T 0·--9. M Seminary Lilt;,.Ry
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
I C ' f\"T, 0·--9. m BII~ ·T._IDll1t'M Seminary Lilt;,.ry _ Pnague . · Czech Repllbtic Contents / i I J '< ;/ .., ... "~ ----",/ ~ In SCl1Ctu i• Makirit · i--- ~ Tiircl Wol1d • • without leaving'Zt dllrdi~IW~ a report from llba1 north London . ',' ·~ Landmines.· Legacy ofJPar-the victims Ofa ceasefire 111 7~ R~ 1he pJigliJ of those on afldht of tenor from injustice aid alrocilies-four -· reports from clOUnd the WOJld ; Fairtrade: The nght price for afair deal C ontents 2 October 1995 h. MHComment editorial mh .. Missionary. Herald ............ No one can be involved in world mission for very long without becoming The magazine of the Baptist Missionary Society, PO Box 49, aware of that great human family, crossing all barriers of language, culture Baptist House, Didcot Oxon OXl 1 8XA Registered charity No. 233782 and race, to which we all belong. Indeed the missionary vision looks towards Telephone 01235 512077 Fax 01235 511265 that day when there shall be a "vast throng which no one can count, from all General Director ····················· ·································· ····· Reg Harvey races and tribes, from all nations and tongues standing before the throne Editor and before the Lamb". David Pountain However, visions of what shall be should not blind us to the here and .Design................ ................. .. ............ .. ... ....... Anthony Viney now. We belong to the world-wide human family and we depend upon each Sarah Prentice other. It is very easy to become parochial, particularly in our churches, con ...........Production.............. .Supervisor.............................. .... Jan Kendall cerned as we are in maintaining buildings and reaching out to local neigh Enquires about service overseas to bourhoods. It's all very strange because so much that is used by the modern .Director................. .for........ missionaries....... ...................... .... Sian Williams church - electronic organs and keyboards, overhead projectors, photo © Copyright 1995 Baptist Missionary Society copiers, as well as communion wine - comes from another country. Many of Printed by Stanley L Hunt Ltd Rushden Northamptonshire the clothes we don to come to worship, the cars we place in the church car ISSN 0264-1372 park, the coffee and tea we drink after the service, remind us of the contri mh Prices 1995 bution to our lives of the wider world beyond our national boundaries. Bulk Church Orders If you order the Missionary Herald Several of the articles of this month are about justice and peace. They through your church magazine secretary, the cost of a year's subscription (which is 10 issues per remind us that none of us lives in isolation. The way we live affects ,others. year) is £5.00 post free . Individual Orders Our choices as consumers, tourists and voters hold repercussions for others. If you order the Missionary Herald directly from BMSa year's subscrip tion (which is 10 issues) is £9.40 So may we all be challenged to be more consciously concerned for our fel post paid. Postage and packing for overseas subscribers is on the rate low citizens of the world. May we be more mindful in prayer of sisters and applicable to their location. brothers in Christ and open to receive new insights and understanding from them. May we use our consumer-power to benefit producers and may we use our democratic freedom to call for government and financial policies which will promote justice, peace and well-being for all. • ~- 1995 October 3 London God's people need not travel far to have an impact on Third World situations. Sandra Carter discovers that World Mission starts on your doorstep. he drive from leafy On one side is a row of once ele Buckinghamshire to gant tenement town houses. A couple Clapton takes you through of 22-storey blocks of flats tower near T several worlds. Farmland by. A sparse park lies opposite the and trim suburbia give way to the church. "How many Baptist churches spend-easy allure of Brent Cross and enjoy a park across the road, just right the remnants of British industry for church picnics and games of round the North Circular Road. Drop rounders?" grins its pastor, Steve down the AlO into east London and Latham (38). you enter a multiplicity of cultures. When the congregation file out on Halal butchers, pavement displays Sunday the chairs are stacked at the of exotic vegetables, kosher stores, big back of the church to create an indoor flat circles of Turkish bread - it's a playground for three children. Two cultural United Nations. A drug store double beds are squeezed into the sports the intriguing notice: We stock church office, and the pastor's study human hair. Other towns and cities is filled with a family's few comforts: may have