SYZYGY MISSIONS SUPPORT NETWORK

There can be no doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson, who announced his retirement from Manchester United last Wednesday after an incredible 27 seasons, is an extraordinary character. Love him or loathe him, it is impossible to deny his impact on MUFC and his achievement as the club’s most successful manager, despite many other great names having held the same position. He has won the Manager of the Year award more times than any other British manager.  The news of his retirement hit news headlines and front pages, and the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson even did a prime time report analysing his qualities as a leader – ‘I’ve yet to see [a leader] to match Sir Alex’, he commented.

This is something that leaders in mission agencies might want to reflect on. Probably more flawed and controversial than many of us (how many of us have kicked a boot at one of our team members?!), Fergie nevertheless has a number of qualities we would do to emulate:

A long-term view. As well as staying in his post for an incredibly long time (he was MU manager before many of his current players were born!), he has also taken a long-term approach to team development. While the success of the team has often revolved around star players like Keane, Cantona, Ronaldo and Beckham, Fergie has always brought new players in to ensure a broad and deep skill base, even rebuilding the team when necessary. He recognises that his players are only with him for a few years, and he plans beyond that time frame.

Perseverence. It hasn’t always gone well. Some years have yielded no silverware at all, and there have been calls for his resignation, particularly in the early days. MUFC won nothing in his first three seasons, their best result being runner up in the league. But he remained focussed, and over time has delivered an unparalleled collection of trophies. Results are more often delivered over time than in the first few years.

Ability to manage volatile people. Let’s face it, most of his players are young, overpaid prima donnas. Many of them have personal issues, particularly with anger. They’re not ideal team players. Their egos can get in their way. Does that sound a bit like your team? Fergie didn’t change them – he channelled them. He gave them a vision of what they could achieve together and enabled them to raise their expectations above their own personal goals.

We should also take note that there are aspects of his character however that are completely incompatible with Christian mission. For example, his leadership style is utterly uncompromising – ‘My way or the highway’ – which while delivering excellent results does not always deliver good relationships. It is widely rumoured that many of his best players ultimately moved on because they didn’t like the changing room environment his iron hand created. But this did not seem to matter significantly to him, since there were always plenty of new players to replace them. As one member care agency comments – The Great Commission should not be fulfilled at the expense of the greatest commandment.

All of his success of course, has been achieved on the back of a massive investment budget which has turned Manchester United from a football team to a global brand. Maybe developing inward investment should be our first priority!

Whether we like Sir Alex or not, or follow his team, we would do well to study his leadership style and cherry pick the best of it. He understands how to motivate and inspire people.

A happy landing? (Image: SXC)

Overseas mission workers need to be aware of developments in taxation which may affect you as a result of the publication of the Statutory Residence Test (SRT) which came into force on 6^th April 2013 and is causing a lot of concern in the missions community.  This is important as you may find yourself hit with a large income tax bill which you didn’t expect.

The SRT is an attempt to codify into law the various provisions and allowances which have grown up around whether you are considered to be resident in the UK or not.  This is significant because UK residents are taxed on their global income, and non-residents only on their UK income.  The new test may inadvertently catch out some mission workers who receive their income overseas but spend a lengthy time in the UK for home assignment, or to have a baby.   This is because in previous years a rolling total of days in the UK was allowed before becoming automatically resident, so the calculation for residency was an average of more than 90 days per year over a four year period; now it is a total of more than 90 days in any given tax year.

The test has three parts:

1. whether you are automatically non-resident;
2. whether you are automatically resident;
3. if neither of the above, whether you are resident or non-resident according to whether you have sufficient ties to the UK

The details of these are complicated, as you would expect.  We’ve tried to simplify them for you, but make sure you read the provisions for yourself to check your situation.  There are complicated definitions, and special provisions where a stay in the UK straddles two tax years.  But in a nutshell, one tax advisor commented:  “We feel that it is much easier to become unintentionally resident than before, and harder to cease residence again.”

How much will your visit cost you? (Image: SXC)

Examples:

You are automatically non-resident if:

• you have lived and worked abroad for 2 years, and return to the UK every year for no more than 16 days; or
• you have lived and worked abroad for 4 years, and return to the UK every year for not more than 46 days; or
• you work full-time abroad and return to the UK for less than 91 days and the number of days on which you do more than 3 hours’ work in the UK is less than 31.

You are automatically resident if:

• you spend 183 days or more in the UK.  This test is of vital significance for mission workers on home assignment for more than six months; or
• you have a home in the UK for a period of more than 90 days, and you are present in that home for at least 30 days, and you have no overseas home or an overseas home in which you spend more than 30 days.

To help you through this process, we have produced two flow charts helping you through the tests.  Click on the links below to see a pdf.

Automatic overseas test     Automatic UK test

These are not definitive and you should consult the HMRC website for yourself.  You should take advice from your agency, or if you don’t have one, an accountant.

Our recommendations are that you investigate this situation thoroughly before you spend more than two weeks in the UK, keep records of when you travel to the UK and how many days you spend here, and a log of the amount of working hours you do each day and where you stay.  Craziness!

The fundamental implication of all this is that we may be seeing the end of year-long home assignment (which is a trend already under way anyway).  Anyone who does a home assignment of more than 90 days will clearly be resident and liable to UK taxation.  This of course is no change from the current situation, but the formalisation of the rules will make it harder for agencies and individual mission workers to ‘forget’ them.

You can read the full text of the new provisions here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget-updates/11dec12/stat-res-test-note.pdf.

During the week following Easter, Syzygy was represented at Spring Harvest by Tim, who was helping out in the Vocation Zone.  This is a project run by Christian Vocations in partnership with Spring Harvest, which aims to help people recognise their God-given abilities and understand where they can exercise them appropriately, whether in the workplace, church or overseas mission.

A steady flow of visitors to Spring Harvest came through the Vocation Zone, many of them looking at vacancies in Christian organisations which were displayed on the jobs wall, taking home resources such as the Short Term Service Directory, or using the computers to do some of the reflective exercises.  All these activities can lead to a discussion with an advisor (Paul, Tim and Rachel) who were available to help people think through issues and gain some focus for finding a way forward.

Many of the visitors to the Vocation Zone came because they were aware of dissatisfaction with their current role.  A lot of them were teachers, frustrated with bureaucracy; others were people in dead-end jobs looking for more fulfilment, and many were facing redundancy.

One such visitor was a man who had been in the same job for 20 years and he didn’t like it.  He wanted a change but didn’t know where to start.  We started him off with some of our diagnostic tools.  Having done a ‘career check up’ he had realised that his job wasn’t as bad as he had thought it was, and following a long conversation he discovered that he actually quite liked his job, but felt unsupported in it.  Added to that, the general level of change and uncertainty in his life had left him emotionally unable to deal with the challenges he faced.  Empowered by this understanding, he was able to develop a plan to engage better with his employers and develop his workplace skills.

Some of the visitors were people approaching retirement who were looking for ways to use their availability to serve God abroad, and a large number of the visitors were young people looking to do mission during their gap year.  Using the Christian Vocations resources such as the magazine Mission Matters and the mission vacancies listings we were able to point many of them to the mission field, including several who’d never considered going abroad or had thought their circumstances made it impossible.

