Ephesians 2:4-9
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Here at Christian-Charity-World it is always great to hear about how anybody comes to Christ. As I've said before, the journey can extend a life time, or it can be quite dramatic with conversion happening almost instantaneously. I was priveleged to actually witness a friend of mine as he finally saw the light.
I came to know Jim by attending a wonderful Alpha course held by the Zion Baptist Church in Tenterden. Jim is a retired gentleman, his regional accent giving away that he originates from bonny Scotland. I was told that the Alpha course was for those fledglings, people either new to the faith or those who really wanted a greater understanding of Christianity. By focussing on both the bible and Jesus Christ, over ten weeks we would start to understand the tremendous importance that Jesus has in our lives and our connection to God through him. Jim had been co-erced into going to one of the local Men's Breakfasts hosted by "Churches Together in Tenterden" and had become a little intrigued by the faith. However he still had alot of unanswered questions and was more than a little doubtful of Christianity.
During the ten week period of the Alpha course, we attended one of our usual bi-monthly Men's Breakfasts on a Saturday morning and Jim was there too. These breakfasts always have a guest speaker who imparts some Christian message gained from their own experiences. This particular gathering, Joe Marriot was the guest. Joe has created several churches in the past and was currnetly running a flourishing church in a deprived area of Eastbourne. He had helped change the lives of many people including drug addicts. Joe was performing commendable work in that community.
His talk started by introducing his love of restoring old cars and of course this lead into the restoring of peoples lives through Jesus. Jim was fascinated by the analogy and when Joe mentioned about the spark from the spark plug igniting the petrol fumes, the comparison really sunk in for Jim. However the spark was soon to be igniting Jim's Holy Spirit.
At the end of his talk, Joe invited people to come forward in order for him to lay his hands on them and pray for them. Jim took up this invite. As the prayer was said Jim had to be stopped from falling over. He said he could feel a sensation like electricity running through him, from the point where Joe laid his hand on his head, right through his body which, momentarily took away all his strength. For the rest of the day he was in a complete daze, completely oblivious to all that was going on around him. He was convinced he had experienced the Holy Spirit with in.
It does seem that from that point on Jim is a changed man. The aggressive nature that is characteristic of many a Scotsman seems to have been quelled. He no longer gets anry. The man is alot calmer and is truly following a more Christian lifestyle. The Alpha course completed, he has followed up by attending bible study classes and is reading a whole host of Christian literature. His thirst for knowledge of the faith is almost unsatiable
This is just one story of a man's conversion to the Christian faith. There are many more stories to be told and who knows it could be your testimony that we report at Christian Charity World.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.cryinthedark.org/
http://www.christian-charity-world.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8fB3X_xdzc
Sunday 9 January 2011
Thursday 6 January 2011
Why Help a Christian Charity?
Proverbs 11:24-25 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
As the title asks, why help a Christian charity?
Haven't we got enough problems of our own without taking on board somebody else's issues?
Anyway, doesn't charity begin at home?
Perhaps charity does begin at home. But what do we mean by home? Is home about looking after number one; looking after ourselves. Or perhaps that can be widened to watching out for and protecting our immediate family. I have heard it said many times,
" I'm only going to give to charities in my own country"
Again is this somebody's perception of charity beginning at home?
I don't stand to put down anybody's point of view or opinion but perhaps I can offer another angle. Poverty and misery doesn't stop at borders. Unfortunate people and difficult circumstances isn't the domain of our country alone. Diseases don't recognise imaginary lines drawn on maps. In todays modern age with easy access to the majority of the world, with modern communication systems linking one side of the globe to the other, God's creation has become a much smaller place. The world is our oyster, it IS our home. If we were able to trace our ancestry back far enough we would undoubtedly all be linked to Adam and Eve. Doesn't that make each and every one of us family. By helping any charity, by helping anybody in need, this is surely charity at work in our home.
