Outflow September 2010

In Pursuit of God, Discovering Purpose, Maximising Potential and Impacting Lives

september 2010

plusnovo centre relaunchwhat ‘women’ wantchurch social responsibility

Romaniabuild homes

in

Jesus House Men

2 OUTFLOW AUGUST 2010

OUTFLOW SEPTEMBER 2010 3

05 In The Crucible06 NewsReel07 Stories @ Jesus House18 Parenting20 Kidz Korner39 Outflow Resource

Church Social Responsibility“CSR” is now a permanent fixture in the Jesus House lexicon, but Damisi Adetola spent a few minutes with Pastor Sola Irukwu to find out just what it really means.

Death.Regret.Too Little.Too LateIsabella Rose was as dedicated to her work as she believed was necessary, so much that she put business first in her work relationships. Now a work-related tragedy has left her wondering if hers had been the right approach all along.

Making Music - Just Do itIn this month’s Idea Bank, Mary Ehioze-Ediae talks to the Tribe of Judah’s instrumentalists to discuss the realities of musicianship and the challenges faced by those pursuing an interest in playing an instrument.

Jesus House for all the Nations112 Brent Terrace, Brent Cross, London NW2 1LT, Tel: 020 8438 8285 Fax: 020 8438 8286 E-mail: [email protected]

OUTFLOW is published by Jesus House. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.

10Building New Homes in RomaniaThe Jesus House Men’s Ministry sent twenty representatives to the poverty-stricken region of Beius, Romania, on a CSR International mission to work with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for underprivileged families, where they dug trenches, laid foundations, cut masonry and created roof trusses.

13

16

24

In PUrsUIT OF GOD, DIscOverInG PUrPOse, MaxIMIsInG POTenTIaL anD IMPacTInG LIves september 2010

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

1. 1. Payments for desired advertising space must be made to the Accounts Office on +44 (0)20 8438 8285 no later than the 20th of the month preceding the desired edition (e.g. by 20th of March for the April edition).

2. A reference number will be allocated upon receipt of payment. Please include this reference when sending across your advert.3. Electronic copies of your advert must be sent to [email protected] within two days of the payment in any of the following formats: PDF, JPEG or TIF. Failure to do so

may result in non-publication of your advert. Adverts designed in Microsoft Word or Publisher will not be accepted.4. “Full” and “Quarter” page adverts should be designed and submitted in Portrait A4 format (297mm x 210mm), with 3mm bleed around edges, while “Half” page adverts

should be in Landscape A5 format (210mm x 148.5mm, also with 3mm bleed). Designs should be done at a minimum of 250dpi.5. Submitting an advert with a Portrait orientation for a half page space, or a Landscape orientation for a full or quarter page, may result in non-publication of your advert.6. In the event that any of the publication’s designers would have to convert or redesign your advert in any of the accepted formats, an additional chargeis likely to result.7. The publishers reserve the right to refuse the publication of an advertisement without having to provide a reason, though we will endeavour to provide one where

applicable.8. Where the set deadlines are not adhered to the publishers cannot guarantee publication in a particular edition.9. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from late appearance, non-publication or any mistake in the advertisement for any reason whatsoever (e.g.

typographic errors).10. The publishers accept no responsibility for actions taken on the basis of any information contained in the advertisement.11. The publishers do not in any way endorse any advertisement published.

*Estimated figure

Pastor Agu Irukwu editor-in-chief Joseph OnwuchekwaFeatures editor

Pastor Shola Adeagasupervising editor

Niyi Oduneyeadmin manager

‘Lanre Irocheeditor

Shade Olutobiphotography

Jumoke Fawibemanaging editor

Tinuke Akinbulumocopy editor

ContributorsBolanle Ojeh

Ayo Adedoyin

Lorraine Amako

Ayoola Bandele

Edel Meremikwu

Kunle Oyetayo

Chibundu Onuzo

Isabella Rose

Bunmi Omololu-Afilaka

J. Adedeji

Damisi Adetola

Mary Ehioze-Ediae

Dilichi Lawal

Jamie Ogbuigwe

Ibiene Fred-Horsfall

Lola Adeyemo

Joe Anka

Tola Lawal

Beverly Emovon

Doofan Kpera

Tosin Ajanaku

KIDZ KORNERAdora Molokwu; Rinah Akisanya; Tito Molokwu; Esther Sule; Marc Mbayo; Timeyin Attie-Tonwe; Victoria Foster-Alleru

AdvertisingFor enquiries about advertising in Outflow magazine, please email [email protected]

Letters to the EditorOne of our goals is to spark conversations within the church. If you have a response to any of the content of the magazine, please let us know by email: [email protected]

SuggestionsPlease email your suggestions for improving the magazine to [email protected]

DESIGnED By SIMPLySuMFInK (07957 964527) PRInTED By ALPHA COLOuRPRInT (020 7231 5454)

In the Crucible with Pastor Agu

T“ThIs Is whaT The LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and rein-forcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. see, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am mak-ing a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:16-19 (New International Version)

The Word from God that has come to the church in this season is neatly summarised in the above scripture, and we have received enough confirmation such that it is resounding in our ears. “Forget the former things... See, I am doing a new thing... do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

When God sent this Word through the prophet Isaiah, stories of His intervention in Israel had become mere folk tales. The people had heard of His exploits, but they hadn’t experienced them in recent times. The new thing God was promising would have been incom-prehensible to most of them, and so God began by re-minding them of who He is and what He is capable of doing. He was saying “forget the limitations of the old. With me, a path will be made in the sea, and streams will appear in the wastelands.”

God is saying the same to this new generation of believers as He announces His plans for the church. Through His servants, He is sending a promise of the new, of pathways in the deserts of our lives, of streams in areas long since dead. I encourage you to lay hold of this promise as God seeks to usher you into your new season, but urge you to keep in mind a few principles.

In order to embrace the new it is important to re-ceive this Word in your hearts and minds because it cannot bear fruit otherwise. Many may hear the Word but it is those who will hold onto it that will see it manifest in their lives. In 2nd Chronicles 20.20 King Jehoshaphat stood and declared to the people of Judah: “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” This success is promised to those who will accept the Word and hold on to it.

In Isaiah 43, God recognised the people’s past as a stumbling block, knowing that if they couldn’t let go of it, the best they would get in this new season would be a rehashing of the old. The Message version says, “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old his-tory. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.” In order to fully embrace the new you must let go of the past, forgetting not only the bad memories but also your successes, for nothing you have experi-enced can compare to God’s promise of the new.

It is important also to note that the promise is not a sign that God’s spoken word has already happened in the natural. Instead, it is a sign that it is time to birth the Word in prayer. A prophetic word is intended to be a catalyst to prayer, a bridge between God’s promise and its intended recipient. In 1st Kings 18.1 the Word of the Lord came to Elijah that the years of drought

were coming to an end. Yet, it was when he climbed to the top of Mount Carmel in verse 42, and began to intercede, that the rain began to fall. You have a part to play in the birthing of your promise.

In a setting such as ours the Word often comes in a form that can be understood by the collective. As a result it is generic. For the Word to bear fruit in your life it has to be specific and particular to your situation. What is new for you may not be new for someone else, and for you to know for certain the Word that God is speaking specifically to you, it is critical that you ask Him to show you. When God wanted to reassure Abraham that His promise of a son was true (Genesis 15.2-6), He took him outside and showed him the stars in the sky, telling him that his descendants would out-number them. Abraham believed God from that mo-ment and, according to the Bible, it was credited to him as righteousness.

His belief was so great that even when God asked him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, he rose early the next morning to set off on the journey. He was so expectant that he was going to witness something new that he assured his servants that both he and the boy would return (Genesis 22.5) even though God had asked him to sacrifice his son. In fact, according to Hebrews 11.19, Abraham believed that God was able to raise the boy from the dead after offering him up as a burnt offering, even though there was no precedent for this.

I have often said that nothing excites heaven like faith, and according to James 2.17 faith with-out action to support it is dead. James goes on to cite examples of pillars of faith, such as Abra-ham and Rahab, whose

actions communicated to heaven that they believed in God’s word. Likewise, you too must communicate your faith in the promise of the new by putting some action to your belief. Whatever God asks of you in this season, you must do it without hesitation. Just as Abraham did not hesitate when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac, you must show God by your efforts that you have believed His Word.

What Abraham did is even more admirable when you consider that he had waited 25 years after the promise to witness his son’s birth. Though he was faced with challenges and setbacks along the way, he received the promise because he was able to persevere. The same is true of anyone who will enter the new in this season, and because the enemy recognises this, one of his plans is to make you weary, to cause you to conclude that the goal is out of your reach. It is critical to approach this season with your spiritual eyes open, to watch out for the snares of the enemy lest he causes you to give up when the goal is within your grasp.

Another plan of the devil is to ensnare you in sin, and he is likely to trap you in a familiar sin, or an action or activity you haven’t yet recognised as sin. It is im-perative, therefore, that we watch and pray during this season, looking to Jesus for strength and enablement so that we do not fall prey to the devil’s schemes. The new is only promised to those who can remain steadfast in their service to God (Proverbs 15.8-9) and who can press on with their eyes focused on the goal.


the Word of the Lord came to Elijah that the years of drought were

coming to an end, but it was when he climbed Mount Carmel to intercede

that the rain began to fall.

6 OUTFLOW SEPTEMBER 2010

SEPTEMBER

MANY WILL HAVE READ “THE SHACK” by William Paul Young. The book was recommended from our pulpit. It transpires that the author of this book is now embroiled in a legal battle with the pastors who helped him publish it. The pastors, Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings believe that without their help in transform-ing the book, it would never have become a bestseller. So far 12 million copies of the book have been sold. They want to be acknowl-edged as co-writers of the book but that’s the least of the Young’s problems. There are disputes about copyright, breach of contract and missing royalties. The third party involved in this episode is Hatch-ette Book Group. They had an agreement with the pastors’ company, Windblown Media to distribute the book. The whole saga has been going on for at least eight months. The courts are yet to rule. So, watch this space.

----------------“OFFSIDE MCHUNU, SOCCER CITY MTHEMBU, RED–CARD Mtheba, inform your parents that I want to see them.” Or how about, “FIFA Ntshinga, stop talking in class”. Do you see it yet? These are some of the real names of children born in South Africa during the World Cup. For a traditional Zulu, it is custom-ary to name your child after events at the time of their birth. I just can’t help but feel sorry for the kids if they were to leave the country, particularly the one who was given the first name “2010”.

----------------SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE BEEN following the court case of sham marriages conducted by a gay Church of England Vicar. The prosecution’s case was that Reverend Alex Brown, 61 years of age, conducted a total of 383 weddings over 4 years (2005-2009) at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in St Leonards, Sussex. Earnings for the church increased from £1,000 before the sham marriages began to around £22,000 for the first few months of 2009. The bride and grooms had been supplied by his co-defendants, one of whom was also a pastor and solicitor. The desperate brides or grooms (predomi-

nantly of African origin) who were unable to stay in the UK are said to have approached the Pastor/Solicitor who arranged with a third party to provide an Eastern European for the marriage ceremony. The Eastern European was paid in the region of £3,000 for his/her part in the marriage. Af-ter trial, all three defendants were found guilty. They have all received custodial sentences of 4 years. The Bishop of Lewes has expressed his disappointment with the actions of the Vicar.

----------------A EUROPEAN UNION PROPOSAL FOR the use of animals in medical research to be restricted has caused concern for Christians, and notably the “Catholic Bishops conference for the European Union”. They oppose the EU’s draft directive, article 4 which states that “Member States shall ensure that wherever possible, a scientifically satisfac-tory method or testing strategy, not entailing the use of live animals, shall be used instead of a procedure”. The conse-quence of this being that human embryos could be used instead. The debate continues.

----------------CHANNEL 4’S “DISPATCHES” PROGRAMME

of recent weeks was a must watch. The content of the hour long show centred on the abuse of individuals and children in African churches, with some children being labelled as “witches”. Protest at the bias of the programme comes from the Evangelical Alliance, Churches Together in England and the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service. They contend that these were “a small rogue ele-ment of pastors”. They are planning to make their views known to channel 4. For those of you who didn’t watch the show, there is always Catch up TV!

----------------A NEW IPHONE APPLICATION you should consider getting is the SuperBadger App. It’s the first Application on the iphone to be launched by the aid group and Christian Organisation, TEAR-FUND. The aim is to encourage more people to do something for those in a less privileged position. For example, it will be possible to join petitions campaigning for crucial changes to the needy and poor. It’s out now folks, so get it in the Appstore!

----------------IS ANYONE INTERESTED IN OWNING a flying car? Well, if you are a nonprofit organisation, you will need $30,000 dollars. This invention is from an Ecuadorian born entrepreneur Steve Saint who is also a missionary. The idea is that the car which is called Maverick Sport will be able to take missionaries into regions that cannot be reached by any other means of transport, thus allowing the gospel to be shared with all. The vehicle can travel 350 miles on the road and 100 miles in the air on a tank of gas. This is a true story, I promise you!

COMPILED BY LORRAINE AMAKOSources: www.christianitytoday.com

www.cbn.comwww.wave3.com

www.examiner.comwww.latimes.com


“The Society has become privatised, People have become in-dividualistic, and people don’t connect and have lost what it means in praising God together in the community.”

This was the view expressed by Reverend Mike Clark of St Margaret Church, Edgware on the 3rd of July at the Psalm Enchanted event held to unite the Jewish and mi-nority community at the London Academy, Edgware.

The event, which received a grant from the Department of Communities and Local Government and was managed by the Community Development Foundation under the Faiths in Action group in the local community of Barnet, stemmed from previous collaborations with Rabbi Smith, who extended an invitation to do something together on music.

In Rabbi Smith’s words the event was about “reaching the community at large, promoting interfaith community, increasing understanding and contacts, helping others see different faiths for who they are and promoting dialogue which is a commandment from God and the right thing to do.”

