We have had tears of joy and tears sadness this week! Erin, our Australian lodger went home to Aus for good on Thursday. And we were all vey sad. Erin arrived in January. We had our Aussy friends Cameron and Leah staying with us, and they got an emergency call from home. Erin had arrived in this country and landed in a difficult spot, so Leah went over to rescue her! We got home from a day out to find a note in the kitchen, "There's and extra Aussy on your sofa! Hope that's OK!" Of course it was fine. To cut a long story short Erin ended up staying with us and has been a great blessing. She had become a part of the family really, and so it was with tears that we waved bye-bye at Heathrow on Thursday night. Joshua was especially upset and cried half the way home.
However on Tuesday we had tears of joy. We had been doing a Bible Overview at home over the last few weeks, and Erin had joined in. Looking at the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and seeing how it all fits together is really wonderful. Anyway, again cutting a long story short, Tuesday was the last one and as I chatted with Erin it was clear that she had come to trust the Lord Jesus herself. We prayed together and shared tears of joy! A real week of tears!!!
We've been blessed by an evangelistic team staying at the church this week. They helped give out some invites to our carol service which was this morning. Friends from the church in Watford also helped with some more at the market on Saturday morning. We had a good group of people this morning and a little gaggle of children too. Church continues to be promising with possibilities. There may be some harder decisions to be taken in the future, perhaps even over the next year, but the Lord shows us his love again and again. Please keep praying for us, and get in touch so we can pray for you. God bless you,
Chris
17 December 2006
11 December 2006
Where are our leaders leading us?
Last week it emerged various labor politicians have seen the fallacy of multiculturalism and are trying to rebrand it. Still calling it multicilturalism but really doing a complete u-turn towards monoculturalism. Tony Blair himself has led the way. Many people are saying, about time too. Here is my concern though. When the pendulum swings too far one way - as it clearly has in this country with the tolerance of militant groups that promote violence and mass murder - it is very hard to stop it going to far the other way. What tends to happen is people give it a little push, making it even worse! I wonder if this week Mr Blair has done exactly that. I don't remember his exact comments but it went something like this, "We will not put up with people who preach hate and stir up violence." Quite right too. "If you want to come and live in this country you have to integrate into the society. If you will not, you cannot come."
He maintains that he wants Britain to retain its multicultural status, but if you don't subscribe to that intergrated multicultural culture then you will not be tolerated. Now this is putting it stronger than the Prime Minister actually has, but not stronger than certain civil situations that are on going, including the new Sexual Orientation Regulations that the government is seeking to bring in. Let me deal with this issue on a different front though.
In various universities around the country Christian groups are being forced out because they believe homosexuality to be wrong, and aren't afraid to say so. This is labeled as homophobic and intolerant. Neither claim sticks. The Christians are not seeking to exclude homosexuals from any meeting, they are simply stating the historic and clear teaching of the world's best selling book year on year for more years than are recorded. The Christians are not saying homosexuals must stop meeting, they are more than willing to talk and debate and be friends with those of any and every sexual persuasion. Yet it is the Christians who are called intolerant, who student bodies think it it is "right" to exclude. There is no tolerance of a different culture there - the different culture and beliefs are simply considered wrong and so excluded. The Christians will not sign up to mono-multiculturalism - the unifying belief that all beliefs are valid - and so they are excluded; they are not tolerated.
The problem with Mr Blair's agenda is that it pushes us towards the situation where we will find that saying a set of beliefs is wrong or not true will not be tolerated. Literally, "If your culture won't subscribe to our culture - that all beliefs are valid - then your culture cannot be part of our culture." Or put more simply, we will only tolerate those people who agree with us; which of course is not tolerance at all. The culture that Mr Blair and many others seeks to create in this country is one where everyone agrees that there is no absolute truth, therefore everyone's beliefs are equally valid and where there is no immovable moral standard, so the law must protect everyone and attack those who hold to absolute truth and absolute moral standards, because that truth and morality makes the rest feel guilty.
The end of this road is the persecution of people who are no threat to the public, only the beliefs that public lives by. We are setting out on the road to mono-multiculturalism which ends with bigotry and persecution.
I hope my thoughts are too strong, but I fear that they aren't.
