One of the church members, Ian Cameron-Swan, is taking the gospel message to all nations without leaving Chester!

Ian's literature trolley
As a world mission enthusiast Ian welcomed his retirement from full-time employment as the ideal opportunity to spend more time making contact with overseas visitors to Chester. His idea was to befriend them through personal contact on the streets in the city centre and to present them with some Christian literature in their mother tongue.

He realised that this would involve carrying a considerable stock of literature on to the street. He would also need to make an attractive display to draw the attention of passers-by. And so the trolley was designed, and then built with the help of one of the church members who is a skilled craftsman.

Fully stocked with Bibles, Bible portions, booklets and leaflets in most of the world's major languages the trolley had its first public outing in August 1997. To date Ian has had well over 400 days on the streets since that first outing. He has extended a hand of warm friendship to people from virtually every part of the globe, presenting literature in 53 different foreign languages. In addition to his stock of literature in foreign languages he has 50 different pieces of literature in English. On average Ian gives out 150 pieces of literature per month.

During Tell-a-Tourist fortnight in July (see details on the Special events page) the trolley is used by the team. Ian is able to give members of the team the benefit of his know-how, and experience the joys of having some enthusiastic helpers!

Literature display

It's good to talk!

The Submarine Thetis
This is a very sobering story of a submarine built at the Cammell Laird's yard in Birkenhead. She sailed out into Liverpool Bay on 1st June 1939 packed with crew and observers for her diving trials. She sank with the loss of 99 lives - all because a small blob of paint had not been cleaned out of a valve! In the leaflet this is used to illustrate the fact that just one sin means that we have broken God's law and are under condemnation, but that God has provided an "escape hatch" through the death of Jesus His son.

After 2 months on Ian's trolley the special exhibition has been out on loan. Currently it is on display at the Fort Perch Rock Fortress on the promenade in New Brighton. (Telephone 0151 630 2707 for opening times.) The full text of the leaflet can be found below.

If you interested in the story of the Thetis and would like to know more there are several sites where pictures and information can be found. For example follow this link.

Launch of the Thetis

Rescue attempt

The Hiding Place
"The hiding place" was a secret small room in the house of a watchmaker in Haarlem, Holland. It was built to hide Jews from the occupying German army in the second world war. Showing remarkable courage and nerve the watchmaker's family gave food and shelter to many Jews before the hiding place was discovered by the Gestapo.

As a consequence of this discovery the watchmaker's two daughters were taken off to the infamous Ravensbrück concentration camp. But the sisters were able to smuggle a Bible into the camp and teach their fellow-prisoners about God's love. One opportunity was closed but another opened!

Corrie ten Boom, one of the daughters of the watchmaker, tells the full story in her book "The Hiding Place" (ISBN 0340208457).

"Handy Ron", another craftsman from the church, has made a wonderful model of the ten Boom's house. The roof can be removed to reveal the hiding place. It helps to bring the story alive, as does the leaflet that Ian has produced. See the text below if you would like to read it. The model is available for loan for public display if you feel that you can use it to good effect. Send us an e-mail if you are interested.

Corrie's moving story has made a huge impact on many people's lives. In response to the interest shown in the book mentioned above a film was made in 1977. A short version of the book has been produced by Soon. Visit Soon's website to see the text and some pictures.

The ten Boom shop

Corrie by hiding place entrance

Bible study in the camp
(a still from the film)

Betsie and Corrie ten Boom were two middle-aged sisters from Haarlem in Holland. Arrested by the Germans, they became political prisoners of war in Ravensbrück, the notorious extermination camp. They were thrust into No. 28 barracks to share the fleas, the darkness, the stench and the overcrowding with a hundred other women. The women slept on straw nine to a bunk meant for four. What a contrast to their spotlessly clean home where they lived with their father, the local watchmaker.

Why were they arrested?

When Holland capitulated to the Germans the Gestapo lost no time in hunting down Dutch Jews. The ten Booms knew that the Jews who were caught faced almost certain death in the camps. So they built a secret hiding place in the top floor of their home. The Gestapo carried out a brutal raid on the watchmaker's premises. As they searched the house the Gestapo found the hidden ration books and hidden radio, but not the hidden Jews.

