GOD OFSURPRISES

BIssu

e 10 Sprin

g 2014

Recently I have been learning about the laws of spiritual friction. Friction is good – our lives couldn’t exist without it – but it can also cause a lot of frustration. We push and push in a certain direction and make no progress.

But one of the interesting things about friction is that it will suddenly give way. This is the basis of ABS (Anti-lock Braking System), which uses the friction between the car tyre and the road to maximum effect by momentarily releasing the brake just before the tyre skids, in a series of gripping bouts. Just as we are all familiar with the frustration of friction in our lives, we can also experience the sudden release of friction, in what we often call ‘breakthrough’.

At the beginning of 2014 one of our most prophetic people at St Barnabas warned us that we as a church were going to experience a series of ‘suddenlys’. This has proved to be uncannily accurate, as events surrounding the building development project have unfolded in both remarkable and frustrating ways over a very short period of time (see article on page 26).

Refl ecting on this, I realise that the life of faith is rarely an even path. More often it is a long trudge that tests our perseverance and faithfulness to its limits, perhaps best described by Eugene Peterson in the title of his book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. But then the tedium of that long slow walk is suddenly interrupted by episodes of supernatural and breathless white-knuckle mayhem, where clinging onto God is the best we can hope to do.

Whether you are currently experiencing a boring protracted amble, a sudden miraculous breakthrough or a crushing disappointment, our response should be much the same: we need to learn to trust God in every season of our walk of faith.

Henry Kendal

SPIRITUAL FRICTION

Just as we are all familiar with the frustration of friction in our lives, we can also experience the sudden release of friction, in what we often call ‘breakthrough’.

FROM THE VICAR

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CONTENTS

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A Vision for Children and Families

If we want to see the nation changed, we need to invest in our children’s ministry.

Our King: the story of the new St Bs Album

God of Surprises, God of the Impossible!

Our first surprise was when God called us to Kenya.

Bernie and Celia Mascher

Faith: what is it and how does it grow?

Faith is like a muscle.

Colin Brookes

Interview with Jonathan Burnett

We felt that God was gently reminding us that He is our source.

The Boy who came back from Heaven

God on the Move: the amazing story of the building development

News In Brief

Hayley Pavlou

Joshua Kane

Book Review by Paul Pavlou

Henry Kendal

A round-up of St Bs news

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Siming Hill

14B Magazine Issue 10 Editorial Team: Margaret Peach (Coordinating Editor), Henry Kendal, Siming Hill, Paul Pavlou, Hayley Pavlou, Jon Whycer. Email: BMag@stbarnabas.co.uk Art Direction: Hannah Knight: hannah@branddelivered.co.uk

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A Christian learns quickly that life with God is not always predictable. You can expect to be surprised. We have experienced our share of the unexpected in the last few years. Our first surprise was when God called us to Kenya. We both knew Kenya, had spent our childhood there, Bernie was born in Kenya, yet neither of us ever felt any desire or pull to return there to work. In fact, we had firmly shut the door – or so we thought! But God changed our hearts and direction and in March 2005 we arrived in Kenya with two small children. Upon our arrival we were faced with the daunting prospect of starting projects and filling the Helping Hands Centre with people. We knew our vision was to “empower through education”, but where to begin?

Bernie and Celia Mascher are mission partners who were sent out to Kenya by St Bs in 2005, with support from Mission Task Force (MTF). They have two children – Abbie and Theon. They manage Helping Hands, a teaching facility offering vocational training courses, and a leadership and theological diploma to church leaders. They also run Little Hands nursery and primary school, which integrates children with physical disabilities.

Little Hands SchoolSomeone suggested that we start a school yet we knew nothing about running a school. Nevertheless, the idea grew and Little Hands School was born. Our vision was to be an inclusive school that welcomed children with disabilities. We started with 5 children, including one little boy with spina bifida. Since then, we have seen so many wonderful, “impossible” things happening. We now have about 130 children, of which about 20% have special needs. We have children with various disabilities, including cerebral palsy, spina bifida, autism, ADHD, or those who are deaf or cannot speak.

GOD OF SURPRISES, GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE!

By Bernie and Celia Mascher

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Most of our special needs kids would never be accepted in a regular school. But we’ve seen these same children’s faces light up when they learn something new: like David, who is deaf, and can now sign his colours; or Mercy, who cannot use her hands but can draw a circle using her feet. Lucy joined us in January. When she was two she saw her father hacked to death in front of her during the post-election violence. This traumatic event caused her to stop speaking. She is now seven. Last week she surprised us when she suddenly spoke a few words. Sylvia joined the youngest class this year. We noticed something wasn’t right and urged the parents to take her for medical assessment. Tests showed that she is profoundly deaf. Now that she has her hearing aids, we are teaching her basic speech. Her mother told us: “When we brought Sylvia, we had no idea there was a problem but we now know God led us to this school”.