The event commenced with a moving poem by Tope Teniola inspired by Psalm 23; it was centred on God as the good shepherd who will never forsake His sheep. This was followed by Unify Band, formed of three different churches in the local community who meet regularly to praise and worship God.

The Unify Band was one four distinct groups that sang from different books of Psalms. The others were the Edg-ware and District Reform Synagogue Choir, St Thomas In-dian Orthodox Church Choir and the Tribe of Judah from Jesus House. A solo performer, Ian White from Scotland, also sang from a different book of the Psalms. The event experienced a paradigm shift in unity as the praise of the different choirs enchanted the whole congregation and had them clapping, dancing and learning new music from dif-ferent communities, backgrounds and faiths.

The highlight of the event, which may have confirmed and deepened different identities, revealed an inner joy and a radiant glow through smiles on the faces of all the attend-ees. There was no doubt that the expectations of each mem-ber of the community represented at the event were met.

Ian White clarified that he had come to the event for the experience of an interfaith event and remarked that “I have never experienced [this] in 25 years, especially [with] the Jewish people and also the experience of openness to hear from others.”

The participating choirs agreed that the event carried a unifying theme.

A thank-you message from Revd Clark was sent to Pas-tor Agu Irukwu of Jesus House for his immense support.

AYOOLA BANDELE

psalms enchanted An inTerfAiTh experience

Stories @ Jesus House

above: Tribe of Judah’s Hannah uzor chats with Rabbi Smith. above right: The Tribe of Judah minister to the congregation. below: The Multifaith choirs perform in unison.

ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 6TH, THE NOVO CENTRE formally reopened its doors to the Grahame Park Estate and the wider community of Barnet with an open evening organised to celebrate the refurbish-ment work that had taken place at the centre.

The event featured an array of presen-tations from various members of the com-munity and the voluntary sector in Barnet. Labour Councillor Zakia Zubairi was in at-tendance and described it as “the life-giving centre for all the community”.

The Novo centre is a faith-led commu-nity initiative designed as a drop-in centre for the residents of Grahame Park Estate. It is a hub for local individuals and families to receive various forms of help and support ranging from youth activities, community meetings, training facilities, internet access and counselling services.

Built in the 1970’s, Grahame Park Es-tate is a key regeneration area and Barnet’s largest housing estate with a total of 1,777 homes. The centre was initially opened on the estate in April 2006 as a Jesus House initiative to serve as a drop-in centre for help and support.

Over the years, the Grahame Park Estate has struggled to shake off the stigma of be-ing a troubled and disadvantaged area, be-coming synonymous with high rates of un-employment and problematic youth, and the Novo Centre is determined to play its part in altering the social landscape for the resi-dents. Taking advantage of the summer holi-days, the centre is running a healthy roster of events and activities geared towards self-development opportunities for local youth.

These include the Novo Summer Academy, the Football Academy and the Youth En-terprise Scheme. The centre plans to engage them in an interesting and constructive manner as it seeks to provide a brighter and more positive future for the youth.

Over the last couple of months, the cen-tre has gone through a major refurbishment programme and significant changes in terms of its operations.

Operationally, there has been a restruc-turing of services all aimed and targeted at the provision of a better and more enriched service to the community which the centre serves. One such service of the centre is the Manna Outlet shop, a Food Distribution service set up for those in need. This is now fully functional and in service to the com-munity.

THE EVENT ALSO MARKED THE formal launch of the Manna Supermarket within the centre. The supermarket, which boasts of high quality food provisions do-nated by members of the public, operates on a referral basis for the less privileged in the Barnet community and is run in collabora-tion with Barnet Homes.

The Councillor expressed her joy at the initiative, describing the supermarket as a great vehicle for tackling poverty and being involved in the redevelopment of the area. She hoped that the residents would find the new store suited to their needs.

The supermarket was opened and dedicated by Jesus House’s Head of CSR (Church Social Responsibility), Pastor Sola Irukwu, who expressed her excitment at be-

ing able to play a part in the Great Commis-sion of Jesus Christ to show love to all. She added that she could not wait to see the shop expand to give Tesco a run for its money in impacting the community.

The store will open 12 hours a day, six-days a week. It will open between 5am – 8:30pm

EDEL MEREMIKwu & AYOOLA BANDELE

new look novo community centre communiTy drop- in cenTre refurbished & mAnnA supermArkeT lAunched




clockwise from main picture: Councillor Zakia Zubairi flanked by residents of the Grahame Park and members of the church leadership in front of the novo Centre; Cllr Zubairi and the Barnet Homes representative converse with an estate resident; samples of products available in the Manna Supermarket; Pastor Sola Irukwu addresses the audience.



WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP with Oxford-based charity, Habitat for Humanity, twenty male volunteers from Jesus House church set out to change the lives of orphans and other underprivileged families in Beius, Romania, where they spent a week and a half digging trenches, laying foundations, laying bricks, lifting and cutting masonry, making insulations, and creating roof trusses in a re-gion regarded as the poorhouse of Europe.

Led by Colin Tomlin, the head of the men’s ministry at Jesus House, the men

worked in the towns of Beius and Oredia on the North Western tip of the Transyl-vanian range. With populations of 30,000 and 200,000 respectively, these towns have harboured a large population of Romanian orphans who are still trying to get a decent living in a post-Ciausescu era.

Romania continues to suffer after 40 years of communism. Poverty remains rife and civil society and social services have had to be reconstructed from scratch.

“We started planning this trip nine

months ago and it’s great to see it has now become a reality,” Colin said. “Our motiva-tion for doing this is taken from the bible, which says that whatever good that you do to people in need and in trouble, will be seen as a service to God.

“At Jesus House, we see ourselves as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ – representing Him in the present day.”

Members of the team included profes-sional carpenters, engineers, builders and Site Project Managers but Colin points out that working with Habitat for Humanity means that anyone with a willing heart can serve in this way.

Charles Stephenson, a volunteer who served in the military in Iraq, said, “This is just as much work as being on the warfront in Bagdad, but it’s great to know that we are building hope and peace as well as new homes.”

Habitat for Humanity was founded in the 1970s to build sustainable housing for people who have either no homes or are in poverty housing. They operate in over 90 countries around the world and have built several thousand homes to date.

Jesus House’s Head of Communications, Mr Ayo Adedoyin (who was also on the build), said: “It was a great way to positive-ly impact the lives of so many people who would otherwise be living in squalor. We definitely hope to do this again and would welcome as many people from this commu-nity to get involved.”

building new homes in romania jesus house men’s minisTry works wiTh hAbiTAT for humAniTy To build homes in The romAniAn region of beius


opposite page: Deacon Wole Kolawole captures the mood in Beius. this page, clockwise from above: Team Leader Colin Tomlin high-fives a young boy; Jesus House men @ work; the Romania Build team. overleaf: More photos of the men at work.

12 OUTFLOW JUNE 2010


We have been hearing over the past months about Church Social Responsibility, or “CSR”, as you will often have heard it referred to. But, like many members of the Church, you may have only a

vague idea of what it covers and not how it applies to Jesus House. If asked, one might say, “It’s about helping other people in remote, far-flung and exotic locations, right?” or “It’s what those mission-ary people do, and that’s definitely not part of my anointing”.

Our intention is that, after this interview, you will discover that although the international element is a vital and important part, there is more to CSR than that. Notwithstanding whether or not you have the appetite for cold showers in tropical and mos-quito-laden locations, there is a part for us all to play.

To set about convincing you of this, we interviewed Pastor Sola Irukwu, who has overall responsibility for CSR, and asked her the Big Questions: What – ‘what is CsR?’ Who – ‘who is in-volved?’ When – ‘when did CsR begin?’ Why – ‘why would anyone be involved in such things, and in particular, why is Pastor sola?’ and How – ‘how can you and I get involved?’

The “what”You are probably aware that the idea of corporate responsibility on a social level is becoming increasingly prevalent. In fact, the shareholders of many blue-chip companies are increasingly exert-ing pressure on senior management to ensure that philanthropic opportunities are developed. However, as Pastor Sola comments, it is the Church that is the originator of collective social responsi-bility, and it should therefore be at the forefront of such initiatives.

CSR is the corporate vehicle at Jesus House for what is (or should be) the responsibility of you and I. As Pastor Sola goes on to explain, CSR falls within the mandate that God gave the Church, epitomised in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20, where Jesus calls on his followers to teach and baptise all nations in the name of the Father, Son and Holiday Spirit.

CSR is divided into two arms: CSR International and Com-munity Action. What both arms have in common is the need to reach out to disadvantaged members of our society, or to put it biblically, our neighbours.

The “who”Pastor Sola focuses primarily on CSR International, the vision of which is to direct church resources towards projects that impact our underprivileged and marginalised neighbours. An example of this is purchasing pigs, goats and other farming animals for families in the Kaduha community in Rwanda (one of the poorest regions of Rwanda, and one which has been significantly affected by the ongoing conflicts in the country). Another recent project was a trip to Romania by members of the men’s ministry. Work-ing in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, the men were able to build homes for disadvantaged people in rural areas of Roma-nia over the August period.

Deacon Ayo Adedoyin, on the other hand, focuses on Com-munity Action, whose aim is to impact on disadvantaged indi-viduals within the Barnet borough, sometimes working with other church or para-church organisations. An inspiring example of this is the Manna Project, whereby people in desperate need

church social Responsibility BY DAMISI ADETOLA

jesus house

Pastor Sola Irukwu assists a young boy at a water pump during a mission trip to Pader, uganda in 2008. Overleaf: Pastor Sola and Deacon Ayo Adedoyin during the same mission visit.


within the borough can receive vouchers of a monetary value and ex-change these for grocery items at participating stores. In addition, the Manna Project seeks to work with the individuals in need, in order to provide them with much-needed access to supporting services, such as debt counselling or employment training.

The “when”Last year Pastor Sola was given a mandate to develop CSR and make it a fully established arm of Jesus House. Prior to this, various com-munity initiatives had been undertaken by Jesus House, but only at an ad-hoc level. When asked how CSR fits in with the overall objective of “The New” at Jesus House and its plans going forward, she pointed out that CSR is new in itself. Further, there are new areas or projects to be explored and the long-term goal is to move CSR from its current phase into a fully fledged initiative that compares in size and impact to other well-known charitable organisations, such as Christian Aid or Habitat for Humanity. Pastor Sola’s long-term vision is for CSR to be a self-sustaining arm of Jesus House which is internationally known for its specialism in, and expertise on, a range of social issues.

The “why”Why would anyone wish to be involved in community projects? As Pastor Sola explains, at a foundational level we are simply obeying what God has told us. After all, what can be clearer than a command-ment to “love your neighbour as yourself ”? But, as she acknowledges, there are richer benefits to be gained from serving God through oth-ers. To use her own words, “If you meet a need in someone else’s life, there is no way that God will not meet your own need”. However, she cautions against engaging in CSR (or indeed any church activity) with ulterior motives; there are many stories in the bible that tell us that God looks at the heart, and is not impressed with those that ‘go through the motions’.

Pastor Sola herself describes how reaching out to the under-priv-ileged is a passion for her. This is needless to say - her enthusiasm and drive for CSR would be apparent to anybody who raises the sub-ject with her. As an example, she reveals that she is very passionate about issues relating to malaria, which affects significant numbers in the developing world and can be avoided with relatively simple and inexpensive methods. On the other hand, someone else may not be so passionate about malaria, but may be moved by issues relating to HIV, or by matters single-parent families…the list is endless. In this way, she encourages each individual to find specific social issues which they

are passionate about - CSR potentially encompasses many aspects of society both on a localised and global level, and there are countless op-portunities for each person to get involved in a way that is meaningful to them.

And this leads us to how you and I can get involved…

…The “How” – ‘somebody please get the door’Pastor Sola gives an example of a day she was at home with Pastor Agu, in different parts of the house. The doorbell rang and Pastor Agu, otherwise disposed, called out, “Would somebody please get the door”. That “somebody”, of course, was a euphemism for one person – Pastor Sola, as she was the only other person in the house at the time.

This example can be applied to the need to help the marginalised. In many instances, the ‘somebody’ that is being called is you, and as part of our Christian call, it is important for each to respond to that call.

One of the most tangible ways to impact is to financially sup-port CSR projects, which are dependent on donations from church members, who give either on a one-off basis or donate small amounts regularly. Receiving prayer support is also paramount to CSR, as it is committed to growing in God’s direction and in God’s own way.

On a more practical level, there are lots of initiatives within Jesus House and many future projects in the pipeline. Areas where you may be able to assist include with fundraising initiatives, seconding your skills to missionary trips abroad, developing new projects that you are passionate about, or even simply donating a couple of hours a week or month to existing initiatives like the Manna Project.

I would encourage you, in the first instance, to peruse the CSR section of the Jesus House website for details of current and future projects. If after this you would like to develop your interest further, please speak to Pastor Sola or Ngozi Nwachukwu. Contact can be made on [email protected] or through the church office on 020 84388285.

At a foundational level we are simply obeying what God has told us. After all, what can be clearer than a commandment to “love your neighbour as yourself ”?

“


He gave my wife and I unexpected job offers – bode“I have been experiencing the manifestation of the “new” since the last Festival of Life. Recently I got a job offer that will require me to relocate to Nigeria, and about the same time my wife also got a job of-fer in the same city. Both these offers were unsolicited; I was actually praying to God for something else entirely so it was a huge surprise when we got them.

In my case, a friend of mine contacted me and told me that he had a contract from the Nigerian Government and he thought of me while thinking about who could help him execute it, while in my wife’s case an old schoolmate of hers contacted her out of the blues and asked if she was interested in coming back to Nigeria to work for a bank. I would like to tell everyone the God is real, and as long as we are patient we will reap the rewards of our prayers.”