Vocation Zone is an important part of events like Spring Harvest as it gives a mission-focussed edge in the context of many thousands of Christians coming together.  It is also at New Word Alive and Keswick, so make sure you drop by if you are ever at any of these events.  Our friends at Oscar run a similar Missions Advice Area at New Wine.  If you can’t get to any of these events, most of the resources are available online at www.christianvocations.org, and so are all the job vacancies, both in the UK and overseas.  Please pray for the hundreds of people impacted by Vocation Zone each year.

Much confusion lies around the right of British overseas mission workers to access NHS services when they are back in the UK for a short visit.  Since most of us serving God abroad are not wealthy, this is of vital significance (perhaps literally) since we do not have the resources to pay for private treatment.  The general rule is that British citizens who live abroad are not allowed free use of NHS services unless they have been in the UK for 12 months.  BUT there is a specific exemption for mission workers.  Click here for further information from a booklet by the Department of Health and read regulation 20 on page 42.

This says:

People acting as Missionaries (i.e. doing religious and social work) overseas for an organisation principally based in the United Kingdom, regardless of whether they are drawing a salary or wage or receiving any kind of funding or financial assistance from that organisation, are exempt from charges.

This booklet also makes it clear that the spouse and children of such a person are also exempt, even if travelling to Britain independently.

However, many providers of NHS services are not aware of this exemption, so it would be worth your while printing a copy of this page out and taking it with you when you visit the doctor or hospital.  You should also take a letter from your agency confirming that you are a mission worker.  If you do not have an agency, try taking a letter from your church instead.

The Department of Health booklet also talks on page 60 about accessing GP services, for which there is no minimum residency requirement.  Rather than trying to find a new GP who doesn’t know you, try if you can to see a family doctor with whom you already have a relationship.  GPs who have been seeing patients for a number of years are often willing to keep them on the books even when they move abroad.

Stewardship has a very clear and helpful briefing paper about this.  Our ever-dependable friends at Oscar have a very informative article by Richard Kellow about what can go wrong if you are honest enough to tell your healthcare provider that you have not been resident in the UK for the last 12 months, but as you read it be aware that the regulations have changed since he wrote it, and there is an update beneath it.  Oscar also have a draft generic exemption letter on their medical advice page.

When planning to serve God abroad, one of the decisions we have to make is what to do with our houses.  Many of us let them out, either commercially or to friends, and the principal advantage of this is that we have somewhere to come back to, when (and if) we retire.  It can also double as a source of income, and somewhere to keep our furniture and other personal belongings.  However, there are also plenty of drawbacks to letting out our homes.  Lengthy periods without a tenant, or tenants who fail to pay the rent or abuse the property are some of the most obvious, but there are many other pitfalls.

We have discovered that most sending agencies and churches decline to give advice about letting one’s house out, since they are reluctant to be seen to be giving financial advice.  So we have produced this blog as a guide to some of the challenges involved in letting out property while you are abroad.  It is important to stress that this is not advice on what decisions to make, and you should consult professional advisers where appropriate.  A fuller version of this blog can be found on our briefing papers page.

Issues concerning tenants: you may need to think about the type of tenants you want to attract.  Do you want long- or short-term tenants?  Professionals?  Students?  Do you let the house furnished, in which case your furniture can be damaged – I heard of a tenant who threw away a mission worker’s dining table because she didn’t like it, and left the sofa in the garden!  If you let it unfurnished, where do you store your furniture?

Financial issues: one challenge may be getting a mortgage, particularly as you may not have a regular stream of income so lenders may be reluctant to take on your risk.  A buy-to-let mortgage may solve this, but may be more expensive.  An Independent Financial Advisor can help you with this.  If you already have a mortgage, you should check that by letting you’re not invalidating the terms of your mortgage.  You also need to recognise that part of the risk of renting is having periods when you have no tenant.

Agent issues: if you engage a professional agent to administer your letting for you, be aware that a commission of 10-17% of the rent may actually cream off all your profits.  They may also charge you high fees for sending out plumbers or decorators.  But they do have insurance, and knowledge of the legal situation which can be a minefield.  Leaving this responsibility to a busy sibling or elderly parent may be a heavy burden.

Maintenance issues:  looking after your property becomes harder when you are overseas.  Little repairs which you would normally do yourself will have your tenants calling out a professional who may charge you a significant fee.  How are you going to maintain the garden?  Expect the tenants to do it?  Pay for a professional gardener?  Replace it with low maintenance shrubs?

Tax issues: You will be liable to pay tax on the rental income you get, although you can claim your legitimate expenses as tax deductible.  Under HMRC’s Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, agents are normally required to pass on rent net of basic rate income tax, but if you are living abroad with little likelihood of having to pay UK tax, then you may apply for your rent to be passed on gross.  A qualified accountant can help you with this.

Legal issues:  Lessors are responsible for health & safety compliance, and failure to do so is a criminal offence which can result in a prison sentence and/or a substantial fine.  And that’s only for non-compliance.

And finally: Don’t become emotionally involved with your property; no one will look after it as well as their own home; so don’t be upset with the state of the property at the end of the tenancy.

In conclusion: when letting your house out, our recommendations are that you should consider:

• consulting an Independent Financial Advisor for help getting the right mortgage.  You can find a list of IFAs here
• engaging a reputable agent and having a formal tenancy agreement with your tenant
• using a chartered accountant to prepare your tax return
• having a solicitor briefed to help you in an emergency
• opening a savings account with 6 months mortgage payments
• checking out various ‘moving house’ related services at Oscar

Syzygy would like to acknowledge the help of Mike Frith of Oscar and letting agent Chris Scupham in producing this paper.  For more specific information please contact us at info@syzygy.org.uk.

Snow is falling in England, at the time of writing (23.1.13).  It usually happens a few times in winter, but it’s unusual for it to be quite so deep or to lie around for more than a few days, particularly in the warmer south.  Our continental neighbours who are more accustomed to snow must marvel at the havoc and delight it causes.  Schools close.  Deliveries cease.  Traffic stops.  Instead, people make snowmen and throw snowballs.  We go sledging.  Facebook is filled with photos of cute children playing in the snow.

At least for a few days, until we get fed up with wet shoes, cold fingers and traffic chaos, we are thrilled.  Children want to go out and play with it.  Even adults become childlike and light-hearted.  We play in it, and marvel at its sparkly beauty and the silence it creates.

Why do we like snow so much?  What is it about it that we find beautiful?  What is its appeal?  Is it merely that it highlights the bare branches of trees and covers unsightly streets and buildings with a silent shroud of serene white?  Or is there something deeper, visceral, instinctive in it?  Something intuitive that we subconsciously connect with?

In the Bible, snow doesn’t feature much.  It is an occasional meteorological phenomenon (2 Samuel 23:20), and sometimes it is used simply to describe something particularly white (Exodus 4:6).  It occasionally snows in Israel, particularly on the higher mountains like Hermon, but for much of the year, it’s just too hot.  In a hot,  dry, dusty climate, things don’t generally stay white for long, so things that are intrinsically white are often  used as metaphors.  Snow, wool and milk are all biblical examples of this.  Where they come into their own is when they acquire a spiritual significance because of their colour.  White is deeply significant.

