August - September 2018

Transcription

1 Newsleer Issue 566 August - September 2018 Contents Pastoral leer 3 Church maers 5 Fellowship news 8 Local community 11 Mission 12 Book review 20

2 Front page image: Toddler Group ou&ng to Clayton Caravan Park on 13th June 2

3 So where exactly is home? PASTORAL LETTER I m sure, over the years, you ve been asked that ques&on many a &me. For Janet and me it is obviously a rather poignant ques&on at the moment. St Andrews has been home for us for seven years and we have loved it. And St Andrews Bap&st Church has been even more home and it has been a huge privilege that has enriched our lives enormously. Soon our home will be in the Sco1sh Borders, an en&rely new adventure for us. Some months ago, on retreat, I had the good fortune to come across the book Fiona Barnard reviewed in the last newsleer Where is home? The Quest to Belong by Jo Swinney. Jo Swinney quotes the French philosopher and social ac&vist Simone Weil, who says To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognised need of the human soul. She also quotes John William Cheever, the American novelist and short story writer, who claims that (for the life of me, I m not sure how!) 50% of the people in the world are homesick all the &me. I m not the sort of person who easily gets homesick and indeed recently worked out that I have lived in 15 homes in my life (probably not a great deal compared to some of you!) but I am sure Simone Weil is right. We do have a deep need for home. And I guess, if I m honest, I am a lile nervous about how life will be in the Borders. But where exactly is home? I found myself on retreat working through Jo Swinney s many sugges&ons. Is home my neighbourhood, my marriage, my family, my work, my culture, my town, my...? It s an interes&ng ques&on. One of my favourite Psalms is Psalm 84. It s the Psalm of a homesick exile, wis=ully musing even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself. He s longing to be back in his na&ve land, with his own people and his familiar ways. But his great discovery is that his real home is to be in the presence of the Living God himself. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. Beer one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. And this God, Lord of Heaven and Earth, can be known anywhere. In my joer on retreat I wrote (I ve never been good at journaling) Where is home for me? Home is with the One who graciously made his home with us 3

4 and invites us to know him and abide in him. Home is with myself, content - with or without work to do - to be God s child and enjoy his love. Home is with my wife and family, a gic beyond words. Home is with God s people, the local church. What I concluded from wri&ng is that though place maers, whether I am in St Andrews, Selkirk, Santa Monica or Seville, the actual place where I physically live is fich in importance on the list. God, self-contentment in Him, family and church come before it. It all reads rather lame and pious now as I write it - but it actually was a real God moment of encouragement for me. Home is to know God s love, to know and express human love, to know and share the love of God s people. What is true for me is true for all of us. In all the nervousness, uncertainty and even fear of transi&on, the key issue is finding true security. The security of home is found only and ul&mately in what the Psalmist discovered - Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Thank you to all of you for making St Andrews home. It has been a privilege to serve with you and we will miss you all greatly. St Andrews Bap&st Church is a key part of what home means for so many. May it always be so, as we con&nue to point to God in whom all true hope and rest is found. Andrew Rollinson 4

5 CHURCH MATTERS Dates for your diary The weekly prayer mee(ng is held each Saturday morning in the Fellowship Room from 9-10am. Prayer mee(ngs will also take place in the Fellowship Room on Wednesdays 15th August and 19th September, from pm There will be a church Quarterly Mee(ng, held in the Fellowship Room, on Wednesday 5th September at 7.30pm. Home groups will meet in the weeks of Wednesdays 8th and 22nd August, and 12th and 26th September (please note that some home groups stop over the summer). There will be a church lunch acer the morning service on Sunday 9th September - all are welcome. The Balnacarron Care Home services are on Thursdays 9th and 23rd August, and 13th and 27th September at 3pm. The OMF prayer group will meet at 10.30am in Anne and Lindsay Glasgow s house, 22 Irvine Crescent ( ) on Monday 20th August. The Book Group will meet on Thursday 23rd August at 8pm, 33 Drumcarrow Road ( ), to discuss The heart of the maer, by Graham Greene. Set in a small Bri&sh colonial outpost in Sierra Leone during World War II, themes include war, espionage, love, adultery, treachery, betrayal and ul&mate moral dilemmas. If you wish to have the list of books for next year, please contact Judy Wray ( , or mikejudywray@gmail.com). 5

