When harvesting honey’s not so sweet
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 4 Feb 2025
A South Sudanese pastor is rejoicing – two years after a honey-harvesting accident left him facing a lifetime of pain.
Elisama Edward, rural dean for the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, Maridi, was flown to hospital after his plight came to the attention of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).
God’s grace at work in Central Asia
Mark Foster
Date posted: 3 Feb 2025
Anniversaries give opportunity to look back with thankfulness, and forward with hope and confidence. This year marks the 75th ‘birthday’ of Slavic Gospel Association (UK).
From relatively small beginnings the work has grown and prospered through God’s hand of blessing on it, so that today in the lands of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Far East Russia, hundreds of missionaries and Christian workers are helped prayerfully and financially by the supporters of the Mission. The Mission’s sponsorship scheme enables prayer partners to direct their support and their prayers to the work of faithful and trusted men and women, labouring to advance the cause of the gospel.
a Jewish Christian perspective
To the Jew first
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 31 Jan 2025
As a leader in Christian mission to Jewish people, I often hear people quote Romans 1:16 where Paul writes, ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.’
But recently I was asked to speak from Paul’s corresponding words a few verses later in 2:9 where he writes: ‘There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.’
Israel: How outreach is changing
Luke Randall
Date posted: 29 Jan 2025
A Ukrainian-born Jewish missionary says his evangelistic approach to Jewish people has changed since the attacks on 7 October 2023.
Misha Vayshengolts, who works for International Mission to Jewish People and lives in Tel-Aviv (interviewed by en last year), revealed that he has had to change how he communicates with Jewish people since Hamas attacked and killed over 1,200 Israelis.
Giving thanks for the life of Peter Rowan
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 29 Jan 2025
On 10 January, over 120 gathered in St Nicholas’ church in Sevenoaks to give thanks for the life of OMF (UK) Co-National Director Peter Rowan, with 900 tuning in online from across the world.
The service included songs chosen by Peter, moving tributes from his children, and an address delivered by Dr Krish Kandiah on 2 Timothy 4:1-8. ‘Peter lived a life of service; just like Paul he can say his life was poured out like a drink offering,’ Kandiah said. ‘He can say that he fought the good fight… but his life offers us a challenge – what will we do?’
everyday theology
The good life in Christ: rejoicing in suffering
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 5 Mar 2025
Is ‘the good life’ a life without suffering? Ease and prosperity in and of themselves are not really what make up the good life. Christ Himself was made like His weak and tempted brothers in order that He might help those who are tempted (Heb.2:16-18), and in the same manner, it is weak and suffering people that God has chosen to minister to the weak and suffering.
The great Refiner uses the days of small things. He uses the setbacks and discouragements, and even severe suffering, for our ultimate blessing. He did just that at the cross: it was through that darkest and most discouraging day that He definitively overturned and defeated the very root of darkness and suffering. Through that death He defeated death; through our comparatively light sufferings He is able to defeat our selfish independence and our foolish wandering and to make us more like His free and victorious Son. For those who have even glimpsed the unfettered beauty of Jesus, that thought itself puts mettle in our joy.
Puritans ‘sheikh up’ Gulf in 2025
David Woollin
Date posted: 3 Mar 2025
A series of remarkable conferences, including the Puritan Conference – Dubai 2025, have been held in the United Arab Emirates, for the first time, in January.
The first conference of the series saw a gathering of 106 ministries from 46 nations who collaborated to bring excellent Reformed resources to the world through the Global Resources and Training Initiative.
Record 4,000 toys distributed
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 25 Jan 2025
In Birmingham, 1,700 families received a record number of toys at Christmas from Birmingham City Mission, with the assistance of dozens of local companies.
Around 4,000 children received the gifts in December via the Birmingham City Mission’s (BCM) annual ToyLink project, with around 70 local companies who, between them, held toy collections, wrapped presents or delivered them to families.
World-first Christian app powered by AI launched
A first-of-its-kind Christian Artificial Intelligence (AI) app, that provides personalised, Scripture-based theological insights has been launched by technology company bible.ai.
The first religious app to use voice and virtual AI on a theological platform, bible.ai allows users to ask questions and provides personalised answers based on the Bible and other theological data sources.
letter from America
When should Christians fight to protect?
Josh Moody
Date posted: 23 Jan 2025
A former marine, Daniel Penny, was recently acquitted of all charges - despite putting a black homeless man, Jordan Neely, in a chokehold and killing him while they and others were travelling on a New York underground train.
Neely, apparently well-known locally for his Michael Jackson impressions, had allegedly made violent threats against other travellers on the subway car (as carriages are known). But he reportedly says he could not have lived with his conscience if any harm had come to his fellow passengers.
everyday evangelism
We’re almost ALL digital evangelists now
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 27 Feb 2025
After this month I’m taking a break from writing this Everyday Evangelism column. It’s partly so I can focus more energy on reaching out online. This article explains a little of why.
