Central Baptist Church,

Victoria Road South, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1LN 01245 264163

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centralbaptistchelmsford.org A Place to Belong

Summer 2014

Inside this issue:

Google Glass

How to save the planet

Indian experience

Human Development

Consultant in Nigeria

International Justice

Mission

Baptismal stories

Street Pastors

Growing relationships

But God is not distant. God But God is not distant. God

is not subject to our ‘privacy is not subject to our ‘privacy

settings’.settings’.

1

I am a big fan of technology! I think it is wonderful how it

makes life so much easier, it helps me to be more efficient, it helps me to arrange my wife’s surprise party and it helps me to remember great occasions and share them with my friends and family.

Over recent years Google have expanded from being a company with a very popular website to being a company that also makes great and innovative new technology. The most recent form of this new technology is called Google Glass. If you have not yet heard about Google Glass, it is the latest product in a range of wearable technology. It gets its name because it is effectively a pair of glasses that can be worn while walking down the street just like we would our everyday glasses.

However the difference with the Google Glass is that it also has technology built into these glasses. There is a camera on the front of the glasses so you can take a photo or video of whatever you are looking at, and there is also a screen that allows you to see messages that have been sent to you by email or text message without having to look at your phone. Some of you may read this and question why you would ever want a pair of glasses that are able to do all this but businesses are already starting to use this new technology - although it is not cheap with a price of over £1,000 per pair!

However, if the price is not enough to put you off this new technology maybe the issue of privacy will be. There have been a number of people who have asked questions about Google Glass and especially the fact that it has a camera that can be subtly and easily used. Some people are seriously concerned that they will never know whether someone is taking a photo of them or recording them on their glasses and consequently people are concerned that their privacy will be invaded.

I completely understand the need for privacy in our world today. I understand the need to stop everybody looking at your photos or status updates on Facebook, and likewise I understand the need for keeping certain information contained and secure. However, I wonder if there is a bigger question that we can ask when we think of this issue.

One of the reasons for privacy is that we don’t want everyone to know everything about us. We want to keep certain information and insights hidden and personal. Let me again reiterate that I think that this is truly

Google Glass connect to technology

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right in the world that we live in today.

However in our craving for privacy and security, do we run the risk of taking our need for privacy and applying it to God? Do we think that because of our privacy God only sees the parts of us that we want Him to see? Maybe we think that God didn’t see the way we walked past that person who was in need because we were busy and had somewhere to be? Maybe we think God didn’t see and hear the argument that we had with that person last night? Maybe we think God only sees us when we occasionally go to church or walk past the door because God only hangs out in churches with those religious folk?

But God is not distant. God is not subject to our ‘privacy settings’. Instead in the Bible we are told that God “sees everything you do. Wherever you go, he is watching”.

I wonder how you feel about the fact that God sees us all, all of the time? Does it encourage you, or maybe it challenges you? Why don’t you think of just one way that you can show God that behind your ‘privacy settings’ you are still keen to try and remember that God can see what you do, that he cares what you do, and see the difference that makes in your life?

Matt Rowe ~ Minister in Training

28th July - 1st August 10.00am - 12.15pm

Razzamatazz Robots Holiday Club is for children aged 5 - 11 (current reception to year 6).

There will be a choice of activities including craft, cooking, science, music and games.

For further details or to register: info@centralbaptistchelmsford.org

3

W hat do toothpaste, biscuits and ice cream have in common? The answer is that they all contain

palm oil. In fact, palm oil is used to produce hundreds of different everyday products. Yet, palm oil has had a very bad press of late. Because it is so useful and so profitable it is often produced on vast plantations in the Far East which are carved out of the rain forest destroying plants, depriving animals of habitat and generally degrading the environment.

What's the answer? Can we organise a boycott of palm oil products? In reality this isn't an option. Palm oil is used in nearly half the packaged products on the supermarket shelves and is often simply listed as "vegetable oil" so that the consumer is often unaware of it anyway.

Yet, it doesn't have to be this way. Palm oil grows naturally in West Africa where it can be a valuable source of income for smallholders who work with nature rather than against it. So Traidcraft has set out to develop a range of products that use palm oil which is fairly traded in a way that avoids damaging the environment.

Traidcraft's new partner Serendipalm is supplied by over 600 farmers in Ghana with land holdings of about three acres each. They produce organic palm oil and are guaranteed a fair price for their product.

Daniel Nyano is a typical example of these farmers. He is 34 years old and sees his long-term future in working his family's land.

"I grow my palm using modern but environmentally friendly methods because of the training I have had. Spacing of the trees is important - it increases yield to space the plants 29 feet apart - older farmers planted much closer together. I get a third more palm oil on the same amount of land.

