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Dear <<First Name>>,
April has been a great month. Helen and I have had some good time connecting with our families and celebrating Easter. In my ministry, I have been encouraged through the various events I've been involved in across the country. In a few days I'm off to Sweden (more below), but first here's a quick snapshot from this last month.

The CVM Quickfire training day went really well. I had the chance to speak on 'Confident Evangelism', something that the Lord has been speaking to me about recently. So often when we talk to our friends, colleagues, family etc. we find that when people push back and ask tough questions we can go on the defence. It's not uncommon to feel personally attacked. We might feel inadequate, or not smart enough, or not emotionally secure enough etc.

But we need to rest in the reality that our identity is not in our ability to communicate the gospel! Our identity is in Christ alone. God loves us and values us for who we are, not what we do. It's out of the peace of knowing this that our evangelism flows. We learn and study and pray and engage not to justify our choice in faith in Jesus, but to reflect God's love for us.

A couple of week's ago I had the chance to take part in a mission at a secondary school in England. A good friend of mine, Sam, has been doing excellent work in and around High Wycombe, opening up doors to get the gospel into schools. Sam had ran a mission a couple of years ago at one of the larger secondary schools and it went so well that they asked him to do it again. So for one week there were talks to whole years groups, invitations to teach in Religious Studies classes, assemblies and lunch-time gatherings.

I went down one day and gave a couple of talks on The Problem of Pain and helped in an RS class. I was blown away by the level of engagement from the students. Mostly working between Year 8 and Year 10 (12-15), I found the questions to be original and sharp. It was a privilege to talk about Jesus in this setting and incredible to be able to do so so freely! A good number of students prayed to accept Jesus for the first time/first time in a long time. God is good!

This last Saturday I was teaching the apologetics seminar at the London C. S. Lewis Institute 'Fellows Programme'. This one-year discipleship course is for professionals in/around the London area. They meet once a month for teaching, and meet up regularly with a mentor. It's been good fun teaching on this programme. If you're in London and think that a year of mentored-discipleship is something you're after, then look them up. They're currently taking applications for 2015/16.

Sweden

This coming week I'll be in VästerÃ¥s, Sweden. I'm so looking forward to being back in Sweden after visiting there on a mission in 2012 when I was studying at The OCCA.

On the Monday I'll be speaking at a local church who have asked me to help them to be equipped for evangelism. I'll be sharing practical and encouraging tips from the Bible along with stories of my own experiences.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be speaking at Mälardalen University at two-day event entitled: 'Faith vs. Reason - Is There Room for Both?' I'll be addressing two topics over the evenings, 'Has Science Replaced God?' and 'Surrounded by Suffering, Looking for Meaning' respectively. These talks are evangelistic, so your prayers are appreciated. Specifically, could you please pray for:
  • Boldness for local Christians to invite non-Christian/sceptical friends
  • The presence of the Holy Spirit throughout the talks. I've seen people's attitudes shift from hostile to receptive in talks before, which is the Holy Spirit softening them!
  • Favour with the University. I saw great openness last month in Oslo at the University there which was a huge help to us.
Thank you for partnering with me. I look forward to letting you know what happens in Sweden. In the mean time, do drop me a line. I'd love to hear what you're up to and how Helen and I can pray for you!
Onwards and Upwards,
Jonathan
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From the outside, they were just another group of men who would meet regularly at the pub. They met at the same place, most weeks, for a drink and a chat. They talked about all manner of things on their minds: what they were working on, what they were thinking about doing.

This story becomes more interesting when the men in the group are revealed. This little band of friends, mostly writers, were known as ‘The Inklings’, and they counted amongst their ranks men such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

For years Lewis and co. would spark off each other at the pub. Great literary works such as The Lord of The Rings (Tolkien) and The Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis) would have first been tossed around as emerging ideas here as these men drank their ale and smoked their pipes.

The pub which was the scene for these gatherings of the Inklings was The Eagle and Child, on St. Giles in Oxford. Well, on one particular day the Eagle – affectionately known as ‘The Bird and Baby’ – ran out of beer. And of course a pub without beer is bordering on useless so the Inklings tried other pubs around the city before settling on the Lamb and Flag, directly opposite the Eagle and Child. The Inklings crossed over the road and never looked back.

For C. S. Lewis, one of the chief members of the Inklings, crossing the road in pursuit of a drink marked a fairly insignificant change. However, a much greater “crossing over” was to become the central defining point of his life.
Copyright © 2015 Jonathan Sherwin, All rights reserved. 
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