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The words of the evangelist John Hawley were never so terrifying as when he turned to me in the middle of Oxford Cornmarket saying: ‘Are you going to preach now, Simon?’

How is it possible for a nervy, stammering 17-year-old to stand up in Oxford city centre with hundreds of people passing by and speak? What Paul said came to mind: ‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me’.

I lead a pastoral team with a Christian charity, Mission Care, which provides nursing and residential care for vulnerable adults in South East London.

Ray Porter

Date posted: 1 May 2013

Andrew Butler, who died from cancer in Taiwan on March 2, had served for 40 years with OMF International.

St. Andrew’s Parish Church, Leyland, packed over 70 events into an amazing nine days under the umbrella of ‘Life Week’ in March.

A team of 12 students from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, led by the enthusiastic octogenarian evangelist Dr. Michael Green, spearheaded the mission. The church and surrounding venues were consistently packed as exciting and varied events drew in many from this enclave of South Ribble Borough, Lancashire.

Edith Rachel Merritt Seville Schaeffer was born in Wenzhou, China, to missionary parents working in the China Inland Mission.

Though she lived in China only until the age of six, she retained vivid memories and a life-long love of China. The family moved back to the States and, while attending Beaver College, she met Francis Schaeffer. They were married in 1935. He had three pastorates in the States in the then Bible Presbyterian Church, with her always completely involved. Their daughters Priscilla, Susan and Deborah were born during those years while their son Franky was born in Switzerland in 1952.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 May 2013

I grew up in a boarding school. My father was a boarding school house master, and we lived on the grounds of this community.

I did not grow up in a manse or vicarage or parsonage. My children, of course, are growing up ‘Pastor’s Kids’ (PKs). How can I help them flourish in that environment?

‘The fruit of the Spirit is joy.’

If a Christian is defined as someone in whom God’s Spirit lives, then a joyless Christian is a contradiction in terms. Yet we all know that much of life is not characterised by joy, and so we either tend to feel guilty, because clearly we are not ‘spiritual’ enough, or we sigh briefly and then get on with things. But there are those nagging Bible commands. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice’ (Philippians 4.4). What’s it all about?

More than happiness

The first thing to realise is that joy is not the same thing as happiness. Often people say that joy is much deeper, which has led to the observation that some Christians’ joy is so deep it never seems to surface! The difference is not so much in depth as in duration. Happiness happens — it comes and goes and is largely the response of our emotions and feelings to external events. Nobody can be permanently happy; indeed you only have to set out determined to ‘be happy’ to soon feel quite miserable. So what is the joy that Christians have which is not experienced by those who do not share our faith?

Karen Soole

Date posted: 1 May 2013

Some Christians were offended by the airing of Melvin Bragg’s BBC documentary The Mystery of Mary Magdalene on Good Friday.

I was not one of them; possibly because my expectations were so low that I was pleasantly surprised by the affirmation of the Gospel accounts as historical evidence.