In Depth:  John Marsh

Years of economic hardship have been capped by the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak. The Farm Crisis Network is a Christian response to these problems. John Marsh reports.

The Agricultural Christian Fellowship springs from one of the professional groups of the UCCF. The Arthur Rank Centre is based at the National Agricultural Centre at Stoneleigh and has been a Christian presence there since its inception. Together they have set up the Farm Crisis Network.

World Book Day has come and gone. Has it made any difference to your life? On World Book Day every child in this country was said to have received a pound book token. What could you do with that?

A pound book token would certainly not buy any of the 50 books which The Independent lists. The literary editor has chosen 50 books from the last 53 years and says why you should read them.

The Parker Pen Company recently ran an advertisement pointing out that their new fountain pen was much cheaper than a computer 'mouse'. Books are probably cheaper than the telephone bill for the internet and can be put in your pocket and taken on holiday. Above all, books can be kept and re-read.

What books are worth re-reading? I have just re-read the seven-volume Life of Hudson Taylor by Dr. A.J. Broomhall. But although I enjoyed it hugely, I am not sure whether I can recommend it as it is out of print. But what a fascinating read as Hong Kong goes back to China.

Have you ever wondered which book you would take to your Desert Island under the rule of 'one only' (and the Bible already there)?

How would you apply it to your holiday spot? Are you going to fly? If so, how heavy is the book? I know one person who took the Lloyd-Jones biography to Africa - but then he was using the long flight to read it for review.

Gaukroger is Huguenot French. His ancestor was Gauche Roger - left-handed Roger. Gauche Roger was a prince persecuted for his faith who fled from France and came to South Yorkshire, where the 'Gauche' was hardened and became 'Gaukroger'. John Marsh talked to Stephen Gaukroger.

EN: I had not realised you were a Yorkshireman.

SG: My father came from Halifax and I was born in Sheffield, but we moved to Leamington Spa in the Midlands when I was young. My father taught maths at the Leamington College for Boys in the early 1960s. Then we moved north to Preston, so I finished my schooling at Preston Grammar and was brought up at Carey Baptist Church there.

During the week, St. Peter's Vere Street in London's West End is home to Christian Impact, but on Sundays it is fully used by Emmanuel Evangelical Church. This is a young, vibrant and growing international congregation. To find out more about it, John Marsh visited their pastoral leader, the Rev. Chua Wee-Hian.

EN: How did the church begin?

CW-H: Towards the end of 1988, a group of primarily Chinese Christians believed that the time had come to launch a new church that would reach out to students and professionals from ethnic minority backgrounds. This would also be in line with the Lord's mandate to 'make disciples of all nations'. So on January 1 1989, Emmanuel Evangelical Church (EEC) was born. Our dream and vision is to grow into an international church.