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This term has marked the beginning of the annual mission week season for the Christian Unions: weeks of high-profile events designed to reach the wider university with the gospel. In the absence of marquees and lecture halls, they used a range of tools to speak of Jesus: social media, Zoom, podcasts, post and even radio. But this year, it was their most unassuming and understated tool that proved to be the most powerful: friendship. Milla Ling reports:

After a CU member arrives at university, they have a three- or four-year window to witness to the students they meet. During these years of friendship they can demonstrate the reality of what is spoken about at evangelistic events. And, in the context of loving relationship, can gently challenge where a visiting speaker may not be able to.

A new chaplain has joined the Railway Mission – an organisation founded in 1881 to provide pastoral care and support for staff on trains and in stations.

Helen Lewis (see photo) is the new Railway and British Transport Police Chaplain for South and Mid-Wales. Helen came to faith in Christ at the age of 14 and re-committed her life to serving God while at university.

Land purchased for just £60 in 1933 now boasts a 21st-century church complex fit for the future.

Broadstone Baptist Church has just completed its 13-year-long building project on York Road, Poole, Dorset.

The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE), approved by conservative Anglican network GAFCON last year, was formally constituted and commissioned at an online service in April.

It was led by Bishop Andy Lines (see photo) with Archbishop Foley Beach as the preacher. Music was provided by the Glasgow-based New Scottish Hymns Band, and there were many messages of support from around the world, including, movingly, from Stephen Than, Archbishop of Myanmar.

The most recent Annual Population Survey found 1.25 million followers of Islam in London – that’s one in eight Londoners.

If, by God’s grace, the gospel is to flourish among these people – Bangladeshis in East London, Arab-speakers in West London, and Turkish and Iranian communities – it will be due to ordinary Christians faithfully and patiently building relationships, breaking down misconceptions, living and speaking the teaching of Jesus.

Leading evangelicals have announced they are quitting the Free Church of England after the denomination appeared to descend into chaos.

Peter Sanlon and Josep Rossello have both said they are leaving the group, hard on the heels of a dispute which also saw fellow minister Jonatas Bragatto depart.

Global mission organisation Langham Partnership International has a new leader.

Tayo Arikawe will move from his post as Director of Ministries at London City Mission (LCM) to the position of International Director with Langham in April.

London church planting network, Co-Mission, gives an update on some of its newest congregations:

‘Realistically, a few of the Co-Mission church plants in and around London might not come out of this alive. But so far – to the credit of our church planters, the resilience of their launch teams and the goodness of God – none of our recent church plants, nor any of our proposed church plants, have had to close or look like they’re facing imminent death. We pray that this will remain the case.

Evangelism for Every Believer is the title of a new series on the website of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC).

FIEC Mission Director Andy Paterson explains the background to the launch of this new initiative:

en staff

Date posted: 1 May 2021

en explains the latest developments – and what may come

What has happened?

First, independent Christian safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight published a ‘lessons learnt’ report into disgraced former minister Jonathan Fletcher’s time at Emmanuel Church Wimbledon from 1982 and 2012. Previously it had emerged that Fletcher had engaged in naked massages with men as well as beatings on their bare backsides, among other things.

Michael Reeves

Date posted: 1 May 2021

A new theological centre along the lines of Tyndale House, Cambridge, is to open in Oxford this September.

Professor Michael A.G. Haykin, a regular contributor to en, will be serving as the first Director of Newton House when it is inaugurated.

Almost 1,000 church leaders have urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to impose controversial vaccine passports on churches in England.

In an open letter published a few days ago, the pastors and ministers say they are ‘are wholly opposed to this suggestion’ and say that to ‘deny people entry to hear this life-giving message and to receive this life-giving ministry would be a fundamental betrayal of Christ and the gospel.’

Jonny Reid

Date posted: 1 May 2021

Christians in Sport (CiS) is encouraging Christians to return to their sports clubs as lockdown measures ease across the UK.

Since March 2019 the majority of amateur sport has been under restrictions and since November 2020 all amateur sport clubs have been banned from training or competing together. With the stay-at-home order eased on 29 March, outdoor sports facilities have reopened and organised sports have been able to resume in England. Similar restrictions have been eased in other countries within the UK. Gyms and indoor sports facilities are all planned to open again in the next few months.

An evangelical congregational church in West Yorkshire is offering two different kinds of bread to its neighbourhood – the Bread of Life, and ordinary bread as well!

Each week Morley Community Church receives (free of charge) supplies of bread, confectionery, vegetables, fruit and innumerable packets of food of all descriptions. Pictured here is Ray Baker with some of the provisions.

Covid makes it more important than ever for Christians to be gossiping the gospel, according to the London City Mission.

Graham Miller, Chief Executive of London City Mission says: ‘Lots of meetings have been closed, but the opportunities for conversations are still there.’

The North West Gospel Partnership (NWGP) exists to help churches work together to reach the North West with the gospel. The region has a population of over 7 million people and so the task is great and complex. In recent months the Trustees have been revisiting and reviewing the Partnership’s purpose, aims and strategy. Mark Pickles tells us more:

To reach even 10% of the population (700,000 people) we would need 7,000 churches (assuming an average membership of 100); at present we have about 100. Put like that, the sheer size of the task is overwhelming. We are committed to the three-fold task of church planting, church revitalising and church strengthening.

Lis Goddard and Ed Shaw have become Co-Chairs of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), it has been announced.

Ed Shaw is pastor of Emmanuel City Centre Church in Bristol, a congregation established in recent years via a Bishop’s Mission Order. He is also Director of Living Out – an organisation run by same-sex-attracted Christians setting out an orthodox, Biblical view of sexuality.

More than 40,000 people have viewed a beautifully-illustrated presentation of Jesus in its first month of being released.

What is Christianity? was created by Christianity Explored Ministries (CEM). Using rich imagery and a voiceover from Thabiti Anyabwile, it tells the story of human history. It’s the story of our creation by God and our rebellion against Him; the story of salvation found only in Jesus.

Bishop Pat Harris, former Bishop of Northern Argentina and of Southwell and Nottingham, and onetime Secretary of Partnership for World Mission for the Church of England died peacefully in December.

His family write: ‘Patrick was a man of deep faith, with strong convictions as a Christian since his Army days as a young officer. From there he went to Oxford to study law (at Keble College) where he was President of the Christian Union. After attending theological college (Clifton Theological College, Bristol), he was a curate at St Ebbe’s in Oxford from 1960-63.

David Skull (aka Skully) has been serving Grace Church Guildford for the past 13 years. In July he will be moving with his wife Naomi and their four children to lead Grace Plant Brighton. He explains how this happened.

Back in 2012, Montpelier Place Baptist Church sadly closed. It represented a community of Christians who had been gathering in Brighton since 1834. The building was demolished in 2017, but we don’t believe this is the end of the story. Grace Plant Brighton is sowing the seeds of a new church in central Brighton in 2021.

All Nations College has announced an ambitious plan to invest in technology for the College after a loss of £170,000 in expected income due to the pandemic.

They are budgeting £51,000 for a two-person team of ICT personnel that they say is needed. The scheme includes an ambitious new ‘Student Management System’ which will help All Nations to track and to manage all student data more effectively.

Dr Rachel Jordan-Wolf has taken over from Roy Crowne as executive director to lead HOPE Together in the UK.

Rachel has worked closely with HOPE Together since 2010, when she was the Church of England’s National Mission and Evangelism Advisor.