"I enjoy growing my palm. I can provide casual work for harvesters, and because of Serendipalm, there is a better market for my crop. I sell direct. There is no middleman, so the price is fair. I have a better life. I want to do well."

The crop offers wider benefits

connect to Fairtrade

How to Save the Planet and Feed the

Hungry!

4

to the community. Serendipalm employs up to 200 local women in the harvesting season to process the palm. The women sit round in circles of about ten separating the soft palm fruit from the spiky vegetation.

"As we work together, " says Josie Abnu, " we talk about our children and our families. We talk about the food we are going to grow and we will cook. We talk about our husbands.....we talk a lot about our husbands...!!"

Serendipalm provides a free hot meal for every worker and free health insurance with a bonus at Christmas and Easter. The plant manager Safianu Moro is proud of the factory.

"It's a good working environment and we take safety and the health of our workers very seriously. We are like a family, we want the people who work here to be looked after well. Fairness, sustainability and respect is our aim."

The Fairtrade price also includes as a matter of course a social payment which is used for community products such as clean water, clinics and schools.

Traidcraft has developed a new range of cleaning products which incorporate not only this Fairtrade palm oil from Serendipalm but also Fairtrade coconut oil from India. These new products which are eco-friendly and biodegradable

include liquid soap. washing-up liquid, multi - surface cleaner and laundry liquid.

There is of course often an overlap between Fairtrade and ecological issues simply because Fairtrade empowers the ordinary farmers and workers who have a vested interest in caring for the land on which they live. This new range of cleaning products has taken this connection to its logical conclusion and has therefore been marketed under the brand name Clean and Fair.

So if you want to keep clean, save the planet and fight world poverty all at the same time, do come along to the Fairtrade stall and order some of these new products.

Gill Parker

The CBC Fairtrade stall is open on the third Sunday of each month after the morning and evening services and also on Tuesdays in term-time between 10.30am and 2pm.

You can also order Traidcraft products direct from traidcraft.co.uk

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A t the age of 13, I made the grown up decision that I had

now become ‘too cool’ to do action songs at church. Instead, I would stand grimacing next to my parents as they reached ‘higher than a skyscraper’ and ‘deeper than a submarine.’

A subject that repeatedly seemed to come up within many different situations while we were away was ‘worship’, and in particular - what actually is ‘worship’? Is worship doing the actions unashamedly at church? Is worship the thing we do for a select slot every Sunday morning? Or is it something more than that?

At Hatibagan, the school we worked at for children from the streets and slums, the ‘Sunday’ interpretation of worship was what began each day for us. The session would start with Prodip, the 50-something year old principal of the school, singing and dancing with the children as they sang various songs in both Bengali and English. I’m sure you can imagine the chaos of seventy excited children in a tiny space being encouraged to make as much noise as possible at the start of their school day completely eliminating any possibility of ever settling them back down to work again, but this thought never appeared to cross Prodip’s mind – he was too busy shouting praises to the Lord, and urging the children to join with him.

Seeing such an uninhibited way of

worshipping reminded me of the verse in 2 Samuel, where David states: ‘I will become even more undignified than this’. Being overseas has made me realise that if it is God we are living for, then we should not be so hesitant to worship Him in our own way.

To go back to my teenage years of super-coolness and rebellion against doing the actions at church, of course I completely acknowledge that it is the job of your parents to embarrass you where possible and I am sure that there was a teensy element of joy within them as they watched me gradually becoming more and more beetroot coloured as my age increased. However, living in India for six months provided us with countless opportunities to see how unashamed people were of their faith. It struck us that a person’s religion was not just a box they ticked whilst filling in a form, but it was what defined them as a person. I would go so far as to say that I never once met an Indian who was reserved about their faith, or who was self-conscious whilst worshipping on a Sunday morning.

Whether it was through reading a book, hearing a sermon, interpreting things from the Bible, watching a podcast or simply discussing it as a team, tackling what is meant when we say ‘the heart of worship’ became a recurring topic for us during our time overseas. Over our six months in India we were blessed to see what the essence of what ‘true’ worship is

Hannah James has spent six months with the Baptist Missionary Society at a school in Kolkata, India. Connect asked her to share something she learnt from the experience.

connect to India

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in so many situations, learning that this word is not simply defined by a twenty minute, spirit-filled experience as a music group accompany our praises and reflections on a Sunday morning, but that ‘to worship’ essentially means ‘to surrender’ wholly our lives to God.