Chris
He maintains that he wants Britain to retain its multicultural status, but if you don't subscribe to that intergrated multicultural culture then you will not be tolerated. Now this is putting it stronger than the Prime Minister actually has, but not stronger than certain civil situations that are on going, including the new Sexual Orientation Regulations that the government is seeking to bring in. Let me deal with this issue on a different front though.
In various universities around the country Christian groups are being forced out because they believe homosexuality to be wrong, and aren't afraid to say so. This is labeled as homophobic and intolerant. Neither claim sticks. The Christians are not seeking to exclude homosexuals from any meeting, they are simply stating the historic and clear teaching of the world's best selling book year on year for more years than are recorded. The Christians are not saying homosexuals must stop meeting, they are more than willing to talk and debate and be friends with those of any and every sexual persuasion. Yet it is the Christians who are called intolerant, who student bodies think it it is "right" to exclude. There is no tolerance of a different culture there - the different culture and beliefs are simply considered wrong and so excluded. The Christians will not sign up to mono-multiculturalism - the unifying belief that all beliefs are valid - and so they are excluded; they are not tolerated.
The problem with Mr Blair's agenda is that it pushes us towards the situation where we will find that saying a set of beliefs is wrong or not true will not be tolerated. Literally, "If your culture won't subscribe to our culture - that all beliefs are valid - then your culture cannot be part of our culture." Or put more simply, we will only tolerate those people who agree with us; which of course is not tolerance at all. The culture that Mr Blair and many others seeks to create in this country is one where everyone agrees that there is no absolute truth, therefore everyone's beliefs are equally valid and where there is no immovable moral standard, so the law must protect everyone and attack those who hold to absolute truth and absolute moral standards, because that truth and morality makes the rest feel guilty.
The end of this road is the persecution of people who are no threat to the public, only the beliefs that public lives by. We are setting out on the road to mono-multiculturalism which ends with bigotry and persecution.
I hope my thoughts are too strong, but I fear that they aren't.
Chris
22 November 2006
A long time ago, in a land far away .....
A long time ago - well 7 years ago, I went to a land far away - Latvia. It was at the end of my year working with UCCF. Myself and some students from the LSE went on a mission trip to Riga, the capital of Latvia to help kick start the Latvian version of UCCF. It was a very eventful trip, ask me about it some time. But I am telling you now because on that trip was Andre Mediros!
Who's Andre Mediros you might ask... ?
The link for this post is our church website. It went live a couple of weeks ago, even though it needs a few finishing touches. Our first feed back came last week asking a few details about the church as this couple, who had just arrived back from the USA wanted to visit!
What do these two stories have in common. The name at the bottom of the email from our website was... Andre Mediros. There can't be too many people with that name, thought I. And indeed I may well have been right. It was, totally by coincidence (if you believ in that kind of thing,) the very same Andre Mediros that had travelled to Latvia. It was a real joy to see him again and meet his wife Christine (brought up in Malaysia - Helen's mum's home).
Pray that the Lord would send us more workers and that people like Andre and Christine would feel the Lord's hand encouraging them to stay and join our slowly growing work. (And have a quick look at the website!)
God bless,
Chris H
Who's Andre Mediros you might ask... ?
The link for this post is our church website. It went live a couple of weeks ago, even though it needs a few finishing touches. Our first feed back came last week asking a few details about the church as this couple, who had just arrived back from the USA wanted to visit!
What do these two stories have in common. The name at the bottom of the email from our website was... Andre Mediros. There can't be too many people with that name, thought I. And indeed I may well have been right. It was, totally by coincidence (if you believ in that kind of thing,) the very same Andre Mediros that had travelled to Latvia. It was a real joy to see him again and meet his wife Christine (brought up in Malaysia - Helen's mum's home).
Pray that the Lord would send us more workers and that people like Andre and Christine would feel the Lord's hand encouraging them to stay and join our slowly growing work. (And have a quick look at the website!)
God bless,
Chris H
15 November 2006
Half Term Holiday
Chris had a week off during the half term which meant being able to go out and lots of fun things with boys. In fact we spent very little time at home at all and were quite exhausted by the end of it. The boys had a trip to the zoo while mummy had some girlie chill out time raiding charity shops and having a coffee.
