Contact Spring17 Copy.Indd

www.afcu.org.uk magazine for members of the armed forces Faith & culture in the army Action Stations a global call to prayer Spring 2017 £2 THY KINGDOM COME... Thy will be done Matthew 6:10 I AM OFTEN asked how we can best support the men and women of our armed forces? Of course, when someone is deployed, writing a letter or sending a Red Cross parcel with some exciting treats always goes down well and contents helps soldiers feel wanted and loved by their country. However, if you are a Christian the best thing you can do is to pray for our service personnel, for our faith & culture more tea Commanders, for our government, and - the view from Bishop? The Rt for our nation. an army cultural Revd Nigel Stock specialist talks about his As people of faith we recall in the New role Testament that James says in 5:13, 46 ¸0MHU`VULPZHɊPJ[LKSL[OPTVYOLY pray....”James then goes on to say, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful.” God honours our prayers, praying provides not only peace to those serving, but every prayer you pray also changes What is ethics Prayer like an the world. about? Former avalanche - how chief chaplain ask a global wave of Proverbs 21 says “The horse is prepared how we live prayer is for the day of battle, but deliverance our lives [HRPUNVɈ is of the Lord.” What more motivation 8 10 do we need to pray, in our Christian communities and to pray for the military? The Archbishop of Canterbury is calling people to ‘pledge2pray’ with Christians across the world as part of Thy Kingdom regulars Come - a global wave of prayer movement. This has been taken up by the military community again this year - Katie Kyle 11 see pages 10-11. Martin’s memo 13 We welcome retired Chaplain in Chief, the Revd Ray Pentland, an old friend of the Armed Forces Christian Union, KWЄMMJZMIS 14 as our new ethics author. The Bishop to the Forces has given an exclusive JWWSZM^QM_[ 15 interview to Contact, as he prays for our JVTT\UP[`HUKVɈLYZWHZ[VYHSJHYL[V caption competition 15 THU`9HJOHLS7OPSSPWZH`V\UNVɉJLY who found personal faith shares her journey to explore faith and culture when she deployed to Afghanistan. Have you We hope you have a wonderful Easter searched and enjoy time out with family and friends. for the new ‘AFCU’ app? It is in the Rachel Farmer ‘app store’ or you can scan Editor this code ࠮If you wish to know more about what it means to be a Christian and/or how [VILJVTLH*OYPZ[PHUÄUKHUKHZR`V\Y Armed Forces’ Christian Union (AFCU), Havelock House, Barrack Road, local military chaplain or a Christian you may know or pick up the phone and ask Aldershot, Hants GU11 3NP Tel 01252 311221 [OL(-*<VɉJL ,THPS!VɉJL'HMJ\VYN\R^^^HMJ\VYN\R contact 03 Cross cultural mission I[I+PZQ[\QIVIZUaWЅKMZ FOR SEVEN YEARS I served as a female nationals, was HYT`VɉJLY^VYRPUN^P[O[OL+LMLUJL ÄYZ[VUT` by Rachael Phillips Cultural Specialist Unit. My role required radar many me to work with Muslims as a woman years before but also for three of those seven years I deployed to I was also a Christian. This proved Afghanistan. At the age of 19 I travelled interesting. So did being a Christian to Sri Lanka as a volunteer after the woman impede my work and mission? )V_PUN+H`[Z\UHTP+\YPUNT` stay I made the mistake of being open I found Afghanistan has a rich but complex about my then atheism to the family culture. It is a patriarchal society and with whom I was living. My Muslim that being therefore being a woman and working hosts were disturbed when I told them in local communities might have proved I didn’t believe in God and so I quickly a woman highly challenging. However, I found changed my story explaining there was that being a woman opened doors to a misunderstanding due to the language ZP[\H[PVUZ[OH[^V\SKOH]LILLUÄYTS` barrier. What I learned from that situation opened closed had I been a man. I had access was that if the topic of religion came up, to ‘the other 50%’ of the country that and I was working or living with Muslims doors to my male counterparts could not have in another country, it was better to claim ‘ contact with, and was invited freely to be a Christian than to try and explain into homes. I could sit and chat in a my atheism! situations very informal and relaxed way with generations of women and their children. Years later, and still an atheist, I was In doing so I was then also able to build ZLY]PUNVUT`ÄYZ[KLWSV`TLU[[V that would positive relationships with their husbands Helmand Province. My job would bring and brothers and