War Cry 30 November: Selected articles

30 November 2019 • WAR CRY • FILM 3

Growing their own way ‘O

UR dog made us do it’ is a pretty unconventional excuse for buying a farm.

But that was true of John and Molly Chester, who were evicted from their Los Angeles apartment because of their rescue dog Todd’s excessive barking.

The couple (pictured, bottom left) gave up their jobs in filmmaking and catering respectively to pursue their dream of running an eco-friendly farm. John recorded their experiences over eight years for the documentary Biggest Little Farm, which was released in cinemas yesterday (Friday 29 November).

Spanning 214 acres, the organic farm has 10,000 orchard trees, more than 200 different crops, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, guinea hens and livestock guardian dogs.

‘It’s a bit of a circus,’ John tells the War Cry. He explains the logic behind it: ‘We regenerated the biodiversity of the farm and tried to utilise plants, animals and predators of a natural ecosystem to solve problems that we face agriculturally that are normally dealt with using chemicals.’

But John reveals that their dream felt like a nightmare at times, with coyotes killing their chickens and a plague of pests descending on their crops.

‘The idea of the farm was intoxicating,

Eco-friendly farmers keep the faith while sowing seeds of sustainability, writes Emily Bright but the reality was that everything we did turned into the next problem; a host of pests that weren’t there before.

‘It was about waking up and putting one foot in front of the other, not letting ourselves feel ashamed of failure, and driving ourselves deeper into understanding

It was about waking up and putting one foot in front of the other the complex interworkings of nature.’

But John has not only learnt more about nature during his eight years of farming. His experiences of the natural world have also led him to learn more about himself and the world of faith.

‘I think if you’re looking for a deeper and even more tangible connection to the spiritual beliefs you have, understanding nature will help you find symbolism and meaning in the existence of your path.’

John is not alone in finding a connection to the spiritual through nature and even the

imagery of farming. One such individual in the Bible was David, who started life as a shepherd but ended up as a king.

However, his rise to the top was not without its challenges, and when he was feeling at his lowest, he turned to his relationship with God to sustain him.

Drawing on imagery from his own experience of farming and nature, he said: ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul’ (Psalm 23:1–3 New International Version).

David knew that no matter how challenging life got, God would be there for him. By relying on God, he had the strength to face each day.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problems facing us in our own lives, whether it is financial difficulties, struggling in relationships or grieving for a loved one.

But God offers us all the chance to seek refuge and rest through a relationship with him.

If we plant our lives in him, we will reap the rich rewards of his love, peace and goodness.

8 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 30 November 2019

S

ED VICKERS tells Emily Bright why he tried a retail business on for size

TUDENT loans are normally spent on tuition fees, rent or nightlife. But Ed Vickers decided to use his to buy socks for people experiencing homelessness, and set up a social enterprise called Jollie’s.

It all began in 2012, while Ed was a student at Exeter University. Every day, he walked through the town centre to his lectures, encountering people asking for money or selling The Big Issue. Unsure of how best to help them, he volunteered, through the church he attended, to help at a shelter for people experiencing people sleeping rough. homelessness.

‘There were people with degrees, doctors, ‘I wasn’t doing anything glamorous, just normal people who’d just had a circumstance serving bad cups of tea, but I did that for about in their lives that left them without a safety net. a year,’ Ed says. ‘That challenged all the The complexities around homelessness are stereotypes that I’d grown up believing about vast – there’s mental health, family breakdown,

addiction and all kinds of things.’

While he was volunteering at the shelter, Ed quickly realised that socks were the ‘most needed but under-donated’ item of clothing. In some cases, a box of socks given to a shelter would go within half an hour.

Ed founded social enterprise Jollie’s in 2012

30 November 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 9 Jollie’s

Ed Vickers ‘I couldn’t believe that in today’s society, socks were still this basic issue that people had. But foot health is essential when you’re walking the streets day and night. So I thought: “I don’t understand a lot of the complexities of homelessness, but I can get my head around the sock issue.”

‘There wasn’t really a brand that, in my opinion, spoke into the area of homelessness in a positive, joyful, hopeful way, and I wanted to see if there could be.’

From there, Ed conceived the idea of Jollie’s, and the University of Exeter funded an ecommerce site which allowed him to launch a ‘wear a pair, share a pair’ initiative.

