This issue of SPAG highlights charities – which begins at home, and begins with the church. Mercy Ships have been helping with health care and training in poor nations, particularly in Africa.
More than 10,000 people from over 50 nations have served on a Mercy Ship or at one of the many national offices of Mercy Ships and they are always looking for new volunteers.
Again, Open Doors offers a help to some of the 125,000 displaced Christians in Iraq, Suaad is one of these and now she has gone on to help others in the community to get work and share her skills in tailoring.
More, that compassion can be seen in a wide variety of Christian charities, begging the question, where are all the atheist charities? What is atheism really contributing to society?
"Who have been the atheistic equivalents of a William Wilberforce or a William Booth? Or a Mother Teresa, a Graham Staines, a Helen Keller, a Moira Kelly, an Eva Burrows, a Jean Vanier, an Albert Schweitzer, an Eric Liddell (of Chariots of Fire fame), an Oscar Romero, a Dom Helder Camara, a Desmond Tutu or a Martin Luther King?" points out Rowan Forster.
The season
SPAG also also has news relevant to the season: Christmas and the New Year.
Sabrina Meyers urges us to look beyond partying when ushering in the New Year and remember that every day is a day to be spent anew, because when you come to Christ it's a new transformation all over again.
Christians and the issue of divorce
Another big serious issue covered in SPAG this issue is one that touches the lives of many single (and now-single) Christians: divorce.
There is a great importance with showing mercy to those who have been in the position of divorce, and compassion to the divorced person is ignored in many churches.
"If divorce is an unforgivable sin, then consider that God Himself is not forgiven. In Jeremiah 3:6-8 God clearly tells us that He divorced Israel", says Vicki Nunn.
Depression
Another thing that SPAG magazine this issue covers is depression, something that comes up often over the holiday season. There is a vast unknown history of Christians and biblical figures who have suffered through depression. SPAG editor Vicki Nunn reminds us that God is not absent through these struggles.
You can access SPAG – a magazine for Christians – is free online at www.spagmag.com
Bridget Brenton is a creator of visual novels: http://www.christianvisualnovel.com
Bridget Brenton's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/bridget-brenton.html