Friday, June 29, 2018

The changing world (145) Dec 86 - Jul 78

Dec 6th To Braithwaites.
7th              Elliott preached on church gift day.
9th              Denise Bell a leading light in the Parents Action Group. She was to legally challenge the council over its revised RE syllabus. with e help of the Christian Institute.
11th             john out from school.
14th             Elliott preached.
21st              .Elliott preached.28th Carol service.
25th              Randy preached.
28th              David preached then Larry.
30th              Jacobs to dinner,
Jan 8th 87    EPAG at St John's
13th              Session retreat.
7-15 Feb        John on half term.
15th              Haidar Roger Reeve to dinner. A convert to Islam I met while campaigning about school. The host famous convert, cat Stevens, was a customer in Willisden, I also had Shagari's vice-president in the shop. he told me he had been imprisoned with Solomon Bar who I knew before he was governor of Plateu State.Chief (Dr.) Solomon Daushep Lar (April 1933 – 9 October 2013) was a Nigerian politician who has held various offices at the National level for over 50 years. He was a member of the first national parliament when Nigeria gained independence in 1960. He was elected governor of Plateau Stateon the Nigerian People's Party (NPP) platform during the Nigerian Second Republic, holding office from October 1979 until the Military coup of 31 December 1983 that brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power.[1] Later, he was founding chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
16th              Congregational meeting.
21st mar       Tylers to dinner.
Apr 3-17       John Easter holiday.
May 22-26    John half term
Jul 1st           Mary salter to dinner.
21st              Jeremy Hinds to dinner and speaking at IPC. Top missionary to the Hausas.He was born on December 16th 1932, educated in Sedburgh, and after National Service (a compulsory period
in the armed services for all 18 year old men after World War II) he went up to Oxford University in 1954 to study Greats. In a letter to James Tweedie5, Hinds gives some biographical detail and describes how he first met Hausa Muslims while he was doing his National Service in Northern Nigeria (This would have been in the early 1950’s). He himself told me that he had a choice of playing Polo or learning Hausa and as he did not like Polo he decided to learn Hausa. His Hausa teachers were only too willing to talk about their religion, Islam.Hinds had little Christian commitment until he went up to Oxford where he came to a personal experience of, "the overwhelming joy of forgiveness through the death of Christ."7Immediately he felt that he should go back to share this news with his Hausa friends in Northern Nigeria. This shaped his further study. On the advice of Max Warren (The General Secretary of CMS) he took a second degree in Theologybefore a year of Arabic and a period of Qur’anic study with the help of retired missionaries from Egypt and Palestine.He was influenced by a book 'The Ugly American' which told “the story of a Roman Catholic priest who studied Communism so much that he knew their doctrines better than the Communists he met.”10 Hinds set this as his goal, knowledge of the Qur'an and Islamic Theology so that he would be able to listen and understand Qur'anic exposition given in the traditional way.11 However, to this traditional interpretation he brought the critical scholarship of his academic training.
It was 1962 before Hinds departed for Zaria District in Northern Nigeria to work as a lay evangelist. Here he developed relationships with the small Christian Community in Wusasa, many of them converts from Islam and also with local Muslim teachers. Hinds would often visit with converts from Islam such as Malam Idi Kano and, usually at the home of the Malam (Teacher).12 He described the exchanges thus,
“Sometimes the argument gets heated but it is because we are talking about things we hold dear. We end in peace and a good cup of tea and refreshments until the next time.”13
In 1966 he was asked by the Diocese of Kaduna (read Diocese of Northern Nigeria) to be the Principal of a new training institute (The Diocesan Training Centre [DTC]) to prepare men for catechist and ordained ministry. Hinds developed a communal style of life among the students. For Hinds his identification with the people led him to consider a cross-cultural marriage before he met and married Wendy in 1970.14 Wendy became a great support to Jeremy, and occasionally when ill health prevented him from presenting a conference paper, she would read it on his behalf. He held the role of DTC Principal for three years and then covered a number of interregnums between Principals until 1979, when a heart attack forced him to leave the DTC and Wusasa. Throughout this period he continued to visit local Malams and to read the debates between Muslim scholars in the Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwobo (tr. ‘truth is worth more than a penny’) and the New Nigerian newspapers. After recuperation in the UK, Hinds returned with his family to Nigeria to take up a post as lecturer at The Theological College of Northern Nigeria (TCNN), Bukuru (he had two years lecturing at Bukuru in the mid 1970’s before continuing his ministry at Wusasa). Here his influence reached students from many of the church denominations founded by the Protestant missions to Northern Nigeria. At the same time he was appointed as a consultant to the Pan African Islam in Africa Project (now PROCMURA – Project for Christian Muslim Relations in Africa) and so was able to share his expertise more widely. In 1987 Hinds resigned from his post at TCNN and was seconded by CMS to work with the Bible Society. One project was to enable the transliteration of Bible passages from Hausa Roman script into Ajami (Hausa written in Arabic script). Although this was never completed in his time, Hinds oversaw the publication by the Bible Society of
booklets in Ajami telling the story of the prophets, Noah, Abraham, Moses etc. It was also during this period that he completed the Qur’an Word Studies, written to stimulate dialogue.
In a visit to Liberia one of the Bishops pleaded with Hinds to relocate there. Hinds felt that he had shared his knowledge with many Christians in Nigeria who were now in positions of leadership and that the need was greater in Liberia.15 It was agreed with CMS that, after a period in the UK, Hinds and his family would base themselves in Monrovia. However by 1991 Liberia had disintegrated into civil war. The plan was put on hold and Hinds turned to dialogue with the Asian Muslim communities in the North West of England (e.g. Oldham, Blackburn, Preston, etc), made up of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who had settled in the cotton mill towns at about the time that Hinds first went to Nigeria. Here Hinds continued his dialogue and debate usually accompanied by Christians from a local church, and often meeting Muslim leaders at the mosque. Hinds was never a lone ranger but, rather he wanted to stimulate the involvement of Christians who lived in communities cheek by jowl with Muslims. Hinds was supported in this work through CMS and the Jerusalem Trust from 1992 until his death in July after a massive stroke.

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