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Famous books

John Knox’s book, God’s Eternal Predestination, was published in Geneva in 1560.

The Geneva Bible was published late in 1560 by a group of English people who had been exiles there during the persecution of Queen Mary I and led by William Whittingham. A handsome quarto volume, convenient for personal and family use, it had illustrations and marginal explanatory notes. It became the most widely used Bible of the English Protestants.

A thanksgiving service was held on November 2 to celebrate the life of Sheena Gillies, who died suddenly on October 16.

Sheena’s interest in mission began in her early family and church life and led her to study at All Nation’s Christian College and then to UCCF in Scotland as a full-time staff worker. She went on to serve as a teacher and trainer at Capernwray Bible School in Lancashire, at London Bible College (now London School of Theology) as Director of Training, and at All Souls Church, Langham Place, where she worked as a Senior Associate Minister for 11 years. She also taught at events and conferences.

Churches up and down the country are shrinking or closing at an alarming rate and, amid the erosion of our country’s spiritual heritage, Christianity is being systematically driven from the public square.

However, alongside the negatives there are many positives. Churches are being planted, people are being saved and men and women are being trained for gospel ministry. In addition, there seems to be a new spirit of partnership among gospel-minded people. An example of this is the number of churches which have committed themselves to the forthcoming A Passion for Life mission.

Gladys Aylward was born on February 24 1902 to a working class family in Edmonton in north London.

Her parents both worked for the Post Office, and she worked as a humble parlourmaid. It was when Gladys attended a church service one evening and heard about mission in foreign lands that she embraced the concept of people working in far-flung destinations for the Kingdom of God. Subsequently she became aware of the vast country of China which had hardly even heard of Christianity. These thoughts challenged the young Gladys who had given her life over to God’s service, but she was still not sure what that might be.

So, what’s your personal vision statement for this coming year? You don’t have one yet? But we’re on the brink of 2010!

OK, what about your ministry aims? Can you outline them to me in the space of three seconds without breaking into a sweat? No?! Alright then, let me loosen the noose a bit: can you present the projected outcomes of your personal discipleship programme (preferably using bullet points) for the next three years? What do you mean, you can’t even see beyond the coming week you PowerPointless wonder? Take me to your seminar leader — on the double!

I went to talk to Josh who was a student at Loughborough University and is now a UCCF Relay worker there. I wanted to find out a bit more about the Relay programme from a Relay worker’s point of view.

CP: What is Relay?

Josh: Relay is a year of discipleship training in a student context. There’s a lot of training, input from Staff Workers and others involved in UCCF. It involves a lot of study, but also you get to learn by doing and you get chucked in at the deep end. At the same time you’re really supported as well, there’s great teaching and it’s a lot of fun.

If you’re not sure who Michael McIntyre is or what he does then you’re either abroad or refusing to switch on your TV.

He is a 33-year-old stand-up comedian who has experienced a meteoric rise to fame over the last couple of years. He’s come from literally nowhere, largely because of the decision by Prince Charles to put him into his own 60th birthday celebrations as well as a Royal Variety Performance in 2006.

I’ve been very encouraged that churches are planning to use music events as part of A Passion for Life.

I’m off to Morden in South London on Saturday to be interviewed at a concert which in past years has been simply that — a concert. The event has proved very popular, so I’m pleased that the organisers have wanted to include some gospel content to challenge the audience to think about Jesus. An evening like this is pretty easy to prepare and doesn’t create a lot of mess, so for those who thought they could never organise a musical bash, here’s a simple recipe for putting on a top gig.