An Obadiah Slope column
Graham King, CMS missionary and CofE bishop’s, memoir is being serialised in the US-based Living Church magazine (And on his website) It is full of telling anecdotes, including this one:
“I founded an open youth club in the church hall on Thursday evenings for young people aged between 11 and 15. Roller skating and dancing demanded speed, precision, and daring swerves to avoid younger members. We had amazing fun with a sponge football, bar football, pool table, and table tennis. For several weeks, some brought their own sound system, set it up in the choir vestry, and had “toasting” competitions; this involved spontaneous, amplified, singing over recorded rhythmic backing music.
“The aim of the club was to help young people in our community realise that they mattered to God, because they mattered to us. Most members had no direct involvement with the church, but the fascinating network of relatives and friends meant that they often knew people in the congregation. There was no “Epilogue,” or short talk about God; emphasis was rather on building personal relationships, and gradually these led to interesting questions.
“A weekend away, subsidized by the church, was organized to allow more time for these relationships and questions. We stayed in a small Methodist church hall at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, about an hour’s drive east of London on the Thames estuary. There were three boys and three girls, plus four leaders: Will Ellis, Marion Burnell, me, and our guest Les Isaac, a young Black evangelist and great friend of mine.
“We had fun with races on the beach, eating fresh shrimps and cockles, and discussions late into the night. We listened, fascinated, to the story of Les’s life. He had been a violent youth and then had become a serious Rastafarian with long dreadlocks, spending his time smoking ganja and reasoning from the Bible.
“Les’s world was shattered in 1974 when he saw his Messiah and God, Haile Selassie, on the News at Ten, ignoring the poor in Ethiopia. Soon after that a friend, who had recently become a Christian, spoke to him in the street and one night, in his room, he knelt and decided to be a follower of Jesus, who really was good news to the poor. That night he cut his dreadlocks and hurled his valuable ganja right out of the window. Then he started going around youth clubs, in his spare time, sharing this good news, and became a pastor in the Church of God of Prophecy.
“In 2003 Les founded Street Pastors, an extraordinary movement of Christian volunteers who serve young people coming out of nightclubs. He invited me to preach at the London Graduation of Street Pastors, in Brixton, on November 19, 2016, and at a managers and coordinators meeting, in Kennington, on July 14, 2017. On February 19, 2017, he was appointed an ecumenical canon of Southwark Cathedral.
“It was Les’s address on “Serving the Common Good” at the National Prayer Breakfast in Parliament on July 5, 2022, that precipitated the downfall of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
“Sajid Javid said live on BBC TV (July 10, 2022) that it was Les’s mention of the importance of integrity in public life which strengthened his resolve to resign that evening as Secretary of State for Health. This triggered the resignations of Rishi Sunak as Chancellor of the Exchequer a few minutes later, and then of more than 50 other members of the government.”
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Meanwhile across the pond:Billy Graham’s organisation does not like this Evangelicals for harris ad that quotes the great evangelist. they’ve issued a lawyers cease and dissist letter. Obadiah wonders what readers think – Obadiah thinks it is an effective ad.
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Venn-er-able: Obadiah recently read that John Venn (1759 – 1813), a founder of the Church Missionary Society and friend of William Wilberforce, also was responsible for Kamala Harris’ favourite topic: Venn diagrams. Well, almost. It was John Venn’s grandson, a Cambridge mathematician also called John (1834 – 1923) who introduced those overlapping circles. John Venn, the younger, co-developed a bowling machine for cricket which bowled the Australian batter Victor Trumper.
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Act-ing: After half a year, St Obadiah’s is at the end of the book of Acts. Paul has made it to Rome in Chapter 28. We were rightly reminded of the great name the church planting group, Acts 29, has.
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Cranky: Stu Cameron, CEO of Sydney’s Wesley Mission, is cranky. Stu, a gambling reformer, explained why on Facebook. He had been talking with “Kate” who too often is lured into gambling on pokies.
“Kate’s sense of shame was heart-wrenching. She shared of wasting an inheritance, and too many pension payments to count, on these insidious machines. She was pleading for help, which we will do everything in our power to provide.
“After praying with Kate, I came away sad. And cranky. Really, really cranky.
“Cranky that an industry that causes so much harm (there are tens of thousands of stories like Kate’s) is so woefully regulated, and has been for so long.
“Cranky that politicians continue to drag their feet in implementing proportionate, evidence based reforms that would prevent so much harm in the first place – all while losses to pokies continue to rise much faster than inflation.
“Cranky at the sheer inequity and injustice of such an abhorrent transfer of wealth from the pockets of those who need it the most to those who need it the least.
“Yes, I’m cranky. And determined.”