A phrase which we have found ourselves using a lot since returning to the UK when attempting to explain our perception of the vast majority of people in India is that, whilst they may physically poor, they are without a doubt incredibly spiritually rich. I am sure that much of this comes from the fact that when people have so little materialistically, they seek comfort and contentment from

something which cannot be bought, something which is unconditional, and something which can only be supplied through the love of Christ Jesus.

It struck us whilst we were away how Christians over there really do include God in every part of their lives. Whether it was within the Guesthouse’s staff devotions, during a house-warming gathering, when one of us was unwell, or simply before a car journey, we continually were surrounded by people praying and giving every element of their lives over to God. We learnt a great deal about this all-encompassing faith from our supervisor, Anu, who would constantly remind us

of how our God should always be glorified, how He has given us so much, and how He is with us through any trials. This wonderful woman was a shining example of someone who would practise God’s teaching in every element of her life, surrendering herself entirely to obey His commands.

The phrase ‘God willing’, pops into mind whenever I think of how much people lived their faith while we were away. It was true, people really did live for Christ, live their faith, were open about who was their strength and provider, and had a real understanding of how, whatever they did, whether it was at work or at home, they did in the name of Jesus. They surrendered wholeheartedly to the Lord, and, in my opinion, led a life full of true worship.

Hannah James

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So, Ade, what sort of things are you doing in Nigeria?

I work with organisations in the public, private and Non-Government (charity) sectors on helping to support people - especially young people - who are either unemployed or excluded from mainstream education to improve themselves, and helping to create opportunities for skills and personal development that would improve their prospects and ultimately their quality of life.

Are there any particular projects you are currently involved with?

An area of focus over the last couple of months has been health awareness and improvement. One of the projects I am working on is development and implementation of a Diabetes Awareness Educational Programme across several schools in one of the constituency wards in South-West Nigeria. According to the World Health Organisation, Nigeria has the highest prevalence of Diabetes in the whole of Africa!

I am working with a group of young Nigerian medical graduates who have set up an organisation aimed at raising awareness about Diabetes prevention among young people

(aged 12-18). There will be training for young people who will go through a selection process to be peer mentors. These peer mentors will be provided with workbooks and they will be trained to deliver interactive learning/awareness workshops for students and teachers. Young people will gain more by learning from each other, and we are hoping that this peer-led Diabetes Awareness project will be well received by the audience.

It will provide an example of how the youth population can be empowered to help each other and be creative in doing this. What they need is guidance and skills support to help each other progress in a society that can be very paternalistic.

In Nigeria, there is a desperate need for young people to be given a chance to advocate for themselves and be given the tools to do this on a more consistent basis. Voice is really important for

Nigerian youths and self-awareness and education are the means for them to achieve this. The project is due to start in June and will last for two months. Development projects such as these are vital in improving social and economic conditions in Nigeria.

A de Fashade, a member of Central Baptist

Church, following redundancy in the UK, is

currently working in Nigeria as a Human

Development Consultant. Connect recently spoke

with Ade:

connect to Nigeria

‘Development’ may sound like ‘jargon’ to many of us, but this is what is desperately needed in […] Nigeria

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And how is your Christian faith relevant to what you are doing?

I am grateful to God for giving me the skills and abilities to work professionally by helping to make a difference in society and put something back in this way. ‘Development’ may sound like ‘jargon’ to many of us, but this is what is desperately needed in all aspects of life in Nigeria and many developing countries.

The mind, body and soul need developing in positive ways to ensure quality of life that will benefit the country socially and economically. As you are all aware from what has been all over the news lately, Nigeria is a place that needs God’s grace right now! I believe that it is God’s desire to use me as a tiny cog in His overall plans for the country, and it is a call I am privileged to answer, and see how far it takes me.

You can follow Ade’s blog at http://afashade.wordpress.com

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Far below the headlines, a plague of hidden, everyday violence – including rape, forced labour, land theft, trafficking, police abuse and other brutality – is devastating the developing world and undermining our efforts to end poverty.

Throughout the developing world, fear of violence is part of everyday life for the poor. It is as much a part of poverty as hunger, disease or malnutrition.

The reason the world’s poorest are so vulnerable to violence is because their justice systems – police, courts and laws – simply do not protect them from violent people. According to the United Nations, justice systems in the developing world are so broken that the majority of poor people live life “far from the law’s protection”.

• 2 million children are exploited in the commercial sex trade • Nearly 30 million people are held in slavery worldwide • Every year, 5 million people are victimised by forced evictions from their

land • 1 in 5 women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime Laura’s story is typical of many:

Imagine what life would be like if you woke up every day with nothing shielding you from violence – if there were no police to protect you, no courts to defend you, no one to make you safe.

connect to justice

This is everyday life for billions of the world’s poorest.

