Tuesday 12 January 2010

Biblefresh and Unity

I've copied the following from an email I received from Steve Clifford, the General Director of the EA UK. Alexandra is one of the great team at EAUK helping to coordinate the biblefresh initiative for 2011. As you read this, remember to come along to the biblefresh Scotland consultation on 25th Jan, 2 pm at the ICC in Glasgow.

The Bible: tedious, taboo and toxic... or transforming, treasured and true?

‘I met Msizi in the rural outskirts of Mpophomeni - a township near Durban, South Africa. I was there on my sabbatical last year as part of a team. Msizi did something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. As we handed her a food parcel she took it, put it aside, held out her Bible and said: ‘This is my daily bread’.

Msizi lives in the most basic of homes. Having lost her partner to HIV/Aids two weeks before I met her, she is left to raise four children on her own, whilst battling the disease herself. Yet this woman knows where her true source of nourishment comes from.

Today, the team of nine Brits on that Soul Action project run by Tearfund and Soul Survivor, all at various stages in life, all passionate about providing physical, spiritual and emotional care to the people of Mpophomeni, go on having learnt something from Msizi. To Msizi, the words of the Bible give life.’

This is one of Alexandra Lilley's reflections on her trip to South Africa. Alexandra is our Churches in Missions Project Coordinator and is another member of the Evangelical Alliance who, like you, is passionate about the Bible.

To pursue that common passion, the Alliance is bringing together over 50 different agencies, colleges, denominations and festivals, who work with the Bible but have never partnered all together before. Biblefresh is an initiative to help Christians renew their love for the Scriptures during 2011, the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Through Biblefresh, we aim to maximise and pool the resources God has provided, to build the Kingdom rather than individual empires.

As Alexandra coordinates stories from across the UK for the Biblefresh book being published in May 2010, her experience validates this truth: ‘We simply cannot experience the fullness of Christ without one another.’

I agree! Without unity, we have a hollow, incomplete experience of faith. It is, after all, Jesus’ heart for us, his people:
‘May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.’ John 17:3

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