In cultures all over Europe and Asia white is, understandably, associated with cleanliness, and by extension purity and innocence.  Ancient Egyptian and Roman priests wore white.  Babylonians and Chinese recognised the dualistic tension between white and black, day and night, yin and yang, good and evil.  Brahmins wore it, and Japanese pilgrims do.  Moslems on the hajj wear white.  So it is clearly not merely Judeo-Christian imagery, but something common to humanity.  Where does the link with purity come from?  It may be that it is simply because milk is white, that it became associated with the innocence of a baby, unsullied by the world.  But I think it goes back further than that.

Genesis tells us that on day one, God made light.  The first thing that God created, even before he made heaven and earth.  Light, in its purest form, when it is not bouncing off objects, is brilliant white.  Light is frequently associated with purity, understanding, and God – ‘who dwells in unapproachable light’ (1 Timothy 6:16).  God’s clothes are described as white as snow (Daniel 7:9) and so were the angel’s (Matthew 28:3).  John says the same of the hair of the risen Jesus (Revelation 1:14).

So, deep in our folk memories, the whiteness of snow reminds us of God’s purity.  It reminds us of our desire to be cleansed and become pure like God.  Two of the most famous verses about snow are about finding forgiveness.  David, repenting of his sin, said to God ‘Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow’(Psalm 51:7).  And God’s great promise of forgiveness and cleansing to humankind in Isaiah 1:18: ‘Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow.’

Deep snow covers up all manner of ugliness, making even the roughest outlook beautiful.  When I see urban wastelands blanketed in this picture of innocence, I am reminded that God’s love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).  When we look out on a pristine white landscape, let’s take the opportunity to glorify God who is even more pure, and who will one day grant his followers the privilege of dressing, like him, in white (Revelation 19:8).

In a close and controversial move last week the Church of England narrowly voted not to allow women to become bishops.  Over three years ago we commented on this ongoing debate, which has rumbled on since women were allowed to become priests nearly 20 years ago.  The vote was passed by the Bishops and the Priests, but was narrowly voted down by lay representatives of churches.

The no votes represent a small alliance of conservative evangelicals who believe in male headship in the church, and Anglo-Catholics concerned that female bishops will break the principal of apostolic succession, by which each bishop can trace his authority back to St Peter by receiving an anointing from his predecessor.  Special arrangements had been offered them in a major compromise by the ‘yes’ lobby, safeguarding the right of individual parishes to opt out of their diocesan structure and be overseen by an itinerant male bishop, but it appears this did not appease the ‘no’ party.

In the last 20 years the number of women priests has steadily swelled and they have earned respect in their parishes and communities.  It is widely believed that over 90% of church members are in favour of them, which is just as well as they now make up 1/3 of total Church of England priests, and in 2010 the number of women ordained exceeded the number of men.

Now that this proposal has been voted down, despite the vocal backing of the current Archbishop of Canterbury and his successor Justin Welby, there is little likelihood of the first female bishop being consecrated for at least five years.  This remains an ongoing source of hurt and division in the church which shows no sign of going away.  It also leaves the Church of England in the unfortunate position of actively discriminating against women, taking advantage of its unique exemption from equality legislation.  The irony is that there are already voices calling for parliament to remove this immunity, which would legally require the Church of England to appoint female bishops without implementing any of the safeguards for dissenting parishes.  The ‘no’ vote may have shot itself in both feet.

Please pray for healing, reconciliation, forgiveness and mutual understanding in the church.

_______________

The previous week,  in a highly unusual exercise in participative democracy, England & Wales elected their first directly-elected Police & Crime Commissioners (PCCs).  In 41 police force areas across the two countries (London already has the equivalent powers vested in its Mayor), appointed Police Authorities were replaced by publicly-elected individuals who will have the power to set policing priorities and hold the Chief Constable accountable for achieving them, even to the point of having the power of dismissal.

However, such a radical introduction of local democracy to a state not typically known for exercises in democratic grassroots accountability was met not with enthusiasm but with an overwhelming display of apathy and antipathy.  With just 15% of the electorate voting, the lowest ever turnout for a national poll, there are valid questions about the authenticity of the PCCs’ mandate.  Of those voters who turned up at the hustings, between 2.5% and 4%  spoiled their  ballot papers, indicating an underlying dissatisfaction with the concept.  Psephologists normally agree that anything over 2% is an indication of problems.  It was widely reported that comments objecting to bringing party politics into policing were written on papers.

The Labour Party is blaming the government for what it calls a ‘shambles’.  It points out that despite spending £75m organising the elections, candidates were denied a budget for mailshots and publicity, meaning that many citizens were either unaware of the elections or ignorant of who was standing.  The government, which has been enthusiastic about pursuing  a policy of ‘localism’ – giving more power to local government and reducing the size of national government – blames the media for not creating enough publicity.  The Electoral Commission has announced that it will be reviewing the poll.

It appears that alongside general unawareness of the elections or the significance of them, there was a lot of public discontent at the perceived politicising of policing.  Since independent candidates had no public budget to fund their campaign, it was seen as likely that representatives of political parties would be able to get themselves elected.  In the end, this predication proved wrong, as 11 of the elected PCCs stood as independents.  16 were Conservatives and 15 Labour.  it remains to be see whether the independent candidates were voted for on merit or as part of an anti-party vote.  When they are reelected in four years’ time the parties may do better.

Please pray for the PCCs, that they will succeed in maintaining their political independence and will be genuinely democratically accountable.

_______________

In other news, in a small but significant court case, a man who was demoted at work for expressing views about same-sex marriage on his personal Facebook account won an appeal.  He had commented, outside of work hours, that requiring churches to perform same-sex ceremonies was ‘an equality too far’.  Two colleagues complained and his employer, a housing trust, demoted him for misconduct, resulting in a 40% reduction in his salary.  The High Court judge said that he had done ‘nothing wrong’, thereby setting a precedent that Christians cannot be disciplined in the workplace for expressing their views outside of work.

Our verdict: Lions 2, Christians 1 (see A little more secular)

Please pray that this precedent will protect other Christians from workplace discrimination.

The recent Olympic and Paralympic Games in London have certainly inspired the British, who greatly enjoyed hosting and participating in the games.  After much typically British cynicism and low expectations, we ended up surprising ourselves by not only organising the games well, but by becoming enthusiastic and cheerful participants, whether as competitors, spectators, volunteers or observers.  It was the only time in my life I have been able to smile at a stranger on the London Underground and not be regarded with utmost suspicion.

We thrilled at the drama of the games, recognising the courage and endurance it takes not only for the few moments of competition but in all the early mornings, long hours of training, struggling for funding and overcoming personal challenges needed to rise to the top of any sport, and particularly Paralympics.  We appreciated the genuine humility of the competitors, in contrast to many overpaid prima donnas who enjoy soccer celebrity.  We marvelled at their achievements: hundreds of world records fell during these games, demonstrating the extreme achievement of the athletes.  In several finals, every participant achieved at the very least a personal best, with world, Olympic and regional records being broken as well.

