Editorial:
October issue
Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this, but
often themes emerge as we put a
magazine together without us intending
them to. In this one, it seems to be
stepping out.
Whether it’s the profile of Simon
Guillebaud (p20), a missionary in
Burundi who shares extraordinary tales
of evading death while trying to preach
the gospel, or everyday people being
asked to do things they didn’t expect
(see Odd for God p44), this month’s
pages are full of stories of people who
have taken risks for God.
Not all the stories lead to dramatic
conversions or life-changing experiences
(although some of them do), but they
all show, in different ways, the grace of
God at work in the world.
There’s another side to this, and
that’s what happens if we don’t ever
take a risk. Interviewing Simon
Guillebaud brought home for me the
reality of spiritual warfare. In Africa, he
says, it is more tangible, and the devil is
taken seriously.
‘I realise that it is hard for most
Western readers to relate to the stories
[in places such as Burundi], but at the
very least we can allow them to sharpen
our prayers and help us understand,
wherever we are in the world, that
there is much more going on than
meets the eye,’ he says. ‘Our enemy is
real. The battle is real. The stakes are
high and prayer is crucial.’
Here in the UK, I am becoming
more convinced that the devil’s best
weapon is our complacency –
distracting us with things which do not
matter, to take our minds off the things
which do.
It’s why we’ve included a feature
about the Democratic Republic of
Congo (p50) – a place which isn’t
talked about enough, but which is at
the heart of the many problems Africa
endures, and which we in the West
are complicit in by our silence. I
encourage you to read it, to try to
understand the issues that make up
some of the country’s complex
history, and then to act.
We may all feel we have too many
causes already. But getting excited
about something, and putting that
passion into action, is what will turn us
from consumers to activists. It may
seem terrifying, but if we’re to take our
faith seriously, we need to do more than
focus on our own comfort.
What is your cause? What is your
‘one thing’? What is God asking you to
speak up about? What does he want
you to do? Dare you ask him?
You don’t have to take the weight
of the world upon your shoulders.
Leave that to God. But I do hope this
issue inspires you, as it has me, to do
what God asks you to do, whether it’s
to be a missionary in Africa or to give a
bunch of flowers to a stranger.
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