Fuddy-duddy? Really we’re ‘slightly zany’
Vivienne Birch
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
‘To be honest, some people see EMF (European Mission Fellowship) as a bit fuddy-duddy’, a pastor recently confessed to mission director Andrew Birch.
Well, if the next conference is anything like this year’s, it will be fresh, joyful, challenging, and totally encouraging. ‘Fuddy-duddy?’ Not so much!
The chilling history of Christian anti-Semitism
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Friday 27 January marks Holocaust Memorial Day – the commemoration of one of history’s most heart-rending chapters. But how did a plan that resulted in the death of 6 million Jewish people originate in what was a supposedly Christian nation?
The church in Acts was almost entirely Jewish, which explains why – in Acts 10 – Peter receives a vision of a large sheet full of unclean creatures to encourage him to visit the Gentile Cornelius.
news in brief
Hatun Tash
The Metropolitan Police have apologised
to evangelical street preacher Hatun Tash,
paying her £10,000
compensation
for
wrongful arrest and unlawful imprisonment.
A former Muslim, Tash had asked the police
for assistance on two occasions when she was
being harassed by Muslim demonstrators
– but
they arrested her
instead.
In one
case, she was held in custody for 24 hours
before being
released without charge. A
police inspector wrote and apologised for
the distress she suffered and acknowledged
‘that on these occasions the level of service
did fall below the requisite standard’.
FIEC 100 multiplies into 170 and more
FIEC
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
A bumper crop of mission initiatives is being highlighted by the the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) as it continues to mark 100 years since its founding in 1922.
‘Back in the spring we asked our churches to tell us about what they are doing to further the mission of proclaiming Christ and His gospel. We hoped 100 might respond and we could share their news; in the end we received more than 170 submissions,’ said Adrian Reynolds, FIEC Head of National Ministries and Chairman of the en Board.
Do we have a theology of disability?
Kay Morgan-Gurr
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
We love theology in the evangelical church. We want to know what God says about all sorts of things in the Bible. We soak in what those who have studied theology say, and sometimes we study it ourselves with the books that we read and the podcasts we listen to.
But do we, as evangelicals, have a theology of disability?
FIEC: 1,000 gather to mark 100 years
Joel Murray
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
Nearly 1,000 pastors, elders, women’s workers, youth leaders, and others in church leadership gathered at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in November for the 2022 FIEC Leaders’ Conference.
It was the first national conference for three years, due to the Covid pandemic, but came just in time to mark FIEC’s 100th anniversary.
the ENd word
How God guides us
Jeremy McQuoid
Date posted: 1 Feb 2023
‘… the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.’ (Acts 16:6)
How do you get guidance from the Lord? As I write this article, I’ve been putting together messages based on Christmas nativity passages where divine guidance seems to come by way of angelic visitations, dreams and reading astrological charts. They are fascinating passages, but I’m not sure they are a ‘how to’ guide for discovering God’s will. It is important to remember that these dramatic moments of guidance came before God had poured out His Spirit at Pentecost.
Anti-Semitism
Date posted: 1 Feb 2023
Dear Editor,
I just wanted to applaud your efforts in the January 2023 edition, especially with respect to the wide coverage you have given to the question of Israel and the Jews – obviously including my own submission of Jonathan Arnold’s testimony.
Russia crackdown: outdoor evangelism ban
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Feb 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a controversial new package of counter-terrorism measures, including tougher sentences for extremism and heightened electronic surveillance of Russian citizens.
The law also bans evangelism outside church buildings, and anyone involved in a religious event must secure a government permit through a registered religious organisation. The restrictions even apply to activity in private residences and online. Foreign visitors who break this law will face deportation.
Leadership scandals addressed afresh
Affinity
Date posted: 1 Feb 2023
The continuing ramifications of recent leadership scandals in evangelical churches and the wider Christian world are being freshly addressed by one of the UK’s leading evangelical networks.
Affinity – which links around 1,200 churches and Christian organisations – says it wants to aim towards healthy Christian communities ‘where concerns about pastoral malpractice can be raised and dealt with fairly, and in ways which are honouring to Christ, theologically faithful and legally compliant’.
Evangelicals: the view from central Africa
Date posted: 1 Feb 2023
Dear Editor,
Most of the discussions around unity in faith and life for Christians currently revolves around ethical issues specially, in this season, to do with gender or indeed the teaching of the Holy Scriptures on male and female, as the divinely ordained context for marriage and sexual relations. Such attention to the ethical content of our faith is deserved, because after all Jesus did not mince words: ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them’ (John 14: 23).
Bringing the gospel and practical help to one of the remotest places on earth
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Feb 2023
Physiotherapist Ruan Swart uses MAF aircraft every week. The flights enable him to provide physiotherapy to the people of Elcho Island, Arnhem Land, one of the remotest places on earth.
For Ruan, the stress-free, 40-minute plane ride saves hours travelling by boat and land.