He helped me discover a talent I didn’t know I had - joyce “I recently discovered I had a talent for writing and I started a blog. This was after I prayed to God; I had no inclination I could write and I was so con-vinced I wasn’t good with writ-ing that I decided not to do English for my A levels. I am someone that relies on people a lot and while praying to God about The New I had a revela-tion that I do not need to rely on anyone else but Him. Ever since I have placed my trust in him I have been encountering a lot of new things, amongst which is the newly found talent!”

He gave me a job after two years of unemployment - solA“I had been praying to God for a job as I have been unemployed for the past two years. Last week I got an interview with a large firm and I was still in the process of waiting to hear from the company when I received a phone call earlier in the week.

The phone call was from a recruitment consultant who men-tioned that he had been trying to get in touch with me as he has a job offer lined up for me with a huge multinational oil servicing firm. He asked if was available immediately as the company wanted me to start the next day. I told him I was and the next day, to the glory of God, I started my new job without even having an interview!”

He reestablished contact with my father after 12 years –mAryAm“I grew up without my father and the first time I met him was in 1998. I had lost con-tact with him since then. God has recently been teaching me about learning how to love and forgive people, as I had a lot of negative experiences with the opposite sex when I was younger.

As part of my prayers about the “new” I realized God wanted me to renew the way I think and recognize that love is unconditional. I resolved to

be more forgiving and loving and to God’s glory I received a call from my dad three weeks ago!”

He gave me a new job – kunle“I had been due for a promotion at work for about a year but every time an opportunity came up my bosses would bypass me. I therefore resolved to pray to God to elevate me. After about a month of prayer and fasting I got a new job that paid better than my previous job and also effectively a promotion as it is at a level higher than my previous role.”

What has God

In this season of The new, Outflow’s roving reporter is going round finding out in a few short sentences what God is doing in the lives of members of the congregation. This section is not a substitute for the church’s regular channels for submitting testimonies, but is a vehicle to encourage our readers that God is real and still answers prayers.

done for you lately?


It wasn’t uncommon for me to emerge from the revolving doors of the office building at 4 a.m. I didn’t mind. I was determined to work hard and make a good impression. I didn’t. At least I don’t think I could have made that good an impression because at the end of my contract, I found myself sitting out in the cold without a job. I resisted asking

God if he had stopped loving me; whether he was now so busy fighting the war in Afghanistan and bailing out the banks that my unemployment status had fallen to the bottom of His ‘To Do List’. I watched every morning from my bedroom window as responsible members of society walked to the sta-tion to begin their journey to their various cubicles. I resisted the urge to feel sorry for myself.

A week rolled by. No job. One month. Nothing. Three months. Still jobless. Six months. Häagen Dazs connoisseur. Nine months. Professional home cleaner. Eleven months. Couch potato champion of the entire universe. My state of mind shifted from blissful happi-ness to rage, from contentment to a classic five year-old’s tantrum that at times had me stamping my feet as I said through grit-ted teeth, “my life isn’t working”, to no one but the still image of a random woman in the painting behind my sofa. I was starting to lose it. I now needed to read my Bible twice a day if I was to sur-vive without gorging out the eyes of anyone who innocently said to me, “love your life!”

On a Thursday morning a few weeks ago, I was trying to decide which state of mind I had woken up in. Believing-Loving Isabella or Psycho-Angry Isabella. I didn’t wait to find out. I scrambled for my Bible like an addict snatching her next fix, I read a few scrip-tures and felt God’s love quiet my mind. Shortly afterwards, my phone rang and my friend’s voice that was usually chirpy and opti-mistic sounded strangely heavy. I wondered what burden she was carrying.

“It’s not good news,” she said.“What is it?” I asked.“Tom is dead.” Those words shot through the

speakers on my phone and landed like a bowling ball in my stomach.

“What? No! Wait! How can that be? What happened? Are you sure?” The words tumbled out quickly as I tried to comprehend what I hoped was a bad joke.

The narration that followed chilled my bones. It is a story you would only expect a desperate novelist to concoct in his overactive imagination as he watches the sunrise and his deadline loom closer. Was it an accident? Did he kill himself ? The police were investigating. Either way, he was gone. I worked with him for three months and knew him for anoth-er year and nine months after that. The last year involved no contact because I was busy plotting my next career move and switching personalities from Believing-Loving Isabella to Psycho-Angry Isabella and back again. I had planned to get back in touch once my life started moving in the right direction. Actu-ally, in any direction.

The first time Tom and I met is as vivid as if it just occurred.

“Are you Isabella?” he asked as I scram-bled to gather my notebooks and loose pa-

Death. regret. Too Little. Too Late.BY ISABELLA ROSE


pers. My pen chose that exact moment to roll across the conference table.

“Erm, yes,” I mumbled, reaching for the pen while trying to look at him.

“Follow me!” he said. I abandoned the pen, grabbed my note-

books and papers and ran after him, tilting forward in my three-inch stiletto heels. That morning I had chosen to wear my favourite suit because I had wanted to look smart. It was my first day in the department. I was now regretting that decision because with each step he took, the gap between us wid-ened, which left me running behind him like a little schoolgirl. This wasn’t the image I had in my head when I pictured this day. I was supposed to look calm, cool and competent!

“Jane Goodman’s your boss, isn’t she?” he asked.

“Yes, she is,” I replied. “She’s not here today so she asked me

to put you on my deal. I’m Tom.” He ran his hand through his hair and tossed a smile over his shoulder before increasing his pace.

“Ok! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” I squealed, convinced that the architects who designed the building had anticipated this moment and buried cameras behind the oil paintings that lined the pale green walls, after deciding to stretch its length for what seemed like miles. I imagined that they would gather later that evening to cackle like hyenas over my humiliation.

We eventually reached the elevator and I attempted to gather my dignity from the floor. I then fixed my gaze on the red screen above the elevator doors, which displayed the floor number we were ascending past, studying it intently as it changed from one, two, three…carrying me higher to what I hoped was not further humiliation. I occa-sionally allowed a smile appear on my sweaty face. I hoped he couldn’t hear me panting.

Now he was dead. My first thought as the news sank in wasn’t that life on this side does not last forever so we must all live and fulfill the assignment that God has given us. I deserve no round of applause for not attempting to use his death to reignite my dreams. Shame hurried to perform its duty and danced before me. It flooded my mind with my decision not to speak up when I suspected Tom might have been over-whelmed by his responsibilities for fear of incurring his wrath. It hurled accusations at me, shaking its waist and somersaulting in delight. I sat with my hands covering my face, stunned. Silent.

Every late night Tom and I spent with our secretary working quietly away paraded itself in between Shame’s performance. Like a carefully orchestrated choreography I saw opportunities I had been given to speak about the love of Christ present themselves suddenly and then vanish with each decision I made to remain silent. I wondered whether,

on the day I advised him to take better care of himself in response to his health concerns, there were angels perched on the grey cabi-net in the left corner of his office urging me to say more. There was no one around to in-terrupt. It was 2 a.m.

I managed to say, “You should think about going to the gym.” The words were ut-tered as though I had just been asked to walk on hot coal burning. Yes, they were spoken with trepidation and I immediately clamped my mouth shut for fear that I had said too much. I didn’t need a padlock. Common sense, which screamed, “if you say too much, you will make him angry and you will get a bad appraisal and you will lose your job”, was enough to keep my mouth closed. And closed it remained.

Unemployment. Death. Both now stared at me from opposite sides of my room. In the middle lay the missed the opportunity to share the love of Christ. An opportunity that can never be regained. The sound of Tom chuckling after he told a joke he thought was funny and his undecipherable grunt of agreement, which made you think you were in the company of a grey haired Englishman who had seen generations come and go, even though he was only in his early thirties, rang in my ears. I gulped. The bowling ball that was sitting in my stomach was now travel-ling between my throat and stomach. Each time it reached my stomach, it left a fresh

wave of regret and sadness. The circumstanc-es surrounding his death are much too tragic to retell here. And I have changed his name to protect his identity. But there are a few things that I know for sure.

God will send people our way not just so that they can bless us, but also so that we can be a blessing. The light of the world. The salt of the earth. We, His ambassadors, are scattered like seeds across this city in organi-zations as diverse as the people that walk the streets of London. In some, there will be one Christian. In another, one hundred.

While God wants us to build our skills and expertise, and provide us with the re-sources to take care of our families, He also wants us to be sensitive to His spirit and to speak when He says so. These words may re-quire us to share the gospel. My belief that we, as Christians, may be the only Bible some people will ever read remains unchanged. But without listening to the Holy Spirit as He guides, we will never know when we are required to do more than let our actions and lifestyles be the Bible acted out.

We would all like to think that if some-one were in imminent danger, we would don our superhero suit and race to their rescue. Unfortunately, emergencies don’t always ap-pear in the manner we expect. That colleague who acts like a nuisance because he inter-rupts your presentation every morning may be the most depressed person in the build-ing. Turning your nose up in disgust may cause you to miss out on the opportunity to listen, sow words of encouragement and avert a disaster.

If I were authorised to climb Big Ben, break the stained glass window and turn back its iron hands, so that I can revisit the opportunities I had to tell Tom about Christ, I would. But sadly, this will only ever remain a wish. The reality is that I didn’t speak and Tom is gone. I, however, resolve to make some changes, including a paradigm shift in the way I view Christianity in the workplace. What about you?

Shame flooded my mind with my decision not to speak up when I suspected Tom might have been overwhelmed by his responsibilities.


settling your child into secondary school

Your child is now at the stage where he/she is leaving the very small, familiar environment of primary school and is now embarking on a

journey into the unknown phase of secondary school education. This is usually a time of ex-citement and worry mixed together.

Secondary schools are usually much larger and there is a lot of manoeuvring from class to class and around the whole school area. This in itself can be very daunting. Your child may not be moving into the new school with any familiar faces, and this may be a cause of additional anxiety, alongside having to travel to school alone or on the school coach. These factors and other considerations may make both parent and child rather apprehensive and nervous as the new term looms.

As a teacher, and a mother of a new sec-ondary entrant, I put together a list of tips to help alleviate your worries and help your child settle in:• Make sure your child has had a visit to

the secondary school which, ideally, the Local Education authorities ought to have arranged in the last few weeks of their primary school year. This visit en-sures that the school is not completely strange to them.

• Remain positive and encouraging. It is very important that a parent’s own ap-prehensions are not passed on. Children are very perceptive and can pick up on

your feelings. Reas-sure them of your unwavering support and make the proc-ess as pleasant as possible.• Make sure your child is fully equipped with the

school uniform, PE kit and stationery so that he doesn’t start the term feeling ill-prepared.

• As far as is possible, arrange for at least one parent is to see him off in the morn-ing and be there when he gets home.

• Make allowances for theatrics, such as feeling ill and not wanting to go to school. These are fairly common excuses. Parents must check the validity of such excuses.

• Chat often whilst he is settling in. Find out about his new teachers, subjects and any new friends he may have made. Do-ing this will show the child that the jour-ney is not theirs alone.

• You should know your child’s Form Tu-tor and Head of Year/Pastoral Team. Your child’s school may use the school diary for communication on a daily ba-sis but make sure you know how best to make direct contact. Remember you are not likely to get an immediate response to phone calls made during the school day whilst lessons are ongoing. If possible send an email.

• Make sure you are aware of your child’s school and homework timetable. Find a suitable environment for your child to do the homework where he will be un-disturbed. Every child is different so it is your responsibility to decide when he should do it. Homework is set to com-pliment the learning done and I suggest

that the best time to complete tasks set is on the day it is set so that he can consoli-date what was taught in class.

• Be firm with, but supportive of, your child – remember the school expects your support and values any information you may have to ensure that his time is a happy one.

• Encourage your child to behave appro-priately and avoid situations that could lead to sanctions. The school rules are usually available in the homework diary or school web site.

• If your child is really not settling in it is important to talk to both child and the school to find out what is going on and get resolutions to the situation/s.

• Your child may be finding the work over-whelming or even boring, or he might be finding it hard to make new friends. It is important to tackle this early on, as some children end up playing truant or refus-ing to attend school if the problems are not resolved quickly but are allowed to magnify.

Remember your support and confidence in your child will help him thrive and make the move to secondary school, a smooth and en-joyable process.

Moving up new school, new year Groupby buNmI OmOlOlu-AfIlAKA (TeAcher of mAThs And heAd of yeAr)

moving into a new year Group

Believe it or not, moving to a new Year Group may also cause some challenges. Okay, she’s more or less

settled into friendship groups, is familiar with the school routine and rules, gets on well with her teachers, but may still find herself nervous about the new Year Group.• She may find herself with a new form

tutor whom she may feel she may not get on with. Be supportive; remind your child that her form tutor is there to provide support and ensure that your child is happy at school.

• She may be apprehensive about new subjects. This is to be expected – try to let your child see this as a challenge, she may want to set herself personal targets so that she can see how she is progressing.

• At a certain stage in her school life she will be required to make choices about her subjects. She may feel in-decisive and may want to make her preferences based on what friends are doing, or because she has a preference for a particular teacher. Make sure that she selects her subjects for the right reasons – where her strengths and interests lie.

• You may find that over the summer she gradually stops talking about old friends and has gained new ones. However be prepared for falling out/re-grouping. Friendship groups may change. Continue to pray that your child has the confidence not to be easily led or fall in with the wrong crowd.

Parenting

11Plus Exams helping your child prepareby buNmI OmOlOlu-AfIlAKA


• The Eleven Plus exam is used to select which children will receive secondary education in either a grammar school or other selective (Independent) school.

• Your child will sit the exam in the year preceding their 12th birth-day, which is the year before they will enter secondary school.

• The exams your child will sit will depend on the school for which your child will be taking the selection test. For Grammar school’s contact the Local Education Authority LEA http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/LEA_addresses.php

• For grammar schools:1. Make sure you complete the application process.

Apart from the LEA application, you may be re-quired to complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF).

2. Most grammar schools still work with catchment. Find out definitively that you meet the catchment criteria. There are very few grammar schools that do not take this into consideration.

3. You must contact the school so that you can find out which board is setting the selection exam for your

school/area and then find out the format: whether multiple choice or standard.