Laura’s story

Laura is only 10 years old, but she already knows

that every day holds reasons to fear violence.

In the slum where she lives, most everyday

tasks aren’t safe:

She was on her way to a nearby shop when she

was pulled into a community toilet and sexually

assaulted by a neighbour.

The walk to school isn’t safe:

She was on her way to class when she is

assaulted again — this time by a different neighbour.

And even her home isn’t safe:

She was trapped in a nightmare of relentless abuse from her own father

from the age of 8.

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International Justice Mission is a global leading organisation working on the front lines protecting the poor from violence throughout the developing world. We partner with local authorities to rescue victims of violence, bring criminals to justice, restore survivors, and strengthen justice systems.

Inspired by God’s call to love all people and to seek justice, IJM’s team of Christian lawyers, social workers, investigators and other professionals protect the poor from violence without regard to race, religion or any other factor.

There are people today who need an advocate, someone to raise their voice on behalf of the voiceless and say, “Slavery must come to an end.” Visit IJM’s website to learn more about IJM’s casework, find resources and opportunities for involvement.

The more people hear about these issues – and learn that real change is possible – the stronger the movement against global injustice grows.

Twitter: @IJM_UK

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IJM.UK

Website: www.ijmuk.org

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Follow us to receive regular news about what’s happening at CBC.

We’re also on Twitter @cbcchelmsford

We’re on Facebook!

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O ver the past few months a number of people

have been baptised as a sign of their faith.

Here are part of their stories:

Kate

Christianity has always been a huge part of my life, I was raised in a Pentecostal church in Dagenham, and a Baptist church when I moved to Southend aged ten.

Throughout adolescence I had spurts of attending church regularly to not attending at all for weeks sometimes months on end.

This became more prominent when I started at university here in Chelmsford in 2008. I spent my first year not accessing any church and became distant and worldly. I felt very separated from God and spiritually empty, so I “googled” local churches and found Central Baptist Church. I then began attending church and finally completed the Alpha course in 2009.

Being a long standing Christian I imagine some of you are questioning why such a late baptism, well I was waiting to become the ‘perfect’ Christian; surely I cannot be baptised if I am not sin free, attending house group every week, as well as both services on a Sunday.

Until I realised earlier this year there is no such thing as a perfect Christian and I needed to just get on with it. I am full of sin but ready to be cleansed and start again, and today I want to publicly commit myself to Jesus.

Colin

I have grown up in a Christian family. My parents were baptised many years ago and my sister was baptised 18 months ago. Because she was baptised I started to take a big interest in God. I decided to truly follow Jesus about a year ago and asked him to forgive my sins. He died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice.

I am not perfect but I try to become more like Jesus. I know that I will make mistakes and then need to ask for forgiveness. Ever since I decided to follow Jesus I have been kinder, thinking more about others and their feelings and more excited to go to church.

I believe that God is everything and I want to live my life for God.

Matthew 22:37-39: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Daniel

I grew up in a Christian household where I was taught that Jesus loves me and died for me. I accepted Jesus when I was five years old. I know that God has forgiven all of my sins. I want to get baptised as Jesus tells us to and I want to follow Jesus.

connect to faith

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One Friday at school after an assembly done by two people from the Gideon’s everyone in my year was given a new testament and psalms Bible; most people then decided to start ripping pages out of their copy. In this situation I believe that Jesus helped me not to follow the crowd and rip pages out of mine.

Jon

I was brought up in a Christian household and have always had God in my life. I can’t pinpoint an exact moment in my life when I became a Christian although I do feel as if my faith has become stronger particularly over the past few years. This is due to me being much more open about my faith in school and to my friends. I feel that God has been with me through this time and has given me strength to be open to people.

I feel this way as I believe that Jesus died on the cross for us to save us from our sins

and through asking for forgiveness from them we can be saved through Jesus.

This verse helps me sum up being more open to my friends:

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil.

Want to find out more about

Christianity?

If you would like to find out more why not join our next Alpha course?

This is an opportunity for anyone to explore the Christian faith. It’s relaxed, low-key, friendly and fun. It’s a place where no question is too simple or too difficult.

To find out more email info@centralbaptistchelmsford.org

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H aving just celebrated our sixth Birthday, Street Pastors are now a familiar sight on the

Chelmsford nightlife scene. There are over 250 teams nationwide - set up by Ascension Trust and run by over 9000 local volunteers.

