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In 2005, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that if evangelicals chose a Pope, they would be likely to select John Stott.

Stott, who is 85, has been at the heart of evangelical renewal in the UK. His books and biblical sermons have transfixed millions throughout the world, and he has been involved in many important world councils and dialogues, not least as chair of the committee that drafted the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and the Manila Manifesto (1989), defining statements for evangelicals.

It is 1932 and we are in the North East of Brazil. A young missionary is facing a very hostile crowd which has been summoned by the Roman Catholic priest to stop him preaching.

The priest calls out: ‘What bishop ordained the preacher?’ The firm reply comes back: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ who said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel”, it was the Lord Jesus Christ who ordained me’. This is provocation enough for the priest and the stones begin to fly in response, forcing the missionary, together with his Brazilian colleagues, to leave town.

Historically, the most exciting and strategic times of the gospel’s advance have been marked by fierce opposition and resistance from those who find its message offensive and foolish.

In Acts, we read of Paul’s encounter with Alexander the metalworker who did him ‘a great deal of harm’. In the 1780s, Charles Simeon, curate at Trinity Church, Cambridge, preached for ten years to a congregation locked out of their pews by angry churchwardens. Opposition is part and parcel of Christ’s call to mission.

There is a lot to be said for the value of older Christians, that is, those over the age of 55.

They buy more books than anyone else and, generally speaking, have sorted out their lives and are ‘more together’ than their younger counterparts. They have battled temptations and been through the deep waters and, when tapped, are springs of faith and encouragement.

The Rev. Gilbert Kirby died aged 92 on October 15.

He led a very active life which included being the Principal of London Bible College (now London School of Theology) and General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples: ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ (Matthew 9.35-38)

People today are no different from those Jesus met in the first century; they are ‘harassed and helpless’. Can we see them as they really are, in all their desperate need? We are surrounded by those who are lost, separated from God and facing eternity without him, ‘like sheep without a shepherd’. Do we have compassion on them?

Over recent months God has intervened in the life of one local church and a national mission organisation to cause them both great happiness.

Their problem

What seemed to be an impossible situation for the Railway Mission (RM) and Calvary Evangelical Church (CEC) in Brighton proved eventually to be no problem to God.

‘Half the world lives on less than two dollars a day’ (George Bush, June 2001).

They are poor because we have taken their money. 20% of the world receives 87% of its income while 80% of the world lives on 13% of its income. In 1820, income per person in developed countries was three times income per person in underdeveloped countries: by 1992, income per person in developed countries was 72 times income per person in underdeveloped countries.1

Sydney. Home not just to the Opera House and the Anglican evangelicals but also to Hillsong.

Led by Brian and Bobbie Houston, Hillsong is an Assemblies of God church at the cutting edge of modern worship. A London offshoot hires out the Dominion Theatre in the West End. Their latest conference was held in September in London’s Docklands. I went along to the Excel Centre one Friday to find out more.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Nov 2006

On the one hand, it’s a small story. It only relates to 50 students or so. Other than a cameo appearance in Love Actually, Wisconsin is not a name brand state.

On the other hand, this is the third in a row. First it was Rutgers University in New Jersey. Then it was Georgetown University. Now the University of Wisconsin has ‘De-recognised’ the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship group. On October 2, IVCF filed suit.

Every mosque attempts to be modelled on the first mosque built and directed by Muhammad in Medina.

The functions of a mosque cannot be understood without considering the first mosque and its role and rule in the first Muslim community.

Christians go to university with many of the same aims as everybody else. They want to spread their wings, find out who they are . . . perhaps even get a degree.

But there is one aim which Christian students do not share with their non-Christian counterparts. Many will spend much of their time at university being part of a student-run Christian community and trying to persuade non-Christians to join with all kinds of outreach activities.

Pod Bhogal

Date posted: 1 Sep 2006

It has been said that the Christian Union (CU) is the only university club or society that exists primarily for non-members. CUs are mission teams with a clear and focused agenda — to live for Jesus and speak for Jesus on campus. Their main priority is to see students come to a living faith in Jesus Christ.

Although CUs are led by students, Christian Union Staff Workers (CUSWs) have a vital role in keeping our university CUs healthy, vibrant, outward-looking and mission-focused.

As I now think of my life since 1948, I realise that it has followed a clear pattern.

Reading John Benton’s The Big Picture for Small Churches prompted some reflections. It seems that the Lord’s purpose for me was to be, what the business world would call, a ‘trouble shooter’. I should have been prepared for this because every morning at breakfast at Bible Institute I read: ‘Thinkest thou great things for thyself, think them not!’ It is only now, as I look back, that I understand.