4. The main exam boards are NFER published by NFER themselves, AFR, IPN and The Tutors and Bond who publish their own range of preparation material.

5. The books/papers should be used in order as the dif-ficulty increases as your child works through them.

• You may find that your selective school is part of a consortium. This will be in your favour if you wish to apply to more than one school in your area. But do find out the schools that make up the consortium. Remember other entry criteria may still apply.

• For information on independent school exams, contact the school directly. You may find they supply sample papers for a small fee.

• The actual papers your child will sit will be dependent on the school and is usually a combination of Verbal Reasoning, Non Verbal Reasoning, Maths, English Comprehension and story writing.

• Because of the nature of the material it is best to start preparation at least a year in advance as this will increase your child’s confi-dence as he works through the material in progression.

• If you have the patience, time and confidence, you may want to tutor your child yourself as there are so many resources available.

• If you choose to hire a tutor, there are many specialised tutors who have experience with the wide range of exam boards and schools. They can provide invaluable advice and help with the whole 11 plus process.

• The rates and duration of tuition varies from place to place. The best place to start is usually thorough personal recommendation. However, be prepared to try two or three tutors as it is important that your child feels comfortable and confident working with the tutor.

• When looking for a tutor some of the things you need to look for are:1. Past experience – find out how many children have

improved/were selected at your chosen school since starting with the tutor.

2. Ask to see the teacher’s qualifications and CRB cer-tification.

3. Find out the tutoring method. Will they come to your home or will you have to go to them. Some will charge extra if they have to travel.

4. The tutor must, must, must be familiar with the exam board for your school.

5. Ask for feedback after each session from the tutor and your child. If you feel any negativity coming from your child, you may need to change tutors.

• Find out about scholarships and bursaries for independent schools. Some schools sit these at different times to the regular exams.• Some schools have separate selections for Musical/Drama/

Sports Aptitude. Make sure you research these requirements as well.•Find out about sibling admission. Most independent schools offer some discount for siblings (once the sibling has also passed the exam).•Grammar schools may/may not be in two stages or spread over two days to sit different papers. Most independent schools will also ask you to come for second stage which is usually an interview. You will need to prepare your child for this.

There is a lot more advice and guidance on the internet and in particular an invaluable resource which covers a whole range of information on 11+ http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/ an internet forum.

The Amplified Bible states that you should “Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent]…” Proverbs 22:6. You will know what works best for your child and you must bear this in mind when going through the 11+ process.

Good Luck!

moving into a new year Group

Believe it or not, moving to a new Year Group may also cause some challenges. Okay, she’s more or less

settled into friendship groups, is familiar with the school routine and rules, gets on well with her teachers, but may still find herself nervous about the new Year Group.• She may find herself with a new form

tutor whom she may feel she may not get on with. Be supportive; remind your child that her form tutor is there to provide support and ensure that your child is happy at school.

• She may be apprehensive about new subjects. This is to be expected – try to let your child see this as a challenge, she may want to set herself personal targets so that she can see how she is progressing.

• At a certain stage in her school life she will be required to make choices about her subjects. She may feel in-decisive and may want to make her preferences based on what friends are doing, or because she has a preference for a particular teacher. Make sure that she selects her subjects for the right reasons – where her strengths and interests lie.

• You may find that over the summer she gradually stops talking about old friends and has gained new ones. However be prepared for falling out/re-grouping. Friendship groups may change. Continue to pray that your child has the confidence not to be easily led or fall in with the wrong crowd.

Parenting

11Plus Exams helping your child prepareby buNmI OmOlOlu-AfIlAKA


Kidz Korner

A WHOLESOME WOMAN

This month at Kidz First, we are focusing on what being a “Wholesome Woman” means to our

children, so we spoke to six of them about their own understanding of the comprehensive values that a Woman must possess

As you read on, it will become obvious that our children value attributes such as purity, obedience, honour, kindness, freshness, and elegance which are reflected throughout their articles.

We hope you enjoy these articles and pray that you continue to uphold and instill these qualities in your children at home as we work in partnership with you…

Acronym for wHOLESOME

wISEHOnOuRABLEOuTSTAnDInGLOVInGELEGAnTSPIRITuALOPEn MInDEDMARVELLOuSEDIFyInG

a wholesome woman by Adora Molokwu (Aged 12 – Joshua Generation)

What makes a woman Wholesome? • Purity • Honesty

Esther was very pure and not sinful; Ruth told the truth all the time .

They are both definitely Wholesome Women.When you get an orange from the tree, it is whole

and pure but when you cut it half it is no longer whole.

My best friend, Jasmine, always tells the truth, even in difficult situations and even if she gets in trouble for it, that is why she is my best friend!

my story about two unwholesome women who became wholesomeThere were two robbers - Josephine and Joyce - who were on a mission to steal 1000 pieces of gold. The very next evening, these robbers set out on their mission however the police were alerted and started to chase them but they ran and ran until they ran out of breath so the police caught them and took them to Court

Josephine and Joyce were very sad but decided to tell the truth. Even though they went to jail, God saved them and soon they were out of jail and completely changed their ways because they had learnt their lessons so they became Wholesome.

moral: Always tell the truth and you will be wholesome

a wholesome woman by Rinnah Akisanya (Aged 10 – Children of Destiny)

A wholesome woman is one who is:•PURE•CLEAN• BEAUTIFUL

you are beautiful as in being pure (not sinful) but that does not mean you are the best like how Esther did not think that she was the best when she was queen and she was a wholesome woman just like Ruth as well.

A wholesome woman can be like a Pastor’s wife, like our female pastors

at Jesus House.


Kidz Korner

a wholesome woman by Tito Molokwu (Aged 8 – Kingdom Kids)

A wholesome woman is one who is:• NICE• POLITE• WELL-BEHAVED• WELL-MANNERED• WELLBLESSED• RICHLYREWARDED• HIGHLYFAVOURED• LOVEDEVERYWHERE• HOLY• ELEGANT• SHARING• CARING• OPENMINDED

my poem about an unwholesome woman & a wholesome woman

I met this woman who was meanShe did not like to shareIf she knew what she was doingShe wouldn’t even care

I met this lady who was very niceShe gave us a pot of riceIf she knew what she was doingShe would keep it upMay God bless this lady

a wholesome woman by Esther Sule & Marc Mbayo (Aged 10 – Children of Destiny & Aged 11 – Joshua Generation)

A wholesome woman is one who is:• PURE• OBEDIENT• GOOD• CLEAN• FRESH

Pure means when someone is cleansed in spirit so they are no longer sinful. For example, a baby from their mother’s womb has no sin against God.

A wholesome woman is like a baby who has just been born from the womb. This is because babies have not committed any sin but are still very fresh and clean.

Ruth was a cleansed woman because she didn’t sin or disobey God.

a wholesome woman by TIMEyIn ATTIE-TOnWE (Aged 10 – Children of Destiny)

A wholesome woman is one who is: • PURE• unTOuCHED• NEVERREJECTEDGOD• BLESSED• GIFTED• OBEDIENT• HONOURABLE

what is reD?by Victoria Foster-Aileru

Red is a Rose sent from Heaven above

Red is a Strawberry sweet like God’s Love

Red is your Heart that beats new everyday

Red is the colour of Jesus’ blood, that washed our sins away

Red shows courage strength and determination

Red is the colour of the Christmas celebration

What is Red? It can sometimes be hard to see

That Red is the day God died for you and for me


Kidz Korner

mATTHEWmARKluKEJOHNACTSROmANS1 CORINTHIANS2 CORINTHIANSGAlATIANS

EPHESIANSPHIlIPPIANSCOlOSSIANS1 THESAlONIANS2 THESAlONIANS1 TImOTHy2 TImOTHyTITuSPHIlEmON

HEbREWSJAmES1 PETER2 PETER1 JOHN2 JOHN3 JOHNJuDEREVElATION

bOOKS Of THE NEW TESTAmENT WORD SEARCH

DOWN, ACROSS, DIAGONAL & BACKWARDSby AyOmIPOSI ObIlEyE - AGED 11 (JOSHuA GENERATION)

C M J F Y L B M B 1 2 1 P XV N A 1 2 A L A G T C T H ZN F M T T C D R P J O H I AJ 3 E C H K I K u R R E L TL J S O E H S D 2 E I S I MF O 1 L S J E w P V N S P Rw H P O S O w S E E T A P JB N E S A H A 1 T L H L I uS L T S L N Z P E A I O A DP E E I O P G E R T A N N EY 2 R A N O H C Q I N I S JX T X N I T M I S O S A Y LA I C S A A A E L N O N K Fu M V T N F T E u E B S u wE O S G S u T S N A M O R BG T Q S u A H N w C V O E SD H N C M D E D F T u J N PK Y w R E P w J K S Q u O G2 L u K E P H E S I A N S DO J A B 1 J O H N u L E u KQ Q S K A O O O S H N u V IR S N A I H T N I R O C 1 OH 1 T H E S S A L O S E J VM w K u V S w E R B E H C NZ 1 T I M O T H Y w I L E QT 2 J O H N S K E P T A D XA R D P u K E T I T u S C YZ S J S N A I T A L A G Y A


“WHY MY FAMILY IS SPECIAL”by Oyindamola Olunloyo (Aged 6)

My family is… …my sister Tishe, …my mummy Debisi, …and my daddy Akin, And they are all special.

My mummy gives me a bath and takes me to bed,My daddy picks me up from school and takes me to dance classes,And I love playing with my sister.

My mummy is good to me, my daddy is good to me,And my sister is good to me.My family is special because they are always good to me.

My family cooks for me and looks after me,My family takes me to church and also to parties,My family is always there for me.

My family is special and they always make me feel special.Maybe I could do something special for my family too;I could polish my daddy’s shoes,I could help my mummy in the kitchen,I could help my sister dress up.

I feel happy when I am with my familyAnd I know they feel happy too.

I love my sister, I love my mummy, and I love my daddy,And they all love me tooMy family is special because… …WE ALL LOVE EACH OTHER!

MY FAMILY by Onyinyechukwu Anajuba (Aged 9)

My family helps me when I am stressed, they look out for me and they also buy me things. If I do things that are bad they help me do the right things. Even if they punish me I still know they love me. If my family were not here I would not have achieved the many things that I have achieved. My family are always there for me. Some people do not have a family so they feel lonely.

We all do a lot for the family. My Dad goes to work very early and does a lot. My Mum goes to work and works till about eight o’clock, and comes home and still cooks even if she is tired. My sister takes care of us a lot. I make sure we all have the things we need. My brother is loving, kind and always there to help. My baby brother cleans the house even though he is just little.

Most families do not bond like us. Sometimes we have arguments but we still work as a family. Some people do not have their parents or their sisters and brothers but I do, and I know I am lucky to have my family.

And that is why my family is so special. I love them and I know they love me too._____________________________________________________

The following children also wrote great essays and will receive a special prize for their hard work: Jere Olawoyin, Toluwa Adedoyin, Tricia Edok-polor, Bukayo Saka, Eze Anajuba & Simisola Oghene

The Parenting ministry, in celebration of National Family week 2010 had an essay contest in junior church amongst our very talented youth. The task was to write in 100-200 words, why each child believed his/her family was special. We didn’t receive as many entries, as we would have anticipated, however the entries submitted were all very well written and all submissions will receive a prize. The two

winning entries are Oyindamola Olunloyo and Onyinye Ananuba and their essays are displayed below:

Parenting


I believe music is in the human DNA. Well, that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it! Those that can sing, sing; those

that can’t, sing regardless. The same is true of instruments: those that can, play; those that can’t, wish they could. I’m yet to meet an individual who hasn’t at some point in their life played an instrument or wished that they could. For those of you that har-bour dreams of playing instruments, I say it’s time to let those dreams find their way out of your minds and into reality.

Like many, I grew up playing the piano, but to my mother’s dismay I got sidetracked by boys, parties and trying to be a cool teen-ager. Thankfully, the dream never died and a few years ago, I cleaned the layers of dust off my keyboard, bought an acoustic guitar and forked out a few quid for guitar classes. I admit my keyboard has now returned to its previous dust-ridden state but my gui-tar is getting a good workout, much to my neighbour’s annoyance!

In a bid to encourage any lingering mu-sical ambitions, I caught up with some of our in-house instrumentalists to find out what it takes to play an instrument. Here’s what they had to say about...

...their instruments...Simeon Otung: [I play] bass guitar and the keyboard, but the bass is my baby.Graeme Sokari: Bass guitar, keyboard and drums.Deji Ajanaku: I play the drums.Michael Markson: Drums and electric guitar. I’ve only just started learning how to play the guitar, though. Joy Uba: At the moment, the piano and the recorder. Does the recorder count? (Laughs) I also have a tenor sax lying around my house, though, so who knows?

...desire...Joy: I always wanted to play an instrument; when I was younger it was the violin. I watched longingly whenever the violin was played on telly and was eventually taught at school and played in the school orchestra. By my late teens/early 20s both the violin and piano had my attention. I felt I had to make a choice and focus so I chose the piano. Graeme: I’m not sure. I guess I loved the idea growing up.Deji: I just found myself doing it. Back when I was in Secondary School in Nigeria, I used to go to a church where they had a set of drums and no one to play. I offered and they let me play once in a while. I fum-bled around with the drums for a bit, got better at it and then it became regular. Michael: I always had the desire to play an instrument. It was going to be either the keyboard or the guitar but somehow I found myself on the drums.Simeon: One day I was walking around Je-sus House in North Acton doing nothing and feeling lost. A friend asked what I’d like to do with my life and I said “play bass”. He

gave me the old church bass and that was it. I took some short courses and was gigging within a year. I used to play the teaspoons as a kid. I had forgotten about my teaspoon playing days till you asked! MEE: I’m not sure a teaspoon can be played simeon and frankly, I’m slightly worried that you consider the teaspoon an instrument! Simeon: (Laughs) It was my instrument and I rocked it!

