Heart June July 2020

August / September 2020 ADVERTS DEADLINE: 9 July 2020 adverts@heartpublications.co.uk HEART Christian newspaper June / July 2020 15
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TAKING THE LIVING WORD
TO A DYING WORLD
African pastors desperately need Bibles and will travel miles for
training, says Rev Mark Weeden, founder of Living Word Ministries
Over 90 per cent of all pastors worldwide
do not have formal theological
training, according to the World
Evangelical Alliance.
Two pastors cycled 45 km
to attend a conference
Working to fill this void, Living
Word Ministries (LWM) ministers in
Africa and India, running pastors’
conferences and giving out literature
and Bibles. Especially in the rural areas,
many are hungry for the Word
of God; two pastors cycled 45 km to
attend a conference.
LWM takes seriously the Great
Commission which Jesus Christ gave
to the Church: “Make disciples of all
the nations… teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded
you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Where
there is no electricity, we often show
the ‘Jesus’ film using solar powered
equipment.
Many Western Christians question
the reality of Africans’ response to the
Gospel, but they live in a completely
different environment to us. They see
their need of God, often daily, without
all the supports and securities we
have in a developed economy.
The day after one outreach, four
older teenage boys left school to
come to the conference venue to
thank me for sharing the good news
of Christ, to which they had responded.
We’ve donated soap and
toilet rolls to prisoners
In one African country, LWM has
access to several prisons; we’ve been
able to donate soap, sanitary items
and toilet rolls and have seen some
prisoners come to faith.
Children at the Living Word
orphanage in Seme, Kenya
God also cares for the vulnerable;
our Living Word orphanage at Seme,
in western Kenya, is home to 35 orphans
officially, but about 50 are now
cared for at a practical level. Many
of them lost their parents to the violence
that erupted after Kenya’s 2007
elections. However, equipment at the
orphanage remains basic; medical
items are in short supply and a few
years ago one girl died after contracting
malaria.
At the beginning of 2020, we were
invited to oversee and teach a Bible
school in Kenya, which has been able
to function throughout the lockdown.
If you would like to hear about the
work of LWM at your church, home
group or men’s or ladies’ breakfast,
please contact us on 07956 789 112 or
email livingwordmlw@gmail.com
Our website shows lots
more of the work:
www.livingword
ministries.co.uk
Delegates of a pastors’ conference
with their certificates (Zambia)
Christ Apostolic Pastors’
Conference, Malawi
Distributing literature in Zambia
As well as running Living Word
Ministries, Rev Mark Weeden leads
King’s Church in Arundel, West
Sussex – details on the back page
How to dress properly!
Pastor Mark Weeden (left) and
interpreter Zondo in Malawi
MEDICAL MATTERS
This is a Wilberforce
moment
Social care and
Covid-19: crisis
or opportunity?
WHEN WILLIAM WILBER-
FORCE campaigned against
the slave trade in the early 19th
century, he understood the need
for political, social and spiritual
activism.
As he lobbied Parliament on
the many social issues of his day,
he influenced governments, political
parties and cross-party
movements.
Wilberforce realised the
Gospel changed society
But he also worked on creating
societies and associations that
would help transform ‘public
manners’; these societies built
up families, translated and distributed
Bibles and proclaimed
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For Wilberforce realised that
the Gospel changed society
through individuals transformed
by God’s saving grace. This social
movement changed the nation,
paving the way for the Victorian
social reformers, who in turn influenced
the creation of the NHS
and the welfare state.
Cornerstone collapsing
However, over the last few
weeks, we have seen one oft-ignored
cornerstone of the welfare
state close to collapse. Care
homes, supposedly shielded
from the coronavirus epidemic,
have instead turned out to be one
of its focal points.
Behind each statistic is a
family devastated
In the last week of April alone,
2,423 confirmed Covid-19 deaths
occurred in care homes, almost
as many as in acute hospitals.
Care home deaths from all causes
are nearly 60 per cent higher
than expected, and behind each
statistic is a family devastated.
The care sector has been
poorly served by successive
governments
William Wilberforce combined
political reform with spiritual
activism
Anton Hickel / Public domain
Lack of protective gear for
staff, inadequate facilities for social
isolation and the discharge of
still sick Covid-19 patients back
to care homes have all contributed.
The care sector has been
underfunded and poorly served
by successive governments. Coronavirus
has merely revealed how
bad this neglect has been.
When Theresa May sought to
deliver a modest funding solution
for care in the 2017 general
election, it became an albatross
that arguably cost her parliamentary
majority. The way we
voted suggested a reluctance to
pay the cost of a properly funded
social care system. Is it because
we want to put out of mind the
reality of ageing and frailty? Do
we see funding for health and
education for the young and fit
as more important than the care
of the elderly and disabled?
A Wilberforce moment
Actually, I think most of us are
not that callous or self-absorbed.
The ironic twist of the pandemic
is that it is making us re-evaluate
what really matters. That we
should be caring for our weakest
members. That people matter
more than political or economic
ideology.
Now is a Wilberforce moment
to reform society’s priorities.
How we care for our elderly, disabled
and vulnerable citizens
should be top of that list. But
first, we need an inner transformation
of individuals and communities
that only Christ can
bring.
Since the start of lockdown,
one in four of the population
have accessed online services
or prayer meetings – more than
ever previously darkened the
doors of our churches. We have
a message of salvation, hope and
healing to proclaim to a broken
world – let’s not squander the opportunity.
Steve Fouch is head of communications
at
Christian Medical
Fellowship.
He has worked
in community
nursing, HIV
and AIDS and
palliative care.