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In January, St James Clerkenwell played home to the first City to City UK DNA Download conference, with 45 churches and 13 UK cities represented.

The conference provided an opportunity to think about theological vision and ministry values that are needed to see the cities of the UK reached with the gospel. The Gospel: it renews hearts, changes lives, builds the church and impacts the world. The City: aim to equip churches for the challenges and opportunities that come from ministering in UK cities. The Movement: City to City UK is a movement of church-planting churches, working together from different tribes and networks.

Understandably, Luther and the great matters of the Reformation took pole position at the annual Carey Conference for pastors and wives and Christian workers this year.

Held at the Hayes Swanick, 3-5 January, there was quite a raft of different speakers. Paul Gibson, pastor at Wheelock Heath, roared away from the start with an excellent biography of Martin Luther that focussed helpfully on the great Reformer’s weaknesses. Anfechtungen became the buzz word! There were superb Bible readings from Rupert Bentley-Taylor on the power of the Word (Isaiah 55) and the power of the gospel (1 Corinthians 1) – very much Reformation concerns. John Benton spoke on lessons for leaders from the psychology of Samson. Linda Alcock did a brilliant job with the women’s track, leading the sisters through Titus, and Ian Fry gave a sparkling and yet very disturbing talk on the needs of children and the work among young people in today’s church.

On 8 January, Cowley Church Community (CCC) voted to adopt its first constitution and become a fully independent church. Planted by Magdalen Road Church, the new congregation has a vision to reach Cowley, on the east side of the city.

In Spring 2016, 30 adults and children were commissioned by Magdalen Road Church and began meeting every Sunday afternoon at a community centre in central Cowley.

The Reformation and Revival Conference in Derbyshire, 14–16 November, was one of close fellowship, times of prayer together and good expositional preaching, the hallmarks of this annual conference.

Simon Clarke from Shepshed opened the conference with an encouraging and challenging message from Luke 11.13. His theme was the vital necessity and glorious promise of the giving of the Holy Spirit by our heavenly father to those who ask. The word was refreshing and motivating as we face the days in which we are living. How we need to be asking for the Spirit.

The Antioch Plan is recruiting again.

The selection process for the second cohort of pioneering church planters has already begun.

Overseas missionaries are still very much needed. The title of this year’s conference of the Grace Baptist Mission was ‘Here Am I, Send Me’. No punches pulled there!

The meetings took place this year at the Friends Meeting House next to Euston Station in London on Saturday 29 October. It is a convenient place to travel to and people came from all over the country in their hundreds to this challenging and very uplifting day. There was a plethora of seminars given by serving missionaries from Brazil, the Philippines, Poland, France and central Asia, as well as reports concerning radio work and outreach to Asian communities in various cities in Britain.

Throughout 2017, the city of Hull, or Kingston-upon-Hull, will be in the national spotlight.

This is because Hull has been chosen as the national ‘City of Culture’ for the year – an honour and privilege which the city has taken to heart.

The 64th Free Church School in Theology was held 5 – 8 September at Carronvale House, Larbert.

As in previous years, it was an opportunity for rekindling friendship and fellowship with other ministers and committed Christians from across the UK and Ireland.

Children and schools in Blackpool are having to join waiting lists for Christian schools clubs as demand has far exceeded expectations for the groups based around Scripture Union’s award-winning app, Guardians of Ancora, it was reported in October.

The clubs, which run at lunchtimes and after school, identified Guardians of Ancora as the perfect fit to engage their target age ranges with biblical stories in a fun and relevant way. Scripture Union commissioned the Guardians of Ancora project to help children grow in faith, in the digital space.

ChristChurch Tilehurst launched on 4 September, having first been established as a congregation from Carey Baptist Church in Reading.

Originally operating as a satellite congregation called Carey Westwood Farm, the work grew from about 30 people, including children, to about 60. In 2015, with the blessing of Carey, they began the process of establishing the new church.

In September, Pais GB commissioned 57 apprentices, the biggest group of missionaries they have sent out in a decade.

Their apprentices, coming from Germany, Brazil, America, India, Kazakstan, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and the UK, comprise 17 teams based in areas as far north as Newcastle and as far south as Exeter!

The Evangelical Alliance launched its Great Commission evangelism website on 26 October to help Christians share their faith, and to show people that Jesus is changing lives in the UK today.

New video stories will be released each week on the site, sharing how people have come to faith across the UK. There will also be inspiring accounts of Christians and churches.

Around two years ago, a young and newly ordained minister and his wife had a vision to plant a church in the heart of Central London which would last for 100 years.

But rather than taking a group of around 40 people, as is the usual church planting route, they did something crazy. With the blessing of their sending churches and a number of Christian organisations, Malcolm (formally at St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford) and his wife decided to move to London with no money, no people and no place to plant a new church. Two and a bit years later we praise God that there is a new church in Central London meeting in Leicester Square.

We need to be informed of what God is doing in his world.

The information will cause us to appreciate the greatness of our God and the certainty of his promises. It will also stimulate us to prayer for many of our brothers and sisters who are paying a high price to follow Christ today. In Europe it is possible to think that as Bible-believing Christians we are part of an ever-decreasing minority, yet we are a protected minority, though the fear is that these protections are fast disappearing.

Duke Street, Richmond was the venue for the second Healthy Churches Conference which took place on 5 September and is from the ‘9Marks’ background.

Last year the speaker was Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist, Washington. This year, with the focus on evangelism, it was Mack Styles of Redeemer Church, Dubai.