Unbelievable development following Felicite & Arouna's forced deportation on Thursday:

News Story click here

The Christianity Explored course has now been running for two weeks at St. Rollox. It has already proven to be a great challenge and blessing. We are not trying to be exclusive in our programmes: in other words, we don’t want to mirror the existing divisions in Sighthill between refugees and Scots in our ministry. Practically, this means that anything we do for the refugees we want to make available to the indigenous community. We decided that the Christianity Explored course should be no different. It would probably be easier if we did the course only with homogenous groups. Yet doing what is easy is not necessarily the best preparation for the long-term.

Currently, two Afghans, two Iranians, a Ghanaian believer, and two Glaswegians have attended.

As it stands, I’m not sure if Rico Tice would recognise this as the course he wrote. The structure is helpful, but we’re letting the guys’ questions give direction to the course (the course was created for man, not man for the course?). Ultimately, this stems from pastoral concern: the guys have genuine questions and hurts and it would be insensitive to ignore these issues.

I would like to hone in on two stories from recent Christianity Explored sessions:

‘N’ is an Iranian seeker with an incredibly sharp intellect. When he asked to come on the course he told me a goose-bump causing story about how he has seen Jesus in his dreams. In one particular dream, N is in the church he currently attends and singing along to the worship songs. Jesus is sitting in the back of the church and walks up to N and asks, "tell me, what are you doing here?" N says that he is still unsure, but looking for answers, to which Jesus replies "when you are ready, remember that I am waiting for you."
It is clear that N is open to the Holy Sprit to move in his dreams. He already knows a lot about Christianity, but has particular difficultly accepting the Jesus’ cry of "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" The God-forsakenness of God incarnate is a difficult concept for Christians and there is no simple, nor logical, conclusion to this mystery. I believe it will take some sort of revelation before N will take the step to believe. We know he is open to dreams, so pray that he remains open to how God might reveal himself.

‘G’ is a local who came along to St. Rollox for the first time last Thursday at the drop-in café. Life has been difficult for him. His father died and then his mother committed suicide shortly thereafter. He had an emotional breakdown and gave up on God in the wake of this tragedy. For him the question of the existence of pain and suffering is not merely an abstract question. G seems to be enjoying that the course is a safe place he can talk about his questions, as well as engage with others, as he admits that after such hurt he attempted to cut himself off from other people.

Keep these guys in your prayers, as well as James (the minister at St. Rollox) and I, as the course continues.

Felicite and Arouna are still down in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre. The deportation was halted temporarily to allow her solicitor time to compile new evidence. We have not heard much in the last couple of days except that they seem to be doing as well as can be expected. Pray on. The issue is still receiving significant press and political attention, and we will not give up.
A team of us from the St Rollox drop-in, helped by one of Felicite's closest friends, had to clear their apartment out two days ago as the Border Agency had given directions for it to be cleared. It was quite distressing to be in the apartment. The breakfast that Arouna had been unable to stomach as 7 enforcement officers and police watched his every move was still in the sink. There were opened drawers and cupboards as Felicite had hurriedly grabbed a few essentials, the Sheriff Officer's warrant papers were on the table and there were marks where they had begun to use force on the door as Felicite gave Arouna his inhaler.

The rest of the week has been busy and we're both looking forward to a long weekend. Paul and a local minister hosted the first in a series of Bible Studies for seekers / new believers yesterday and we were really encouraged by the turn out and interest. There were some very interesting comments and questions being raised. Pray for this group.

A new group of Iraqis has arrived in the city and we have made contact with a couple of them. One man has already invited us to his home, saying that his wife is feeling very shy and nervous and he would particularly like for her to meet us. We hope to find a time next week to go and visit. Paul had a very interesting first meeting with this man and we definitely feel we should follow up.

It has been a draining couple of weeks. Many of our friends seem to be particularly struggling at the moment. Pray that they will be open to the one who can carry their burdens.

- Emma

I’m sure most of our readers have received the e-mail from us about the detention of our friend Felicite and her son Arouna. We’ve been pleased that the press have picked up the story and are coming at if from a compassionate angle. There has been a huge response and people all over the city are contacting their local politicians and interceding through prayer. We're pleased some politicians have responded with concern.

Numerous Scottish papers have run the story today, and on Friday BBC Radio Scotland and Real Radio gave airtime to the story in their news slot. Tomorrow, some workers at St. Rollox and I will probably appear on a special GMTV story about Felicite and Arouna.

Below is a link to a story that appeared in today’s Sunday Herald:

Four-year-old refugee latest victim of broken vows by Westminster

This is the news report that appeared on STV which does a good job of explaining the context of Felicite’s situation (also, if you look closely, you can see me in the midst of the protesters): Anybody in the UK should be able to view the video clip, but you may not be able to get it if you’re in the States.

Campaigners protest at detention of Ivorian pair

Again, thanks for your prayer and messages of support as we try to cope with this issue.

... it’s something you might hear on a Glasgow bus. It translates as “I’ll have an all-day ticket to the town.” Clearly, the Glaswegian dialect causes problems for people not accustomed to this particular brogue (myself included).

Luckily some people are willing to help.

Click here for an amusing and encouraging article from the Scotsman.

The last month or so has thrown up a number of difficult situations for some of the refugees we know. People reaching the end of the line in terms of appeals and facing deportation, lack of progress for others, disappointing news on visas....but finally today some good news.

M is from North Africa. She came to the UK four years ago with her husband and one child. A second child was born here. Through a sad set of circumstances, they had come to a situation where M and the children had residency but her husband was undocumented. She lives at the other end of the city, but she travelled to one of the drop-ins after a recommendation from another lady from her home country. We helped her with a couple of things, particularly drafting a letter setting out her plea to the Home Office to regularise her husband's status. She has just telephoned me to tell me that her husband received residence papers this morning! Alhamdulilah! (Praise God!) Finally, this young family can live together without the fear of being separated or deported. Right now, she is so relieved that she cannot find the words. She thanked us for all the help and promised to come and see us again soon. Finally, she told me that she will always remember us and will pray for God's blessing in our lives.

We're delighted to have been able to help in a small way and for it to have been such a good outcome. But I'm also struck by how this lady came to the church for help. She was nervous to share the details with too many people, particularly others from within the Muslim and North African communities, but she recognised the church as a place where the workers could be trusted. She came on the recommendation of another lady who has found the church to be a place of friendship, love and concern. It feels like she tasted a little of the Kingdom of Heaven and hopefully she'll be hungry for more.