In Depth:  evangelism

Lydia Houghton

Churches across the country are preparing for a focused period of evangelism. Life ’26 is a nationwide gospel mission, starting in March, where church fellowships will share the gospel with their communities. A Passion for Life (APFL) oversees the mission. This year, the theme is a question: “Ever feel like something’s missing?”

Alex Hillman, APFL’s Communications and Operations Lead, told en: “Over 250 churches, from Thurso in the North of Scotland to St Helier in Jersey, will be joining together to share the gospel with friends, family, neighbours and people in their communities, under a common banner [and] with a shared mission campaign identity.”

Lydia Houghton

A creative media organisation is hoping to reach Gen Z with a five-part evangelistic documentary series.

Fount Sessions has been created by UK-based Christian charity The Stream Collective. Jake Marthinet-Glover, Creative Lead, told en: “Reaching [UK young adults] with the gospel in a way that connects with their worldviews, and shows Jesus to be real, relevant and relatable when most have next-to-no understanding of the Bible, or a Christian worldview, is challenging.

Lydia Houghton

A church in Lancashire has been transformed into C.S. Lewis’ beloved land of Narnia with the hope of pointing visitors to Christ.

Finding Jesus in Narnia, at St Bartholomew’s Church in Colne, was made up of scenes from the stories – cut out of large sheets of plywood and painted. The exhibition included written guides and panels explaining both the story and its Christian elements.

Lydia Houghton

Evangelism organisation Solas recently marked its 15th anniversary, commemorating the occasion with an online celebration, during which the team took the opportunity to thank its supporters, share stories of lives changed, and announce new initiatives.

Solas (the Scottish Gaelic word for “light”) was formed in 2010. Assistant Director for Operations and Communications, Simon Wenham, told en that the vision was to be a public voice for Christianity in Scotland. Fifteen years later, Solas, though based in Scotland, is now a UK-wide ministry.

Lydia Houghton

Lots of young people are responding positively to the question “What would you say if a friend asked you to read the Bible with them?”

In an Instagram reel posted by @uncoverJesus, seven out of nine young people said that yes, they would read the Bible if a friend asked.

Lydia Houghton

With billionaires racing to colonise Mars and build orbital resorts, one theologian is asking: “Who will bring the gospel to outer space?”

Stephen Stallard is author of “The Final Frontier of Mission: Space Tourism, Lunar Colonies, and the Future of Interplanetary Mission” – a chapter in the book New Frontiers in Missiology (2025).

letter from Dublin

Lois McCrea

The Republic of Ireland has seen thousands of people from across the country attend the March for Jesus, which took place recently in Dublin City Centre.

en staff

Beach missions are alive and well – at least if these photos are anything to go by!

Some of the UBM (United Beach Missions) team can be seen getting ready for outreach as the summer season hit its peak.

Lydia Houghton

Street evangelism will be hindered, it is feared, after Birmingham City Council imposed a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

The order prohibits the use of amplification equipment, musical instruments, or “other items used as musical instruments” within the stated “restricted area” – a designated part of Birmingham city centre highlighted by the local authority in the order.

Emily Pollok

By bringing God, Bible study and gardening together, Hazelnut Community Farm in East Bristol is pioneering an innovative approach to living out the Christian faith that reaches their neighbourhood with the gospel while combating the climate crisis.

Located in the grounds of St Anne’s Church, the farm is both a Christian community and a community garden, a space for outdoor worship and a thriving vegetable plot.

Milla Ling-Davies

Amid recent reports of a “quiet revival” and renewed exploration of Christianity in the UK, the question remains: Why the growing interest? A new report from the Evangelical Alliance has helped reveal the answer.

The Evangelical Alliance’s (EA) “Finding Jesus” research, conducted in 2024 and released this June, found that UK adults are investigating Christianity primarily due to a need for meaning and hope – often prompted by a personal crisis.

Milla Ling-Davies

A high school in Belfast has seen a wave of students start exploring Christianity and come to faith – their Christian Union (CU) growing by over 100 people in the last year alone.