...getting to grips with the basics...Michael: It was quite difficult to grasp the rudiments and basic techniques. I would say passion helped because many times I felt like quitting. I used to ask questions like “How did you do that? How did you learn

it or was it something you came up with from your head?” I just couldn’t get my head around what they were doing! Joy: My family owned one of the earliest types of synthesizer keyboards complete with buttons that made a sticky, squeez-ing noise when pushed, and a selection of rhythms that would sound terribly basic in current times. My sisters and I would pick up music books and try to teach ourselves. Sometimes we would spread ourselves over the one keyboard; one sister would take the lowest register, another, the middle notes and the third, the top of the keyboard. We’d select a rhythm and joyous musical hilar-ity would ensue. I had a lot of fun learning. I still have the recordings of some of that

Music is one of the greatest gifts given to man. It’s very dear to God’s heart!“

making music just do it!!!

BY MARY EHIOZE-EDIAE [MEE]

Outflow Idea Bank


stuff on tape! Deji: I didn’t know anything about drum-ming so it was more embarrassing than frustrating. People would stare at me like ‘what are you doing?!’ Simeon: It was fun but frustrating at times. I just wanted to be able to play the thing!MEE: I know exactly what you mean! I wanted to run before I could walk. It didn’t re-ally occur to me that to get to the level I was aspiring would take a lot of hard work and ef-fort on my part. Joy: There were times when I would think “Why am I bothering with this?” You know, when you feel that the amount of work does not translate into the quality you aspire to. It was even more infuriating watching much younger guys that just seemed able to do it! I used to think, ‘What am I doing wrong? Maybe I just don’t have it.’

...practice...Simeon: I had to put in a lot of work to get to where I am now. In the early days I would practice for eight hours every day till my hands hurt! These days... (Laughs)MEE: you’re now a lazy old man, aren’t you?Simeon: Old? No. Lazy, maybe. (Laughs)Graeme: It is extremely important to prac-tice and I consider it the food needed to grow your skill. I try to practice every day. It could be from 30mins to whenever.Michael: It is very important to practice because you can’t get the right technique without practice. I don’t practice very often because of time and issues with neighbours. I only manage to fit in three days a week for a minimum two hour session.Joy: Practice is invaluable because even if you are not applying formal techniques, you’ve got to try out new things and build your repertoire somehow. It helps that I ac-tually enjoy playing so the practice is not a chore. I do up to three or so hours an

evening, three or so evenings a week, but that varies.

...learning...Simeon: You never stop learning. I still buy DVDs and attend courses to improve myself. There are loads of great videos on youtube that are useful learning tools. Michael: I discover something new every time, either from listening to a song or watching other drummers express them-selves. The learning never stops. Joy: I’ve registered at a music school in London. Luckily, in England, there are in-stitutions that cater to the older learner and allow lessons to work around your life. In addition, I’ve invested in many instructional DVDs over the years. I expect I’ll still be picking things up when I’m 70!

...playing in church...Simeon: I ran into Pastor Agu at a gig [I was playing in] and he was shocked to see me there and even more so when he discov-ered I was playing the bass in a band! Let’s just say I was discovered. MEE: was there any reason why you were hiding your gift from the Church?Simeon: I wasn’t hiding. I just didn’t feel ready to play in Church. I needed to play outside to improve myself. Deji: I started drumming in church and have drummed in church ever since. Michael: I have always been a ‘churchy’ person and grew up in church. I started playing in church when I volunteered to learn how to play the keyboard in Vision and then somehow the drummer didn’t at-tend the youth rehearsal due to illness, so I covered for him. I could only play two grooves back then, rock and ballad. So I filled in for him on that Sunday and from there I started learning from him and pro-gressed well. One day Simeon asked me

to cover for the evening service and then afterwards advised me to do the workers training and join the choir in 2008. Joy: I played at other churches before I joined Jesus House. I guess I fell into it. I was in the choir and there was a keyboard and no one to play. I managed to make some mildly agreeable sounds that we could sing along to. One day the pastor just looked at me during service and waved his fingers in the air as if to say “Play!”

...playing outside of church...Simeon: I started off playing outside church; for the money and to hone my skill. Graeme: I have played outside church. I see it as a platform to measure myself and it challenges me. I’m always looking for a greater challenge.Deji: I haven’t had the opportunity. Joy: I have played at events here and there. No gigs…yet. I’d like to. I feel it would broaden my musical vocabulary and expos-es me to other musical expressions.

...advice for learners.Graeme: I’d say go for it. Be sure to keep at it and look for someone to work with that will encourage you.Simeon: Think first before picking up an instrument...count the cost. It saddens me when I hear people say ‘I used to play.’ I don’t like seeing talent go to waste so I would say count the cost before you start. Deji: It’s cliché but if you believe it, you can achieve it. If you are truly interested, find the passion and you’ll enjoy learning.Michael: It’s a wonderful thing to do and a great way to express yourself; be it your mood, feelings, worship or praises. It’s a lot of fun so go for it.Joy: Just do it. My word, just do it already! Buy the instrument and book the training. No matter how old or young you are, do it now! Simeon: Music is one of the greatest gifts given to man. It’s very dear to God’s heart!Michael: It is very important to have fun while learning to play your instrument. Also, it’s good to explore and be creative. As I say all the time, as long as I’m alive then creativity never dies. It’s also very impor-tant to learn how to play in a group because it’s the most important aspect. The music doesn’t revolve around your instrument alone and the best melodies are made from constant compliments of different instru-ments with each understanding its role and what it’s meant to do. This can be a difficult thing to learn.

Buy the instrument, book the training. No matter how old or young you are, do it now!

“Outflow Idea Bank

pho

tog

raph

y by

asi

kofo

to


The above quote was uttered by comedian Chris Rock, when answering the question, “What do women want?” And while I agree with him to some degree, specifically in relation to the shoes, I think there must be slightly

more to the ‘conundrum’ of deciphering the mind and motives of a woman. However, before I start on this missive, as usual, here is the disclaimer: I cannot claim to speak for all womankind so I won’t try to; but I’m never reluctant to share my personal opinion. So here it is, but in no particular order.

Women want security; we’ll get into the spiritual aspects later, but on the most real level, every woman wants to feel secure. Now, I’m not just talking about the security that comes from having a man that has a good job, or has money to spend; those things are nice, but I daresay that they are not the most important things. Se-curity in this sense means trust; that is, you can trust that the guy means what he says. That he’s not going to tell you today he loves you, and then take it back tomorrow. You need to believe that it’s ‘forever love’, that he means the vows that he makes at the altar. That when problems come (and they will come) he’s not going to chuck it in. You need to be sure that when the middle-age spread happens (and it will happen) he isn’t going to go and find a girl that looks how you used to look before having his kids.

My mother once told me that the best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother. She’s said many things to me in my life, but that one has always stuck with me. So following on from security, women want a man that will love them, love them even when they are being distinctly unlovable. Like I said, it ties in with security.

One of my favourite songs is ‘wonderful Tonight’ by Eric Clap-ton. I love it because it’s a song that recognises the effort that a woman puts into looking good. When the guy sees her, he says “Darling, you look wonderful tonight...” Now, guys, I ask you, is that so hard? To show a little appreciation? Women need atten-tion, acknowledgement, appreciation, and any other complimentary word beginning with the letter ‘A’, culminating in applause. Chris Rock wasn’t joking about women wanting compliments. Seriously though, just a little bit of acknowledgement would be nice. I just got my hair done, it’s a new outfit, my jewellery compliments my outfit, and don’t even get me started on how painful it is to walk in these shoes...APPRECIATE!!

Moving on, I think it’s time to dispense with the superficial things; you know, what the guy looks like, how tall he is, whether he drops his ‘h’ when he speaks...Yeah, women like good-looking guys that are taller than them and speak well... no surprise there. Delving

deeper though, the guy doesn’t have to be universally acknowledged as fine, i.e. Denzel Washington, but women do want guys that they find attractive. I can’t say for absolute certain, but I would guess that guys are exactly the same in this respect.

Speaking of respect – in the traditional Nigerian culture where a lot of us were brought up – respect is a really big deal for a man. Understood and accepted, but men need to understand and accept that a woman needs respect as well. Her job is not something to be belittled, even if she makes less money than you; it’s not a hobby that you should expect her to set aside to be an unpaid cook and cleaner. Furthermore, you are not her father, so the first thing you say to her when you call should not be, “Where are you?” I respect you, I understand submission, but understand, and please respect, the fact that I have my own ideas, my own opinions and my own dreams, and we’ll get along fine.

Having said all this, the most important thing when it comes to what women want (or at least what they should want) is, and will always be, God. Now, I’m not talking about just saying, “I want a God-fearing man”. I do think that every woman should want a God-fearing man, but it shouldn’t become an empty saying and lose its true meaning. Open any issue of Ebony and you’ll see that all the women there want a God-fearing man, along with a bunch of things that could never be described as Godly. Women want a man that truly, truly fears God, in that his behaviour towards his woman is constrained by the fear of God. Because, to tell the truth, once a man grows up he’s only accountable to people if he wants to be. If he wants, he can do whatever he likes, whenever he likes, and that’s what women are afraid of. However, if a man is accountable to God, truly accountable to God, his actions are constrained by him.

To have a man who truly loves and serves the Lord, who will then have enough insight to treat his woman the way God loves her, this is the dream of every woman. And that my friends is what we want: a man who will respect us, make us feel safe, pay attention to us, respect us, and love us through God. In one word – we want everything.

Security means that he’s not going to tell you that he loves you today and then take it back tomorrow.

Food, Water, Compliments...and the occasional pair of shoes.

What Women Want

BY DILICHI LAwAL



It’s time to get excited, your interview was success-ful and you start your new job in a month. The first year at a new job can be very tricky, especially

if it is your first job. Let’s go through a few essential tips to kick-start your successful career path.

Back in school, when told to write a research paper, the deadline was a couple of months away. However at work, deadlines could be “tomorrow at the latest”. Though there are no formal exams, you are tested dai-ly and results are reflected through appraisals. Never forget to always put your best foot forward because you are being watched.

1. Maintain a positive attitude: Believe that

your time at work is important; give a 100% to all tasks, even those outside your job de-scription i.e. getting coffee for your boss.

2. Time keeping: Employer’s notice punctuali-ty. If you think you are running late, call work and inform your boss. Stick to your lunch hour and if you are particularly busy, eat at your desk or come back early.

3. Time management: Use a diary or an ac-tivity planner to schedule task priority and stick to it. Create a periodic status report; this would help you keep track of what you are doing and also inform your boss about how efficient or inefficient you are.

4. Do excellent work: Make sure your work is well done and on time, this way you would stand out as an exceptional employee. When in doubt clarify; it is better to ask before the deadline than to keep the client waiting be-cause you did the job incorrectly.

5. Manage your image: For the first couple of months, people would want to know more about you. Plan your answers in advance and be consistent.

6. Dress Code: Dress in accordance with the company style i.e. if everyone wears suits do not wear jeans and t-shirts to work.

7. Be polite: Your two magic phrases should be “Please” and “Thank you”. Always knock be-fore you enter. If the door is open ensure you are not interrupting, announce your presence and do not barge in.

8. Phone Etiquette: Always answer your tel-ephone in a polite manner. A good place to start is “Good morning, Jamie’s phone, how may I help you”.

9. Corporate culture: Pay close attention to how people relate with each other and what unwritten rules govern employee patterns.

10. Further learning: Join a professional asso-ciation and subscribe to their publications. Ensure you continuously improve your cre-dentials.

11. Gadgets: Do not use the internet or your mobile phone during work hours. Most im-portantly, do not leave work-related com-ments on social networking sites, i.e. Face-book, Twitter, Bebo etc.

12. Marketing: If you are a part-time sales con-sultant (Avon, Mary Kay, Forever Living), do not advertise your business at work.

Finally do not forget to tithe. Deuteronomy 14:22

says ‘Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that cometh forth from the field year by year’.

Believe that your time at work is important; give a 100% to all tasks, even those outside your job description.

standing out at your new jobBY JAMIE OGBuIGwE


THIS quOTE SPEAKS VOlumES and it challenged me so much that I couldn’t resist expounding on it. I believe that, just as salt makes thirsty, Christians can trigger a thirst in people’s lives that only Jesus can satisfy, and just as salt is used to thaw icy roads, Christian lives can melt hearts hardened against the gospel. The responsibility to be influencers of the world may seem daunting, but the effect of Christian living, one person at a time, one action at a time, can be felt.

Be the one that goes above and beyond. Don’t decide to do nothing just because you can’t do everything. Stand out in whatever arena you find yourself. Get to work a bit early for a change, or at least make it in on time consistently. Become the guy that the boss can depend on to go the extra mile, and colleagues can trust to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Don’t pilfer the other team’s milk in the communal fridge just because everyone else is doing it. Be polite. Desist from using foul language no matter the circumstances. As we enter a new season as a church, let’s purpose individually to take practical steps that will culminate in praise to our Father in Heaven, as men see our good deeds (Matt 5:16).

Open your eyes to the needs of others. Be the answer to somebody’s prayer; let people wonder what it is that makes you want to help when others look away. Your kindness will open up more doors to the gospel than self-righteousness ever will.

Those open doors that can lead to sal-vation are pleasing to God. Preach the gos-pel always; when necessary, use words. Jesus didn’t die on the cross to save us just so we could while away time till we get to Heaven. Who are you taking with you to Heaven? See what the Bible says in Romans 10:

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” 14 how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Don’t put off telling that friend about Je-sus. How come you’re so comfortable sharing everything else about life with him? Learn to have your heart break for the things that break the heart of God. You may be that per-son’s only link to the gospel. Witness! Wit-ness!! Witness!!! Stick to the ‘spirit’ of the gospel, but don’t be legalistic. We are free; exude the freedom that Christ died to give us ( John 8:36).