Betsie, Corrie, their father, and the friends who were visiting them were taken prisoner and moved to Gestapo Headquarters in the Hague.

The family were devout Christians and used to read the Bible together each evening. The evening of their arrest Father ten Boom quoted from Psalm 34 v 7 "You are my hiding place and my shield. You will preserve me from trouble and surround me about with songs of deliverance."' As the journey to Ravensbrück began Corrie's sister-in-law gave her a small Bible .

The wickedness, horror, and anguish of that concentration camp almost defies belief. Women's roll call was at 4.40am. Whatever the weather they had to stand to attention in the open air, wearing only cotton prison dresses and shoes. Black bread and thin gruel twice daily was the staple diet. Heavy manual work such as repairing roads continued until 6pm.

By evening time the women were exhausted and dirty. Yet they were eager to hear Corrie and Betsie reading from the Bible in the dim light of the one bulb. Many of these women trapped in the wretched conditions of the camp were slowly changed as they became convinced Christian believers. They came to know for themselves the comfort of God's love in Jesus Christ in that dreadful situation.

Why did Corrie and Betsie thank God for the fleas? Because it opened up the way for God to change people.

The Germans inspected every barrack at least once a day, but No. 28 was full of fleas and they did not want to go near it. So, no inspection took place. This gave the sisters freedom to teach the Word of God unhindered. And the women who listened learned that no pit is so deep that God's love is not deeper.

Romans chapter 8 from verse 31 onwards gives real encouragement in times of suffering: "If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution . .? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Jesus Christ sustains believers in trouble through faith and shares their burdens with them. Dear reader we urge you, "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the person who takes refuge in him" (Psalm 34 v 8)

Text of The Submarine Thetis leaflet
The loss of the submarine Thetis in 1939 must rank alongside the Titanic as another disaster that need not have happened.

The Thetis was built at Cammell Lairds, Birkenhead, and sailed out at 10 am on June 1st for her diving trials in Liverpool Bay. She was extremely overcrowded with her officers and crew on board, together with Navy civilians and employees from Cammell Lairds. The total was one hundred and three.

After a splendid lunch the captain invited any who wanted to disembark to come up topside, but nobody appeared. At 1.40 pm Thetis prepared to dive. Her main vents were opened but something was wrong, and by 3 pm she was still near the surface.

Everything was checked including the torpedo tubes. In order to make sure there was no water in them, two holes in a test cock in each tube had to be aligned. If no water came out they knew the external doors to the sea were properly shut. Torpedo tubes 1, 2, 3 and 4 were dry when tested and opened.

The test cock holes on tube 5 were carefully lined up and since no water came out it was assumed that the external door was shut. The operator decided that it was safe to open the internal door. With a rasp and a crash the door was flung backwards out his hand. Water poured into the ship.

The submarine began to plunge at a steep angle when the lights went out and the Thetis hit the bottom. Engine room tools and spare gear came crashing down. Within 18 hours all had perished apart from four men who had survived by using the escape hatch.

The main cause of the disaster was a small blob of paint in no. 5 test cock that had not been cleaned out. This prevented the tell-tale sign of water coming through, so the tube was thought to be dry when actually it was wide open to the sea!

So ninety nine perished because one spot of paint had not been cleaned out. God says that we are all doomed even if there is one spot of sin in our hearts (Revelation 21:27). We are told to keep the Ten Commandments "without spot" (James 2:10).

One broken command leaves us guilty before God, who is holy and cannot allow anything which is defiled into heaven. This policy of "zero tolerance" towards sin shows God's justice. But the provision of an "escape hatch" shows His love. The only escape route from hell is via the Cross, where "Christ offered Himself without spot to God" (Hebrews 9:14).

So because the Lord Jesus Christ is the only perfect person who has ever lived He was able to satisfy the laws of God on our behalf. If we humbly turn from our wrong ways He will wash away the sin that blocks our pathway to God and heaven.