Belfast High CU (BHCU) has existed for over 30 years, and nine years ago there were just over 20 attendees. There has been steady growth and encouragements in the years since, until this year the CU jumped from 60 people meeting weekly in a lecture theatre to over 160 in the larger assembly hall.

Lydia Houghton

A Christian association is seeking to fill a reported gospel need in farming communities.

Tony Baskerville, Cheshire-based tenant farmer on the Rode Estate, Scholar Green, and elder at Grace Church, Sandbach, says that farmers are feeling increasingly marginalised. “There is a tremendous opportunity to reach out to them in genuine Christian love,” said Baskerville.

Milla Ling-Davies

After being successfully trialled in churches last year, a new evangelistic film telling the story of the thief on the cross is set to launch.

The one-hour film, Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross, is based on a book by Pastor Colin Smith and has been produced by charity Open the Bible in partnership with The Gospel Coalition. Having already been translated into 20 languages, there are now plans for it be shown in prisons across the UK, with the help of Daylight Christian Prison Trust.

Milla Ling-Davies

After months of prayer, a small group has boldly begun a new monthly service in Haverfordwest – delivered entirely in the Welsh language.

Described as a missional project rather than a church, the initiative (called ‘Rhywd y Brenin’ meaning the ‘net of the King’), was begun by seven people with a desire to better share the gospel with Welsh speakers across Pembrokeshire. They launched the first service on 6 October in Emmanuel Christian Centre in Merlins Bridge, and were delighted to welcome in 22 adults and eight children.

Milla Ling-Davies

Just under 30,000 people have accessed the evangelistic 321 course since it was launched last year – with many committing their life to Christ as a result.

The 321 course was launched by evangelistic organisation Speak Life in October 2023. Uniquely, their series of video-based sessions considering the core beliefs of Christianity can be experienced online as well as in person. In the last year 16,000 participants signed up digitally, while a further 5,000 attended at their local church (over 350 churches ran the course).

Nicola Laver

This year’s Notting Hill Carnival marked the 30th year of Christian outreach at the two-day event, at which two people were tragically killed.

Seven open-air preachers, including city preacher Roland Parsons, proclaimed the gospel across ten hours; gave out 1,400 gospel tracts and free Bibles; and displayed Bible texts to approximately 200,000 people at the carnival on the last weekend in August.

Nicola Laver

An overgrown church graveyard in West Yorkshire has been transformed into a community garden, replete with orchard and pond – and ‘edible graves’.

A small congregation, Morley Community Church, was gifted a redundant building, adjacent to the main shopping street, in 2021 with a large graveyard, many graves more than a century old. Andy Dalton, the church’s secretary, said it had become ‘an eyesore and a maintenance nightmare’.

Iain Taylor

Festival Teesside, featuring evangelist Andrew Palau, was ‘a massive success’ and the ‘fruition of 15 years of hard work,’ says mission organiser Stephen Sutton.

Sutton, who is pastor of Beacon Baptist Church, Middlesborough, also said that the gospel seed had been sown and that local churches were now deploying ‘the skills of the harvest field’ which the Palau team provided.

Michael Ots writes: It was a joy to meet with 130 evangelistic workers from around the UK for the ninth annual FEW (Fellowship of Evangelistic Workers) Conference.

The gathering is organised and hosted by the Association of Evangelists (AofE.org.uk) but has numerous organisations and churches represented and it was a joy to hear of the many and varied ways that people are sharing the gospel around the UK – on streets, promenades and beaches, in educational establishments, prisons, and camps and through preaching, small groups and personal work.

It’s not often you hear of churches being taken over by beauty salons. But that’s exactly what happened at one East London church recently, all to reach those on the margins of society.