experienced very little me into daily contact with local villagers tension or resistance due to my gender. and my training told me never to bring have been up religion in conversation with locals. I spent 18 months living and working The few times it did come up I stated ÅZUTa in Afghanistan and my overwhelming that I was a Christian, then moved the experience was that being female conversation on. In a culture that was encouraged conversation and led to ZLLTPUNS`ZVZH[\YH[LKHUKPUÅ\LUJLK closed relaxed and less charged interactions by religious structures and customs that were peppered with humour and perhaps it was a shame that I’d been intrigue. I quickly discovered gender trained to avoid the topic. But then, I also wasn’t an issue, but what about faith? wouldn’t have wanted to get into any The question of faith and the impact IPNNLYSPLZHIV\[T`ÄJ[PVUHSMHP[O it could have on relations with foreign contact 04 ’ In 2011, whilst studying Pashto in My steadily growing faith meant I was and practices of his homeland upon preparation for my next tour, I was much more relaxed about Islamic the foreign nationals he engaged with, keen to understand Islam better. I was customs. Often the Afghans started he learned from them. Paul watched fascinated by this religion and the shuras (meetings) with a prayer. HUKZ[\KPLK[OLTÄUKPUNV\[[OLPY KPɈLYLU[^H`ZPU^OPJOP[^HZWYHJ[PZLK Previously I would have joined my Army customs and desires and he used this At the time my curiosity only extended colleagues in feeling rather awkward, to build relationships in order to be more as far as what others believed and never not knowing where to look or how to sit LɈLJ[P]LH[KLSP]LYPUNOPZTLZZHNL(J[Z led to me questioning what I believed. or whether to close our eyes and what 17:16-34). I thought at the time that religion was to do with our hands, but as a Christian either a learned behaviour that was I felt at ease during prayers, as I prayed I admire Paul’s persuasive and intelligent followed simply to avoid exclusion from silently to myself in English and we all approach to letter writing which formed the in-group, or it was a crutch that ÄUPZOLKI`ZH`PUN(TLUWYVUV\UJLK HSHYNLWHY[VMOPZPUÅ\LU[PHSJHTWHPNU people needed to feel their lives had Amin in Arabic). and how he used cultural knowledge to meaning. endear himself to his target audience Later, now as a Christian, I worked in (even though this was not always I had a respect for the commitment of Bosnia as a Christian and had many successful). Knowing something of the faithful, much as I had a respect great conversations. Then I was posted Paul’s mission and with a heart for for anyone who commits themselves, to 4th Infantry Brigade as a Community conversation and listening to others this such as marathon runners or musicians. 3PHPZVUVɉJLY^VYRPUNHSVUNZPKL has been an entirely positive experience. But I never questioned whether it could Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) As a Cultural Specialist, it has helped be true. This changed in 2012 at the communities in North East England. me in looking for common ground and beginning of my second operational tour Whilst the community engagement skills in understanding my target audience on of Afghanistan when I had an ‘out of the and experiences I’ve built up in the Army another level. I’ve found that engaging blue’ encounter with God in a shipping have been well used, it’s actually what people in conversations about their faith container and shortly after I became a I’ve learned as a practising Christian has been a platform on which to build practising and committed Christian. That that has been more helpful in my cross relationships, rather than it being an is another story! (See ‘She found God… cultural work. My role was to build strong VIZ[HJSLVYHYLHVMJVUÅPJ[ in an ISO’ Contact Summer 2015) So, now that I was a Christian, was ࠮*YVZZJ\S[\YHSNHTLZIYLHRKV^UIHYYPLYZ there any impact on my work during my second and third tours of Afghanistan? 6]LYHSS0ILSPL]L[OLLɈLJ[P[KPKOH]L was undeniably positive. One night I joined a patrol who were setting up a covert look-out in a cow shed (those not on sentry duty could sleep inside on the straw with the mice, which did feel rather biblical). I was there to chat with the locals who would start gathering at dawn the next morning, once we made our presence known. It was on this morning that I was chatting to some youths who asked me to recite the Kalima, the Muslim profession of faith.

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