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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.

John Blanchard has recently brought out a new evangelistic booklet. He talked to EN about the cross in the run-up to Easter.

EN: You have a new booklet out entitled Why the Cross? What would you say is the great attraction of the cross for needy sinners?

‘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.

The vast majority of Christian organisations are suffering from the economic recession. They report a drop in subscriptions and have had to downsize their operations.

Some have had to make redundancies in their personnel. At a time when they might have planned to extend their work they need to contract it and wonder how they will recover if at all. Perhaps Robert Arthington is the one who can solve their problem.

Famous books

The Authorised Version of the Bible (or the King James’s Version) was published in 1611. The precise date when copies began to roll off the presses of the King’s printer seems to be unknown, but it must have been early in the year, as two further editions followed in 1611. It was first published as a large folio volume, intended for public reading in church, and was sold loose-leaf for ten shillings or bound for 12 shillings. It was the work of teams of scholars, whose brief was to revise the Bishops’ Bible of 1568, itself largely based on the work of William Tyndale.

Famous events

Pierre Viret, a Swiss/French Protestant Reformer, was born in 1511 at Orbe, a small town now in the Swiss canton of Vaud, and was converted from Roman Catholicism while studying at the University of Paris. A close associate of John Calvin, he was dubbed ‘The Smile of the Reformation’ for his sweet and winning demeanour and preaching.

Blaise Pascal argued that ‘good men should wish Christianity were true’, and be persuaded of the same.

Imagine a generation of students living among their peers day in day out who were thoroughly convinced how amazing it is to be a Christian, how lovely their Saviour is and how mind-blowingly and heart-singingly wonderful the gospel is. Would they not make a noticeable difference in their halls and sports teams and lectures and tutorials?

We are saddened by the recent death on January 10 2011 of Robin Wells, third General Secretary of UCCF.

It is with sadness that we report the news that Dr. John Bendor-Samuel, Director-Emeritus of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the UK, died following a road traffic accident close to his home on January 6.

John was born in June 1929 and brought up in a Christian family. He was converted to Christ as a child around the age of five. He went on to study history at Oxford and served for a period as the secretary of the Oxford Christian Union, OICCU.

Horizons

Principle: The gospel enlarges my horizons, giving me a concern for God’s world.

Consider this

Barry had been on a foreign holiday once or twice, but he’d basically gone for the sun. Though he loved to eat curry, he’d always been suspicious of immigrants. And he’d never paid much interest to foreign news unless our troops were involved. What had any of it got to do with him?

Lindsay Brown, International Director of The Lausanne Movement, gave the closing address at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation.

The first hope of Congress leaders was, he said, for ‘a ringing affirmation of the uniqueness of Christ, and the truth of the biblical gospel; and a clear statement on evangelism and the mission of the Church — all rooted in Scripture’. The Congress drew 4,000 evangelical leaders and influencers from 198 nations. In addition, the event extended its reach to 650 GlobaLink sites in 91 countries.

Leonardo De Chirico

Date posted: 1 Dec 2010

Setting up a new Pontifical Council is not something that happens often in the Vatican, given the conservative nature of the institution.

Yet Pope Benedict XVI has just released the motu proprio document entitled Ubicumque et semper (‘Everywhere and always’) that establishes the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.

PREACHER, KEEP YOURSELF FROM IDOLS

By Derek Tidball

It became known that a group of foreign extremists — ‘terrorists’ to most people — had re-grouped in London after being imprisoned and tortured in their own country. A City Missionary who spoke their language was anxious to find them, so he quietly sounded out some of his contacts, and after several unsuccessful attempts, met with them in an area that had become almost totally populated by ethnic minorities. He told them that he had come on behalf of the Christians of London to offer advice and sympathy. He spoke of God’s love and of his justice. Most of the group were antagonistic, intent on violence, but the City Missionary went back repeatedly to talk with them.

In one of London’s poorest areas a City Missionary walked through an overgrown garden to knock at a door. A man opened the door, but would not let him in. He was suspicious and troubled. After a short conversation, the missionary offered to return and tidy the garden. The work was done — and the missionary was invited indoors. A friendship developed, and the man began attending the local mission hall to play pool, and joined a Bible study. He began attending Sunday services at a local church, whose members regularly helped with his garden.

Missionaries on home assignment have many responsibilities. They talk to their mission, report to churches, reconnect with their home church, contact supporters, deal with health issues, see family and maybe get some holiday. This article is not addressed to them!

UCCF loves it when students hear, engage with and respond to the love of God expressed in Jesus Christ. We want students to ‘live life to the full’ — that is, to know that Jesus loves them and see that life with him is the best way to live.

Here are some testimonies from students, UCCF Staff Workers and Relay volunteers from this last year for you to enjoy.

All over the UK today, supermarket chains, shops and restaurants are selling halal meat.

We may find it on the menu at our children’s school or the local hospital, or be offered it when we go to a sporting event. If we go for a meal with Muslim friends, any meat we are served will probably be halal. It can be hard to avoid eating this meat, especially as it is often not labelled and little information is available to the consumer.

Being a child of missionary parents is not easy. Heidi Sand-Hart has written a book on the subject and spoke to EN about it.

EN: Tell us about your background. Were your parents missionaries?