C of E evangelicals grapple with uncertain way ahead
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.
Covid: government exceeded mandate – evangelicals
Affinity
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
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.
Moldovan believers mark 30 years of Biblical training
Slavic Gospel Association
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
Thirty years of a Biblical leadership training scheme in Moldova are being celebrated.
Recently, Slavic Gospel Association staff members had the joy of joining with church leaders, and past and present students of the Mission School in Balti, Moldova, to mark the anniversary.
Evangelicals and the Church of England
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing the article from a non-conformist, addressed to many Anglicans. The person writes seeking to be a good neighbour. It is evident they are trying to be friendly with their comments. In the same spirit of conversation, here is an offer of a cup of tea and a gentle, but firm, response.
‘Almost as monumental as the moon landing’
Adam Thomas
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
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 Jewish Christian perspective
Life from the dead!
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
Twenty years ago I faced a personal catastrophic event. My 65-year-old Jewish mother suddenly died from a massive heart attack. She was not a believer in Jesus. The shock of the news choked me because I had no assurance of my mother’s salvation.
A powerful feeling of fear and anxiety overcame me as I imagined my mother lost in the loneliness of outer darkness, separated from God. Those thoughts haunted me for the weeks and months that followed.
Stand-up, be counted!
Judith Dennis
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
Book Review
CHRISTIANS IN THE FIRING LINE 2:
Inspiring faith stories of the individuals
behind key legal cases and how their
faith stood up under trial
Read review
The Bible comes to Balimo
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
Thanks to MAF, nurse Reena Delesae was able to get hold of a Bible.
Reena is a senior nurse at Balimo Hospital in Western Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG), where the hospital is extremely short-staffed and the nurses must carefully manage the medication available because there’s a real danger of it running out.
Testing the fire
Tony Wilkinson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
Book Review
ISLAND AFLAME:
The Famed Lewis Awakening that
Never Occurred and the Glorious
Revival that Did (Lewis & Harris 1949–52)
Read review
Punched leader prays for attackers
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.’
The future of the West
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
Dear Editor,
I read with interest Josh Moody’s view that the West is at a tipping point. Sadly, I believe the West has long passed that point. For years in the US, Christians have aligned themselves with the Republican Party rather than the Democrats, presumably because they felt there was more hope in politics than in God. In Britain, the Christian Institute has successfully garnered funding at a time when missions struggle to get sufficient for their needs. This is not to cast aspersions on the Institute, which does a fine job, but it does make me think that British Christians are more interested in preserving their disappearing public presence and protection than in promoting the gospel of Christ, which is the only hope for turning the tables, as it always was. Europe has lost its hold on the Biblical truths rescued by the reformers, and we have to look to places where the church is persecuted to see growth!
news in brief
Andy Croft resigns from Soul Survivor
On 23 November, it was announced that Senior Pastor Andy Croft would leave Soul Survivor Watford. He made the decision despite being allowed to return to ministry following an investigation into his safeguarding practices, and the practices of his former colleague Mike Pilavachi (who was found guilty of an abuse of power and spiritual abuse across 40 years of ministry).
In a letter to his congregation, Andy shared that he made the decision ‘after much soul searching and prayer’ and said that he and his family ‘intend to stay as part of the congregation’ while they discern their next steps. ‘I need to acknowledge that I myself have also been deeply impacted by aspects of Mike’s abusive behaviour’, he added.
Baby-boomers to Generation Z?
Charlotte Mayhew
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
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.
Moscow via the US to Wales...
Dave Gobbett
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
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.
Chris Wigram
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.
Stay, says bishop
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
Jill Duff, Bishop of Lancaster, who is orthodox on issues of sex and sexuality, and has been a leading voice opposing change, spoke to en.
She said: ‘Why should we leave? One of my heroes of church planting in the Polynesian islands was George Selwyn, an architect of the Anglican Communion. He had a compellingly pragmatic response to error: “But how, you will ask, shall the truth of doctrine be maintained if we tolerate in the mission field every form of error, and provide no safeguard for the purity of the faith? I answer that, as running water purifies itself, so Christian work is seen to correct its own mistakes.” I urge evangelicals to resist any intimidation, but instead to stay and contend for the gospel through the Church of England.’
Climate hope – if promises are kept, say evangelicals
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
Even as it opened, the UN Climate Change Conference COP 28 was making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The BBC revealed claims that hosts, the United Arab Emirates, were planning to make oil and gas deals with 15 other countries at the event. Despite that, many Christian groups were represented there, some as part of the Christian Climate Observers Program, a non-denominational Christian presence advocating for God’s creation. All are, perhaps, encouraged by the fact that COP28 for the first time featured a ‘faith pavilion’. Evangelicals Now spoke to four leading Christian environmental organisations about their hopes and fears for the conference.
Unity? This spurious unity is sinful and deadly
In the aftermath of November’s General Synod, there has been a lot of talk about unity, whether the lack of it or the form of it.
When asked about division in the House of Bishops, Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, has been quoted as saying: ‘What we’re trying to model is how do you, despite the fact we may have different views, seek to try to find a place we can occupy together.’ Justin Welby, reflected: ‘Archbishops of Canterbury must always work for the maximum possible unity in the Church, however impossible that may seem and however deep our differences.’