We witnessed these … women breaking down in tears and hugging each other in forgiveness

Naivasha International FellowshipPrior to our departure, someone had a picture for us in which they saw a church stained glass window and a key. They felt we might be going to start a church. We secretly smiled, knowing that this was not part of the plan. Initially we attended a small church run by an American pastor. One day he announced that he was leaving due to medical reasons. The little fellowship group wanted to continue so they asked if we would lead the group. It was with a great deal of hesitation that we agreed. We then began meeting in our home. The group has since outgrown our living room and moved into the assembly hall at Helping Hands – and Naivasha International Fellowship was born. We have now grown into a thriving, diverse group of between 40 to 80 people each Sunday.

Reconciliation WorkshopsThe inter-ethnic violence that erupted throughout the country in 2008 marked a turning point in our ministry. Our small town of Naivasha became a particular hot spot. Following these events we held Reconciliation Workshops at Helping Hands in

partnership with the Anglican church. Women gathered at the Centre from the worst affected areas. Some of them had been hurt so badly they could not bear to stay in the same room with

members of other ethnic groups. By the end of the workshops, we witnessed these same women breaking down in tears and hugging each other in forgiveness. God had truly achieved the impossible.

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These pictures show: children at Little Hands School, including Mercy learning foot-writing (top left); the weaving project; and Naivasha International Fellowship (above)

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If you would like to support Bernie and Celia or fi nd out

more about their work, go to: www.helpinghandsofkenya.com

or pick up one of their prayer postcards from the Missions Board

at St Bs, or email: carolineburns@stbarnabas.co.uk

God will take the little you have and do “more than you can possibly imagine”

Weaving ProjectIt was also during this time that we started the weaving project in response to the fl ood of internally displaced people who came into Naivasha. Many of these people eventually moved on, but we continued with a new group and now have a core group of local women who are producing some beautiful, high quality things. Bernie oversees this project even though he didn’t know anything about weaving before coming to Kenya!

Discipling LeadersBernie also teaches the Transformational Leaders Diploma course (accredited by a University in Nairobi). Some of our students have gone on to pursue a degree in Nairobi; others have become church planters.

We are moving into our tenth year in Naivasha and we fi nd ourselves looking back and marvelling at what God has done during this time. We have discovered in our journey that God will take the little you have and do “more than you can possibly imagine”.

We often hear words of knowledge shared from the front on a Sunday. We don’t always fi nd out who they were for and what they meant. Earlier this year, a member of our 7pm prayer team felt the Lord give them the name “Tony” and the simple message, “God wants to meet with you”.

What they didn’t know was a man called Tony had come to church that night stricken with the recent news that his son had a tumour on his spine. It was agony to watch his son suffer day after day. Tony was in desperate need of the Lord’s comfort. That morning, at a different church service, someone told Tony, “the Lord is going to call you by name”. That evening at St Bs, it happened. Tony left having encountered the love and sustaining grace of Father God with renewed strength to pray for and comfort his son.

GOD KNOWS MY NAME

Tony Wittich

God wants to meet with you‘‘

FAITH:WHAT IS IT AND HOW DOES IT GROW?

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). Bit silly, don’t you think? Saying something is real when you can’t see, hear or feel it? Bit silly to commit tons of time, endless energy and eye-wateringly huge amounts of money to a person who, let’s be frank, is invisible?

No...? Good! Because this is a staple part of being a Christian. Having faith in a God who, again let’s be frank, often doesn’t evidence himself in ways we expect, is a staple part of who we are. We are a people of FAITH.

It’s pretty easy to believe in the provision of our unseen heavenly father when our boss comes in to tell us that we got the unlikely promotion we’ve been secretly praying for. It’s pretty easy to believe in the healing power of Jesus when we’ve prayed for the parcel delivery guy on our doorstep and, poof!, his acute backache has suddenly disappeared. It’s a lot less easy to believe when we’re passed over or when you’re standing on the doorstep and the guy says, “Um, no, it doesn’t feel any different. Sorry”.

By Colin Brookes

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But that’s what faith is for. It’s being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

I love the bit in C S Lewis’ final Chronicle of Narnia where the cynical dwarves are determined ‘not to be taken in’ by ‘rot and humbug’. They scoff at King Tirian for his silly belief that some unseen, almighty lion is going to come and put right everything that’s wrong in the world. They mock his love and trust in this character who, as far as they are concerned, is nothing but a fairytale for the weak-minded. And so they go on, proud, self-righteous, self-sufficient... until eventually, it’s not that they are not willing to look with eyes of faith – they are unable to. Their eyes have become darkened to everything apart from what seems reasonable to them. Even when the lion Aslan does arrive on the scene, and Tirian and his troop fall to their faces in wonder and joy, the dwarves are completely blind and deaf to him. And they are oblivious to what they are missing out on. They stand pleased that, even though they are in darkness, they haven’t been ‘taken in’ by fairytales and wishful thinking...

