Asian Easter celebration EASTER ki MUBARAK

19 April 2007

If you had passed by St Birinus & St John's Church, Booker in High Wycombe on Easter Saturday at about 7 pm, you would probably have been rather confused! You may have even thought that they were celebrating Pentecost early or hearing readings and singings in other languages. No they didn't get their dates wrong, they were in fact celebrating Easter, the Asian way.

Firstly, some background.  Joe Farnand a Church Army officer (pictured) moved to St Birinus & St John's Church to work as an evangelist and six months later, he felt that God was calling him to work among Asian people. High Wycombe has a very vibrant Asian community so Joe was not surprised when a member of the congregation told him about her dream which seemed similar to Joe's vision. As Joe already had it on his heart to create a home for people from Asian backgrounds who would come to faith in Jesus, he could not ignore this prophetic dream and obeyed the command from God.

Easter time provided a good opportunity for Joe and his team to support Asian Christians, and celebrate Easter in Asian style. The team made preparations, sent invitations out, prepared a spread of good Asian food, and formed a multi-lingual worship group to lead the people in worship.

The evening was hosted by Joe who, incidentally, originates from India and, therefore, was very much at home using his native tongue and wearing the traditional outfit. There was plenty of worship songs in both English, Urdu and Hindi as well as hearing readings in English and Hind with guests sharing their testimonies to encourage others. Janice Kalyan who attended the event shared her experience of how she encountered God through the Alpha course following on from which she started a Christian group at her place of work.

The special guest speaker on the day was mayoral candidate Ram Gidoomal CBE, who spoke about his own encounter with God whilst a student at Imperial College, London, and how he was moved to develop the Christmas Cracker Project in the 1990s.

"The most important point of the evening was that we got the opportunity to engage with people, who would not normally attend church, in a relaxed informal way," says Joe. "We intend to develop this ministry further by using the gifting of the people already involved as well as by networking with people who can help us."

If this outreach is on your heart too and you would like to know more, become involved or can help in any way, please contact Joe Farnand via email at: captain@farnand.freeserve.co.uk

You may, like Joe, have been praying and waiting for confirmation and it can come in any shape or form - even by just reading this article.

Yisu Masih ki Jai! (Victory to Jesus!)

Article written by Sue Smith, a member of St Birinus & St John's Church