When everyone gets a Personal Best!

This has caused me to reflect on the Biblical references to games such as these.  St Paul, unusually for a Jewish person of his time, seems to have enjoyed sport, and referenced it in his letters, often as an example of personal discipline or endurance.  Running, boxing and chariot racing are mentioned or implied in his letters.  The writer to the Hebrews does the same, and in one famous passage draws inspiration from the stadium which would have been familiar to many of his readers.  In the opening two verses of chapter 12 we find references to the spectators, training weights, baggy and inconvenient togas (ancient athletes had to compete naked because they hadn’t invented lycra), running, endurance, contest and of course, the finishing line.

These sporting references are often overlooked because they are not instantly obvious to modern readers.  But the implication is clear: the Christian life is a race which demands of us everything demanded of Olympic champions: discipline, focus, dedication, commitment and endurance.  Such characteristics are available to all of us, athletic or not, by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  They are choices we make and attitudes we adopt.  We are not in competition with each other, but with ourselves, in our efforts to achieve a personal best.  Paul reminds us that the winning athletes only got a perishable laurel wreath to wear, whereas we get an everlasting one.  ‘So run in order to win’, he exhorts us (1 Corinthians 9:24).  If they put themselves through all that sacrifice just to get a bunch of leaves, he implies,  what will we do to earn an eternal crown of righteousness?

I wonder how many Christians bear more resemblance to chubby spectators sitting in front of the television than they do to the world’s greatest athletes.

Earlier this year we considered state pensions.  While it’s important for every UK citizen to protect their right to the state pension, we are all aware that despite significant recent increases, it is still not very much, which is why it’s called a basic pension.  The current basic state pension is just £107.45 a week, so to be able to have a realistic income on retirement, we need to explore ways of boosting it.  Realistically, this may be hard for many of us who face financial challenges anyway, but we need to recognise that our daily living expenses may well increase on returning to the UK, and our support giving may drop once we are no longer serving abroad.

If you are deemed as employed by a sending agency, they should already have made you aware of their pension arrangements.  Any UK organisation which employs more than 5 people is required to provide a pension plan.  You don’t have to take this up, but if you don’t, you could also be missing out on the money that your employer will put into YOUR pot.  It may not be much, but you’re entitled to it.  Ask your finance manager for information.

Another alternative is to investigate paying into your own pension plan.  You don’t need to be employed to have one of these, and they have an advantage that for every £1 you pay in, the government will contribute a further 25p.  Yes!  Money for nothing from the government!  This is because pensions are regarded as tax-deductible, and you may be eligible for the government’s contribution even if you don’t pay tax!  This makes a pension one of the most effective ways of saving money, as long as you are prepared to lock it away till you retire.  If you live abroad there may be further complications though – some pension plans retire you to return regularly to the UK.

All this may be a bit confusing and you may want to know where to go for help.  Any UK bank or building society will be able to provide products for you from their own (limited) range of pension products, and some other companies are well known.  The best way to seek advice is to find an independent financial advisor.  They are able to provide you with a wide range of products from different suppliers, and are obliged to declare to you what they’re earning in commission so that you are aware whether they’re pushing products with higher commissions.  You can also decide how you pay them – whether by a set fee or by agreeing to them taking a commission.  Our friends at Oscar have a list of Christian organisations willing to give financial advice – click here.

The government has a very helpful website with simple explanations of pensions, and further information can be found from the Pensions Advisory Service, an independent organisation which has a lot of useful information on its website.

A pension plan can be a very effective way to save for your retirement simply because of the tax breaks.  But be careful – the benefits can be eaten away by high charges and poor management so make sure you keep track of performance.  Because of the way pension funds grow, they are most effective when you start investing at a young age.  If you’re within 10 years of retirement, the set up costs can mean it would be better to leave your funds in a building society.

In the early 6th century BC, the small, independent kingdom of Judah was crushed by the power of Babylon, a huge global superpower.  The king was executed, the nobles abducted, the temple burned to the ground, and many of the population were forcibly relocated to a new home deep into enemy territory, where they were surrounded by people with different customs, religions and languages.

Psalm 137 (which made a brief but infamous appearance in the British charts in 1978 at the hands of Boney M) is a lamentation about this experience of going into exile.  It refers to pain, a desire to go back, and a lust for revenge.  Their mocking captors had asked them to sing one of their folk songs to entertain them, but this just reminded them of the home that they couldn’t return to.  ‘How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land’ becomes a shorthand reference to the challenge of living as an insignificant minority in a hostile culture, where there are multiple religious beliefs, a variety of practices which the faithful may be forced to participate in, and a complete lack of tolerance for their previous national customs.

This is a situation not unlike western Europe today, as Christians struggle to come to terms with the fact that Christendom is no more.  Christianity no longer provides a moral compass even if David Cameron himself claims that Britain is a Christian country.  There are too many competing voices now for that to be completely true.  There are Christian elements to our world, and a huge Christian heritage shaping much of our public practice and principle, but effectively now we are a post-Christian country.  Like the exiled Jews, we need to come to terms with it.

In fact, throughout most of history God’s faithful have been in the minority.  In Genesis, just eight people made it onto the ark, and the Abrahamic covenant was made with just one family among many tribes.  Throughout the rest of the Pentateuch they were just twelve tribes among the Egyptian oppressors, or wandering through the wilderness among hostile neighbours.  Under the judges they were just one nation amongst many.  Under the kings, they were battling with external threats and against internal apostasy.  Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel had to deal with the challenge of being subjects of a huge multinational empire and the whole of the New Testament takes place against the backdrop of the oppressive might of Rome.  Subsequently Christianity spread around the world but often had to deal with suffering and persecution at the hands of others – particularly in communist or modern Islamic countries.

For only one significant period of history has there been an exception to this rule: the bizarre 15 or so centuries when Christendom thrived in Europe in an alliance between church and state that ‘christianised’ nations and ‘authorised’ church.  But today Christendom is crumbling.  People of other faiths (and no faith) have a voice.  Christians are losing ours.  We are going into exile and we don’t like it.  Old familiarities are changing, old paradigms are failing.  People stronger than us have taken us into exile.  Now our challenge is to work out how to live alongside others on their terms, not on ours.

Some of the issues that face us include: keeping Sunday special, ethical issues surrounding the beginning and end of life, accommodating other faiths, the possibilities of witness in the workplace, and the church’s attitude to those who sexual and gender preferences are different to those traditionally sanctioned by the church.  When we are not Biblically literate, we struggle to determine our response to these issues.  But we can rely on different precedents to indicate how we might approach these situations, which range from opposition to compliance.

Daniel (Chapter 6) chose to react with open defiance when ordered to pray only to the king.  When Jesus (Mt 22:15-22) was given the opportunity to encourage people to revolt against paying taxes to an illegal occupying force, he chose to focus on our devotion to God.  Paul (1C10:31) would have felt it was ok for Christians to eat halal or kosher meat as long as they felt they could do it with a clean conscience.  Nehemiah (Neh 13:23) clearly thought it was wrong to marry an unbeliever while Paul said that if you’ve already done it, you should not divorce them (1C7:12).