‘We cut up clothing, bedding and harnesses to feed the dogs...’
Polly Standring
Date posted: 1 Nov 2022
Polly Standring shares the remarkable story of global evangelical mission agency Crosslinks, which is now celebrating its centenary.
Crosslinks exists to help people get involved in God’s mission. 27 October 2022 marks our 100th birthday – that’s a century of taking God’s word to God’s world! What God has done through the 1,420 men and women sent out by Crosslinks over the last century is remarkable.
From Brazil to Malaysia… Hope is explored globally
In January 2022, Christianity Explored Ministries launched its latest evangelistic resource, Hope Explored – a three-session course on the hope, peace and purpose found in Luke’s Gospel and the Christian faith.
During the spring and summer, over 500 churches in the UK implemented the materials as part of their evangelism. More recently, it’s had an increasingly international impact.
Christian aviators fly into earthquake zone
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
The emergency phone call was made to
Mission Aviation Fellowship’s Programme
Safety Manager.
‘The call,’ Dom Sant said, ‘asked me to
take the lead on mapping communities that
were affected by the earthquake that struck
Markham Valley in Morobe Province, Papua
New Guinea.’
defending our faith
Evangelicals and women
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
At present the role of women in ministry
is one of the most pressing topics among
evangelical Christians.
Recent books reassessing complementarian
and egalitarian perspectives on
the Bible
have provided some helpful reconsideration
of the topic and reflection on the nature
of leadership in the contemporary church.
However,
for onlookers
from outside the
evangelical church,
the debate can
seem
antiquated and out of touch.
Israel: Netanyahu’s return prompts concern
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
The return of Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party, who has just swept back to power in Israel with the aid of new far-right allies, is causing concern amongst mission agencies working with Jewish people.
Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, having been in office for a total of 15 years, from 1996-99 and 2009-21. He has been a controversial figure for many years, not least for facing charges of bribery and fraud whilst previously in office. His main new coalition partner, the Religious Zionists, is led by the right-wing extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who celebrated their electoral success at an all-male campaign gathering overnight in Jerusalem, where supporters waved Israeli flags and chanted ‘death to terrorists’.
‘If we must die because of our faith in Jesus, that is what we must do’
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
Following the latest military coup in Burkina Faso, the West’s politicians are apparently now worried that Russian mercenaries may be invited in to quell the jihadist uprising there.
Meanwhile, Western Christians are being asked to pray for their brothers and sisters in the unstable and poverty-stricken West African nation, that they may have the courage to keep preaching the gospel.
From homelessness and loneliness to Christ’s embrace
London City Mission
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
For some guests at London City Mission’s Webber Street day centre, near Waterloo, rehabilitation and restoration is a life-long journey. This is Josef ’s story.
Ten years ago, during the winter that Josef slept on the streets of London, the only way he could find reprieve from the biting cold was by sleeping on the vents that blow warm air out from the Underground.
Doubt on Welby’s future role
Paul Eddy
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
If the Church of England moves towards blessing same sex-marriage, or ‘opts into’ allowing gay marriages in its churches as a result of the Church’s General Synod meeting in February 2023, ‘pain and distress will be felt by millions of faithful Anglicans across the globe’, and ‘significant questions would be asked as to whether Archbishop Justin Welby would be able to continue to lead the Anglican Communion.’
So says the Mouneer Hanna Anis, Archbishop Emeritus of Egypt, a global Statesman within the Anglican Communion and an adviser to the primates of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), whose provinces represent 75% of Anglicans across the globe.
Have we lost sight of the central message of salvation?
Jon Barrett
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Converted aged 20, I’ve been a Christian for 34 years and an ordained minister for 24. Add to that the fact that I was brought up in an evangelical family and you’ve got over half a century of life lived in and around the evangelical world.
Recently, I’ve found myself spending quite a bit of time ruminating on how evangelistic preaching has changed over that time period and how- much to my concern- it now tends to focus almost entirely on the benefits of the gospel at the expense of the substance of the gospel.
From a kibbutz and New Age to the New Covenant and Christ
Charles Gardner
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
A Messianic Jewish pastor is greatly indebted to Christians with a special love for the people of Israel. For without them his family would not have discovered Jesus as their Messiah.
Now helping to lead a congregation in Haifa, Jonathan Arnold describes his faith journey as being ‘from New Age to the New Covenant’.
Of criminalisation and the civilising mission
A few months ago, a group of Ghanaian MPs tabled a draft bill aimed at criminalising the ‘public show of amorous relations between or among persons of the same sex’ and ‘intentional cross-dressing … with intent to engage in an act prohibited under the act.’
That country’s Anglican archbishop, Cyril Kobina Ben Smith, joined several other prominent Ghanaian Christian leaders in endorsing the bill. He wrote: ‘The church does not condemn persons of homosexual tendencies, but absolutely condemns the sinful acts and activities they perform.’