Oakwood News

Easter 2006

As I started to write this it was bitterly cold outside but now it is warmer with the promise of spring as we look forward to Easter. There are signs of new life as daffodils come into bloom and as buds swell on trees and hedges, we look forward blossom on the fruit trees and lambs frisking in the fields. Easter and spring remind us that Jesus came to bring New Life to a world darkened by sin by his death and resurrection.

40 years ago (in March) the Main Chapel was opened and filled with the Sunday School every Sunday afternoon. Next Year will be the 45th anniversary of the opening of Oakwood Chapel (in the back hall) and 50 years since Mr and Mrs Tarner started the Sunday School in the common room. Do you have memories of those days or remember in which month the Sunday School was opened?

This month we welcome Lynn Wood back with us for a short time. Lynn has been in Papua New Guinea for many years with Wycliffe Bible translators, initially teaching children, then helping translation of the bible into local languages and most recently teaching English to speakers of other languages. If you want to know more why not ask Lynn to come and share with you in your own home
Sara is also back from 7 months in Central Asia, but more from her another month.

We need to continue to be a witness to those in our neighbourhood that Christ's glory may be seen in our lives and that people would be drawn to Jesus through our witness. We should indeed be a "light upon a hill" and bring "salt" to this sinful world in which we live.

David Whitley

Easter "Walk of Witness"

For a number of years there has been a "Walk of Witness" through the town centre on Good Friday morning organised by St Paul's church in the town centre. This year David Kirkwood the Rector of St Paul's is inviting the other Christian Churches in the town to join with them, and we would like to encourage Oakwood to join with them.

The walk starts at 11.00am on Good Friday morning finishing at St Paul's church around about 12 mid-day with drinks and hot cross buns.

To enable us to join in with this witness we propose to bring our Friday morning service forward to start at 10.00am finishing by 10.45am in order to get up to the town for the start of the walk.

We would encourage as many as possible - young and old, to join in this open witness proclaiming the message of the cross to the shoppers in the town centre.

Mike Hillyer

"WALK RODING"

Some of you will have heard of "The walk of a 1000 men". This is a Christian organization which every year undertake a number of different long distance walks in and around the UK. These men commit 2 weeks to follow a route with an aim to take the Gospel message to all they meet. They go out in faith with no credit cards, phones etc and only Ł2 a day in cash, which is intended, for "pub evangelism". They are backed up and supported by the Churches and local Christians along the route.

Well they are heading this way! "Walk Roding 2006" will be taking place between 30th September and 15th October this year, and a week of this outreach will be concentrating on Harlow with around 100 joining with the Harlow Churches from 30th September to 8th October.

They want our support. They want our help.

What will this mean?

10 walkers camped out in the back hall.
They will need meals.
They want to work with us:

Door to door?
Witness in the pubs?
Witness on the streets?
Youth meeting?
Ladies meetings?
Men's meetings?
Anything we can think of during the day and in the evening.

This is an opportunity we want to be involved with but we need to be ready to give it our support. Please pray about it and think about what we can do and how you might be able to be involved.

Keep your eyes on the notice board for the latest information.

Mike Hillyer

MOBILE PHONES CHANGE LIVES!

"Hand in Hand" collect mobile phones and accessories of any age and in any condition and ship them to Tanzania, here they are refurbished and sold locally (providing employment and contributing to the local economy). Money raised from the sale of the phones is then used to build primary school classrooms in Tanzania.
200 phones can build a classroom for 60 children!
Have you a phone in the draw at home? - What about asking around at work?
Please bring them along to Mike Hillyer who will forward them on.
P.S.
For every classroom "Hand in Hand" helps to build, the Tanzanian government will supply and fund a teacher for the school, giving the children the chance to learn for the first time in their lives!
("Hand in Hand" is a Christian development agency that exists to respond to the needs and problems caused by poverty and injustice throughout the world, particularly where it affect children).

For more information see the notice board.

Mike Hillyer

Tear Fund

I was recently sent the following letter by Tearfund that explains how they intend to follow up the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005.

2006: Following Make Poverty History

The clicking of fingers was one of the most powerful sounds of 2005 - a stark reminder that one child dies every three seconds due to extreme poverty, perpetuated not by chance but by the policies of the powerful.
Thank you for your action and prayers as part of the Make Poverty History campaign. It was the largest campaign for justice this country has ever seen, and Christians were in the forefront. Here we set out the achievements and how we'll keep up the pressure in 2006.

