Four new churches on the same day
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 14 Oct 2024
Four new church plants were launched on a single Sunday, three within the growing International Presbyterian Church (IPC) - bringing the total to 20 churches.
On 1 September, Grace Church Coventry, Christ Church, Headington and All Saints, Exeter were launched. The IPC denomination has, under its ‘2030 vision’, an ambition for 20 new churches by 2030. Jonty Rhodes, elder at Christ Church Derby and chair of the denomination’s church-planting committee said: ‘It’s been an encouraging few years.’ Also on 1 September, a new AMiE (Anglican Mission in England) congregation, Christ Church Hessle, held its commissioning service.
Beach missions bring smiles
en staff
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
United Beach Missions (UBM) holds a variety of outreach events every summer.
Among them, is a ‘Smugglers Trail’ in Benllech, Anglesey.
Three churches unite to launch new plant in Kidderminster
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 30 Sep 2024
In a display of unity, three churches in Worcestershire have overcome stylistic and theological differences to form a new church plant, recognised by the FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches).
Set to officially launch in January 2025, the formation of the new Grace Church Kidderminster occurred after two churches in the Wyre Forest each approached the lead pastor of nearby Woodgreen Church, Richard Lacey, for help. With small and aging congregations, both Kidderminster Evangelical Church (KEC) and Christ Church Wyre Forest, (CCWF) had recognised a need for external assistance – they contacted Lacey within weeks of each other.
Aber 2024: the power of revival
James Allan
Date posted: 24 Sep 2024
The annual conference of the Evangelical Movement of Wales (EMW) took place as usual in Aberystwyth during the second week of August.
The highlight of the conference each year is the preaching of God’s Word in the Great Hall of the university campus. This year’s speaker was David Meredith, Mission Director for the Free Church of Scotland.
Post-election: A tale of two speeches
John Woods
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Preachers, politicians and stand-up comedians still speak to crowds. President Zelensky of Ukraine has combined the last two of these in his colourful career. He has demonstrated the power of well-chosen words delivered in the right place to the right people.
Many speeches have been delivered during the UK election campaign that drew to a decisive conclusion on 4 July.
news in brief
Urban missionary launch
A free hub – created by and for urban missionaries – has just been launched by The Message Trust. The Proximity urban mission resource hub has been created for churches, individuals and other organisations sharing the gospel in UK estates and inner-city communities.
It ranges from videos and podcasts to advice and teaching and further topics ‘covering all areas of mission’. Proximity is also to create virtual and online communities with regular gatherings across the UK. The Message Trust explained why it has launched Proximity: ‘We know just how tough urban mission can be … sadly many have told us they feel isolated and under-resourced. We don’t want that to be the case anymore.’
Olympics 2024: Eric Liddell tracts reach thousands
Christians in Sport
Date posted: 23 Jul 2024
This year presents a huge opportunity to engage sportspeople with the good news of Jesus around major sporting events.
Alongside a Sports Mission Pack, Christians in Sport has partnered with publisher 10ofThose to produce a tract titled ‘Racing for Glory’ on the life and witness of Eric Liddell, a century on from his famous gold medal winning performance at Paris 1924.
Teesside outreach sees 1,400 respond
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 7 Jul 2024
Festival Teesside, featuring evangelist Andrew Palau, was ‘a massive success’ and the ‘fruition of 15 years of hard work,’ says mission organiser Stephen Sutton.
Sutton, who is pastor of Beacon Baptist Church, Middlesborough, also said that the gospel seed had been sown and that local churches were now deploying ‘the skills of the harvest field’ which the Palau team provided.
Christian schools alarmed by charging of VAT on fees
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 24 Aug 2024
The imposition of VAT on private school fees threatens the survival of small Christian schools, which are ‘worlds away from the Harrows and Etons of this world’, the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT) is warning.
Meanwhile, the head of a small private school says Christian parents are being punished, and has challenged the church to support families and Christian education.
‘I was born with no eyes and my husband is blind too’
Philippa Lomas
Date posted: 22 Aug 2024
Philippa Lomas shares her journey of faith and discipleship:
I was born without any eyes and am completely blind. As you can probably imagine, this was a great shock to my parents, who had other, fully sighted, children. My parents are both Christians, but they really wondered what good God could bring out of the situation.
Chance conversation leads to church gift of £10,000
Rob James
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
‘A lift for Narberth’ is more than a building project. It sums up the church’s vision, says Phil Prosser, senior leader of Grace Church.
Narberth is a small but growing market town in south-west Wales with a lively shopping centre, arts and cultural scene, a very active community life, and a charismatic evangelical church with ‘high hopes’ for its future mission in the community.
Irish Presbyterians plan ahead
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) agreed at its General Assembly for 2024 that it needs a radical shake up of mission and ministry, while new Moderator Richard Murray called on the PCI to find better ways of connecting the gospel’s message to an uninterested and at times ‘hostile’ world.
About 1,000 ministers and elders from the denomination’s more than 500 congregations attended the three-day Assembly in Belfast which agreed to what it described as a ‘radical process that will see a comprehensive reconfiguration of ministry’ across the denomination.
