BARNABAS ENCOURAGEMENT
Newsletter
October 2026
Dear Friends
This is the second Newsletter that we are sending out to a number of our friends that we have known and worked with in the Lord’s service. They bring back precious memories to our minds.
As you will see on our website there are other sections that may be helpful to you. In this newsletter, there is another article in the Evidence for God section, on creation. There is so much incredible evidence for God in the design found in creation, all of which point to God’s intelligent design. A church friend of ours Mike White, who has studied these things for many years will be supplying a number of articles.
Last month I mentioned the book George Muller Autobiography which Inspired me in my early days of ministry. Another book that has inspired me for many years is, Billy Bray – The King’s Son.
Billy Bray was born in 1794 in Twelveheads, Cornwall, England, UK. He was the eldest of three children born to William Bray, a miner, and his wife Ann. William Bray died when his children were young, and they were cared for by their grandfather. After leaving school, Billy Bray worked as a miner. During this time, he was a drunkard prone to riotous behaviour. In 1821, he married Joanna, a lapsed Methodist.
In 1823, he had a close escape from a mining accident and later said that he was converted in November of that year by reading John Bunyan’s Visions of Heaven and Hell. He became attached to a group of Methodists known as the Bible Christians and became a well-known but unconventional preacher, his sermons being enlivened by spontaneous outbursts of singing and dancing.
Second-hand copies of these books are available on the AbeBooks website for about £3/4 each.
We do need to pray much for the persecuted Christians in the world. Hebrews 13:3. Reads-
Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourself are in the body also.
Over 365 million Christians face high levels of persecution and discrimination worldwide for their faith. [Roughly 1 in every 7 Christians worldwide experience severe persecution or discrimination.
Open doors website can give you up to date news on the latest persecution.
Evelyn and I are now in our 80’s, getting weaker, and needing walking frames with wheels to keep us steady. But we are very blessed. Evelyn has a lovely apartment in the village of Stubbington, and we are part of a non-denominational church called Shoreline Christian Fellowship.
In closing this Newsletter, we will leave you with a verse of scripture from psalm 24 verse 11 –
The Lord will give strength and peace to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
You are always in our hearts and prayers
Love and Blessing
Jim and Evelyn