Thy kingdom come

Where are we up to?

THY KINGDOM COME
The past, present and future of evangelical Christianity
By Dr. Christopher Catherwood
RoperPenberthy Publishing. 166 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 903 905 371

Dr. Catherwood has put us in his debt with this very readable and informative book which deals faithfully with the past and especially the present of evangelical Christianity and is wisely more cautious about the future.

As the theological basis of evangelicalism, Dr. Catherwood expounds the basis of faith of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. These 11 core truths define essential evangelicalism and unite us. Not everybody would agree that it is necessary for a church to have a mission statement, but we are given two major ones: that of St. Andrew the Great in Cambridge and that of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington.

Most exciting are the statistics of the worldwide progress of evangelicalism, not least in the so-called developing world. This news needs to be widely proclaimed and is a source of great encouragement. Inevitably, and rightly, there is a chapter on the tensions and divisions within evangelicalism. These are dealt with even-handedly. I am probably alone in not getting very excited about American evangelicalism, but the relevant chapter is informative and amounts to an extended review of Steve Monsma’s Healing for a Broken World and Collin Hansen’s Young, Restless, Reformed: A journalist’s journey with the New Calvinists.

I wondered for whom this book was intended and to whom I would want to give it. It is, I judge, for those who want clarity as to what exactly evangelicalism stands for theologically, and for those who will be excited to discover how evangelicalism is spreading worldwide. For such people I warmly recommend it.

Jonathan Fletcher,
Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, SW London

© Evangelicals Now - November 2011
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Main Articles

• Europe doesn't do God?
• The Commentary
  Christianity ignored?
• Man on a mission
  Interview with Andy Paterson
• Confidence on a council estate II
• Are we wrong when we worry?
  Dr. Ruth Eardley, a GP for 25 years, looks at the problem of anxiety
• Hope for Huddersfield
  A call from the South of England to the North
• Snowbirding?
  Dr. Brian Morris on helping church plants in the Costa del Sol
• Being a Christian in the City
• Don't desert your new post
  C.H. Spurgeon tells us not to give up
• Crossing the culture
  Midnight in Paris - nostalgia in the age of amnesia
• The Music Exchange
  Strictly organ
• Unapologetic Christianity
  Apologetics and preaching
• Monthly youth leaders column
  Without a vision?
• Notes to growing Christians
  Sticking with the church
• The Third Degree
  Uncover: Bible reading with non-Christian friends
• Letter from America
  Time to play

Other articles

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Standing firm - Garry Williams on standing firm for the Reformation
• The Finkler Question - Secular shelf life
• John Stott
• Sermon trackr
• Go Stand Speak
• God's names
• Voice of Nonconformity - William Robertson and the British Weekly
• To life - Rediscovering biblical church
• W.E. Sangster - herald of holiness
• Dangerously alive - African adventures of faith under fire
• Forged - Writing in the name of God
• Mad, bad or sad - A Christian approach to antisocial behaviour and mental disorder
• Pioneer missionary, evangelical statesman - A life of A.T. (Tim) Houghton
• Out of the shadows
• The making of the New Testament
• Cara - A hope and a future
• A voyage of discovery - The ups and downs of the Christian life
• Thy kingdom come - The past, present and future of evangelical Christianity
• Secrets to imitating God & Strengthen yourself in the Lord
• When heaven invades earth & Supernatural power of a transformed mind