We got to see friends that we haven't seen for a while and the boys bedroom got an underwater themed make over.
We also got to see nieces and had a trip out to the bowling ally which was great fun once we managed to convince the car that it was locked and didn't have to set of it's alarm!
Reuben is starting to become quite a chatterbox as he continually wants to try out his new vocabulary on us while Joshua is slowly starting to be able to concentrate a bit longer on activities - which will help as he starts school in January.
Chris has been ill on and off for the last 3 weeks, and what with the darker evenings and the hour change has been feeling quite drained and tired.
We got to see friends that we haven't seen for a while and the boys bedroom got an underwater themed make over.
We also got to see nieces and had a trip out to the bowling ally which was great fun once we managed to convince the car that it was locked and didn't have to set of it's alarm!
Reuben is starting to become quite a chatterbox as he continually wants to try out his new vocabulary on us while Joshua is slowly starting to be able to concentrate a bit longer on activities - which will help as he starts school in January.
Chris has been ill on and off for the last 3 weeks, and what with the darker evenings and the hour change has been feeling quite drained and tired.
Reuben's favourite game
Reuben has a new favourite game. It's called "Where's my hand?!" He puts his hand in his pocket and says, "Where's my hand?" (kind of). Then he pulls it out and declares with joy, as if you're very surprised, "There it is!"
5 November 2006
One down ...
We have now been here for one whole year. Only the Lord knows how many more we will be here for, but it is good to know that he does. Meanwhile the church has been here for 180 years! Not even Connie (who's 95) has been around for quite that long!
We had an enjoyable "anniversary" service. Dick Lucas came to preach for us again. It was a joy to have have him visit and stay for lunch. (A very good lunch it was too.) Then Kester Putman, from Highbury, spoke in the evening. It was good to have both Dick and Highbury involved. The Lord has blessed us in a number of ways over the last year. It has been very encouraging to see people moving on in their faith and responding to God's word. I think we have in place now the structures that we need to be able to push further forward. Certainly this year i want to be thinking creatively and "aggresively" as to how we can better make the gospel available and understandable to the local community.
The boys are doing well. Reuben has a chesty cough at the moment, which is particularly difficult at night and when eating. Joshua havnig a groany phase but otherwise is well. Helen, as ever, is tired, but encouraged at the moment. She really enjoyed the London Women's Convention last month.
I'm sure there's lots more to write, but I won't for the moment. Check out the church's website. It needs a little more spicing up but it is now up and running. Horrah! (And thanks to Andrew!) God bless you all,
Chris H
We had an enjoyable "anniversary" service. Dick Lucas came to preach for us again. It was a joy to have have him visit and stay for lunch. (A very good lunch it was too.) Then Kester Putman, from Highbury, spoke in the evening. It was good to have both Dick and Highbury involved. The Lord has blessed us in a number of ways over the last year. It has been very encouraging to see people moving on in their faith and responding to God's word. I think we have in place now the structures that we need to be able to push further forward. Certainly this year i want to be thinking creatively and "aggresively" as to how we can better make the gospel available and understandable to the local community.
The boys are doing well. Reuben has a chesty cough at the moment, which is particularly difficult at night and when eating. Joshua havnig a groany phase but otherwise is well. Helen, as ever, is tired, but encouraged at the moment. She really enjoyed the London Women's Convention last month.
I'm sure there's lots more to write, but I won't for the moment. Check out the church's website. It needs a little more spicing up but it is now up and running. Horrah! (And thanks to Andrew!) God bless you all,
Chris H
14 October 2006
11 October 2006
LTS student and 4 new members
It was great to welcome Claudio and his family on Sunday. I was wondering what they would be like, so it was a great joy to discover their servant hearts and desire for the glory of God in Christ. I am looking forward to meeting up with Claudio for lunch tomorrow. We will begin to plan our times together and seek the Lord's blessing on his training and their involvement in the church.
It was also a great joy to welcome Hyasmin, Kate, Delia and Camelia into church membership on Sunday. We had a quick impromptue meeting after the Lord's Table and they were all welcomed into the fellowship without any rumbles! Each one is seeking to serve the Lord and counts it a blessing to be a member of the church here.
