Women for mission – and a laugh
en staff
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Two hundred women gathered for the sold-out ‘Women for Mission’ (WfM) Conference organised by the Free Church of Scotland which took place at Culloden-Balloch Baptist Church, Inverness.
The first conference of its kind since 2018, ‘it was a real joy to have a wide age range of participants, including babes in arms whose behaviour was exemplary throughout the whole event,’ the FCoS website reports. ‘We were privileged to have as our main speaker Helen Thorne, Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK, and author of a number of books.’
Church plants spurred on by Irish mission initiative
Mark Loughridge
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
At least two new churches have been planted in Ireland in tandem with the recent ‘What’s the Story?’ (WTS) outreach initiative in Ireland.
Christ City Church in central Dublin (some members pictured) had been looking to plant a church in the more residential area in the south of the city to reach the people there.
‘Flux’: students share Jesus in Aberystwyth
Daniel Stafford
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
‘Our campus needs to know the good news of Jesus.’
These were the words of a member of Aberystwyth Christian Union following three days of outreach on their campus back in November. CUs traditionally hold outreach weeks in the spring term. These weeks provide an opportunity for focused mission: the CU hosts events aimed at welcoming every student at their university to consider Jesus. The gospel is clearly proclaimed, and every guest is given the chance to respond.
Abundant love
David Lowries
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Book Review
GOD SHINES FORTH:
How the nature of God shapes and drives the
mission of the church
Read review
Fuddy-duddy? Really we’re ‘slightly zany’
Vivienne Birch
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
‘To be honest, some people see EMF (European Mission Fellowship) as a bit fuddy-duddy’, a pastor recently confessed to mission director Andrew Birch.
Well, if the next conference is anything like this year’s, it will be fresh, joyful, challenging, and totally encouraging. ‘Fuddy-duddy?’ Not so much!
news in brief
Hatun Tash
The Metropolitan Police have apologised
to evangelical street preacher Hatun Tash,
paying her £10,000
compensation
for
wrongful arrest and unlawful imprisonment.
A former Muslim, Tash had asked the police
for assistance on two occasions when she was
being harassed by Muslim demonstrators
– but
they arrested her
instead.
In one
case, she was held in custody for 24 hours
before being
released without charge. A
police inspector wrote and apologised for
the distress she suffered and acknowledged
‘that on these occasions the level of service
did fall below the requisite standard’.
FIEC 100 multiplies into 170 and more
FIEC
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
A bumper crop of mission initiatives is being highlighted by the the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) as it continues to mark 100 years since its founding in 1922.
‘Back in the spring we asked our churches to tell us about what they are doing to further the mission of proclaiming Christ and His gospel. We hoped 100 might respond and we could share their news; in the end we received more than 170 submissions,’ said Adrian Reynolds, FIEC Head of National Ministries and Chairman of the en Board.
The chilling history of Christian anti-Semitism
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Friday 27 January marks Holocaust Memorial Day – the commemoration of one of history’s most heart-rending chapters. But how did a plan that resulted in the death of 6 million Jewish people originate in what was a supposedly Christian nation?
The church in Acts was almost entirely Jewish, which explains why – in Acts 10 – Peter receives a vision of a large sheet full of unclean creatures to encourage him to visit the Gentile Cornelius.
culture watch
Anti-Semitism among us today
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
As a Jewish believer in Jesus, and CEO of International Mission to Jewish People (www.imjp.org), I was interested to see what comedian David Baddiel had to say about the marginalisation of Jewish voices and the massively growing problem of anti-Semitism in the world today.
Do we have a theology of disability?
Kay Morgan-Gurr
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
We love theology in the evangelical church. We want to know what God says about all sorts of things in the Bible. We soak in what those who have studied theology say, and sometimes we study it ourselves with the books that we read and the podcasts we listen to.
But do we, as evangelicals, have a theology of disability?
Rico full-time with Christianity Explored
Christianity Explored Ministries
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Well-known
evangelist Rico Tice will
be working
for Christianity Explored
Ministries
(CEM)
full
time
from next
September, it has been announced.
For the past 21 years Rico (56) has worked
for both CEM and as Senior Minister for
Evangelism at All Souls Langham Place.