What each of them is doing (in their own context) is determining which issues are worth fighting over, and which we can safely going along with.  Each of us, together in our church contexts, and not in isolation, needs to work this through too.  Sometimes the church fights on the wrong ground, making a stand on things that could comfortably compromised over, or giving way easily over massively significant issues.  Some guidelines to help us extrapolate biblical teaching into contemporary contexts may include asking ourselves the following questions:

Would our compliance contravene the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), or any other clear scriptural injunction?

Does resistance prevent us keeping the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:32-40)?

Does compromise help us to fulfil the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)?

Often, Christians who make a stand on an issue can easily alienate and offend the very people we hope to reach out to with the love of God.  So we need to be careful in how we express ourselves.  We need to remember that in a post-Christian, multi-cultural world it can be evangelistically counter-productive and morally dubious to force non-believers to comply with our views, even if we believe we are right.

Jeremiah wrote a letter to the Jewish exiles .  He wasn’t popular for it, but it was good advice from God.  He said:

‘Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce… Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare your will have welfare’.  (Jeremiah 29:5-7)

In other words, get used to it.  Don’t live in a dream world; don’t carry on complaining that this is wrong.  Get over it.  Adapt and thrive.

‘Coming over here, stealing our jobs?’

Readers are probably aware that immigration has been a hot potato in British politics since the Romans arrived uninvited on our shores some 2000 years ago.  Since Enoch Powell made his infamous ‘rivers of blood’ speech in 1968 it has been a touchstone topic for both major parties.  Relax controls on immigration and you risk being accused of endangering the ‘British’ way of life and sacrificing ‘British’ employment opportunities, be too strict and you risk being accused of racism.

Any conservative government walks a tightrope between appeasing its right wing back benchers and being accused by the left of being racist.  In June Ed Milliband made a bit to capture some of the centre ground from the conservatives by admitting that Labour had been wrong to be quite so soft on immigration from eastern Europe when it was in power a decade ago.  But he’s trying to catch up with a government that’s already made moves to crack down further on immigration, moves which will inadvertently prejudice Christian workers abroad.

Can they ever live in Britain?

Under proposals announced by the government last month there will be a tougher test for new immigrants to prove they can speak English and understand British culture and history, but the most troubling change for those overseas mission workers who have non-British partners is that those partners will have severe restrictions placed on their ability to immigrate.  There will be rigorous investigations to determine whether their marriage is genuine, and the test will not merely be the number of years that a couple have been together.  Additionally, the British partner must earn a minimum of £18,600 pa, or £22,400 for a couple with one child, with a further £2,400 for each additional child.  So a family with four children will need to prove the authenticity of their marriage (!) and earn at least £29,200 before they can settle in Britain.

Families who do successfully immigrate will not be able to access the welfare system for at least two years, giving them further financial challenges.  If they want to bring an elderly parent with them, that parent will be banned from accessing social security benefits for at least five years and the family will need to demonstrate that they can pay for any care and medical treatment the parent might need.  These new rules will be in place from today (9th July).  The do not apply to families seeking to immigrate to Britain from within the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).

Home Secretary Theresa May

The government’s intention is to reduce net migration to Britain, and at the same time to prevent immigrants claiming Britain’s generous social benefit payments.  This will be seen as a positive move in many quarters, but many British volunteer workers who marry nationals of the country they work in will not be able to pass the financial restrictions, so will be condemned to a life abroad.  Home Secretary Theresa May commented, “British citizens can enter into a relationship with whomever they choose but if they want to establish their family life here, they must do so in a way which works in the best interests of our society.”

The warning to British overseas workers is clear: be careful whom you marry, as you might not be able to bring your family back home with you.

For full details read the Home Office press release or visit the UK Border Agency website.

For British citizens, a national state pension has been considered a basic right for a number of decades and helps people who have retired to be able to make ends meet without working for a living.  Protecting your entitlement to the state pension is important, and people don’t always realise that their lifestyle choices may affect the amount of money they get once they retire.  Like all pensions, you are required to make regular contributions to build up a pension fund, and if you don’t, you could lose out when you retire.  The entitlement to a full state pension will depend on whether you have built up sufficient credits and you can read the basic details here.

This can become even more complicated for people living and working abroad because you may not be making regular payments.  We recommend that next time you’re in the UK you check exactly what your current entitlement is and what you need to do to preserve your pension rights.  To do this you contact the Charity, Assets and Residence (CAR) Centre run by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).  Click here for further details.

They can also give you a forecast of what your retirement pension is likely to be.  If there is a shortfall in the contributions you have made to date, you can top them up.  Find out about a pensions forecast here.

Normally, state pension contributions are deducted from your UK salary by your employer, but many people working overseas won’t have an employer, or even a salary.  This does not mean you are excluded from the state pensions system.  You can protect your pension rights by making voluntary contributions.  This is usually done by sending a cheque to CAR once a year.  Further details are available here.

If you are fortunate enough to be involved in humanitarian or development work, and your sending agency or church has registered with CAR, you may be entitled to make Voluntary Development Worker contributions, which are levied at a lower rate.  Check here for further details.

You can’t take your state pension until you reach retirement age.  This age is different for men and women, and also will be different depending on when you were born as the government incrementally raises the age at which you can claim it.  Check your retirement age here.  But you don’t have to claim it when you reach that age – you can defer it until you feel you really need it, and if you do, you can get a higher pension or a lump sum.  Read more about this here.

You should also be aware that though the UK pension is increased every year to help pensioners cope with the rising cost of living, but if you chose to live abroad once you’ve claimed it, you may forfeit the right to the annual increase as it only applies to residents of certain countries.  Read more about this here.

Sadly, many people ignore their state pension contribution while they’re working abroad in the mistaken belief that the government will take care of them in their old age.  The government will (under current arrangements) pay you something, but not necessarily your full entitlement.  We believe that in general, making a state pension contribution could be the investment of a small sum to get a big benefit.

Soccer fans the world over will know that Chelsea recently won the prestigious European Champions League, albeit after a penalty shootout against Bayern Munich.  At last an English team finally beat some Germans on penalties! But then again, for a long time we’ve all known that Chelsea aren’t really an English team. They just play in England.

They have a Russian owner, an Italian manager, and a multi-national team. The starting line up for the match against Bayern featured players from seven different countries in three continents. Like most top-flight English clubs, they care more about the quality of their players than their nationality. So how can Chelsea create an effective multi-cultural team when many mission agencies can’t?

If we can overlook the fact that unlike us Chelsea have billions of pounds available to attract and motivate some of the world’s best players, what can we learn from them so that we can up our game and be effective in global mission?

