Exploitation, Racism, Economic Hardship and Eastern European migrants (Life at Coventry Jesus Centre)

Sometimes one gets a feel here of the underworld of exploitation, anti-feeling and racism that immigrants from Eastern Europe sometimes face on coming to the UK.

Recently, I listened to an Eastern European young woman sharing her angst after finding work in the UK: she spoke of, “negative attitude towards me, bullying, misunderstanding at work which has left me worried and stressed. People hate you because you are not English. They want you pushed out of the job, out of the country. This experience has been very difficult for me.”

Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Estonia all joined the EU in 2004 – giving them unrestricted access to the UK’s labour market. Citizens from Romania and Bulgarian, also members of the EU, now have unlimited access to the UK labour market too (from January 2014). Net migration to the UK from Eastern Europe EU states was almost 400,000 between 2004-2011.

Keeping an ear to the ground, there is a recurrent story: the promise of a job back home by an unscrupulous agent, arriving in the UK and finding it doesn’t exist or, if it does, wages are minimal and falling into the hands of or becoming indebted to exploiters. 

In September 2013 the BBC reported that Eastern European migrants employed in the Fens for leek picking were trapped in a widespread network of exploitation.  A four-month investigation found migrants were being forced to pay fellow countrymen bribes to get a few days' work in the field - and some were left to live on less than £1 a week.

Catalin, Vlad and Mihaela at Bright Flame

A while ago, two Romanian young men, Vlad and Catalin, turned up at Coventry Jesus Centre on a Sunday morning. They had been promised accommodation in the UK but, on arriving, found nothing; they had been conned and were facing the prospect of no income, no home. 

Fortunately, unlike so many, their story has a favourable ending; both were offered a temporary home at ‘Bright Flame,’ a Christian community house in Coventry. Both found work, decided Christian community was ‘for them’ and stayed. Vlad has since married Mihaela and ‘Bright Flame’ are finding them a brilliant addition to the community family.

In Praise of Volunteers, Your Learning, Coventry Jesus Centre

You’ve got to have a team if you really want to achieve most things in life and ours is a fine one:

Ann, the first to arrive

Monday morning ... Ann’s already here (we call her Ann-Lifted-Up as God lifts up the lowly). In fact, she’s been here since 6am and she’s no youngster; she was a cleaner in her working life and now she does it for free in her retirement. Seriously, she’s already been cleaning the loos, emptying the bins, generally making the place look smart.

Do you think it’s important? Unquestionably, yes. She’s gone by 8:30am but left her mark behind. We pray together as she goes and you know, I value her prayers highly

Matthew and Mark ... but no Luke and John

as she prays for God’s blessing on everyone that enters the Jesus Centre doors this Monday morning.


Then there’s Matt and Mark who come in at 8.00am. Matt’s already met me on the way and tells me he’s left his warm flat to come and assist. They do a great job of moving chairs and tables until the hall looks just fine, set up for the day’s classes and, meanwhile, I can get on with the photocopying. Yes, and I won't forget Pete, he's often here too.

Peter .. another noteworthy disciple

Then Jo and Betty appear. Now, they are
my assistants in the class and I couldn’t do without them. They just appear every week,  consistently, and obviously enjoy what they do; that helps. I always think, if we who lead enjoy our sessions and convey that enjoyment, the learners can’t fail to follow.

  Last of all Karen appears; she helps me in the afternoon session; she’s brilliant with the lads, flexible with a great sense of humour (definitely needed at times) and unfailing in her commitment. She’s great on the clearing up too: you know, those unwashed cups and boundless pieces of paper to tidy up; I’ve never learned to work in a tidy manner and spread out everywhere. Everyone like me needs a Karen. 

Betty and Jo

Yes, and the number is growing .... the Bablake girls, Sarah and Shirin are the most recent additions to the team!

Last but not least, Karen

John and James jostled to be first, forefront leaders. Jesus told them they’d got it all wrong. The most humble, the most servant-hearted are greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I think that of our volunteers.

Syrian Refugees: A Boy with a Gun and a Mother Bereft (Life at Coventry Jesus Centre)

Sometimes the bottom corner of a curtain is held up for a brief while and, peering through, we glimpse another world, parallel to ours, filled with scenes of horror and devastation -  humanity at its lowest ebb.

