(3) What would you feel like if ... life at Coventry Jesus Centre

I’ve been telling you about life at the Jesus Centre. Hey, why is it called the Jesus Centre? Well, here’s two reasons:

We think it’s a place Jesus would love to hang around in – and hope it’s worthy of His name. I mean, the sorts of people that come in are just the sorts of people He used to hang around with... and I’ve learned that no one is too far gone to be reached and changed by Him  …

We want to call it the Jesus Centre, too, because we want to share His heart, His love, for all the people that enter the doors ... not always easy at times. Sometimes I see it as an unfair but wonderful exchange: I give Him (Jesus) my tiny, cramped and sometimes messy heart and He gives me His … and there’s not much comparison.

Anyway, here’s a few more stories (they are all true but people’s real names are not used):

John is from a country where people can die if they become Christians. He is a zealous Christian, a young leader and loves to tell people about Jesus. He showed me photographs of about twenty people being baptised in a river at once – I mean, in the open. When a death warrant was put out for him, he fled to England. John wanted to learn English words found in the Bible.

I told John that the UK needs evangelists like him!

Dave is homeless. He had all his papers stolen in the park where he slept. He had to fill in a form to get a crisis loan and can’t write.

We helped Dave fill in his form. Hopefully one day he will learn to write with confidence. It’s hard to concentrate on learning when you haven’t got a home..

Jim can read but he struggles with the long words. Each week we read something from the Bible. I enjoy it as much as him. We talk about the meaning of the verses we read together. I love this hour of the week!

Viktor is from eastern Europe and was homeless for a long time. He used to tell me how cold it was, sleeping by the canal. One night it reached minus15.

Viktor always came to class, wherever he slept, and he was always so grateful. His English improved and improved.

Viktor is not living in Coventry at the moment. When he moves back he tells me he will come to English classes again.

That’s it for now. Hope you’ve enjoyed these stories and got a feel of our slogan, ‘Jesus Centres - where everyone is valued.’ We’re all learning, with many pitfalls and many mistakes but we’re in His school, we’re His disciples … can’t be bad…and, as I said, it’s an unfair exchange but that suits me!