My barber is looking to get out of the hairdressing business and become an investor. Every day, between skin fades and beard trims, he opens his trading app, buys, sells and buys again. He likes it, but I think it sounds horrendous, far too stressful. Much easier to earn a wage, spend a bit and save a bit.
Finances are one thing, but when it comes to the Christian life, Jesus looks more favourably on my barber’s approach than mine. Jesus says we have two main assets, our time and our talent, and we are to use them like investors in the stock market. And not cautious ones either. Jesus says, ‘Go big or go home.’
You can see this in Matthew 25 when he commends the righteous sheep for investing what they had (e.g. water, food, clothes) in those who had less and tells the cursed that they are to sit in the eternal fire with the devil and his angels because they did not invest what they had (e.g. time and hospitality) in those who were less than them.
Frightened? You should be! We have time and talent and a demand from Jesus to invest both. Where should I invest? I’m glad you asked! May I draw your attention to the Great Summer Stock Market?
Every summer, hundreds of children attend EMW camps in Bala, Newtown, Chepstow, Welshpool and Talybont. Dozens of officers join them to supervise activities, games, day trips, and Bible studies, whilst teams of cooks feed them behind the scenes. And it isn’t just the EMW. The Christian residential centre near you hosts church away days. Denominational centres like Coleg Y Bala host youth weekends. CCIW pitch their tents in Tywyn and Barmouth. Beach missioners don their red (UBM) or light blue (OAM) t-shirts. Aber and Keswick Ministries run family conferences. Finally, UCCF cap it all off in September with Forum at Quinta for thousands of young Christian leaders.
It’s a crazy few months, making hay while the sun shines. Here are a few ways you can invest in that.
Use your finances
Did you know that camp officers pay for the privilege of serving? That feels like a sacrifice, particularly if they took a week of unpaid leave to do it. What a shame if there are potential officers who can’t afford to serve. What a blessing it would be if you could invest in an officer and pay for someone to serve on the front line.
Did you know that teenagers are ravenously hungry? Of course you did! With the economy struggling, it gets harder to feed them. Imagine the reaction if you invested your springtime, setting aside the basic foodstuffs required to feed a camp and delivered a food parcel so that the campers could eat like kings?
Young people love day trips to theme parks and swimming pools, and these things cost money. What an amazing act of grace to send a cheque and pay for every camper to go on a day trip.
You know how much you benefit from good Christian books. What an investment in the future to ask a camp leader to buy something suitable for every camper to take home.
These are just some ideas for the summer camps; you may have better ones. Get in touch with the EMW office or other Christian organisations with your ideas; they would love to hear from you.
Use your time
Perhaps you go to a conference and see full-time Christian workers running the show whilst still looking after their own families. Maybe it’s a full-time youth worker running the children’s work. Could you invest yourself in the role they’re doing so that their ‘Busman’s holiday’ can be an actual holiday?
Of course, it’s hard to invest yourself. You feel nervous, too young, too old, too timid, or too unqualified. Read Christine Hodgins’ memories of Auntie Bessie, a lady who served so faithfully for so many years on the summer camps. Remember that the old and the young benefit when they serve together.
More than ever, this summer, we need to make sure we are doing everything we can to provide workers for the harvest. Whatever the ‘Quiet Revival’ is, it seems to be a genuine movement of young people seeking to find out what Christianity is and who Jesus could be to them. What a tragedy if young people were missing out on camps and conferences because there was not enough money to run them or people to serve on them.
The country is struggling economically, but the Kingdom is not. The country is struggling with productivity and a worn-out workforce. The Kingdom does not need to be. We have a Heavenly Father who gives us more than we ask or imagine and resources in abundance. Let’s all invest in the summer this year.
Remembering Auntie Bessie
I was seventeen when I first met Auntie Bessie in 1969. I had recently made a profession of faith, and it was suggested that I should go to help in the kitchen in Bala, where Christian summer camps were being held. I had never been to Bryn y groes, and I had only recently been introduced to the Evangelical Movement of Wales, so I had no idea what to expect.
I soon found out that Auntie Bessie, while living in Caerphilly, spent six weeks every summer in Bryn y Groes. Far from just being the ‘cook’, she reigned supreme over Bryn y groes. She seemed to know every leader, chaplain and officer, and her influence and prayer for each camp was immeasurable.
The kitchen was run with extraordinary efficiency, and the girls like myself, who had volunteered to cook, came to love and admire Auntie Bessie, so that it was our pleasure to help in whatever way we could. The work was quite hard in those days, with the coal-powered Aga, the wooden table which had to be scrubbed every day and the tiled floor which also had to be scrubbed every day. It was around that table that we met every morning at 6:30 to read the Bible and pray for the camp. I experienced blessings there that I have remembered all my life.
Officers and leaders of the various camps would constantly be popping into the kitchen to chat to Auntie Bessie, and it was wonderful to listen to her wise counsel while I was carrying on with the tasks that I had been set. Auntie Bessie was unique. She was striking in appearance, always beautifully dressed and winsome in her dealings with people, but she was also a great woman of faith and love. If you had met Auntie Bessie, you would never forget her. Of course, I went back the next year and for many years after that. She had time for everyone and that ability to make you feel special, even if you were just a teenager from the valleys of South Wales who was in Bryn y groes for the first time.
The EMW seeks to keep the costs of camps as low as possible to enable as many children as possible to go on camps. The Auntie Bessie Fund was set up to help those who can’t afford the full cost. This year, 112 children were supported from the Auntie Bessie fund. Why not invest in this by giving to the Auntie Bessie fund?
For more information, contact office@emw.org.uk or to give online visit www.emw.org.uk/about/donate