6 The Wednesday Walking Group meets weekly at 1.40pm. Most walks have a shorter alterna&ve. Walks are often muddy so please bring suitable footwear and waterproofs. If living outside St Andrews and the weather is doubtful, please ring to ensure the walk is on: Liz Rennie ( ), Jean Hughes ( ), Caroline Main ( ), or Wilma Pogorzelec ( ). Date Walk Mee(ng place 1 August Grange / Scooniehill (4.25 miles) 8 August Kemback / Blebo (3 miles) 15 August Anstruther / Pienweem (3.5 miles) 22 August Hill of Tarvit (various) 29 August Ceres / country (3 miles) 5 Sept Tayport woods (various) 12 Sept Shell Bay / Earlsferry (3 miles) 19 Sept Lumbo Den / Craigtoun (2.25 miles) 26 Sept Kingsbarns (2.5 miles) Park at foot of Grange Road Grass below Kemback church Car park beyond Co-op car park Hill of Tarvit car park Fife Folk Museum car park Park at Lundin Bridge, in the park, near the water (turn off right at Elizabeth Street in Tayport) Park at caravan site near beach Morrisons car park Car park at beach 6

7 News from the elders The elders met on 11th June and 18th July We are prayerfully considering how we may work together during this &me of transi&on and forthcoming pastoral vacancy. Our discussions seek to ensure that there are able and giced leaders for the various ministry teams, that there are various opportuni&es for corporate prayer and that the preaching themes encourage us in our unity, service and mission. We are also mindful of the pastoral needs of the church and of those struggling with health and difficult situa&ons. We are grateful for the prayers of God s people. Fiona Barnard 7

8 Summer missions FELLOWSHIP NEWS Hello! As we con&nue in the summer holiday season, some of us have been involved in the various holiday clubs/missions that are taking place at this &me. We may not have Mish Mash or our usual youth groups, but there is s&ll plenty happening and to be praying for. Earlier in July, Tiny, Paulus, Mary and I were able to help Clay with the Young Life Summer Slam mission over in Tayport. We had a great &me working with the wider Young Life team, many of whom had come over from the States, and together were able to build rela&onships with almost 100 young people. Many of these young people have had lile contact with the Chris&an faith and were able to hear of God s love for them whilst having a lot of fun too! We con&nue to pray for Clay and the local Young Life teams who are currently at camp at Cairn Brae. A week of Elie beach mission has also recently concluded. This longstanding mission to the local community, and people on holiday, has included some of our own congrega&on on the mission team, one of whom had men&oned how well this year has gone. Please do pray for the connec&ons made and for the children and young people s own faith journeys. Finally, as many of us will have seen in the bulle&n and elsewhere, it is the St Andrews churches holiday club very soon! This holiday club, TeamBuilders, will be based at Canongate school and is being facilitated through K2 in partnership with several town churches. For more informa&on and to book, please do get in touch - see the informa&on on the back cover. Churches together in Cupar are also running this TeamBuilders holiday club from Monday 30th August to Friday 3rd. For both events, please pray for the teams to work well together as the body of Christ and for children to really get to know that they are an essen&al part of God s team. Thank you for your prayers for these missions, and indeed those not men&oned here. Chris Walker 8

