July/August 2024

Our oldest church member recently died. Her last three months were spent in hospital and I distinctly remember visiting her shortly after she was taken in. She was 98, almost completely blind and suffering with pneumonia. I entered the hospital ward feeling rather flat, but left with an uplifted spirit. No sooner had I greeted her than she overflowed with words of joyful gratitude to God for giving her such a wonderful life.

It was a clear lesson for me that joy shouldn’t depend on our circumstances. If anyone could have been forgiven for having a bit of a moan it would have been this lady. Our true joy is based on all that has been done for us by God in Christ and as the Spirit works in us he cultivates a deep joy within us.

The book of Philippians is marked by two key themes: suffering and joy. Why not read the little letter through and mark when Paul speaks about his suffering? He is in prison and has endured great hardship for the sake of the gospel. Then read it again and mark when he speaks about his own joy and how he encourages his readers to rejoice.

We wanted to help cultivate joy through this edition of the Evangelical Magazine. Derrick Adams does a wonderful job of looking at the joy Jesus has and Ruth Davenport considers how our bodies impact our joy. Though serving in church can easily be done without glad hearts, Gill Darlington helpfully points out the joy we can have in serving Christ. Peter Grier takes us to those moments of wonder in exploring the world that fulfil our created purpose as humans.

Besides these articles on joy, we are continuing our themed articles thinking about significant books, art, prayer, young people and asking ‘why don’t you…?’ We’re carrying on our journey through church history, thinking about global mission, encouraging evangelism, hearing about a local church and the work of Bryn y groes. There’s a jam-packed update and a good selection of reviews. We pray that you are filled with joy as you read.