On a rainy day, London City Missionaries Marlen and Amanda-Lee, alongside volunteers from LCM Church Partner, The Liberty Church, came early in the morning to transform a modest church space into somewhere that women could get their hair cut, enjoy beauty treatments for their hands and feet, and hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

Jim Sayers

‘Brighton most godless city in England, Census 2021 reveals.’ That headline in the Brighton Argus in December 2022 grabbed people’s attention. 55.2% of the city’s population ticked the ‘no religion’ box, the highest in England. Yet several churches in Brighton continue to thrive, and new churches are being planted.

In 2021 we reported on the beginnings of ‘Grace Plant Brighton.’ David and Naomi Skull moved from Guildford to gather a new church plant. They merged with New Life Church Moulsecoomb (FIEC) to form Grace Church Brighton, Julian Rebera and David becoming elders. They formed a membership in January 2022, and to date that has grown to 23.

Milla Ling-Davies

A former gambler turned evangelist is planning his next mission at the age of 79.

As a young man, Fane Conant bet on horses every day and spent his Saturdays in the casino. After meeting some Christian sportsmen in his twenties and seeing they ‘had something’ he didn’t, he gave his life to Christ – but it took a decade for him to finally stop gambling.

Text-a-Toastie originated at the University of Cumbria in 2008, in response to a university policy that stated students were not allowed inside a hall of residence unless they had a specific invitation from a resident.

During the CU events week, the members were keen to have conversations about faith and give out copies of Mark’s Gospel, so they handed out flyers, inviting students to text them a question in exchange for an answer and, naturally, a toastie.

A new survey has identified which groups practising Christians tend to share the gospel with, and those people who may miss out on hearing the good news. The research holds significant findings on the attitudes of Christians towards sharing their faith.

The research was conducted by Savanta, and was commissioned by London City Mission, an organisation dedicated to equipping everyday Christians in London and beyond to share their faith. The survey asked practicing Christians to share their confidence levels for sharing their faith with others, with interesting results:

Churches have used Halloween to shine gospel light into non-Christian darkness.

St Mary Magdalene Church, Gorleston’s ‘Light on a Dark Night’ transforms its building into an eery, smoke-filled ‘Twilight Zone’ where people have to pass through challenges and seek the Light. Around 400 came along to the event this year.

On 5 November – bonfire night – around 250 people from churches from across the borough of Kingston-upon-Thames gathered at the King’s Centre, Chessington to remember another significant event. This one, however, was no failed plot; it has been a remarkably fruitful endeavour.

The congregation – amassed from different partner churches – heard briefly about the formation of Insight, or as it was known when formed in 1988, RBK Schools Christian Worker Trust. They praised God together for His hand over this ministry during the past 35 years, but also looked forward eagerly to the future, hoping that those gathered would catch the vision and pick up the baton themselves.

Susie Leafe

The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) is growing. Not just because churches are joining or because new churches are being planted – but because God is at work in the lives of ordinary men and women who want to profess their newfound faith in the Lord Jesus.

In June, Trinity Church, Scarborough posted online some fantastic photos (some of which are show here) of a service where nine of their congregation were baptised, which prompted the question, to a WhatsApp group of ANiE leaders, of where else this was happening,

Nearly 400 church leaders and teams from across the denominations and networks in Wales recently gathered at Venue2 Swansea for the annual New Wine Cymru leaders conference.

In the light of the statistical and empirical evidence pointing to a significant spiritual openness in Wales and the UK, the conference theme was creating a Culture of Mission in the Local Church. Conference guest speakers were Paul Williams who is the Bible Societies CEO and research Professor of Marketplace Theology at Regents university Vancouver.

‘What’s stopping you taking the step to become a Christian?’ For Chris, a student at Nottingham Trent University, this Spring was the point at which he was able to answer ‘nothing’ – and give his life to Jesus Christ, writes Kitty Hardyman of Christian student organisation UCCF.

Chris made his commitment of faith attending the Word Alive conference alongside faithful friends from Nottingham Trent Christian Union who had walked with him during the past four years at university. The journey had been long, but surrounded by 800 other undergraduates and the wider church family, it was at Word Alive that the decision was set plainly before him, and he was able to say: ‘I’m in’.

