Tikhtak

Big Intent, CMS and Salsa at Greenbelt

It is that time of year again to put on my yellow t shirt and turn out for another Greenbelt festival with Big Intent theatre. This year we are looking at the trafficking of women from Bangladesh to India for the sex trade which is part of CMS' setting the captives free campaign. We will be using the Indian story of Rama and Seeta to parallel the deceit and trickery involved in this evil trade, which culminates in the celebration of Divali, the festival of lights. That's where Jesus comes in as The light of the world. In addition to this I am also looking forward to helping my colleague Chuli with her Salsa classes and hope to be an up to scratch partner. I learnt my salsa in the cuban bars of Prague during the 90's as a missionary - who said Christians can't dance?

e short uploaded

I have just uploaded the latest e short to the youth e short blog on the trafficking trade from India to Bangladesh

Musalaha in London

Salim Munajar, the director of Musalaha, was in town. I hadn't seen him since I had the privilege of trekking for 5 days in the mountains of Sinai with Musalaha back in 2003 (See the photo gallery in the side bar for proof.) Salim led a feedback session to CMS staff and spoke with personal insight about the Israel/Palestine conflict and some of the challenges both sides face. Musalaha is made up of both Israeli and Palestinian Christian's, who aim to break down the barriers that exist on both sides through the gospel by first experiencing one anothers humanity through encounter trips in to the desert and on social action projects. Salim said: "The starting point is not to win the argument, but to win a persons heart."  Earlier I had asked Salim about how Musalaha could relate to us in the UK. Salim saw the importance of bringing together Christians and Muslims in this way, but rather than using the desert as a place to escape, why not the sea?... I like it, Instead of a fleet of CMS cars we could have CMS Yachts.

The Rising

Last night we went to see the Rising- The Ballad of Mangal Pandey. It is a film about a mutiny among the sepoy of a bristish batallion in India that led to the downfall of the East India company who basically ran India. We had an extra special reason to watch as Quin Arbeitman, a friend of mine, had an appearance in the film restling with Mangal Pandey (Amir Khan) anfter refusing to blow the bugle as the mutiny took place. I studied Mime with Quin a few years ago and he came out to our wedding in Pakistan. He then went onto Bombay to seek his dream of acting in a bollywood film and it came true, a small but significant part.

Soul Survivor 2

  We have had a great week at Soul Survivor with some £270 collected and over 150 young people signed up to receive further up dates and e shorts for the CMS set the captives free campaign. I was surprised by how many teenagers I met who have already had some kind of cross cultural mission experience, including some who have even made contacts with churches or projects individually and gone out to visit them. This is definitely a challenge for us at CMS to provide this kind of experience. Cat Morgan came through to collect the cage and other equipment on Sunday and managed to join Chuli and my elite club of crashing the car into the back of someone. Thankfully Cat was unhurt and was able to drive the car back after we had finished. Thanks to all the team who worked very hard and connected really well with the young people. We had a good laugh and a good time together .

Soul Survivor 1

  This week I am at the Bath and West show grounds for Soul Survivor A. We arrived yesterday and set to work putting the stand together, which has a cage like broth el for the centrepiece. We are trying to encourage young people to pray and raise awareness for two projects we are supporting relating to trafficking of women from Bangladesh to India. So far the young people have been really engaged and keen to give money to wearing a bracelet and sign up for more info. It has to be said we are one of the busiest stands. Our team is made of Meg Woolcock from CMS and Ruth, Emma and Becky all of whom have been on CMS encounter trips and worked at previous festivals for CMS, so we make up a good team. Life has also been made easier having a caravan to cook in and relax when it gets dark. I have also had a few surprise meetings. Dione, who I went on an encounter trip to India with, my neighbour Suzie from Clapham and Phil Pugh from 24/7. I have met Phil every year working on the stand but this year he wasn’t there. He has come as a punter and explained that he is getting married to a young lady that he met from SPEAK doing these type of festivals. They will be getting married in September and living round the corner from us in Peckham. Here is a picture of some of the action around our "setting captives free" stand with me looking on (above).

Mission in India

I have just been reading Kathy Pinsents latest blog, where she is teaching in Ooty south India as a CMS mission partner. Her first impressions remind me of how our encounter India team had a similar reaction to what we encountered. Kathy on visiting St Stephen's church in Ooty says: "The service would have felt familiar to anyone living in Britain a hundred years ago." For a response to this it is interesting to read an email from Sunil (an Indian Christian) to Jonny Baker regarding his blogings on the question: is Christianity a foreign religion?   He says: "My family have been Anglican for over a 150 years. All my friends, whether Christian, or non-Christian speak English, listen to rock. What is indigenous? "

Sunny Scotland

We are back from a very sunny and warm Scotland. We started our holiday in Glasgow and didn't waste any time going straight up to Loch Lomond for a BBQ with Ann, Keith, Jo, all friends of Andrew Bonner. On the way we stopped off at Morrisons for some supplies and bumped in to an old Friend from IFES, Gwen Henderson who worked in Hungary, when I was in Prague. Small world... After a couple more days in Glasgow we caught a coach up to Oban, the gateway to the western islands and visited the isles of Mull, Staffa and Iona. Laying aside all the historical significance of Columba of Iona and the impressive pillars of Staffa , perhaps the biggest thrill was our boat trip to Staffa as we were buffeted by waves both to and from the island. I had visited all three islands before but not in this sunshine and it was like heaven on earth. The white sands of Iona and bluey, turquoise sea. We returned to Glasgow in the evening and before returning to England couldn't resist another picnic by Loch Lomond. Thank you Mr Bonner for a great week in God's country.