Dear Friends,
We had a good time before and during Easter as we made the most of a number of opportunities to spread the good news about Jesus.
Two and a half thousand attractive, professionally produced testimony leaflets were distributed around the neighbourhood and given to friends and contacts.
The GSUS live exhibition went into Llantarnum Comprehensive School and the Pilgrim’s Progress exhibition into both Llanyravon and Croesyceiliog Primary Schools. They were excellent presentations and exposed hundreds of children and many teachers to the Christian message.
Our Senior Citizens started us off on St David’s Day with a meal, songs and a talk about Jesus.
A crowd of men and young lads (and one young lady) gathered at the football factory to hear a clear testimony to the saving grace of God as well as play a well organised football tournament.
Boys and girls enjoyed craft, games and food as well as stories about Jesus from Barbara and her puppets.
Ladies crowded into the primary school hall to hear songs and testimonies about Jesus.
We gathered with Christians from churches up and down the valley to celebrate the Lord’s Death on Good Friday.
We filled the church hall for breakfast and a clear talk about Jesus on Easter Saturday.
On Easter Sunday we met morning and evening for special services where the Bible’s message about Jesus was clearly proclaimed.
And as I write we are looking forward to seeing our friends come with us to test their brain cells against the quiz master and once again hear the Gospel.
All in all it has been a time of hard work and opportunity.
I rejoice in the spirit of fellowship and working together in the Gospel which we have seen. I have been thrilled with the opportunities for evangelism and I am thanking God for the people who heard about Jesus. And yet I am also saddened by the apparent lack of impact we continue to have on our community. The vast majority still seem untouched and uninterested in our Jesus.
Today I read a blog which gave me some encouragement from history.
You may have heard of the glory days of the 18th century when the preaching of people like George Whitfield and Howell Harris gripped the nation and transformed communities. You may have assumed that they preached in a day when everyone went to church and it was easy to be a Christian. Not so! This is what it was like in those days:
(Quotes are from Ryle’s book, Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century Banner of Truth edition of 1978).
1. The Christian Faith was not influential
‘Christianity seemed to be dead…There was darkness in high places and darkness in low places…a gross, thick, religious and moral darkness – a darkness that might be felt.’ (p.14)
2. The Church was ineffective
Describing both the Anglican Churches and the Free Churches he writes, ‘They existed, but they could hardly be said to have lived. They did nothing; they were sound asleep.’
‘Cold morality, or barren orthodoxy, formed the staple teaching both in church and chapel. Sermons everywhere were little better than miserable moral essays, utterly devoid of anything likely to awaken, convert or save souls.’ (p.14)
3. Church Leaders were distracted
Speaking of the Anglican clergy, Ryle doesn’t hold back: ‘The vast majority of them were sunk in worldliness, and neither knew nor cared anything about their profession…They hunted, they shot, they farmed, they swore, they drank, they gambled. They seemed determined to know everything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.’
‘And when they did preach, their sermons were so unspeakable and indescribably bad, that it is comforting to reflect they were generally preached to empty benches.’ (p.17)
4. The People were sceptical of true Christian faith
‘The land was deluged with infidelity and scepticism. The prince of this world made good use of his opportunity.’ (p.15)
‘It may suffice it to say that duelling, adultery, fornication, gambling, swearing, Sabbath-breaking and drunkenness were hardly regarded as vices at all. They were the fashionable practices of people in the highest ranks of society, and no one was thought the worse of for indulging them.’ (p.18)
Against that background faithful men and women witnessed, preached and made the most of every opportunity and as they did so God stepped in. We remember the glory days and forget the darkness. Things were worse then than they are today. So we should take heart and press on.
God hasn’t changed. The Gospel has the same power. Jesus is unchangeably the same.
So don’t be discouraged and don’t give up.
Give yourself afresh to loving, serving, and witnessing for Jesus. Who knows what God might be pleased to do in our lifetime.
In Christ Jesus,
John Edmonds