Iain Taylor

Christians Against Poverty (CAP) says it is seeing people come to personal faith in Jesus – against a backdrop of a stark poverty crisis in the UK.

In its just-published annual Client Report, the organisation reports that half of CAP clients have attempted or considered suicide; 56% have had to borrow money for food and clothing; 61% could not afford toiletries; two-thirds had fallen behind with one or more household bills; and half of the budgets devised for clients were unsustainable due to their low incomes.

Nicola Laver

Two mission organisations are planting a foothold in Britain for the first time.

HeartCry Missionary Society is now supporting missionaries in England; while the New Anglican Mission Society (NAMS) is preparing to establish a UK base for church planters.

An event hosted by Christian Unions in the city of Liverpool was so highly anticipated that students had to stand outside the venue to remain in earshot.

Students in University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores, and Liverpool Hope universities (pictured left and centre) came together to host a week of daily, high-profile, evangelistic events entitled ‘Truth Defined’. With students facing a much more unsettled and uncertain future, greater numbers than ever are open to considering faith, with over 100 students crowded into a packed-out venue.

More than 100 teams with thousands of players from around the world have enjoyed a major Christian sporting event.

Christians in Sport hosted its big online World Cup Quiz during the men’s soccer tournament in Qatar. The initiative seized the opportunity to bring sportspeople from around the world together to play and hear a short evangelistic talk.

Nicola Laver

An evangelical church minister has headed for the spiritual harvest fields of TikTok, one of the latest and most popular social media platforms, to evangelise a new, younger audience – and he’s starting to reap success.

David Sims, vicar of St Thomas’ Church in Aldridge, Walsall since 2021, has amassed more than 10,500 followers on his @ tiktok_vicar profile where he runs virtual church services, reads the Bible and raises controversial subjects.

en staff

Two hundred women gathered for the sold-out ‘Women for Mission’ (WfM) Conference organised by the Free Church of Scotland which took place at Culloden-Balloch Baptist Church, Inverness.

The first conference of its kind since 2018, ‘it was a real joy to have a wide age range of participants, including babes in arms whose behaviour was exemplary throughout the whole event,’ the FCoS website reports. ‘We were privileged to have as our main speaker Helen Thorne, Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK, and author of a number of books.’

Well-known evangelist Rico Tice will be working for Christianity Explored Ministries (CEM) full time from next September, it has been announced.

For the past 21 years Rico (56) has worked for both CEM and as Senior Minister for Evangelism at All Souls Langham Place.

‘Our campus needs to know the good news of Jesus.’

These were the words of a member of Aberystwyth Christian Union following three days of outreach on their campus back in November. CUs traditionally hold outreach weeks in the spring term. These weeks provide an opportunity for focused mission: the CU hosts events aimed at welcoming every student at their university to consider Jesus. The gospel is clearly proclaimed, and every guest is given the chance to respond.

At least two new churches have been planted in Ireland in tandem with the recent ‘What’s the Story?’ (WTS) outreach initiative in Ireland.

Christ City Church in central Dublin (some members pictured) had been looking to plant a church in the more residential area in the south of the city to reach the people there.

en staff

Evangelist Glen Scrivener spoke to a packed student congregation at Durham Cathedral when he preached at the Christian Union carol service.

Eastbourne-based Scrivener, author of recent bestseller, The Air We Breathe, spoke on John 1. Afterwards he reported: ‘What a great night. Many moved by the Word. Roll on February when I’m back for a week of events…’

An ‘Evangelism Health Check’ is now live online.

The check is a survey tool set up by the Evangelical Alliance which church leaders can use to gauge how their church feels about sharing the gospel and their evangelism habits. The survey can be run live in services with the results updating in real time so leaders can get an up-to-date and accurate picture of where their church is at in terms of evangelism and mission.

Nicola Laver

A radical ‘gospel rescue mission’ that began just last year in Derbyshire is seeing powerful conversions to Christ – and community leaders witnessing the extraordinary impact of the gospel.

