be any different from previous years.

Mother’s Day is not easy for everyone. It can bring back memories of family break-ups or bereavement and reinforce emotions of loneliness. It can be a day that reminds us how tough life can be.

Leslie Gray Streeter has certainly experienced tough times. In an interview in this week’s War Cry, she describes how her husband Scott died one evening after suffering a heart attack. The couple were in the process of adopting a son – something Leslie continued to do despite her heartache. Now she shares her life with her son, Brooks. Hers is a story of a woman who has overcome challenges.

Father Daniel Alkhory has faced very different tough times in his life. He was only 16 years old when he and his family had to flee their home in Baghdad or risk being killed by al-Qaeda. Since then, he explains this week, he has helped hundreds of people in Iraq who have also lost their homes because of the extremists of the selfstyled Islamic State.

While the struggles Daniel and Leslie have faced are different, they have shared a common way of dealing with them – by turning to their faith.

‘My Christian faith meant I felt I was never alone, and that was comforting,’ Leslie tells us.

That comfort is available to anyone who asks. Whatever the problem may be, however desperate the situation, God is able to help – there are no restrictions on what he can do.

CONTENTS

What is The Salvation Army?

FEATURES 3

Positive parenting

Film features the family who love to say ‘yes’

5

Adoption through the heartache

A mum’s determination despite her loss

8

Attacked for their faith

The plight of Christians in Iraq

REGULARS 4

War Cry World

12

Team Talk

13

Now, There’s a Thought!

14 Puzzles 15

5

War Cry Kitchen

8

Front-page picture: MATT KENNEDY/NETFLIX ©2021

15

H

OORAY! It’s Yes Day! Which means that for the next 24 hours, parents Allison and Carlos have to do whatever their kids ask of them.

In the comedy film Yes Day, released on Netflix yesterday (Friday 12 March), Allison (Jennifer Garner) and Carlos (Édgar Ramírez) realise that they have been saying no to their kids a lot lately, and so agree to a day of saying yes instead. Their delighted offspring – Katie, Nando and Ellie – can’t wait to start making the rules. And, though Allison and Carlos have no idea what lies in store, they’re positive that a day of saying yes can only bring the family closer together.

As the morning of Yes Day dawns, Ellie asks to do her mum’s make-up – with watercolour paints.

Allison smiles (through gritted teeth) and agrees.

Later, after ice cream for breakfast, the family head to a drive-through car wash, where the kids tell their parents to leave the windows open.

Not wanting to be fun-killers, they proceed to get drenched.

While Allison is at first apprehensive about following her kids’ rules, the actress who plays her is a big fan of the idea of Yes Day. Jennifer Garner, a Christian, reveals that she sets aside

NETFLIX

Kids ask parents to stop saying no in Netflix comedy, writes Claire Brine

JOHN P JOHNSON/NETFLIX ©2021

Oh yes!

FILM

Katie (Jenna Ortega) gets soaked in the car wash when she and her family (above) have a Yes Day

time regularly to let her children choose a day’s activities.

‘It feels great when you give in to just saying yes,’ she says. ‘And it isn’t about doing something huge all the time. For my family, it is about my kids hearing me say from the beginning of the day all the way through: “Yes, what do you want to do? Top priority.”’

Saying yes – and hearing it said to us – can be a positive thing. But the idea of saying yes can also be difficult.

We don’t know what the outcome might be in a particular situation. We don’t know if the person we say ‘yes’ to can be trusted.

Some people feel such uncertainty when it comes to saying yes to God. Perhaps they want to know more about him, but are scared of saying so because they feel that life as a Christian might be too demanding or too uncomfortable. Or maybe they doubt that God – when faced with all their past baggage – would say yes to

People are scared of saying yes

welcoming them into his family anyway.

We don’t need to worry so much.

Way before we even consider saying yes to God, God has already said yes to us. When we ask, ‘Can God really forgive everything I’ve done?’ he answers yes. When we wonder, ‘Can he truly love someone like me?’ he answers yes. If we question whether he can help us change to become better and kinder people, the answer is yes.

The Bible tells us: ‘God … can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3:20 The Voice).