“You see,” said Aslan. “They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief.

Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and they are so afraid of being ‘taken in’ that they cannot be taken out!”

I know a lot of people in that place, both outside and inside our church. They

are so determined not to be ‘taken in’ that that’s the very thing that happens! They find themselves somehow ‘outside’ of things that followers of Jesus seem to be so convinced about. It’s never an instant thing... it usually begins with disappointment and trundles on from there. Eventually, they are unable to be sure of anything they hope for; they are unable to be certain of anything unless they see it.

The good news is that everyone, no matter what state we are in, can grow in faith. There is not a single person alive who can’t learn to be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Granted, it’s not easy; yet it is possible for everyone. You see, faith is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it gets.

You see, faith is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it gets; the less you use it, the weaker it gets.

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Have you ever been inspired (or annoyed?!) by someone who seems to trust in Father God no matter what? Physical injury, redundancy at work, family tragedy, personal tragedy – and yet still they say, “Father God is good and he will come through for me like he always does”! Want to know how they got to be like that? Gradually, over time. You see, they’ve been steadily exercising their faith muscle over weeks, months and years, through all the ups and downs of life. They’ve chosen again and again to trust and believe what the Bible tells them about the goodness and faithfulness of God, even when they can’t see or feel it.

Faith is like a muscle; a muscle which grows sturdy and tough through repeated use; or which atrophies with neglect.

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Ever met someone for whom faith in Jesus has all but disappeared? I’m not talking about the tests of faith that we all bungle from time to time. I’m talking about someone who consistently says things like, “Well I only hope it lasts” in blessing; and, “Ah well, that’s life” in diffi culty; and, “God has abandoned me” in tragedy? The Lord loves them just the same. It’s just that, in the gym of life, they haven’t been doing their ‘faith work-outs’.

I have found that either one of these states is entered gradually, over time. Single events do not, I think, cause our faith suddenly to be sublimely strong or witheringly weak. Faith is like a muscle; a muscle which grows sturdy and tough through repeated use; or which atrophies with neglect.

So what can you choose to trust Father God over today? In what way will you allow yourself to be ‘taken in’ by our unseen God who calls us to believe in him? What step of faith – little or large – can you make before bedtime? Whatever it is, it will, in combination with thousands of others, strengthen your ‘faith muscle’. It will add to the process of you becoming more sure of what Jesus told us to hope for, and more certain of what you do not yet see.

I had suffered for several years with pain in my right hip that was getting worse, particularly if I had to sit for any length of time. At a healing conference the speaker said that he felt that if we had anything that needed healing, we should put our hand on the problem area and ask God to heal it. In that moment I had a choice, and I chose to ask God to heal my hip.

Immediately I felt God had touched me, but wanted more proof. After a 4 hour drive home and then another day conference sitting all day, I had no pain and knew that God had healed me. Praise God!

GOD HEALED ME

Linda Crawley

God had healed me. Praise God!

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on us that God might have other plans. Very little changed – in fact, it got worse. I was unhappier at work; our debt was not moving; and I was more discouraged than ever. We were confused about why God wasn’t doing anything.

When did you realise that He was in fact at work? The only thing that was shifting was our sense of belonging at St Barnabas. We started to believe God had a plan for us; to put down roots in North London and reach out to the people in this locality. So early last year we made a wish-list for God for that year: to have another child, move from our ground floor flat to a new house and provide new and fulfilling jobs – a bold list for just one year! Little did we know, while we were praying Jeanette was already pregnant! This made our need for a new home even more urgent – we started to search, knowing we needed God’s intervention. Shortly after, we

Interview by Hayley PavlouINTERVIEWwith Jonathan Burnett

Can you outline the challenges that you and your family have been facing?Three years ago, I found myself in a very negative place. I had been working for the same company for seven years without progression; properties we owned were losing value fast and I did not feel close to God or His people. My wife, Jeanette, was pregnant with our first child and we needed to be confident that our future as a family was secure; but we weren’t. The only option we could think of was to move out of London to somewhere cheaper.

Did you hear from God during this season?We felt that God was gently reminding us that He is our source of strength and that his presence would be with us, no matter what happened. We prayed; I applied for jobs outside of London; I got interviews, but the doors kept slamming shut. It began to dawn

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“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness And streams in the wasteland.”

received a gift of the full amount we needed for a deposit. With God’s favour, we moved in August and three weeks later our daughter, Rachel, arrived.

