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Bishop Andy Lines, of the Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) is to be assisted by two new assistant bishops.

Stuart Bell (photo left) who led St Michael’s Aberystwyth, the largest Anglican church in Wales, and Ian Ferguson (right), a minister from Westhill Aberdeen, will serve in the Anglican Convocation in Europe (ACE).

Iain Taylor

Date posted: 1 May 2022

Passion for Life – the movement which has been seeking to see the gospel of Christ preached across the British Isles this recent Easter and which is supported by over 750 churches – is celebrating some of the creative ways it has been used by churches to tell their families and communities about Jesus.

Dundonald Church in Wimbledon, part of Co-mission, held a South Africa-themed ‘Around the Braai with the Bodyguard’. It took 42kg of South African sausage to feed the nearly 300 people who attended the event. They heard some amazing stories from Rory Steyn, about his time as chief bodyguard to Nelson Mandela, and learned how the person of Jesus had an even bigger impact on his life.

Along with the rest of the UK and Ireland, churches across London are preparing for a month of mission in Easter 2022 as part of the initiative A Passion for Life (APFL).

The prayer of those in the London Gospel Partnership is that there might be clusters of churches equipped and actively on mission in each of the 32 boroughs across the city – that many across London might be reached for Christ.

As many parts of the world came to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, so the gospel in turn was brought to them.

A variety of missions groups including Birmingham City Mission, Great Lakes Outreach (GLO) and Youth With A Mission (YWAM) brought teams to the area to work alongside local churches.

‘Never in a million years would you have seen me knocking on someone’s door. That’s someone else’s ministry, I would have told you.’

These were the words of Maria, a member of Forestdale Church in Croydon, South London.

One of the fruits of the ongoing Life22 mission initiative of A Passion for Life has been the initiation of some promising conversations around Scotland about the possibility of the establishment or in some cases re-establishment of Regional Gospel Partnerships (RGPs).

Nick McQuaker, the development officer for the partnerships, has been on a tour around Scotland meeting key church leaders in Edinburgh, Fife, Aberdeen, Moray, and Ayrshire.

John Stevens

Date posted: 1 Oct 2022

The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, after her remarkable 70-year reign, inevitably causes great uncertainty for the future. How might Britain change under her successor?

She has been a focus for stability and national identity in a fast-changing world, and a voice for the centrality of Christian faith in the public square. None of us knows the full extent of her influence behind the scenes, but many Christians assume that she has been a bulwark against ever-advancing secularism and progressivism. They fear that her death will allow these forces greater sway, and that the very integrity of the United Kingdom may be more difficult to sustain without her.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Oct 2022

With modern slavery in the UK escalating, evangelical churches are being challenged to dedicate Sunday 25 September to prayer and taking action to help trafficking victims.

‘Freedom Sunday’, coordinated by the International Justice Mission (IJM), has been chosen as a day dedicated in the UK and abroad for corporate prayer for individuals trafficked into modern slavery – and to take action to end it.

The Free Church of Scotland’s 69th School in Theology began with the life of Alexander Moody Stuart by the Rev John W. Keddie.

It was a resounding and thrilling commencement to the School, writes E.T. Kirkland. It is important to note that this is not a conference but a school, meaning the papers are given by those who regularly attend as opposed to recruiting conference speakers. This has the benefit of enabling ministers to study a particular subject which ordinarily they may not do. Because of this, the quality of the papers exceeds those delivered at conference level.

Iain Taylor

Date posted: 1 Feb 2022

Meron (Mary) Haile has become the first woman missionary from Ethiopia to be a part of Serving in Mission (SIM) UK’s Engage programme. The 29-year-old is now serving with Inspire at St James, Clerkenwell, as part of SIM’s strategy of bringing experienced workers from overseas to work with churches in their multicultural contexts.

Engage helps (mainly urban) UK evangelical churches to share the gospel cross-culturally with the different ethnic and religious communities now embedded where they are. Many churches now recognise the strategic gospel opportunity – on their own doorsteps – to reach those who have not heard the good news of Christ.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Aug 2022

From two to more than 120 people in nine years – a London church plant which began with a couple meeting individuals in the first year before launching as a living-room Bible study, is now planning to send its very first convert to start a new church in West London.

Malcolm Riley and his wife moved to London in 2013 with a desire to reach the next generation from the city centre. They came with literally nothing, having just left St Ebbe’s Oxford; with no staff team, no core group, no salary, no vicarage and no church building. ‘But we had two Bibles,’ said Malcolm.

