12 ways to miss the point
Dr Paul Adams
Date posted: 1 Apr 2005
Maths was never my strong point. But if (as Christian Research says) the church in the UK is in decline, it must be because there are fewer people born again each year than are leaving. Surely this is not good news for evangelicals, for whom the gospel is the ‘stuff of life’.
I can remember sitting under ‘faithful gospel preaching’ for years, and wondering why there were no unbelievers to hear it. We were told it was good for the saints to be comforted by the gospel. I still agree with that, but I think it misses the point. Surely the primary target for the good news is the hell-bound sinner who needs to be convicted and converted.
The Third Degree
Ken Cowan
Date posted: 1 Mar 2005
Widnes College Christian Union - possibly the smallest CU in the world.
Both members meet in a shabby classroom every Tuesday lunchtime for prayer and Bible study, led by their FE (further education) CU staff worker, Martin Povey. 'Not exactly the cutting edge of campus-based evangelism', you might be thinking.
Development, the Christian and the Muslim world
Peter Riddell
Date posted: 1 May 2005
The world’s population explosion is a much talked-about topic in development circles, and so it should be. After having taken millennia to pass the 2,000 million mark, it will take barely 100 years to increase from that figure to over 9,000 million by the middle of the 21st century.
The most densely populated countries have majority Muslim populations, so Muslims will constitute an increasing percentage of the world’s population in years to come. Coupled with this is the fact that Muslim communities worldwide are among the poorest. Therefore tackling population and poverty, urgent goals for world leaders in coming decades, will place increasing focus on the world of Islam.
Believing in the Triune God
Tim Chester
Date posted: 1 May 2005
Let me explain how I came to write this. I was reading the Bible with two friends who are Muslims.
Each week they faithfully came to my home and we discussed a passage of Scripture over a cup of tea. Many of their questions were about the Trinity: How can God have a son? How can there be three Gods and one God?
A brother indeed
Open Doors
Date posted: 1 Mar 2005
It was 50 years ago that Brother Andrew started his ministry to persecuted Christians which has developed over the years and spawned the organisation Open Doors.
Brother Andrew's message to the church in the West at this time is simple. 'The church needs to accept the fact that there is a Suffering Church and repent of our lack of understanding and compassion.
Anglicans discipline liberals
David Baker
Date posted: 1 Apr 2005
The meeting in mid-February in Newry, Northern Ireland, attended by 35 of the 38 top bishops from across the globe, asked the US and Canadian churches to ‘voluntarily withdraw’ from a key ecclesiastical body for the next three years and to ‘consider their place in the Anglican communion’.
Some orthodox leaders had wanted tougher action to be taken, but the primates were advised by lawyers that there was no legal process by which any of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces could be suspended.
Losing faith in the UN?
Peter C Glover
Date posted: 1 Apr 2005
The Volcker Commission, the internal inquiry into the United Nation’s running of the $64 billion Iraqi ‘oil-for-food’ programme, has published its interim report.
In this report Chairman Paul Volcker claimed to have evidence of the corruption of UN officials, whom he accuses of having ‘seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations’.
Watching the web
Stephen Doggett
Date posted: 1 Apr 2005
When was the last time you came across a website all about aircraft? Chances are that you never have, unless you have specifically searched for one. And that’s despite the fact that there are five million sites dedicated to flying machines.
This is the type of question that a group of internet evangelists hope to raise in churches across the world during a special focus day on April 24. Only the problems with which they are concerned are not those of the aviation enthusiast but how to get the non-believer to view Christian websites? And, even if they did, how to get them to stay long enough to learn something of the gospel?
The Third Degree
Jonathan Carswell
Date posted: 1 Jan 2005
John Wesley arrived in Newcastle upon Tyne on May 28 1742. He noted the following in his daily journal: 'We came to Newcastle about six, and after short refreshment, walked into town. I was surprised; so much drunkenness, cursing and swearing (even from the mouths of little children), do I never remember to have seen and heard before in so small a compass of time. Surely this place is ripe for Him who came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.'
250 years after Wesley arrived in the North East, it is fair to say that little has changed, perhaps it is even worse. Visit any of the university campuses, not just at the weekend, and hundreds of students will be consuming copious amounts of alcohol, having numerous sexual relationships, but having little or no regard for their Creator. However, surely we must respond, not with condemnation, but like Wesley did, with the attitude that these people are 'ripe for him'.
The Third Degree
UCCF
Date posted: 1 Dec 2004
With over 2,000,000 students in this country, Christians with a passion for evangelism have to be a good thing. The Life Gospel Project last year fuelled a new enthusiasm among students for sharing the good news of Jesus with their peers - and the momentum is growing.
During the last term, three major regional student events have focused on the importance of evangelism. Each aimed to encourage students to live out their university and college years for Christ, sharing him with others with relevance, creativity and faithfulness to the gospel message. In Exeter, students from across the South West soaked up a day of evangelism training. This was followed by a practical session doing questionnaires in the city centre.
Some significant anniversaries in 2005
Joy Horn
Date posted: 1 Jan 2005
Thomas Tallis was born in 1505. One of the first composers of English Protestant church music, his music is still much performed and recorded.
1555 was the peak year for the burning of Protestants under Queen Mary Tudor, some of whom are mentioned individually below. In all, about 290 died this excruciating death - men, women and even young people, and preponderantly working-class - and thereby ensured that Mary's attempt to re-establish Roman Catholicism died with her.
Distorted cross
Ben Cooper
Date posted: 1 Feb 2005
Book Review
RECOVERING THE SCANDAL OF THE CROSS
Atonement in New Testament and Contemporary Contexts
Read review
Caught in the tsunami
On Boxing Day, the great tsunami hit the coasts of countries around the Indian Ocean, bringing devastation and death. Here we carry reports from some Christians in the area.
Jacqui Hoole, who is acting principal of Baldaeus Theological College in Trincomalee in north-east Sri Lanka, writes:
The Third Degree
Jonathan Carswell
Date posted: 1 Feb 2005
For Christian students who are a part of the 2.7 million in Further Education (FE) colleges, CU life can be a hard slog.
The group is almost always small in number, they are less well-resourced than school or university CUs, and colleges are often deeply secular environments not used to the concept of a CU. However, as we have seen in recent years the labour is producing fruit, even if progress is slow.
Meetings for better understanding
Mike Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2005
Recently I had an opportunity to put a question to Imam Mumtaz, the Imam of Streatham mosque, regarding the Muslim view of the sinlessness of the prophets. The Imam seemed to admit that, from an absolute standpoint, everyone is a sinner. This was the first time I had had an opportunity to speak face-to-face with a South London Imam.
Unfortunately, confrontation is a frequent feature of Christian-Muslim encounter. Therefore, opportunities for such discussion in a friendly atmosphere are rare. Real communication often just does not happen.
Would Paul have used PowerPoint?
Richard Lacey
Date posted: 1 Jan 2005
As the final chord of the hymn dies away the congregation sits and, to everyone's surprise, the lights go out.
The voice of Buddy Holly singing 'That'll be the day' comes through the PA. The front projector screen lights up and starts scrolling through photo after photo of famous faces, each dead, with the date they died displayed underneath. Albert Einstein, April 18 1955; Elvis Presley, August 16 1977; Princess Diana, August 31 1997; Jill Dando, April 16 1999.