In 2010, the World Health Organization accorded Chelmsford the accolade of being the UK’s first ‘Safe Community’ and last year, coinciding with our 5th anniversary, the city received the Purple Flag Award (which is similar to the Blue Flag for beaches and Green Flag for parks). To achieve Purple Flag status, the town or city must be welcoming to everyone, offer safe ways for visitors to travel home, provide a good mix of venues and be appealing in the evenings. In receiving this award, Chelmsford City Council made special mention of Street Pastors, whom they say ‘…are doing an excellent job’.

We are also involved with the Safer Chelmsford Partnership, which is headed by the City Council in conjunction with the Police, Fire Service, NHS and Licensing Authority, together with other interested charitable and voluntary groups. Its remit is to work continually at reducing the level of crime and anti-social activity in the town.

What do Street Pastors do?

Twice a week - on Wednesday and Saturday or Friday and Saturday nights - we deploy a team of 3 or 4 men/women who help people with anything from finding a taxi to assisting those worse for wear on

drink or drugs and even occasionally helping to defuse arguments. As our teams get to know people in the community (including those who work in the night-time economy such as door staff), they find out their needs and what can be done to help. Despite the title ‘pastor’, the role is not about preaching, but one of listening, caring and helping – working in an unconditional way.

The Street Team carries equipment that includes a First Aid kit, water, tissues, anti-bacterial wipes and liquid, foil blankets, flip-flops etc. Whilst the Street Teams are patrolling they are in communication with the City's CCTV Centre via a Publink radio and in direct contact with team members who are praying throughout the night.

Does it work?

YES! – We’ve seen a reduction in anti-social behaviour in Chelmsford. Other schemes have been running for much longer and they have seen massive drops in street crime in areas where Street Pastors operate.

For more information please email info@chelmsfordstreetpastors.org

Ross Purves

connect to street pastors

CHELMSFORD STREET PASTORS

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The apostles said to the Lord, “Make our faith greater.” The Lord answered, “If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea!’ and it would obey you.” Luke 17: 5-6 GNB

Spring sunlight is the start of the wedding season, a wonderful season where people celebrate relationships under the brightest sky and with the view of the brightest relationships. Marriage can be seen as the birth of a relationship and much excitement is placed on the birth. However, it is only a seed that has been planted, and while the seed is strong the seed is created to grow. The seed’s existence is powerful, and there is much that can be achieved from a seed, but ultimately it opens a door to a developmental process. Metaphorically speaking the seed will require regular watering, feeding, and protection from the elements.

Our relationship with God starts as a minute seed as well. Some of course are fortunate to have the seed from birth, whereas others of us start our growth later on. The relationship is a life long commitment, one that many choose to mark by a baptism. Our relationships with one another develop likewise, and in the case of husband and wife, the mark of the lifelong commitment this time comes in the form of marriage.

There is a concept in our society today that people have a fantastic

relationship - then they get married. Actually, I wonder if it is in fact the other way round - God brings two people together and the first seed is planted. He plants a seed to watch it grow. In this understanding a relationship should get better with time leading it to full growth, it can’t possibly begin as fully grown. Many married couples in fact say the first few years after the famous ‘honeymoon period’ are the challenging ones, then the relationship blossoms.

Is this what we should naturally expect and indeed hope for

within our marriage, and indeed with any relationship, including the one we have with God Himself?

Our relationship with God should be carefully nurtured, and this then is surely true of our relationships with one another.

Our relationships with our husband, wife, family, and friends should likewise be nurtured, complementing our

spiritual development. God is a God of patient endurance – in the Bible the best things come to those who wait. Therefore let us hope for a future where we build and indeed create an amazing relationship with God and an amazing relationship with one another!

Praise God this summer for the seeds that He plants and praise Him for the opportunity to allow those seeds to grow.

Naomi Rowlands

connect to praise

We’d love to hear from you.

To get in touch you can email us at: info@centralbaptistchelmsford.org, call us on 01245 264163 or pop in and see us at: Central Baptist Church, Victoria Road South, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1LN

If you’d like to contribute to Connect or have any comments then you can email us at: connect@centralbaptistchelmsford.org

Key dates to put in your diary Fri 27th June Active Retireds Group - Epping and Ongar steam

experience followed by tea at Mulberry House

Sun 13th July Celebration of Children 10am (followed by

Church Picnic)

Fri 18th July Oasis café closes for summer break

Fri 25th July Active Retireds Group - Visit to The Museum of

East Anglian life at Stowmarket

Sat 26th July to Sat 12th August

Lebanon Mission Trip

Mon 28th July to Fri 1st August

‘Razzamatazz Robots’ Holiday Club

Sun 28th Sept Harvest and The Big Welcome Service

Sun 5th Oct Silver Sunday in connection with International

Day of Older Persons

Church Diary ~ Main Events connect to events