It sounds as though God had started to turn your situation around – is that the end of the story?I’m afraid not. This had all confirmed to us that God wanted us in North London, so we got stuck into the church community, but nothing had changed at work. In October we attended the St Bs Go Deeper awayday, where we were challenged to ‘put feet to our faith’ – God was calling us to a deeper, riskier, more trusting relationship with him. We decided to pray an hour a day about my job situation. On the third day of praying I was made redundant – I was shocked! It was unsettling – how would I provide for my wife, two young kids as well as the new mortgage?

How did this experience test your faith?I was confused about what God wanted from me – but He quickly responded with a number of verses from scripture that gave me peace and confidence – He was in control and instigating something new. Isaiah 43:18-19 stood out in particular:

So now I wait expectantly for God – not just to solve our problems, but to deepen my relationship with Him.

What would your advice be to other people who feel they’re going through the impossible?Don’t give up. Be open. God is leading you in a very definite way even if it doesn’t feel like it. You are not at the mercy of fate. Make your relationship with God your top priority.

Last November, the Justice Matters Missional Community teamed up with musicians from the Finchley Jam Missional Community and volunteers at Barnet Oxfam to host Oxjam Finchley – an evening of live music and fundraising in support of Oxfam. As well as the excellent line-up that included

acoustic folk, urban grime and high-octane rock, there was an array of stalls selling homemade cake, sweets and pizza. The event was a great success, both in terms of raising over £1,800 for an excellent cause, but also for forging some great new connections with others in our local area – the staff from Barnet Oxfam, who hosted a pop up Oxfam shop at the event, said they were inspired to meet a group of people so passionate about social justice, and several have since got involved with Justice Matters.

GOD WHO INSPIRES

Forging some great new connections

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Why do you think that it’s important that we do kids work?If we want to see the nation changed, we need to invest in our children’s ministry. There’s a 10 year window between the ages of 4 and 14, where people are most likely to come to faith. Children aren’t set in their ways, so working with kids is like ploughing into the most fertile soil. However, a recent Church of England survey found that nearly 50% of churches in the UK have fewer than five children under the age of 16 in the whole of the congregation! It’s so awful, some children are having so little interaction with church – I don’t think that the church, as a whole, fully ‘gets it’.

A VISION FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES

By Siming Hill

Elliott Ireton returned to our staff team here in September of last year, taking up the role of Children’s and Families Pastor. Having spent time out in Naivasha, Kenya, working with Helping Hands as our mission partners, Elliott and his wife Jo, along with their three children, are settling back into North London life. I spent a little bit of time with Elliott, hearing about his vision for our children’s ministry and finding out more about the exciting things that are happening.

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The children in Kids Church love to pray and sometimes lead the ministry time on Sunday themselves. Some recent answers to prayer include:

• One child was having bad dreams; he prayed and God gave him three good dreams

• We were talking about what God has done for us and invited those who wanted to follow Jesus to stand up. The whole of Kids Church stood up.

• A number of children recently joined the adult church to pray and prophesy over Liz and Stew Bewley when they were sent out

GOD LOVES CHILDREN

God gave him three good dreams

How many children do we have here at St Barnabas?We have about 150 on a Sunday, which is great. What’s really great though, is that it’s not just about teaching the gospel, it’s about allowing the children to experience God for themselves. We want to encourage the children to build up faith of their own.

This generation of children is growing up so fast, which is why it’s important to ask ourselves ‘what are we doing to prepare our kids for adulthood?’

– we need to grow them in their relationship with Jesus, so that they’re filled with his spirit. Wess Stafford, former President of Compassion International, speaks about how every opportunity that we have to spend time with a child is like a divine appointment, where we have the power to either build them up or crush them.

We want to encourage the children to build up faith of their own.

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So, Kids Church and Tots Church aren’t just places for the younger ones to go to whilst the adults get to enjoy the main service?No, definitely not! One of the biggest mistakes that we can make is to underestimate and overlook children. Children are the easiest group to be abused and ignored – I can’t get my head around the fact that in this country we have a royal society to protect our animals (RSPCA), and only a national society to protect our children (NSPCC). We need to challenge that way of thinking, and be careful not to overlook our children. In 1 Samuel 3, the boy, Samuel, learns to discern the voice of God with the help of Eli, the priest. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, had dedicated him to the Lord, and God speaks to him from a young age, using him powerfully, and making him a great leader.

How are we outward-focused in our children’s and families ministry?We run a number of weekly and monthly groups, including Barney’s Toddler Group, The Attic and Family Craft Morning. The Attic, for example, isn’t just an after-school

club, it’s an opportunity for relational evangelism amongst the largely un-churched. If you sit down with a

5 year old at the craft table and ask them about their week, and they’ve had a bad week – you get to pray with them! I measure our success by seeing the children who we’ve got to know, grow and be changed, rather than by the number of children we get coming. It’s not enough simply to put on good groups or events, and have hundreds of people coming – there’s more to it than that. Like on an afternoon when we’re running Springfest, and there’s a lot going on – we need to be on the lookout for low-lying fruit, being aware of those who are open to hearing about the gospel, and allowing ourselves to be prompted by God, rather than just casting out the net, and casting out the net, again and again.

