WHAT are we going to buy him/her for Christmas this year? It’s a problem that comes up every year, especially when the intended recipient seems to have everything, so why not use it, with the recipient’s agreement, as an opportunity to bring in the Kingdom of God? What I mean of course is to help people who have far from everything, particularly in the third world. You can send a cow to Africa, provide school materials for a child in Nicaragua, seeds for a farmer in India; many charities have a catalogue of gifts nowadays and the ideas are endless. And your recipient will have the pleasure of knowing that someone who needs it has been helped in their name.

There are other ways of bringing in God’s Kingdom. This week from the Stroud area alone a lorry load of shoeboxes full of gifts for children who would not otherwise get anything for Christmas has started on its journey to bring a smile to lots of young faces. If you didn’t fill a box this year, make sure you get involved next year through one of the many churches, schools and other establishments who support Operation Christmas Child.

Then what about making sure you support the Fair Trade movement? A couple of weeks ago SNJ reported the story of two local young women who are determined to do something about near slave conditions in the third world clothing industry by making fairly traded clothes available. God’s Kingdom gets nearer when justice prevails and material goods are more fairly shared. This Christmas let’s celebrate the birth of the One who came to bring peace – Stroud’s Community Carol Services, at St Laurence Church in Stroud, take place this year on December 9 – and make sure we bring God’s Kingdom a little nearer, both in our own community and those further afield.

Derek Jowett Church secretary Stroud Baptist Church