Simon Guillebaud is a young man with a mission in one of the most dangerous parts of Africa.

EN: Could you tell us something about your background, (so the readers find out who you are and where you are coming from), your family and how you came to Christ?

Chris Sugden

Date posted: 1 Aug 2006

Post the General Convention of Anglicanism in the USA, Chris Sugden sees power struggles and reversion to tribal religion.

The General Convention of The Episcopal Church (TEC, formerly known as ECUSA), which met recently, did not meet the requirements of the Windsor Report to place a moratorium on blessing same-sex unions or electing and consecrating bishops in same-sex relationships.

Leon Lamb Morris, who died on July 24, was perhaps Australia’s most prolific biblical and theological author. He wrote over 50 books of theology and biblical commentary which have sold nearly two million copies worldwide and been translated into many languages.

This is an astonishing output for an Australian writing technical or academic books. He was well known throughout the Christian world as a careful, conservative biblical scholar. Extraordinarily, Morris received no formal theological education, apart from two years of supervision for his doctorate in Cambridge. He was a self-taught theologian who brought his rigorous and disciplined training in scientific enquiry to his study of the Bible and theology.

One of the basic features of church life in the US today is the proliferation of worship and music forms.

This, in turn, has caused many severe conflicts both within individual congregations and whole denominations.

Recently I went to my normal weekly church Bible study meeting (we are studying Romans) and had an enjoyable time of fellowship and study.

The next day I was due to sit in on a Bible study run by Community Bible Study International, and I have to admit to wondering what it would offer that would be distinct from my normal group. Of course, the fundamentals were similar — such as prayer and a focus on studying the Bible to understand it and apply it to one’s own life. There were however, differences about this ministry, and I found myself firmly convinced of the high value it has as a way of reaching people and strengthening their faith by grounding them ever more in the Bible.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jun 2006

It is an interesting experience having lived for so long as a foreigner. Before coming to America, I lived for a year in the former Soviet Union, and before that for a year in Canada, but by and large most of my life was spent in England (a good ten years of it in Cambridge).

Having now lived for seven or so years in America, it’s becoming increasingly true that I feel the sense of being without home that, for the Christian, underlines the spiritual reality of this world not being our home but that we are ‘just a-passing through’.

More and more the 21st-century church is striving to reach into the local community. Scan the job pages in the Christian press and you will find advertisements for youth workers and community workers abounding. Look carefully at the job descriptions and you will uncover a real desire among Christians to get out to where people are on a day-to-day basis: shopping centres, hospitals, schools, youth centres, sports clubs…

Pastoral workers and lay people alike are being encouraged to join the visiting teams of local hospitals and hospices, to set up after school clubs, to get involved in crèches in large shopping centres. This is all about the local church reaching out.

When Nigel Lee first discovered he had life-threatening cancer he said to a friend ‘this is when people get to see if I really believe all I’ve been preaching about all these years.’

We have. He did. And now he is with the Lord in the glory of eternity and the famous Lee smile is broader than ever.

I’m very pleased to announce the arrival of Oliver George Simpkin on May 27. 8 lbs. and rising. Why give The Times all my money when I can announce his birth for free in Evangelicals Now?! I’d also like to announce that Oliver has already been given his first tambourine. Philly and I are hoping that it will be his last. No kazoos either, please.

At the start of the academic year, I asked for prayer for students at the various music colleges. This is a mission field in which we’ve seen three or four new births this year. We’re full of praise because Jesus has proved himself powerful to save young men and women as they’ve heard and believed the gospel. With all the pressures they face, we have had to rely on the power of the Word of God to be brought home to their hearts by the Holy Spirit. We’ve been humbled by our own weaknesses in proclaiming that gospel, but Jesus has shown his strength through our weaknesses time after time. He is faithful to his promises to save.

Relocating? As we saw last month, it’s a complicated business for Christians on the move. While issues like closeness to family or schools loom large and programmes like Escape to the Country push the line of finding the perfect house, Christians are faced with the challenge: how to move in a way that keeps the gospel central?

Whatever the presenting reason for moving — a need for more space, a new job, the need to care for family members, Christians only thrive when they are being fed by God’s Word and are part of a church family where they can use their gifts to serve and encourage others. This means that, for those of us who are thinking of moving house, the aim should be to put finding a church like this at the top of our list of priorities. In other words, to put those glossy house brochures to one side until it is clear which church it is right to settle in: one where the Bible is preached clearly and faithfully and where there will be opportunities to serve and encourage others. This month EN talks to four people, Jennifer, Bill, Richard and Jane (not their real names) who have sought to do that. They tell us how they went about it, what issues they faced and how they feel now about their decision to put church first.