news in brief
Abortion law change?
The Severe Foetal Impairment Abortion
(Amendment) Bill has passed
its second
stage at the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Disability
rights
campaigner, Heidi
Crowter, who has Down’s syndrome, had
told the Health Committee of the assembly:
‘The law … tells me and other people with
Down’s syndrome that we are worth
less
than those without disabilities. That is why I
want … the laws to be fairer.’
Hope on the high seas – OM marks 50 years
www.om.org
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
Operation Mobilisation, the outreach mission, was founded by George Verwer 64 years ago. This year marks the 50th anniversary of OM’s ship ministry. Seelan Govender, CEO of OM Ships, writes:
With more urgency than ever before as the numbers increase each year, we’re focusing on our vision to connect with the least-reached people groups of the world – those with little chance of hearing the gospel – in order to see them become vibrant communities of Jesus-followers.
John Stott - what you should know
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
The centenary of John Stott’s birth falls on 27 April 2021. As he died ten years ago, his name won’t be well-known to younger readers. This is one reason why we are holding centenary events, to introduce his name and his legacy to a new generation.
The breadth of John Stott’s influence is remarkable. Aged 29, he was appointed Rector of All Souls Langham Place, next door to the BBC. He wrote years later of how ‘dissatisfaction’ is a mark of a leader, and he showed it himself from early days. Decades before the term ‘fresh expressions’ was coined, he opened the All Souls Clubhouse, a church for the unchurched, in the poorer part of his parish. He started guest services, then unheard-of, beginners’ groups, and training courses for lay leaders. And he was a seer. So international students became a focus in the post-colonial 1960s as newly-established governments began sending their most able to the UK. The list goes on.
The training is over, the iceberg is here
Graham Miller
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
After 100’s of hours of hearing the gospel preached, will Bible-believing Christians now apply what they have heard, and be a conduit for God’s blessing to the poor?
The tip of the iceberg has been horrendous. The number of deaths is impossible to even reconcile. And they tell little of the pain and suffering that each death has left behind.
‘Get off your couch for the sake of Christ’
Jonny Reid
Date posted: 1 May 2021
Christians
in Sport (CiS)
is encouraging
Christians to return to their sports clubs as
lockdown measures ease across the UK.
Since March 2019 the majority of amateur
sport has been under restrictions and since
November 2020 all amateur sport clubs have
been banned
from
training or competing
together. With the stay-at-home order eased
on 29 March, outdoor sports facilities have
reopened and organised sports have been able
to
resume
in England. Similar
restrictions
have been eased in other countries within the
UK. Gyms and indoor sports facilities are all
planned to open again in the next few months.
Vaccine passports fear
EN
Date posted: 1 May 2021
Almost 1,000 church leaders have urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to impose controversial vaccine passports on churches in England.
In an open letter published a few days ago, the pastors and ministers say they are ‘are wholly opposed to this suggestion’ and say that to ‘deny people entry to hear this life-giving message and to receive this life-giving ministry would be a fundamental betrayal of Christ and the gospel.’
Fletcher and Smyth scandals: ‘who’ and ‘what’ – but not yet all the ‘whens’, ‘wheres’ or ‘whys’…
en staff
Date posted: 1 May 2021
en explains the latest developments – and what may come
What has happened?
First, independent Christian safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight published a ‘lessons learnt’ report into disgraced former minister Jonathan Fletcher’s time at Emmanuel Church Wimbledon from 1982 and 2012. Previously it had emerged that Fletcher had engaged in naked massages with men as well as beatings on their bare backsides, among other things.
New series on evangelism for every believer
FIEC
Date posted: 1 May 2021
Evangelism for Every Believer is the title of a
new series on the website of the Fellowship
of
Independent
Evangelical Churches
(FIEC).
FIEC Mission Director Andy Paterson
explains the background to the launch of this
new initiative:
Newton is the
new Tyndale
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 1 May 2021
A new theological centre along the lines of
Tyndale House, Cambridge, is to open in
Oxford this September.
Professor Michael A.G. Haykin, a regular
contributor to en, will be serving as the
first Director of Newton House when it is
inaugurated.
Mr Baker offers bread of life – and more!
Andrew Dalton
Date posted: 1 May 2021
An evangelical congregational church in West Yorkshire is offering two different kinds of bread to its neighbourhood – the Bread of Life, and ordinary bread as well!
Each week Morley Community Church receives (free of charge) supplies of bread, confectionery, vegetables, fruit and innumerable packets of food of all descriptions. Pictured here is Ray Baker with some of the provisions.
Exclusive: the untold story of Mozambique
Iain Taylor (BBC News / Zitamar News / Growing Hope)
Date posted: 1 May 2021
The human cost of the violence in northern Mozambique is laid bare in a number of eyewitness accounts of the fighting, and its aftermath, that Evangelicals Now has obtained from local Christians.
