There are certainly some positives to being a Cult founder; you usually get pretty rich, have an unquestioning following, and usually go out with a bang… but it never lasts, after all look at Artemis (Diana). She got her own temple, it was massive, one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World!

But look, there’s hardly anything left… just a few stones piled on one another, plenty of tourists, strange Turkish men trying to sell programmes and postcards, oh and it’s a bit boggy!

Interestingly the reason the temple got into disrepair and eventually fell down was because Christianity took hold and people released actually there’s a living God, who doesn’t meet in elaborate temples but meets in our hearts, and they didn’t need to come and offer fertility sacrifices but actually Jesus was the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice.

The point is, it’s a bad idea to start a cult, because it will just end up like this!

More from Ephesus to follow…

Apparently you look better in black and white?

I tried my best to make sure my wedding wasn’t too cliché.

I’ve complained on at least two occasions on this blog that weddings are generally the same and are far too cliché. I vowed that my wedding would never be cliché.

Unfortunately I opened the speech with “my wife and I” – which is as cliché as it gets, so I failed. But on the plus side it was a pretty good day… I should say “happiest day of my life”, but that too is very cliché!

A little while ago me and some other chaps popped over to Bristol for a weekend, don’t really know why.

Anyway, not a lot of note happened, but we did visit two very different churches which were well worth a visit…

In Bristol centre we visited Wesley’s Chapel, the oldest Methodist Chapel in the world! We had a look around, saw his study, stood in his pulpit, all in all it was a good experience to see a bit of gospel-ministry history.

We also went to a somewhat different church on the Sunday morning. Not in an old chapel, but in a school. We visited Grace Church Bristol one of a number of Sovereign Grace churches planted in the South-West/Wales.

We received a warm welcome and met with a guy who I remember from CU Leaders training, there was good coffee and a relaxed atmosphere. We moved in to the main meeting room and sang some songs… I was particularly pleased to have sung the song ‘All I have is Christ’, a song from the Looked Upon album which I love – possibly to be played during the signing of the registers!

Nathan Smith, one of the Pastors was preaching through Ephesians (which was good stuff). It was a church where I, as a conservative Anglican felt comfortable and at home. There weren’t any uninterpreted tongues (or interpreted for that matter) and the prophecies which were given weren’t about how the church is going to see revival but clear and simple encouragements for the believers there, which all goes against some experiences and stereotypes of charismatic churches… a gentle and sensitive display of a more charismatic practise. If you’re in Bristol do go and pay them a visit…

Something else I meant to say following the trip out to Malawi was to note, with some concern, the role that China is playing in the development of Africa.

The first time I noticed this was at Addis Ababa airport where a large group of Chinese engineers (they had hard hats) was waiting to board a flight to another part of Africa (possibly Nigeria). This disturbed me, mainly because one of them spat on the marble floor of the airport – disgusting! I found a story in the New York Times reporting on China’s resource exploration of Chad, maybe they were on their way there…

The second time I noticed this was on the way in to the centre of Lilongwe. The Peoples Republic of China are building a new parliament building for Malawi, at a cost of around 2 Billion Kwacha (about £40 million). Now there are a number of questions that surround that…

Why did they need a new building? Couldn’t that money have been better spent? What are China hoping to gain from this? All valid questions, with the third question being most puzzling and concerning as China position themselves to have a potentially unhealthy influence in African politics.

There is another dimension to this story. This project is not providing massive employment for the Malawian people because the construction workers are Chinese, often Chinese convicts released from prison to work in Malawi, and with Chinese convicts bored in Malawi there have been reports of crimes including rape having been committed by them.

Is this a Chinese takeover? A solution to their overpopulation? A global search for natural resources? Whatever it is it strikes me as a development that needs to be watched with care…

During my recent trip to Malawi I had the privilege of visiting the Recapo Orphanage on the outskirts of Lilongwe (on the Salima road). The people there were very friendly, from all ages and backgrounds. I was impressed on two accounts: 1) It wasn’t just a place people got handouts, it was a place for education, training, working and the empowering of vulnerable people. 2) The staff who ran the project had a great vision for expansion and the future work of the Orphanage.

But we saw something pretty shocking too… World Vision has been supporting the project and has provided a sewing machine and a maize mill to allow the orphanage to generate some income. I guess it’s like one of those alternative gifts you can give… how kind.

Unfortunately World Vision is seriously lacking in any long term vision, a Maize Mill requires electricity to run, so you would have thought that World Vision would have also provided a generator, or some solar panels, or connected them to the grid. As it turns out they did none of these things.

It would cost about £4500 to get connected to the grid, but even then, the orphanage cannot afford to pay the electricity bill, the ideal would be some solar panels so that they can have a sustainable electricity supply which doesn’t cost them to run. The orphanage explained that this maize mill had been sitting idle for 2 years.

We have been hoping that some local business leaders may be willing to provide some sponsorship for this project, however it would be nice if World Vision followed through on the half done job and provided whatever means necessary to get this Maize Mill up and running? If you know someone involved in WV, please ask them…