If you sit down with a 5 year old at the craft table and ask them about their week, and they’ve had a bad week – you get to pray with them!

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Tell me about some of the new things that are happening?We’ve recently started a Year 5/6 group as part of Kids Church, as we’ve identifi ed that the older primary school aged children need something to take them a little bit further on, following on from the message, giving them opportunity to bring their questions. We’re also keen to see our older children serving in the life of the church – they’re already taking turns to help out at Tots Church, and we want to get them helping on hospitality team and prayer ministry team too! We’ve also launched a Kids and Families Ministry blog which includes the weekly talk, as well as songs and actions from Kids Church, which we hope will help to resource families to worship together at home.

What are the needs in our children’s and families ministry?Our need is the same here as at any church nationally and internationally – we need men and women to give their lives to our children, to commit themselves to seeing kids grow into knowing who Jesus is… whether it’s for a season, or forever!

What’s your vision for the Children’s Ministry here at St Bs?My vision used to be, simply to provide a place for children to meet with God, and whilst this is still true, I now also want to see children and their families come to know the reality of our powerful and almighty God. I want them not only to experience it, but to have faith in it. I have a vision for children and families living in renewal. We come to Christ by the power of his spirit, and we are renewed. I don’t think I fully understood that in my previous chapter here – ‘renewed children’s ministry’ means so much more to me now.

If you want to fi nd out more about Children’s and Families Ministry at St Bs, speak to Elliott or contact the team below:

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In February this year, St Bs new album, Our King was launched. Joshua Kane, St Bs Worship Pastor, tells us the story behind the production.

By Joshua Kane

OUR KING THE STORY OF THE NEW ST BS ALBUM

Our VisionEvery song that we write and sing at St Bs carries a story: Thirst came out of a time of worship and prayer; Your Love Saved The World was crafted and re-crafted, even as it was being recorded; God’s Beautiful Son came out of the writer’s relationship with God; Hope Everlasting was inspired by a Father’s Day sermon. They can be full of personal experience of God’s faithfulness, or be inspired by the beauty of the Psalms. Most of all, each tells a part of God’s story. Some of our songs celebrate what God

has done and is doing through Jesus, others call us to seek the Father heart of God and write some new chapters of our own. Songs can help us both to express and experience the love of God.

This gives the context to Our King – an album of 13 home-grown worship songs. Over the course of 2 months last year we started to shape and define the songs that have come out of the worship life of our church. As Worship Pastor here at St Barnabas I get to be on the front row as our worshippers and worship leaders bring fresh songs and sounds. I get to be the cheerleader as our songwriters open up their hearts and lives to express their passionate love of God and what he is doing. What an honour!

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We worship God passionately, creatively and in intimacy as he changes our lives and calls out to see his kingdom come.

Our King CD is available for sale from church; or

can be downloaded through itunes and

online

Our ProcessMost songs start off on acoustic guitar and piano, and come from the quiet spaces in the homes of the writers. We wanted to bring them together as an offering to God, and as something to bring our church together in worship. It can be tricky coming up with an album title. Most albums have a working title, but then like stepping back from a giant painting, you realise that all the individual brushstrokes have formed something different. Our working title was King of All, chosen because we wanted to reflect two things – that Jesus as King both transforms our lives, and changes the world. He both rules and relates to us. He reigns over the earth, and is active in bringing his kingdom to life in our hearts and in our streets. When we stepped back to look at all the individual songs at the end, we realised that the album was much more a reflection of our story – but I’m skipping on a bit there!

Over another two months, our friend Chris Gallimore joined us to record and produce. It was a lot of fun, and took a lot of work as Andy Yeates, myself and over twenty musicians and singers from our worship team created these sounds

and songs. Every musician, singer and songwriter involved has helped to shape this album into what it is – another part of God’s story, found in hearts and lives in North London. Again I’m getting ahead of myself. The next step was months of

mixing, mastering, tweaking and refining what we’d recorded into the 13 songs we now have.

Our HopeOur worship songs can find real strength and power when we use language that is rooted in our experience of God as a church. This album reflects the prayers and sermons of the last year, which in turn reflect what God is doing in and through our community. That’s why we called the album Our King, because these songs are part of our worship as a church. We worship God passionately, creatively and in intimacy as he changes our lives and calls out to see his kingdom come. That is Our King, and that is our story. He is the source of hope, life and salvation for all people – and he has called us his own. The sovereign King over all creation calls us into his presence, to tell us his story and help us to create new stories as we love and follow him. We hope that the album helps to reflect just a slice of what God is doing in us as a church. We also hope that as we sing and worship with these songs, God would use them to do in us together a new thing, as his light leads us on.

