Around 80 folk gathered at the Slavanka Hotel near Christchurch for the AAACF Annual Conference over a long weekend in November. Those numbers were swelled each day by a succession of day visitors. The first morning of the conference was taken up by the formalities of the Annual General Meeting, an important time for the AAACF as events of the past year are reviewed, trustees appointed and vision for the future outlined. This year it was particularly gratifying to receive brief accounts from many fellowships in airports and airlines up and down the country. No one would pretend that we are in the midst of revival in the UK but there are many encouraging signs that the Spirit of God is moving, as one person said “It is like the new shoots of spring”.
We were especially pleased to welcome Douglas McBain, formerly General Superintendent for the Baptist Church in the Metropolitan area of London, as our keynote speaker. Taking the conference theme “The Presence of God” he spoke specifically about being a people of the presence of God using Moses as a role model. In the Saturday evening session he sought to draw us into recognising for ourselves the presence of God that comes to us in the person of the Holy Spirit as we acknowledge Jesus Christ. He concluded on Sunday morning by looking at the consequences of being workers in the presence, at one point relating his experience as General Superintendent that failing churches were invariably those that had no interaction with the community.
The Saturday morning
seminars were a delight; taken as they were by John and Victoria Lary who drew on their Jewish roots to show from
the Hebrew Old Testament the clear and unambiguous reference to Jesus as Lord.
The interest they aroused was considerable and there was never any shortage of
people to sit with them at meal times.
The children were
well catered for with the special gifting that is Steve Mitchell’s and came as
a surprise for some of our young regular conference attendees who were
expecting to spend more time watching videos or playing games, however they
settled down well to Steve’s unique style of teaching and active participation.
Perseverance, Joy
and Patience made brief appearances when three ladies from the recently formed
fellowship in Jubilee House at Gatwick creatively led the Saturday morning
prayer time.
Andy Kennedy, Alan Ward and Andy Moore gave of
themselves wholeheartedly throughout the weekend leading the music for us to
sing in worship.
AAACF conferences are known for the love that is so readily apparent among those attending and this year was no exception. Some who were there for the first time commented on the love, care and compassion lavished on them; that is the hallmark of God’s presence and of a people who live in it. May God continue to make complete His love within us (1 John 4v.12).
At
the recent AGM Henry Shrimpton was reappointed as a Trustee of the AAACF and
James Anderson was appointed for an initial term of office. James has been an active member of the
fellowship for a number of years; whilst based at Aberdeen he worked hard to
maintain a prayer group and was instrumental in establishing a prayer room at
Sumburgh Airport in Shetland. He now flies for Ryanair out of Stansted and has
established an active fellowship there; he is a welcome addition to the Board
of Trustees. Henry Shrimpton was one of
a number of Christians who have served in the BAA Fire Station at Heathrow
until his retirement in December. He has served on the Board of Trustees for 4
years and for the last two has acted as Treasurer of the AAACF. We welcome his reappointment.
HEATHROW AIRPORT CHAPLAINCY
We welcome
Phil Hughes who was licensed as Anglican chaplain on 14 January 2002. He joins
a team of dedicated chaplains based in St. Georges Chapel in the Central
Area. The support and encouragement the
LHR ACF groups receive from the chaplains is a great blessing.
Now that the
upgrading of the runway has been completed, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire
will once again be host to RIAT. We
propose taking a trade stand for the two days the air show runs, 20-21st
July. Overnight accommodation has been
booked at the Harnhill Centre for the nights of 19th and 20th
July for the team that is needed to help in this most important outreach. Over 100,000 people are expected at the air
show over the weekend and with the extensive flying programme and static
displays this makes it the largest air show in Europe. This year there will be special commemorative
displays to coincide with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
The accommodation at Harnhill and passes for entry to the showground will be provided for all who wish to participate. It’s a great opportunity to experience some of the marvellous sights and sounds of what has become one of the most exciting events in the aviation calendar and at the same time being about the Lord’s business. Additionally we are looking for articles, anecdotes, photographs, in fact anything suitable for an outreach newspaper that we intend to produce specially for the occasion; even if you do not have anything yourself we would welcome any leads that would enable us to obtain material.
If
you think you might like to come, even if at this stage you are not sure if you
are able, do please let the office know. You can leave a message on the
answerphone, 01276 709474, email us on aaacf@lineone.net
or write to
AAACF, Stuart House,
Plantation Row, Camberley, Surrey GU15 3ER.