Feeling short on time and energy as always! Reuben decided to have a 1 hour tantrum the other night at 2:30am! He eventually went to sleep again at 4am! Looking forward to the Chirst Centred Preaching seminar that Johnny is leading tomorrow. Hoping the boys give us a chance tonight!!!
Chris
It was also a great joy to welcome Hyasmin, Kate, Delia and Camelia into church membership on Sunday. We had a quick impromptue meeting after the Lord's Table and they were all welcomed into the fellowship without any rumbles! Each one is seeking to serve the Lord and counts it a blessing to be a member of the church here.
Feeling short on time and energy as always! Reuben decided to have a 1 hour tantrum the other night at 2:30am! He eventually went to sleep again at 4am! Looking forward to the Chirst Centred Preaching seminar that Johnny is leading tomorrow. Hoping the boys give us a chance tonight!!!
Chris
10 October 2006
1 October 2006
Our boys
Here are some up to date pictures of our boys - excuse the cake crumbs rubbed into Reubens face and lack of trousers!
27 September 2006
Amazing Grace
I just feel quite over whelmed by a sense of God's grace and love at the moment. Partly I'm tired and emotional anyway. But the Lord has blessed me with a real overwhelming sense of his love and his care. I've been reading through Galatians this week and chapter 2 verse 20 really hit me between the eyes again: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
I look at my heart and see the reality of the thoughts and desire that come out of it. I know I am good at keeping the bad ones at bay most of the time - but God sees my heart and I know I cannot stand before him. Except for the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. To know that I am that loved, that valued, that precious is wonderful. To know that it is not earnt, but simply received by faith is far more wonderful.
We had 8-10 children on Sunday again, which is a great blessing. That brings attendant mothers with them! But in a gathering of 30 or so, we only had four men, and one of those is back to Australia now! If you could pray for more men, that would be appreciated! Pray that the husbands of the ladies who come, would come too, and that whole families would love to join together in celebrating the of God in Jesus with us.
Reuben is growing six teeth at the moment. For the first time in a long time he slept through the night last night. Hurrah! Helen and Josh are well. Helen has been a little under the weather over the last week, but she seems better again today. Our Aussie lodger, Erin, is 24 on Monday, so we are trying to think up something for her birthday. That reminds me I've missed a couple of birthdays this week. I had better go and sort them out.
Get in touch. We want to hear from you.
God bless,
Chris
I look at my heart and see the reality of the thoughts and desire that come out of it. I know I am good at keeping the bad ones at bay most of the time - but God sees my heart and I know I cannot stand before him. Except for the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. To know that I am that loved, that valued, that precious is wonderful. To know that it is not earnt, but simply received by faith is far more wonderful.
We had 8-10 children on Sunday again, which is a great blessing. That brings attendant mothers with them! But in a gathering of 30 or so, we only had four men, and one of those is back to Australia now! If you could pray for more men, that would be appreciated! Pray that the husbands of the ladies who come, would come too, and that whole families would love to join together in celebrating the of God in Jesus with us.
Reuben is growing six teeth at the moment. For the first time in a long time he slept through the night last night. Hurrah! Helen and Josh are well. Helen has been a little under the weather over the last week, but she seems better again today. Our Aussie lodger, Erin, is 24 on Monday, so we are trying to think up something for her birthday. That reminds me I've missed a couple of birthdays this week. I had better go and sort them out.
Get in touch. We want to hear from you.
God bless,
Chris
19 September 2006
Harvest Thanksgiving Service
Last Sunday was our Harvest Thanksgiving service. We tried to do it as a family service, so the children stayed in all the way through. We weren't however expecting 14 children! It was a great blessing to have close to 40 people with us, including the children. We must have had virtually a 50/50 split between regulars and visitors. My prayer is that the gospel would have been clear to all and the Lord would have made it plain to their hearts.
We even had 30 or more stay for lunch! Good job we had plenty of food. If we continue to get this many children we will need to do some serious thinking about how to move on from here. Still much to give God thanks for over this weekend.
Chris
We even had 30 or more stay for lunch! Good job we had plenty of food. If we continue to get this many children we will need to do some serious thinking about how to move on from here. Still much to give God thanks for over this weekend.
