news in brief
Uganda: wife killed for
becoming a Christian
40-year-old Abudullah Waiswa, a Muslim
in Bugiri, eastern Uganda has killed his
wife for converting to Christianity. Amina
Nanfuka, 31, had returned from a medical
check-up
in Kampala, where
she also
attended a worship service at a church.
A
relative
said
‘We went
inside
the
bedroom and
found Amina unconscious
with blood coming out of her mouth. She
was rushed to a nearby clinic, but the doctor
pronounced her dead upon arrival. She had
been strangled and hit with an object around
her mouth’. The couple had three children,
aged 3, 6 and 9.
Niger: plea for prayer
en staff
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Niger Christians are asking for prayer as the country continues to face turbulence.
Mission organisation Open Doors UK says people should pray for the safety of the churches, and especially believers who have converted from Islam.
Church plants spurred on by Irish mission initiative
Mark Loughridge
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
At least two new churches have been planted in Ireland in tandem with the recent ‘What’s the Story?’ (WTS) outreach initiative in Ireland.
Christ City Church in central Dublin (some members pictured) had been looking to plant a church in the more residential area in the south of the city to reach the people there.
From poles apart to magnetic points
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Jul 2023
en reviews editor John Woods interviews Dr Dan Strange, Director of the Crosslands Forum.
Before joining Crosslands full time, Dan was College Director for Oak Hill Theological College. A former UCCF worker with a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies, Dan lives in Gateshead with his wife Elly and most of their seven children, where they are part of Hope Community Church. He is a trustee of Tyndale House and author of several books including Making Faith Magnetic.
Innovative outreach to Jerusalem holocaust survivors
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jul 2023
An innovative gospel outreach in Jerusalem has sparked great interest among hundreds of Jewish people wanting to know more about the claims of Jesus.
The brainchild of the International Mission to Jewish People (IMJP), the five-day initiative was specifically designed for those who had lived through the Holocaust. It comprised four tours of Biblical sites in Galilee, ending with a concert featuring performances by local musicians (all Jewish believers in Jesus), and a gospel presentation by IMJP missionary, Aviel Sela. It formed part of a strategic plan, developed over a number of years, to reach Jewish people with the good news about Jesus. More than 200 people joined the site tours, to places such as the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and 185 Jewish people attended the concert, 156 of whom gave their contact details and took away Christian literature.
Fifty years of a family’s faithful witness in PNG
In 2019, website devpolicy.org told the story of Sally’s life and background. Cleo Fleming wrote:
Sally’s family has lived and worked with the Bedamuni people of PNG since the late 1960s, when her parents, Tom and Salome Hoey, went to Western Province to establish a Christian mission there. Raised in farming families from Queensland, they were both immensely practical people who had a range of life skills to add to the training they received at Tahlee Bible College before leaving Australia.
A plea for pastoral brotherhood
Aaron Prelock
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
Between 1979 and 1999 the Pope, John Paul II, published a collection of essays titled ‘Letters to My Brother Priests’. That sentiment, that his fellow clergy were his brothers, is something we would do well to learn from in our Protestant circles.
Those who serve Christ’s sheep as shepherds should see themselves as being in a spiritual brotherhood, a brotherhood that’s in desperate need of each other. The church has struggled with pastoral abuse, scandals, burnouts, and dropouts. The last few years of Covid, war, civil unrest and political instability have only heightened the weight carried by pastors. These trials have taken their toll. But where are pastors to turn when they need help?
‘The central plank of women’s rights is the cross’
Rebecca McLaughlin
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
Rebecca McLaughlin holds a PhD from Cambridge University and a theology degree from Oak Hill Theological College in London. She is the author of several books including Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion. She spoke to Rebecca Chapman for en.
en: Tell me how you came to faith?
Grief inspires ministry of grace in Romania
Slavic Gospel Association
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
The tragic early death of a young man, Filip Faragau, after a long battle with cancer, is providing the inspiration for a unique ministry in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Violeta, Filip’s widow, carried out their shared desire to provide affordable accommodation for cancer patients and their families in the city. In the months leading up to Filip’s death they met many who could not afford the cost of staying there, either to access treatment themselves or to care for loved ones receiving cancer care. The seed was sown for what is now ‘Casa Filip’, in Violeta’s own words, ‘a nice, comfortable place, where people could come and stay without having to spend a fortune for their accommodation’. Slavic Gospel Association (UK) have supported this vital work prayerfully and practically from the start. Filip and his family were valued, long-term friends of the mission.
Bournemouth Bible Week
David Cook
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
‘Growing in faith, hope and love’ was the theme of this year as hundreds of people joined for the face-to-face meetings from 3-7 July.
The strapline of the Bournemouth Bible Week is 'Gathering the Churches, Preaching the Word.' It was encouraging to see larger numbers meet together this year than has been possible since 2020.