Major consultation event addresses ‘recruitment crisis’
9:38
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Where is the next generation of church leaders coming from? Is there really a crisis in ministry recruitment? And if so, how can we work together to address it? This was the theme of a major consultation day held just recently.
The National Consultation Day organised by 9:38 – which serves local churches as they envision people in gospel ministry and raise up the next generation of gospel workers – was held at Yarnton Manor in Oxfordshire.
Timothy Dudley-Smith dies
en staff
Date posted: 14 Aug 2024
The acclaimed hymn-writer Timothy Dudley-Smith, who was also a leading evangelical figure in the Church of England in his generation, has died.
Dudley-Smith wrote around 400 hymns including 'Tell out my soul', 'Name of all majesty' and 'Jesus, prince and saviour'.
'Record numbers' at Keswick Convention announced
en staff; Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 6 Aug 2024
Keswick Convention organisers are sharing their thanksgiving after the close of a successful event this summer saw what they describe as 'record numbers of visitors in recent years'.
This year’s Convention - which focused on the theme of Resurrection - welcomed an estimated 13,000 people to the site across three weeks to hear Bible expositions, and to worship together and spend time in the Lake District. Thousands more worldwide joined sessions online through livestream.
Over 800 youth equipped for mission
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
About 850 young people and youth leaders attended this year’s Sorted one day youth conference, which took place at Westminster Chapel.
Attendees came from a wide variety of Anglican, Baptist, Free/Independent churches and many others. Most were from around London, but there were also groups from Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Brighton, Bournemouth, and Norwich.
Joy at Co-Mission’s ‘Revive’
Adam Malooly writes: Praise God! 23–25
June was a fantastic weekend away as people
from 29 Co-Mission
churches
around
London gathered on a field in Canterbury
to worship, pray, learn from God’s word
and enjoy fellowship.
The occasion was the Co-Mission REVIVE
festival, with this being its 19th year running.
We were
so grateful
to have over 2,000
people come together at the University of
Kent. Being Christians
in our corners of
London sometimes leaves us feeling isolated,
so to be reminded of God’s goodness
in
growing His church here in London for His
glory was a real encouragement. The theme
of the weekend was ‘Faithful through the
Storm’. We reflected on this topic and heard
from our main speakers: Matt Fuller (Pastor,
Christ Church Mayfair), Ray Galea (Pastor, Fellowship Dubai) and Jack Sara (President,
Bethlehem Bible College).
Canopy 2024 draws Scottish Baptists
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Over 400 people attended Canopy 2024, an event for Scottish Baptists in Larbert. The event centred around the theme of everyday discipleship, inspired by Romans 12:1-2.
It featured a range of speakers including Solas Director Andy Bannister, Jenny Walley, Spiritual Director of Novo Mission, and Ken Benjamin, Director of Church Relationships at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC).
Church of Scotland continues freefall
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
The Church of Scotland (Cof S) has announced it is selling around 100 buildings following a period of drastic decline in worshippers and ministers. Buildings on sale range from churches to houses, some dating back to the 1800s – and it has described the decision as a ‘difficult’ and ‘painful’ move.
The news comes after the denomination recently announced at its General Assembly that it is set to close hundreds of churches in the coming years due to a large fall in membership, and that it was ‘unsustainable’ to keep over 1,000 churches open for the number of people attending services.
East Midlands event unites
Pete Harrison
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
More than 350 people of all ages, and from many different churches, gathered together at Brockington College in Leicestershire on Saturday 29 June to enjoy East Midlands Churches Day.
The speaker was Paul Mallard, there was a children’s and youth meeting, plus hog roast, Indian street food, ice cream and various mission exhibitions. There was also an ‘It’s a knockout’ event, five-a-side football, film, bouncy castle, face painting and crafts, and a Q&A session with Paul Mallard.
EMA: remaining ‘rugged’
Kate Peters
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
The recent Evangelical Ministry Assembly (EMA) 2024 brought together evangelicals from across different spheres to encourage and strengthen those involved in Bible ministry.
Under the theme of ‘Steady’, EMA urged attendees to hold fast to evangelical convictions as they grapple over critical decisions facing their churches. The focus on steadiness was not only a theme but a call to action, encouraging all attendees to remain unwavering in their mission despite the challenges of our times. During the three days, the stage was shared by leaders from across the evangelical world: Kevin DeYoung, Michael Reeves, Conrad Mbewe, Andrew Sach, Jason Roach, and James Robson. Speakers challenged those present to remain rugged in faith, to stay true to evangelical history, and to rely on the power of God’s word in our proclamation.
Formation of The Gospel Coalition UK progresses
Affinity
Date posted: 15 Jul 2024
On Tuesday, 9 July 2024, Affinity invited a number of key evangelical leaders to come together to discuss and pray about whether further steps should be taken to launch The Gospel Coalition UK.
This follows a statement in April from Affinity and numerous one-to-one consultations within and beyond Affinity members, Council, and Trustees. Notably, well over half of those attending were from outside the current Affinity network.
You’re the only Christian: what next?
UCCF
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Imagine you arrived at university to discover that you are the only Christian on campus: what would you do?
This is the reality for student Emily who studies at the Northern School of Art in Hartlepool, an institution of around 500 students.
