For Unto Us a Child is Born…

Wednesday 28th October 2015

… A Son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulders

8.15am Sunday BB Conference 2015 I am sat on a lock gate on the Birmingham Link Canal in Wolverhampton. Quincy Jones’ brilliant Gospel Messiah A Soulful Celebration resounds in my headphones. The sun is out the birds are singing (yes I can hear them too) – all is well in my world.

But as we prepare for Christmas we know all is not well in the world. In BB we have many challenges – di erent challenges in di erent contexts. We struggle to attract leaders and we have resources that urgently need updating.

In our country, foodbanks have never been busier. Zero hours contracts and low pay is the new normal. Young people have given up on ever getting that rst house. Recent gures showed 45% of those with mortgages struggled to pay them.

And in the world. Well, shall I go on?

And into a failed broken world, God sent His Son to give eternal light and hope to people who had neither. And this Christmas I for one, feel we need His Refining Fire more than ever.

Let’s examine BB this Christmas. Let’s drop all that is not holy and Christ like. The squabbles, the arguments, the negativity, the succession blocking. Lets have that conversation with our Lord

“What is it that you ask of me?”

Let’s reach out into our churches, our communities and our world as shining examples of Christ’s love.

Because Alan Kurdi taught us the power of a small child, his poor lifeless body washed up on that Bodrum beach. How much more powerful should the birth of Jesus be this CHRISTmas time.

What is God asking of you this Christmas?

Andrew Johnston

Chief Executive