What made Jesus tick? What does it show?
Andrew Nicholls
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
Have you ever watched someone be far, far more loving than you, and wondered how they do it?
I can think of a lady who, in caring for her husband with worsening dementia, showed endless patience, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, helping him with the same ordinary little things, over and over and over again. I never saw her cross, or even a little irritated at her husband for his inability to do the simplest things or to remember anything from one minute to the next. I often wondered how I would be in a similar situation, and I’m pretty sure I would soon be irritated. Her beautiful character was a mystery to me – how did she do it? What made her tick so much better than me?
Gaza: can Christianity now survive?
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Thirty out of the estimated 1,000 Christians still left in Gaza have been killed, according to local church sources.
And as Gaza’s Christian population continues to shrink, down from about 3,500 before the war began, commentators fear that one of the oldest Christian communities in the world may be literally dying out.
everyday evangelism
Should we ‘forget church, and just look at Jesus’?
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 May 2024
In evangelism Christians have an incredible asset which too many think is a liability: the church.
Last month we considered the advertising campaign ‘He Gets Us’, and its tendency to pit a compassionate Jesus against His judgmental people. But it happens in personal conversations too. The failures of Christ’s people might come up, and the strong temptation can be to throw the church ‘under the bus’.
What is the value of running intensive preaching training weeks cross-culturally?
Neil Watkinson
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Having been involved in short intensive weeks of preaching training for pastor-preachers and Bible teachers in Africa and Asia for the last 17 years – six of them based in SE Asia with Crosslinks – it’s been good to reflect on the question: ‘Of what value are these – do they not simply run the risk of cultural imperialism, even in preaching style?’
Local churches across the globe are growing without us, as Christ is proclaimed and the gospel bears fruit. So why do such Bible teaching and preaching training?
AMiE leaders consider how to be ‘rich’ in ministry
Tom Hutton
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Leaders of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) considered the theme ‘Rich’ at this year’s conference in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Leeds.
This was drawn from 2 Corinthians 10:6, where Paul writes: ‘Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, poor, yet making many rich, having nothing, and yet possessing everything.’
No Word Alive in ‘25, say event trustees
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 1 May 2024
With efforts to find a new venue proving difficult, the hard decision has been made to cancel popular Bible conference Word Alive in 2025.
Since the shock closure of their venue, Pontyns Holiday Park, in November 2023, Word Alive Trustees and Director Nigel Beynon have been searching for an alternative site to host the conference. Being unable to find a ‘like for like’ replacement, however, has prevented them from planning for next year and ultimately led to the decision to cancel Word Alive for the second year running.
a Jewish Christian perspective
‘Are you for us or our enemies?’ Joshua 5:13
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Joshua entered the boundaries of Jericho at the start of Israel’s move into Canaan after the Exodus and 40 years of desert wanderings. There seems to have been a misunderstanding about the nature of what God was seeking to do – using Israel to eradicate sin from the land and establish a kingdom of righteous true-God worshippers.
It is no accident then that Joshua meets a man with a sword drawn in his hand. ‘Are you for us or our enemies?’ The man exclaims ‘No!’ He is for neither and reveals that he is none other than the ‘Commander of the LORD’s army’. Joshua, realising that he was standing before the Lord God, fell face down to the ground in reverence.
Move over Equality, Equity is the new kid in town: Here’s what it means
Tom Underhill
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Over the past few years, corporate HR departments and public bodies have quietly been wielding their Tipp-Ex in a bulk deletion of the letters ‘a’ and ‘l’. ‘Equality’ has been changed to ‘equity’ in a mass rebranding of EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) departments and initiatives.
Or maybe it wasn’t quiet: perhaps in your experience it was heralded with great fanfare. Either way, this deletion represents a significant extension of the EDI mission, now almost synonymous with the one term, Equity. So what is Equity, what does this change imply, and how should we think Christianly about these matters?
Ten Questions: Obedience and tribalism
William Wilson
1. How did you become a Christian?
Mormonism: ‘A different Jesus,’ says former member
Luke Randall
Date posted: 1 May 2024
An ex-Mormon says she believes plans for a Mormon temple to be built in Sutton Coldfield spring from a financial controversy that the sect is facing.
The structure will be built on a site currently occupied by the church’s Birmingham mission offices and will be their first new temple to open in the UK since 1998, and the third of its kind in the country.