Several atrocities have recently taken place, with dozens of civilians being killed and at least 11,000 displaced after militants invaded Palma, Cabo Delgado on 24 March.
ten questions:
Alex Jacob
1. How did you become a Christian?
LCM gossips the gospel in midst of pandemic
London City Mission
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
Covid makes it more important than ever for Christians to be gossiping the gospel, according to the London City Mission.
Graham Miller, Chief Executive of London City Mission says: ‘Lots of meetings have been closed, but the opportunities for conversations are still there.’
Astronaut broadcasts Scripture verses from space
Evangelical Focus
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station has recently said that sunrises in space reminds him of a Bible verse from the Psalms.
Victor Glover, one of the seven crew members of the space station Expedition 64, posted two images of the sun shining just above Earth’s horizon on Instagram and Twitter.
Damnable heresy or useful tool?
Ray Porter, formerly Director of World Mission Studies at Oak Hill Theological College and Chair of Global Connections responds to the article ‘The contextualised gospel – delightful, doubtful or damnable’ published in the February issue of en.
The history of contextualisation has almost as many failures as successes. Dr Wells and his daughter have questioned some patterns of contextualisation that are embraced in mission circles today and suggested that they in fact represent ‘another gospel’.
The Bible in action
'It is a blessing to translate the Bible in my language'
Bryony Lines
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
‘Ever since I tasted the goodness of the Lord, I have desired that my own people would come to know Him and His salvation,’ says Simon, whose name has been changed to keep him safe. ‘It has been such a blessing to be able to work on translating the Bible into my language.’
‘Before I became a Christian, I was going on with my life in the best way I knew how,’ continued Simon. ‘Although I am from a hunter-gatherer community, my family had moved from the interior villages of Kenya while I was young, and came to more of a mixed (multicultural) community.’
The contextualised gospel – delightful, doubtful, or damnable?
Tim Wells and Lois H.M. Wells
Date posted: 1 Feb 2021
What is the gospel? That sounds like a pretty basic question that every Christian knows the answer to. But wait, what are your ‘go-to’ Bible verses if you were asked to sum up the key elements of the gospel? Take a minute to jot them down – we will return to them later.
The gospel, like the spectrum seen in a quality diamond, radiates an exquisite array of themes. Each of the four Gospels, for example, has its own unique emphasis on the person and work of Jesus: Matthew (Jesus as King), Mark (Jesus as Servant), Luke (Jesus as Man) and John (Jesus as God). They also record how our Saviour brought the good news to a kaleidoscope of cultures, classes, religious standings, genders and ages. But how much should this variety in the starting point of the hearer determine the nature of the gospel message presented to them?
40,000 view new video on Jesus
CEM
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
More than 40,000 people have viewed a beautifully-illustrated presentation of Jesus in its first month of being released.
What is Christianity? was created by Christianity Explored Ministries (CEM). Using rich imagery and a voiceover from Thabiti Anyabwile, it tells the story of human history. It’s the story of our creation by God and our rebellion against Him; the story of salvation found only in Jesus.
New leader for global group
Christian Today / ThomasSchirmacher.net
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
New Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), German theologian Thomas Schirrmacher, has begun work after being inaugurated.
The WEA was established in 1846 and works in 129 countries. It claims to represent 600 million evangelicals.
Christian medics rush to aid of boy and chimpanzee
Gary Clayton of the Mission Aviation Fellowship writes: For more than 75 years, MAF’s fleet of light aircraft has been flying patients from some of the world’s most hard-to-access areas to hospital.
Many MAF flights involve women facing pregnancy complications, accident victims or people wounded due to tribal conflict. Two, less typical, MAF medevacs involved a two-week-old chimpanzee and a ten-year-old boy.
Stark warning to Southern Baptists
Iain Taylor / Southern Baptist Convention
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
Departing President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), J.D. Greear, has used his final message to the Executive Committee to demand that the church engages constructively with Critical Race Theory (CRT).
The talk coincided with the much-publicised decision of leading Bible teacher Beth Moore – a longstanding critic of Donald Trump – to quit the SBC, saying ‘I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists.’
Churches badly harmed by Equatorial Guinea blast
Iain Taylor / Evangelical Focus
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
More than 100 people were killed after a massive explosion in Equatorial Guinea (central West Africa) in March, with 600 injured and almost 300 in hospital. More than 60 people were rescued from under the rubble by the civil protection corps and the fire service.
Local Christians and churches were badly affected too, with a Baptist pastor (as yet unnamed) killed and several members of the Baptist Church of Bata killed or injured.
New leaders for CofE evangelicals
CEEC
Date posted: 1 Apr 2021
Lis Goddard and Ed Shaw have become Co-Chairs of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), it has been announced.
Ed Shaw is pastor of Emmanuel City Centre Church in Bristol, a congregation established in recent years via a Bishop’s Mission Order. He is also Director of Living Out – an organisation run by same-sex-attracted Christians setting out an orthodox, Biblical view of sexuality.