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A round-up of Who’s doing What, Where, When ... and sometimes Why

EquipThere have been a number of comings and goings – so, currently our Equip students are:

Chris Alexander Trainee Discipleship/Young Adults Pastor

Sharon Spencer Trainee Neighbourhood Worker

Anne Hawes Trainee Special Needs Families Worker

Jelena Shinhmar Trainee Children’s Pastor

Wendy Selby Trainee Children’s and Families Pastor

AJ Wade Trainee Youth Pastor

Grace McPhee Trainee Youth Pastor

Bella MutevelianWe are delighted that Bella has joined the Support Team as part-

time Admin and Finance Assistant.

Youth TeamFollowing Liz’s departure, we are pleased that James Brown, already

our Assistant Youth Pastor, has now taken on the role of Youth Worker; and Elliott Ireton and Ryan Venn-Dunn have increased responsibilities with hands-on oversight of the 11s-14s and 14s-18s respectively.

Liz Bewley We were sad to say farewell to Liz Bewley, who has been our Youth

Pastor for more than 8 years; but we are excited to be sending her, and husband Stew, out as Mission Partners from St Bs as Liz moves to Watford to work for onelife – a charity that exists to connect and equip young people to become exceptional leaders in every sphere of society. We look forward to staying in touch with the Bewley Family and seeing what God has in store for them.

STAFF NEWSThere have been a number of changes to the staff team over the past few months:

NEWS IN BRIEF

INSPIRE – BEFRIENDING AND ENCOURAGING

Inspire, part of BAMS (Befriending and Mentoring Scheme), is the latest exciting project from Hope North London. Inspire builds intentional relationships between volunteer befrienders and residents on our local estates who would like some encouragement in achieving a goal or someone to listen to them. The scheme is part of the Coach network and teaches the practical skills to be a good befriender and other important issues such as safeguarding and boundaries. So far 20 people from St Bs have been trained as befrienders and we look forward to further development of this project. If you would like to get involved, see back page for contact details.

YOUNG ADULTS RETREAT

In January, St Bs young adults went to Retreat To Advance, a New Wine retreat for 18s-30s at Centerparcs in Sherwood Forest. Ryan tells us: “Across the weekend there was a sense of God using the friendships, worship and brilliant teaching to refresh us and fill us with renewed passion for his kingdom. We left feeling inspired, with strengthened relationships and hearts full of love for Jesus and those he has called us to reach out to”.

SUNDAY LUNCHES WITH THE HOMELESS OUTREACH

Our Homeless Outreach Missional Community is always full of life. Every Sunday we have over 30 vulnerable people in need who come to St Bs to share food and friendship. We’ve cried along with their stories, eaten every kind of food possible through the generosity and talents of our volunteers and made lots of new friends. We are currently running an Alpha course to share more of our stories of what God has done in our lives – it’s been great fun!

100 YEARS IN HOLDEN ROAD

In March, we celebrated the centenary of our church building. We thank God for all that has happened in and from this building in the last 100 years and, with exciting developments on the building (see page 26), we look forward with great anticipation to what God has in store for us next.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

MARRIAGE WEEK

In February, we joined thousands of others in celebrating Marriage Week [see www.marriage-week.org.uk] by hosting two events: The Big Promise at which 30 couples poignantly renewed their wedding vows as part of a national prophetic statement about the place of marriage in society; and Laugh Your Way To A Better Marriage to which about 25 couples came and experienced the hilarious and helpful teaching of Mark Gungor.

MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES NEWS

This year has already seen some exciting developments with our Missional Communities. Homeless Outreach MC are now running an Alpha course, East Asian MC have several Japanese businessmen meeting to learn more about Christianity, and Create MC is becoming a Supper Club keen to meet and eat. There are more great missional activities in the pipeline, like English Café, with students travelling across London to practise their English, and N12 Community Choir. More than 350 people from St Bs are involved in an MC; if you want to join one, speak to David Brown: davidbrown@stbarnabas.co.uk

PRAYER (AND FASTING) AT ST BS

This year, Henry and Colin are calling the whole church to pray together once a term. The fi rst of these meetings, in February, was an inspiring and encouraging evening with more than 100 people worshipping, interceding and crying out to God. If you missed it, get the next one into your diary – Wednesday 21 May. The February meeting marked the beginning of a month of prayer and fasting as we prayed for 3 areas of church life: fi nances; building development; and more power of the Holy Spirit. It has been an exciting time as we have seen things shift on the building project and we are now waiting to see what else God has planned for us.