9 Young Life Summer Slam In spite of a bunch of minor issues, Summer Slam was a smashing success. We finished the week with a total of 94 kids, and are following up with 38 of them. We were fortunate enough to partner with Rooted, Impact, and K2, and were able to give Paulus de Jong, Chris Walker, Robby Sweet, and Mary Walker space to introduce themselves and their ministries to the local pupils who aended the camp. As the camping season winds down, we will turn our aen&on to the work in the schools, our weekly Bible study and club, as well as a renewed focus on fundraising and establishing the long term financial sustainability of the ministry. All is grace, Clay Rowe News from the ABC Toddler Group The helpers at the church toddler group are having a well earned rest as the group does not meet during the school holiday. Looking back, it has been a good year, with several new contacts. It has been a great advantage to have Tiny de Jong on board as she has been a huge help and a regular contact with the families. Chris Walker has also played a very helpful role in se1ng up the tables and chairs ready for the 9.30 start. 9

10 We have around 15 families who come regularly and a few who come when they can. On 13th June we had an ou&ng - you can see the group photo on the front cover. For the past few years we have been to Allanhill for our ou&ng but sadly it is not open this year. We went to Clayton Caravan Park instead. It worked very well as the children all enjoyed both the outside playground and the indoor soc play area. The added bonus was the maintenance men arriving to put up the bouncy castle. The children enjoyed watching it being blown up as well as bouncing on it. The staff were very helpful and we all enjoyed the refreshments and chaed around the tables while the children played safely and happily in the soc play area. Unfortunately, three families couldn't come so seven children missed it. We miss Lynda S&rling who has been one of our regular helpers, but feel sure she will find a similar group in Ireland to support. We have several new families joining us on 22nd August when we start again. We are short of helpers, so if you can help in any way do let Anne or Tiny know - Tiny will take more responsibility this next term. It is a good opportunity to mix with families, enjoy playing with children or help in prac&cal ways. We thank you for your prayerful interest and support. Anne, Margaret, Sue, Carolyn, Marion and Tiny 10

11 LOCAL COMMUNITY Families First news The team, under Alison s direc&on, have been working very hard to deliver our summer holiday programme to the children and young people we work with. They have been out to Tayport, Leuchars, St Andrews, Cupar and Pienweem over the past four weeks and are looking forward to a well-earned and deserved rest in August. I had the privilege of preparing the food for our annual family picnic at Craigtoun on Saturday 21st July for approximately 100 people. The day was a huge success and everyone had a wonderful &me. Watch out for family comments coming to our website very soon. We have been so lucky this summer, this glorious weather has enabled us to get the children out and about into their local communi&es; we have not used our wet weather venues once! Once the team have had a break they will be straight back into planning mode, ge1ng ready for services and volunteers to start back in September. Morag Coleman FFSA Manager 11

12 News from the Lyons MISSION As we approach the halfway point of the year, it's &me to look at charts and figures to assess how effec&ve the Maarifa ministry has been so far this year. One ques&on we always ask is how many people do we know of who have come to faith as a direct result of our ministry? Since the beginning of January, that figure currently stands at praise God! I thought it might be good to include in this leer the stories behind some of these professions of faith. First, a nice picture - here's where these people actually are: The largest number are in Egypt, which is no surprise - it's the largest Arab country by popula&on and always one of our top countries for website visits. You may be surprised to see Yemen next, along with Algeria. Yemen is a country now being described by the UN as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with three-quarters of the popula&on in desperate 12

