It has been a busy couple of weeks since my return from South Africa. The last couple of weeks have been tinged with tragedy and real blessing. On the tragic side I conducted the funeral of a man whose younger brother I buried less than 2 months ago. a third brother died tragically 6 years ago and have left the elderly parents childless. Words cannot describe their sense of loss and pain. as before, the building was packed to the rafters and I preached the gospel as simply, clearly and sensitively as I could. There is no hope without Jesus. There is no salvation without Him. There is no meaning in our suffering apart from Him who endured such pain, death and separation for His sheep. we pray that even in this tragedy Jesus would be glorified and people would turn from their sins and put their faith and trust solely in Him. It is all I could say and it is all we have to say. There is no other message.
On a happier note, we had a great meeting with Edinburgh City Council representatives last week. a couple of months ago we stumbled (providentially) across a disused building next to the Jack Kane Community Centre near my house in Niddrie. This building has stood unused for nearly a decade. It has 8 large rooms, 2 toilets, 2 bathrooms, 2 kitchens and two garages. Apparently, it was the housing for the original manager when the centre frst opened in the 1970's. one part of it has been almost completely destroyed inside due to an arson attack.
Prior to this discovery, we had been thinking for some time about what we should be doing with our new members who have either: never been emloyed, been long term unemployed or are unemployable due to their mental health and/or drug and alcohol issues. Our idea was to try and see if we could launch some type of apprenticeship scheme whereby we could teach some of the people in our area a variety of skills, such as: plumbing, electrics, building, plastering, joinery, cookery, hair and beauty, literacy/communication, mechanics etc. this building, then seems to be the ideal location from which to engage in this new community project.
Our fundamental problem going into the meeting was that we didn't have a penny to our name (and still don't) and so we were just praying that the council would give us favourable terms on the lease of the building. after a very friendly meeting they agreed to lease it to us on a rolling 3 year basis for the princely sum of £1 per year!!! To say that we were chuffed would be an understatment. Our God is definitely able! we are currently in the process of having the contract drawn up and are awaiting the inspection of a structural engineer. Please pray that everything would go smoothly for us.
Our next move is to put together a 3 year strategic plan and to try and raise some funds in order to finance the project. our aim is to staff the place using skilled volunteers from the Christian community who can pass on their trade to younger people as well as disciple and mentor them inthe Christian faith. If you have a skill and want to help us out then do not hesitate to get in touch. The possibilities for this project are endless and we are excited about what God is going to do through it.
I will keep you as up to date as I can.
Saturday 30 May 2009
Monday 4 May 2009
Out Of Africa
Well, I have been back from Cape Town for a couple of days now and I thought I had better write an update on my 'holiday' as it is being referred to.
Unfortunately my pal Royston didn't turn up for his meeting with Johnathan. His bag of heroin probably held greater appeal than getting off the streets. Sad but not unexpected. Our trip was largely uneventful. Cape Town itself is much like any other city I have visited on my travels with the exception of having a huge mountain looming large over it. We reached Table Mountain by cable car and the views overlooking the city on all sides were completely stunning.
The highlight of the trip (apart from having a pie baked with my name on it) was a visit to Drakenstein prison just outside the city. This was the same prison that Nelson Mandela was released from in 1990 (just to keep the anoraks interested) and houses both category A male prisoners and high security youth offenders (under 25). We visited something called the Hope Academy in the prison which is basically a separate unit set aside for those young men who have behaved and are interested in pursuing sport. There is a cell for footballers (run by AIS), one for basketball and one for rugby. The football cell housed about 18 young men and as full of posters of English football teams (Man Utd being the most prominent). Funnily enough, I didn't see a single Spurs poster!
These young men are part of a Christian League and they spank every other team at the moment largely due to (a) all of their games are played at home surrounded by armed guards (maybe an idea for Niddrie there!) and (b) the other players are scared to get stuck into them. Jez and I took a training session along with Pete & Andy and then I shared my testimony with them and we had a little kickabout. Several of the guys talked to me abut Christ and one young man (unbelievably known as 'Forgiveness') repented of his sins right there on the field and put his faith and trust in Christ. Very cool! I immediately handed him on to another guy called 'Precious' (I am not making this up) who will be responsible for discipling him. A brilliant end to our trip.
Keep praying for Peter & Andy as they seek God's will for their immediate future out there.
tata for now
Unfortunately my pal Royston didn't turn up for his meeting with Johnathan. His bag of heroin probably held greater appeal than getting off the streets. Sad but not unexpected. Our trip was largely uneventful. Cape Town itself is much like any other city I have visited on my travels with the exception of having a huge mountain looming large over it. We reached Table Mountain by cable car and the views overlooking the city on all sides were completely stunning.
The highlight of the trip (apart from having a pie baked with my name on it) was a visit to Drakenstein prison just outside the city. This was the same prison that Nelson Mandela was released from in 1990 (just to keep the anoraks interested) and houses both category A male prisoners and high security youth offenders (under 25). We visited something called the Hope Academy in the prison which is basically a separate unit set aside for those young men who have behaved and are interested in pursuing sport. There is a cell for footballers (run by AIS), one for basketball and one for rugby. The football cell housed about 18 young men and as full of posters of English football teams (Man Utd being the most prominent). Funnily enough, I didn't see a single Spurs poster!