When we give our heart to God, we are saying yes to receiving his unconditional love, his unlimited help in times of trouble, his all-encompassing forgiveness for our wrongdoing and his promise of eternal life in Heaven.

With his strength to support us, there’s no telling where we might go, what we might do or who we might become.

Surely it’s worth finding out – yes?

13 March 2021 • WAR CRY • 3

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WAR CRY

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JOHN BOYEGA won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a television role for playing a real-life police officer who felt led by God to work for racial justice.

In Red, White and Blue, a drama in the BBC’s Small Axe series, the actor (pictured) played Leroy Logan, a Christian who joined the Metropolitan Police Service and helped form the Black Police Association. Leroy went on to work with Voyage, a charity that aims to empower marginalised black young people.

During his acceptance speech, the actor paid tribute to Steve McQueen, who directed the series, and to Leroy Logan for his work and ‘for what you have done for young people in the UK’.

In an interview with the War Cry last year, Leroy said that while serving in the Met, he knew he ‘had to be God’s servant’ by challenging the ‘insidious racism’ that existed within the service.

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Do you have a story to share? a warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk @TheWarCryUK TheWarCryUK

B salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

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A CHRISTIAN song which brought hope to millions of people during the pandemic has been nominated for a Grammy.

‘The Blessing’ has received a nomination for best contemporary Christian music performance/song at the awards, which take place tomorrow (Sunday 14 March).

Written and performed by Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes and Elevation Worship, the original single received two million hits within the first week of its release last year and inspired a Youtube cover collaboration with churches across the UK, including The Salvation Army.

The track has now been played more than 38 million times on Spotify.

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SUNDERLAND football fans who would have wanted to attend the club’s EFL Trophy final this weekend are buying ‘virtual tickets’, with the money going towards charities including The Salvation Army.

The Black Cats, led in attack by Charlie Wyke (pictured), are scheduled to play Tranmere Rovers at Wembley tomorrow (Sunday 14 March), but as coronavirus restrictions do not allow crowds at football matches, supporter groups and the club created commemorative etickets and printed tickets and sold them for £5 or £10.

The money raised will benefit the club’s own Foundation of Light charity, Sunderland Foodbank, Washington Mind and The Salvation Army’s Southwick Community Project, which supports vulnerable people in the northwest of the city.

Southwick Community Project manager Graham Wharton says The Salvation Army has been providing emergency food parcels and socially distanced visits at a time when people’s ‘struggles have been exacerbated by Covid-19’ and that he is grateful for the backing of the club in helping it ‘bring hope to our community’.

ALAMY

THE Church has been praised by an MP for its ‘strength, resilience and compassion’ in its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking last month at the launch of the Give Hope Live campaign, a campaign designed to equip churches in the Covid-19 recovery effort, Danny Kruger MP said that Christians had already played an essential role during the pandemic.

The MP, who authored the government’s Levelling Up Our Communities report, cited an example from his own constituency of Devizes in Wiltshire. He noted that one church signed up 300 volunteers to help with ‘shopping, fetching prescriptions, checking up on the shielding and the isolating’.

Kruger added that ‘wherever there is social action on a big scale, and wherever there are people going above and beyond, you often find it’s the Church that’s doing it’.

He confirmed: ‘The Church can be a very professional and mainstream player in the provision of social support. But actually, in many places, it can and does play a very significant role in supporting what government is up to.

‘I believe we can see a much greater role for the Church in the recovery, just as we saw a big role for it in the crisis itself.’

He made his comments as part of a three-day launch event for Give Hope Live, a Lent campaign run by Christian project YourNeighbour.

Among those speaking at the launch event was Commissioner Anthony Cotterill, the Salvation Army leader in the UK.

ALAMY

Actor wins Golden Globe for arresting drama

INTERVIEW

‘LOSING MY HUSBAND was painful but I had to keep moving’ To mark Mother’s Day tomorrow (Sunday 14 March), LESLIE GRAY STREETER tells Emily Bright about continuing the process to adopt her foster child after the sudden death of her husband

A

S they kissed each other goodnight on 29 July 2015, Leslie Gray Streeter’s husband, Scott, sensed something was wrong. Within seconds he began shaking, then he stopped moving. He had died of a heart attack. Leslie was a widow at just 44 years of age.

