Mullally 'gaslighting' church - claim
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 17 Oct 2025
A leading conservative evangelical in the CofE says Sarah Mullally has led the way in an attempt to “institutionally gaslight the entire church.”
In an article published by the Gospel Coalition in the USA, Lee Gatiss, Director of Church Society, writes: “The biggest challenge for the new Archbishop is the crisis of trust and credibility she faces. She has led the way in an attempt to institutionally gaslight the entire church, claiming that she and other revisionist bishops are not changing the doctrine of the church on marriage and sexuality, even while they attempt the most radical change to Church of England teaching and practice for 500 years.
Addressing the 'sins' of segregation and nationalism
Neil Robbie
Date posted: 26 Aug 2025
As I drove from Sutton Coldfield to West Bromwich on Monday's bank holiday (a distance of eight miles) I passed dozens of Union Jacks and St George's Crosses fluttering on lampposts.
This phenomenon is not unique to the West Midlands. It’s spreading across England.
Holiness rooted in the heart
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 16 Oct 2025
The difference between an evangelical and a non-evangelical understanding of holiness can be seen well in a difference between the 17th-century Puritans and their contemporaries, the high-church Caroline Divines. Perhaps the most influential of the Carolines was William Laud (1573–1645), Charles I’s Archbishop of Canterbury.
Laud loved what he called “the beauty of holiness”, by which he meant liturgical orderliness. He strictly insisted that the clergy must follow all the rubrics of the Church of England’s prayer book, and was deeply concerned with clergy attire and the maintenance of church buildings and their physical beauty. And it was a particular sort of building he preferred: despising the Reformation – or “Deformation,” as he called it – he preferred new churches to be built in the pre-Reformation, Gothic style, with an architectural emphasis on an altar instead of a Communion table. For, he said, “the altar is the greatest place of God’s residence upon earth, greater than the pulpit; for there ’tis Hoc est corpus meum, This is my body; but in the other it is at most but Hoc est verbum meum, This is my word.”
An interview with new UCCF head Matt Lillicrap
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 14 Oct 2025
This summer saw more than 1,000 students descend on The Quinta Christian Centre in Oswestry, Shropshire, for the annual Forum conference, hosted by the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF).
Attending the gathering for the first time in his role as CEO was Matt Lillicrap, who took over leadership last autumn. en had an exclusive opportunity to chat with him about all things student ministry, just as UCCF is launching its brand-new Uncover Luke publication.
Ten questions with Chris Sugden
en staff
Date posted: 12 Oct 2025
Chris Sugden has been married for 52 years to Elaine, a retired consultant cancer doctor, with three married children and nine grandchildren. He leads the PhD Programme of the Oxford Centre for Mission and Public Life with Stellenbosch University and is an associate minister at St Andrew’s Dean Court, Oxford.
1. How did you become a Christian?
My father was a vicar, as was my maternal great grandfather in Ireland, and I was a choirboy. So I grew up in the Christian community. I committed my life to Christ in the Sixth Form through the work of VPS camps at Lymington.
2. What lessons have you learnt since that you would want to pass on to a younger Christian version of yourself?
Do not be afraid to stand up for what you know is right. You may lose (a role or post) in the short term, but God will use it to open new and wider fields of ministry.
3. How would you describe your prayer life?
Based on a daily reading of the Bible, focused on family and ministry needs and tasks, and shared with and helped by my wife.
4. Which two or three Christian books apart from the Bible have most influenced your faith?
Shadow of the Almighty by Elizabeth Elliot which I read as a student, to dare great things for God and expect great things from God. Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez challenged me to take the Bible seriously on its teachings about the poor.
5. Who or what have been your biggest Christian influences?
My senior colleagues Vinay and Colleen Samuel with whom we worked in Bangalore for six years, and their family, and have continued to work with in a variety of ministries since then. They combine global vision, high academic standards, and grassroots involvement among poor people.
