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It’s not often you hear of churches being taken over by beauty salons. But that’s exactly what happened at one East London church recently, all to reach those on the margins of society.

On a rainy day, London City Missionaries Marlen and Amanda-Lee, alongside volunteers from LCM Church Partner, The Liberty Church, came early in the morning to transform a modest church space into somewhere that women could get their hair cut, enjoy beauty treatments for their hands and feet, and hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Mar 2024

A former staff member at the Universities of Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) has apologised for the part she played in an ‘unhealthy and damaging’ UCCF culture, saying she has kept quiet for 20 years out of fear.

Nay Dawson worked for UCCF for 18 years, becoming a team leader in 2006. Writing in Premier Christianity, she reflected: ‘The urgency of our mission and the significance of our role led to an arrogance in my heart. I’d lost my humility… So when I started to notice that things weren’t quite right, I was in so deep. I felt I couldn’t – and so didn’t – ask questions.’

Fred Drummond, the director of the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland, is leaving his role this summer, it has been announced.

Gavin Calver, CEO of EAUK, said: ‘Fred has been instrumental in leading the team in Scotland and has played an invaluable role on the leadership team; providing support for the leadership and wider team, engaging with our members, and inspiring us with his prayerfulness, wisdom and prophetic insight during his 17 and a half years on the staff team.’

Milla Ling-Davies

Date posted: 1 Mar 2024

On Saturday 6 January 2024, Dan James had an encouraging answer to the prayer he’d been praying for 11 years: a church was planted on his council estate in South Leicester.

In 2013, primary school teacher Dan and his wife Jamie moved into Eyres Monsell council estate and their hearts were gripped by both its physical and spiritual needs – there was no gospel church there. ‘Convinced that God’s primary mission strategy is a healthy local church, we started praying for one to begin,’ Dan shared with en. Just over a decade on from those first prayers, after plans, bold initiatives and setbacks, 100 people gathered on the estate this January to commission Eyres Monsell Community Church and Dan as its pastor.

Two new AMiE churches have two newly ordained ministers.

One of the congregations is in Wolverhampton, and began in summer 2020, while the other is on the Isle of Wight, and started in 2023.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Jun 2023

Two mission organisations are planting a foothold in Britain for the first time.

HeartCry Missionary Society is now supporting missionaries in England; while the New Anglican Mission Society (NAMS) is preparing to establish a UK base for church planters.

Milla Ling-Davies

Date posted: 1 Jan 2024

Ferniehill Evangelical Church in Edinburgh finished the year praising God for two big encouragements in 2023 – they moved back into their renovated building and employed their first pastor, Alistair Chalmers.

For over 50 years, Ferniehill Evangelical Church has been faithfully witnessing to the local community in Gilmerton, Edinburgh.

Diocesan Evangelical Fellowships (DEFs) around the Church of England are grappling with what to do following the introduction of ‘Prayers of Love and Faith’ (PLF).

en contacted local groups in each part of the country following the CofE’s move in a more liberal direction in the run-up to Christmas.

The government did overreach itself during the pandemic, delegates at an Affinity event have broadly concluded.

With the backdrop of the government’s Covid Inquiry, the organisation, which represents 1,200 evangelical churches and groups, recently held a symposium bringing various partners together to reflect on how Christians and churches responded to the pandemic.

Do you ever find yourself counting the endorsements at the start of Christian books? Probably not – but someone has to do it!

Which is why the ‘Christian Book Endorsement Awards’ was founded in 2021, to quantify the phenomenon of excessive book endorsements.

A new survey has identified which groups practising Christians tend to share the gospel with, and those people who may miss out on hearing the good news. The research holds significant findings on the attitudes of Christians towards sharing their faith.

The research was conducted by Savanta, and was commissioned by London City Mission, an organisation dedicated to equipping everyday Christians in London and beyond to share their faith. The survey asked practicing Christians to share their confidence levels for sharing their faith with others, with interesting results:

Luke Randall

Date posted: 1 Dec 2023

Former Scripture Union (SU) Scotland CEO Andy Bathgate died on 17 October, aged 68. He leaves his wife Alyson, with whom he shared over 40 years of marriage, and his three daughters, son-in-law, and grandchildren. He died peacefully at home.