13 need of aid and protec&on. The fact that it is largely other Muslim countries, notably Saudi Arabia, who have caused this situa&on may explain why so many Yemenis have become deeply disillusioned with Islam. Fouad* is one such, who contacted us in March. He told us that he was suffering because of the war, but also that he had been searching for salva&on, and felt that Christ was the giver of life. He came to faith the day acer he first contacted us, once our colleague Mira had clearly explained the gospel to him. Mira is con&nuing to disciple this new believer online and has offered to put him in contact with local Chris&ans. However Fouad is s&ll fearful of who might find out and has asked that his details not be passed on yet. Another surprise may be the thirteen new believers in Turkey, which is not even an Arabic-speaking country. These are of course refugees, mainly from Syria and Iraq, another group who have seen just how easy it is for Muslims to hate and kill one another when they are encouraged to do so, and who are ocen wide open to the gospel. Layla* is one of them. She's from an Iraqi Shi'ite background and contacted us last month saying that she wanted to walk on the right path. When our colleague responded, Layla told her that she had become convinced that Islam could not be true - because of the violence and killing she had seen, and the treatment of women. She didn't really know anything about Chris&anity, but said that she had no&ced in the lives of Chris&ans peace, tranquility and honesty. As our colleague explained about salva&on and new life in Christ, Layla realized that Chris&anity was completely different from Islam and began to cry. That same day she gave her life to Christ. They're now studying Mahew's gospel together online. Seven people in Saudi Arabia have also come to faith this year. One of them is Suleiman* who filled in the main contact us form on our website last month asking us to contact him via Whatsapp and that he wanted to know more. He told our responder that he had already decided to convert to Chris&anity because it is a religion of love and sacrifice, while Islam is just all about religious observance. He had ques&ons about who God is and who Jesus is, but acer the responder answered his ques&ons he understood and accepted that God had come into the world as a man to die for our sins. Suleiman lives in Mecca, a city that no Chris&an is even allowed to enter. Nevertheless, a request for local follow-up has been made, and he should soon be able to meet up with a believer by travelling to another city. 13

14 You've probably no&ced a common theme in these stories. All three, and probably most of the other 171 new believers this year, contacted us already disillusioned with Islam and ready to hear and believe the gospel. As never before in the Arab world the harvest is plen&ful but the workers are few (Mahew 9:37). Another thing these three new believers have in common is that none of them can easily be followed up locally, either because they are too fearful, or because there is no one nearby who is able to meet them. This is why we are so anxious to develop the first lessons of our discipleship web app as soon as possible. Our Egyp&an colleague Mira was planning to come here for a week to help develop the content. Sadly, her visa applica&on was refused, so she has not been able to come. We are therefore having to try to work with her at a distance. Keep praying for this key project to move ahead. Pray too for Fouad, Layla, Suleiman and the many others who could benefit from this web app as they take their first baby steps in following Jesus. With love and thanks for your partnership with us month by month, Malcolm and Carrie *contacts' names have been changed Vising the Kasbah in Hammamet, during our trip to Tunisia in May (a first visit back with the family since we le& in 2001) 14

15 Malawi trip reflec(ons This June I went on a service trip with Tearfund to Malawi, where I worked with a local partner group, Eagles, on projects involving sustainable development as well as Church and Community Mobilisaon. I went on this trip with two other volunteers in order to encourage and support those that live and work there full me and to help inform people back in the UK about what is happening in Malawi. Hello everyone! I've now been back in the UK for about two weeks now, and I just thought I'd share my thoughts on my recent trip to Malawi and the things I've learned from it. The number one thing that I have taken away from this trip is the value and importance of long term, sustainable, community driven development as opposed to short term relief. This type of longer term development can take years, decades, or even genera&ons, but it's the kind of work that will really make a difference. That's not to say short term work is not important as well. Short term work is immensely valuable when people are desperate and cannot help themselves. The problem arises when short term relief work goes on for too long. This is one of the things that has happened in Malawi, where many NGOs (non-governmental organisa&ons) work to give away supplies and money to communi&es, or even to build developments such as toilets. This work isn't bad, but the approach is ocen incorrect. Too ocen these projects are led by the NGOs themselves, gicing the local people these things, and over &me crea&ng an environment where the local community learns to rely on outside help to survive. On the other hand, long term, sustainable, and community driven development puts the community itself at the heart of the decision making, and also ensures that the community has a stake in their development, meaning that the NGO rarely if ever supplies more than half of the funding required for something. In fact, many of the projects we saw while travelling with Eagles (the local NGO in Malawi we were working with) were fully 15