FOODBANK

We are very pleased to be involved in Finchley’s new foodbank, which opened in February. This is a joint project between church@fi ve, St Bs and St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church; and some other local churches are now also getting involved. There has been a great response to the request for food to be donated and these gifts have been well received by local people in food poverty. See back page for ways in which you can help.

23

HELEN IN HAITI

In January, Helen Shannon had the privilege of going with a team from The Message, to visit the amazing work of Compassion in Haiti. She said it was wonderful to see how Compassion works with, and through, the local church to meet the needs of the poorest of the poor. She also met church@five’s sponsored child, Psonica, and was delighted to be able to take a suitcase loaded with gifts from the families of church@five to the families of Haiti.

SPRINGFEST

March saw the church transformed for one of our regular family events, Springfest. We had an assault course, crafts, lots of games, a café, live animals and much more. We welcomed nearly 500 people from our local community and beyond and everyone had a great time thanks to a fantastic team of volunteers. If you missed it, make sure you get the next one in the diary – Autumnfest, on Saturday 19 October.

HOPE NORTH LONDON CEILIDH

February saw the church converted into a dancehall for the Hope North London ceilidh. Over 200 people were packed in for a great evening of dancing and fun to help celebrate the launch of Hope North London - the new name for St Bs partner charity, formerly known as Hope House.

For more information go to: www.hopenorthlondon.org.uk

24

BOOKREVIEW

Before you raise your defences at this book title, for a moment, put aside your scepticism. Open your hearts to a true story about a family who went through unfathomable suffering and praised God nonetheless. Whilst the title kick-starts a train of thought on one’s interpretation of heaven and near-death experiences, this is a story of a family facing tragedy and persevering with inspirational faith.

Against all oddsKevin Malarkey and his son Alex suffered a brutal car accident, leaving Alex paralysed and on the verge of death, sparking a chain of events which challenged the family’s faith. In the face of health diffi culties, fi nancial pressure and marital strains they pull together, placing their hope in Jesus.

Encountering GodThe family’s experiences will challenge the conservative reader, but is that a reason not to engage with their story? Do we not see miracles in the Bible? Did God not reveal himself as a pillar of fi re or burning bush, speak through a donkey or save people from the fl ames of a furnace? If we can believe these things, worshipping God still, surely we can read about a God who reveals himself to a young boy whilst he sleeps. Surely we can believe that miracles happened and that something of the supernatural realm merged with the natural. After all, isn’t that what happens when we pray?

Being challengedThat aside, this book moved me to tears on more than one occasion. It challenged me constantly about where my faith is on a daily basis and left me in awe of God. Whilst there are supernatural occurrences, some hard to comprehend, ultimately this book is about normal people going through hardships and trusting God throughout.

If you give this book a chance, be prepared for a rollercoaster journey. Your perception of God and what life’s about may be questioned. But I can assure you that if you really engage with this family’s faith-inspiring story, you will experience the love of God in a way that you hadn’t before!

THE BOY WHO CAME BACK FROM HEAVEN

By Paul Pavlou

By Kevin Malarkey

25

DISCOVERING GOD

In 2012, a friend invited me to church, and immediately I felt changed. Church was so different from the religious practices I knew back home – there were no conditions to meet and I was made to feel welcome from the start. I saw compassion and great energy as people worshipped with joy, and prayed for people in other countries. I started to attend every Sunday, as well as mid-week Bible studies, making contact with other believers, which helped me to grow spiritually. When I gave my heart to Jesus, I received the Holy Spirit and, for the first time, after years of searching, I became connected to God!

Finding GodI could not believe that finally I was able to feel God’s presence – the Lord who sacrificed his life to forgive my sins. It has transformed my life – I never feel lonely because he is in me, and my life has new meaning, knowing that he has chosen me. Of course, problems will always exist in life, but with the power and confidence that Jesus has given me, I am able to overcome them. I now know that ‘I can do all this through him who gives me strength’ (Philippians 4:13).

Vida

Growing UpI grew up under the restrictions of a newly founded Islamic Republic government in Tehran. I began each school day with compulsory prayer, before reciting the Quran throughout the day. Despite daily prayer, I still felt disconnected from God and began to lose interest in my religion. With so many years of feeling lost and lonely, I grew impatient, but I never gave up searching for God.

Moving to LondonI married in 2007, and moved to London so that I could study for a PhD. However, my husband frequently had to travel back to Iran for work. Once again, I grew lonely and suffered from depression, which worsened over time.

Being Invited to Church

I saw compassion and great energy as people worshipped with joy

26

By Henry Kendal

After years of doors closing on the prospect of a new building for St Barnabas, the last 3 months have seen more progress towards our vision than the previous decade. Henry tells the story of an incredible journey.