First, an effective team needs a team vision. Vision supersedes individual cultural preferences, personality types, and preferred working styles. We might think that a salary of £50,000 a week is enough to motivate anybody, but the fact is that it is not. Research shows that for nearly everybody the money they receive is not a motivating factor in their work. Professional footballers are driven by the need to win, to get medals, trophies and cups.  Yet even the most egocentric prima donnas can’t win on their own.  They all have to put the needs of their team above their own glory. You might think that the top goal scorers get there by being selfish – hogging the ball so that they can score the most goals. Yet some of the world’s most notable scorers – Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo (yes, that Ronaldo) are also among those who make the greatest number of assists: passing the ball to another striker who then scores.

Which begs two questions: how much do we want our team to win, and how much effort do we put into helping our colleagues succeed? Every ministry has its visions, mission statements and values, and some of us are able even to quote them, but do we really buy into the team’s success?  Are we really team players, or are we more concerned about our own ministry?  Yes, we are all under pressure to perform personally, and are accountable to our churches and supporters for what we are doing, but how many of us are prepared to answer the call of our agency and put our own ministries on the back burner if we are asked to? Sadly I am more likely to hear statements such as ‘that’s not  what I came here to do’ or ‘it’s not my calling’ than ‘if that’s what the team needs, we’ll do it’.

And how good are we at being team players? Are we aware of where other players are being marked, and do we run in to relieve them? Do we stay in position or are we the ones who are off side? Do we notice when a colleague is flagging, and change our play to help take up the workload? One of the things that impressed me most about David Beckham on the field was not so much his skill at set pieces but his workrate. He popped up on the wing, in the centre, forward and back, helping others out, covering gaps. He covered weaknesses in defence and created opportunities for attack. It takes fitness to do that.

And are we really match-fit? What does that mean in our hectic world of stress, conflicting demands and running from crisis to crisis? Professional footballers spend more time training than they do competing. They understand that their on-field performance depends on their off-field performance. They exercise, practise set pieces together and even have dieticians and physios to make sure they’re in peak physical condition. What are the equivalents for us? Bible study, meditation and Ignatian prayer?  Team away days for teambuilding, scenario planning and role play? It will vary for each of us and our respective teams, but if we are going to be champions, we need to have the mental attitude of champions towards both our professional skills development and our continuing spiritual development.

When God is handing out the trophies after the ultimate final, are you going to be on the winning team? And what has it taken to get your team there?

We have mentioned a few times on this website the need for regular retreat to help manage stress. Some may wonder exactly what this means, or are a bit daunted by the prospect of five days of complete silence in a monastery.

If that’s you, then Penhurst Retreat Centre is an excellent place for you to have a retreat. One of the most charming things about Penhurst is that it doesn’t feel like a conference centre. It’s a home, in a 17th century manor house, which is tastefully furnished just like it was when it was lived in by a family. An ideal start to feeling, well, at home in a new environment.

It is situated accessibly near main roads in East Sussex, but far enough away not to hear them, and indeed it’s so rural that it’s hard to hear anything at all apart from the sounds of nature and agriculture. With lovely gardens and an orchard which is being developed into a prayer garden, it makes a very restful and relaxing place. There is also opportunity for some country walks and access to the famous Ashburnham estates nearby. One satisfied customer, Alex, commented “”My stay here was just what I needed – perfect for me! This place inspires prayer, with its sense of God’s peace and presence. It’s an easy place to listen to God, a place of blessing.”

Penhurst is also intimately small. Unlike some places where there are dozens of people so it’s hard to find a place to be alone for prayer other than in your room, Penhurst takes fewer people, so you can always find somewhere to get away, whether it’s in one of the two chapels, the lounge, the library or the church just across the garden.

If you don’t like the thought of being on your own, there is a full programme of led retreats and workshops, many aimed specifically at mission workers. In fact, there is a distinctly missional theme to the place, with its many historic connections to global mission, and each room is dedicated to a famous missionary, with photos and books in the room to inspire you.

There are friendly helpful staff who lead prayer twice a day (optional) and are available for discussion and advice whenever you want it, and the food is excellent. The cottage pie even rivalled my mum’s!

For more information visit Penhurst’s own website

Empty church, empty argument?

Last week Britain became a little more secular.  Not in a great cataclysmic way as the conservative press is proclaiming, but subtly, and in a way not unforeseen, as two court decisions  were made which in themselves may have little impact but which are indicators of a long-term trend and set a precedent.

Last August we considered the case of a couple of Christian bed-and-breakfast owners who refused to make a double room available to a gay couple.  On Friday the court of appeal ruled that they had discriminated against the gay couple despite their appeal that they weren’t specifically discriminating against gay people as their policy applied to all unmarried people irrespective of their sexual choices.  And the court was right: they did indeed break the law.  In the process of coming to this conclusion, ironically, the court is discriminating against the Christians.  It’s now official: gay rights trump Christian rights.

In another case heard on the same day, an atheist councillor took his local town council to court over their practice of holding prayers at the start of the meeting.  He argued that it infringed his human rights by forcing a religious activity on him.  Councils all over the country do this, as does the Westminster parliament, so it is not an uncommon practice.  The court ruled, interestingly (though a lot of pundits have missed this point) that his human rights weren’t infringed as he had the opportunity to absent himself during the proceedings, but that councils do not have the authority under the Local Government Act to hold prayers as part of their council meetings.  They are able to hold them outside the meeting though.

It certainly feels like these decisions, and several others like them in recent years, are undermining the traditional role of Christianity at the heart of Britain’s values, despite Prime Minister David Cameron recently asserting that Britain is a ‘Christian nation’.  Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who has become significantly more vocal in his ‘retirement’ than he was in office, comments: There are deep forces at work in Western society, hollowing out the values of Christianity and driving them to the margins.  It does at least seem that an aggressive secularist agenda is making steady progress.

Get out there and tell them!

The knee-jerk reaction is for the church to condemn both these decisions, though why in a democracy we should want the freedom to discriminate against others, or to force our prayers on people of other or no faith, needs to be considered carefully.  It would seem that our appropriate response to this situation is not to lament the fact that a small but vocal minority are no longer able to force their views and practices on the millions of British citizens who are now generally atheistic, only nominally Christian or hold to other faiths.

A far more appropriate response would be to set about in earnest increasing the number of Christians so that our views become the dominant perspective in this country once again.  We should not be writing letters to The Times in protest.  We should be getting out into the communities around us and proclaiming Jesus.  Only when we comprise the majority will it be appropriate for us to expect legislation in this country to reflect our views.

Our verdict: Lions 2, Christians 0 (see Persecution on its way)

Some of you living abroad may have heard confused rumours of cataclysm in the Eurozone, that the UK is leaving the EU, or that David Cameron has left us marginalised and out in the cold.  Certainly a meeting in Brussels last Friday will have momentous consequences, although it’s too early to tell whether Cameron is Neville Chamberlain or Margaret Thatcher.  This week we will look at the Eurozone crisis and why it has arisen.

The Eurozone consists of 17 EU member countries who share a common currency, the unimaginatively-named Euro (€).  The UK is not one of them.  The new currency was introduced in 2002 in an attempt to bind Europe even closer together.  However the inventors of this plan overlooked the obvious fact that serious stresses would appear in the system if there were a) no common fiscal policy and b) no strong central government able to implement said fiscal policy.  This left a situation where many of the Eurozone countries are able to run their economies in ways which actually result in economic divergence.  This problem was not immediately apparent as the economic growth of the last decade obscured it.