While you’re at it, show love for one an-other as Christian brothers and sisters. That’s how Jesus said the world would know us as His disciples ( John 13:34). Use kind words and, as much as is within your power, remain at peace with all men (Romans 12:18). Apol-ogise first. It wasn’t really your fault but apol-ogise anyway. Stay humble. Try not to think of anyone as less important than you and your actions will reflect it. If you say you’re

going to do something, do it! Let your word be your bond even as your heavenly Father’s word is His (eph 5:1). Welcome ALL people into the house of God. Let your demeanour be such that even unbelievers feel comfortable enough to come in and satisfy their curiosity. The church is not exclusively for Christians and certainly not for perfect people; it’s for all types of people to come as they are. You never know whose life your smile might change. Make an effort to give unconditional love. So many people are hurting, but would never venture near a church for fear of judgement. Please do not be so judgmental that you fail to be compassionate. I know, I know, some of these people bring these things upon them-selves, but don’t let that be a barrier to meet-ing their material, emotional and spiritual needs. Jesus died for them too.

You are the light of the world. Your shine is hidden when you fail to conform to behav-iour that is in line with the teachings of Jesus, or shy away from standing up for the truth in discussions, or don’t care for the needs of oth-ers. Resolve to let your light shine, no matter what it costs you. Be practical about it; when was the last time you reached out to that sin-gle mum that you know is going through a tough time, or sowed a seed into the life of that guy that’s been unemployed for a while? Like James said, faith without works is dead ( James 2:14-19). Some people just need food to eat; there’s no point preaching at a man with an empty stomach. Cook once a month for the homeless and hand food packs out. Even if you have no substantial amount of money to give to charity, think of ways to raise funds. Girl scouts sell cookies, people partake in sponsored runs, and that 9-yr old boy who started ‘Hoops of Hope’ is well on his way to seeing the movement he began rake in a mil-lion dollars for charity. What can you do? Or more importantly, what WILL you do?

Whatever you decide to do, keep spread-ing the salt of love; God is love. Smile so much that someday, somebody wonders why you’re the epitome of happiness (and seize the cue to tell them about Jesus!). There are people everywhere who could do with a little love. Let them see the God in you. This, dear sisters and brothers, is my little salt & light challenge! My prayer is that you take it. In the words of the status on a friend’s profile, “somebody needs your light; so please, shine!”

THE SALT AND LIGHT CHAllENGEBY IBIENE FRED-HORSFALL

“Our Christian habit is to bewail the world’s deteriorating standards with an air of rather self-righteous dismay. we criticize its violence, dishonesty, im-

morality, disregard for human life, and materialistic greed. ‘The world is going down the drain,’ we say with a shrug. But whose fault is it? who is to blame?

Let me put it like this. If the house is dark when nightfall comes, there’s no sense in blaming the house; this is what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is ‘where is the light?’ similarly, if the meat goes bad, there’s no sense in blaming the meat; that’s what happens when bacteria are left alone to breed. The question to ask is ‘where’s the salt?’

Just so, if society deteriorates and its standards decline until it becomes like a dark night or a stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that’s what happens when fallen men and women are left to themselves, and human selfishness is un-checked. The question to ask is ‘where is the church?’ why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing our society? It is sheer hypocrisy on our part to raise our eyebrows, shrug our shoulders, or wring our hands.

The Lord Jesus told us to be the world’s salt and light. If therefore darkness and rottenness abound, it is largely our fault and we must accept the blame.” - John Stott


“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” - Andy McIntyre

For some, the summer gloom is characterized by spells of rain amidst clouds of grey, but for a large demographic, the end of summer begins with those unsolicited Tesco “back to school” adverts. They come on the telly as early

as June, when most books have barely begun to collect any dust. Sadly, it’s that time of the year again, the start of a new academic year. For most students, the lazy, hazy summer is the only time that one can truly be carefree as, sometimes, even the Christmas holiday gets defiled by assignments. So how exactly can one get rid of the imminent back-to-school blues?

The fact of the matter is that education helps you earn more (though not many schoolteachers can prove it), for which reason I’m short of the rationale to further motivate you out of your slump. As it happens, most students don’t actually hate school; after all school is the meeting place for friends and the birthplace for all sorts of fun and games. The real abominations of school are the ex-ams and coursework. As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. Students who enjoy sitting exams exist only to be the exception to the rule; they’re an aberration and may well need pro-fessional help. And yet Philippians 4:6 tells us to be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanks-giving, make our request known to God. The result of doing so, ac-cording to this scripture, is that the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Now who wouldn’t like that kind of peace before an exam?

The bottom line is that a praying student is a successful student. Case in point: in my undergrad class, the overall top five students each year were loud and proud Christians and active members of

our University’s Christian Union; the non-Christians would often make jokes about this non-coincidence but in our final year a few of them actually rocked up to the last meeting before exams “just in case” there was some foul play involved! Obviously, they ended up just having to sit through our entire prayer meeting. Still, I think this is a good testimony. The point is that there should be a differ-ence, people should see your work and know that you are a child of God. Our God is a God of excellence and his children should be no less. When everyone else is copying coursework, you should be different. The primary task of a student is not to be an evangelist; that is not necessarily what you are in school to do. But let your life and your grades speak volumes about your faith, be ready to answer questions about your faith and PRAY!

Of course, there is a lot of fun to be had at school too… Join as many societies as humanly possible, and then live to regret it later – ah, the memories! Some of these experiences (like sharing a bathroom with thirty other people) will only happen to you once (hopefully!), so count it all joy! Being a Christian doesn’t have to be translated to being the local bore. Take part in as many activi-ties as you’re comfortable with. If you get dared to tackle a random stranger in the park, do it, but first ask the fellow very nicely! Be-lieve me, these things really do build character, and God is as inter-ested in your character as he is in your grades. But remember that though we are among them, we must remain separate from them.

“some seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: That is curiosity; Others seek knowledge so that they themselves may be known: That is vanity; But there are still others who seek knowledge in order to serve and edify others: and that is charity.” - Bernard of Clairveaux

back to school putting the “sTud” back in studyBY LOLA ADEYEMO

The real abominations of school are the exams and coursework. As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools.


Sam was uncomfortable. He tried sit-ting cross-legged but it didn’t help. He tried stretching his feet out in front of him but the hostile glares

from passersby put paid to that experiment. He stared at his trainers; what was left of them. The white had turned multiple shades of black and green. With the summer sunshine beaming down he was grateful for the holes in them, but come the winter, he wasn’t sure how he’d cope.

‘You alright mate?’He looked up to see a young man wearing

paint-splattered overalls. His trainers didn’t look much better.

‘Not really, but such is life eh?!’ ‘You’re funny mate. Here, get yourself

something to eat.’Sam reached out to catch the five pound

note floating towards him. ‘Thank you, God bless you!’‘I hope he blesses you first mate. You look

like you need it!’Laughing, the stranger walked away. Bread, socks, toothpaste...Sam made a

mental note of the things he needed. ‘Oi mate, are you going to move from that

spot or do I have to get the coppers to move you?!’

Sam looked up to find the station manager scowling at him.

‘Alright, alright, keep your hair on. I’m go-ing.’

Muttering to himself, he sprung to his feet and started to saunter off.

‘Oi, take that thing with you.’He looked back at the mass of battered

wood and strings perched against the wall, the temptation to abandon it strong. He was sick of lugging a guitar around but, battered though it was, it was all he had left.

‘Take it.’He looked around but no one was paying

him heed. He heard the voice again.‘Take it.’He walked back, picked up his guitar and

grudgingly pinned it under his left armpit.‘What am I supposed to do with it now

that I’ve picked it up?! ‘Play it.’He stopped in his tracks. ‘I must be losing my mind,’ he thought to

himself.‘Play it.’

He looked around but again, no one was paying attention to him.

‘I am losing my mind.’‘Right here, right now, play it.’‘Who are you?’ he asked out loud.‘I am. Now play!’Not knowing what else to do, Sam slung

the guitar across his chest and started to play.

I wanna wake up and know where I’m goingI’m ready, I’m readyI wanna wake up, where the rivers are over-

flowingI’ll be ready, I’ll be ready

He stopped, feeling foolish.‘Keep playing.’Shutting his eyes, he carried on.

If it’s love flowing freely

I’m ready, I’m readyIf the waters can redeem meI’m ready, I’m ready

Opening his eyes, he stared blankly around him, momentarily forgetting where he was. He saw the sign, ‘Moorgate’ and remem-bered… still outside the station. ‘Free Evening Standard!’ someone screeched beside him.

As he turned to look at the vendor, he no-ticed a man across the street, staring intently at him. Their eyes met and the man began to cross the street, striding purposefully in his direction. The man was casually dressed in dark blue jeans and a white open necked shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark brown loafers were well worn but he had an aura of success about him. As the man took the last few steps towards him, Sam could see him be-gin to extend his hand.

‘I’ve been watching you from across the street. You have an amazing voice.’

Sam shook his hand.‘Thank you.’ Embarrassed, he began to walk away. A

hand on his shoulder halted him midstride.‘My name is Cameron Cooper. I’m a talent

scout for Sony Records.’‘What does that have to do with me?’ Sam

thought to himself. ‘You’re just what I’m looking for. Let me

help you.’

Stranger Things Have Happened(bAsed on A True sTory)BY M.O.EHIOZE-EDIAE

‘Who are you?’ he asked out loud. ‘I am. Now play!’


“ You should let me love you,Let me be the one to,Give you everything you want and need,”So Mario crooned to the petite light

skinned girl in his biggest hit to date. “And I will always love you,” Whitney Houston most famously sang. And in more recent times, Wande Coal has whined, “Make you follow me bumper to bumper.” Yet take these lyrics out of their context and they could be God speaking to us. Think about it. Read them again.

The first is only a paraphrase of what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ In other words, come, let Jesus love you and be the one to give you everything you want and

need, to give you living waters so you will thirst no more ( John 4:14).

Whitney sang that she would always love you but tell me, how long is a human’s always? It can only last a lifetime, a hundred years if you’re lucky. Now look at God’s always. Romans 8:38 (NLT) says:

‘and I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.’

That is God’s always.Mr. Coal seemingly puts it crassly

when he asks us to follow him bumper to bumper but that is exactly what God has called us to do. In John 5:19 (NLT):

‘so Jesus explains, I tell you the truth, the son can do nothing by himself. he

does only what he sees the Father doing. whatever the Father does, the son also does.’

In other words, in everything Jesus did, He looked to His Father for inspiration. He did not go left if God had not gone left. He did not go right, if God had not gone right. Time and time again, he spoke of how he did not His own will but the will of the Father ( John 6:39). In other words brethren, Jesus followed God bumper to bumper, and we have been called to be like Christ.

So next time you listen to a song and you hear men and women croon promises that they can never fulfil, “I will never let you down,” or make claims that are grossly exaggerated, “the greatest love of all,” hear your Father’s voice in their lyrics. Hear and hearken.

GOD in the LYRICby Chibundu Onuzo

Next time you listen to a song and you hear men and women croon promises that they can never fulfil, or make claims that are grossly exaggerated,

hear your Father’s voice in their lyrics.

What if I read my Bible, rather than other’s Facebook profiles?Maybe I would get a revelation about my purpose.

What if I shared the good news with my friends, rather than the news about John’s new car?Maybe I would get news about my promotion.

What if I made that donation to support the missionary efforts in Rio, rather than buying a Brazilian weave?Maybe I would meet the husband I desire.

What if I prayed before writing that exam?Maybe I would get a distinction.

What if I downloaded the Bible app on my iphone instead of Su Doku?Maybe I would learn how to get real wisdom.

What if I gave out those extra shoes bursting out of my wardrobe to someone in need?Maybe I would learn more about how to walk with God.

What if I spent more of my time mentoring young Christians than I do playing Xbox?Maybe I would discover the talent I have for public speaking.

What if ?

There’s a lot we probably aren’t doing now that we could be doing for God with our time…Carpe Diem!!!

what if?BY KuNLE OYETAYO


IT HAS NOT ESCAPED MY atten-tion that although this column is called ‘Thinking out Loud’, I’ve been having very long pontificating thoughts lately! Well here are the shorter ones…

the problem with exes

What does one do with ex-boy-friends? Does one ignore them in perpetuity? Become “friends

with them”? What’s the middle ground? When it’s been a bad break up you want to stay away from them forever, but it’s a small world after all and eventually you do bump into them.

So what is ex-boyfriend etiquette? Do you shake the hand of someone you used to hug? Do you cut them dead? The problem is that either option shows you still care. You are cutting him dead be-cause you like him; you are speaking to him because you want to show that you don’t care… because you like him. The things us girls go through!

The real problem, though, is that a lot of the time when you break up with someone, both people don’t feel the same way about the break up. One person might feel resentful and upset and the other person seems to have moved on and just wants to be...wait for it... friends!

That dreaded phrase: ‘We can still be friends!’ But I don’t want to be friends. I want to tar and feather you. I want to hang you upside down by your toenails. I want you to take a long walk off a short pier! But you don’t say all of that, because you are too mature for that and you are PRETEND-ING, so you say the mature thing, ‘of course we can still be friends’, never dreaming that those words will come back to haunt you. Be-cause, for you those words are the most insincere words you’ve ever uttered. But him, he takes it seriously, and every so often, in-between gushing about his new girlfriend, he invites you to things, wants to show you the new things in his life, the new songs he’s written, the plays he’s

been too, the pottery classes he’s taken, and you just want to shout... I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR LIFE! But you do... that’s the problem!!

i remember when… i used to love him!

A while ago, I came across some-thing I’d written about someone I used to be (I guess) in love with.