Symes goes off-stream from Mainstream
Paul Eddy
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Andrew Symes is to stand down as Executive
Secretary of Anglican Mainstream on 1
January 2023 after nearly ten years in post.
Symes, 56, who had earlier
served with
Crosslinks
in South Africa,
joined Anglican
Mainstream in 2013 to further its work amongst
orthodox Anglicans in the UK.
Check your evangelism
healthcheck.talkingjesus.org
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
An ‘Evangelism Health Check’ is now live online.
The check is a survey tool set up by the Evangelical Alliance which church leaders can use to gauge how their church feels about sharing the gospel and their evangelism habits. The survey can be run live in services with the results updating in real time so leaders can get an up-to-date and accurate picture of where their church is at in terms of evangelism and mission.
Doubt on Welby’s future role
Paul Eddy
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
If the Church of England moves towards blessing same sex-marriage, or ‘opts into’ allowing gay marriages in its churches as a result of the Church’s General Synod meeting in February 2023, ‘pain and distress will be felt by millions of faithful Anglicans across the globe’, and ‘significant questions would be asked as to whether Archbishop Justin Welby would be able to continue to lead the Anglican Communion.’
So says the Mouneer Hanna Anis, Archbishop Emeritus of Egypt, a global Statesman within the Anglican Communion and an adviser to the primates of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), whose provinces represent 75% of Anglicans across the globe.
Churches bridging the north-south gap
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
A partnership between two independent churches – one in a middle-class southern area and the other on a Yorkshire council estate – is bridging the north-south divide and advancing the gospel.
Banstead Community Church lies 13 miles outside central London in leafy Surrey which, along with Sussex, is the wealthiest part of England according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). ‘Average wealth’ is said to be £263,000 by the ONS.
From a kibbutz and New Age to the New Covenant and Christ
Charles Gardner
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
A Messianic Jewish pastor is greatly indebted to Christians with a special love for the people of Israel. For without them his family would not have discovered Jesus as their Messiah.
Now helping to lead a congregation in Haifa, Jonathan Arnold describes his faith journey as being ‘from New Age to the New Covenant’.
Have we lost sight of the central message of salvation?
Jon Barrett
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Converted aged 20, I’ve been a Christian for 34 years and an ordained minister for 24. Add to that the fact that I was brought up in an evangelical family and you’ve got over half a century of life lived in and around the evangelical world.
Recently, I’ve found myself spending quite a bit of time ruminating on how evangelistic preaching has changed over that time period and how- much to my concern- it now tends to focus almost entirely on the benefits of the gospel at the expense of the substance of the gospel.
Bishop’s task
en staff
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
The new flying bishop for conservative evangelicals in the Church of England, Rob Munro, takes on his role at a critical time.
Dr Munro, who has been Rector of St Mary’s Cheadle, will be a crucial voice in future votes and discussions on sexuality which are at a critical stage. The former Maths and PE teacher, will have a special national ministry to parishes of a complementarian evangelical theology across England.
politics & policy
Winter woe: strikes & Strep A
James Mildred
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
You’d think as we prepare to celebrate Christmas this year, free from the overhanging threat of Covid-19 restrictions, that there’d be a bit more festive joy and cheer in the air.
Except there’s a lot of angst, depression, and exhaustion. Nowhere is this more obviously illustrated than amongst our political class. What with MPs like Sajid Javid announcing they’re not standing next year (although one Boris Johnson is standing…) and the melodrama (should that be psychodrama?) of three prime ministers in three months, it’s been especially fraught.
Anti-Semitism then and now
Do many people in Britain, including Christians, and our own evangelical constituency, lack insight when it comes to Jewish people and to the reality and impact of anti-Semitism?
The answer is yes. Read firstly Jewish believer Gary Clayton’s chilling history of Christian anti-Semitism (here). Read secondly the review of David Baddiel’s recent TV programme (Jews Don’t Count) by his fellow Jew, Joseph Steinberg, CEO of the International Mission to Jewish People (here), who will be joining our rota of occasional contributors in 2023. And thirdly read the thorough, wise and definitive judgement last week of the Disciplinary Tribunal investigating Stephen Sizer (here). (You can read the entire ruling online by searching online for ‘Church of England tribunal decisions’). There can be no doubt.