Daphne Bagley is a CSW Ambassador at Sawbridgeworth Evangelical Congregational Church. From this small English town, she is helping her church to play their part in helping people who are targeted for their beliefs.
I have been a Christian since I was 11 years old and, as you mature as a Christian, the Lord speaks to you about various ministries. I travelled a lot over many years for work and ministry, and the world opened up to me. I felt that my background could be quite useful in raising awareness of CSW at my church.
I used to attend CSW’s annual conferences and Janet from the team was often in touch, which was encouraging. I was inspired to set up a focus group around people suffering for their beliefs. There are 13 of us in the group now. I circulate the prayer points from CSW every Saturday, and each person dedicates time to pray.
The real task of the group is to write and send Easter and Christmas cards to those who are in prison or their families. Connect & Encourage has been so helpful because it guides you on what to write.
Our minister’s wife encouraged me to send the prayer emails to the home group leaders which I do now, so more people across the church can pray. I also write an annual newsletter which goes to the whole church, summarising what’s happening to people around the world based on information from CSW.
A group of us meet on Tuesday mornings and I often share something with an international focus, and Mervyn (CSW’s Founder President) came to speak at our church last year. People were so inspired by him! Our minister is very supportive and, with all that is happening in the world, he recently called a meeting to pray for the persecuted church.
One guy in the focus group was so excited when Pastor Lorenzo was released! He said he’d like to share it with the church and our minister gave him a slot to do this. These are the sort of opportunities that we should grab, and it’s good to share a person’s name and their story – people will listen.
Just one thing.
Daphne has found different ways to involve her church, ranging from circulating prayer points to writing an annual newsletter. Is there one thing you could do to raise awareness of people suffering for their beliefs at your church? csw.org.uk/churches