16 community funded, with most of the NGOs involvement being of organising mee&ngs where the community can come together and figure out how they can use the resources they have to develop and problem solve. Through this, Eagles have found that communi&es will come together, along with the church, to work and to develop themselves. This also creates a visible change in the a1tudes of the people. A small but telling example of this was the difference in a1tude between two different areas where Eagles work. The first area is in the south of the country, in the district of Chikwawa, where disasters such as floods and droughts have lead to massive amounts of foreign aid coming in over the course of the last twenty years or so. The second area, in the north of the country, in the villages outside the city of Mzuzu, has not been as disaster stricken and as such has received less short term missions over the last twenty years. In Mzuzu, Eagles solely works on its Community and Church Mobilisa&on Process (CCMP), which aempts to get communi&es and churches to work together to develop themselves. In Chikwawa, they also run other projects more similar to relief work. The example that came up was the difference in reac&on when Eagles offered to do a teacher training course in each area, with the issue being who would provide lunch. In Mzuzu, the local villages insisted that they provide and make the food for the meal, which they said was only fair as Eagles was providing the training. However, in Chikwawa, the villages asked Eagles to provide food at the training. The difference in mindset is massive. On one hand, you have a community that wants to do as much for itself as it can, while on the other, you have a community that assumes it requires help for everything it does. In Chikwawa, it was not the case that the villages could not provide food, as between them, the community made up over 1000 households, with easily enough resources between them to provide for a lunch at a training day. This is the a1tude that Eagles are looking to change, and it is working, but it takes &me. You cannot rush a change in a1tude for an en&re people, and as an outsider, you cannot rush the development of a na&on. The desire to develop, to become beer, must come from within in order for anything to be accomplished. Without that inner desire, no maer how much money and resources are poured into the country, it will just slip back to where it was before, wai&ng for the next dona&on to arrive. So what can we, as outsiders, do to help? As I've said above, this is the kind of work that takes a very long &me to accomplish. It requires there to be 16

17 people in Malawi to support, to encourage, and to inspire the communi&es to develop themselves. And those that encourage cannot just be there for a month, or even a year. In order to be truly effec&ve, they need to be there for a life&me. This is why the people that work at Eagles are so important to the country. They are Malawian, and as such are able to relate to and talk with the villages, but they also truly believe in inspiring communi&es to work for themselves through the power of God. So the most important thing you can do is to pray. Pray that the members of Eagles will be inspired, that the communi&es will envision a beer future, and that the necessary outside help will be given in the right situa&ons. The second most important thing you could do to help is to give to NGOs like Eagles, who do this type of long term development, and who need the funding to support their members to teach, encourage, support, and inspire the communi&es around them. You can find out more on the Eagles Malawi website (see hp:// about specific projects they are currently running, and a place to donate (for the chronically busy, the link to the dona&on page is hp:// One last thing that it has been an incredible encouragement to see in Malawi is the strength of the church and the power of God that exists there. Every village has a church. Some have three or four. And most, if not all people have heard the gospel, as it is ac&vely preached. You can see the evidence of this in the signs of shops such as God Saves Groceries or God is Love Barber Shop, and the church services we aended while there were vibrant, full of life and power and the Holy Spirit. So thank God for the strength of the Malawian church, and pray that the church will con&nue to be the backbone of the communi&es in Malawi as they learn to develop themselves. Thanks so much everyone for suppor&ng me on this trip. Thank you so much for your prayers. It's been an amazing experience that I have grown so much through. God Bless, Benjamin Wang P.S. For those of you who haven't read the blog entries on this and want to read more about what happened, please see hps://benjylxwang.wordpress.com/category/malawi-2018/ 17