The Maryland-based journalist has written about her bereavement in a book called Black Widow. ‘I knew I wanted to write about it the day that my husband died. It was like getting a weight off my chest,’ Leslie tells me.

As a Christian, she struggled with the faith-based resources that were available.

‘There were things that I wished I had found, particularly in religious grief books. I wanted someone to acknowledge the hard parts.

‘So many of the books I found were about why you should pray through your recovery, when actually I wanted to throw things at a wall. In some of the conversations I had with God, there was a lot of yelling. I didn’t understand.’

Leslie was determined that her book wouldn’t be about just grief, but also remembering her husband and best friend.

‘I felt like readers should know who Scott was, because I wanted them to miss him too and to understand what the world has lost. Scott was incredibly cool. He was generous with his money, time, hugs, enthusiasm and praise. He loved his family completely and had a wicked sense of humour.

‘I used to say if we were kidnapped and trapped in a box, we’d have fun in the box.

He was not just the love of my life, he was a great friend. He wasn’t perfect, because no human is. But he was a delight to know and to be around.’

Having met at high school, they reconnected at a 20-year reunion in 2008 and became friends. Scott eventually asked her out on a dinner date.

They were from different backgrounds: Scott was Jewish and white, Leslie was a black Baptist. But while Leslie says she encountered prejudice from people, what the couple had in common was far more important.

‘We did not share the same faith, but we both believed in God, and that faith, prayer and traditions were important. We loved each other so much and had such a good time. We decided

Turn to page 6

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I wanted to throw things at a wall

RISSA MILLER

Leslie adopted her foster child, Brooks, after her husband died 13 March 2021 • WAR CRY • 5

From page 5 that was more important than what people thought.’

They married in February 2010 and later decided to foster a baby boy called Brooks, until they could officially adopt him. ‘We thought we were going to adopt an older child, then we got a call about this two-day-old baby from our wider family.

It seemed like he was supposed to be with us.’

But a year and a half after welcoming Brooks into their family, Scott was rushed to hospital.

‘I had no preparation for it,’ says Leslie.

‘I had no choice but to act, doing practical things like calling 911, getting a ride to the hospital, signing a bunch of documents after he died, going home and calling people, and figuring out how to get Brooks to daycare. I couldn’t believe it was really happening. It was absolutely awful. Scott was there and then he wasn’t.’

Leslie remembers the painful period of mourning that followed as she wrestled with her faith in God. ‘Probably a month or so after Scott died, I was standing near the recliner that he used to sit in. And I just remember collapsing to the floor and screaming: “Why? I don’t get this. Why?” I don’t believe that God strikes us down for asking questions. My question was why, and the answer was because it happened.’

She explains the peace that followed after she surrendered to God. ‘In the film Forrest Gump, there’s a part where Vietnam War veteran Lieutenant Dan is angry at everything. He’s on a boat arguing with God in a huge storm, and he falls out of the boat. He’s screaming and then a peace comes. And Forrest Gump reflects: “Lieutenant Dan made his peace with God.” ‘I felt like that. I felt God saying that he exists, and, no, he can’t explain everything that

6 • WAR CRY • 13 March 2021

Leslie with Scott on their wedding day happened to me, except that it happened.

And I had to make sense of those two things. Like Lieutenant Dan, I made peace with God. To paraphrase the serenity prayer, I began to accept the things I could not change; find the courage to change the things I could; and have the wisdom to know the difference.

‘I decided that I could either curse God or choose to believe that he has my back

in a way that I have not figured out yet.’

Despite her change in circumstances, Leslie remained determined to adopt Brooks. But her bereavement presented further obstacles to the adoption process.

‘Literally everything changes the paperwork,’ she remarks. ‘When my mother moved in with me after Scott’s death, she had to be fingerprinted, because she would be living in the

INTERVIEW

same house as Brooks.

‘I had to be redesignated as a single person adopting. They don’t mention Scott as the foster father because he’s not there. It was painful and felt like an erasure but I had to keep moving.’

