Encounter with God: January–March 2024

Contents

Editorial: A Year for Wisdom

The Writers

SU Article: Changed by Faith

Using this Guide

Proverbs 1–9; Psalm 120 Robert Parkinson

Acts 12–16; Psalms 121, 122, 123 Daniel McGinnis

2 Kings 9–25; Psalms 124, 125, 126 Alison Lo

Bible Unpacked: Apocalypse Then and Now David Smith

Ephesians; Psalms 127, 128 David Horsfall

Mark 11–16; Psalms 129, 130, 2 Brian Radcliffe

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Editorial

A Year for Wisdom

For a new year full of challenges we cannot yet see, let us ask God for the gift of wise and discerning hearts, so that we can live well and discern between right and wrong.

We begin the year with readings in Proverbs, a book of wisdom. Solomon, as a new king, begged the Lord for wisdom over and above any gift of wealth or power (1 Kings 3). Living in 2024, we can do no better than follow his example in asking for God’s help to discern our times and seeking that same divine spiritual gift. To have wisdom is to have the mind of Christ as we make choices; and to see with his eyes and hear with his ears as we encounter others.

I am so grateful each quarter to our writers, who pray, study and prepare our notes with such diligence and faith. Each brings his or her wisdom and experience to the reading of the Word of God. In this quarter, I am reminded that it is easy to substitute other, easier, things for the ‘one thing necessary’ – the pursuit of God. Whether we explore the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah, the mission of the church in Acts, the way of faithfulness described in Ephesians or the challenges facing the disciples in the final days of Jesus’ earthly life, we are faced with the same choice. Will I, today, be wise with my time, my devotion and my life? Lord, give me wisdom to serve and follow you.

We also come to the end of our Bible Unpacked series with David Smith’s overview of apocalyptic writing. This series was intended to help us to see the different kinds of literature that make up our Bible. Our contributors, drawn from different specialisations, have given us a feast for which we are grateful. In the next issue we will begin a new series – watch this space!

Every blessing as you embark on the adventure of 2024. May the reading of God’s Word be your wisdom and strength.

Sally Nelson

Editor

Angela Grigson

Senior Content Manager

ON THE COVER: ‘… hope is renewed that the ultimate triumph belongs to Israel’s God and his Messiah’ (pages 66 to 69)

Image credit: iStock / borchee

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The Writers

ROBERT PARKINSON is minister of Didsbury Baptist Church, Manchester and an associate tutor for Northern Baptist College. He is a keen student of the Bible with special interest in the Old Testament.

DANIEL MCGINNIS is the Principal of St Hild College and leads the Sheffield Centre. He is also the Founder of the Leeds School of Theology. He loves the book of Acts, and has a passion for seeing today’s church inspired by the earliest church. He also enjoys teaching theology, particularly New Testament studies and hermeneutics.

ALISON LO is retiring in her home city, Hong Kong after being abroad for more than two decades. She has been an Old Testament faculty lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, London School of Theology, Singapore Baptist Theological Seminary and Bethel Seminary (MN).

DAVID HORSFALL is the Director of Leeds School of Theology. He is also an associate lecturer at St Hild College and CYM. He is currently studying for a PhD in theology at Durham University with a focus on New Testament studies.

BRIAN RADCLIFFE is a retired English and Drama teacher, formerly minister of a Baptist church in the north of England. Also enjoys a parallel career as freelance writer (secondary assembly scripts/drama skills as cross-curricula teaching tools).

DAVID SMITH is an honorary lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, and is active in teaching and writing. He is currently researching a book entitled God or Mammon: Choice of the Century.

SALLY NELSON is the Dean of Baptist Formation at St Hild College, Yorkshire, UK, where she also teaches Christian doctrine and pastoral care. She is a Baptist minister and has been the commissioning editor for Encounter with God since 2015.

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SU ARTICLE

CHANGED BY FAITH

Through your support, SU trained church pastors Lox and Ruth Busisa as Faith Guides so they could support young people without church backgrounds to explore the Bible and encounter and respond to Jesus. Being part of their group changed the life of teenager Ali in ways she never would have dreamed.

Lox and Ruth lead LifePoint Church Pembrokeshire, located on a deprived estate in Haverfordwest. During the pandemic, SU helped them to connect with young people in the community through setting up regular sports ministry in the local park. On Sundays, they would have a short vibrant service, Church in the Park, open to all. ‘That’s when we first met Sammi and two of her children, Ali and Ethan,’ says Lox. ‘We got to know them and that autumn when we started a Friday group to connect with local teenagers Ali was among the ten young people who joined.’

A life-changing adventure in Kenya

Ali, then a shy girl in her early teens, had been going to a church youth group previously, but it had disbanded. At Church in the Park, she heard how Lox and Ruth had founded their own charity in Kenya where Lox was from, and how they planned to take a group of teens from Haverfordwest to help work on projects there. ‘Someone said that I should come too,’ recalls Ali. ‘But I’d never even left Pembrokeshire, I was terrified of flying and I had no idea how I would raise the £1,500 needed!’

Raising funds at a time when COVID restrictions really limited opportunities was indeed a challenge, but Ali rose to the occasion. ‘I managed to get to £1,000,’ she says, ‘but two weeks before the deadline, I was still £500 short of my target. I prayed and the whole church prayed with and for me. 5

‘A few days later someone made an anonymous donation to my bank of £500. I could go to Kenya and I was just so excited!

‘Out in Kenya, our team helped build part of a disabled toilet and put filters into a water tank to give the village clean water. We distributed sports equipment to local people, and just helped out in the community however we could. It was amazing to see what Ruth and Lox do there, and to see God’s help in that. And the worship at the churches was amazing!

‘I knew about Christianity before, but it was only after going to Kenya and seeing and experiencing faith in action that I wanted to make a commitment and be baptised.’

Many more prayers answered!

Ali continued to experience God’s presence on her return as she sat school exams. ‘I get really stressed in exams but the church said they’d pray for me. In the exams I would pray for God’s help, and the answers would just come to me. I passed all my exams, which I really didn’t expect!’

Ali also used to get bullied at school, which had robbed her of her self-confidence. Ali, together with Lox, Ruth and the rest of the church, prayed that she would get a Christian friend. ‘Soon after,’ says Ali, ‘a girl called Tanatswa joined our year group in school. She was from Zimbabwe, and our teacher asked me to introduce her to other people and look after her. The first thing Tanatswa asked me was, Are there any churches in Haverfordwest? She was a Christian! So I brought her along to church, and she’s been a really good friend to me.’

Tanatswa’s welcome friendship was one of the many answers to prayer that God has given Ali.

Fearfully and wonderfully made

Tanatswa and Ali both go to Lox and Ruth’s Rooted youth group on a Wednesday evening. SU would term it as a Grow Community, meaning that most of the young people believe in Jesus but don’t come from a church background as such. Ruth leads the group and says, ‘The group are really open to exploring faith and ask lots of great questions. We have worship, Bible study and prayer, which our young people love – they are amazed they can speak to God and he hears! We use