Edge Faith Community, part of the national Edge Ministries, is pioneering a form of church and faith community in super-deprived communities. Carl Beech (see photo), who runs Edge Ministries, said white working-class people are probably the most unreached people in Europe and among the most vilified.

What does mission in the local church look like in 2022?

The answer is that it is as gloriously varied as each individual congregation and its members.

Milla Ling-Davies

If you were asked how a Christian Union runs an evangelistic event, you might guess it would look something like this: a short talk, time for a Q&A, and perhaps some food.

You’d be right. CUs have long operated within this structure and seen encouraging fruit come from it. This year, however, the CUs in Leeds pioneered a different approach.

Milla Ling-Davies

CU mission weeks are back.

Until recently, the idea of hundreds of students sitting chair to chair in a marquee, baguettes in hand and listening to a gospel talk, has seemed laughably out of reach. In the past few weeks however, 77 Christian Unions across Great Britain were finally able to run mission weeks in-person again. After a two-year break, they were uncertain how these weeks of focused evangelistic events might be received.

Richard Baxter, Pastor for Outreach, Carey Baptist Church, Reading writes:

Here in Reading, we recently welcomed more than 90,000 music fans to Reading Festival – an annual music event, originally known in the 1960s as the National Jazz Festival. With such an influx each year, we at Carey Baptist Church want to do something to serve some of them and to speak to them of Jesus.

A new three-week evangelistic course is being launched.

‘We want everybody to find the amazing hope that Christ offers us,’ says Rico Tice (see photo), co-founder of Christianity Explored Ministries. ‘That’s why we’ve created this new series called Hope Explored.’

Nicola Laver

Nestled in the South Wales valleys sits Noddfa Baptist Church, a beacon of gospel light where more than 60 people have been baptised in the last five years.

Noddfa is an area of high social deprivation and unemployment. But the gospel is being preached without gimmick, people are being saved – and on Sunday 15 August 15 people were baptised.

Evangelism for Every Believer is the title of a new series on the website of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC).

FIEC Mission Director Andy Paterson explains the background to the launch of this new initiative:

Jonny Reid of Christians in Sport writes: In the first lockdown, Christians in Sport encouraged sportspeople to Pray STAY Say – encouraging Christians to stay in the lives of their sports mates. As part of that campaign we delivered five online sports quizzes with a short talk explaining the Christian faith. We’re thrilled that over 70,000 people joined in.

In November, the second lockdown saw elite sport able to continue, but for competitive amateur sportspeople, sport halted once more. However, the guidelines gave opportunities for sportspeople to do something outside with one other person, so we launched Train 1-2-1. This brand-new resource encouraged people to go for a run or cycle with friends, and then ask them three questions about Jesus’ identity, mission and call.

Rico Tice (pictured) has launched the 2022 Passion for Life mission with 2 Timothy 1:10, reminding everyone that Jesus has destroyed death.

In a short video he says: ‘I know the pandemic has been brutal, but it has opened things up. [People] are looking for answers. We’ve all been rocked. How can we help people to go from hunger and spectating, to actively following Jesus? Let’s come together as we seek to answer that question.’ A Passion for Life took place nationwide in 2010 and 2014. Tice says the hope is that ‘life and immortality will be brought to light as we proclaim the gospel of Jesus to all corners of the UK. ‘So many are talking about this being a reset. Surely there’s no better time for us to gather together again and proclaim Christ … put March and April 2022 in the church diary, and begin praying and planning for a Passion for Life.’

A recent survey has revealed that more than 300 churches in the UK have been running Christianity Explored courses online since the pandemic began.

Those responding to the survey were very positive about the experience, despite many having had reservations about how effective it would be to run a course remotely.

The Evangelical Movement of Wales (EMW) is rejoicing after new lockdown opportunities for Welsh language outreach.

EMW’s ministries coordinator Steffan Job writes: ‘This has come about despite the bleak outlook when the plug was pulled on camps and conferences. A bilingual website and other online forums have encouraged participants and leaders alike.