18 News from Romania A (me of blessings and trials As a ministry we had a blessed spring&me and early summer. However, for our family it was not an easy &me at all, but by God s grace and all the prayers, we managed to stand up and con&nue the good fight in blessing and in trial. We were very encouraged that eleven of the children that are part of our Bible club were able to take part in a Bible contest. Every &me they got to be on the podium, and they were able to learn more from the Bible and take part in a lile compe&&on too, which can be fun in good ways some&mes. Some of the boys who are part of the teenager s group were part of two soccer compe&&ons. In one of the compe&&ons they won, and a second team from the same group came third place. In the middle of June ten children who were part of the First School Bag project graduated from school well. They are ready to con&nue for one more year with the hope for a beer future. The summer camp was also a very blessed &me and because of your help we were able to have eighteen children; that is even more than last year. It was a blessed &me with a lot of fun and good teaching. A huge thank you to everyone who helped sponsor the children to go. All this happened even though as a family we went through one of the hardest &mes we have had in the last three years. Adriana was six weeks pregnant and very sadly, because of medical problems, she lost the baby. We know that God has a plan with everything and even if it is hard to understand some&mes, we con&nue looking to Him and trus&ng Him in everything. Thank you for all your support and prayers. Please con&nue to partner with us in what God is doing in Modelu, Calarasi, Romania. Blessings as always, Mihai and the Hope for Tomorrow s Generations team 18

19 Fruit farm update We began visi&ng Barnsmuir farm again on 15th May this year and we are currently visi&ng every Tuesday evening. It has been amazing to see how God is at work! In the first few weeks we welcomed the workers by giving them a gic of Sco1sh tablet and invi&ng them to join us at our caravan - a big thank you to everyone who made the tablet! We have found that many of the workers are Bulgarian and Romanian, but we have also met people from different na&onali&es such as Hungary and Spain. We had been praying to be able to meet a variety of na&onali&es so it s great to see this prayer answered! On Tuesday evenings we visit caravans, cha1ng to workers around the site and offering them to join us for English lessons and to share hospitality at our caravan. Occasionally we have enjoyed some football and volleyball too! At the end of the evening we have a &me together in worship where we sing, pray and read the Bible in different languages. We are also offering a prayer space throughout the evening for those who wish to receive prayer. There have been &mes of real joy ge1ng to know people, and it s been great to have a sense that people are blessed by the visits and enjoy coming and being with us. We were sad recently to say goodbye to friends from Hungary whom we have got to know well this season. There have also been &mes of sadness and difficulty with those who have shared very difficult circumstances with us, but it has been good to be able to share fellowship and pray together. This summer, a highlight has been spending &me together over weekends, and the Tentsmuir BBQ was a great &me together with those who came from the farm. In July we hosted a picnic at Craigtoun Park and enjoyed an acernoon relaxing with one another, and we also hosted a football evening to watch a game of the world cup. We have a new facebook page and through this we adver&se different events. Our hope is that this will help us to reach out to people at other farms and also those living in and around St Andrews. 19

20 In August we are hoping to have a BBQ for people at Barnsmuir fruit farm, so please pray that many would come and enjoy themselves, and that stronger rela&onships would be built. Thank you very much to everyone who has helped in different ways this season. We would also love more people to join our team and there are so many different ways to be involved. Please speak to Becky if you would like more informa&on! Thank you! Gideon and Becky BOOK REVIEW Our sound is our wound: contempla(ve listening to a noisy world Lucy Winke, Bloomsbury, 2009 I really enjoyed this though=ul medita&on on sound. We hardly think about our hearing (un&l we begin to lose it) or even about making a noise, so I was intrigued by Winke s explora&on of it. A trained singer who lives in the city of London with &nnitus (a con&nuous high pitch ringing in her ear), Lucy is very sensi&ve to noise. Her chapters muse on the sound of Scripture, lament, freedom, resurrec&on and angels. Her insights as a preacher and pastor combine to produce a commentary on modern life which is though=ul and full of theological insight. Fiona Barnard A beauful and unusual book, rich in imagery and story, offering real insight into how we set about echoing the Word of God Archbishop Rowan Williams 20

