Church Mission Society CEO resigns after six years
en staff
Date posted: 29 May 2025
Alastair Bateman, CEO of Church Mission Society (CMS), has resigned from his post and announced he will step down at the end of July 2025 after six years, saying: “I believe the time is right.”
Reflecting on his time at CMS, Alastair said: “Serving in this community – so deeply committed to following Jesus, rooted in prayer, and bearing the fruits of the Spirit – has been the privilege of a lifetime.”
everyday theology
'Lord, help me...'
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 30 Dec 2025
In the gospel accounts of both Matthew and Mark, Jesus’s rebuke of the Pharisees for their neglect of their hearts (Matt.15v10-20; Mark7v14-23) is immediately followed by His encounter with the Canaanite/ Syrophoenician woman (Matt.15v21-28; Mark 7v24-30). The juxtaposition of the woman next to the Pharisees is telling, for she lacks the qualities they value – yet she has the qualities that Jesus values and they lack.
Not only is she a Gentile; she is a Canaanite, of the traditional enemies of Israel. “Cursed be Canaan,” declared Noah in Genesis 9v25. The book of Zechariah ends with the thundering denouncement that on the day of the Lord there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty (Zech.14v21). Yet, having heard of Jesus, she seeks Him out for help, showing a startlingly perceptive appreciation of Jesus’s identity. “Lord, Son of David,” she calls Him (Matt.15v22).
Tapani Simojoki
en staff
Date posted: 27 Dec 2025
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of England (ELCE) held its 71st Annual Synod from November 14-15 in Tottenham, north London, during which Tapani Simojoki was installed as Chairman, and the church continued work towards a new structure and name change. The synod theme was “The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength” (Nehemiah 8v10).
The denomination hopes to rename itself the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United Kingdom (ELC-UK) to better reflect its presence in the country. It has about 20 congregations and missions, and is a member of the International Lutheran Council, grounded in the authority of Scripture.
Christmas evangelism in the Welsh valleys
John-Edward Funnell
Date posted: 25 Dec 2025
Christmas is a unique time of year where popular culture seems to marry with the Christian experience. For just one month, the stigma of association with the local church is gone. The most hardened atheists decorate their homes and exchange gifts in celebration of the birth of the God they do not believe in.
December is the time that our otherwise secular society loves a little bit of Jesus, something that we at Noddfa Church capitalise on every year.
a Jewish Christian perspective
Moments of grace in Jewish evangelism
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 Nov 2025
I am so thankful to God for what has been a very busy and fruitful summer of outreach to Jewish people.
In my last column I wrote about the plans our mission (IMJP.org) had for summer outreaches in Budapest, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and London. Now, with these behind us, I am thrilled to share the fruit of those efforts. Once again, God is faithful!
Preachers with a limp - your views
Date posted: 21 Dec 2025
Dear Editor,
I thank God for the life of Terry Puttick, whose promotion to glory was announced in the December print edition of en [and also published online here]. Terry was my team leader and Director at London City Mission for over ten years. He was a man of passion, compassion and wisdom, with a deep love for the lost.
Street evangelists affected by Birmingham ban
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 14 Nov 2025
Street preachers in Birmingham have adjusted their evangelistic strategies to comply with a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) that came into force earlier this year (see this en article).
The PSPO focuses on the amplification of noise. Evangelists have ceased using PA systems or have chosen to operate outside of the area protected by the order.
news in brief
China: Christians released after torture
Eleven Christians in Shanxi have been released after facing over two weeks of imprisonment and torture. The believers were arrested during a raid on a Sunday worship service at Taiyan Xuncheng Reformed Church and forced to sit in the sleep-depriving ‘tiger chair’, causing Preacher An Yankui to describe the prison as a “spiritual testing ground”.
An Yankui told China Aid of how he was able to preach the gospel to their captors throughout the ordeal, and debate ideas of law, morality and faith. The believers were eventually released, 15 days after their arrest.
Calum MacLeod
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Dec 2025
The Free Church of Scotland has named Calum Iain MacLeod as the Moderator Designate for its 2026 General Assembly. Brought up on the isle of Scalpay, Harris, he has served as the minister of congregations in Barvas and Back, on Lewis, before serving Ferintosh and Resolis Free Church in the Black Isle, where he has worked since 2019.
Macleod, who has also been a member of the Free Church Mission Board and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said: “It has been my privilege to serve the Church in various congregations over the years. It is a great honour to be nominated as Moderator-Designate of the 2026 General Assembly.”