These young men are part of a Christian League and they spank every other team at the moment largely due to (a) all of their games are played at home surrounded by armed guards (maybe an idea for Niddrie there!) and (b) the other players are scared to get stuck into them. Jez and I took a training session along with Pete & Andy and then I shared my testimony with them and we had a little kickabout. Several of the guys talked to me abut Christ and one young man (unbelievably known as 'Forgiveness') repented of his sins right there on the field and put his faith and trust in Christ. Very cool! I immediately handed him on to another guy called 'Precious' (I am not making this up) who will be responsible for discipling him. A brilliant end to our trip.
Keep praying for Peter & Andy as they seek God's will for their immediate future out there.
tata for now
Wednesday 22 April 2009
South Africa
I am sat in an internet cafe with Jez in Cape Town, South Africa. We are here visiting Pete & Andy who are doing a year here with Ambassadors In Sport. We arrived on Monday evening after a days travel a little tired but otherwise OK.
The city is much cleaner than i had imagined and is not too dissimilar to Rio in terms of cleanliness. We did visit a place called Mannenberg yesterday and did a 'walk' with a local guy called Johnathan. A walk is basically 'walking' (surprise) around the area in a group and talking to any people who want to come up and talk to us. it is a gang controlled area and we were warned not to apporach anybody or attempt to initiate a conversation. I did get into a conversaton with a young man called Royston, a long term crystal meth and heroin user. He seemed desperate to get out of his situation and the last I heard Johnathan was going to meet with him to see what he could do for him. I will keep you posted on that.
We went to a football training session last night with the lads. AIS run an academy out here for boys and men of all ages. I trained with the reserves for an hour or so and had a little kickabout. I was cream crackered after but it was good fun. Afterwards, we went to a little pizza place and watched the Arsenal and Liverpool game - which turned out to be a really boring 4-4 draw!!
The lads are out training again this morning so I thought I would take the opportunity to stick in a quick blog. I will try and keep it updated if possible.
The city is much cleaner than i had imagined and is not too dissimilar to Rio in terms of cleanliness. We did visit a place called Mannenberg yesterday and did a 'walk' with a local guy called Johnathan. A walk is basically 'walking' (surprise) around the area in a group and talking to any people who want to come up and talk to us. it is a gang controlled area and we were warned not to apporach anybody or attempt to initiate a conversation. I did get into a conversaton with a young man called Royston, a long term crystal meth and heroin user. He seemed desperate to get out of his situation and the last I heard Johnathan was going to meet with him to see what he could do for him. I will keep you posted on that.
We went to a football training session last night with the lads. AIS run an academy out here for boys and men of all ages. I trained with the reserves for an hour or so and had a little kickabout. I was cream crackered after but it was good fun. Afterwards, we went to a little pizza place and watched the Arsenal and Liverpool game - which turned out to be a really boring 4-4 draw!!
The lads are out training again this morning so I thought I would take the opportunity to stick in a quick blog. I will try and keep it updated if possible.
Sunday 19 April 2009
Sunday 12th April 2009
I am writing this in bed because I can't sleep. I have just finished cutting and pasting some stuff for a dedication service this morning. I have been trying to 'dejargonise' the language so that people understand what is going on. Jez is preaching from 1 Peter 4 as we continue our series, so Jesus should be getting a bit of a mention!! I have actually enjoyed this series in terms of preparation and what the Lord has been teaching the congregation and I about the need of perseverance in difficult times. Tonight there is a seminar on Mormonism. We get our Small Groups to bring us one topic a year to study and discuss in our 5pm meeting. Niddrie has just had a wave of Mormon Elders plugging their wares. They haven't gone down too well on an estate suspicious of outsiders and where the only people who wear a shirt and tie are (a) the police (2) the DSS (3) somebody on their way to court/wedding/funeral (delete as applicable) or (4) crazy mormons who need to be relieved of the contents of their rucksacks. The JW's tried their luck a few months ago and were ushered into one house on the estate by some locals who told them in no uncertain terms that Jesus was the ********** Son of God - in fact he was God and they should ******** back where they came from. It's a new form of aggressive evangelism that we have been experimenting with! The people concerned came to tell me and part of me was horrified. The other part (the secret majority) was very proud of them and amazed at how such a group had come such a long way in their thinking and had even grasped (however rudimentary) how fundamental the deity of Christ is to our faith. Interestingly, neither the JW's concerned nor the mormons have returned to that particular address.
Friday 17 April 2009
New Blog Site
Well, here goes. The last time I attempted one of these we were living in Brasil (yes, that is the correct spelling!) and working with street children. These days we find ourselves in cold and blustery Edinburgh working with Niddrie Community Church. Let's see how long I can keep this up for (the blog not the job!).
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