However the crisis in the finance industry has led to liquidity problems in several governments, with many having to pay increasingly impractical rates of interest to borrow money.  So they are slashing spending, which leads to domestic discontent and higher unemployment, thereby reducing government revenues and increasing the need for borrowing.  These countries include the relatively minor economies of Ireland, Portugal, and (most notoriously) Greece, though Spain and Italy are also under pressure.  In the past, these countries would have devalued their currencies, and we’d all have gone there for cheap holidays, bought their cheap exports, and everything would get right in a few years.

The Euro prevents that happening, so these governments have to be given huge handouts.  The only Europeans  with enough money to do this are the Germans and (paradoxically) the UK, which finds itself forced to help the Euro out as the Eurozone is our major trading partner and Euro-chaos affects our exports.  But Germany is picking up the bulk of the bill and is getting increasingly annoyed about it.

So the Germans are trying to fix the problem.  They argue that they are not going to keep pouring money into a bottomless pit, and are particularly aggravated about having to bail out the Greeks, who retire earlier, pay less tax, and (allegedly) don’t work as hard as the Germans.  So heads of government spent the last week in Brussels discussing a new European treaty which would enforce some Germanic discipline in governance, and resolve the problem.  Part of these deals would mean more regulation on financial institutions.  David Cameron had already made it clear that the UK will cede no more sovereign power to the EU, and insisted that an exemption for UK financial institutions was his price for agreeing to the changes.

Europe said non.  Instead they made a separate deal to strengthen the Eurozone, with only the UK left out.  Some argue that Cameron has stood up for the UK, others that he has betrayed us.  The word being used a lot is isolated – some argue that by taking no further part in the discussions, the UK will have no say on important issues that will affect us.  Others claim that we are now effectively isolated from a coming Euro-disaster.

It is too early to tell whether Cameron’s action is heroic or suicidal, but one indicator is that the Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency last week threatened to downgrade the credit ratings of all the Eurozone countries.  This means that S&P thinks that they are less able to pay their debts, and their cost of borrowing will go up.  The UK however, continues to maintain its coveted AAA rating.  Which means that the UK government can borrow money at the cheapest rate for decades.  It could be a good time to invest in sterling.

Recently I came across a memorial to John Wesley which is situated near to the site in London where his heart was ‘strangely warmed’ as he gave his life to Jesus.  From there I went to visit the chapel where he once ministered, which is not too far away on City Road.  Then I discovered an old nonconformist cemetery just over the road.  Looking round, I realised how many influential people are buried there, and it set me thinking about how influential nonconformism has been on making the UK what it is today, and how nonconformists have taken the gospel to the world.

Nonconformist is a generic name given to protestants who are members of a church other than the Anglican churches, or in previous centuries it could also be used of evangelical members of the Church of England.  Historically, these churches have included Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Puritans, Quakers, Salvationists, Unitarians, and a number of other independent or free churches.  Taken en bloc they currently have more members than the Roman Catholic church and nearly as many as the combined Anglican churches of the UK (source: Operation World, 2005) yet they are often thought of as an insignificant minority because they represent so many different, and frequently small, streams.

Spiritually, most of these groups arose out of huge revival movements of the 17^th – 20^th centuries and many had a massive social impact on their communities.  Many of them campaigned for the abolition of slavery, improvement of housing and working conditions for poor people and the provision of relief for the destitute.  Their impact has been so great as to lead some secular historians to suggest that it was nonconformism that saved Britain from undergoing revolutions like those experienced on the continent in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, though of course that was not what motivated the likes of Elizabeth Fry or William Booth.  If the Anglican church is ‘the Tory party on its knees’, Labour owes more to Methodism than it does to Marxism, and it can be no coincidence that the Liberal Democrats are strong in parts of the country where nonconformism has been the most influential.  The desire to make the world a better place is strong in nonconformism and historically it has not been afraid to be politically involved.

Banned by law from investing in property during the 18^th century, many nonconformists went into trade and finance, and many well-known companies owe their origin to them, including Barclays, Cadburys, GKN, Lloyds TSB, Rowntrees and Wedgwood.  Pioneers of steam power Thomas Newcomen and James Watt were both nonconformists.  Others, finding their way into education barred by the entry requirement of being an Anglican, went on to found their own educational establishments.  Some expressed their views through their writing, most notably John Bunyan and the poet/artist William Blake.  Joseph Priestly, a nonconformist minister, was also an influential scientist.  Many others were notable scientists, theologians politicians and rights activists.

One reason for nonconformism being so popular in the UK is that its egalitarian philosophy and lack of ecclesiastical hierarchy had a great appeal among the English working class and struck a chord with the fundamentally democratic  spirit of the Anglo-Saxons.  Paradoxically, it attracted popular support in the celtic areas of the UK for precisely the same reason: it was not associated with the English establishment.  This egalitarianism expressed itself in congregational or presbyterian forms of government rather than Episcopalian, and gave rise to a sense of solidarity with the poor, leading to social action, and with the lost, leading to mission both at home and abroad.  Famous nonconformist missionaries include John Birch, Amy Carmichael, William Carey, David Livingstone, Mary Slessor, C T Studd, and Hudson Taylor, and many modern mission societies have their roots in nonconformism.

Today, the number of closed or near-empty nonconformist places of worship across the country are a testimony to the great revivals of the past, as nearly every village had its 18^th century chapel building as well as its church.  Many of those believing communities are now too small to maintain their rural buildings, and often congregate in the large town centre churches, which in turn are planting out small churches into homes and community centres throughout the country.  21^st century nonconformism may look different in many ways but the spirit is still the same.  The heritage of nonconformism is one we would do well to live up to, in expressing our compassion for the poor, or concern for the lost, and our desire to make the world a better place for all.

Early autumn can be a beautiful time in England.  It’s often warm, and the golden sunshine lights the reds, russets and browns of turning leaves.  Fruit ripens, seedheads pop and dewdrops diamond the spiders’ webs.  In a tradition going back millennia before the start of their own religion, Christians take some of the harvest into their places of worship to honour the God who gives them food.  Yet in the midst of the rejoicing, there is hard work organising sheafs of wheat, displays of elaborately plaited bread, and vases of chrysanthemums.  One lady commented cheerfully to me, ‘I’m glad we only have to do this once a year!’

The feast of Passover is in essence a similar event.  Although six months removed from the English harvest, Passover is a celebration of the barley harvest as well as of the Exodus.  Joyful pilgrims went up to Jerusalem from all over ancient Israel to celebrate together.  The third day after Passover is called the Feast of  First Fruits, when they took their tithe of barley to the temple.  One Sunday nearly two thousand years ago, such a band centred on a rabbi from Nazareth.  With his twelve lieutenants, assorted women who funded his work, and possibly dozens of hangers on, he would have found difficulty staying in the crowded city, so they all stayed at the home of some friends in Bethany.