Although Scott doesn’t appear on the official adoption certification, Leslie wanted to ensure that Brooks knew who his foster father was. ‘As Brooks’s relationship with me grows and changes, I want Scott to be part of that.

Brooks loves seeing videos and pictures of him. Keeping Scott alive for Brooks helped keep him alive for me.

‘I love Brooks enough for myself, but now have a dual purpose of needing to love him even more on Scott’s behalf.

That has been a constant, and probably always will be.’

As she learns to live with her new reality, Leslie tells me how she sees

the Bible story of Job, a book on bereavement, in a different way. Job is racked with grief after his livelihood is lost and all his sons and daughters are suddenly killed. His faith is tested to the limit. Eventually, he is vindicated and, as the story goes, God restores Job’s fortunes. But Leslie says that it doesn’t mean we should forget what was lost.

‘I always hate that part in the story of Job in the Bible where it’s like all his kids died but then he got new kids. It’s not the same.

The Bible does not say that Job ever forgot, or that he didn’t grieve those people, because I’m sure that he did. God didn’t wipe Job’s memory, but rewarded Job’s faithfulness with a new start.’

Leslie jests that she’s still waiting for her reward in handsome male actors.

‘Chris Evans doesn’t have my phone number, God has not rewarded me with Idris Elba or Michael B. Jordan either.’

‘But,’ she adds more seriously, ‘God is not a vending machine. All that we can really do is just open the lines between us and God.’ Such communication lines with God proved crucial for Leslie as she grieved for her husband.

I had to be redesignated as a single person adopting

‘My Christian faith meant I felt that I was not alone, and that was comforting,’ she remarks. ‘I now feel closer to God in a different way than before.’ l

Black Widow is published by Little, Brown and Company

RISSA MILLER

13 March 2021 • WAR CRY • 7

Iraq – a hard Father DANIEL ALKHORY’s church in Erbil, Iraq, sheltered many people when they were driven from their homes by Isis. He talks to Philip Halcrow about how Christians are still under pressure

O

N his 16th birthday, Daniel’s family were sent a message by al-Qaeda that they had to leave their home in Baghdad or they would be killed. Less than a decade later, by then serving as a priest, Father Daniel Alkhory began welcoming into his church in Erbil hundreds of people who had fled from their homes as the self-styled Islamic State attacked towns and villages.

Today, Father Daniel – who is responsible for two congregations, one in Erbil and one in Kirkuk – is still helping people whose lives were upended by Isis. He fears that the pressure from hostile ideologies may lead to the Christian community disappearing from the land where it has existed for almost 2,000 years.

‘Many people think that Isis has been defeated,’ he says. ‘I’m always saying that Isis has been defeated militarily, but it still exists as a mentality.’

Father Daniel has known about the pressures faced by Iraqi Christians for years.

He was born in Tikrit in 1990, the year in which Iraq invaded Kuwait, prompting the US and its allies to launch a military campaign that drove Saddam Hussein’s forces to withdraw – one of many conflicts he has lived through. He remembers facing discrimination because of his faith even in his early years.

‘On the first day of school you make new friends, then on the next days you are eager to meet with them and play. But on the second day when I was going to school, I was shocked to find out that the friend I had made had been told by his parents that he could not play with me any more, because I was a Christian.’

In 1999, Daniel’s family moved to Baghdad.

Iraq was about to be engulfed in another war.

And he notes that ‘after the US invasion in 2003, the situation changed from bad to worse.

The Iraqi Christians became an easy target for the radical groups – especially the Islamist groups – who took advantage of the weak security situation and the absence of law. They brought pain to Christians. They forced them to leave and took control of their properties. They killed some and kidnapped others, asking for

8 • WAR CRY • 13 March 2021

INTERVIEW

d place for Christians

Father Daniel reading the Bible and praying with two friends

ransoms that they could not afford.’

Daniel’s family experienced the reality first-hand.

‘Al-Qaeda threatened us that we needed to leave within 24 hours, otherwise we were going to be killed because of our faith. That happened on my 16th birthday. My family had to flee Baghdad overnight. We looked for a safe place where we could live in peace and practise our faith.’