The strongest campaign ever?

The Make Poverty History campaign was launched in January 2005, to capitalize on the UK's unique international role as Chair of the G8 and President of the EU. Its aims were to secure changes to key policies in 2005 and to increase the UK public's awareness of poverty, to ensure continuing pressure beyond 2005. Tearfund was a founder member; more than 500 organisations subsequently joined. Instead of asking for money, the campaign called for justice for the world's poorest people. It challenged the UK government to change its own policies and to take a lead internationally - in the EU, at the G8, the UN World Summit, and the World Trade Organisation. It focused on three critical and linked areas: injustice in global trade, the burden of unpayable and unjust debt and insufficient and ineffective aid.

There have been extraordinary moments. Twenty-five thousand people attended an all-night vigil in Westminster in April; nearly 250,000 marched in Edinburgh ahead of the G8; and 97,000 Tearfund supporters sent a campaign postcard to the Prime Minister. The UK was part of an astonishing global movement. Thirty-one million people from 84 national coalitions around the world united in the Global Call to Action against Poverty.

But what was the impact? And what is still left to do?

Rich countries have promised to give more aid. Fifteen members of the EU have said that they will reach the UN target of spending 0.7% of their income on aid by 2015. Other members of the G8 have also promised increases, which means that by 2010 there will be $48 billion more aid each year than there is now. However, this is still not enough money to halve poverty and more measures to improve aid need to be taken.
Rich countries have also agreed that, in principle, all of the debt owed by the poorest countries should be cancelled. They agreed a deal at the G8, which should be worth up to $1 billion per year for the 18 countries that qualify (around 20 more could also become eligible). This compares to the minimum of $10 billion debt cancellation per year needed to help developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The UK government accepted that poor countries should not be forced to open up their markets and that agricultural subsidies in rich nations are very damaging. Yet little progress has been made on trade so far. At the meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong, developing countries gained little from the small concessions made by developed nations. Poor countries have also accepted proposals that could seriously erode their right to protect their industries and basic services. But there are glimmers of hope. Developing countries representing four-fifths of the world came together at this meeting in a historic display of unity that could help them resist pressure in the future.
A clear success for the campaign was the G8's commitment to improve HIV treatment. In a significant policy shift, the G8 committed to 'as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010'. The target was endorsed at the UN World Summit and became an international commitment. Now it needs to be properly funded to ensure that it becomes a reality

Going forward

The Make Poverty History campaign has raised awareness of these life and death issues of economic justice. It has motivated an unprecedented number of Tearfund supporters to speak up for the world's poorest people in the name of our God of compassion and justice. The number of people campaigning regularly through Global Action has almost doubled. Without this passionate commitment, the political decisions of 2005 would not have been taken. And around the world millions of ordinary citizens are still campaigning to build on the successes of 2005.
In the UK, the year of the Make Poverty History campaign has come to an end but Tearfund is committed to campaigning with big coalitions to ensure that leaders do what they have promised and go further in future. Tearfund's top campaign priorities for 2006 are:

Trade - the most urgent Make Poverty History issue. Tearfund is part of the Trade Justice Movement continuing the campaign on trade.
Climate change and disasters- Tearfund's partners are already feeling the impact of more and worse floods, droughts and extreme weather.

Tearfund has campaigned on these issues for many years and will increase the pressure in 2006, working with the Stop Climate Chaos coalition. In 2005 the G8 discussed climate change but failed to agree any action although November's Montreal summit gave more grounds for hope.

For more details of the achievement of 2005 and the next steps for 2006, visit the website: www.tearfund.org/ campaigning.

Last year was amazing. We look forward to achieving even more together as we respond to God's call for justice in the coming year.

I hope you have found this letter to contain a lot of interesting information and much to pray about as well.

Neil Smith

HARLOW CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

GOOD FRIDAY

11 a.m. Friday April 14th "Singing" "Story" "Prayer"

10.00 Service at Oakwood

10.45 Walk to St Paul's in Town Centre

11.00 Walk of Witness

Back to St Paul's for hot cross buns

Jesus said:
"If I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me"

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