Hunger emergency: Christians respond
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
Even before the invasion of Ukraine, many of the poorest nations of the world were suffering the catastrophic impact of climate change.
Earlier this year the island of Madagascar, for example, experienced its ‘worst drought’ in 40 years. UNICEF says half a million under-fives will be ‘acutely malnourished’ this year; in the south, where 80% of the people depend on agriculture to survive, the UN World Food Programme estimates that half of the population now faces hunger. The drought has decimated crops and dried up water sources, resulting in little sustenance for communities and cattle. The pandemic, deforestation and Madagascar’s cyclone season have further exacerbated their woes. According to UNWFP, this could become ‘the first famine to be caused by climate change’.
Egyptian evangelicals launch unique new film festival
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
Seeking to encourage and equip emerging Christian film-makers from Egypt and the Middle East – and allowing them to focus on the issues that most concern them – were the goals of the first-ever Salam (‘Peace’) Film Festival, which has taken place in Alexandria.
The brainchild of Christian TV station SAT-7 and the Evangelical Church of Egypt, the Festival comprised 26 films which were shown and competed for a series of awards.
Shoe leather and locusts eaten in horrific drought
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
Facing its worst drought in 40 years, food and water in Madagascar are so costly at the moment that reports are coming in of communities eating locusts, leaves, clay and even shoe leather to survive, the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) says.
MAF writes: UNICEF says that half a million children under the age of five will be ‘acutely malnourished’ this year, with a further 110,000 facing ‘severe malnourishment’.
FIEC: 100 not out!
Joel Murray
Date posted: 1 May 2022
The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) is marking its centenary this year.
And to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the organisation has announced that it is gathering 100 gospel projects from around the country to enable church partnerships and fuel prayer for mission.
Europe: different strands of evangelicals work together
Joel Murray
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
More than 600 church workers from 41 countries and four continents have attended the European Leadership Forum (ELF).
The mission of ELF, which was held in Wisla, Poland, is to ‘unite, equip and resource evangelical leaders to renew the Biblical church and evangelise Europe’. Their desire is for different evangelical groups to work together to achieve more than any single organisation can on their own.
Jésus t'aime
Marche Pour Jésus 34 @Mpj34 / Evangelical Focus
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
More than 10,000 people have taken part in a national march for Jesus in Paris.
The majority of those taking part in the event, which resumed after a two-year break due to the pandemic, were reported to be between the ages of 25 and 35. The march was led by a team from YWAM (Youth With A Mission) accompanied by six musical bands.
Justin Mote goes to glory
Bob Marsden
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
Bob Marsden writes: To God be the glory, great things He has done, and He did great things in and through the life and ministry of Justin Mote, who died recently.
Justin was converted while at school and he was nurtured in the faith at Emmanuel Church, Northwood. He studied at Oak Hill but, being too young to be legally ordained, he served as a lay curate at St Mary’s Basingstoke with Alex Ross.
BU evangelicals in new call
Evangelicalbaptist.uk
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
A new resource
for evangelicals
in
the
Baptist Union has been launched.
Evangelicalbaptist.uk
says:
‘This website
exists
to help equip
the Baptist church
family to face the challenges and take hold
of
the opportunities
from an evangelical
perspective. We need
to hold on
to
the
truth found
in God’s word and continue
to communicate it in a real, relevant, and
radical way.’
What will happen at Lambeth 2022?
Global Anglican bishop gathering looms
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
The Lambeth Conference which is set to
take place from 26 July to 6 August, last
met with all Anglican bishops in attendance
in 1998 – 24 years ago.
The 1998 conference was due to receive
the report of the Decade of Evangelism from
its
secretary, Cyril Okorocha of Nigeria.
This was
shelved and Canon Okorocha
stood down in favour of pressure from some
bishops to discuss the issue of homosexual
unions. The outcome of the 1998 conference
was a
resolution, Lambeth 1.10, which
‘while
rejecting homosexual practice
as
incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our
people to minister pastorally and sensitively
to all irrespective of sexual orientation and
to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals’.
Beeke’s Scottish challenge: P…P…P…P…P…P…P…P…P…P
Richard G Buckley
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
The 31st annual meeting of the Scottish
Reformed Conference has taken place at
Hamilton College.
Dr Joel Beeke from Heritage Reformed
Congregation in Grand Rapids, USA was
the main speaker. He preached on the words
of Psalm 22 that Jesus reiterated at the Cross:
‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken
me?’ In the course of his sermon, Dr Beeke
reflected upon the profound depths of the
real experience of Jesus whilst he prayed
this, both what it does not mean and what
it does mean. But also from the question
‘Why?’ – what was
the purpose of
this
experience and
the
infinite
love of God
and the Lord Jesus Christ expressed in this
cry. In his second address, he pressed upon
Christians the urgent need to reflect upon the agony of Christ when we pass through
sharp and painful experiences in life. He did
so in a unique sermon of ten points each
beginning with the letter ‘P’. In thanks, our
chairman
suggested adding another
three
points likewise beginning with ‘P’, to the
positive pleasure of the people present!
A wee dram, a big dream: the Christian working with whisky and billionaires
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
Is it possible to be a committed Christian entrepreneur in the world of Scotch whisky? Duncan McFadzean (photo) reckons so.
He is an Investment Banker to the Scotch whisky industry and co-founder of Creo, which exists to ‘connect, train and resource Christian entrepreneurs to advance the common good’.
