sharing Christ with Muslims
Reflecting the person of Christ – love them!
Hisham E.M.
Date posted: 1 Jun 2024
Many Western Christians see Islam as a threat, but should we not rather consider that the presence of millions of Muslims in Europe is an opportunity for mission work?
Nothing can catch God off guard (Matt.10:29; Isa. 46:9-11). Do you believe this? The Triune God never holds an urgent general assembly or an emergency committee meeting to deal with a situation He did not foresee. He knows what He is doing.
What shapes your faith? The Trinity?
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). Those three words could hardly be more bouncy.
They seem lively, lovely, and as warming as a crackling fire. But ‘God is Trinity’? No, hardly the same effect: that just sounds cold and stodgy. All quite understandable, but Christians must see the reality behind what can be off-putting language. Yes, the Trinity can be presented as a fusty and irrelevant dogma, but the truth is that God is love because God is a Trinity.
What made Jesus tick? What does it show?
Andrew Nicholls
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
Have you ever watched someone be far, far more loving than you, and wondered how they do it?
I can think of a lady who, in caring for her husband with worsening dementia, showed endless patience, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, helping him with the same ordinary little things, over and over and over again. I never saw her cross, or even a little irritated at her husband for his inability to do the simplest things or to remember anything from one minute to the next. I often wondered how I would be in a similar situation, and I’m pretty sure I would soon be irritated. Her beautiful character was a mystery to me – how did she do it? What made her tick so much better than me?
Ten Questions: Obedience and tribalism
William Wilson
1. How did you become a Christian?
What is the value of running intensive preaching training weeks cross-culturally?
Neil Watkinson
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Having been involved in short intensive weeks of preaching training for pastor-preachers and Bible teachers in Africa and Asia for the last 17 years – six of them based in SE Asia with Crosslinks – it’s been good to reflect on the question: ‘Of what value are these – do they not simply run the risk of cultural imperialism, even in preaching style?’
Local churches across the globe are growing without us, as Christ is proclaimed and the gospel bears fruit. So why do such Bible teaching and preaching training?
a Jewish Christian perspective
‘Are you for us or our enemies?’ Joshua 5:13
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Joshua entered the boundaries of Jericho at the start of Israel’s move into Canaan after the Exodus and 40 years of desert wanderings. There seems to have been a misunderstanding about the nature of what God was seeking to do – using Israel to eradicate sin from the land and establish a kingdom of righteous true-God worshippers.
It is no accident then that Joshua meets a man with a sword drawn in his hand. ‘Are you for us or our enemies?’ The man exclaims ‘No!’ He is for neither and reveals that he is none other than the ‘Commander of the LORD’s army’. Joshua, realising that he was standing before the Lord God, fell face down to the ground in reverence.
'Intense discussions' as Anglican Primates gather in Rome
Rebecca Chapman
Date posted: 1 May 2024
As I write, humid and thundery showers are predicted in Rome, Italy, as the Primates of the Anglican Communion reach half-time in their historic meeting.
Senior archbishops, presiding bishops, and moderators from churches across the globe have gathered for what we are told will be a time conceived as a pilgrimage. They will pray and study the book of Acts, visit holy sites in Rome, and reflect together about the mission and witness of the Church in the world.
everyday evangelism
Should we ‘forget church, and just look at Jesus’?
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 May 2024
In evangelism Christians have an incredible asset which too many think is a liability: the church.
Last month we considered the advertising campaign ‘He Gets Us’, and its tendency to pit a compassionate Jesus against His judgmental people. But it happens in personal conversations too. The failures of Christ’s people might come up, and the strong temptation can be to throw the church ‘under the bus’.
Move over Equality, Equity is the new kid in town: Here’s what it means
Tom Underhill
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Over the past few years, corporate HR departments and public bodies have quietly been wielding their Tipp-Ex in a bulk deletion of the letters ‘a’ and ‘l’. ‘Equality’ has been changed to ‘equity’ in a mass rebranding of EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) departments and initiatives.
Or maybe it wasn’t quiet: perhaps in your experience it was heralded with great fanfare. Either way, this deletion represents a significant extension of the EDI mission, now almost synonymous with the one term, Equity. So what is Equity, what does this change imply, and how should we think Christianly about these matters?
The crossroads of evangelism
Jason Roach
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
The most powerful information we hold as Christians is the good news of Jesus. But how can we be confident in sharing the gospel?
Picture the scene: a busy day, rushing to your local corner shop to quickly get something you have run out of at home. In the chaotic moment, you start observing the other people there, hearing the echoes of their steps and catching snippets of various conversations. Amidst the bustle, your attention is drawn to the woman behind the till. Your heart is prompted to remember that she's an image-bearer of God, precious and treasured. As your focus shifts towards her, you find yourself curious about who she is, her expression and her story - does she know Jesus? As you approach her to pay, you see the opportunity. An opportunity to reach out, spark up a conversation and find a way to talk to her about Jesus. You find yourself conflicted because you're in a hurry and there's a chance you might be misunderstood, or she might not be interested.
women in mission
Two mums, terminal cancer, shared tears - and gospel hope
Naomi Dawson
Date posted: 22 Jul 2024
For two years, Chloe and I stood in the same playground, at the same time, picking our daughters up from the same class and yet our conversation and friendship never went much further than a brief chat.