This week it’s Syria. On Wednesday morning a young Syrian came in with a friend and sat down quietly in class. We were making pancakes and got chatting; we talked trivia: lemons and pancake mix and migrated to fruits grown in Syria. He began showing me photos on his mobile of his village back home: acres of smiling vineyards and tidy olive groves; it looked a fertile, sunny place with no signs of the bloody conflict. He looked at the photos with fondness and explained that his family had a smallholding in the village.

Flicking through his pictures, we passed family members, old men dressed in traditional Syrian headgear and then ... a young and handsome dark-haired boy, no more than nine, with a cheeky, boyish grin holding - a birthday present? You would have been justified in thinking so, looking at the cheerful look on his face. Sadly, no. He was clutching a large gun.  ‘Our country’, my Syrian friend muttered and swiftly flicked onto the next picture. 

I don’t know who the boy was; I didn’t want to ask. It was a Syrian boy and his picture told a story, a story of an unfolding tragedy, a spoilt boyhood, a conflict of adults where innocents are dragged in and learn far too quickly ‘the art’ of maiming and killing. 

Syrian refugees in Egypt

The previous day I had visited our food bank and met another asylum seeker from Syria who arrived in the UK in 2011 and has not been given leave to remain; all her appeals have been refused and she thinks she may have to leave the country soon. She was in desperate need of a food parcel.  She first arrived in Norway in 2009 with her four children but two of them, aged 18 and 16, were deported to Syria. “I have no contact with my two eldest children in Syria,” she says. “Syria is a warzone. I don’t know where they are.  I went to the Red Cross and they told me that they could only help me trace them if I gained status as a UK citizen.”

I’m struck by her dignity and courage in the face of loss and in the struggle for survival. I asked her to come back when she has time and I will help her draft a letter to her MP – the least I can do. 

Sometimes we can’t do much more than listen; sometimes there are small practical ways we can help – food bank for instance – or help write a letter. I offered to pray for her; she clutched my hands; we prayed that somehow God would find some way, a miracle, in providing a safe home for her and her two remaining children and a way to finding her lost children  – and do you think her heart was in that prayer?  

Sometimes, I think, listening is one of the most important, most effective activities we can ever engage in ... followed by prayer.

Jesus' Call: An Overflowing Heart: Generosity

The saying of Jesus from Matthew's Gospel beginning, "The eye is the lamp of the body" (see opposite) has always been a puzzle to me but reading the NIV footnotes helps. Jesus appears to be talking about taking care as to what steers and guides us.

Just as our eyes, if sound, guide us -  so do our choices: If our ‘eyes’ are healthy (if our soul is set on choosing generosity and not storing up for ourselves) we will know the light, the lightness and joy of God, a spiritual health, running through us. 

If our eyesight is poor (our souls given to stinginess, unyielding, not thinking of others) we will know a darkness within – and what a dingy, dismal experience that will be!

^{God’s call is for us to be generous – materially, with our time and with our love. For this, we need the Holy Spirit, fresh, poured out, in our hearts; generosity is His nature and we want to share it with Him.}

Red Roses, Romance and Martyrdom: Tell The People Jesus Loves Them ...

14 February, the night for romantics and here we are, setting off from the Jesus Centre with 650 red roses carefully labelled with an explanation of who exactly was the great saint Valentine and a Bible verse (John 15:13 - see picture below).

Now, you understand, it’s not a tranquil evening, one for lovers to saunter in the hidden corners in back alleys of our streets for some quiet, romantic moment together; there’s quite literally a howling gale outside and there’s been fierce rainstorms across the country. But, undeterred ....we set out.

Armed with ... red roses ... Nick, Steve, Ann and Andy

And it’s such fun. 13 of us (aged 17-73) sweeping through pubs, restaurants, even the Belgrade Theatre (foyer - not the live performance that’s going on), giving out our red roses to whoever ... and telling them that this is really true, God does love them. It’s only the beginning of the message, the Good News, but it’s a start.

