from OCT2 W73

Meeting the Challenge of a post-Christian nation.

American Correspondent:Mrs. C. L. Davis1010 N. MonroeLincoln, lil. 62656

VOL. I No. 1

T

Epistle from England is intended as a bridgeof communication between a team ministry witha mission to an industrial culture in themidlands of England and the supporters andfriends of this ministry in other parts of theworld, especially the United States of America.

EAST TO ENGLAND? WHY?This question has been posed in a variety of

forms from people on both sides of the Atlantic - some curiously, and some with more dubious motives.

Every person who has committed his life to ,Christ must must give justification of hislocation and his ministry. Perhaps the mostgeneral answer that must always be given inintegrity is: because God has led us here; wehave followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

God has revealed this in a variety of ways.The need has been seen vividly over the past4 summers of student visitation groups.Mos^_

.. of the 90 Churches of Christ over the nation

i-r,are struggling for their very right to live.Most have less than 20 members; only 7 churches

( have more than 50 at an average worship service.Members are generally aged 50+.

There were just over 40 baptisms in the entire country by Churches of Christ in 72-73.The Church we work with in Coventry averaged6 at the Lord's table this year. Five AmericanChristians joining with them should not be totalled 83^% Kingdom growth.

Although only 2-3% attend worship services ina given week, it is not that there are noChristians of any type in England. One of ourfirst activities in England this year was beinginvolved in Spiritual Re-emphasis Week (Spre-2-'73) in London. Over 20,000 Christians of alldenominations meeting for a week might havemade us question our places of service. How-

h ever, upon arrival in our new home, we were(( again challenged with the vast need of Christian^^^)rkers.

/y^There may always be a tension as to where the/ ^greatest need is. It-appears-that now, however,^ the work-load must be shared with the British

Christians. Many are tired and need encouragement. Many have contented themselves with thedeath of the Church. On the other hand, thesecretary of the Coventry Church wrote beforeour arrival, "as things are now, you may evensave a church!"

Roger Edrington, Bev Muiltns,Steve Tate, Jan Kiilebrew &Tom Jensen. Janet Baines,Jan Vollstedt (Jensen) &Debbie Davis

September 1973

Even in its present state, no American shouldfail to appreciate what this tiny group ofIslands 500 Miles long ISO miles wide has ^given to the history of Christianity. Certainly a remarkable contribution for its timewas the King James Bible. But there aremany other gifts, Xh.e,Eefj?XQiation began inBritaii}.. yrs. before Martin Luther withthe teaching of .John Wxcliffe." The modern ' 'missionary movement began with a British cobbler, William Carey. And who could speak ofHugh Latimer, John Wesley, William Tyndale, '/and the thundering Scot, John Knox Thomas Alexander Campbell, two of the prime leadersof the Restoration Movement in the UnitedStates, had their homeland in Scotland.

Today^ there are few who boldly proclaimJesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.Few even assent to this fact. Rather, ifJesus is your thing, OK. They are saying thatthey have come of age. They have come of age!They have gone right past their need forChrist, they claim. Perhaps England onceaccepted Christ - I don't know - but not now.Hence, the post-Christian chaj,lenge. In someways, it would have been easier if^they hadnever learned of Christ, To speak and liveChrist in this situation is the task that Godhas given us. We are thankful that He has notprovided the challenge alone, but constantlyprovides the means of accomplishment in theHoly Spirit. Roger

Thanksgiving in SeptemberIn the fall of the year, when harvest has be

gun, the people in England celebrate HarvestThanksgiving. Each church sets up its ownpersonal celebration. In general, they bringgifts of vegetables, fruit, and flowers. TheHillfields church celebrated its HarvestThanksgiving Se^t. 9 S 10. The people allbrought their'gil^s^ "a large display wasarranged in the front of the church. Bothservices were centered on God's goodness wemade it a point to thank Him for all the thingshe has done for us. The next evening, a fellowship supper was prepared from the gifts.

Harvest Thanksgiving is similar in some waysto our own Thanksgiving, and I suppose it is"natural" for men, after a harvest, to givethanks to the Creator of all things.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours andhe prayed earnestly that it might not rain; andit did not rain on the earth for 2 years and 6months. And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. " . ; x

James 5:17, 18Elijah asked for specific things in his prayers

and he received specific answers. A majorpart of our ministry is prayer, and we ask youto join us in praying for the following:-lanthe Payne. She has an interest in God, butat the moment is confused as to where she stands.Please pray that through a Bible study, she willcome to know Jesus deeper and fuller.-Bill Johnson. Bill knows that being a Christianis the right way of life, but doesn't want tochange yet. Please pray that he will have thedesire to accept the new way of life. Ro^ris currently staying with him.-Mr. & Mrs. Jim Clauge. Jan K. G Bev stayed

They have no specificTheyPray

with them for 2 weeks.

committment and rarely attend church,are interested in the Hillfields Church,this small spark of interest will grow.-Gissell G Allison. Two young teenagers whoseem to have more than a passing interest inGod. Please pray that they might decide toaccept Jesus as their Savionir.- We also ask you to pray that Roger will soonfind an apartment of his own near the Hillfieldsarea.