In war’s shadow: Spiritual welfare on the frontlines
SASRA
Date posted: 11 Nov 2025
Up and down the country today, Tuesday November 11th, Remembrance Day, just as they did on Sunday, many people will honour those servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives in previous wars and conflicts so that we could be free and could live in peace.
Not only must we remember those who fought and died, but also those who brought the spiritual courage and hope necessary for victories, amidst the suffering.
In a divided world, what does unity look like?
Jason Roach
Date posted: 16 Dec 2025
One of my cousins was killed by a stray bullet. He was not part of a gang but got caught in the crossfire of gang warfare. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, in areas where postcodes have a kind of protected status, can be lethal.
The council estates my church serves have similar challenges: one area will be home to some but an exclusion zone to others. One significant factor is an inordinate loyalty to a certain place; when place gives you your ultimate sense of security, you’ll go to surprising lengths to protect it.
FIEC pastors
Date posted: 15 Dec 2025
Dear Editor,
Thanks as ever for the recent print issue of Evangelicals Now.
Franklin Graham groups quit accountability body
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 24 Oct 2025
Franklin Graham – the son of late American evangelist Billy Graham – has withdrawn his two ministries from an evangelical accountability group which was co-founded by his father.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse have formally resigned from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), ending more than four decades of membership.
Online misogyny should concern believers, says Christian organisation
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 10 Dec 2025
Believers should be concerned because the internet "harbours dangers that disproportionately target girls and young women," says a Christian women's organisation.
Girls' Brigade England and Wales - an organisation that helps women and girls explore the Christian faith - says online platforms "expose girls to relentless pressures, toxic role models, and gender-based abuse that corrodes self-worth and mental health." These are not Kingdom values, says the organisation, and so this issue should concern Christians "deeply."
everyday theology
Are we people of a sect or of the gospel?
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 9 Dec 2025
In practice, evangelicals have often tended to be individualists in their faith. But our understanding of what it is to be truly evangelical should be taken not from evangelical practice but from the evangel.
Evangelicals are people who have been born again, but to be born again is to be born or baptised into Christ (Rom. 6v3; Gal. 3v27). From the moment of our regeneration, we are part of a bigger whole, the body of Christ (Rom. 12v5; 1 Cor. 12v13).
Young people are ‘open to reading the Bible’
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 6 Dec 2025
Lots of young people are responding positively to the question “What would you say if a friend asked you to read the Bible with them?”
In an Instagram reel posted by @uncoverJesus, seven out of nine young people said that yes, they would read the Bible if a friend asked.
Gafcon plan: Theological allies remain silent
en staff
Date posted: 30 Oct 2025
Conservative groupings in the Anglican Communion are remaining seemingly tight-lipped about Gafcon's recently-announced plans for a complete denominational reset.
On 16 October, the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), which represents many orthodox and Bible-believing individuals and churches, declared itself the "Global Anglican Communion" - as opposed to the existing Anglican Communion traditionally centred on Canterbury.
New Equipping Pastors Worldwide role
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 25 Oct 2025
Equipping Pastors Worldwide has welcomed David Bhadreshwar as its new Head of Resourcing and Partnerships.
Bhadreshwar and his wife, Naomi, spent almost 20 years in Peru as missionaries – serving indigenous churches through preaching, teaching, discipleship, and pastoral ministry in villages and cities across the jungles, highlands, and coast. Registered with Global Training Network (GTN), Bhadreshwar has remained actively involved in overseas missions training since returning to the UK in 2023.
The Aylesbury church building and training for the future
Jim Sayers
Date posted: 29 Nov 2025
This year has seen major changes for Limes Avenue Baptist Church in Aylesbury, Bucks.
Building project
First, the church has been living in exile in a local school because of a £1.3 million building project which is due to be completed by the end of this year. Matt Benton, senior pastor since 2017, says the church has been amazed by how the money has been provided.
The Enhanced Games versus the grace of limitations
Jonny Reid
Date posted: 22 Oct 2025
British Olympic swimmer Ben Proud has joined the Enhanced Games. It’s a decision, and a potential trajectory, for sport, with significant consequences and challenges for Christians to reflect on.
The Enhanced Games encourages the use of performance-enhancing drugs to break world records. It claims to be the future of sport “on a mission to redefine super humanity through science, innovation and sports.”
What’s in a word?
I love words. Not only are some of them inherently beautiful, but I’m fascinated by the way we create sounds that contain meanings.
Sure, the Book of Proverbs does warn that “when words are many, sin is not absent”, but it balances the assertion by also pointing out that “a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” which, although probably bad for the teeth, presumably represents something good.