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Ali writes well, her opening is striking as she describes her mother’s and grandmother’s upbringing in nomadic clans in Somalia. Life is harsh and honour-based, Islam a mere veneer on ancient animistic culture.

EN: What is IFES? Could you explain something of its nature, history and objectives?

LB: IFES is a network of evangelical student ministries in 150 countries. In 1947 leaders of ten national student ministries met in Harvard with a vision to see a witness to Christ among students in every country. The largest movement is in Nigeria where close to 40,000 students meet in small group Bible studies.

Adrian Reynolds

Date posted: 1 Sep 2007

After months of anticipation, Cheltenham Bible Festival (CBF) finally arrived (August 9-11 2007) and, judging by this year’s success, will be around for quite a few years to come. The festival promised much — refreshed for life was the strap line — and it did exactly what it said on the tin.

Those who attended were extremely positive about the three days on the edge of the Cotswold hills — one word heard a lot by the jazz stage, kids’ clubs, main venue, exhibition halls, splash pools, creativity tent and circus area was ‘great.’

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.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Oct 2005

Katrina did her worst. For many years geologists have predicted that the Mardi Gras city of New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen. Situated between a river, a lake and the ocean, New Orleans is also significantly beneath sea level. There are levees (like the Dutch dikes) which exist to prevent the city from being swallowed by the sea. The old French settlers discovered that the city went under water in the summer and so built their houses on stilts.

Despite all such man-made attempts to turn back the basic rules of nature, hurricane Katrina, a force four, ripped through the barriers and destroyed a famous city at the end of August. The news and the pictures and the stories coming out of the area are simply horrific. Not now is there simply the natural disaster (of biblical proportions as one secular commentator noted), but there is also the human chaos inflicted on a society broken down, and rumours and eyewitness accounts of brutality and looting begin to abound.

Academic Theology as it is taught and studied in university faculties (AT in future) has changed progressively over the last 100 years.

It was once seen as the best way to prepare people for ministry, but is now frequently acknowledged to be almost irrelevant to that aim. University theology today is just not intended for that purpose. A senior academic theologian in a university department recently told me that if people wanted training for ministry they should look for it outside the universities, in institutions that aim to provide just that. This is a big change, and churches have not always caught up with the situation. For instance, some Anglican proposals for improving the training of ministers recently urged that there should be more academic theology insisted on for ordinands.

To mark such a special anniversary, a booklet has been produced which outlines this wonderful history. Compiled by IMM’s Hon. General Secretary, David Shillitoe, this testament to God’s work among the mining community makes very encouraging and inspiring reading. The extract below selected by Alicia Felce gives an example.

Having begun in a truly miraculous way with the conversion of a 70-year-old wealthy mine owner, the Mission has moved on to working in challenging situations to bring the gospel to dark places.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Apr 2006

Readers of a certain ilk may recognise the reference to an album from the aged rock group Supertramp: ‘Crisis? What crisis?’ The picture on that album ironically captured a man sunbathing with icons of industrial waste in the background.

For many today, the American establishment’s refusal to act on warnings of global warming has a similarly absurd, ostrich-like head in the sand feel. It would be funny if it were not so tragic.

Stuart Townend’s songs have captured the hearts of Christian people across the whole church spectrum. As he embarked on a new tour, he talked to EN.

EN: What, or whom, are your primary musical influences?

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.

Five substantial but well-proportioned buildings in natural stone overlook the Gloucester County Cricket Ground on Ashley Down in Bristol.

These are now the City of Bristol College, Brunel Campus, but stand as a lasting memorial to God’s amazing power in transforming a profligate sinner, and in graciously providing all the resources to establish and maintain a caring ministry which continues to this day, the bicentenary of his birth. How did this all come about?

Dr. Helen Roseveare, now in her 80th year worked with the Heart of Africa Mission during the 1950s and 60s. Her autobiography Give me this Mountain is a Christian missionary classic. With the publication of her new book Digging Ditches, EN was able to get an interview with her.

EN: What part of Africa did you serve in as a missionary?

