heroes

August Francke (1663 - 1727) was a German preacher and social reformer who established an orphanage and inspired George Muller. One day he had to pay the construction workers but he did not have any money and so he prayed to God for provision. At the end of that day, the paymaster came and asked if he was going to be able to pay his men. The answer was no. Just then a student knocked on the door and reported that someone, who wished to remain anonymous, had brought a pouch with thirty gold talers.

Pete Gillions told me this delightful story about Dr Nott meeting the Queeen.

For more than two decades, Dr Nott – a consultant surgeon at three major hospitals in London and a Christian – has given up several months every year to volunteer to serve in war zones amid major humanitarian crises.

Theme

In his famous sermon on the mount, Jesus calls his disciples to live in a radically new way. He challenges all his followers to love their enemies. This can be very difficult for sinful human beings who are prone to hatred, idolatry and evil thoughts. Hendrik Witbooi was a black African general who loved his enemies. He treated his German enemies with amazing mercy when they were destroying Hendrik's tribe. He loved his enemies in a war zone.

Be inspired by this story of faith in action!

August Francke was a preacher. pastor and professor of theology and he lived in Halle which is near Leipzig in Germany. Francke had a huge influence on George Müller, the famous orphan lover.

Theme

Theme

Theme

The first recorded gladiatorial combat in Rome occurred when three pairs of gladiators fought to the death during the funeral of Junius Brutus in 264 BCE, though others may have been held earlier. During the height of the Roman empire thousands of men and women were killed in the Coliseum in Rome. Many Christians refused to attend these violent games but for many it was ‘just entertainment’. Few people know that it was a Christian monk who brought the games to an end in the early fifth century. Unfortunately Telemachus was stoned to death for his faith!

Very often we hear bad news from an African country like Uganda. We hear stories about famine, hunger, misery, warfare and man-eating lions. We see disturbing pictures on television and in newspapers but is there any good news which comes from this vast continent? The following story is full of hope and clear evidence that God is at work in a broken, groaning world.

Randy Lewis was a senior Vice President at Walgreens in the USA. Walgreens is the American equivalent of Boots the Chemist and has over 8000 shops and employs 176,000 people. It has a turnover of $76 billion.

A simple and effective way to talk about the Christian faith is to craft speech acts about heroes and villains. For example, I was talking recently to a financial adviser about investing money in a variety of portfolios and my wife, Anne and I became bothered about the dodgy nature of some of the schemes. We're talking about our money being invested in weapons, tobacco and pornography companies. This is how the conversation went with 'Brian'.