(Please note the old
office address and telephone number in Lightwater is no longer ours, but
remains the private address for John and Hazel Brown and is for personal
communication with them only).
We are so privileged
to have the freedom to speak the Good News of Jesus. We should make the most of every outreach opportunity and trust
in the Lord to guide us through the Holy Spirit. Where words are necessary, ask Him to give us the words to say
and the confidence and courage to say them and He will. As followers of
Christ, we are all given spiritual
gifts, which we are called to use.
Teaching, encouraging, helping others are some that are listed in 1
Corinthians Ch.12:7-11. When we don’t
use these gifts our effectiveness at reaching the lost suffers.
To those who talk of being discouraged, my
and privilege to serve the Lord and to
share in the outreach at Weston encouragement
was simply having the opportunity last summer with such devoted brothers and sisters in Christ. Sharing
time and fellowship with them was spiritually uplifting, Praise the Lord. No,
we may not get feedback, but most importantly God does. Outreach
is not for our achievement and glory, it is for our Heavenly Father. Outreach is our opportunity to sow the seeds
for Him to water and establish growth.
Outreach is also an opportunity for all of us to be obedient servants
for Christ.
Once
I was told that discussing Christianity at work was not the time or the
place. I’d just been asked questions,
to which the answers were not to their liking.
‘Anyway,’ they said, ‘a person’s faith is private and personal, not to
be discussed.’ Yes, let’s be sensitive
and respectful of others’ beliefs, or lack of, but not to the point of
disobedience. After all, Christianity
is not a secret society, it is available to everyone, and as committed
Christians we obey our Lord’s words, “Go out into all the world and preach the
Gospel”, for we are ambassadors for Christ.
“The Lord is our
Employer – How privileged we are.” Kay
Collyer
This year AAACF members were
involved in carol singing outreaches at three venues. The local fellowship at the British Airways Headquarters in
Waterside arranged a lunchtime concert; this was hosted by Pam Rhodes who is
well known for her involvement with the BBC Songs of Praise programme. A group
of Salvation Army bandsmen accompanied a small choir to sing traditional and
some not so traditional carols. Pam interviewed Andrew Strange the BA Director
of Finance on the importance of faith in a high-pressure working environment. Readings
from
the gospels and prayers were said by three chaplains. This all took place in the main thoroughfare that runs through
the centre of the building, and with the available amplification there was
barely a corner of the building where praise and prayer could not be heard.
At Jubilee House, Gatwick, a short 30 minute
carol concert was held and mince pies distributed in celebration of the
goodness of God to us in His Son, Jesus Christ.
In Terminal 2 a small group of musicians and singers gathered to declare God’s praises and distribute literature.Christmas time gives us a ready opportunity to proclaim the gospel and it was heartening to see such willingness for people to step out in faith with particular boldness in some untried venues.
In the last issue of Newsline prayer requests
were made for three people suffering from brain tumours. One of those was
Matthew the son of Mark and Lynette Leitch. Mark has taken unpaid leave from
his job with British Airways as Cabin Crew to be at home with Lynette as they
give Matthew the 24 hour care he needs. The following article was received as
an email and is published with permission.
It is with much
pleasure I can report that Matthew has sat in his wheelchair on two occasions.
Praise God! We have discovered that it is at least a 3 man operation, and has
to be carried out with all the precision of positioning a reluctant driver into
a Formula One car on the starting grid, but, with a little help from his
friends - he did it! We didn’t actually break any speed records gently pushing
Matt across the lounge and along the hallway to the door of the kitchen, but we
have great hopes in the boy’s potential. There were no apparent after
effects from the exertion either, which is very important.
Matthew remains stable. Some days he still suffers badly from sickness and from
secretions and phlegm, and has had one or two minor seizures, but our prayers
are being answered because we have both felt much less fearful during any
attacks. He has had some rather painful attention paid to ingrown toenails, but
survives to tell the tale. (And he does not even know what winkle- pickers
are!) Visitors always remark how well he looks. We are earnest in our prayers
for the return of the use of his left-hand side. Mark, resident amateur
physiotherapist, is aware of tiny movements there, where none could be detected
before. Please pray.
Life goes on, I feel like a modern day Anne Frank as we venture out so seldom.