The pain, the passion, the desire, the...I haven’t thought about him in ages! What is that? That you can feel so much for someone who a few months later is not even a blip on your radar? At the time it feels like everything, you wake up think-ing about him, you go to bed thinking about him, it ends, you cry, you moan, you talk about him incessantly and then nothing. The only thing left is the diary you kept while you were into him, and you stumble across it months later and you think - What was that? Who was that person? And these are the worst po-ems ever written!

the art of romance

Ihad an argument with someone a cou-ple of months ago about the art of ro-mance, which got me thinking about

this thing called romance. What ex-actly is romantic? Babyface, a “romantic crooner of love songs”, once sang a song called Seven Seas, which went something like this: #I’ll travel round the seven seas

for you, walk around the China Wall for you...# My cousin, listening to it, wasn’t impressed. She was like, why would I want you to walk around the China Wall, or travel round the seven seas? Wash the plates, iron the clothes… now that’s ro-mantic. They might be romantic, but it

doesn’t sound as good in a song. The traditional romantic things all

seem a bit cliché. Flowers, chocolate, teddy bears... If a guy gives you these things, is he romantic or unimaginative?

Me, I think romance is spontaneity; him turning up at my house on a mo-ment’s notice and whisking me off some-where, surprising me.... stuff like that, that’s romantic. Doing unusual things like buying a picnic basket and setting up a picnic on my living room floor, that’s romantic. I think in the end, though, I would have to agree with my cousin; sweep the floor for me and you’re the most romantic man I’ve ever met!

train up a man in the way he should go

At work the other day someone asked a colleague if she would ever be tempted to cheat on her

fiancé. She laughed and said “No way, I don’t have the time or energy to train an-other man.” It sounded funny and it was, but methinks there was a kernel of truth there. If you think about it, in a way we do train our men. Or at least we try, and I for one don’t think it’s a bad idea.

Someone once said that any prob-lems in your relationship are your fault, because you allowed your relationship to get that way. This was summed up suc-cinctly by none other than Dr Phil (I only watched that one episode, I prom-ise) when he said “You teach people how

to treat you.” As a woman

if your man does something you don’t like and you don’t com-municate your displeasure, he’ll do it again and again because you haven’t taught

him to know how you feel about it. The moral of the story is summed

up by a proverb (it originally referred to children, but it fits). Train up your man in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. A word is enough for the wise...

If your man does something you don’t like and you don’t communicate your displeasure, he’ll do it again because you haven’t taught him how

you feel about it.

THINKING OuT LOuDThe Musings of A 21st Century Christian Girl

BY DILICHI LAwAL


Dear Sis B, I’m a born-again Christian and

the mother of three boys. My husband is not a Christian and is making things hard for me in the house. He beats me on a regular basis and I’m fed up with it. We’ve been married for ten years. He’s always complaining about food. I just don’t have peace and cannot read my bible or pray. Please what should do because I don’t think I can take it any longer? Tammy, Kilburn

Dear Tammy,When it comes to physical violence, my opinion is this: the bat-tered needs to keep some distance between them and their spouse; if only for the sake of the children. If the battering goes on long enough, your boys will believe that this is the norm and repeat the same pattern with their wives. Please seek counsel from our quali-fied counsellors at Jesus House, who have been trained from a Christian perspective. There is absolute confidentiality and prayer support. There is also a wealth of information available regarding battered women’s shelters etc. My heart goes out to you especially as you say you’re unable to pray... The Bible says ... though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil... Why? For the Lord is with you! He is the ONLY One you can speak to who can bring a restoration of your peace. Here’s a practical thing for you to do: it’s much easier to articulate your thoughts when you write so get yourself a journal and just as you have put your thoughts in a letter to me, write letters to God, tell Him exactly what you feel. Whenever there’s a quiet moment, sit down and reflect on the goodness of God. You’ve gone through childbirth three times and have three lovely boys to show for that. I know how hard it is to praise God when you’re in tough times, but if you just tried, push yourself into His presence with praise, you will find peace and joy again, I promise you. He will meet you there and bless you with a testimony. Remember, he that goes forth weeping ... shall doubtless come again with rejoicing... (Psalm 126:6)

Dear Sis B,

I became a Christian about two months ago. I love the Lord and can’t stop talking about Him. My colleague, who is born-again, told me to be quiet as I could get into trou-ble with the establishment for ‘inciting hatred’. This was a

shock to me as I don’t think there’s any ‘hatred’ with my talking about how wonderful Jesus is and what He’s doing in my life. It hurts me that a fellow Christian should be the one to attempt to dampen my enthusiasm. I don’t see what I’m doing wrong.

Greg, CatfordDear Greg,I’m sure it’s not your Christian colleague’s intention to dampen your enthusiasm. He is only trying to warn you of persecution that may come. I agree with you that you are not doing anything wrong in talking about the goodness of God in your life. Unfortunately, Britain is in what I call the anti-Christ era, hence the heartbeat of the Church is for revival. Right now, society, with great help from the media, is making Christians like you and I to look like right-wing fundamentalists because we’ve chosen to adhere to the standards of the Bible. Not many people feel comfortable around Christians who are vocal about their faith. Here’s my advice to you: Do your best not to get into arguments and disputes or trying to prove that Jesus is the only way. You and I know this by faith and until others make the choice to believe in Jesus, they just won’t get it. Finally, don’t let it surprise you if and when your superiors try to shut you up. So be wise. The Lord will tell you what to speak, who to speak to and when... (Matt 10:19-20) Meanwhile, let your changed life speak louder than the words you speak.

Dear Sis B,

My son is 23 years old and he has never brought home a girl, nor has been known to be interested in seeing one, and this has been a source of concern for me. I would not worry so much but lately, he’s now into a

few feminine things like plucking his eyebrows and putting his wrist up when he talks, especially with his siblings. He’s got a 16 year-old sister and an 18 year-old brother. Their father is in Ghana and only visits twice a year. I don’t know how to broach the subject with him, more because I’m afraid of what I’m going to hear. Mrs Ja, Maida Vale

Dear JA,First of all, it may just be a fad. I understand some youths find it amusing to mimic the opposite sex. You said he makes these ef-feminate gestures when he’s with his siblings. What about when he’s talking to you? I understand where you’re coming from when you lament about your husband being away, but God is Father of the fatherless (Psalm 68:5). This also means for those whose fathers are absent and not necessarily deceased. God is the best person to talk to about our worries and concerns. He is the One to pour out the wisdom from above, required to deal with this. Do you have a prayer partner? If not, get someone you can trust to agree with you in prayer that the lives of all your children will glorify God. Pray that your son’s his heart will seek after God and His kingdom. Pray that none of your children will be among those listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9 & 10, who bring God great displeasure. Pray against any outside influence that may be causing your son to behave the way he does. As per what to say to him, again, just as I said to Greg in the previous letter, only the Lord can put the right words in your mouth and when to say them. Finally, don’t worry because when you do, what you’re doing is meditating on what the enemy is telling you and ignoring what God’s word says. When you worry, you open the door for the enemy to come in and still your peace. When you’re not praying, sing praise songs and the Lord will surely intervene.

Dear Sis B

If you have any questions for Sis B, send them in confidence to [email protected]


Just out of the service and I am really mo-tivated. I am fully persuaded that I have been called to take ground on a daily ba-

sis, to achieve victories every day. I am clear about the end result of my battles: I win!

You just need to look around you to see we are engaged in battles everyday and my goal is ever to be pressing for the victory. There isn’t a choice whether I engage in the battle or not, that decision was made for me when I decided to follow Christ.

In a war we are either taking ground or losing it. It’s one or the other. Well I’ve reached my breaking point! I am sick and tired of looking on and seeing that which is rightfully mine being taken time and time again. I am sick and tired of losing ground in my relationships, career and my ministry.

This isn’t the way it’s supposed to play out. God, though mighty in battle, knows I am weak; he put me together from the ground up. I feel a change coming; I’m being trans-formed into an effective instrument of war, a brand new threshing sledge with teeth primed for battle. All you mountains and hills that have prevented my advancement, I am coming for you.

I must become the conqueror I have been called to be. All that has been set in my way to hinder, distract and confuse needs to be uprooted, and those things fashioned to en-sure that I do not achieve those daily victo-ries need to be put out of the way, in order that I bear sustainable fruit exactly as I have been called to do. My constant prayer is that I would have the spiritual eyes of Gehazi to recognise the salvation of the Lord, to realize that I cannot achieve this victory by my own hand, in my own strength or in my own hu-man power.

Jesus Christ disarmed spiritual princi-palities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, and it has become very clear that I require the very same ability Jesus had to tri-umph, the anointing of God. It’s the anoint-ing that makes the difference between defeat and victory.

How do I ensure that I am continually acting under the influence of the anointing? Well, it’s said I am blessed (empowered) if my decisions are not influenced by the counsel of the ungodly, if I do not feel comfortable sitting amongst the scornful. Rather I should seek to be led by the Word of God and by so doing become like a tree planted by the rivers of God, bearing fruit in season and prosper-ing in all that I do.

In Zechariah Chapter four, God makes fun of the mountain that had sought to hinder his servant Zerubbabel. He says, “Who are you, O great mountain?” and then, “Before my servant Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!”

I want the mountains in my life to be-come as plains. I want to tread upon lions and serpents of life and trample them underfoot.

David was a great example for us. He fought battles and overcame the bears, lions and Goliaths in his life. He went on to over-come the might of the Philistine armies and many more. He was a great man for God,

transforming those around him into giant killers.

David captained four hundred men. These men came to him in distress and debt, having suffered discontentment. Only a chap-ter later they’re described as David’s mighty men. David had transferred his anointing onto these men and they had become Go-liath killers just like him. As we are planted into, cleave to and follow Christ (the anointed one), we also will be transformed into mighty men and women of God. We will have the

ability to disarm the principalities and pow-ers, attaining victories in every aspect of our lives.

I encourage you to take a stand, to fight and take ground. You can start by diligently doing those things that please God. Stand, and after you’ve done all to stand, stand some more, Pray without ceasing, with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, meditate in the Word day and night, and encourage one an-other by meeting together and sharing the Word. Witness to everyone of God’s grace in your life; choose to love everyone. Choose to believe God, despite what you see. Give of your substance and give of yourself, habitually sacrifice the things you enjoy the most, prefer others to yourself, and you will have made a start!

My prayer for you is that you become the threshing sledge God has made you to be, in order that you cut down the mountains and hills in your life. I pray that you will trample the lions and serpents underfoot, that you will experience God daily, and that the anoint-ing of God will transform you into a mighty man or woman of valor, enabling you to do great exploits, achieve great victories and take ground daily.

David captained four hundred men who came

to him in distress. A chapter later they’re described as David’s mighty men, David

having transferred his anointing onto them.

taking Ground

BY JOE ANKA

“


A famous singer was half right when she sang, “I believe the children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way.” However, it is

learning to love God that is, ‘the greatest love of all’!

After finishing Univer-sity this spring, I was un-sure as to what was next but God showed me His plans for me to serve abroad. This started with a desire to grow closer to Him, a passion for working with children and a fascination with Ameri-can culture. It reminded of the scripture ‘A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.’

Working at Streamside Camp this summer has taught me the importance of sharing Christ with chil-dren, and that when your patience runs thin and you get to the end of yourself, strength comes from God alone. Jesus teaches in Mark that we should let little chil-dren come to Him as the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these and the main purpose of Streamside is to provide a quality Bible-centred camping experience geared towards urban chil-dren, youth and families. A lot of the kids came from homes where love was a missing ingredient in their family life, so the challenging part as a counsellor was work-ing in a way that God could work on their heart, which would ultimately change their behaviour.

A typical day at camp began at 7:30am, getting the kids showered and dressed. 8:10am they lined up at the flagpole to raise and pledge allegiance to the American flag, and pray. Breakfast was at 8:30am. Each table had a female and male counsellor as Streamside believed this was important as a lot of the campers didn’t get the opportunity to see both parents eating at the table together. Activities commenced at 9:15am. The campers picked three activities they wanted to participate in throughout the week. The cabin counsellors taught and assisted activities which included sports, drama, crochet, choir, fishing, sling shot and praise dance. The campers had to pass at least two activities in order to qualify for a Streamside rank.

At 11:50am we had Bible class. The theme of this summer was ‘Serving the King’ which addressed the question of who the king of our lives was, and we followed the story of Daniel summed up in four themes: purposed, reliant, committed and consistent.

Lunch was at 12:30pm, followed by Bible exploration, which was a chance for counsel-lors to go into detail about what was taught in Bible class. 1:40pm was siesta, which I loved

as it meant the kids had to be quiet, giving the counsellors a chance to catch up with some reading, writing or sleep. At 2:30pm we had Cabin Clean-up. Free time and CCA began from 2:45. Cabin Counsellors Action is where each cabin does an activity together, such as

going on a ‘Hayride’, a nature tour, playing on the water slide, field games or face painting.

After dinner, we had evening activities for the camp as a whole and 7:30pm it was time

for Vespers, an evening service lead by guest speakers. Then it was back to our cabins in preparation for bed around 9:30pm. As my peers could testify, this was usually the hard-est task of the day. From Saturday afternoon, the staff were off till Monday brunch, when it

began all again.What I loved about

working at Streamside was that because of the routine, I developed a habit of getting up early, reading my Bible and speaking to God daily. It really did enhance spir-itual disciplines as I was sur-rounded by other Christians who had the same focus and passion to serve. The staff families were so friendly and welcoming. The counsellors that were picked bonded al-most instantly. The food was amazing and always served with love and in abundance. Being located in the beau-tiful Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and the peace-ful scene at Streamside gave me the chance to appreciate nature and see God’s beauty in another aspect.

The only negative about the camping experience is that you lose a lot of your privacy. My role as a cabin counsellor meant that I lived in a cabin with about 4-8 campers each week. So

the majority of the day, and all of the night, was spent with the kids. Because of the hec-tic schedule at Streamside and the demanding needs of the group, solitude and silence was hard during camp, but I had to constantly be reminded that it was less about me and more about the kids and God’s plan for them. None-theless, during morning staff prayer meetings and through the love and support of the staff, it was a blessing that God provided ‘calmness in the midst of craziness’. I realised that seclusion from everything was vital in order to obtain that rest and peace God intended for me to gain a clearer perspective and understanding of things, and allow Him to renew my strength. “And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’” Mark 6:31 (NASB)

This was an extremely productive summer and I had a lot of fun working abroad learning about American culture, meeting many people from different walks of life. God has blessed me with special friends and expanded my fam-ily in Christ, each with dynamic and unique personalities. I was immensely inspired by everyone. I truly believe I have grown spiritu-ally and matured being away from home in a foreign country.