The Keswick Convention 2022 brought thousands of Christians together this summer under the banner of ‘All One in Christ Jesus’ (see also en, August).

The theme was ‘Grateful’ and there was certainly much for which to be grateful, writes Emma Harrison.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Jul 2022

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not for Jews, a trustee of a Christian-Jewish council has claimed – suggesting that to think otherwise is anti-Semitic.

In an opinion piece in The Times newspaper calling for the end of Christian missions to convert Jews, Zaki Cooper (photo right), a trustee of the Council of Christians and Jews, cited historical Jewish massacres and anti-Semitism in England going back to the 1100s.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Aug 2022

A new programme to help churches tackle issues of porn use and addiction within their congregations has been unveiled, against the background of rising consumption.

According to research carried out by the charity launching the programme, the Naked Truth Project, 13% of UK adults admitted to being addicted to watching pornography. The ‘Church Membership’ programme was launched at a House of Commons event, hosted by Tim Farron MP (photo) and attended by six other MPs and peers.

Around 70 delegates attended the ‘In a Big Country’ conference about rural ministry held at Dingwall Free Church in Scotland.

The conference, which was organised by the Free Church of Scotland, was a great opportunity for delegates to study God’s word, to hear what He is doing in rural Scotland, and to encourage each other.

Welsh Baptist ministers spent some time recently focusing on the pressing issue of ‘Abuse of power in the local church’.

Phil Swann (see photo) of Llanelli Evangelical Church opened up a topic which the Baptist Union of Wales admits is not often talked about but ‘can do great harm’ to both ministers and members. ‘Recent public cases have drawn attention to how church leaders need be more aware of the potential abuses of power within the local church and the damaging effect this can have on those caught up in such situations,’ it said.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Aug 2022

Around 120 people met on a damp Saturday in Cardiff to listen to renowned psychologist Dr Diane Langberg share her deep knowledge of different forms of abuse, grief and on ‘care for the caregiver’.

Dr Langberg has nearly 50 years’ experience working with trauma victims and survivors of different forms of abuse, ranging from sexual and physical abuse; experiences of war; and increasingly, abuse of power in churches.

The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) has two new bishops.

The AMiE Synod endorsed Tim Davies and Lee McMunn as Assistant Bishops under the leadership of Convocation Bishop Andy Lines.

This summer young people and adult volunteers are coming together to run Sports Plus – seven, week-long, residential camps across five locations in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Sports Plus Director Ian Lancaster describes it as ‘serious sports action for the serious sporty young person.’ He added: ‘Competitive young people make friends with like-minded others from across the UK and come under the sound of the good news of Jesus. It is a vital work for these youngsters to start connecting their sport and faith – working out how the gospel enables them to play with freedom, and how it can define their identity in a performance driven world.’

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) is marking its centenary this year.

And to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the organisation has announced that it is gathering 100 gospel projects from around the country to enable church partnerships and fuel prayer for mission.

The 31st annual meeting of the Scottish Reformed Conference has taken place at Hamilton College.

Dr Joel Beeke from Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, USA was the main speaker. He preached on the words of Psalm 22 that Jesus reiterated at the Cross: ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ In the course of his sermon, Dr Beeke reflected upon the profound depths of the real experience of Jesus whilst he prayed this, both what it does not mean and what it does mean. But also from the question ‘Why?’ – what was the purpose of this experience and the infinite love of God and the Lord Jesus Christ expressed in this cry. In his second address, he pressed upon Christians the urgent need to reflect upon the agony of Christ when we pass through sharp and painful experiences in life. He did so in a unique sermon of ten points each beginning with the letter ‘P’. In thanks, our chairman suggested adding another three points likewise beginning with ‘P’, to the positive pleasure of the people present!

Bob Marsden writes: To God be the glory, great things He has done, and He did great things in and through the life and ministry of Justin Mote, who died recently.

Justin was converted while at school and he was nurtured in the faith at Emmanuel Church, Northwood. He studied at Oak Hill but, being too young to be legally ordained, he served as a lay curate at St Mary’s Basingstoke with Alex Ross.

Iain Taylor

Date posted: 1 Jul 2022

Is it possible to be a committed Christian entrepreneur in the world of Scotch whisky? Duncan McFadzean (photo) reckons so.

He is an Investment Banker to the Scotch whisky industry and co-founder of Creo, which exists to ‘connect, train and resource Christian entrepreneurs to advance the common good’.