At times in those first few years it felt like I was back at school myself, wondering how everyone knew each other and how on earth I could make friends.
Ten Questions: Addressing your own heart
Carl Chambers
1. How did you become a Christian?
Ten Questions: Is our gospel ‘too safe’?
Paul Woolley
1. How did you become a Christian?
everyday evangelism
Lessons from ‘He Gets Us’
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
‘He Gets Us’ is a US ad campaign spending hundreds of millions of dollars to prompt faith conversations in America.
It also seeks to lead interested enquirers to do Bible reading programmes and to connect with local Alpha groups. Their most prominent advertisement to date was their 60-second Superbowl commercial, ‘Foot Washing’, re-imagining John 13 with various representatives of polarised groups washing one another’s feet. It finished with the line ‘Jesus didn’t preach hate. Jesus washed feet.’
defending our faith
The church is an apologetic!
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
I have been writing this column in Evangelicals Now for many years. The general theme is apologetics – the defence of our faith – using reliable evidence and being aware of contemporary questions.
I have done so as a lecturer at one of our nation’s Bible colleges. Archaeology, Biblical texts, ethical dilemmas and philosophical questions are all familiar territory for anyone studying academic theology.
Contagious holiness in contentious settings? Making holy the unholy
Craig Blomberg
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
In the ancient Middle East, people took hospitality more seriously than most of us, and were more guarded with whom they ate. Most cultures had dietary restrictions and taboos. In some instances, eating the wrong food could render a person ritually unclean.
But whereas the Pharisees avoided contact with ‘sinners’ so that they would not become ritually unclean, Jesus befriended sinners – because He believed that His holiness was contagious.
Are you ‘two-kingdoms’ or ‘transformationist’?
Al Gibbs
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
One of the perennial questions that Christians ask is how the church should engage with society.
The Bible is clear that individual Christians should share God’s love with everyone in the contexts that God has placed them, but to what extent should the church, as the church, seek to influence society? There are several ways of addressing this question, but in recent years many evangelicals have gravitated to one of two paradigms – either a two-kingdoms model, or a transformationist model. These models or views can get complicated, but it’s useful for Christians to have a basic sense of the strengths and weaknesses of each, as well as being aware of the history.
a Jewish Christian perspective
Life from the dead!
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
Twenty years ago I faced a personal catastrophic event. My 65-year-old Jewish mother suddenly died from a massive heart attack. She was not a believer in Jesus. The shock of the news choked me because I had no assurance of my mother’s salvation.
A powerful feeling of fear and anxiety overcame me as I imagined my mother lost in the loneliness of outer darkness, separated from God. Those thoughts haunted me for the weeks and months that followed.
pastoral care
The God of small things
Helen Thorne-Allenson
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
There are days when the to-do list does not feel very exciting. Weeks when the things calling for our attention feel deeply mundane.
That pile of emails, that piece of bureaucracy, that message that needs passing on – hardly cutting-edge ministry, just stuff that needs to be done. Many of us would prefer to spend our time on things that feel more strategic, more impactful – after all, what eternal fruit comes from signing some cards, chatting about refreshments or filling in a form? But take a closer look at God’s word and we see the little things of life can be filled with meaning and value; they are the context in which much can be transformed.
Are we robbing Peter to pay Paul?
David Baldwin
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
The message of Christ is for ‘all the nations’. Every Christian celebrates this little Biblical phrase because without it we wouldn’t have heard the gospel.
Of course over time many involved in missions have found it more manageable to focus on one particular region or people group. There’s some good sense in that, but I’m far less happy when I hear missionaries saying things like I heard again the other day: ‘The Lord has only sent us among (name of people group)’.
Would you be able to spot a narcissist?
John Steley
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
When we think of the word ‘narcissism’ we may imagine people taking selfies, maintaining an attractive image on social media or something similar. True narcissism, however, is something far more serious.
It destroys communities, churches, marriages, families and individuals. It is not just a case of people showing-off, annoying as that may be. True narcissism is destructive and it needs to be understood. That is why I have written the booklet.* It is a warning for all who work with people – that is all of us.
What is evangelical unity? Does it even matter?
Graham Nicholls
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
What is evangelical unity and does it matter? And anyway, who’s to say what an evangelical actually is, and even then, what would visible evangelical unity look like?
That was part of our discussion at the autumn meeting of the Affinity Council – a group of leaders from churches and Christian organisations that help guide Affinity as we set our priorities.
earth watch
Are we doomed?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
‘We’re doomed’, a catchphrase familiar to viewers of Dad’s Army, might have been Private Frazer’s reaction to the recent State of Nature 2023 report, the first for four years.
It’s a comprehensive analysis of trends in wildlife abundance and distribution in the UK, produced by more than 50 nature conservation organisations.