‘For every pair sold, Jollie’s donated a pair of socks to a local shelter,’ explains Ed. ‘When I took that first box of donations down to the shelter where I volunteered, it was a powerful signal to people experiencing homelessness that the community cared about them.’

Jollie’s now creates its own vibrantly coloured and ethically produced socks and

distributes pairs to more than 50 homelessness shelters. At the end of each month, the team calculate total sales and then send off the equivalent number of socks to carefully selected sites.

‘We’ve mapped shelters across the UK, making sure that we donate evenly to those that we deem appropriate. We especially want to support shelters that are championing the long-term rehabilitation of people.

When you look at bad situations, you have to choose hope ‘We know socks are a very small part of the journey of someone coming off the street, but we don’t want charities spending precious resources on buying socks.’

The popularity of Jollie’s has soared. The business stocks its socks in 60 shops and has an online presence selling directly to consumers.

Ed says that one of Jollie’s strengths is that it provides a refreshing alternative to guilt-induced giving, favouring both the customer and beneficiary.

‘People enjoy having a bit of fun with their socks while helping those experiencing homelessness. This two-way relationship means that you get something and you can give something. For me, that feels like a sustainable way to have an impact.’

Ed is keen to ensure that all parts of the business, from head to toe, are sustainable.

This includes its sourcing of materials. ‘We really wanted to pull our socks up in terms of the cotton we’re using. So we found this family-owned company in Portugal which makes everything out of organic cotton.’

He says that his stance echoes a shift towards sustainability among shoppers.

‘There is certainly a demand for greater accountability and transparency in the way that big brands are making things. Consumers are buying less, buying better or want to know about the supply chain and the environmental impact behind the products they’re buying.’

So which consumer in particular would Ed like to make socks for?

‘To see the Queen strut out in a pair of bright pink and blue socks for her speech one year would be quite something.

‘But I would also love my brand to be enjoyed and bought by people who are passionate about the way they spend their money and the values that they have.’

Ed’s own values are influenced by his Christian faith, which gives him the outlook required to help him tackle the prevalence of homelessness.

‘When you look at bad situations, you have to choose hope. There’s massive hope in the Christian faith, and I think that has inspired the way I put the brand together and how I go about my running of the business.

‘I’ve enjoyed learning about the love of God, and how that plays itself out in the decisions I make. I don’t have a shiny, perfect faith by any stretch of the imagination, but it has been an adventure.’

l For more information visit jolliesocks.com

10 FEATURE • WAR CRY • 30 November 2019

O Christmas Y

OU may not have put your Christmas tree up yet, but dozens of trees are already decorated and on display across the UK. This week marks the start of Christmas tree festivals. Ever growing in popularity, the festivals are put together by churches who invite charities to decorate a tree, which is then put on display.

Proceeds are donated to the charities taking part. Some festivals might only feature a few decorated trees in a small hall. Others are much grander and may include refreshments, live music or festive stalls.

The idea of Christmas tree festivals might be novel to some people, but certain churches have been holding them for decades. Fakenham Parish Church in Norfolk has held its own festival every year since the start of the millennium.

The Fakenham Christmas tree festival has grown significantly from featuring only around a dozen trees to more than fifty. Last year, some 15,000 visitors stopped in the church hall to look at its display and to donate towards the charities taking part.

This year, the church expects to host a similar number of visitors during the eight-day event, which opened on

Linda McTurk finds out how a popular festival held in churches is making a difference in the community

Thursday (28 November) and ends next Thursday (5 December).

Anne, the church festival’s administrator, has been in charge of the logistics behind the event for years. She is one of a team of six that co-ordinates everything from volunteer rotas through to the do’s and don’ts for the day. To even out her responsibilities and ensure that jobs are done well in advance, she provides application forms to charities from April onwards.

‘Applications have to be back to us by the end of June,’ Anne says. ‘We have a desk at the church every Thursday for an hour from April through to the festival.

We are always here for people who want to apply or have questions. I would say around 100 people get involved in volunteering.’

The sizeable effort that Anne and the rest of the volunteers put into the event clearly makes a difference. Last year, Fakenham Parish Church raised almost £18,000 in total for the charities that decorated trees. Part of the draw of the festival is the beauty of the space.

‘The same thing happens every year the first time I walk into the church once we’re open,’ Anne says. ‘I stop and think: “Wow.” The impact has not minimised in spite of the fact that this is the tenth year I’ve seen it. When I suddenly walk in and the Visitors stroll through Fakenham Parish Church church is full of during the festival

coloured tree lights – it is just stunning.’