21 Gong of praise for modern hymn writer On 7th July, with this heading, The Times revealed that Keith Gey had received an OBE from the Queen the previous Tuesday for his contribu&on to church music. His best-known hymn, In Christ Alone, has been chosen, in a BBC Songs of Praise poll, to be the second-best hymn of all &me, and is reckoned to be sung by 100 million people around the world every year. When did we last sing one of Keith s hymns? Probably on Sunday 15th July, when we sang For the cause of Christ the King, which he wrote especially for the 150th anniversary of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship. Indeed, one wonders whether hardly a week goes by without a Gey hymn in it somewhere (usually with his wife Kristyn or Stuart Townend as co-authors). Here s a selec&on of first lines: Behold the Lamb who takes our sins away From the breaking of the dawn Hear the call of the Kingdom Holy Spirit, living breath of God My heart is filled with thankfulness Oh to see the dawn See what a morning Speak O Lord as we come to you When trials come, no longer fear What appeals to me most about these hymns is that they ocen involve a sense of travel with an end in view. God calls us to follow the path that his Son has opened up before us. There are difficul&es and dangers, but always there is hope and a promise. We shall join the feast at the King s table; death is crushed to death; we shall reign with Christ; one day all shall be made new and the earth will be filled with his glory. So I always enjoy singing from the Gey-Townend Song Book and I hope that you do too. Here s a couple of ideas for those choosing Christmas songs. Have a look at: SoF 1839 Holy Child who chose the hearts of men SoF 1931 Joy has dawned upon the world ACer all, it s only 150 days to Carols by Candlelight! Mike Wray 21

22 Search commiee On a lighter note, the following is addressed to the search commiee for all their months of work behind the scenes. This is for your encouragement. Be blessed. Supplied by Euan Brander...the Lord sees not as man sees 1 Samuel 16:7 (AMP) A pulpit search commiee brought the following report to the congrega&on. In our search for just the right pastor, only one was found to have the quali&es we need. ACer interviewing each of the candidates, here are their names, along with our comments. Noah: A failure as a preacher; 120 years of experience, but no converts. Moses: Stuers and loses his temper. Abraham: Got into trouble with the authori&es and lied his way out. David: Would make a good minister of music if he had beer morals. Solomon: A walking encyclopaedia of wisdom, but doesn t prac&ce what he preaches. Elijah: Prone to depression; folds under pressure. Hosea: Divorced and remarried to a pros&tute. Jeremiah: Too emo&onal and nega&ve; a real alarmist. Amos: A farmer, beer suited to picking figs and raising cale. John: Says he s a Bap&st; lacks tact and dresses like a hippie. Peter: Bad tempered; denied Christ publicly. Paul: Not good media material; too long-winded. Timothy: Has poten&al, but much too young. Jesus: Offends church members with his preaching, hangs out with ques&onable characters and upset the commiee with his pointed ques&ons! Judas: Prac&cal, coopera&ve, good with money, cares for the poor, welldressed. We all agree - he s the man! 22

23 Aren t you glad that the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7 AMP) From UCB Word For Today, used with permission. Free issues of this daily devoonal are available for the UK and Republic of Ireland. The Word for Today is wri=en by Bob Bass, UCB Operaons Centre, Westport Rd, Stoke-on-Trent, ST6 4JF. Pienweem Arts Fes(val Helen Willis (our church administrator) is taking part in the Pienweem Arts Fes&val this year as part of the St Andrews Photographers (Venue 32). Preview evening is 6-9pm on Friday 3rd August 2018 and the fes&val runs from Saturday 4th August to Sunday 12th August, 10am to 5pm daily. Come along and enjoy the fun of Pienweem Arts Fes&val! 23

24 Material for the October/November issue of the newsleer should be given to Carol Evans by Wednesday 26th September. Carol: St Andrews Bap(st Church 132 South Street St Andrews Fife KY16 9EW (answer phone, checked weekly) Facebook: Charity No: SC