Online ‘Yorkshire pudding bake-along’ draws students
Kitty Hardyman
Date posted: 1 Jan 2022
From Kingston-upon-Thames (photo left) to Strathclyde (photo right), students in Christian Unions across the UK have been active welcoming first-year students.
Dinners, picnics, tables at Freshers’ Fairs laden with cake, even an online ‘Yorkshire pudding bake-along’ – all these sought to create an inclusive space for any students’ first contact with Christians.
Titus Trust: ‘Power must be redeemed’
en staff
Date posted: 1 Jan 2022
The future of organisations like the Titus Trust depends on whether they realise power must be redeemed as well as people, a psychologist who attended the Iwerne Camps has told en.
Dr Simon Walker, a Christian psychologist who works in school mental-health safeguarding, and who was at Iwerne Camps in the 1980s, was speaking after the publication of a report into the Titus Trust by independent charity Thirtyone:eight, which aims to protect vulnerable people from abuse.
Covid: wipeout fears, but church serves
Our worldwide Anglican news focuses this month on the life of a Christian community in India. Chris Sugden writes:
Divya Shanthi Church, School and Community Services grew out of St John’s Church ( Church of South India) Bangalore, India as a mission initiative to serve poor families in North Bangalore.
Seventy new missionaries mark 70 years of Slav mission
www.sga.org.uk
Date posted: 1 Jun 2021
The Slavic Gospel Association has marked its 70th anniversary by sending 70 new mission partners to spiritually- needy areas. Mark Foster, Director of Field Ministries, reports:
Covid-19 put an end to national and international travel in 2020, but not to gospel outreach and expansion. Slavic Gospel Association [UK], as part of its 70th Anniversary Projects, had planned to support the sending of 70 new missionaries into spiritually-needy communities – one for each year of its existence – to bring the good news of salvation in Christ. What would become of such a project in the paralysing lockdown due to the pandemic? Was there any hope of even getting near to that target? If it were reached, was any kind of spiritual return possible?
Three new churches are launched in London
Co-Mission
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
Co-Mission says it is ‘thrilled’ about three new church plants that, ‘in God’s kindness’, have just launched in London.
Redeemer Queen’s Park in north-west London launched on Saturday 25 September at 4 p.m. in Salusbury (sic) Primary School. Over the last year, God has graciously assembled a core team of 25 adults with a few kids to boot. Amazingly, 65 adults and 13 kids turned up for their launch, and even more the second week! Most arrived through personal relationships with the core team. Others connected with Redeemer through flyering or social media. The church’s university outreach and its children’s work are big draws.
Baby saved from flesh-eating condition
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
A five month-old girl named Sangai, who needed urgent medical treatment for a flesh-eating condition, has been saved by a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot in Liberia.
Little Sangai was also suffering from hydrocephalus – a build-up of fluid on the brain. The condition, if left untreated, can damage brain tissue.
Evangelism Now: ten key truths outlined
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
‘Evangelism
in a time of crisis’ was the
theme of the 2021 Evangelism Conference,
entitled ‘Evangelism Now’, held at All Soul’s
Langham Place.
Rico Tice set out the three key principles
of evangelism: it must be based on God’s
sovereignty; the gospel must be presented
with both integrity and truth; there must be
no deception in how we operate.
College cuts: doubt over evangelism centre
en staff
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
An evangelical theological college has axed
the role of Director of Ministerial Training,
bringing into doubt the future of its specialist
centre for training future evangelists.
Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, said loss of income
due to the pandemic necessitated the change
– which means theologian evangelist Greg
Downes (photo) will lose his job as well as
his family home, which went with the role.
New hope at Hope Church
AMiE
Date posted: 1 Dec 2021
The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) has a new member church – Hope Church Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire.
The congregation is meeting in Astrea Academy Derne, on the south side of Goldthorpe village.
Surge in student gospel interest
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Dec 2021
There has been increasing openness to the gospel among university students in the UK this Autumn, the UCCF has reported.
One unbelieving student attended an Abertay Christian Union (CU) lunchtime talk on ‘Lasting Joy’. Afterwards he said: ‘If this is true, you have a genuine hope for eternal happiness. If it’s not, you still have an anchor that allows you to find joy in this life – I find that exhilarating!’
Marginalised find mercy on London streets
London City Mission writes: The cruelty of the pandemic has been that people already struggling have been hardest hit.
It’s those on the margins of society who were more likely to have died or suffered loss from Covid. It’s those living in crowded homes, less able to socially distance, whose low-paid work, if it hasn’t disappeared, has put them more at risk of contracting the virus. And it’s those for whom Covid, far from being a chance to save money, has added costs in the form of additional heating and food. London has been especially hit; reliance on foodbanks has more than doubled in the capital this year.
‘Dial-a-doughnut’ and ‘Circus’ inspire 1,000 young leaders
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 1 Oct 2021
Having never set foot on campus, having met only a few members in their CU and feeling uncertain about what university life will be like this term, many Christian Union leaders were especially eager to come to Forum 2021.
Forum is UCCF’s annual training conference for CU leaders, aiming to inspire and equip them to share the gospel in the universities, before they head back to campus in September. This August, over 1,000 students from across Great Britain arrived at the Quinta Christian Centre in Shropshire. They met friends face-to-face, sang praise to God, attended seminars and put their heads together to plan for the year in front of them.
Gabby’s new mission at FIEC
FIEC
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
Gabby Samuel has joined the FIEC as the Women’s Ministry Development Worker.
Gabby is the youngest member of the Ministry Team and is supporting the FIEC as it raises the next generation of women’s ministry workers, as well as helping FIEC to think carefully and wisely about issues related to ethnic diversity in church.
