Seeds of Hope

Harvest is a time for giving thanks to God for His provision - even for those of us who live in large cities and are far removed from the agricultural process. Whether we grow our food in the garden, work on a farm, or buy it in the supermarket ultimately God is responsible for the food on our plates.

But image you live in a war zone and although you planted crops last spring you can't harvest them because your fields are either covered in land mines or cluster bombs. What are you going to do?

BMS World Mission work in many parts of the world in conflict or post conflict zones, working to plant seeds of hope. One way of doing this in places where people have had their land contaminated is to identify alternative places to grow crops. The trouble is that these safer areas are often harder to farm due to poor soil quality or no access to water. But with the help of BMS World Mission these problems can be overcome, allowing families to plant and harvest.

We had the opportunity this Sunday to pray for the work of BMS World Mission and also to provide financially to the important work they are doing throughout the world. If you want to know more visit www.bms.org.uk

Jargon buster

Yesterday I attended my first governors' meeting at my daughter's school, as one of the parent governors. Although I used to be a teacher (ten years ago now) I was struck by just how much jargon and particularly how many abbreviations were used (both spoken and written) without any explanation or clarification. Some of course could be guessed at from the context, others were simply noted down so that I could either google or facebook the answers (facebook has been a great resource - thanks to all my teacher friends). Of course I could simply have asked - but no one wants to do that sort of thing do they.

I was reminded of the importance of keeping our church services jargon free. We were especially conscious of that last week with Back to Church Sunday but all the time we need to be conscious of the fact that we're not here for the 'in-crowd'. And therefore the language that we use has to be everyday. 'In jokes' and witty asides may be funny - but if you ain't got a clue what's going on you're going to feel excluded rather than welcomed.

Of course there are some words that we use, because, for example, they are in the Bible, that are not everyday words. I think it is important to hold on to these words, but to remember to explain what they mean. This is no longer a culture where people grew up in church and learnt the language. And so we need to make the effort to bridge that gap.

Back to Church Sunday

You don't need to spend too long searching on the Internet, reading blogs, visiting chat rooms etc. to know that there are plenty of people out there in cyberspace who are fascinated by Jesus but who can't stand the church. And there are all kinds of reasons as to why this might be. Some will have had a boring experience of church as a child and longed for the day when they were old enough never to have to return. Others may have been an active member of a church until something happened that brought disillusionment. Others have experienced the gap between what some people in church say but then go and do - the gap for example between love, forgiveness and grace on the one hand and a harsh judgemental attitude on the other.

But whatever the reason, this coming Sunday is Back to Church Sunday. An opportunity for those who attend church to invite their friends, who may have attended church in the past but no longer do so. For those of us who attend to church to say to our friends, 'Do you want to come along to something I really enjoy doing?'

And if you're fascinated by Jesus but can't stand the church, use this coming Sunday to find a local church that is holding a Back to Church service and give it go. You never know - you may be totally surprised by what you find.

Operation Christmas Child

This coming Saturday we are having a mission evening where we are looking at the work at Samaritan's Purse - particularly their Operation Christmas Child programme. We will be learning about the work through a number of DVD clips as well as wrapping our own shoe boxes.

'But it's only September', I hear you cry. Yes but it is good to plan ahead. The actual dates of the OCC appeal are 1-18 November, so in order to encourage as many people as possible to get involved we need to start letting them know now.

Everyone can be involved - to find out more, if you live in the UK visit www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk. If you live outside the UK go to www.samaritanspurse.org