Daniel had not intended initially to become a priest.

With the aim of training to be a doctor, he took a course in a medical school in Ukraine.

He lived in a hostel with other Iraqis.

‘But it was hard for me, because my Muslim friends didn’t accept me as a Christian. They would question me, and my faith became a cause of conflict. One day I was really angry at their behaviour.

I went back to my room, and I said to God: “I came here to study medicine –

why have you put me in the middle of all this?” From that day, after I finished my homework, I would study theology online.

‘After I had been studying for six months, I had come up with rational answers for my friends, and that’s how I discovered my calling from God: I decided that instead of becoming a physician, I wanted to be a spiritual doctor.

So I came back to Iraq and became a priest.

‘In 2012 I was appointed as a parish priest for Erbil’s congregation.’

Although he now had a church, Daniel confesses that he would also have doubts about his decision to become a priest.

‘Had I made the right choice? For two years, I was asking God to give me a sign that I was doing the right thing. Then Isis attacked Christian cities and villages. In one day, more than 120,000 people fled their homes and headed for Erbil and other safe places. My church became a

My church became a shelter for 1,600 people

shelter for 1,600 people.

‘When they were entering the door of my church, God was saying to me that this was the answer to my doubts and questions. From that day, I became sure that God chose me to be a leader for his flock, and I have been doing my best to protect people and provide for their needs.’

The needs of the people who have gone to Daniel’s church have been great.

‘It was very hard for us,’ he says, ‘because at the beginning, we didn’t even have the basics. The people needed mattresses and food, yet we were not ready for this mass displacement. But with the help of supporters around the world we were able to get through those dark times. They helped us with relief supplies when the crisis began, they continued to help us as we started to rebuild our community and they are still helping us provide leadership training and our

Turn to page 10

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13 March 2021 • WAR CRY • 9

From page 9 trauma-healing projects.’

Daniel says he personally plays a role in work to help people through the traumas they have suffered from their being persecuted.

‘We have opened trauma centres in Erbil and Kirkuk, and another church opened a centre in the Nineveh Plain.

Through them, we are reaching out to people of different ages.

‘We have been through a lot of conflicts, wars and trauma, and these things have a long-term effect. When people come to our centres, they have lost their hope. They are trying to start a new life – and that is why most of them think of migrating and leaving Iraq for good.

‘Trauma is pervasive in this country. It

affects people in their behaviour, in their judgment, in their decision-making and in their role in their community and country – where Christians feel like second-class citizens. All of this is blurring their vision of the future, generating tension and anger and making them unable to decide whether to stay or leave.

‘So we try to make their vision clearer. We let them share their experiences, and we use stories from the Bible to make sense of their reality. We try to build up their faith and help them find some meaning in the middle of all this pain.’

Many of the traumatic experiences that people talk about are ‘linked to losing their

Daniel holds a Bible, recovered from a church burnt by Isis, which he presented to Theresa May

10 • WAR CRY • 13 March 2021

identity, their belongings and having to leave everything behind in a few minutes’, says Daniel.

‘Unfortunately when people left the Nineveh Plain, their neighbours, who had lived with them for 40 or 50 years, started to take their houses and steal their furniture. It was a big shock. They didn’t expect it, but it happened. So today in the trauma centres, we talk about how it’s necessary to forgive so that we can continue into the future and bring about reconciliation.’

Daniel believes that Christianity still has a role to play in the country, but he worries that it may not have the opportunity.

‘Of the 120,000 people who fled their

Trauma is pervasive in this country

INTERVIEW homes overnight when Isis attacked, we can say that 45 per cent have returned. It was hard to go back, because Isis had destroyed their churches, houses, schools and hospitals. But they have been able to start rebuilding because of donations from churches around the globe. Of the other 55 per cent, some have already gone to Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey or they applied for asylum in a western country, but others are still living in places such as Erbil. In the coming months they will have to decide whether to stay, return home or leave Iraq for good.’

Daniel has been voicing his concerns for Christians in his country for some time.

In December 2017 – the same month that prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared

that Isis had been defeated in Iraq – Father Daniel travelled to Westminster and, accompanied by a representative of Open Doors UK, an organisation that supports persecuted Christians around the world, he met the British prime minister.

