Scarecut

The ultimate test of faith in one's marriage is to allow your spouse to cut your hair. As there will be few hairdressers trained in cutting 'wazungu' hair in Tanzania we are having a couple of practical lessons. This week it fell to me to give Katy's barnet a trim. After a brief demonstration from an experienced hairdresser, I was let us loose with the clippers.

While other couples around us got on with combing and cutting in quiet harmony, Katy was less assured of my capabilities as a coiffure. An hour of intense concentration followed, and not a small amount of front-seat driving, but I think you'll agree the style I have named the 'asymmetric bob' quite suits Katy.

Next week Katy gets her own back...

October Prayer Update

Dear All,

Please would you remember us in your prayers for the following:

All Nations CC, Easneye

• Praise God for All Nations Christian College.  We have really appreciated the committed staff members, all the other students and the 'En Route' course we are studying on in this first term. Please pray for extra strength for all of the mission partners in training here as they make such big transitions in their lives. 

• Thank God for the hard work and vision of Susie Hart - the founder of Neema Crafts. Susie recently won a 'Women of the Year' award (see http://mission.typepad.com/) . Please do pray too that this can raise lots of awareness for the project in the future.

• Pray we can raise enough support to go.  We are now at just about 2/3rds of our target figure, but without evidence of support we won't be going. So pray that more individuals can start to get a vision for being involved with what we are doing. See Links, 'Partner with us'

• Pray for courage, boldness and faith as we look to the future of Neema. In my old home church in Blackheath, someone reminded me recently of Joshua 1:9: "Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." A command given to Joshua, but an encouragement to us as we look to trust God more. 

• Pray that God can provide us with the right team of support in Tanzania and the UK. In September a new Bishop of Ruaha - Joseph Mgomi was instated. Please pray that he has a vision for the future of Neema as his predecessor did; his support will be vital. We are also putting together a panel of advisors from the UK, who may later make up part of the Neema Crafts UK trusteeship. Please pray for discernment in asking the right people for this and that those who take it up can have the time to commit to the project. 

• Pray that we can use our time at All Nations as fully as possible. As you may have guessed, Katy and I are really enjoying our time here at All Nations. Someone compared the En Route course we are doing to the 110m hurdles, because there is so much to cover in a short space of time. Please pray that we can read the most useful books and give time to reflect on things that will be most appropriate to our time in Tanzania, as well as have the energy to keep going!  

Thank you for taking the time to read through this. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Love Ben and Katy XXX 

Neema founder wins women of the year award

Click on the following website to hear Susie Hart, winner of the this year's 'Women of the Year' award talk about the work of Neema Crafts.

http://mission.typepad.com/

What is Mission?

J John said, ‘A missionary is not someone who crosses the seas, but someone who sees the cross.’

This week En Route has got us thinking about the nature of mission and reminded us of its centrality to the Christian faith.  We have looked at the commissioning of the disciples in all four Gospels, and at Jesus’ perfect model for mission. One of the most encouraging aspects of the week were ‘The Bible’s Big Story’ in which were reminded of the big picture of the Bible and God’s overarching plan for brining hope to the world, first through Israel and ultimately through Christ.

It has been fascinating too to find out about the ‘majority church’ and to reflect on how the huge expansion of Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa and China will influence faith and mission in years to come.

A Barnabus in Homerton

St Barnabus , Homerton

This Sunday Katy and I enjoyed our first visit to St Barnabus, Homerton. We were close to not finding it on time as we’d lost all our directions and our sat nav had packed-up a week before.  After some ‘laying on of hands' prayer the sat nav was miraculously healed and another congregation was able to hear about (and smell) the wonders of ele-poo paper!

This church visit was particularly special for me as their curate, Naomi Nguruvi had been a good friend and encouragement to me during my time in Tanzania in 2004.  It was fascinating and helpful to hear about her cross-cultural journey from Tanzania to England and how she was lead into becoming ordained, something that is still impossible in her own country.