The liberty of Christians to live and speak according to their moral beliefs is an area of growing concern to The Christian Institute.

There have been a number of alarming cases recently that demonstrate the rapidly changing attitude to Christian freedom. A street preacher from Bournemouth was convicted by magistrates for displaying a sign which said homosexuality was immoral.

Being a pastor never was an easy job, and in our society’s current secular climate there are extra pressures. Earlier this year EN conducted a survey of pastors to try to get some facts about being in the ministry in these days.

The survey asked ministers to comment on their experience of seven common areas of ministerial difficulty.

A disturbing centrifugal force, seen in the enduring propensity for division among evangelical churches, has been powerfully at work among us for many generations, with devastating effects for the gospel of Christ.

Post-Reformation church history, particularly in the UK and the USA, is littered with evidence of disagreements, splits and rupture among congregations and church groupings, and it is quite staggering how often this has been over truly minor and secondary matters.

Global warming is often seen as either the end of the world as we know it, or as mere media scare-mongering. Which is right?

Could it be that I, a respectable Christian, am partly to blame? Might I need to change the way I live? Before we search for climate changes, we ought first to understand what it is that might be changing.

The fact that Scripture is silent regarding humour generally and, more particularly, regarding humour in preaching, should instil humility in anybody who addresses this topic.

Some Christians might agree with the words of the Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) who said: 'In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so ill-bred, as audible laughter', especially if we add the words 'in church'. Others, however, may feel that the need to discuss such an issue is not only pedantic but is also rather pathetic.

The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) is a global fellowship with ministry in over 140 countries - UCCF is the UK national movement.

EN: You have your World Assembly in 2003. Tell us first about that.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Aug 2002

When I was an undergraduate at university in England, our college hockey team solicited corporate sponsorship from Arthur Anderson accounting LLC. The team used to sing, in raucous and irreligious fashion: 'Arthur Anderson had many sons' to the well-known church tune of 'Father Abraham had many sons'.

Little did I think at the time that Arthur Anderson would be the syndicated accountancy firm hired by Enron. Enron, famously now, has been caught up in an accounting scandal that destroyed the once corporate giant. Now, bad news following upon bad, WorldCom has declared that it overestimated its revenues by several billion dollars. Fast on the heels of that news, venerable stock-safe-haven Xerox has mentioned that it too has overestimated its revenues to the tune of a few billion dollars.

Rupert Evans, former president of Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, speaks out on the spiritual malaise in our colleges and universities.

Many church leaders and youth workers and many Christian parents, relatives and friends encourage Christian students to join the Christian Union (CU) when they start life at university.

The Bible teaches that the earth has been specially prepared to be inhabited. Discoveries in the modern age have shown the spectacular truth of this. The earth has every single one of the many features required for life.

There are many features associated with the earth which make it ideally suited for life. 15 of the most important features are summarised below:

French Christians are bracing themselves for problems resulting from a controversial new law aimed at controlling the activities of dangerous religious sects. But it is also likely to affect ordinary churches.

Some churches were already considering removing the word 'evangelical' from their names, the president of the French Protestant Federation (FPF), the Rev. Jean-Arnold de Clermont, said from Paris.

The red van stopped outside the front gate where straw was laid across it and the post box hung beside a footbath of disinfectant, a spray and a broom.

'Good to see you', called the postman. 'You're the first person I've set eyes on round these parts today!' No wonder he was early: no chats at each door, no going in for cups of coffee.

Nurses have recently been promised a pay increase, but will it be enough to attract young people into the caring professions ...?

Pilgrim Homes is a Christian charity founded in 1807. Inspired by teachings from the book of Job (Job 29.12-13), a group of young people began a work by giving small pensions to elderly Christians living in appalling poverty. That work has grown over two centuries into a network of residential provision that ranges from sheltered accommodation through to nursing care. The guiding force of every Pilgrim Home, and the rock upon which it stands is the Lord Jesus Christ. It strives to provide spiritual as well as physical and emotional support to all its residents and, in so doing, to glorify the Lord.