6. What are the main challenges you believe Christians face today?
To maintain the Biblical and Christian teaching and practice of man/woman marriage as taught in the Bible against the pressure to conform to passing preferences in the culture.
7. What encourages and what discourages you?
I am encouraged when someone steps forward and takes up a task as part of a team. I am discouraged when I see clergy trying to be one-man bands.
8. What makes you laugh?
Morecambe and Wise, Yes Minister, Dad’s Army, Private Eye, and jokes our grandchildren send us.
9. What would you want to say to the wider evangelical world?
Do not give up on the Anglican Communion around the world, whatever some noisy people in the CofE might do. Christians in Africa and Asia have a lot to teach us about keeping faith and passing it on.
10. Which Biblical person (other than Jesus) do you most look forward to meeting in glory and why?
The apostle Thomas. Did he really travel through West and South Asia and establish churches there, including the churches in India which are thus far older and have a deeper history going right back to Jesus than many Western churches?
Ministering in an area of deprivation today
Jonathan Macy
Date posted: 11 Oct 2025
Reflecting on one’s journey through life and ministry is always a fascinating exercise, helping us see where God has been actively working beyond our efforts.
In 2014, I joined the Church of the Cross (Thamesmead), which is in an area of significant deprivation, at a time when it was facing significant challenges, and I quickly realised that my college hadn’t prepared me for the realities I was now stepping into.
How can we grow leaders together?
Clive Bowsher
Date posted: 4 Sep 2025
“It takes a village to raise a child,” so the proverb goes. It certainly takes local congregations to raise future leaders who will shepherd Christ’s church.
As the vine flourishes and discipleship grows, some of the fruit is leaders given by Christ to enable further growth (e.g. Ephesians 4v7-16). And there’s a distinct role to play too for organisations and teachers able to bring additional theological expertise. Importantly, it all happens in the context of the vine (John 15) or, to switch metaphors, in the body of Christ.
Are we praying with eternity in mind?
Andrew Drury
Date posted: 8 Oct 2025
There is a familiar theme in many prayers written by saints who have gone before us. It is noticeable in the prayer by the Polish-born reformer Zacharias Ursinus (1534–1583).
His prayer commences conventionally, with the acknowledgement to God the Father that we are weak - for we are being attacked by the Devil, the world and our own flesh unceasingly. The prayer includes the plea that the power of the Holy Spirit would keep and strengthen us, so that we would not be defeated.
the ENd word
Trust and obey like Joshua
Jon Barrett
Date posted: 7 Oct 2025
Back in the sultry, sunny days of the summer just gone, I spoke at an event that is an annual highlight of my year. It’s a bit of a niche gig, but it’s a weekend-long camp for Christian anglers.
From Friday evening until the middle of Sunday afternoon we live under canvas and pass the time sharing fellowship, eating together, fishing, and meeting for short Bible talks, times of prayer and worship, and an outdoor communion service on the Sunday morning. This year we took “Courage” as our theme and we began by looking at the first chapter of the book of Joshua.
letter from Liberia
Building the church in West Africa
James Stileman
Date posted: 29 Aug 2025
In an episode of Come Fly with Me, the BBC’s 2010 satirical fly-on-the-wall documentary set in a fictional UK airport, Ian Foot, the Chief Immigration Officer, challenges a passenger from Liberia for travelling under a forged passport. “The slight giveaway,” says Foot smugly, “is there is no such country as Liberia.”
The affronted passenger, appalled by the officer’s racism, points to Liberia on a map of West Africa and the humiliated Foot lets the visitor through.
New Archbishop poses challenge for evangelicals
en staff
Date posted: 3 Oct 2025
Evangelicals in the Church of England are facing fresh challenges following the announcement that Sarah Mullally is to be the new Archbishop of Canterbury.
The appointment of a woman with liberal views on a number of issues will prove difficult not only for reformed evangelicals in the CofE but for the wider Anglican Communion, which is more conservative than the Church of England.