Moldova and east Ukraine: breakthrough among young?
Slavic Gospel Association & Mission Without Borders
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
Moldova has suffered particularly badly in the Covid pandemic, coming as it did on the heels of a severe drought and disastrously poor harvests in 2020, which added to the already heavy burdens of the poor and vulnerable.
Poverty is endemic in large sections of the populace, and its consequences are evident not only in material terms but in the realm of relationships, and particularly family life. This scenario is common in a number of East European countries. Families are poor. The parents cannot find work to sustain their children and their homes. They take the decision to go to other countries where work can be found, and children are left in the care of ageing grandparents who themselves find life difficult and challenging. Often this results in children growing up without adequate parental guidance and discipline, and falling prey to many dangers and temptations, including addiction, sexual abuse, and even human trafficking. It is no exaggeration to say that chaos is evident in many family situations.
Riga resumes in-person Bible training
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Oct 2021
It is great to be in Latvia in late summer when the daylight still holds until late evening and the temperature can still be hot. It was a particular delight for me to be there with Anthony Billington, associated with the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity, to teach a weekend course on Whole Life Preaching as part of the two-year School of Preachers programme at the Latvian Biblical Centre (LBC) in Riga.
It had been nine months since the group were able to meet in person. We have managed to maintain the teaching via Zoom involving three languages. It was lovely to have the buzz of personal interaction in those September sessions.
EA launches
‘Being Human’
www.eauk.org/beinghuman
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
The Evangelical Alliance
is
launching a
new
three-year
initiative
to help people
think Biblically about what it means to be
human.
The ‘Being Human’ project aims to inspire
and equip everyday Christians to be able to
‘understand, articulate and participate in the
Biblical vision of humanity’.
Afghan refugee children campaign
en staff
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
More than £2,000 has so far been raised as part of a campaign to provide winter clothing for Afghan refugee children arriving in the UK.
The initiative is organised by Christian group Afghan Welcome – whose director is Krish Kandiah (see photo), and whose supporters include en contributor Graham Miller of the London City Mission, Gavin Calver of the Evangelical Alliance and many others.
Celebration as church marks first birthday
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
First birthdays are special, and for an Essex
‘church in the home’ – its first birthday
marked an encouraging year despite the
pandemic.
Cornerstone Church
in Colchester, an
Anglican church, began on 18 October 2020
under the oversight of Anglican Mission in
England (AMiE). It has coined the phrase
‘… starting in the home, sustained in the
home!’ to reflect the church’s conviction of
the value of meeting in the home.
ReNew: abuse &
healthy church
ReNew
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
The
annual
conference
of ReNew
for
conservative evangelicals in the Church of
England has been held in-person again, after
a virtual session last year due to the pandemic.
The event tackled issues of spiritual abuse
following recent high-profile cases and
the
publication of
the Thirtyone:eight
report
into Jonathan Fletcher’s time at Emmanuel,
Wimbledon. It also focused on ‘establishing
healthy churches’ – the theme for the gathering.
letter from the
Irish Republic
David Houlton
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
Columba and evangelicals
In
the midst of
the pandemic many
churches across Ireland are celebrating a
prince, born
into a minor royal
family
1,500 years ago, who became the founder of
one of the greatest evangelistic movements
ever in Europe.
Between 7 December 2020 and the same
day
in 2021, senior church
leaders
from
across County Donegal
in the northwest
of
Ireland are uniting
to pray
together,
and walk together, to celebrate the life and
ministry of Colmcille (Columba), born in
a remote part of the county, who founded
a movement that spread the gospel to the
pagan Scots, and then to the pagan Anglo-Saxons, and
inspired generations of Irish
and English Christians to bring the gospel
to their pagan kinsmen in mainland Europe.
Reasons to ‘ReJoyce’
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
On 7 July, MAF Pilot Mike Brown loaded a new Kodiak Quest 100 aircraft with food supplies and Bibles and flew to Emdoman, central Papua.
The first operational flight for MAF’s newest aircraft had taken almost three years to reach MAF’s Indonesian programme due to coronavirus restrictions.
Vietnamese evangelicals find favour
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Oct 2021
Evangelical Christians and the Vietnamese Government appear to have learnt from past mistakes – and their joint response to a recent coronavirus outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City has highlighted the benefits of prompt co-operation.
After some students at the Evangelical Church of Vietnam South’s Institute of Bible and Theology developed coughs and fevers last summer, church authorities immediately called the government health department. Tests revealed that 290 of the 306 students and staff on the campus had Covid-19. The authorities immediately quarantined the campus and sent in a medical team. Two Christian doctors and five volunteers of a Christian student fellowship also entered the campus to serve the sick. The 15 who needed hospital treatment included the Dean of Students, pastor Nguyen An Thai, and his wife.
British Christians helping Afghan refugees
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Oct 2021
As UK Christians consider how they might help the sudden influx of refugees from Afghanistan, one church leader with extensive experience of mission to Muslims has warned that the overwhelming majority of evangelical churches will not see any asylum seekers placed anywhere near them by the government.
Stephen Kneale (photo left) of Oldham Bethel Church says: ‘Most of these asylum seekers are open to Christianity. We already welcome many Afghani refugees who are, typically, very receptive to a gospel that is demonstrably different to what they left behind. Dozens of those we have witnessed to have put their faith in Christ.
New Mozambique and Angola venture
Charles Raven
Date posted: 1 Oct 2021
24 September 2021 marks the inauguration of the newest province of the Anglican Communion, known as the Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola (IAMA, or the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola).
To proceed, the project required a minimum of two thirds of the Anglican Primates to vote in favour and this threshold was reached in August.