Sharing Jesus with sunflowers
‘Do what the Lord is telling you to do, and trust that he’ll bring fruit from the seed you’ve planted!’
That’s the simple but beautiful attitude to mission of David Morgan, an 80-year-old from the village of Cookhill in Worcestershire. After a lifetime of teaching and youth work, he described to HOPE Together how he still has ‘a yearning to see the gospel shared amongst the younger generations.’
Over the last year, he, alongside fellow members of the congregation at Cookhill Baptist Church, in partnership with local Anglicans, has been finding creative ways to reach out to the people in their village. ‘The big challenge is to bridge the gap between practical activity and the spiritual message underlying it,’ said David. ‘And how to communicate with folk around us (which are mainly those we meet on daily dog walks!’
The way to do that seemed to emerge over time. In the first lockdown, David found himself organising a sunflower-growing competition in Cookhill. This idea originally began when he planned it as a fun activity for his grandchildren – but as he got chatting with people about it on his daily dog walk, the idea grew, until over 40 families in the community were involved. David encouraged people to think about the sunflowers they were growing as little reminders of all that they had to be grateful for during that time. He particularly focused on the example of Captain Sir Tom Moore and his way of expressing his gratitude to the NHS and to key workers – with a reminder that we have much to thank God for as well. ‘We wanted to encourage people to think positively, rather than just about all the inconveniences of the pandemic,’ said David.
Another way in which Cookhill Baptist Church has shared the good news message with their village has been through the distribution of copies of ‘HOPE for All’ – an easily-readable, engaging magazine full of testimonies and features on Christian celebrities. David described these magazines as ‘attractive – and nice and colourful.’ They distributed 1,000 copies at Christmas 2020, as a way of the church maintaining its focus on looking outwards into the community.
However, David has found that giving out the magazines is most effective when it’s done face-to-face. He described how he always tries to identify an article that he knows will connect with someone’s particular interests. The church organised some Easter-themed activities for local families and used that as a chance to pass out copies of the Spring/ Summer edition of HOPE for All.
David is hoping and praying that God will use them to touch hearts in his community. Meanwhile, he is encouraging people to continue to grow beautiful floral displays as a reminder of all that they have to be thankful for.
Could our updated HOPE for All magazines be a useful resource in your village, town or city? Maybe you can share them with your community this Easter?
They’re priced at just £0.15/copy and available from our HOPE Together shop here: https://www.hopetogether.org.uk/Shop/
How are you doing mission in your community? Do get in touch as we would love to hear about it.