I thank God and everyone at Streamside for making this a memorable experience.

for more information about the programme i applied through, visit www.campleaders.com or www.streamside.org.

my summer at streamsiDe camp

anD christian centre

BY TOLA LAwAL

Streamside provides a Bible-centred camping

experience geared towards urban children, youth and families. A lot

of the kids came from homes where love was a missing ingredient in

their family life.


Are on the fast lane of life? Are you rushing helter scelter from one chore to the other? Or from business meeting

to church or family function? You have my permission to slow down. Yes, slow down. Look through your side and back mirrors, then over your shoulder to your blind spot, put your indicator on and move over to the slow lane.

Now catch your breath for a minute; don’t slow down completely to the point that you become an obstruction to other drivers on their own life journeys but

keep a steady pace and start to enjoy your drive... I mean your life.

If you have to stop to help someone along the way please do so! We all need help at some point in our lives and it’s better to arrive at our destination with a handful of people we helped along the way.

When you get to your destination ask those who were driving on the fast lane if they saw the sheep in the green fields, heard the birds that were flying in the air, felt the fresh breeze blow across their faces or noticed those who were

crying out for help to their destination.Don’t be surprised if they didn’t

see, hear or feel a thing because this is exactly what happens when we rush through life. Sometimes we don’t make it, or we make it half-battered, unaware that the journey is as important as the destination, if not more important. The journey is what makes or breaks us, it’s the perfect opportunity to Build, Gather and BE.

So next time you hit the motorway, remember to enjoy the drive and Stop rushing through the journey of life.

catch your breath on the Journey oF liFe

by beverly emovon

“”

When you get to your destination ask those in the fast lane if they saw the sheep in the green fields, heard the

birds flying above, felt the fresh breeze blow or noticed those who were crying out for help to their own destination.

Recommended ReadingGod At work by Ken Costa

“If the Christian faith is not relevant in the work place, it is not relevant at all.” – Ken CostaTHERE IS NO doubt that Ken Costa amply qualifies to contribute to Career/Work titles in any library. With a history in the financial service industry that includes Vice-Chairman of UBS Investment Bank and more recently the Chairman of Lazard International, Ken has enjoyed his share of career successes. Not only is he a high profile banker, Ken Costa is also the Chairman of the Alpha International which promotes the Alpha Course an introduction to the Christian faith.

In God at work, Ken Costa puts into print a very interesting viewpoint in living with God at work all week long as well as on Sunday mornings. Ken has identified that workaholism can become as acute an addiction as any recreational substance. Our careers can easily become an end in itself if we lose sight of its real purpose. What happens when your ambition becomes divorced from the context of extending God’s kingdom?

God at work provides practical suggestions on how to balance Christian evangelism with the need to fulfil everyday obligations to employers: our prime task at work is not to be evangelists, that is not what we are employed to do, but we should be ready to answer people’s questions and be ready to pray with or for them. Ken uses the Bible to give examples of how to handle wealth creation within the teachings of Jesus: our aim is to be significant at every stage of our working lives. Remember the seed that falls among thorns – this is so often what happens to the Christian at work. Stress can be totally overwhelming, choking almost drowning experience.

Work is a ministry empowered by God, for the benefit if others, and ultimately for his glory. We need to rid ourselves of the view that there is a religious pecking order in God’s sight where bishops rank ahead of bankers. We need to live according to our Christian values in every aspect of our lives. True job security can only be found in God’s promises of security. Love is central to our faith and we are to be known by our love therefore we can’t exclude it from our workplaces.

So please pick up this work-transforming book and make your workstation your worship station and let’s start thanking God when it’s Monday!

LOLA ADEYEMO

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

IN ‘The hOLe IN OuR GOsPeL’, Richard Stearns tells of how God took him from being the CEO of a flourishing company to becoming the president of a charitable organisation called World Vision. Until that point, he had been living what most of us would describe as a ‘good Christian life’ and was content with it, but God challenged his theology - and now he’s determined to challenge yours and mine.

A lot of what he says could pass for common knowledge yet it all seems so profound, doing a great job of addressing the question, “What does God expect from me?” It is easily

a powerful influence on the way we think and relate to the group of people that Jesus refers to in the Bible as ‘the least of these’. The hole he identifies gapes so wide that one can only wonder how the church could have missed it so badly.

Coming from an individual with firsthand experience, the aim of ‘The Hole in Our Gospel’ is clear: to raise an awareness of those things which really break the heart of God and inspire all professing Christians to put their hands to the plough, being the only hands and feet that God has here on earth. I dare you to not be challenged by the contents of this book; an absolute must-read!

IBIENE FRED-HORSFALL


1st: Mr Chinedu Okli; Mrs Fatima Khalil; Miss Eva Kamau; Mr Adewale Adeshina; Miss Oyebola Odubanjo; Mr John Adeosun

2nd: Miss Tinuade Molajo; Miss Oyindamola Oniwinde; Miss Angela Amanchukwu

3rd: Mrs Maryann Faleye; Miss Foluso Aloko; Miss Olakitan Adeusi; Miss Olubunmi Longe-King; Mr Oluwole Phillips; Miss Nana Dikibo; Mr Akinkunmi Aroko-Okon; Miss Ijeoma Achara

4th: Mrs Oluwatimilehin Olaoluwa; Mr Adebola Olubokun; Mr Temitope Oke

5th: Mr Delson Swalu; Miss Joan Okhiku; Miss Yetunde Alonge; Miss Jessica Omoteso

6th: Mrs Olatubokun Olopade; Mr Nahim Khalil; Mrs Ufedo Miachi-Abu; Mr Iniobong Ubia; Mrs Janice Otung; Mrs Furha Kilala; Mrs Stanella Bholan; Ms Frances Onyemelukwe; Mrs Abolaji Bolarinwa

7th: Mrs Omolara Onile-Ere; Mrs Enitan Okuyelu; Mr Olusola Arowojolu; Mr Oyewale Sogunro; Miss Blossom Garuba; Mr Fola Oyeyinka; Mr Oluwafemi Odumosu

8th: Mr Charles Ngoo; Mr Bolarin Olajide; Mr Emmanuel Otu-Anobah; Dr Afolake Dawodu; Mr Ibikunle Abesin; Mrs Olubusola Sodeinde; Miss Olapeju Fadiora; Mr Olumuyiwa Alabi; Miss Nike Akinsiku

9th: Ms Chineye Okposin; Mrs Adedoja Edmund; Mrs Omos Olunloyo; Mrs Nike Fambegbe; Miss Natalie Clue

10th: Mrs Tola Bamgbelu; Miss Oyintonbra Fumudoh; Miss Joy Wosu; Deaconess Oluwayemisi Onasanya; Mr Niyi Oladejo; Mrs Otuomasirichi Ordaraga; Mr Olakunle Ogunsina

11th: Miss Marcy Madzikanda; Mrs Julie Caesar; Miss Lindi-Alice Moyo; Mr Yomi Saka; Miss Olajumoke Fawibe; Mrs Josephine Faleye

12th: Miss Abisola Owokoniran; Mr Babajide Peters; Ms Esther Sandra Obaze; Mr Aliyu Sanni; Ms Esther Obazee; Miss Ivie Barnabas; Miss Rosalind Njogu

13th: Mr Akintunji Akinola; Miss Minnie Idiong; Mrs

Adenike Saka; Miss Omolara Owolabi; Mr Adebowale Ajao; Miss Minnie Idiong; Mrs Oshuwa Adaramola; Miss Olukemi Baruwa; Mr Adebambo Akani

14th: Miss Patsy Dokubo; Mr Matthias Kwenin; Mr Leslie Awleah; Mr Christopher Omoze

15th: Mr Jare Osundina; Miss Aderonke Martins; Mr Emeka Mbonu

16th: Miss Anne Dokubo; Mr Ade Adenitire; Mr Olujare Osundina; Miss Staphanie Shepherd; Dr Abimbola Giwa; Mr Abraham Adediran

17th: Dr Agom Omoke; Mr Oluseyi Oyegunle; Mrs Josephine Sey; Mrs Jasmine Dale; Mr Layi Olayiwola

18th: Mr Elijah Sobanjo; Miss Ekaette Udom; Mr Samuel Ukhuegbe; Miss Kanayo Ugbaja; Mr Femi Kuku; Miss Alice Denga; Mrs Pamela Awodele

19th: Dr Oby Mbonu; Mrs Oluwasola John-Adeniregun; Mr Michael Ebohon; Miss Taiwo Coker; Miss Ayotunde Oyewole; Miss Hazel Satenay; Mrs Christine Kihiko; Miss Adetayo Olumodeji; Miss Ngozi Achara

20th: Mrs Layo Adeola; Miss Theodora Ideme; Miss Deborah Osifeso

21st: Mrs Sylvia Kisuka; Miss Monica Lawrence; Miss Elizabeth Okwuosa; Miss Chinyere Okoli; Mr Ngela Mbuyi; Deacon Oluwole Kolawole; Mr Oluwadare Adesogan

22nd: Mrs Olufunke Oladipo; Miss Adeline Oyedele; Miss Bamidele Akomolafe; Miss Lucy Dodofoli; Miss Kanyinsola Onile-Ere; Mr Akindamola Akingbade; Mr Simileoluwa Shonibare; Mrs Denise Tuyisenge; Mr Barnabe Kikaya-Bin-Karubi; Mrs Nkonye Oyewusi; Miss Cynthia Weah

23rd: Miss Sadia Abimbola; Mr Chukwudi Anyia; Mrs Adeleye Oluwatomiyin; Mr Olutayo Fajana; Mr Agyeman Duncan-Williams; Mr Nathan Nzekwue; Mrs Omamode Adedipe; Mr Chuks Anyia

24th: Pastor Rachael Sakutu; Mr Binnie Chigbue; Mrs Olaide Olunloyo; Mr Emuobosan Akpokiniovo; Miss Modupe Ade-Onojobi-Daniel; Mrs Damisi Adetola; Mrs Chinyere Ikpemo; Mr Chijioke Emmanuel;

Miss Nwaka Okoye; Miss Isioma Onwuaduegbo; Mr Temitayo Eyitayo

25th: Mr Oluwakayode Akinyosoye; Mrs Grace Aluko; Miss Chichi Okereke; Miss Precious Kanu; Mr Anthony Onabanjo; Mr Andrew Esi

26th: Mrs Nene Nwadinogbu; Mrs Chinwendu Maduka; Mrs Edith Ogundeji; Mrs Patience Olurankinse; Mr Hassan Sulaiman; Mrs Tawa David

27th: Miss Oluwakemi Akinlade; Miss Sadia Aromire; Mr Samuel Kasumu

28th: Mrs Olabisi Abe; Miss Deborah Akin

29th: Mr Adekunle Fagbenro; Miss Mojisola Onifade

30th: Miss Tochi Markson; Miss Paula Shonuga; Mrs Iyayi Osayi; Mr Olukayode Awosile; Mrs Sade Ajai; Mr Jolaolu Bamigbola; Miss Olajumoke Fabiyi; Mrs Omotayo Salami; Mr Omololu Akingbe; Dr Oludolapo Obileye

s e p t e m b e r b i r t H D a Y s

Wedding Anniversaries1st: Mr & Mrs Nowaseb; 2nd: Mr & Mrs Daramola; Mr & Mrs Olowu; Mr & Mrs Ogunmekan; Mr & Mrs Mansaray; Mr & Mrs Temowo; 3rd: Mr & Mrs Iwuala; 4th: Mr & Mrs Onyiah; Mr & Mrs Afolayan; Mr & Mrs Stewart; Mr & Mrs Etiaba; 6th: Mr & Mrs Ikemefuna; 8th: Mr & Mrs Okuyelu; Mr & Mrs Enakhimion; Mr & Mrs Bakana; Mr & Mrs Tuyisenge; Mr & Mrs Benichou; Mr & Mrs Akinola-Ojo; Mr & Mrs Ladele; 9th: Mr & Mrs Tukoroa; 11th: Mr & Mrs Akinfe; Mr & Mrs Mbila- Kabamba; 13th: Mr & Mrs Idowu; Mr & Mrs Olurankinse; 14th: Mr & Mrs Mainoo; 15th: Mr & Mrs Odupitan; 16th: Mr & Mrs Yerokun; Mr & Mrs Mac-Jaja; 17th: Mr & Mrs Cole; Mr & Mrs Olaniyi; 18th: Dc & Mrs Badejo: Mr & Mrs Akinola; Mr & Mrs Blackwood; 19th: Mr & Mrs Ogunleye; Mr & Mrs Changa; 20th: Mr & Mrs Amasisi; 21st: Mr & Mrs Oladipo; Mr & Mrs Akinola; 22nd: Mr & Mrs Otung; 23rd: Mr & Mrs Olajide; Mr & Mrs Paiva; 24th: Mr & Mrs Rock; Mr & Mrs Ademuyiwa; Mr & Mrs Adekola; 25th: Mr & Mrs Aluko; 26th: Mr & Mrs Akewusola; Dr & Mrs Youdeowei; 27th: Mr & Dr (Mrs) Obatusin; 28th: Mr & Mrs Adeosun; Mr & Dr (Mrs) Mbonu; 30th: Mr & Mrs Dalpozzo;

Outflow Resource

If any of the information above is incorrect, please send an email to [email protected]

PASTOR RACHAEL SAKuTuSeptember 24th

DCS yEMISI OnASAnyASeptember 10th

DC OLuWOLE KOLAWOLESeptember 21st

Documents

Outflow September 2010