Christ for all the nations
en staff
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
As many parts of the world came to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, so the gospel in turn was brought to them.
A variety of missions groups including Birmingham City Mission, Great Lakes Outreach (GLO) and Youth With A Mission (YWAM) brought teams to the area to work alongside local churches.
From three to 25,000 – but militants tried to kidnap my teenage daughter
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
Indian church-planting missionary Elavatta Abraham has an extraordinary experience of how God has worked in his life.
He told his story exclusively to Evangelicals Now during a brief trip to the UK to attend the Cambridge Leaders Network conference.
Buffalo saves ambushed mission worker and family
Gary Clayton of Mission Aviation Fellowship writes:
In 1 Corinthians 15:32, the apostle Paul refers to fighting wild beasts in Ephesus. Although it’s unclear whether this is a reference to enraged opponents of the gospel or an allusion to a particularly cruel form of Roman punishment, for many MAF passengers the organisation’s light aircraft are the only way they can avoid the peril posed by man and beast.
Stepping out in faith: I said, ‘OK Jesus, I’m here…’
Carl Knightley
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
‘Never in a million years would you have seen me knocking on someone’s door. That’s someone else’s ministry, I would have told you.’
These were the words of Maria, a member of Forestdale Church in Croydon, South London.
New Scottish partnerships?
John MacKinnon
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
One of the fruits of the ongoing Life22 mission
initiative of A Passion for Life has been the
initiation of some promising conversations
around Scotland about the possibility of the
establishment or in some cases re-establishment
of Regional Gospel Partnerships (RGPs).
Nick McQuaker,
the development officer
for
the partnerships, has been on a
tour
around Scotland meeting key church leaders in
Edinburgh, Fife, Aberdeen, Moray, and Ayrshire.
Antidote to gadding about
The Free Church of Scotland’s 69th School
in Theology began with the life of Alexander
Moody Stuart by the Rev John W. Keddie.
It
was
a
resounding
and
thrilling
commencement to the School, writes E.T.
Kirkland. It is important to note that this
is not a conference but a school, meaning
the papers are given by those who regularly
attend as opposed to recruiting conference
speakers. This has the benefit of enabling
ministers to study a particular subject which
ordinarily
they may not do. Because of
this, the quality of the papers exceeds those delivered at conference level.
Taiwan: now more than 2,500 Christian fellowships
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Oct 2022
David Eastwood is Field Director for OMF in Taiwan, where he has been working for 30 years, and now oversees 70 missionaries.
OMF’s focus in Taiwan is on working-class and marginalised communities, such as prostitutes, the homeless and orphans, who are often overlooked by those agencies who concentrate on reaching the middle classes. Evangelicals Now spoke to him exclusively about the current situation there.
Modern
slavery alert
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Oct 2022
With modern slavery in the UK escalating,
evangelical churches are being challenged
to dedicate Sunday 25 September to prayer
and taking action to help trafficking victims.
‘Freedom Sunday’, coordinated by
the
International
Justice Mission
(IJM), has
been chosen as a day dedicated
in
the
UK and abroad
for corporate prayer
for
individuals trafficked into modern slavery –
and to take action to end it.
UK in transition: Keep calm and carry on!
John Stevens
Date posted: 1 Oct 2022
The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, after her remarkable 70-year reign, inevitably causes great uncertainty for the future. How might Britain change under her successor?
She has been a focus for stability and national identity in a fast-changing world, and a voice for the centrality of Christian faith in the public square. None of us knows the full extent of her influence behind the scenes, but many Christians assume that she has been a bulwark against ever-advancing secularism and progressivism. They fear that her death will allow these forces greater sway, and that the very integrity of the United Kingdom may be more difficult to sustain without her.
Addis Ababa to London: Meron’s pioneering mission
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Feb 2022
Meron (Mary) Haile has become the first woman missionary from Ethiopia to be a part of Serving in Mission (SIM) UK’s Engage programme. The 29-year-old is now serving with Inspire at St James, Clerkenwell, as part of SIM’s strategy of bringing experienced workers from overseas to work with churches in their multicultural contexts.
Engage helps (mainly urban) UK evangelical churches to share the gospel cross-culturally with the different ethnic and religious communities now embedded where they are. Many churches now recognise the strategic gospel opportunity – on their own doorsteps – to reach those who have not heard the good news of Christ.
First flight is answer to decade of prayer
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
A few weeks ago MAF pilot Roy Rissanen flew a team of American missionaries from a remote part of Guinea – the journey representing the first operational flight of MAF’s latest African programme.
With only 5% of Guinea’s roads being paved and the country’s railway network no longer running, the severe lack of transport makes life difficult for aid and development agencies, churches and missions in isolated areas.