lost their heart to out-of books, photos, a couple of easy chairs, town shopping centres. Here the a TV. Alongside the china and big small shopkeeper reigns supreme. kettles in the church kitchen are the This is the inner-city community family's pots and pans. to which Hackney Downs Baptist For this church is the home of the Church ministers. It's been preaching Ogunwobi family. Sunday Ogunwobi Christ since 1869, when it arose as a (43)- usually called Sunny-has pompous Victorian sanctuary in the rarely left its confines over the past optimistic style of its age, complete year and a half. The church is their with stained glass rose window, sanctuary. now rickety balcony, cavernous The family is fighting a deporta 'Jasements and dark corridors. tion order to return them to Nigeria. This is the kind of community But when Sunny and Olubunmi where you may be greeted, as I (Bunmi) came to Britain to study nei was, by a graffiti slogan on the church ther had any thought of staying. door: "Jesus eats dog shit." Sunny arrived in 1981 and qualified 4 October 1995 mh. London in water supply and public health gave refuge to this family on compas could walk in and pick them up at any with a masters in environmental sionate grounds, because of the health time if they chose to. It's not protec resources. He was given an extension of the children, and because they have tion, it's a statement, a prophetic sign. Above: to allow Bunmi, whom he'd met here so much to contribute to the church. One family highlighting the wider The and married, to complete her business Sunny, a gently-spoken man, firm in Ogunwobi plight of so many families. management course. his faith, was an elder at Stamford family "The Immigration Minister has Her studies were interrupted by Hill Baptist Church (which had no with pos discretionary powers and can over the premature birth at 25 weeks of suitable building for sanctuary). He is tor Steve turn a deportation order on compas their daughter Debra. She needed a a governor and PTA chairman at Latham sionate grounds, bearing in mind the lot of medical attention, as did Tunde, Craven Park School. Bunmi is an Left: health of the children. That's what we born the following year. A letter of energetic, bustling woman who shares Help for think should happen. It's all so arbi deportation was issued for June 1993, her faith with enthusiasm. mum trary." but the family were allowed to stay Ask about their practical situation preparing There are worse problems in the until after the birth of their third and they give a calm factual response. the lunch world than a family like the child Phoebe. A deportation date was Ask about what God is doing and Ogunwobis facing deportation. then set for March 16, 1994. The they come alive. They are eager to Shouldn't churches reserve their family went into sanctuary on March share how God supports and encour energy for people with more pressing 15, 1994. ages them, the goodness of his people, needs - political refugees perhaps? It could be said that their own his sovereignty over their affairs. This congregation believes that country needs qualified people like Steve says: "They have given an now is th~ time to take a stand:"If we Sunny and Bunmi. Steve Latham enormous amount to our church spir don't defy the government now, will points out: "Their country needs itually. They give far more than they we be able to do it later if the situation them - but at this time there are no receive. People have come to Christ worsens? If we compromise now, will jobs there for them. The Nigerian through them, and the faith of many we have the confidence to stand up in economy is in such a shambles and has been strengthened by their testi the future on bigger issues? the political system so unstable. mony. They're a blessing to us." "Think of the holocaust. It wasn't Human rights abuses abound. If they Should a church challenge the law that Christians agreed with what was returned they would have no job, no by offering sanctuary? Steve points happening, but they didn't care home, no means of support. The chil out: "We are not hiding or harbouring enough." dren would not be able to get the them. The family has always kept the health care and education they need." Home Office fully informed about Hackney Downs Baptist Church where they are. In theory, the police Continues on page 6 tWJ.1995 October 5 London Meanwhile the Commission for Racial Justice and the Ogunwobis con Church of England Race and tinue to live under Community Relations Committee. siege in the back If anyone thought letting the rooms behind the months drift by would break their church. Sunny spirit, they'd be wrong. Eighteen rarely leaves the months after going into sanctuary building, except Sunny says: "We've grown stronger for an occasional over this time.