‘We were able to have a meeting with Theresa May,’ remembers Daniel. ‘I presented her with a petition calling for hope for Christians in the Middle East and with a burnt Bible that had been rescued when all the churches on the Nineveh Plain had been set on fire. She was shocked when she saw the book, and she told me she would try her best to help my people and would raise the issue with the Iraqi prime minister. She later appointed an adviser for minorities in the Middle East, who looked into the persecution of Christians in our country.’

According to the Open Doors World Watch List Report 2021, Iraq is the 11th most difficult country in which to be a Christian. Daniel also remains concerned.

‘We are still facing a lot of pressure in some parts of Iraq, especially in the Nineveh Plain, where militias are trying to eject Christians. For the first time, I fear that Christianity may evaporate from Iraq.

‘Isis has been defeated, but it still exists as a poisonous ideology. It is what has been implanted in the minds of the Muslim communities that say they do not need to mix with Christians and that all their properties belong to them. Whenever someone rejects my existence and my identity as a Christian, I say that they have an Isis ideology.’

Daniel has lived through – and ministers to people who have gone through – traumatic times. But he says his faith still brings with it hope and a sense of responsibility towards his ‘flock’.

He adds: ‘What has kept me working is encouragement. People around the world have sent cards, with messages like “Jesus loves you”, “stay strong”, “we are with you”.’

He hopes that the same people will continue to pray for Iraq – ‘for violence to be replaced by the power of God’s love, for families who have lost loved ones, for Christians to stand firm in their faith and for wisdom for faith leaders’.

He says: ‘We want people to keep us in their prayers. I always say that we may forget the one who has persecuted us, but we will not forget the one who stood with us.’

13 March 2021 • WAR CRY • 11

EXPLORE

Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Jason, who is seeking healing in his life and is concerned for his friend, who has a back problem.

The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their ­circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, Lon­don SE1 6BN. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

j

Becoming a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit.

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

talk ‘ ’ Team talk TEAM TALK Question time

Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

IN an interview for this month’s Premier Christianity magazine, the BBC’s Breakfast and Football Focus presenter Dan Walker reflected on the suicide of footballer-turned-coach Gary Speed.

‘For many years, I struggled with finding the answers to what happened to Gary,’ he said. ‘He came on Football Focus one Saturday nine years ago. The next morning, I got a phone call from a mutual friend, Alan Shearer, and he said: “Gary’s gone.” That night, after we’d spent six or seven hours together, he’d taken his own life.’

After asking himself the questions: ‘Did I do enough? As a Christian, could I have done more?’, Dan felt challenged. He told Premier Christianity that Gary’s death changed the way he thought about his job – and how he related to his interviewees.

‘It might be the last time you speak to them,’ he said. ‘You can still ask really difficult, pertinent questions, but do it in a way which isn’t offensive, and isn’t horrible. I can still be a good, thorough, accurate, fair journalist and be concerned about people’s mental well-being.’

While rival presenter Piers Morgan – who fronts ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme – has tweeted that Dan is a ‘soft touch’ who asks ‘unthreatening’ questions, I have to admit that I like Dan’s style. I believe that even the most difficult conversations can be spoken in a manner of love and grace. I believe that you don’t have to like what someone is saying in order to treat them civilly or with kindness.

I believe those things because, like Dan, I also follow Jesus. And the Bible tells me that when Jesus came into the world, he brought ‘undeserved kindness and truth’ (John 1:17 Contemporary English Version). I can’t help but see the word ‘and’ standing out there. It’s not a case of one or the other.

Kindness and truth go together. Or at least, they should do.

As we continue to move through the coronavirus pandemic, and opposing opinions fly around as to how the UK should get back on its feet, I hope we remember to be kind to one another – because kindness makes a troubled world a better place to live. No question about it.

Kindness and truth go together

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Contact details of a Salvation Army minister Name Address Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

Or email your details and request to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk 12 • WAR CRY • 13 March 2021

EXPRESSIONS

NOW, THERE’S A THOUGHT! LIBRARY PICTURE POSED BY MODEL/ALAMY

Q

QUICK QUIZ 1

2

Which Dutch Renaissance artist painted The Harvesters?