And that feeling can be experienced by the range of people who attend. ‘We want everybody of all ages to come.

There are schools that bring groups of children who throw their bags of pennies into the buckets as well as people from a couple of the local care homes. It’s great fun.’

Although the building is very busy during the course of the festival, the Christian faith is not hidden away. A chapel corner in the building remains set apart for anyone who wants to light a candle or say a prayer.

Throughout the festival, people in the church continue to pray. Every hour on the half hour, a volunteer rings a bell and asks people to remain quiet as a prayer is read out for one of the charities taking part.

Elaine, a member of the church, helps to organise prayers for the event. She contacts all the charities and asks them to write a prayer that they would like read at the event. Then she collates

Last year the church raised almost £18,000 for charities them into a booklet which is made available to visitors.

‘We want to include everyone in some way in God’s love,’ she says. ‘What we’re doing is talking to God about the charities and lifting their work to him, not worrying about what the outcome might be, just giving it to God.’ Visitors can also pray by decorating a tree. At the front of the church near the crib on the high altar are six plain trees with a large pile of cardboard yellow stars next to them, allowing people to write a prayer and clip it on to a tree branch. Anne says that by the end of the

30 November 2019 • WAR CRY • FEATURE 11

tree A nativity scene sits at the centre of the festival festival the trees are ‘covered in yellow stars’.

Anne hopes that, as well as being a place of prayer during festive times, the church can be a source of support throughout the year, whether people decide to attend Sunday services or not.

‘The festival ties into the Christian ethos of Fakenham Parish Church,’ she says.

‘We are a hub at the heart of the community and we want the community to feel that this is their building and that there are people here for them. That’s the whole ethos of the church, and the Christmas tree festival is a big part of that.’

The church can be a source of support throughout the year

12 INNER LIFE • WAR CRY • 30 November 2019

Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Charmaign, who is concerned about her son; and for Ricardo, who is anxious.

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

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 Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

John

Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book in the Scriptures

HE last to be written, the Gospel T of John focuses on who Jesus is.

Chapter 1 opens with the philosophical

of the world’ (8:12), the ‘gate for the sheep’ (10:7), the ‘good shepherd’ (10:11), the ‘way and the truth and the life’ (14:6) and the ‘true vine’ (15:1).

As well as performing signs, Jesus introduces the concept of being ‘born again’ (3:1–17).

The gospel details the events that led to Jesus’ death, John commenting that ‘even after Jesus had performed so many

concept of Jesus as the ‘Word’. John, who was a disciple of Jesus, states that Jesus is eternal and divine, to the extent that ‘without him nothing was made that has been made’ (1:3).

Jesus, though, is more than a spiritual entity: he is also human. John writes: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (1:14).

The rest of the Gospel expands on the idea that the flesh-and-blood Jesus is the divine Son of God. It does so by emphasising the signs, statements and sacrifice of Jesus.

When John writes about Jesus performing signs’ many people ‘still would not believe a miracle, he uses the Greek word ‘semeion’ in him’ (12:37). Jesus is subsequently – ‘a sign’. John records eight ‘signs’. Six of betrayed, arrested, tried, rejected, flogged them appear only in this gospel. Jesus’ chang- and crucified. ing water into wine (2:1–11), the healings of John had earlier recorded the spiritual sigan official’s son (4:46–54), a lame man (5:1–9) nificance of Jesus’ crucifixion – and its link and a blind man (9:1–7), the raising of to the Passover – when he reported John the Lazarus from the dead (11:38–44) and, after Baptist seeing Jesus and saying: ‘Look, the Jesus’ own resurrection, a large catch of fish Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the (21:1–6). Jesus often links the performance world’ (1:29). of a sign with the challenge to believe in him (eg 9:35).

Some signs are linked with profound personal statements, where that you may Jesus reveals his divine identity. igns] are written [s se he ‘T the Before Jesus raised Lazarus, he s is the Messiah, believe that Jesu said: ‘I am the resurrection and u at by believing yo the life’ (11:25).

Son of God, and th me’ (John 20:31 Jesus also states that he is the have life in his na ay m ‘bread of life’ (6:35), the ‘light ional Version)

Jesus is more than a spiritual entity: he is also human

Key verse

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