Carelinks | UK Conference
Our Conference in the UK was a great success. Both attendance and inspirational, spiritual content of the talks was unsurpassed. About 70 came along at various times throughout the day. Clearly the Lord is at work, thanks to your prayers and donations.
Not all the talks were recorded, but those that were are at:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqHWDPHDmR_yTpDDSmcW516Ig3mIOW9Yx
Some from our house church in Croydon gave powerful presentations; sister Foozie spoke of her conversion from Islam and very eloquenty and passionately expressed her simple love of the Lord Jesus.
Also from Croydon, Sister Dee gave a very powerful presentation, opening up about the sexual abuse she had suffered earlier in life and how it was baptism into Jesus and grasping the real truths of the Gospel which empowered her to forgive and reclaim her life.
Sister Yvonne, one of our early converts in Zimbabwe in the 1980s, then spoke powerfully of her conversion from Catholicism to the truth of Christ.
Brother Donald came over from China; we so often report his work in baptizing people, all the more impressive as he works in a professional capacity in the materialistic Chinese society, with little free time.
Brother Joseph came from Italy to tell us of all the baptisms and the outreach going on there to the many newly arrived migrants who turn up on the beaches every night; his testimony to his own conversion from nominal to passionate faith, in which our baptism of him played a part, is very encouraging.
We wrapped up by framing in Biblical terms what all these various testimonies were saying loud and clear- that whilst we don’t possess the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, the Lord through His Spirit is extremely active in human lives and hearts today. The links to some the testimonies are listed below.
Sister Dee | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjV6n2mJ4DA
Sister Yvonne | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra7RRHRj8dc
Brother Joseph | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw--GedB84o
Conclusion | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A37CvOCSbW8&t=734s
In the afternoon session, we packed Bibles and wrote personal notes to the 700 or so replies we received this last week from our “Get a free Bible” ad in the Daily Mail. This is all evidence enough that there is widespread interest in our message in white working class Britain [i.e. the Daily Mail readership]. Roger and David then helpfully guided us in their experience of using the internet and social media to engage folks with the Gospel.
There was a wonderful spirit of connection and fellowship. Brother Darek, who speaks only Polish and Italian as he lives in Italy, came over and was delighted to talk to brother Joseph in Italian. Sister Sami also gave a presentation about her conversion to Jesus and there were two other Iranian converts present. It was great to all work together to pack Bibles. Others also attended who aren’t yet baptized but we hope soon will be.
We’d like to remind you of the major appeal made to reprint the Bibles; and then there is cost of postage. Please do respond as you can.
‘All hands on deck’ at Carelinks UK Conference | Parcelling up approximately 700 Bibles together with personal notes in response to our Daily Mail Ad
We have held house church also at Bexley-heath and were pleased to baptize Mohsen, a young man smuggled out of the infamous Calais ‘jungle’, after a nightmare journey across Europe in a refrigerated truck full of oranges. The moisture in that situation apparently keeps sniffer dogs off the scent. In all these lives we see the Lord’s hand at work, so earnestly seeking to save.
House church continues in Croydon, with all kinds of folks present- nearly everyone at the table had been born outside of the UK- Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, South Africa, as well as Australia. The stories of how everyone had got to the UK were themselves a testament to providence. One man described how he was one of 14 men who were placed inside a tanker truck for the journey from the Calais ‘jungle’ across the channel to the UK. They stood in liquid within the truck for six hours; this was in order to put sniffer dogs off the human scent. Another described how refugees are hidden inside the huge spare wheels of trucks, where the inner tube would otherwise be, maintaining that bent over position for several hours until released; another was strapped to the axle of a truck. Once these people arrive in the UK, they really do start looking for the Lord. We went through Luke 15, talking of how the Lord searches for the lost sheep, coin and son until He finds it, doing all in His power to find His people and bring them to Himself. And these very hard experiences were all part of that seeking process. And there was therefore such joy in Heaven when finally, God finds man at the same point as man finds God, through identification with His Son in baptism.
We all rejoiced therefore with Mustafa, an Iraqi, whom we baptized in the bath tub after the meeting, and before the meal together. Many thanks to Cardia and Cindy for trying their best to produce authentic Middle Eastern food, and apparently succeeding, or being well appreciated. Mustafa is an older man, an engineer who previously managed one of the water treatment stations in Baghdad. We really do rejoice with the Angels in heaven at all this response to our outreach; and we look forward to more planned baptisms at our house church.
Evia and Daniel diligently posting our leaflets through letterboxes in central Croydon
We distributed leaflets and literature in central Croydon and will continue to do so over the next month, God willing. Let us know if you’d like to come and help. We’re also receiving lots of grateful letters from those who’ve received NEV Bibles, and several have expressed interest in the Gospel and have requested Bible Basics. One writes: “Just a short time to say thank you so much for the lovely Bible you sent in the post for me. I was a member of a large Charismatic church up to 5 years ago. I became disillusioned as over a period of time it became more of a business than a church. I hope now to establish my faith again. God bless, Mark”.