The amazing journey of the building development

GOD ON THE MOVE

I decided to walk by faith and not by sight and put my hand in the hand of God

November 2013However, a chance conversation led us to ask the diocese if they would consider purchasing for us, on the basis that we would eventually buy it off them once we were in a position to do so. This is a huge property deal running into many millions of pounds, and I am unaware, in the history of the Church England, of any vicar ever asking his diocese to do so much for just one church. To our amazement they agreed to consider this.

Into the New YearIn the first two months of 2014 the process of consideration was undertaken by the diocese, involving professional advisors and a number of diocesan committees. The weight of importance of this process was not lost on us and Colin and I decided that we must once more call the church to prayer – we set a month of prayer and fasting from 5 February to 8 March.

January 2013Following the leading of a number of prophetic words, at the beginning of 2013 we decided to try to acquire an enormous building on the High Road which, whilst larger than we need, is in a great location. The plan would be to move into the building, after appropriate works to convert part of it for our purposes. The whole project looked impossible from the start, as Church of England procedures are fundamentally incompatible with hard-nosed commercial property dealing.

27

Watch this space!

February 2014The process of considering the proposal culminated in a diocesan finance committee meeting. Our concern was whether this committee’s accountants and management executives would catch the vision. To our amazement, on Thursday 13 February the committee approved the proposal. We now needed none of the 50+ Diocesan Trustees to object and we could proceed. My heart sank – in such a large group, surely someone would object. The deadline was 24 February.

Six days before the trustees’ deadline, we received the astonishing news that the owners of the High Road property had put it on the market. This was a complete surprise as we had not been sure they were interested in selling – the timing was extraordinary. We continued earnestly to pray that the trustees would not object. The deadline came and went without a single objection – another miraculous hurdle was overcome.

March 2014As soon as we reached this momentous milestone, we heard that bids had to be submitted in just 9 days time; so we worked flat out to put a bid together and our offer went in.

However excitement soon changed to bewilderment – there were over 15 bidders and our offer was much lower than others being considered. After much prayer and consultation, we decided to step out in faith and increase our bid. But again we suffered a crushing disappointment as we were hugely outbid and the vendors agreed to sell to another bidder.

At this point my faith was severely tested. We had seen amazing things happen, all pointing towards this building, and now that cause was lost. I struggled to make sense of this aborted journey. By an act of will, I decided to walk by faith and not by sight, and to put my hand in the hand of God and walk blindly onwards, not understanding where God might lead.

Ten days passed, and whilst I, along with many others, continued to pray for a miracle, I also tried to think through the implications of this failure for the future of our church. And then came the incredible news that the high bidders had pulled out and we, along with two others, were again being considered. Despite being asked to increase our bid, we knew we had to keep to our offer – if God wanted us to have the property He would have to give it to us at that price. Bewilderment was changed back to excitement when we heard that we were the preferred bidder! At the time of writing, our purchase is progressing.

What next?Humanly there are still enormous obstacles ahead of us, some of which I have no idea how they will be overcome, but by faith I believe God is providing this building for us. So far it has been an incredible rollercoaster journey of faith, yet I have a suspicion that we’ve only just begun.

To East FinchleyHIGH ROAD NORTH FINCHLEY A1000

WO

OD

SID

E PA

RK

RD

WOODSIDE PARKNORTHERN LINE

To Whetstone& Barnet

HOLDEN ROAD

To Finchley Central

St Barnabas

TALLY HO

St BarnabasHolden Road

Woodside ParkLondon

N12 7DN

Tel: 020 8343 5770Email: theoffi ce@stbarnabas.co.uk

www.stbarnabas.co.uk

St Bs and church@fi ve are working in partnership with St Mary’s RC Church and other churches to run the Finchley Foodbank. You can help by contributing items from the list below (please put them in the trolleys which you will fi nd in the Rose Window Area at St Bs):

• Tins (meat, fi sh, soup, vegetables, fruit, sponge puddings, rice puddings)

• Packets and cartons (sugar, long life milk, fruit juice, cereals, tea bags, instant coffee, rice/pasta, biscuits & chocolate bars)

• Jars (pasta sauce, jam)

• Cleaning products (washing-up liquid, washing powder)

• Toiletries (shower gel, shampoo, deodorant, shaving foam, razors)

To fi nd out more and/or volunteer to help, contact Vanessa: fi nchleyfoodbank@gmail.com 07745 234406

Finchley Foodbank

Inspire – Befriending and EncouragingIf you are passionate about people, would like to walk alongside somebody in the joys and struggles of life and help them to reach their potential, then why not get involved in this new Hope North London project.

NO QUALIFICATION NEEDED

FULL TRAINING AND SUPPORT GIVEN

ContactBeth Stone 020 8343 6141bethstone@stbarnabas.co.uk