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In the city centres of Oxford and Cambridge in June, people from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, Turkey, China, Russia and atheists from the UK stopped to hear a presentation of the gospel as a United Beach Missions ‘Christian Answer’ team preached and witnessed for the Lord Jesus.

Many stopped, asked questions and listened to reasoned, interactive, Christian presentations: ‘How can God allow evil?’, ‘Who am I?’, ‘Reasons not to be an atheist’, ‘Did Jesus rise from the dead?’ And then there were the very many personal conversations as people willingly and eagerly discussed the claims of Jesus Christ.

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) in partnership with the Free Church of Scotland is to offer a new training course at Edinburgh Theological Seminary (ETS), it was announced in September.

FIEC directors will deliver the lectures alongside other experienced pastors which will enable participating students to obtain a new ETS certificate in ‘Independent Church Ministry’.

On 30 June Minister David Meredith of Smithton Free Church was offered the position of Missions Director for the Free Church of Scotland.

In mid July he accepted the position after spending two weeks in prayer and discussion with the elders at Smithton, as well as others in the wider Church.

Supporters of the European Missionary Fellowship (EMF) in the north-west of England gathered at Chorlton Evangelical Church, Manchester on March 8 for an afternoon conference.

A report was given by EMF missionary Volodymyr Kostyshyn, who pastors a church in Ternopil, west Ukraine, both about his own ministry and also about recent political developments in Ukraine.

Beth Keel & Michael Taylor

On the first weekend of September around 25 young people arrived in Whitby for the annual September Bible School.

This year the theme of living as a Christian in the modern world was taken. Andy Patterson (FIEC Missions Director) and Phil Heaps (Grace Church, Yate) were the speakers. Kamal and Emma Zarour shared news of their work amongst Muslims in Manchester.

Christian conferences are often strong on the great matters of the gospel but offer little guidance as to the nuts and bolts of church life.

9Marks Ministries, headed up by Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C., majors on local church related issues and Tuesday 1 September saw the first 9Marks conference in this country. With around 100 church leaders in attendance, it was hosted at Duke Street Church in Richmond where the pastor is John Samuel. The main mover behind the day was Jonathan Worsley of Kew Baptist Church, himself a former intern at Capitol Hill.

Students, staff and supporters gathered on Saturday, 12 September for the WEST Dedication Service to mark the beginning of the new academic year.

Principal Jonathan Stephen explained the values underlying the work of WEST and Union. These are: delighting in God; growing in Christ; serving the church and blessing the world. Jonathan said: ‘We join God’s mission to fill the earth with the glory of Jesus as we are led by the Spirit.’

On Monday 15 June more than 120 people gathered at Bankside Space in Southwark, London – which will be home to The Globe Church – to hear about this new venture.

The Globe Church is being planted in an area of art galleries and entertainment venues with theatres, restaurants and hotels on its doorstep. It’s also home to tens of thousands of people who live in Lambeth and Southwark. The new church is a joint initiative between several FIEC churches in London and the capital’s Co-Mission network of evangelical churches.

On Saturday 27 June the church at Radcliffe Road Baptist Church (RRBC) met with invited friends from other churches to give thanks for Geoff and Maggie King’s 30 years of ministry in Bury, Greater Manchester.

In 1985 Geoff and Maggie left Derby Road Grace Baptist Church, Watford, to re-plant a small and fading work in Bury. Along with David and Laura Higham from Wigan, Geoff and Maggie were supported in this work by their sending churches and by the Grace Baptist Mission.

On Saturday 24 June 1865, James Hudson Taylor visited a friend in Brighton, England. Six years of missionary service in China had intensified his burden for the interior of that great land and its 300 million people.

But there was no mission organisation prepared to launch out into the inland provinces. He was burdened by the fact that every hour of the day a thousand Chinese were dying without Christ.

From mid-September to the end of October, thousands of people will be following with interest the Rugby World Cup in England and Wales. There will be 47 matches at 12 different venues before the final is played at Twickenham on 31 October.

United Beach Missions has produced 100,000 rugby-themed gospel leaflets (written by Roger Carswell) with the aim to distribute as many as possible outside the grounds on match days.

The Fellowship of Faith for the Muslims (FFM) is celebrating their centenary anniversary.

This prayer movement began at the Keswick Convention in 1915, inspired by a challenging address by Dr Samuel Zwemer, the missionary speaker that year. Started during WWI, at a time when little was known about the Muslim world by most Christians in the West, it soon led to hundreds of Christians around the world committing themselves to daily intercessory prayer for Muslims, with branches in different countries.

September 11–12 sees a new initiative in rural Norfolk much in need of life-changing Bible teaching.

‘Word on the Wash’ is a weekend conference hosted by Terrington St Clements Parish Church, near Kings Lynn. The Fens and the area around the Wash may not seem like a dramatic mission field and it is not served by many major roads, but there is a real spiritual need.

It was with great joy that the members and supporters of King’s Church Guildford met on 9 May for a Service of Thanksgiving and Commissioning.

Around 150 people from near and far gathered in the Boxgrove Primary School hall, where the church meets every Sunday afternoon, to give thanks to God for his great goodness in the early months of the establishing and development of the church. It was also an opportunity to pray for and commission the leadership of the church and in particular the pastor.

Matthew Mason

Date posted: 1 Aug 2015

Why is British soil unproductive for the gospel? How can we not lose heart? At St Paul’s Hammersmith on 25 June, The Planting Collective – a partnership of Acts 29, Co-Mission, and the FIEC – heard Tim Keller and John Piper offer answers at their first biennial conference, ‘A Time to Plant’.

It was thrilling to see 400 delegates from across the UK, Europe, Africa and America. 25 years ago, church planting in Britain was unusual. Now, many churches are being planted, in villages and cities, reaching young professionals, the urban poor, immigrant communities and middle England. It was also encouraging to be reminded that there is no mystique to planting. Most delegates and seminar presenters were ordinary pastors of ordinary churches. The central things are prayer, God’s Word, love for people, godly lives and a heart for the lost.

The UK’s rail chaplaincy service, providing pastoral support to rail staff and British Transport Police officers, has from early April been provided solely by the Railway Mission.

Its partner organisation, London City Mission, has moved resources from workplace settings in order to focus on the least reached in the capital – those in poverty and on the margins. The two Christian charities, both established in the 19th century, have worked closely together for many years to provide a confidential listening ear and meaningful advice to people at all levels of the industry. The Railway Mission plans to take on an additional two chaplains by the summer.

2015 sees the 140th anniversary of the Keswick Convention and the possibility of an addition to the current site.

The possibility of securing the land adjacent to the Rawnsley site in Keswick, through purchasing the former Derwent Pencil Factory site, has arisen. In looking at how best to manage a growing event and being keen to integrate many things at one main site, this new step forward will secure the future for a growing summer convention, as well as allowing for an extension of activities at other times of the year.

An independent church in Chippenham, Wiltshire, celebrated the launch of its new building with a community open day on its ten year anniversary weekend.

Emmanuel Church Chippenham (ECC), which has met in a local school since its formation, bought a former Exclusive Brethren building last October. After several months of extensive renovation work, which included levelling the floor, installing windows and repairing the roof, the building was officially opened on Saturday 2 May.