The cover of which No 1 album from the 1960s includes the faces of Marilyn Monroe, David Livingstone, Karl Marx and Lewis Carroll?

A 3

4

5

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Who wrote the books Reasons to Stay Alive and The Midnight Library?

What is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London?

Who won the women’s singles title at last month’s Australian Open tennis championship?

What is the name of the fictional Caribbean island in the TV show Death in Paradise?

ANSWERS

by Jo Moir

Let’s be positive about the influence we have T

HE most influential people in our society seem to be ranked by someone somewhere every couple of months. Each new top 10 or 100 list features some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. Beyond the lists in newspapers and magazines, every day our social media feeds are filled with influencers who tell us what to wear and how to wear it, what to buy and why to buy it. Influence is a big business.

Celebrities and social media personalities are often quite removed from us, but today is a day to celebrate the influence of somebody who is significantly closer. Mother’s Day (Sunday 14 March) is an opportunity to show gratitude to mums for their positive impact on our lives. But for many, it is also a painful day because of negative experiences or personal loss.

Recognising the sadness the day can bring, many years ago my family began celebrating it differently. We take a moment to acknowledge all the people who have positively influenced our lives – male, female, older, younger, those with us and those parted from us.

We also ask ourselves what kind of influence we have on others. What kind of friend, parent or person are we? What is our impact?

The idea of influence is not new. Two thousand years ago, the Bible writer Paul wrote to Christians on this subject saying: ‘Use your heads as you live ... be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others’ (Colossians 4:5 and 6 The Message).

That’s influence – being able, through how we live our own lives, to inspire and encourage those around us to be the best versions of themselves.

We may never find ourselves on one of those top influencer lists.

We may never be the richest or the most powerful, and I’m certain no one needs me telling them what to wear. But we can all have influence on others.

However we mark Mother’s Day this year, why not take a moment to consider our influencers and give thanks for those who top our personal lists.

Our social media feeds are filled with influencers

13 March 2021 • WAR CRY • 13

1. Pieter Bruegel the Elder. 2. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. 3. Matt Haig.

4. The Mansion House. 5. Naomi Osaka. 6. Saint Marie.

CROSSWORD CROSSWORD

PUZZLES

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Grade (5) 4. Scarper (5) 8. Entire (3) 9. Melody (5) 10. Pulsate (5) 11. Nap (3) 12. Ledge (5) 13. Protrude (7) 16. Sweepstake (6) 19. Drink (6) 23. Not move (4, 3) 26. Shifted (5) 28. Golf drive-off point (3) 29. Hospital photographs (1-4) 30. At no time (5) 31. Take a seat (3)

14. Front sail (3) 15. Male swan (3) 17. Appropriate (3) DOWN 18. Two-winged insect (3) 2. Church 20. Keepsake (7) passage (5) 21. Church 3. Full bag (7) official (5) 4. Slipshod (6) 22. Confirm (6) 5. Proportion (5) 23. Three score (5) 6. Signalling 24. Accumulate (5) code (5) 7. First appearance (5) 25. Ski run (5) 27. Very colourful (5) 9. Skinflint (5) 32. Brushed (5) 33. Senior (5)

SUDOKU

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

HONEYCOMB HONEYCOMB

2 4

5 8 3 3 9 7 9 5 3 7 5 1 6 5 1 5 8 9 6 2 1 5 4 7 5 3 1 4

1. Used to open door 2. Polite request 3. Limit the supply of 4. Angle where two sides meet 5. Disregard 6. Fruit

ANSWERS

ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH

Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number

WORDSEARCH BANGKOK BEIJING

BELFAST

BUENOS AIRES CARDIFF

EDINBURGH

HONG KONG

HONEYCOMB 1. Handle. 2. Please. 3. Ration.

4. Corner. 5. Ignore. 6. Orange.

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Class. 4. Scram. 8. All. 9. Music. 10. Throb. 11. Kip. 12. Shelf.13. Project. 16. Raffle.