 We ask some if they need prayer; I speak to a young guy, Barrie; he didn’t used to believe but his mate died at Christmas and yes, he did pray then and he wants to know if heaven is real. ‘Thanks,’ he says, ‘I’m open to God these days and what a warm feeling I had in my heart when you prayed!’

 You know, sometimes evangelism is hard work, especially when it’s filthy, rotten weather but tonight, no. I guess people sense the fun, the adventure in our eyes and respond. Yes, and I only got kissed once on this romantic night (one of the hazards) but that must be because I’m getting older!

Eric the Dog: A Lesson in Listening to God: For Matt

It was my turn to do Kids’ Spot again at Coventry Jesus Centre.

Volunteers: Matt (left) and Mark (right) 

After telling the following story, my friend Matt (who helps me set up on Mondays with his friend Mark) can't stop reminding me of it - he really liked it and stories aren't just for kids, you know. Anyway, this story is dedicated to him ... see picture, right.

I took a walk last Saturday to the beach, minding my own business of course but, you know, other people’s habits and ways are always very interesting and walking back from the sea I met a woman walking two dogs, a poodle and a limping, old retriever.

The poodle was following her nicely but, o dear, the retriever (Eric his name) decided about half-way along the route that it was time to go home. He turned and began walking back.

“Eric!” I heard her shout. “COME HERE! ERIC! ERIC-EE! 
ERIC–EE! COME HERE!” 

Eric stopped, turned and looked at her and then carried on walking in the opposite direction.

I heard her shout again, “ERIC! ERIC-EE! COME HERE!”

No chance.

In the end, the lady (and accompanying poodle) turned on her heels, abandoned her walk to the beach and returned to walk home with Eric. I captured some of this amusing scenario on my phone but, joking apart, I couldn’t help thinking it was my turn for kid’s spot next week and what a great illustration it was of the father-heart of God.

“MY PEOPLE! COME HERE!” He cries.  "I called you so often, but you wouldn't come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention (Proverbs 1:24: New Living Translation).

Here and elsewhere in the Bible, is revealed the compassion, sadness, frustration and anger of God, all rolled into one. He calls, desperately; we hear but do not listen and walk our own way. 

The woman in my story turned around and followed; God too turns and walks towards us, not in weakness but in strength – in the form of His Son.

But hey, let’s not be like Eric: hearing and not listening, determined, perhaps in his weariness, to go His own way. 

The truth is, I can see something of myself in Eric. The going is easier when I'm full of enthusiasm and energy; if I'm tired or discouraged there are other 'voices', unhelpful ones, that are easier to hear; at times like this, there's a need to live near the Source, listen as best we can to what He is saying and find our energy in Him.

Kramskoi, Christ in the Desert and a Russian Dissident

Painting by Kramskoi: 'Christ in the Desert'  (1872)

We've just started running a course at the Coventry Jesus Centre: 'ESOL and the Bible'.

A Russian intellectual comes; he's great company and full of interesting insights and facts. 
In the middle of the session this week he said, "Can I show you something?" 

"Of course", I said. This is the best kind of lesson, when we share-and-share-alike, learning together.

My Russian student googled this picture, 'Christ in the Desert' by the Russian artist, Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (1837-1887), and told me why he liked it: Jesus is resolved, determined; the temptation in the wilderness is over. His hands are clasped, tightly together; His course is set. His brow is furrowed; there is no turning back. 

There is suffering, pain in the picture. Dare I say, it has a definite Russian flavour: Jesus is not a china-faced, impassive, detached figure with little expressed emotions. The image conveyed is one of deep anguish and, as we know, anguish of a different kind has certainly been the experience of the Russian people. Jesus is heavy-laden, feeling the weight of His calling on His shoulders.

My Russian friend is a one-time dissident, having left behind a great deal, his distinguished livelihood, his family and friends. He has had to start again - with nothing. Perhaps that's why he finds such a strong identification with this picture.

 Note: Russian novelist, Ivan Goncharov (1812-1891), wrote of this picture: " there is nothing festive, heroic, victorious — the future fate of the world and of all livings is concealed in that miserable, small being, in pauper appearance, under the rags, in humble simplicity, inseparable with true majesty and force".