In Depth:  Lydia Houghton

Lydia Houghton

Wycliffe Bible Translators has paid tribute to one of its long-serving missionaries who has died at 87.

Dr Katharine “Katy” Barnwell served with Wycliffe for over 60 years. Barnwell pioneered locally-led Bible translation: after helping to see the New Testament published in the Mbembe language in 1985, she found that the Mbembe people wanted more translation – the Old Testament as well as translation into other Mbembe dialects – and so concluded that the best way to do this was to get some Mbembe speakers trained. “And so began the revolution in training local Bible translators that has led to the huge growth in Bible translation today,” says Wycliffe Bible Translators. Barnwell’s textbook Bible Translation: An Introductory Course in Translation Principles – first published in 1975 and now in its fourth edition – is the primary training resource for Bible translators worldwide.

Lydia Houghton

Equipping Pastors Worldwide has welcomed David Bhadreshwar as its new Head of Resourcing and Partnerships.

Bhadreshwar and his wife, Naomi, spent almost 20 years in Peru as missionaries – serving indigenous churches through preaching, teaching, discipleship, and pastoral ministry in villages and cities across the jungles, highlands, and coast. Registered with Global Training Network (GTN), Bhadreshwar has remained actively involved in overseas missions training since returning to the UK in 2023.

Lydia Houghton

OMF International UK has appointed Irene McMahon as its new National Director. Irene and her husband, Wilson, have served with OMF since 1989, both in the Philippines and the UK.

In the Philippines, McMahon worked on a church-planting team, trained Sunday School teachers, served as Chief Operations Officer at Koinonia Theological Seminary in Davao, and was Director of Transition for the OMF Philippines Centre. In the UK, she has worked at Belfast School of Theology, All Nations Christian College, and been Regional Co-Director for OMF in Ireland.

Lydia Houghton

Andy Roberts has been appointed as the new CEO of the Church Mission Society (CMS).

Roberts – a former mission partner and CMS director of mission – is originally from York and has lived much of his life in Brazil. There, he spent several years serving vulnerable children and young people, alongside his wife, Rose. The couple launched ReVive – a charity providing shelter and holistic support for girls affected by abuse, exploitation and neglect. In 2021, Roberts was awarded an MBE for his work with vulnerable children in Brazil.

Lydia Houghton

Themelios – an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed, theological journal that “expounds and defends the historic Christian faith” – has welcomed two new members to its editorial board.

Greg Lanier is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) Orlando, and N. Gray Sutanto is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at RTS Washington, D.C. Themelios began in 1975 and ran initially as a print journal in the UK, before becoming a digital journal operated by the Gospel Coalition in 2008.

Lydia Houghton

In a recent Facebook post, musician Mike Posner expressed his desire to serve God.

The 37-year-old pop star wrote: “I’m a professional recording artist and my mission is to serve God and my fellow man.”

Lydia Houghton

Deputy First Minister of Scotland Kate Forbes has announced her intention to step down from the Scottish Parliament at the next election, citing her reason as “not wanting to miss any more of the precious years of family life”.

Forbes has spoken about being a Christian and is a reportedly a member of the evangelical Free Church of Scotland.

Lydia Houghton

Note: This article contains references to sexual assault.

Former lead singer of Christian rock band Newsboys has apologised following reports of “reckless and destructive behaviour”.

Lydia Houghton

Jeremy and Elizabeth McQuoid, who have been heavily involved with the Keswick Convention for many years, are set to move to Canada.

Jeremy has served as Teaching Pastor at Deeside Christian Fellowship Church in Aberdeen, Scotland for the past 21 years. He also serves as Chair of Trustees, Keswick Ministries. Elizabeth is Commissioning Editor at Keswick Ministries, and is behind the widely-acclaimed Food for the Journey daily Bible devotions.

Lydia Houghton

A former OnlyFans “adult content” creator who reportedly made millions of dollars on the site has publicly declared her faith in Jesus.

Nala Ray grew up in church as a pastor’s daughter, and started her OnlyFans account “out of pure rebellion.” OnlyFans is an online subscription-based platform where creators can share content; it’s known for being popular with sex workers and the production of “adult” material for the site. Ray reportedly used the platform to share pornographic content with her paying subscribers.

Lydia Houghton

A self-confessed former “underboss of the most powerful organised crime family in the country”[US] has been baptised.

Salvatore Gravano – widely known as “Sammy the Bull” Gravano – underwent water baptism, declaring he’s asking for forgiveness “not from a judge or jury, but from God.”

Lydia Houghton

British actress and Christian Carey Mulligan has reportedly joined the cast for Netflix’s adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.

The casting has caused controversy so far, with Meryl Streep reportedly in talks to play Aslan – the lion character described by Lewis as “an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question ‘What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?’.” With Streep being a woman, many have expressed concerns at this potential casting choice.

Lydia Houghton

Christian author Jonathan Bryan – known for his campaigning for fellow non-verbal children to be taught to read and write – has died at the age of 19.

Written in preparation for this time, a poem, Song of Life, was shared on his Instagram page with the caption concluding: “When you read this I will be in heaven enjoying my new body and all the freedom that comes with it, but most of all I can’t wait to be with Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith.”

Lydia Houghton

The humanitarian work of Christian mission organisation Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has been honoured by King Charles.

Representing MAF, CEO Donovan Palmer (pictured left), Trustee Max Gove, Deputy Country Director in Uganda Sam Baguma, and Becky Waterman attended a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the King, Queen Camilla and Princess Anne, where the “exceptional” work of approximately 100 humanitarian charities was recognised.