'Intense discussions' as Anglican Primates gather in Rome
Rebecca Chapman
Date posted: 1 May 2024
As I write, humid and thundery showers are predicted in Rome, Italy, as the Primates of the Anglican Communion reach half-time in their historic meeting.
Senior archbishops, presiding bishops, and moderators from churches across the globe have gathered for what we are told will be a time conceived as a pilgrimage. They will pray and study the book of Acts, visit holy sites in Rome, and reflect together about the mission and witness of the Church in the world.
Mission income declines
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Nov 2022
Income levels across more than 100 evangelical
mission agencies in the UK dropped in the
year to 2020 by £13 million – with the smallest
missions hardest hit, a snapshot report has
revealed. But missions which are more overtly
involved in proclaiming the Christian message
did not see a drop in income.
Eddie Arthur,
a
specialist
in mission
agency theology, reported that 105 mission
agencies suffered an overall fall in income of
4.6%. Between 2018 and 2020 it declined by
around 6% and it was not expected to have
recovered in 2021. He said it was too early to
judge the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
on their incomes.
The crossroads of evangelism
Jason Roach
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
The most powerful information we hold as Christians is the good news of Jesus. But how can we be confident in sharing the gospel?
Picture the scene: a busy day, rushing to your local corner shop to quickly get something you have run out of at home. In the chaotic moment, you start observing the other people there, hearing the echoes of their steps and catching snippets of various conversations. Amidst the bustle, your attention is drawn to the woman behind the till. Your heart is prompted to remember that she's an image-bearer of God, precious and treasured. As your focus shifts towards her, you find yourself curious about who she is, her expression and her story - does she know Jesus? As you approach her to pay, you see the opportunity. An opportunity to reach out, spark up a conversation and find a way to talk to her about Jesus. You find yourself conflicted because you're in a hurry and there's a chance you might be misunderstood, or she might not be interested.
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.’
From casino to Christ to Kosovo... and beyond
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
A former gambler turned evangelist is planning his next mission at the age of 79.
As a young man, Fane Conant bet on horses every day and spent his Saturdays in the casino. After meeting some Christian sportsmen in his twenties and seeing they ‘had something’ he didn’t, he gave his life to Christ – but it took a decade for him to finally stop gambling.
women in mission
Two mums, terminal cancer, shared tears - and gospel hope
Naomi Dawson
Date posted: 22 Jul 2024
For two years, Chloe and I stood in the same playground, at the same time, picking our daughters up from the same class and yet our conversation and friendship never went much further than a brief chat.
At times in those first few years it felt like I was back at school myself, wondering how everyone knew each other and how on earth I could make friends.
Keswick ‘getting younger’ as it seeks to expand
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
After 30 years of working in mission both in the UK and across the globe, Mark Ellis became Ministry Director for Keswick Ministries in September 2023.
Six months into the role, he talks to en about how things are going, what’s new at the convention this year, and the future of Keswick Ministries.
Ten Questions: Addressing your own heart
Carl Chambers
1. How did you become a Christian?
news in brief
Hope Church Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill celebrates tenth anniversary
Hope Church (Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill) recently celebrated their tenth anniversary as a Free Church of Scotland congregation. Original members of the congregation, along with minister Rev. Ian Watson, had left the Church of Scotland in 2014.
The church’s anniversary weekend featured a meal and ceilidh on the Saturday and a service focused on the anniversary on the Sunday, which included Communion. Rev. Watson said: ‘as we review the past decade the verse that keeps coming back to us is Psalm 118:23: ‘The Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes.’’
Student leaders equipped at spring training sessions
UCCF
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Each Spring, the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) runs nine regional weekend conferences, known as Regional Forums, to equip new student leaders. Christian Unions across Great Britain hand over their leadership to new committees of students at this time of year, and many have never served in this way before.
This training helps new student leaders to grow into their specific roles, and to work well together as they lead their CUs to the glory of God.
Where is the next generation of leaders?
Numbers are down. This is a nationwide observation about people applying for ministry apprenticeships, training courses, and responses to church job adverts. The question is frequently asked: ‘Where are the next generation of leaders for the church in the UK?’
We have never had more access to gospel resources: courses, online teaching, excellent conferences, and sermons downloadable at the touch of a button, so why are we not producing disciples who are ready to take on more responsibility, try new ministries, or move to other parts of the country to spread the gospel? Why do so many want to stay in the safety of their known church family and not have the confidence to consider more radical alternatives?