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Scripture Union England and Wales (SU) has launched a mission framework, Revealing Jesus, based upon research undertaken about how people come to faith. Its aim is to see children and young people find a personal vibrant faith in Jesus.

It’s designed to connect with the 95% of under-18s who have no contact with church in England and Wales. In four steps, – Connect, Explore, Respond, Grow – young people are guided and supported on their faith journey.

Graham Miller of London City Mission writes:

Are we preaching the word in season and out of season? My friend, Jeremy Marshall, said that he’s never had so many take-ups for one-to-one Bible studies as he had at the beginning of lockdown. One of our missionaries, Olly Sherwood, had so many wanting to study with him that he had to train up extra study leaders. Preach the word in season and out of season.

Joel Murray of the FIEC describes how God has been answering the prayer of a church in Leatherhead:

How often do we really pray Ephesians 3:20, asking God to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine?

Evangelicals in the Church of England have been preparing to contend in the wake of the launch of Living in Love and Faith – while a new Anglican network has also been set up.

At the latest General Synod, a presentation was given on the new Living in Love and Faith (LLF) resources on issues of sexuality and gender.

Many of us are aware of the difficulties that students have faced this year; Covid outbreaks on campus, intense loneliness and even protests against extreme restrictions – it is becoming a sadly familiar story. But underneath and alongside this, runs another, lesser-known story of the innovation and passion shown by the Christian Unions.

Faced with a tough and completely different context, the CUs courageously rose to the challenge and tried exciting new ways of sharing the hope of Jesus within the universities.

With the aim of planting 30 churches by 2023, a Church Planting Director has been announced by the Free Church of Scotland.

The Revd Neil MacMillan said: ‘Planting new churches is a vital part of our mission in secular Scotland. As we sustain and nourish existing congregations, the gospel also drives us outwards to new places and new people. The most important element of this challenge is prayer, so pray for a movement of God’s Spirit in our nation so that we can do all this and much more.’

Christian Witness to Israel is changing its name to International Ministry to Jewish People.

CEO Joseph Steinberg explained that: ‘We became increasingly aware that the name of our mission, Christian Witness to Israel, has become a hindrance to engage parts of the church as we seek to expand our reach and share the Good News of Jesus with as many Jewish people as possible. This is due to the assumption many make that our name means we are focused on politics or land issues in the Middle East when in fact we, as an evangelistic mission, are solely focused on telling Jewish people about Jesus, wherever they may be.’

Founded in 1893 as the Foreign Missions Club, the Highbury Centre is a Christian guest house in North London which has given shelter to missionaries, pastors, full-time Christian workers and their families for over 100 years.

Now, in the second English lockdown, unable to open unless people are travelling on essential business, Sue Scalora of the Centre said: ‘The Lord has helped us through the ups and downs, and we’ll try and keep open even though we’re making a loss at the moment serving the Lord’s people.’

Living Leadership, which supports leaders across the UK and Ireland, writes:

These are strange times. The rapidly changing landscape for churches and Christian organisations has created immense pressures for leaders. Some are weary and fed up with the feeling that every time they get going with one set of restrictions, the goalposts shift. Others are growing fainthearted, close to collapse and chronically discouraged.

Mission Aviation Fellowsip (MAF) co-founder, former RAF Flight Lieutenant, and Normandy Landings veteran Stuart Sendall-King, has died aged 98. He was one of the early pioneers to take light aircraft to the remotest parts of Africa in the aftermath of World War II.

Serving as an aircraft engineer during the Second World War and ending his RAF career as Chief Technical Officer at RAF Duxford, Stuart nurtured a growing desire to use aircraft for good – helping to establish MAF in 1945.

Three evangelical church plants in differing networks have taken their first steps forward across the UK.

Grace Church Beckenham

Pastor of the new Grace Church Beckenham, Matt Dew-Jones, says people in this new congregation are passionate about both Beckenham itself, and God’s grace. ‘God is a giver (in so many ways), and ultimately at the cross. As we see a world marked by taking …we love that [God] gives forgiveness and the power to change.’ In statements on their website, the church is clear it wants to ‘become generous like Jesus. We want our lives, our time, energy and money to be used to serve Jesus and His world’ and they want to be a place where ‘people like me love people who are not like me in a committed church family’.

Christians in Sport, in partnership with other sports ministry organisations globally, is helping to pilot a new training journey specifically for young Christian leaders who are active in the world of competitive and elite sport.

As good as the many ministry training schemes in the UK are, they are often not best suited to the competitive and elite sports player. Mission and discipleship within this world is one of the most unique aspects of sport ministry. Working with athletes who compete at the highest levels, train intensively and often travel regularly, they are often on their own with few believers around them. Some of them are also in the public eye.

There’s a curious exchange between Jesus and the man who had the legion of demons driven out from him at the expense of a large herd of pigs. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with Him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you’ (Luke 8:38).

There’s every indication that he is committed and sincere about following Jesus, and certainly his life has been transformed. Yet he is turned down and told to go back home. Why?

Co-Mission is committed to planting and strengthening churches throughout London to reach the lost for the glory of God. We want to reach people who wouldn’t normally come to church to hear about Jesus. Here are two examples of Co-Mission churches using the opportunity of Christmas to present guests with their need for a Saviour.

Christ Church Balham held its annual ‘carols in a pub’ service with a unique twist – mashing up traditional carols with pop music! This has become CCB’s biggest outreach event of the year. The theatre at the Bedford Pub in Balham was packed with friends and family of churchgoers, as well as those in the pub curious at the merriment. All enjoyed belting out carols with the ten-piece band, to a mix of merry renditions of Take On Me by Aha (or Angels from the Realms of Glory), Giant by Rag’n’Bone Man (or See Amid the Winter’s Snow) and All the Small Things by Blink 182 (or O Come All Ye Faithful).

A prayer gathering for London, which started last year, is going online this November. It is one of several exciting initiatives now being developed by the relatively new London Gospel Partnership (LGP). Richard Bray, incoming LGP Chair, reports:

One of the great encouragements of the past 20 years in the UK has been the growth in churches working together across denominational lines in regional Gospel Partnerships. These partnerships have provided training, organised missions, and seen the fruit of church planting.

We’re tired. Zoom fatigue, confinement, and heightened awareness of death, on top of personal needs, have wearied us.

Christian leaders have faced additional challenges. Lockdown forced an urgent development of new forms of church gatherings and pastoral connections. Emerging from lockdown with social distancing means another rethink, while no one knows yet what the ‘new normal’ for church will be. This is a time of rebuilding.

Student Christian umbrella group UCCF is launching new resources to enable students to engage with the gospel and keep making Jesus known.

The Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) has planned resources for Christian Unions (CUs) which cover all eventualities in the current pandemic. ‘More than ever we will need to encourage our CUs to maintain and sharpen the tools used for the kind of evangelism that has been bearing fruit, albeit with a somewhat different expression from what has gone before,’ says Peter Dray, UCCF Head of Creative Evangelism.

The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) is a fellowship of faithful Anglican churches committed to gospel mission.

They are passionate about planting and strengthening churches for the salvation of many and the glory of God. They have a gospel ambition to see 25 AMiE churches by 2025 and 250 by 2050.