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.
Portugal: rapid evangelical growth
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
UK mission agencies Crosslinks and European Mission Fellowship are hailing the astonishing growth of evangelical churches across Portugal over the last few years, driven mainly by highly intentional church planting.
Data recently published by the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance shows a remarkable increase in church plants by evangelical churches. Fully 44% of the evangelical churches in the country were started after 2001 and over 60% have ‘defined plans and locations to plant new churches in the next five years’. A large majority say their church is growing. These churches range in size from less than ten members to congregations of over 300.
Doug takes up his cross for unreached Londoners
London City Mission
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Through rain, sunshine and 35,000 steps, over 100 supporters of London City Mission took to the streets of central London to take part in the Big London Walk.
This 12-mile sponsored walk, which included a city tour with Christian Heritage London, aimed to raise much-needed funds and awareness for the one in two people in London who don’t know a Christian to share the gospel with them, invite them to church or read the Bible with.
Auguste Rodin’s Thinker and the works of Christ
R.A. Miller
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
‘The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach’ (Acts 1:1).
Auguste Rodin is one of the most famous artists of the last few centuries, specifically in the field of sculpting. If you are unfamiliar with his name, perhaps you will recognise his most famous piece, The Thinker. The statue was originally a part of a series of sculptures based on Dante’s Inferno. Initially small in size, The Thinker was eventually recast into the monument-size work that most of us would recognise. Today, different versions of this pensive piece can be found around the world in places like Paris, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, and Stockholm.
Christian climate scientists speak out
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
The summer heatwave across the northern hemisphere has seen almost uncontrollable forest fires break out from Canada to China, Algeria to Greece, as soaring, record temperatures hit the high-40°sC.
But as soon as the flames were doused, the question on many people’s minds was – to what extent are these record thermometer levels the result of human-made climate change?
How should we respond to the world’s poorest?
Justin Hall
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Living in a post-Covid, post-Brexit UK has been, and will continue to be, challenging. Considering these realities, how is the Christian and the church in the UK to respond to the suffering of the poor, not only in this country, but in other nations too?
There is a fascinating encounter in Acts 10 that shows the gospel door to the Gentiles being flung wide open. What necessitated this glorious opportunity was an encounter in heaven wherein a memorial was brought before God consisting of the prayers of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, and a copy of his financial records – specifically, that he gave much to the poor. It’s also interesting to note that Cornelius was stationed in the region of Israel during Rome’s occupation. This was not an easy time for anyone, and yet Cornelius’ financial generosity can be seen overflowing to those who were of a different nationality and who, to some degree, were antagonistic and unsupportive of who he was and what he represented.
Keswick role
Emma Harrison
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Keswick Ministries has announced the appointment of Mark Ellis as its new Ministry Director, effective from September 2023. He follows James Robson, incoming Principal of Oak Hill Theological College.
Mark has wide experience in Christian leadership, including overseas mission work with OMF, leading UCCF’s team in Scotland and as Director of Christian Unions Ireland, pastoring a flourishing church plant in Dundee, and most recently as part of the leadership team at Christ Church Newcastle.
Niger: plea for prayer
en staff
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Niger Christians are asking for prayer as the country continues to face turbulence.
Mission organisation Open Doors UK says people should pray for the safety of the churches, and especially believers who have converted from Islam.
Long-running camps cut
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
The curtain has come down for good on Urban Saints national summer camps, which have been running across several sites across the UK and Ireland for many decades – though local and regional ones will continue.
Previously more widely known as Crusaders, Urban Saints summer camps for children and young people up to 18 have been run by volunteers since the early 1900s. This year’s camps ran through summer from the very first summer weekend. Interim CEO Richard Giles said : ‘We’re grateful for their servant heart and passion.’
news in brief
Uganda: wife killed for
becoming a Christian
40-year-old Abudullah Waiswa, a Muslim
in Bugiri, eastern Uganda has killed his
wife for converting to Christianity. Amina
Nanfuka, 31, had returned from a medical
check-up
in Kampala, where
she also
attended a worship service at a church.
A
relative
said
‘We went
inside
the
bedroom and
found Amina unconscious
with blood coming out of her mouth. She
was rushed to a nearby clinic, but the doctor
pronounced her dead upon arrival. She had
been strangled and hit with an object around
her mouth’. The couple had three children,
aged 3, 6 and 9.
Very different… but all one
Emma Harrison
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Record numbers of children and young people attended this year’s Keswick Convention, the organisers say.
Keswick Ministries has revealed that of the 10,000 attendees this summer, 2,500 were youngsters and teenagers.
When a ‘naming day’ replaces a Christian prayer
Kevin Bettany
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
A few weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon in the beautiful countryside setting of Devon, an event involving about 50 friends and family gathered to mark our latest grandson’s birth. Called a ‘naming day’, it represented a kind of non-Christian christening.
Partly, perhaps because paganism pre-dates Christianity, my son and his partner hoped, like themselves, that everyone would be touched by a deeper and more meaningful experience of creation. Obviously, as infants, we would have been present when our parents had us either christened with names or prayed over with thanks to God. This event was markedly different and more interactively engaging than a traditional Christian service. As the ceremony began all those present were recognised as having different religious or non-religious backgrounds. This implied, for me at least, that some unspecified acceptance of religious diversity was expected.
Islam in the UK
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Dear Editor,
Just a quick note to thank you for Andrew
Marsay’s piece ‘How can we think deeply
about Islam?’
in the July
issue of en. I
thought this was an excellent article and
Andrew did a great job packing so much into
a short space.
A missed opportunity ?
Statistical evidence would suggest that the commitment of the church in the UK to overseas mission has been on a downward path for some time, whether measured in terms of personnel volunteering to go and serve or in terms of financial support.
Anecdotally, I was asked recently if it was still the case that some Christians offer to leave home to serve the Lord in cross-cultural situations. This was a genuine question from a godly pastor who just had no experience of this happening either in his own church or others which he knew of.