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School’s out and holidays are here!

For many of us August is still the month in which we can get away from it all and enjoy a well-deserved break — a bit of rest and relaxation. The month to switch off; put the tent up, put your feet up and hope that there won’t be too much rain to make the sandwiches soggy.

But should Christians have holidays? If we take time off, shouldn’t that become ‘time on’ for Christian activities, like Bible clubs and beach missions, camps, conventions and mission trips? In a world which so much needs the gospel, can we ever really justify taking time out? Well, yes and no!

David Robertson

Date posted: 1 Sep 2011

David Robertson, with apologies to C.S. Lewis, gives a different perspective on the current church scene in Scotland.

My Dear Diabolos,

Superb job! It really gives me great pleasure to see how well your mission in Scotland is going. It is so deliciously ironic that this land that was once so feared by us, inhabited by the ‘people of the book’, is now almost completely turned around and leading the way to what our enemies, the humans, so stupidly call ‘secularisation’. Ever since the Russian prophets of the 19th century, we have been looking for a way to undermine the basic foundations of marriage and freedom. Now our goal is within sight. How absolutely wonderful that you managed to get the British Prime Minister to declare his intention of ‘redefining marriage’ — while, of course, at the same time talking about defending the family.

Previously we have thought about the way a larger church is a more complicated animal which tends to have more pastoral problems and different expectations of those in leadership.

But these are not the only pressures which go with growth.

An outstanding Nepali Christian leader, Shaha Gurung died suddenly on May 16.

Born on January 23 1960, in the village of Ghachok near Machhapuchhre (‘Fishtail’) mountain, Shaha began a 25-year career with International Nepal Fellowship (INF) in 1978 as a paramedic in leprosy rehabilitation in Pokhara.

The curious thing was to meet all three of them in the last 12 hours of my short midweek break, within half a mile of one another.

They were all quite different; I did not raise the subject, since we met for other reasons, yet they shared this common bond. Was I witnessing the birth of a new movement, or non-movement, for our times?

We are not living in harvest days in the UK.

There are times of spiritual ploughing, sowing, watering, weeding as well as harvesting. We look to the Lord of the harvest, and to the Lord for harvest, but meanwhile we are called to faithfully prepare the ground, plant gospel seed.

Postcode lottery?

Jesus told us to pray for workers into the harvest fields. Yet, we can hardly blame him if they are not there. Labourers are needed for evangelistic work, and they need to be spread across the ‘field’; if some areas are harder to work than others, then more work is needed there.

‘What I've discovered is that what works best with non-Christians is opening up the Bible with them.’

So said Doug, a student at Glasgow University, who was surprised at the effectiveness of discussing God’s Word with non-Christian students, in a forum often called seeker or evangelistic Bible studies.

When the average church is told, ‘now we’re going to do some theology’, the odd keen bean will be on the edge of his pew, but the majority give their brains a rest in the sure knowledge that ‘this bit isn’t that important’.

Such is the place of ‘theology’ in the lives of many Christians in today’s church. Either that, or it’s seen as a danger to steer any would-be students well clear of. Certainly, if it’s a mission-focused church, theology is the last thing they want to spend their time on! Of course, it’s the experience of God and the simple gospel that a church with missional aspirations requires. Not theology. That’s for people who want to ‘go a bit deeper’, but far from essential for every would-be witnessing believer. Or is it?

Among the many distinctive traits of 21st-century global culture is our confidence in technology.

To every problem there must be a solution which technology can supply, if only the science is advanced enough and there is money enough to apply it. And in many areas of our human experience that has been proved to be true, so that we can all be profoundly thankful for the benefits of scientific research in making us healthier, more comfortable and (perhaps) happier than our forebears.

Heathrow airport on a Wednesday afternoon. You buy a tray full of overpriced coffees and carry them carefully over to a group of people sitting round a small table. A teary-eyed missionary saying goodbye to sad family and friends!

It’s a strange mix of excitement and sadness. After handshakes and hugs all round you watch as your missionary joins the queue through security and into the departure lounge. A final wave and he is gone! The thought suddenly comes into your mind, ‘Now what?!’

Over the past five years, more than 3,000 students have taken advantage of UCCF’s student Link-Up scheme.

Through this they are able to register their details with their campus CU before they head off to university or college.

This is an edited version of Hugh Palmer's interview with the Archbishop at New Word Alive in 2011.

This is an edited version of Hugh Palmer’s interview with Archbishop Ben Kwashi of Nigeria at New World Alive in 2011.

Iain Taylor

Date posted: 1 May 2011

Over the past ten years Christianity Explored has become a tried and trusted, often highly informal, method of sharing the gospel.

It works by introducing people to the real Jesus from the pages of the Bible, exploring who Jesus is, why he came and what it means to follow him.

From Aberdeen to Plymouth over 80 CUs have been holding mission weeks up and down the country in the early months of this year, and thousands of students have been hearing about Jesus.