The church that grew – from two!
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
From two to more than 120 people in nine years – a London church plant which began with a couple meeting individuals in the first year before launching as a living-room Bible study, is now planning to send its very first convert to start a new church in West London.
Malcolm Riley and his wife moved to London in 2013 with a desire to reach the next generation from the city centre. They came with literally nothing, having just left St Ebbe’s Oxford; with no staff team, no core group, no salary, no vicarage and no church building. ‘But we had two Bibles,’ said Malcolm.
German believers help Ukraine
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February Evangelicals Now has been inundated with stories about how UK churches and Christian groups are helping refugees and reaching out to them with the gospel. But Christians in other parts of Europe have been busy too.
Here is how Message Germany (an international hub of Manchester-based The Message Trust) has responded to the crisis.
Grateful at
Keswick ’22
The Keswick Convention 2022 brought
thousands
of Christians
together
this
summer under the banner of ‘All One in
Christ Jesus’ (see also en, August).
The theme was ‘Grateful’ and there was
certainly much
for which to be grateful,
writes Emma Harrison.
Revelation boosts Reformed in Rome
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
A preaching workshop being held in the Italian capital is expanding rapidly.
‘Workshop Predicazione’ looks set to double the numbers attending in 2022.
Christianity’s future: African, female – and untrained?
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
Christianity’s future is likely to be shaped by African women, new research says – but there is a danger of false teaching being influential as well.
New research by American scholar of the history of mission, Gina Zurlo, shows that women are the majority in churches nearly everywhere in the world, and that Christianity’s future is poised to be shaped by African women in particular.
Europe 2021: new mission report out
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
Covid-19 is an opportunity for European mission agencies to reflect deeply once again on the meaning of mission in today’s world.
One of the key questions it raises is whether it has made sense to have invested so heavily in huge buildings, since social distancing restrictions have forced many churches to think about how to make small gatherings work, not just big ones.
Zambia: a call to mission answered
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
Four years ago, the Bullock family left the familiarity and security of the UK to serve God cross-culturally in Zambia with Operation Mobilisation. Dan is Field Leader, responsible for all OM’s missionaries in Zambia, as well as its local workers. Ruth is a physiotherapist working to train people with disabilities.
Writer Ivy Chiu spoke to Dan and Ruth about why they took such a bold step.
Jewish believers reject evangelism ban call
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not for Jews, a trustee of a Christian-Jewish council has claimed – suggesting that to think otherwise is anti-Semitic.
In an opinion piece in The Times newspaper calling for the end of Christian missions to convert Jews, Zaki Cooper (photo right), a trustee of the Council of Christians and Jews, cited historical Jewish massacres and anti-Semitism in England going back to the 1100s.
letter from Japan
Aslan is on the move… here in Japan
Charley Ballinger
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
If you have ever read the Chronicles of Narnia you may remember reading the words ‘Aslan is on the move’.
As you did so, perhaps a chill went down your spine as the prospect of the coming victory over evil becomes a palpable reality. Well, as I write, a chill goes down my spine as it would seem that the Lord is on the move here in Japan.
New venture spurs Ukraine support
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
During the first 90 days of the war
in
Ukraine, over 6million refugees fled
to
other nations, A
further 7million were
displaced internally, making this the largest
movement of people in Europe since World
War II.
In response, 72 Christian
leaders
from
22 European countries
recently gathered
in Krakow, Poland, to
focus on the war
and refugee crisis. The five countries that
have received
the most refugees
(Poland,
Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia)
admitted they are overwhelmed and can no
longer handle the ongoing flow of highly-traumatised women and children.
Jewish believers plan global outreach
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
International Mission to Jewish People (IMJP), has announced its most ambitious evangelistic programme yet.
Its 2022 ‘In the Cities’ mission series will visit London, Paris, Amsterdam and Budapest, before heading further afield to Pittsburgh, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Sydney, with the potential to reach over 1million Jewish people living in ten major global cities.
Naked Truth tackles porn
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
A new programme to help churches tackle issues of porn use and addiction within their congregations has been unveiled, against the background of rising consumption.
According to research carried out by the charity launching the programme, the Naked Truth Project, 13% of UK adults admitted to being addicted to watching pornography. The ‘Church Membership’ programme was launched at a House of Commons event, hosted by Tim Farron MP (photo) and attended by six other MPs and peers.
Smiles from new bishops
AMiE
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) has two new bishops.
The AMiE Synod endorsed Tim Davies and Lee McMunn as Assistant Bishops under the leadership of Convocation Bishop Andy Lines.