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'My name is Kathy. I'm from China, and I'm wanting to find out about God.' What an introduction! As we began to chat, after a lunch bar event at Leicester University, I saw she was like so many international students in the UK. Kathy hadn't been to a Christian meeting before, or even seen a Bible. However, she was curious to know about the nature of God, and fascinated by the person of Jesus.

In London alone there are a quarter of a million international students. Higher Education is bringing the 'nations' to our doorstep, so we can think globally, yet act locally. At an international evening in the Midlands, the Christian Union welcomed students from literally around the globe. From Brazil to Malaysia, Albania to China, Kazakhstan to the Maldives, Japan to Cyprus, they enjoyed food and friendship, as well as hearing something of Jesus. Many churches and CUs are committed to such work, yet 80% of international students in the UK return to their countries without ever having made a British friend, let alone one who is a Christian.

The other week I found myself among the audience of celebrities, record executives and prize winners at the annual Britannia Music Awards or the 'Brits'. It's very unusual for my name to be picked for anything, but as it happened, I had casually voted for certain nominees on the 'Brits' website several weeks previously.

My name was then automatically put into a draw which I promptly forgot all about, until a phone call from the local radio station complete with on-air interview to confirm that I was, for once, a winner. I went from being an ordinary housewife to rubbing shoulders with the stars at the Earls Court all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza.

How can you mix church and jazz? What do God and jazz have in common? Well, the answer is 'a great deal' according to Professor William Edgar of Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

Not only is Bill Edgar a professor of apologetics at perhaps the foremost Reformed seminary in the USA, but he is also an extremely gifted jazz pianist.

When preaching, I often feel I should bow to the congregation, like the teacher who daily bowed to his class of boys. 'I never know,' he said, 'if one day a boy might be important.' There was a boy in his class named Martin. His second name? Luther.

Do you realise that every congregation of Christian believers is a group of important and significant persons?

Edinburgh. Wednesday January 5 1972. Elaine was in the basement of the Scripture Union building near the West end of Princes Street, rehearsing for an evangelistic concert.

Elaine was a gifted, warm-hearted extrovert, a few months away from sitting Higher exams at James Gillespie's High School. She was an achiever: academically across a range of subjects; on the sports field; as a musician with a fine soprano voice; and as a leader. That evening she sang a song about discovering faith, strumming her guitar.

Ray Porter

Date posted: 1 Jan 2002

'He's a Pakistani, but I think he's a Christian', was one of the more bizarre comments from Rochester Cathedral at the announcement that Michael Nazir-Ali was to be the new Bishop.

New syllabuses for Religious Education have shown that there is a continuing debate about which religion should be taught in state schools. The Prince of Wales has declared his desire to be a defender of 'faith' or 'the divine' rather than of any religious group. The Archbishop of Canterbury seems to favour a multi-faith Coronation Service for Charles III. There are some suggestions that the evangelisation of ethnic minorities in Britain should be banned as racial discrimination. It is in this climate that we are to speak about the call to cross cultures with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not just non-Christians who are confused about the link between race and religion.