At Exeter, each evening over 200 students, mostly non-Christians, crammed into a caf? for the CU’s ‘Reality’ week’. Many heard the gospel proclaimed for the first time and over 20 made professions of faith. In Edinburgh, 183 seeker questions were answered by the CU. Over 100 students turned up at Lancaster CU’s lunchbars and at Nottingham Trent. So many came to one entitled ‘What is true love?’ that they ran out of food before the talk began! In London, Roehampton usually gets eight at lunchbars, but this year averaged over 40 and Kingston saw a similar growth.

Last October over 200 people filled St. James’s Church, Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, for a service of thanksgiving for the life of Roy Leafe, the church’s assistant minister for six years.

Roy lived the last two years of his life with the diagnosis of bowel cancer, a condition he bore with courage and without complaint.

How do you persuade those who already calls themselves Christian that their understanding of ‘being a Christian’ is inadequate — or even, that they need to become a Christian?

‘I used to go regularly to church, but now I believe that what’s more important is how you live.’ So said a lady to me after church last Sunday.

‘God is Bob, Steve, or any of those generic killjoys that you run into at the pub. Not only are they constantly judging you, they prevent you from having fun. No drinking to excess, no banter, no sin. Worst of all, whenever you decide to chat to a woman he swoops in and stops you. In other words, I don’t want to go to the pub with Bob’ (anonymous student, London).

Is God really like Bob? One suspects that said student is not alone in thinking that God is just one great big cosmic killjoy. According to the gospel of Bob, God is rule maker and sin is rule breaking. The — rather unattractive — solution is rule keeping and salvation is just avoiding an almighty whacking. Who’d want to worship a cosmic headmaster like Bob?

Back in 2007, one of our then PhD students, Sungho Choi, was helping out at a large international prayer meeting for revival being held not far from Carmarthen in South West Wales.

To his astonishment he found himself sitting next to a woman whose face he instantly recognised from the Korean media. Sungjoo Kim had gained celebrity status as a businesswoman who had succeeded spectacularly against all the odds in a fiercely male-dominated society.

As a young evangelist, I had the privilege of being mentored by two wonderful people.

Canon John Chapman was, at that time, evangelist with the Anglican Diocese of Sydney; he was a great communicator who worked very hard on his scholarship to ensure that whatever he said and wrote was accurate and biblical. David Cook was, at that time, director of the Whitfield Institute in Oxford. He was a great scholar who worked hard on his communication to ensure that his accurate knowledge was communicated clearly and effectively. Following in their footsteps as a mentor of young evangelists and a leader of a mission organisation, I do everything I can to encourage my team and associates to be ‘scholar-communicators’.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is unique, wonderful, powerful and true. It is the greatest message in the history of the world. That is why we’ve met together. What will be the legacy of this Congress? Only God knows - we don’t, at this stage. But I can tell you our four-fold vision and hope.

Firstly, for a ringing re-affirmation of the uniqueness of Christ and the truth of the biblical gospel, and a crystal clear statement on the mission of the Church — all rooted in Scripture. We cannot engage in mission unless we know what we believe. The historic missionary conference of Edinburgh 1910 set in motion great missionary endeavour. But it had a flaw — the organisers sidelined doctrine. So they aimed to launch a missionary movement without biblical consensus. That’s folly. We need to have clarity, especially on four things: (i) the exclusive claims of Christ; (ii) the meaning of Christ’s death; (iii) the necessity of conversion; (iv) the lostness of humankind. The Cape Town Commitment seeks to give this clarity.

Leading a group of churches carries enormous responsibilities in the current spiritual climate. John Stevens, recently appointed Director of FIEC, spoke to EN about his work.

EN: Please explain your new role at FIEC.

JS: On September 1 2010, I started in my new post as Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC). According to my job description, I am responsible ‘for providing visionary leadership to and the smooth running of the Fellowship’ so that it can accomplish the goals and objectives determined by the new Trust Board after consultation with the churches.

Slumped in his desk chair, James let his mind wander through the following day’s family service. He would be preaching on Mark 12.41-44 — the widow’s offering.

He sighed heavily; if he had a penny for every time his congregation had heard him speak on giving, he could cover the church’s budget deficit single-handedly. James was always inspired by the widow’s sacrifice, but he needed a fresh way of presenting it — something that would engage the distracted children and teenagers, the busy professionals and parents, as well as the scholarly students and senior citizens in his congregation.

On December 23 2010, Ernest Lloyd went to be with the Lord. He was 98 years old.

By any standard his life was remarkable. At the age of five, Ernest was abandoned to the care of the Naomi Home for Women and Children, run by the Barbican Mission to the Jews. He never knew his father and the only recollection he had of his mother was that of a tall, dark, Italian Sephardi Jewess from whom he inherited his height, black hair and striking looks. Life was particularly hard for Jews during WWI. A timid and melancholic child, Ernest was an object of hatred, called a ‘Christ killer’ and like many other Jewish children, suffered frequent taunts and even stoning.

‘Bring me my books!’ was the Apostle Paul’s demand.

But why? Had he forgotten what he had read? Doubtful. Nor did he need them to supplement the Scriptures as though somehow his library was incomplete without his precious parchments. Paul had a firm conviction in the authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures. And yet he wanted his books.