We had lived in this house for less than a year when Matthew became ill, and
although the packing boxes had all miraculously been laid to rest, there lurked
in nearly every corner evidence that we had not completely made this abode our
home. Cherished pictorial collages of our life stood propped against walls,
hoping for promotion to the spotlight; but apart from an occasional piece of
photographic decoration, the house remained largely unadorned. Since returning
home from hospital in June we have made a huge effort to hang all these fond
memories around the house. Many of the photos share a common theme - Matthew!
It has become important to have these reminders of our life together on
constant view because the alternative of happening unprepared upon a picture
was too painful an experience. Now we have a pictorial history of his life to
glance at fondly or linger over at leisure.
During the Christmas season, I was reading the account in Luke’s Gospel of the
birth of Jesus. One phrase stuck in my mind and made me
think a lot
again about motherhood and especially Mary as the mother of Jesus - the Son of
God. Luke’s gospel relates incredible events surrounding his birth, then
in Ch.2 v.19 we read “But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in
her heart.” I know when Matt was born I
thought him the most wonderful baby in the entire world, I have often bored
friends by recounting how I cradled him in my arms during our short stay in
hospital, and walked around the maternity ward feeling sorry for all the other
new mums whose babies were not as incredible as my own! I guess, to the
uninvolved, babies can seem much of a muchness, but to the individual parents
the differences are staggering. It’s
always amazed me how penguins returning from food forages can track their
offspring in an overcrowded and noisy colony with remarkable speed. I mean they
all look the same, don’t they? Try
telling that to Mr. & Mrs. Penguin!
I have often wondered what it must have been like for Mary, as Jesus’ mother as
he was growing up. She must have had special times with her son. The Bible
gives us precious few details of these treasures. There is much about my son
that I treasure in my heart and I find myself more than willing to speak
of him whenever I get the opportunity. Was Mary like that? Matt has a
quick, dry humour and I miss his ever-deepening friendship. It’s the little
things that carry such weight in your heart. I would say “I love you,
Mattie” and he would always reply “Love you too, Mum.” (Except outside the
school gates!) Then we’d embark on a seemingly silly exercise of declaring more
love for each other by adding numerically to the statement. Thus one of us
might say “I love you 37”. Reply: “I love you 468!” and so on, continuing as
long as our capacity for numbers allowed and ending with the last person
finally declaring their love to infinity and beyond.
I didn’t realise just how much that meant to me
until he had been in hospital for several weeks, his diagnosis looking murkier
by the day. Over the examining doctor’s shoulder, I mouthed to him “I love you,
Mattie.” With glazed blue eyes and a ghostly pale complexion, he laboured to
remove his oxygen mask and silently mouthed in reply, “Love you too, Mum.” I think I was the only person who really
noticed the incident that afternoon. I wept silently. Unable to speak, he has
not declared his love in that way since. His eyes are very expressive and speak
volumes, but for now I must treasure the memory and ponder such things in my
heart.
Don’t
misunderstand what I am saying and think that our son was perfectly behaved and
beyond reproach. He wasn’t. And do not think that Mark and I have conquered the
pitfalls of parenting - we haven’t and even moderate success still eludes us!
But it struck me how amazing it was that the Son of God, should choose to come
and live amongst us, not as some already proclaimed King, but as a vulnerable
infant, toddler, child, adolescent, and then adult. And why? For love, all and only for love.
A friend recently reminded me that I had been given the opportunity to speak in
our church on Christmas Eve 2000 and had talked about that vulnerability and
love. It also reminded me that Matthew that day was sitting, or rather draping
himself over a chair as only adolescents can, in the second row of seats,
listening. (It’s not cool to sit at the front of anywhere before you’re at
least twenty some-thing is it?) I sensed from him a mixture of embarrassment
that I should cite so many examples concerning him, but also a kind of thrill that
he heard stories about himself.