-God Answers. God has blessed us with a house.

We dedicate our home to Him and His Service.

Bev

Who Is My Neighbor?A routine 15 min. walk to the church building

-w-as- interupted, Xa-n cecondc f romt-heVni4d-in-g-rang shouts of anger. As we approached at aq.'uicker pace, I could see that the shouts camefrom a middle age man and were aimed at amiddle aged woman. She was half undressed,dirty, and crying. He was shouting the mostprofane of words at iier and threatened over andover to kill her if he saw her again that evening.I was told he had previously been kicking andbeating her when he was bodily forced away byanother young fellow.

Plenty of people were around to help break upthe fight, but there seemed to be no one staying to minister. The woman, drunk, or verynearly so, was helped by Jan K. and J.B. toclean up. They offered to wilk her home, butshe was not quite ready for home yet. Shewanted to attend our evening service and did.She was really quite a help with the singing andto everyone's surprise, even quoted the Twenty-Third Psalm spontaneously after prayer. Afterthe" service_s-hfi-was walked to-th-e pla_cew-

Personalia* Wg'liope that through our newsletter you willcome to know each one of us better. I'd liketo introduce each member of our team and giveyou some background information, as well as toinform vou of specific areas of each individual'sm inistry ,/lanet Baines comes from Michigan City, Ind.She is a 1973 Christian Education gradLtuUe ofLincoln Christian College. J. B. (as we allknow her) is in charge of our calling programas well as the Bible School registrar, J.B. isdoing research on various youth activities in

'--i^-the Coventry area.Beverlv Mullins is from Ingraham, a town in

Southern Illinois. She attended Johnson BibleCollege for two years. Bev then transferredto Lincoln where she majored in Christian Education and graduated in 1972. Bev is re-

^-''^arching the different outreach efforts ofchurches in Coventry. She is working with theadults of this area.

Tan Killebrew is our "Okie" from Oklahoma.A Christian Education major, Jan graduated in ,1971. Jan is working with Bev in ministering

/^to special needs of adults. They are concen-f': trating on organizing ladies' Bible study\ groups. Jan is studying church growth in this

area. She is learning what denominations aregrowing and why, as well as seeking reasons for ^the decline and death of so many of Britain'schurches.

Debbie Davis, a LincolnChristian College is from Lincoln, 111. Debbieis doing a comprehensive study of Coventry'sfacilities or agencies for Children. Her

llspecific ministry is to the youth of the church.which includes planning and organizing youth\groups and Bible School classes. (Deb's "Mum'^is our American Correspondent) ,

Our group leader, Roger Edrington. is fromClarence. Mo In 1973 Roger obtained a Masterof. Divinity degree from Lincoln Christian Seminary wi'ere he majored in Christian Philosophyand CfoctVine. Roger shares the preaching responsibility w i 1 our ciiurci; s':cre ^iry, Mr,

.H. D, Wjiiinali. lie also is ministering spec-'iifically to teenagers and is doing extensive/research on Religious Instruction in public

schools in Coventry. Ro_ger carries a heavy\Ioad of responsibility in tHat he is our leader

and presently is the only male member of ourteam in Britain. ^Teedless to say, he is alsothetarg^et of much ^easing. .. from both theBritish and'we girls!

By February 1974, we expect the rest of ourteifm cp" join, us,

Jan Vollstedt and Tom Jensen are State-sidej^vheire Tom is working and Jan is attending LCC

this fall semester. They are busy planningtheir December 22 wedding as well as theirtrip to England,

1 And finally, Steve Tate. . a. '72 graduate ofyLCC who has been working in New York's inner

city (Shiloh) will be joining us.We are anxious to have the whole team to

gether and ask you to remember Steve, Tomand Jan as they are making their preparations.If you should wish to communicate with themabout our efforts, Jan can be contacted atLincoln Christian College, Box 178, Lincoln,ill. 62656. . . -

Debbie

OCT 21973

A Matter of Difference

This column is to share with you the difference we face in a culture often thought to belike our own.

#We find in talking to most anyone from Britain that their accent can be difficult to und-erstand.,.we also find the British to be themaster of the_ rhetorical questionyou justnever know if they expect you to answer!#When crossing the road, we have to rememberto look left first and then right. . . I might addthat one must be careful of standing too nearthe corner as the roads are narrow which

causes buses to sometimes overpower the curbsirregardless of who is standing there!#Speaking of buses, we found that in readingthe bus schedule, you may find it leaves atsomething like 18:15 - which would be 6;15pm.. . . you find that you don't line up to waitfor a bus, you "queue here" (pronounced ' q' ).

#I still find myself saying one dollar insteadof one pound.#Th temperature the other day was listed as19. ..that is not cold, that is ce n tigra de.!#You find quite rapidly that this countrythrives not only on hot t_e_a and fish 'n cMps,but also on -peas^. .^q.d-ji.e.vy..^p.ta toss. We arelearning to eat continental style which involves holding the fork in the-..Icft hand andthe knife in the right. You then push thefood with'the knife onto the back of the fork.We ate doing OK, however, we just can't ^seem to get used to squishing the peas on theback of the f ork !