"I don't want to give donations to ...... country because very little of the money gets to the people who need it." This is another argument often put forward. And it is quite understandable. Who wants to give hard earned cash to corrupt governments and selfish leaders. But the unfortunate fact is that if everybody took this stance then nobody in ...... country would be helped. If some money gets through is this not better than no money getting through at all?
I'm sure most of us will know somebody who has climbed to the top of their chosen career ladder taking no prisoners on the way. They have been ruthless in pursuit of their career goals and won't let anybody stand in their way. The likelihood is that they have probably made more enemies than friends. Life has a tendency to go in circles. We have good times and we have not so good times. So for those people who have stopped at nothing to get what they want, they are likely to see the faces of those enemies laughing at them as the rungs of the ladder start to rot away.
For those that give freely though, the rewards are so much greater. What we give doesn't have to be financial. It could be about giving our time, our thoughts and prayers. All this is considered charitable by the needy. For those that willingly give with a Christian spirit, they are rewarded ten fold and even a hundred fold. Although we shouldn't give to receive, a generous man will indeed prosper. Our acts are remembered and appreciated, and such times as we may become the needy, others are more ready to come to our aid.
Christian charity, the giving charitably with a Christian spirit gives the giver such joy in their heart. That sense of doing good by others is a tremendously satisfying feeling. And God is pleased by these actions too.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8fB3X_xdzc
http://www.cryinthedark.com/
http://www.christian-charity-world.com/
As the title asks, why help a Christian charity?
Haven't we got enough problems of our own without taking on board somebody else's issues?
Anyway, doesn't charity begin at home?
Perhaps charity does begin at home. But what do we mean by home? Is home about looking after number one; looking after ourselves. Or perhaps that can be widened to watching out for and protecting our immediate family. I have heard it said many times,
" I'm only going to give to charities in my own country"
Again is this somebody's perception of charity beginning at home?
I don't stand to put down anybody's point of view or opinion but perhaps I can offer another angle. Poverty and misery doesn't stop at borders. Unfortunate people and difficult circumstances isn't the domain of our country alone. Diseases don't recognise imaginary lines drawn on maps. In todays modern age with easy access to the majority of the world, with modern communication systems linking one side of the globe to the other, God's creation has become a much smaller place. The world is our oyster, it IS our home. If we were able to trace our ancestry back far enough we would undoubtedly all be linked to Adam and Eve. Doesn't that make each and every one of us family. By helping any charity, by helping anybody in need, this is surely charity at work in our home.
"I don't want to give donations to ...... country because very little of the money gets to the people who need it." This is another argument often put forward. And it is quite understandable. Who wants to give hard earned cash to corrupt governments and selfish leaders. But the unfortunate fact is that if everybody took this stance then nobody in ...... country would be helped. If some money gets through is this not better than no money getting through at all?
I'm sure most of us will know somebody who has climbed to the top of their chosen career ladder taking no prisoners on the way. They have been ruthless in pursuit of their career goals and won't let anybody stand in their way. The likelihood is that they have probably made more enemies than friends. Life has a tendency to go in circles. We have good times and we have not so good times. So for those people who have stopped at nothing to get what they want, they are likely to see the faces of those enemies laughing at them as the rungs of the ladder start to rot away.
For those that give freely though, the rewards are so much greater. What we give doesn't have to be financial. It could be about giving our time, our thoughts and prayers. All this is considered charitable by the needy. For those that willingly give with a Christian spirit, they are rewarded ten fold and even a hundred fold. Although we shouldn't give to receive, a generous man will indeed prosper. Our acts are remembered and appreciated, and such times as we may become the needy, others are more ready to come to our aid.
Christian charity, the giving charitably with a Christian spirit gives the giver such joy in their heart. That sense of doing good by others is a tremendously satisfying feeling. And God is pleased by these actions too.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8fB3X_xdzc
http://www.cryinthedark.com/
http://www.christian-charity-world.com/
Wednesday 5 January 2011
Faith and Hope Restored by Christian Charity
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
How did a Christian Charity restore my faith?