Chris
8 September 2006
And so we move ahead
It was a blessing to have two sets of visiting Americans with us last Sunday. There was a gentleman on his own who certainly seem to appreciate the ministry. He (and his wife when she arrives) will be in the country for 2 years. There was also a family, Mark (I think), Deborah, Jordan, Madison and Jessica (I think)! I try hard at names but they rarely stick well. They will be here for a year. It would be wonderful if they did stay with us, but they may seek a church with more children for the sake of friends for their children. They will be home schooling them.
This week I went up to London Theological Seminary for their student placement meeting. A gentleman called Claudio Amaral has been placed with us. We are lookng forward to meeting him and his getting involved in the work here as a part of his training. I also went to Oak Hill Theological College for their student placement meeting. It is possible a couple of friends of ours who are just starting will come down to us, but it is a bit of a treck without a car. Still it was good to go and meet some new faces.
Our harvest service will be a week on Sunday so I am desperately trying to get everything sorted out for that. Still have lots to do. Please keep praying for us and don't hesitate to get in touch. God bless,
Chris
This week I went up to London Theological Seminary for their student placement meeting. A gentleman called Claudio Amaral has been placed with us. We are lookng forward to meeting him and his getting involved in the work here as a part of his training. I also went to Oak Hill Theological College for their student placement meeting. It is possible a couple of friends of ours who are just starting will come down to us, but it is a bit of a treck without a car. Still it was good to go and meet some new faces.
Our harvest service will be a week on Sunday so I am desperately trying to get everything sorted out for that. Still have lots to do. Please keep praying for us and don't hesitate to get in touch. God bless,
Chris
30 August 2006
Love is in the air, or perhaps over the road!
Helen went to the park with the boys this afternoon and met our neighbours. Katherine and Josh are very good friends and so are Alex and Reuben. As they were playing Josh was naughty and pushed Reuben down the slide. Accordingly Mummy told him off! Katherine then asked her mummy for a pencil and paper, and drew Josh a heart. She ran over to give it too him, to which Josh responded, "What's that?"! "It's a heart," she said, and then they both went very shy! Ahh, young love.
Sadly our friends will probably have to go back to America in the New Year, but we can enjoy the antics the chidildren get up to together in the meantime! (Us adults don't get up to antics after all.)
Chris
Sadly our friends will probably have to go back to America in the New Year, but we can enjoy the antics the chidildren get up to together in the meantime! (Us adults don't get up to antics after all.)
Chris
21 August 2006
Lot's of people
Between 80,000 and 100,000 people live within 1 mile of St. John's Wood Road Baptist Church! That's a lot of people. If 1 in a 1000 of them came to the church we would have a church of 80 to 100 people!
More than 50% of people in Westminster call themselves Christians, 20%ish Muslim, 5%ish Jew. But you don't find 40,000 people in Westminster's churches! Still it is a reminder that most people still believe in God to some extent.
Pray for us that we would have both wisdom and love to continue to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that the Lord would be pleased to save more and more even through our ministry.
Chris
More than 50% of people in Westminster call themselves Christians, 20%ish Muslim, 5%ish Jew. But you don't find 40,000 people in Westminster's churches! Still it is a reminder that most people still believe in God to some extent.
Pray for us that we would have both wisdom and love to continue to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that the Lord would be pleased to save more and more even through our ministry.
Chris
19 August 2006
Thought for the day
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Made me smile - Chris! :-)
Made me smile - Chris! :-)
17 August 2006
Whipsnade Visit
At the end of last week we visited Whipsnade wild animal park
. We had a very good time. Joshua particularly enjoyed the elephants and the steam train. Reuben was particularly fond of running away! Here are the boys on an elephant ride at the end of the day (not that we put any money in it).
. We had a very good time. Joshua particularly enjoyed the elephants and the steam train. Reuben was particularly fond of running away! Here are the boys on an elephant ride at the end of the day (not that we put any money in it).
In The Beginning....
In the beginning Daddy created a blog. (Well not right at the beginning, but at the beginning of starting to write blogs!) However Daddy was a bit slow at updating the blog so it got deleted. Quite a long time after the beginning Daddy started a new blog with great intentions to update it regularly so people can be properly informed and kept up to date with the Elnathan News! However we all know about good intentions...!
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