Rice Noodles Yum

I've not read this book but it arrived in our house recently and my wife is enjoying it.

The author is married to a former assistant here.

More here.

See also here.

Midweek Meeting June 6 2018 etc

For quite a while I have been reporting on this blog what goes on at our regular meetings on the Lord's Day and on Wednesday nights. I didn't do this at first but as these loom so large in my weekly life it seemed strange to say nothing about them week after week.  There is an opitimum two or three day turn around time between each one and sometimes I am a little late with my updates.

We are quite late in the week for this one but I think that has turned to my advantage in the end. I say that because on Wednesday we had a visiting speaker. It was Robin Asgher from Cranford. Robin grew up in Pakistan and I first met him when I was a lecturer on the EMF course. He went on to do two years at the Seminary and was my assistant for a year before beginning as a church planter in Cranford, West London. He always speaks about me and that time very warmly.

It was great to have him back then and hear a little about the work in Cranford which now includes opportunities at nearby detention centre with immigrants interested in the Christian faith. The main topic was reaching out to Muslims. We are having a special focus on outreach in the area this month. He has a lot of experience in that area and had helpful things to say.

One reason I am not sorry to have left this report a little is that the next evening we had a visit from Luke Jenner, who had been lecturing on Acts at the Seminary. He is one of many students who, like Robin, were regularly with us during their time at seminary. Generally speaking I think these were positive times for the men involved. We certainly appreciated having them with us. (I am tempted to start listing them but I will leave someone out I'm sure. There are many. Robin, Mark Raines, Ian Middlemist and Andrew Lolley stand out as they also served as assistants). Most of these men are in ministry at present. I get rather discouraged sometimes and one bright spot that makes me confident it has not been as bad as I feel is these former members of the congregation.

The other reason I am glad that I have delayed is that Robin was encouraging us to be friendly to Muslims and to take time to get to know them. Well, today was the first day of door to door and a deacon and I knocked in one of the high rise flats near the church. Most people were out though those who were in were friendly enough. Then we knocked a door and the lady, a Muslim, I recognised from a local shop. She invited us in for a cuppa and we had a good chat while some Hindi gameshow played on a TV in the corner. She was very positive about Islam (though not fasting and unenthusiastic about some of its modern manifestations). One could think of several women in the congregation who might be able to befriend her and I must get hold of a bilingual New Testament for her. An encouraging start then.

We also had our second actual men's meeting. I must report on that elsewhere.

Lord's Day October 19 2014

So we ended up in Edinburgh on the Lord's Day. I have heard many times of Charlotte Chapel (no doubt because this is where Graham Scroggie, Alan Redpath and Derek Prime ministered in the past). The current senior minister is a man called Paul Rees, originally from Cardiff. He and his wife are good friends of my sister-in-law and her husband so he heard that we were in town and very kindly invited me to join him for breakfast (I went for salted porridge as we were in Scotland, very nice. I'd had an Irn Bru the night before as I like to get the feel of a place). Paul grew up Brethren, came to London and attended St Helen's was a dentist then studied at Moore, Sydney and led a church in Spokane before coming to Edinburgh. His wife Shiona is Scots. He showed me the massive old St George's West which they have purchased and plan to move into (the present chapel is on something of a side street and the main auditorium is up a flight of stairs).

I'm not often in a large church. One is always impressed by how efficient they are getting people in and giving them coffee after, etc. It's like having a conference every week I guess. There was  an eight piece band in the organ loft who were good musicians and not over conspicuous though some of the song choices were a little weak I felt. The apprentice Ross led very well. The assistant Matt Round preached a very thorough sermon on Matthew 11:25-30, a bit too much to the will rather than the heart I felt. Everyone was very friendly and warm and welcoming. There must have been 600 and more of diverse ages and backgrounds. It was good to be there.

We had to travel back to London before the evening service so I downloaded a sermon for us on the train. People always speak well of the preaching of my former assistant Mark Raines so I got hold of his sermon on Proverbs 26, which he did indeed preach very well.

 

 

Visitors

Underhills, Raines (the Raines are in our front room, of course, or may be not)

When I was a boy we didn't have many visitors and when any did come it was always a special occasion that I enjoyed. I've tried to think why. It's not just that we would often have cake I'm sure. It was more the novelty of having someone fresh in our home talking away about different things. There is an argument to say that time more or less stands still when you have visitors. You have to catch up eventually, of course, but while the visit lasts it's "magic time".

I say this following two welcome visits last weekend from overseas visitors. First, last Saturday we had our friends Mark and Abby Raines here with their children. Mark studied at LTS some while ago and then served as an assistant here for a year before heading to America, where they have been for the last 10 years. Abby is from the Philippines and they met in London. Mark works in the Reformed Baptist Church in Holland, Michigan. They have been over celebrating his parents fiftieth anniversary. it was great to see them.

Then last Monday we had a welcome visit from Keith and Priscilla Underhill from Nairobi, Kenya. Keith was a student in Aberystwyth once upon a time but has spent his life preaching the gospel in Kenya and is a latter day Apostle to Kenya, if we can use that phrase without any non-cessationist overtones. It was my privilege to preach there the year before last. They have been visiting their grown up children and others in America and the UK and very kindly popped into visit us en route from Hayes to Southend. They seem to be thinking of retirement back here in a couple of years time

Mark Raines and family

Mark Raines was my assistant at one time and I thought that for various reasons some readers of this blog might be interested to read the above article from MLive.com. See here. Double click to read the above.