19. Imbibe. 23. Stay put. 26. Moved.

28. Tee. 29. X-rays. 30. Never.

31. Sit. 32. Swept. 33. Older.

DOWN: 2. Aisle. 3. Sackful. 4. Sloppy.

5. Ratio. 6. Morse. 7. Debut. 9. Miser.

14. Jib. 15. Cob. 17. Apt. 18. Fly. 20. Memento. 21. Elder. 22. Attest.

23. Sixty. 24. Amass. 25. Piste. 27. Vivid.

ISTANBUL

2 7 3 6 9 1 4 5 8

4 8 6 3 2 5 9 1 7

9 5 1 4 7 8 6 3 2

1 2 7 9 6 3 8 4 5

5 6 9 8 1 4 2 7 3

8 3 4 2 5 7 1 9 6

6 1 5 7 4 2 3 8 9

3 4 2 5 8 9 7 6 1

7 9 8 1 3 6 5 2 4

LAHORE

LONDON

MOSCOW MUMBAI

NEW YORK

SÃO PAULO SEOUL

SYDNEY

SUDOKU SOLUTION

TOKYO

7

1 5 8 6 2 1 4 5 3 5

1 4

14 • WAR CRY • 13 March 2021

LAGOS

2Look4 up,9down, 1 forwards, 5 8 6 3 7 backwards and diagonally on 7the 8 2 these 6 3cities 1 4 9 grid 5 to find 3 6 1 7 9 4 5 2 8 X R D B X D S R E A 6 3 4 9 I A G V V U X N 8 2 7 5 1 Q H E L S P R U K Q Z N P K W H V Z 9 2 7 6 1 5 4 8 J 3Z G A U Z E U H H D E E Z B R T R C S D P U Z Q L Z O A X X O 1 5 8 3 4 7 2I X Z D 9 6 Y T A Z E P M L S R Q Z Q Y A L L D 4 I 9C V H L R X W B H Q V 6 8 2 1 3 7 5 K O J O B K G U V Z P X 5 L 1Z O O L 3 4 N H E M C E 7 9 8 6 2B X B E L F A S T N R M O I N U I Z E 8 7 2 5 3 6 9 1 4 C L H D G K U D O U Y J K L M S D D

J K T O I G O L Q K I Q D P M T C G Z R S H O N G K O N G N C Y Q A Z P E G V H R D B T G X L F P J R N S U B Y L C S B Z U J N F P J P P B L B E S E Z W V S E R I A S O N E U B Q B Q Z N K T T H D G G B Q S O L Z A M B N Q D T Z R L A H O R E V E E H Q T Z A N Y A J X L Z Y S M P I H I Z Q S W O C S O M K P U W S I P N Y

9

D Veggie chilli Ingredients 2tsp vegetable oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1 carrot, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 2 peppers, deseeded and chopped 300g vegetarian mince, frozen 400g can red kidney beans in water 400g can chopped tomatoes 2tsp tomato purée

SERVES

100ml reduced-salt vegetable stock

4

200g long-grain brown rice Ground black pepper

Method Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan and add the onion.

Fry gently for 3 minutes, then add the carrot, garlic, red chilli and peppers and fry for a further 3 minutes, stirring often.

Mix in the mince, beans, tomatoes, tomato purée and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 25–30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice in gently boiling water.

Season the chilli dish with a pinch of black pepper and serve in warm bowls with the cooked rice.

Creamy banana porridge with raspberries Ingredients

Method

200g porridge oats

Heat the porridge oats in a pan with the milk and water, stirring constantly, until the porridge thickens. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes, continuing to stir often.

300ml skimmed milk 750ml water 2 large ripe bananas 200g raspberries (thawed if frozen) 4tbsp 0 per cent fat Greek yoghurt

Meanwhile, use a fork to mash the bananas in a bowl, then stir half into the porridge.

Add the raspberries to the remaining banana in the bowl and use a fork to squash them together.

Share the porridge between 6 warm bowls and top each portion with some yoghurt and some fruit mixture, to serve.

Recipes reprinted, with permission, from the Public Health England website nhs.uk/change4life

SERVES

6

13 March 2021 • WAR CRY • 15

Outlook often determines outcome Anon

WAR CRY