Has it made a difference to my life?
Can faith make a difference to your life?
I have heard quite a few testimonies about Christian journeys now and every one is different. There are those who saw the blinding light and were converted immediately. Then there are those whose journeys have been slow and steady. Some have known The Lord all their lives. It matters not which category anybody falls into as God loves us all and rejoices at all those who find him through Jesus Christ, no matter where they are at in their lives.
My Christian journey started more or less at the beginning of my life, faltered badly and then in recent years has come back onto the straight and narrow, with the help, in no small terms, from a Christian charity.
As a boy I looked upto my grandmother who was devoutly Christian. She would never allow herself to miss a Sunday Holy Communion Service and even when on holiday she had to find a church to practice her faith. She was a gentle lady, somebody I truly admired and was deeply upset if I ever offended her. Because of her I attended confirmation classes at our local Church of England church and became an alter boy. However, I had one other deep passion at the time; football. At the age of 14 I felt the need to make the decision on how to spend my Sundays. Going to church or playing football. Unfortunately football won.
From then on I strayed waywardly off the Christian path. Although I believe I was still moralistic and had a good sense of what was right or wrong, I found myself denying both Jesus and God. At one point during my first marriage I even refused to be a God Parent to one of my nephews as I considered that was being hypocritical.
My first marriage ended and I met my current wife and her 16 month old son - now my stepson- and life certainly changed from there. They say "life begins at 40", well at just one year short of that my life was certainly about to change in an entirely different direction. Tonya was taking Dale once a month to the family service at St. Mildreds Church in Tenterden and invited me to join her. I went and caught the bug. It didn't take long before I wanted more and was soon making sure I attended Holy Communion every Sunday. Noting my new found enthusiasm, the church invited me to be a Chalice Assistant and then to perform bible readings.
Looking back on it now though, I can see that, at that point my Christian journey had only just gotten into first gear. The year 2009 was the point when I started to move through the gears. Both St. Mildreds Church and The Zion Baptist Church in Tenterden had become involved with a Christian charity called Cry in the Dark http://www.cryinthedark.org/. I was invited to go to Romania and help with the building of an extension to an orphanage in Comanesti. It is said that "You won't change Romania, Romania will change you" and when you see the incredible work that Cry in the Dark do for young people with life limiting illnesses and disabilities in Romania it is bound to bring out the compassion in the most hard hearted of people.
To see what this Christian charity had achieved in the 10 years that they had been going was unbelievably miraculous. I kept asking myself,
"How do you create a charity like this?"
"How do you even know where to begin?"
I put these questions to the charity. There answer,
"We didn't know where to start. We just prayed to God and he gave us the answers"
Absolutely amazing. This is real "Faith in God" and it is being put into action. It became obvious at that point that I didn't really understand what true faith meant. I worried about the bills and my family and yet this seems small fry in comparison to the concerns that Cry in the Dark had. Yet God could see them through all the difficult times, finding the straight path to bring their vision into reality. Casa Lumina, the orphanage in Comanesti, was completed in under two years, taking 24 young people from the terrible conditions of a state run orphanage to a home with much love and care, providing them a home for life. A second project, Casa Albert, has recently opened as a day care centre, providing respite care for children with life limiting illnesses from around the impoverished areas around the city of Bacau. It also acts as an outreach centre, from where medical staff go out to these same children, applying much needed medical care in their homes.
Having seen Gods work in action I have become desperate to find out more about God and Jesus and how to be the best Christian I can possibly be. I attended an Alpha Course and a bible study group and am constantly immersing myself in Christian books to understand the Christian faith, my faith, as much as I can.
It doesn't have to take a Christian charity to enlighten somebody about the works of God. As I said at the beginning, everbody has a different story to tell. My life has much more meaning now, is richer and fuller because of finding God through Jesus Christ, and everybody can have the same if they so choose.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
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