The times before our children move beyond our sphere
of influence are special times. We do not create who they are, but we can help
set them upon the path to become the people God intends them to be. We
can form bonds with them that will show them unconditional acceptance and
increase their self-esteem. We can discipline them to give them boundaries. We
can give assurance of our love and support and above all be real with them, in
successes and failures – admitting when we get it wrong. And we can pray that
all these qualities will help them to reach out to others less fortunate than
themselves. Mark and I can only hope that our efforts found their target. As
you read further on in Chapter 2 of Luke, it tells of two godly people, a man
and a woman, cradling baby Jesus in their arms and prophesying about His
future. The man also tells Mary “a sword will pierce her own soul too.” We have no way of knowing how much Mary
thought about that, but as Jesus was nailed to the cross dying, I wonder if she
remembered those words. Living through
the most painful period of my life, I find myself being so thankful for the
special times I have had with Matthew, some people are not so fortunate, but
also knowing that there were never enough of those. Mark and I wish that we had
taken more opportunity to be with him - to sit and watch a film with him
without interruption, to listen more, to laugh with him more instead of nagging
him to finish his homework, to rearrange our busy lives just to be able to
hang out with him before his tottering steps became a young man’s independent
strides.
Only God knows our allotted time on this earth, but we can live each day as if
it is our last. I know that may sound corny, as it has been said so often, but
everyday we have with Matt is more precious than the last, each moment
treasured in our hearts. A sword has pierced my soul and will forever bear a
scar, no matter how thorough the healing. It is for such a short time we
have our children’s company exclusively before we share them with their
friends, spouses, careers, sickness and, like Mary, sometimes death, but the
treasured memories stored up in our hearts can be dusted off and pondered at
any time. Before you go to sleep tonight, tell someone that you love them - to
infinity and beyond!
Join us in giving thanks to our Father God for every breath we breathe.
With love to all our family in Jesus’ Name
Mark, Matt & Lynette
Please continue to
pray and provide for Matthew and for Mark and Lynette. Paul
Mitchell mentioned in the last Newsline has shown some improvement; continue in
your prayers for him, his wife Tina and young son John, also for John and Hazel
Brown. Gerald Fellender has also been
helped by the power of God as people have prayed, continue to remember him and
his wife Jean.
We give thanks that
Andrew Kefford, the 13year old son of Peter and Lois, has been declared
medically free of the Lymphoma which
had afflicted him, please pray that there will be no recurrence.
A reminder that in addition to your local
group meetings the office is open most Fridays for prayer from. 1030-1130. All are most welcome
Alan and Evelyn Ward
came across an intriguing poster produced during the Second World War in a
small aeronautical museum at Brenzett on the Romney Marshes in Kent. A
facsimile is reproduced here and is well worth a careful read. Although
circumstances and the language we use may be different today, nevertheless we
still live and work in troubled times and there are things that never change;
the principles portrayed in the poster are eternal and apply equally to the
spiritual warfare we now wage. Would
anyone in authority in national or local government have the courage to
publicly say and press for something similar today? How different things might
be if they did.
|
How to play your part Forget
yourself in helping your neighbours.
In
days of tension this casts out
your own fears and worries.
Help them to carry out all instructions about air-raids, evacuation, rationing and waste. Keep the moral
standards of the nation high. Don’t
weaken the home front by trying to wangle something for yourself on the
quiet. Make a break with all
the personal indulgence, selfishness and private wars which undermine
national morale and unity.
Everybody has his part to play in the moral re-armament of the
nation. Be a rumour-stopper. Those who love their country sacrifice
the luxury of being the ones to pass on the “news”. Any patriot shoots a rumour dead on
sight. Face the facts, but don’t
exaggerate them. Prepare to meet
them instead. Faith,
confidence and cheerfulness are as contagious as fear, depression and
grumbling. The secret of
steadiness and inner strength is to listen to God
and do what He says. God speaks
directly to the heart of every man and woman who is prepared to listen
and obey. Write down the
thoughts he gives you. His voice
can be heard wherever you are –in the home, in the factory, in the
air-raid shelter, in the first-aid post. Forearm your self by
listening to God first thing every morning.
This provides a clear plan for each day and the power to work with
other people in complete unity.
In a time of listening God takes away fear and fortifies against
uncertainty, hardship or bereavement;
He gives foresight and cool judgement; He offers limitless reserves of energy and initiative.
A British General who has fought through
two wars said this: “Telephone wires may be cut, wireless stations
be destroyed, but no bombardment can stop messages from God coming
through if we are willing to receive them. To listen to God and obey Him is the highest form of
national service for everybody everywhere.” The distribution of
this message is approved by Councillor A.H. Clarke, JP. (Mayor of Hove) Sir Cooper Rawson,
MP. Lord Erskine, GCSI, GCIE,
MP
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