The residents of the Jungle, the makeshift camp in Calais demolished last month by French authorities, did not just conveniently disappear when their temporary shelter was flattened as this report from the Independent shows.

Click here.

I seem to use my debit card more and more these days. I rarely have much cash on me, but were I to be without cash totally, how would I cope? I could not get a bus or train. I could not use our corner shop for the carton of milk that I forgot or buy from local second hand charity shops (particularly good for books). In fact to be without any cash and any means of accessing cash would be pretty crippling.

That's the position that over 1000 asylum seekers in Glasgow (out of approximately 4000) are in. Not allowed to seek employment and given a bare minimum weekly support, not in cash, but in vouchers redeemable usually only in one supermarket. This includes families with young children, whose vouchers are redeemable only against goods in Asda. The nearest Asda is two bus rides away (remember, no cash for the bus). Walking would take around 45 minutes(for an adult) and it's not somewhere I would walk through at night.

Those affected come from countries to which return is not possible at the moment; Congo, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq...they include people with severe physical and mental health problems, families with young children and people in their 70s. They also include people who are in the process of submitting new evidence to support their need to be given sanctuary in the UK, i.e. people who will go on to be recognised as needing the protection of our country from what they have suffered in their home country. They include Iranians persecuted for their Christian faith, Congolese believers who despite what they have been through and continue to suffer still boldly proclaim their belief in God's faithfulness, Muslims who are meeting Christians for the first time...

For several months now we have been running a scheme which allows some of those affected to exchange their supermarket vouchers for some cash. We pass the vouchers onto Christian families who would spend a lot more than that each week in the supermarket, and they give the equivalent amount in cash that our refugee friends can use to catch a bus, buy food from local ethnic shops, pay for a fax to their lawyer or buy a phone card to call their anxious family in their home country. It's legal, it addresses an injustice and it's a very meaningful way that we can show that the church cares. It has made a big difference in the lives of those involved. Now that it is known that the scheme is in operation, we have more enquiries than we can handle at present.
We're not sure whether the new card which the government will shortly be issuing will be similarly exchangeable and ultimately, we believe our friends should be given access to cash. So, we are working with a network of other faith and secular organisations to try to have this type of support replaced. If you are in the UK, think about the recent expenses scandals in light of the denial of cash to some of our refugee friends here.

Please pray for us as we are involved in this campaign against cashlessness:

• Pray for those who are without cash, who are unsure of their futures and have already been through a lot.
• Pray for our relationships with those affected, with the other orgnisations involved in the campaign and with the authorities; that God might be glorified in all of these relationships.

This is a thought-provoking article for any of you willing to read through 7 pages of an evangelical missions journal.

Click here.

The... conviction was that my primary pastoral work had to do with Scripture and prayer. I was neither capable nor competent to form Christ in another person, to shape a life of discipleship in man, woman, or child. That is supernatural work, and I am not supernatural. Mine was the more modest work of Scripture and prayer—helping people listen to God speak to them from the Scriptures and then joining them in answering God as personally and honestly as we could in lives of prayer. This turned out to be slow work. From time to time, impatient with the slowness, I would try out ways of going about my work that promised quicker results. But after a while it always seemed to be more like meddling in these people’s lives than helping them attend to God.

So reflects Eugene Peterson in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (the book was originally written in 1980, but the subtitle seems even more relevant now, nearly 30 years later!). I have just finished this book and found much of it very useful in regard looking at the discipleship of new believers in our ministry.

There is wisdom in Peterson’s comment that as ‘pastors’, we cannot force somebody to become christlike. I must trust that the Holy Spirit will work. This, however, does not mean that I do not have an important role in discipleship. I am not the one who makes change, but a catalyst to that change; a subtle but important distinction.
I also appreciate that Peterson emphasises the importance of patience... a spiritual discipline I often neglect (“wait for the Lord” is a common command in the Psalms, obviously so important that it’s repeated twice in the closing verse of Psalm 27!). Our culture places I high value quantifiable results, not necessarily the journey, or the act of being with. This is not to say that courses or goals are irrelevant in discipleship; they can be very useful. But if I only focus on results, I think that something of great value is lost. Being with people on the journey of discipleship is immensely important. ITeams Refugee Ministry captures this in the term presence: it’s one of the core ways in which we minister to refugees.

One small way I’m trying to do this is through starting a fortnightly Bible study and fellowship evening at our flat. We’re going to share a meal, pray for each other, then we will share from the Bible and open that to discussion. Many of the guys have been through various courses and I think that it is important that they share in fellowship with other new believers and those who have more maturity and experience in their faith.

This group is an offshoot of other aspects of the growing men’s ministry (e.g. the weekly football club). I’m also planning a retreat later in autumn for believers and seekers. I’m hoping it will be a time for the guys to get away from some of the stresses in Glasgow and find space where they can hear more clearly from God.

An exciting development in the men’s ministry!

Please pray as I start to organise the retreat and begin this new meeting on Tuesdays for fellowship and discipleship. Also, thank God for all the great volunteers from local churches who have come along to help – I couldn’t do all of this on my own.