‘I’ve had to pinch myself – evangelism’s never felt so easy’
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
CU mission weeks are back.
Until recently, the idea of hundreds of students sitting chair to chair in a marquee, baguettes in hand and listening to a gospel talk, has seemed laughably out of reach. In the past few weeks however, 77 Christian Unions across Great Britain were finally able to run mission weeks in-person again. After a two-year break, they were uncertain how these weeks of focused evangelistic events might be received.
O-Yea? Oh yes!
Andrew Dalton
Date posted: 1 May 2022
A town crier has been successfully used by a church to attract people to its mission week.
Morley Town Crier Steven Holt was engaged by Morley Community Church in West Yorkshire to publicise its events.
‘Musicianaries’ ain’t bringin’ no moody blues
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 May 2022
A North Carolina folk duo is preparing to come to Chelmsford, Essex to share the gospel through music.
Songs of the Folk (aka classically trained married couple Andrew and Lauren Cason), discovered that music opened doors for them into people’s lives to share the Good News of Christ – often to the most marginalised in society or those harder to reach.
New missionary vision for Europe
European Missionary Fellowship
Date posted: 1 May 2022
Andrew Birch, Mission Director for the European Mission Fellowship (EMF), talks the organisation’s growing to en about vision for the continent of Europe.
Andrew, what’s the vision you’re developing?
Affinity seeks diversity, welcoming ethnic minority churches
Affinity
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
It has been an exciting first half of 2022 for Affinity, a network of around 1,200 churches and Christian organisations working in partnership for the sake of the gospel, writes Graham Nicholls.
We were delighted to welcome new members to Affinity – churches from a diverse range of backgrounds including majority Jamaican, Congolese and Chinese churches.
Matt’s mission
to Naunton
Stephen Johnston
Date posted: 1 Jul 2021
Naunton Lane Evangelical Presbyterian
Church, Cheltenham, has inducted a new
minister, The Revd Matt Faux.
The appointment ends a three-year gap.
Matt, who originally trained as a teacher, had
completed a BA in Theology at Union School
of Theology, Bridgend. Matt is married to
Rachel and they have three boys: William,
Joshua and Isaac.
Conversation not conversion?
UK National Ministry Survey
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
A new UK National Ministry Survey shows an apparent contradiction between a majority of the general public disapproving of ‘people trying to convert others to their faith’ and thinking ‘everyone should leave everyone else alone’ (73%), and high numbers of the general public feeling comfortable about having a conversation with a friend about Jesus (54%) or attending an Easter service (50%).
The National Ministry Survey was a collaborative endeavour of Co-Mission, A Passion for Life, FIEC and ReNew seeking mission data for the benefit of the UK church.
Wings of Love span the Atlantic
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
Wings of Love, the newest plane to join Mission Aviation Fellowship’s life-saving fleet, has touched down in Africa.
The aircraft, a Cessna Caravan, had departed from Winnipeg, southern Canada, to begin its 6,000-mile, transatlantic journey to Angola.
From prison to Westminster Chapel
London City Mission
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
Graham Miller, Chief Executive of London City Mission, shares his joy of hearing dramatic accounts of people who have been saved out of chaotic and destructive lives into God’s family:
Meet Craig (see photo), brought up in North West London in a non-religious household. By the age of 21 he was living a chaotic life, committed a crime and was sentenced to prison.
‘Remember
vulnerable’
en staff
Date posted: 1 May 2022
Churches are being urged to remember that,
for some people, returning to church as the
pandemic eases is still a difficult thing.
Carl Knightly, part of the leadership team
at London City Mission and an Ambassador
for Faith
in Later Life,
said:
‘Whilst
vaccination
rates are high and cases
far
lower than they were, many are still fearful
of the implications of catching Covid and
becoming unwell.
letter from the
Philippines
Reuben & Cathy Saywell
Date posted: 1 May 2022
So it begins. A new life as missionaries, 7,000 miles from home, in the far east country of the Philippines – in particular, a densely populated municipality named Santa Maria, about 15 miles north of the capital city.
This is a work that my wife and I have been preparing for and praying over for almost a decade. The two of us met as teenage freshers at Aberystwyth University, and from then until now, every day, from that very first meeting, we have had the call for gospel witness in this needy nation heavy upon our hearts. And now, at last, we’ve made it!
Baptist same-sex pressure
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 May 2022
The Baptist Union
(BU)
council
is
considering
changing
the ministerial
requirements
in
relation
to
same-sex
marriage for its ministers.
It
is understood 70 people, mainly BU
ministers who are part of pressure group
Affirming Baptists Together, signed a letter
to the General Secretary of the BU requesting
that it effectively change its rule requiring its
ministers to be single or in a heterosexual
marriage on the basis that it is discriminatory.
A Bible and a memory foam mattress – it must be Word Alive!
Amanda Robbie writes: A refreshing, a reunion, a rejoicing. So many good things can be said about last week’s Word Alive event ‘Back Together Around the Word’. A crowd of almost 4,500 gathered at Pontins in Prestatyn after a three-year gap, thanks to the hard work of Nigel Beynon and Tom Roberts and the organising team, and of course, the grace of God.
Our family geared ourselves up with jumpers and shorts, raincoats and swimming kit, a slow cooker and a memory-foam mattress topper. We stuffed the car and entrusted the dog to kind carers and made our way to Wales to face all kinds of weather and the joyous sight of Christians getting together to learn from the Lord and one another.