Evangelicals condemn synagogue attack
en staff
Date posted: 3 Oct 2025
Evangelicals are among those expressing their horror after an antisemitic terrorist attack at a synagogue in Manchester.
Two people were killed and four others left in a serious condition following the incident, which took place at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, a large Ashkenazi Orthodox synagogue founded in 1935.
letter from America
Christian Nationalism, OK?
Josh Moody
Date posted: 29 Sep 2025
One of the hot topics of the moment is regarding so-called “Christian Nationalism”.
The very phrase strikes terror in some – the word nationalism sounds to them perilously close to nationalist if not fascist. For others, looking at the growing demographic trend of Islamic populations in the West, or the rise of the “Nones” with no religious commitment at all, reconstituting a specifically Christian approach to national government is a needed realpolitik response to what will otherwise be increasing persecution of Christians in time to come. All this has become even more heated with the recent tragic and appalling assassination of the Christian leader and political advocate for contemporary Republicanism, Charlie Kirk. What are we to think of it all?
CU mission encouragements
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Christian Unions (CUs) have seen an increase in the number of students professing faith during their mission weeks.
In February, as they do each Spring, nearly 100 CUs across the UK held mission weeks on university campuses – a series of themed evangelistic events spread out over five days. While CUs have often seen students profess faith in the days and months following mission weeks, this year they saw many make a commitment during the weeks themselves.
EEA has a new president
en staff
Date posted: 27 Sep 2025
Andreas Wenzel is the new president of the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA). He succeeds Frank Hinkelmann, who held the post for 12 years.
Wenzel was elected at a “hybrid Members Meeting Bar” in Montenegro, which gathered some EEA leaders in person and others online. The event also included a meeting with local pastors in Montenegro to discuss unity and mission, and support for the growing evangelical community in the country. The EEA seeks to represent 23 million evangelicals in Europe.
Four decades of faith and fellowship: The Quinta celebrates 40 years
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 23 Sep 2025
In the heart of a “sleepy” corner of Shropshire sits The Quinta Christian Centre – a country house on 50 acres of estate, offering meeting spaces, accommodation and camping for Christians. But 2025 isn’t just any year for The Quinta – it’s its 40th, and you’d best believe celebrations have been taking place.
On a Saturday afternoon, as a long, sunny summer drew to a close, around 150 people from local churches gathered at The Quinta for coffee, cake, and an opportunity to reflect on the Centre’s heritage – giving thanks for all that has happened over the last four decades and praying for what lies ahead. But what has happened in the past 40 years? Well, Centre Manager Alistair Nurden spoke with en from the depths of Quinta Hall: “Thomas Barnes [a Christian MP] is the man who built this building that we’re in. He built it partly as a country retreat for him, his wife, and children. But he also wanted it to be somewhere where pastors could come on retreat. For [over 150 years], Christians have been coming to this very spot, on retreat, to rest, relax, and meet with God.”
The Keswick Convention’s repeated transformation
Philip Sowerbutts
Date posted: 23 Jul 2025
Keswick has always been about transformation.
The Convention’s founder Thomas Dundas Harford-Battersby, Vicar of St John’s Keswick, was a man troubled by a lack of holiness in his own walk with God. It was while on holiday on the Cumbrian coast at Silloth that he was first introduced to a new teaching that would lead to a personal transformation by a work of God’s Holy Spirit. In just three weeks, he and his friend Robert Wilson organised their own “Holiness Convention” in June 1875 using a tent in the garden of Harford-Battersby’s Keswick vicarage (see photo of the 150th anniversary book cover*). Hundreds attended, and such was the success it was decided to hold another the following year, and so it has continued for 150 years.
Should we ban public displays of non-Christian faiths?
A speaker at the recent Unite the Kingdom march in London called for banning all public displays of non-Christian religions. But is he right?
Here's what he said: “Ban any type of public expression in our Christian nation from other religions. Ban Halal, ban Burqas. Ban mosques, ban temples, ban shrines - we don’t want those in our countries."