How can pastors go the distance?
Jeremy Brooks
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
It was my tenth anniversary in my current pastorate, and I was given a three-month sabbatical.
When contemplating potential sabbatical projects my thoughts went to surviving and thriving in pastoral ministry over the long haul, and then I hatched a plan.
Should we be ‘nice’?
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
Dear Editor,
David Robertson (en March), poses the very relevant question of why many Christians today are so concerned about being ‘nice’. Robertson Biblically demonstrates the case at appropriate times, for preaching the gospel extremely vigorously. It is also obvious there would be no Christianity today without Christ’s unwavering mission stance and likewise that of His steadfast followers down the succeeding ages, whether Catholics or Protestants.
politics & policy
Families and God’s grace
Krish Kandiah
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
A while back I got a call out of the blue from a Swiss bank. For a moment I began imagining they were ringing to inform me of a secret cache of gold they had discovered in my name.
It turned out they had something of rather less monetary significance to give me, but something arguably even more valuable.
Keswick: James Robson's personal reflections
James Robson
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
The Keswick Convention has been running since 1875. Over these years, much has stayed the same: the same passion for Christ, the same longing for lives transformed by God’s word, the same heart for global mission.
The event is open to everyone and is funded by donations. There is no fee to attend. The beautiful town of Keswick in the Lake District remains the home of the Convention.
Praying in Parliament
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
The Prime Minister was among a bumper crop of MPs attending this year’s Parliamentary Breakfast on 27 June, alongside representatives from the Christian community.
More than 700 parliamentarians - including a record 180-plus MPs - and Christian leaders met together at Westminster Hall for the annual recognition of Christianity’s contribution to UK life.
everyday evangelism
Are you glad in your faith?
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
For the last few columns we’ve been trying to follow Blaise Pascal’s advice about persuading the sceptical.
Before his death in 1662 he suggested that we make people of good will ‘wish it were true, then show them that it is.’ I promise we’ll move on from this Pascalian perspective next month, but allow me one last word on the subject. In this column it’s very much a case of ‘once more with feeling.’
The world’s most daring mission?
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
An international humanitarian organisation whose director was previously imprisoned in a freezing cold metal container by the Taliban has become the first Christian group permitted to return to Afghanistan.
Shelter Now International (SNI) has been invited to return by the hardline Islamic regime to help with relief efforts in the country. And it has already provided humanitarian aid in the provinces of Khost and Paktika after severe earthquakes struck there recently.
Can the Church of England be revived?
Andy Mason
Date posted: 1 Jun 2023
It would be easy to answer that question with a quick ‘no’. After all, we Anglicans are facing huge problems: a loss of gospel truth, obstruction from bishops and ongoing spiritual compromise throughout the institution.
This present mess has been a long time coming, and it is, in many ways, no surprise. Surely, then, it is all over with the Church of England, and we should just leave such a moribund institution? There is, after all, nothing sacred about an ecclesiastical institution in and of itself, and we know that denominational borders are not the borders of spiritual Israel. Everything would be simpler if we just came out so that we could breathe freely once again!
PNG: Fifty years of a family’s faithful witness
In 2019, website devpolicy.org told the story of Sally’s life and background. Cleo Fleming wrote:
Sally’s family has lived and worked with the Bedamuni people of PNG since the late 1960s, when her parents, Tom and Salome Hoey, went to Western Province to establish a Christian mission there. Raised in farming families from Queensland, they were both immensely practical people who had a range of life skills to add to the training they received at Tahlee Bible College before leaving Australia.
Questioning students overflow outside at CU mission
Daniel Stafford
Date posted: 1 Apr 2023
An event hosted by Christian Unions in the city of Liverpool was so highly anticipated that students had to stand outside the venue to remain in earshot.
Students in University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores, and Liverpool Hope universities (pictured left and centre) came together to host a week of daily, high-profile, evangelistic events entitled ‘Truth Defined’. With students facing a much more unsettled and uncertain future, greater numbers than ever are open to considering faith, with over 100 students crowded into a packed-out venue.
Anglicanism? Yes, but not as you know it...
When the first GAFCON gathering was held in 2008 in Jerusalem, the delegates agreed that this historic conference, bringing together Bible -believing Anglicans from around the world, should not just be a moment, but a movement, wonderfully diverse, with a vision to bring together the faithful from this historic denomination to proclaim Christ to the nations.
And so the Global Anglican Future Conference, GAFCON, has been held every five years, most recently in Kigali, Rwanda, where I was privileged to attend along with around 140 others from Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe in a total gathering of 1,300. The GAFCON movement has been growing and developing since its inception. What are some of its chief characteristics which distinguish it from several of our familiar UK-based evangelical networks and mission organisations?