#F or tuna te ly, we find most of the houses andapa-rtments for rent in Britain aie furnishedright down to items such as dishes, cutlery,and bed lines. Cheers! J.BT*^

"GUS" Gestet.ner Has A New Home

We lave just purchased a Gestetner 410,duplicating machinefrom a firm in Coventry. We were fortunate to get a repossessed machine with a full guarantee for a Si'.vtngs of $88.The duplicator cost about $425. including the new 10% ValueAdded Tax, which we had not anticipated. We are con-vinced tlat tliis will be a great help in our .service of Jesus.The money was from a fundfor expenses of our ministry madepossible by tlie youth of the Bluff Creek CiiristuiVi Church,Greenwood, Ind.

Later Thoughts. . . .As I read the content of'the articles of this

newsletter, there is actually little directinformation about our ministry, \y_lien this .is mailed, we have really been in Coventtynot quite t-wo weeks as a group. We have hadto spend some time getting settled (some havelived in six different places already), househunting, and getting enculturated again.Therefore, "We've only just be gun. "

Our ministry has taken shape in getting \more quality meetings at the church building/-^We have preached, toughl, and led singing. jWe are beginning grQuidwork for Home Bible /Studies. We have specific people we have ^witnessed to and continue witnessing to. And 'yet, we are only be grinning our research ofvarious areas, asking the Holy Spirit to guideus to ministry, We have been frustrated atwhat must be done next. We have t^en Encouraged by the possibilities and the progress.There are myriads of areas yet to be uncovered. Roger

Name and address of hometown newspaper. Lincoln Courier

Lincoln. 111. 62656

Name and address of other papers which mi^t carry stories of your work:

Street.

City_ Zone. State,

Place of TtTRTTT St. John*s Hospital ^

Day of HlrfVi A Mr>nfh June ViaflT 1951

Where HapHgiaH? Lincoln Christian Church

r.iiy Lincoln

Street.

City_ Zone. State,

Springfield 111.

"natia, March 51 1965

State

On an extra page please describe any details regarding conversion which you might care tomention.

MARITAL STATUS:Mflrriftd- Ringip X Divorced__^ Widowed___

Date of marriage. Where married?

Who solemnized your wedding?

List children by full name giving place, day, month, and year of birth:(If your children have been adopted, please indicate.)

Name Place of their birth day, month, and year

Please list places of previous Christian service and what service you did. Give approximate dates:

Place Service Dates

Lincoln Christian Church Missionary Speaker June 1973

Atlanta Christian Church(2 weeks for 500 children)

Missionary Sneaker June 1973(1 week for appox 100 Children)

SCHOOLING (high school and later):

Name of school Location Number of years Degrees and date granted

Lincoln Conan. H.S. Lincoln 4

Lincoln Christian College Lincoln 4 B.A. Christian Education

What things influenced you to become a missionary? What is yoCir purpose? What do you hopeto accomplish on the mission field? Your own story in some detail might be influential in leadingothers into fulltime service (Use an extra sheet if you need more space):First influences were being reared in a Christian home and always attending churchservices and Sunday School. Receiving my college education at Lincoln ChristianCollege and majoring in Christian Education gave me the necessary background forteaching and planning teaching programs.My purpose: To spread the Good News wherever I am.In the mission field at Coventry, England, I hope to encourage the 7 elderly members ofthe Hillfields Church, but in addition my goal is to reach youth and children andestablish programs in the church for them. This is a dying church, and I and thegroup of LCC students I am working with hope to revive enthusiasm in serving the Lordand promote enough growth to keep this church alive. We, as a group, will minister toall ages, but my particular duty is with youth and children.

Describe briefly in outline form the nature of your daily duties on the field:

Make contacts through house calls, schools, etc. with youth and children.Plan an attractive and informative Sunday School program.Plan attractive and informative Youth Group Meetings and activities.Minister and speak when and wherever an opportunity arises such as ladies groups, etc.Minister by being a good example and serving anyone in any way, i.e., being a special

friend to those who need a friend, company, errands, etc.

Which of the following terms most nearly describes your missionary status?

TCvangflUaf- X Bible College TeacherPublfQ^i.School Teacher.Homemaker^__. DoctorNurse^Social wofker. Music teacher,

Radio mini atrv. Radio followup_..__, Christian Service Camp Linguistics.

Maintenance of mission equipment,--....^ Benevolence. Office work. . Name other:

PARENTS:

Father*s name and home C. L. Davis Living_JL., Deeeased__.1010 N. Monroe RfrA^f Lincoln , RtAtfl 111*

His nn.r>npgtir>Ti Mailman Tg he a Christian? x Tin

What positions of leadership has he held in the local church?

Sponsor of Senior High Youth Group

What Christian service does he now do?

Mother's full maiden name: Earlene Ruth Reaiiarth Living. X .Deceased.

1010 N. Monroe mty Lincoln 7.nnp^ ill, 626S6Is she a Christian? v^g X Wn Her occupation if employed outside the Ex. Secretary

What leadership positions or Christian service has she rendered to the local church?