Andy was the CEO of SU Scotland from 2001 to 2020, having volunteered with SU since his teens. He was also the Scottish team leader for UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) and was a founding member of CVE (Christian Values in Education) Scotland, serving as its Chair from its inception in 2014 until his retirement from the role in 2022.

Verwer was born 3 July, 1938. His parents were Eleanor Caddell Verwer and George Verwer Sr., a Dutch immigrant and electrician. They lived in Wyckoff, New Jersey, outside New York.

Verwer ‘was an athlete and boy scout, but spent a lot of time chasing girls and getting into trouble,’ as US magazine Christianity Today reported. This included starting a fire in some woods and breaking into someone’s home.

Richard Coekin is stepping down as Senior Pastor at Dundonald Church and Mission Director of Co-Mission in 2024 to pursue a ‘new season’ of ‘ministry, training and equipping church leaders’. 

Coekin has ‘faithfully and courageously served’, declared a statement from the trustees of the Co-Mission Churches Trust, Co-Mission Initiative Trust and the Dundonald Church Governing Elders.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Dec 2022

A radical ‘gospel rescue mission’ that began just last year in Derbyshire is seeing powerful conversions to Christ – and community leaders witnessing the extraordinary impact of the gospel.

Edge Faith Community, part of the national Edge Ministries, is pioneering a form of church and faith community in super-deprived communities. Carl Beech (see photo), who runs Edge Ministries, said white working-class people are probably the most unreached people in Europe and among the most vilified.

Around 60 workers from across the UK gathered in Manchester to explore how their careers and sharing the good news of Jesus were made to go together.

Work+Go Manchester 2023 combined plenary sessions looking at the value of work in God’s world and with seminars exploring the practicalities of working out faith in different vocations such as medicine, coding, art and the charity sector.

Milla Ling-Davies

Date posted: 1 Dec 2023

A new report from the Bible Society has revealed that the fastest-growing church in the UK is the Chinese Church.

In just the last two years, there has been 29% growth in the Chinese Church in the UK – a large jump from the 7% growth they’d seen in the previous ten years. This is largely due to people emigrating from Hong Kong to Britain.

A Soho church is issuing a heartfelt plea for a new pastor to join it in one of the UK’s toughest mission areas.

Andrew Murray, who has been pastor of Hope Church, West End – which serves Soho and Covent Garden – says that after four decades of struggle the congregation is now just nine.

How do we bridge generational divides to make Jesus known together?

The recent London City Mission ‘Diaspora Conference’ was an opportunity to bring Christians together from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and elsewhere, to explore this vital question. With no easy answers to the complex tensions that often exist between generations in our church communities, we focused on listening and learning from each other’s experiences.

Luke Randall

Date posted: 1 Jan 2024

Chris Wigram has been announced by trustees as the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Global Connections (GC). He started in the post in late November, having previously served as GC’s Chair of Global Conventions between 2006 and 2008, and also as a board member. Chris has also served in leadership positions with OMF and ECM.

Global Connections is made up of several organisations and individuals including churches and charities, as well as others. It exists to support the UK church’s mission community at home and abroad.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Jan 2024

London City Mission’s chief executive Graham Miller and his wife Alison are recovering after an assault in Earlsfield. Their daughter witnessed the attack.

Miller said they were assaulted after he ‘challenged some kids for abusing a cafe manager next to the station’. He tweeted: ‘We were both punched repeatedly in the head from behind and Alison was knocked down. Kids were still hitting her whilst on the floor and passers-by had to tear them off.’

Dave Gobbett, Lead Pastor, Highfields Church Cardiff, writes: It is a great thrill to report the launch of a new gospel congregation in South Wales.

November 5th will be the date to remember as the first meeting of Penarth Evangelical Church (penarthchurch.org.uk), planted by Highfields Church, Cardiff. With a core team of around 30 led by three elders, between 70 and 80 people, young and old, mature believers and interested enquirers, are now gathering together each week, committed to Bible-believing, cross-preaching, soul-reaching, and community-creating life together.