Martha and Mary remind me of Marilla and Anne in the book Anne of Green Gables. I can imagine Martha fussed with the responsibility of catering for so many: ‘Well, Anne, we’ll need to wash all the best crockery, and get some of my pickles out of the larder, and for goodness’ sake let’s have none of your daydreaming today!’

‘Oh but Marilla, isn’t is SO exciting that Jesus is coming to our home!  I’m so happy that I could die perfectly contented even if the rest of my life were misery and squalor.’

It’s not surprising that Martha got stressed with the catering.  It would be a massive task hosting such a crowd.  Yet Jesus, who presumably ate the supper she cooked, said that Mary, distracted from her responsibilities by the joy of being with Jesus, had made the better choice.  It seems that Jesus is not looking for servants – he already has plenty of those.  Jesus is looking for kindred spirits.

Many of us active in ministry are so busy with the work we do for God, that we often don’t have the time to sit down and be with him.  We run around Marthaing away, and seldom sit and Mary.  In order to combat the stress and busyness in our lives, we need to make time listen to what Jesus has to say to us.  One friend of mine has it in his job description to spend one whole morning in prayer each week.  We may think that’s a luxury we cannot afford with so much responsibility to carry, but if we asked Jesus whether he’d prefer us to be busy, what do you think he would answer?

A north London carpet warehouse in flames

London was most spectacularly on fire in early August and it was not a Christian revival.  Many of you may have seen pictures of serious rioting and looting and wondered what was going on.  So too did many people living in Britain, as this conflagration seemed to burst from nowhere.

The rioting began a few days after police shot dead a man in north London, in circumstances that still have to be adequately explained, and then failed to give a full account of the event to his family and wider community, who accused the police of operating a shoot-to-kill policy.  A community protest march to the local police station became violent, and outbreaks of rioting rapidly spread to other parts of the city, and then to Birmingham and Manchester.

It is tempting to compare these riots to the disturbances of 1981.  Then there was a fairly new Conservative government making huge spending cuts leading to high unemployment.  There was a tough-talking Prime Minister threatening to be strong on law-and-order and there was a lot of deep-seated unrest in urban centres.  Many racial minorities and working-class people felt marginalised, leading to a sense of despair.  They felt the government didn’t really care about their problems.

So was this an action replay?  While this situation seems on the surface familiar, the roots of the past summer’s problems are different.  We must remember that Britain has changed significantly in 30 years and has different problems now.

The cause of the widespread rioting becomes clearer when the statistics are examined.  According to the Home Office there were 2,800 arrests, with 1300 people being charged.  It later transpired that three quarters of the 1000 people who have already appeared in court have a previous conviction or caution, the average number of previous convictions being 15.  One third of them had already spent time in prison for another conviction.  So it would appear that many of the participants were career criminals taking the opportunity to cause some havoc and enrich themselves with some free consumer goods.

A further 20% of the 1000 were juveniles, with estimates that as many as half the people taking part in the riots were school age.  The irony of this is that many of the activities for young people which normally take place during the school holidays have been scrapped this year due to government spending cuts.  Many of the looters used social media to alert their friends and to publish photos of cars they had burned or goods they had looted.  This may well be Britain’s first instance of ‘recreational rioting’.  Millions of pounds worth of property was burned, including shops, pubs, buses and cars, and a lot of goods were looted not only from large stores but also small family-owned businesses.  One man in Birmingham was killed trying to defend his shop.

A clean-up event in south London

This situation gives us a good opportunity to reflect that Britain is not a happy place at the moment.  Government cuts are holding wage rises below inflation, pensions reforms are triggering industrial dispute and unemployment has risen to 2.51m.  Nearly a million 16-24 year olds are unemployed.  Despite the fact that the UK is the world’s 6^th largest economy, there is a general feeling that we are not as well-off as we should be, and things are only going to get worse.  Against this background, one can understand why people might feel like rioting.

One ray of hope though: in the aftermath of the riots thousands of ordinary Londoners turned up with brooms and bin bags to help clear up the mess.  Someone even set up a website to link volunteer cleaners with clean-up events.  The spirit of the Blitz lives on.

The legal situation of Christianity in the UK is something that has been slowly giving cause for concern over the past few years, and has become more serious in recent months.  Although our religious freedom is obvious to the many millions of Christians worldwide who can be oppressed, imprisoned, or even lynched with impunity because they lack any form of legal protection, an aggressive secularist agenda has been building up momentum, prompting well-known Christian apologist Michael Ramsden to observe recently that whenever Christian rights come into conflict with rights based on sexual preferences, they will be trumped.

Much of this situation has resulted from the Equality Act 2006, which (quite rightly) made it illegal to discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their religion or sexuality.   However this left an area of uncertainty over what happens when rights collide, resulting in a number of court cases as pressure groups (and their lawyers) endeavour to get more clarity.  We report on a number of cases so that you are informed about the issues.

Cross – For many years the wearing of a cross has been a issue which emerges occasionally in the popular press.  It is not unusual for employers to ban the wearing of jewellery in the workplace and wearing a cross is not deemed to be essential to Christianity (unlike a Sikh Kara bracelet).   A BA employee was banned from wearing a cross and in a high profile case BA was found not to have discriminated against her.  A Christian taxi driver was ordered by York City Council to remove a palm cross from his cab in case it caused offence to passengers, though the council subsequently relented.

Public witness – two Christians were warned by police that they were committing hate crime by handing out tracts in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.  A university CU was reported to police for handing out gospels to students.

Homosexuality – A Christian couple running a B&B in Cornwall refused to let a homosexual couple share a double bed.  They argued that they were not picking on homosexuals, but because of their beliefs only supply double rooms to heterosexual married couples.  The court found them guilty of breaking the law, but reduced the fine out of respect for their religious beliefs. This couple subsequently admitted that they knew they were breaking the law but felt they had a right to set their own standards for their own business.

Faith in the workplace – A Christian doctor with an unblemished record may be struck off after discussing his faith with an adult patient who agreed to the discussion.  A Christian nurse was suspended for offering to pray for a patient.  A Christian registrar lost her job for refusing to officiate at same-sex civil partnerships.  It is now illegal to advertise for a Christian to fill a job in a Christian organisation if when the job could be done just as well by a non-Christian.

Gay marriage – Earlier this year the Government announced plans to create same-sex marriages on the same basis as heterosexual ones.  At the moment homosexual partnerships are recognised on a different basis to a marriage and there is no requirement to carry them out in churches.  There are significant concerns that once gay marriages are legalised, it will be a discriminatory offence for a church minister to refuse to perform one.

After centuries of Christendom in Britain, Christianity is now actively being relegated to an obscure private viewpoint which is not allowed to have any impact on how Christians behave or speak in public.  Christians are not actively persecuted yet, but it is clear that attempts are being made to disempower Christians so that they have no legal defence for traditional Christian activities and opinions.

While each of the above cases is worrying in itself for Christians, it is clear that the purpose of the law is good: that Christians can no longer discriminate against others because of their beliefs.  The result however is bad: that others can discriminate against Christians because of their beliefs.  Lions: 1 – Christians: 0

For further information visit The Christian Institute‘s website.

For an update on the current situations see A little more secular?  The Lions have scored again.