There are 2.5 billion monthly users on YouTube. Three billion on Facebook. If these were countries, they would be easily the biggest countries on earth. How can we be missionaries to these lands?
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: From Doctor to Pastor
Ray Gaydon
Date posted: 22 Jan 2025
Martyn Lloyd-Jones was born in Cardiff on 20th December 1899 and died in London on St David’s Day 1981.
His early years were spent at Llangeitho in Cardiganshire and in his youth attended Daniel Rowlands Chapel in the village. His father, like so many others in Wales at that time, relocated to London in 1914 seeking a better life for himself and his family. A couple of years later, Martyn began medical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and, at the age of 23, earned a Doctorate in Medicine and became the chief clinical assistant to the King’s physician, Sir Thomas Horder.
Philip Hacking: Hugely influential evangelical leader dies
en staff
Date posted: 20 Dec 2024
From the Keswick Convention to Word Alive to local church ministry and beyond – it is hard to overestimate the scope and significance of Philip Hacking’s ministry. He died on 6 December with 93 years of life and nearly as many years of gospel ministry behind him.
Philip was born in 1931 into a working-class family and grew up on the terraced streets of Blackburn, Lancashire. He attended the Church of the Saviour, a fairly new Anglican parish. It had a significant impact not just on his life but his ministry with the patterns that were laid down there. Philip wrote: ‘Prayer and Bible study and expository preaching were the order of the day, and I discovered the joy of seeing the treasures of the Bible unfolded’. They would remain the ‘order of the day’ throughout his ministry. He remembered too how ‘as teenagers we were encouraged to lead our own youth groups and to be involved in Christian witness’. Strikingly, at the same time as Philip, three others from the row of terraced houses in which he lived were called into ordained ministry.
DRC: Christians caught in crossfire
Luke Randall
Date posted: 21 Feb 2025
Church services have been cancelled as fighting continues to intensify in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – with 70 Christians found beheaded in one church.
M23 rebels, who have been seizing territory since early 2022 with the help of around 4,000 Rwandan troops, now control the two of the largest cities in DRC - Goma and Bukavu.
CEEC: We need to pray for clergy
CEEC
Date posted: 21 Feb 2025
Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) has called on en readers to join them in praying for vicars who are struggling to know how to navigate their Parochial Church Council (PCC) and congregations through the current phase of the Living in Love and Faith process and into the Alliance’s de facto parallel province.
John Dunnett, National Director, CEEC, said: readers will be aware of the ‘en Alliance’s call to construct the de facto parallel province. Were we to see hundreds, if not thousands, of churches using the Ephesian Fund (EF), requesting Alternative Spiritual Oversight (ASO) and sending their ordinands through the Alliance pipeline, this could very, very quickly become a reality. Such a significant expression of conscience would impact the bishops and bring them to the negotiation table. In reality, however, many incumbents are struggling to lead their churches into participation in this de facto province. Their commitment to orthodoxy is unquestioned but their situation makes this far from easy.’
Celebrating 150 years of evangelism
Mike Mellor
Date posted: 12 Jan 2025
Christians and evangelists from all over the country gathered at Loughton Baptist Church in Milton Keynes to joyfully celebrate 150 years of God’s faithfulness to Outreach UK.
The mission organisation, born in 1874, started life as the Christian Colportage Association. A Colporteur (French col = collar, portage = to carry) was a person who carried a shoulder bag from which to sell Bibles and other Christian books and literature. In order to convey significance to subsequent generations, the name changed over the years from Christian Colportage Association to Home Evangelism and then to Outreach UK, as it is known today. More than 70 evangelists, supported by five Area Field Officers now work alongside churches, supporting and training others in sharing the good news one-to-one.
the Bible in action
‘The deaf shall hear’
Martin Horton
Date posted: 16 Feb 2025
When did you last buy a Bible? Was it as a gift or because your well-loved copy was falling apart? How easy was it to choose?
With more than 60 versions of the Bible in English, choosing a new Bible might take a while: you might even suffer from ‘Bible decision fatigue’– a genuine phenomenon, according to Bible Gateway.
lessons from Jude
What it means to 'contend for the faith'
Tom Forryan
Date posted: 12 Feb 2025
You always understood that following Jesus wouldn’t be easy. It may be about to become much more painful than you ever imagined—and all because you set out your stall to obey Jude 3 and contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
The church you go to is everything you ever thought a church should be. The work has steadily grown under the influence of an internationally-respected minister who has been in place for a number of years.
Reflecting on betrayal: Ukrainians mark three years of war
On 24 February 2025, thousands of Ukrainians and their families and friends crowded into London’s Trafalgar Square for an evening of prayers and protest, speeches and music, marking three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Particular excitement was caused by the appearance of the 'Iron General', the popular former commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhnyi, who took up a new post as ambassador to the United Kingdom last year. But the mood was inescapably sober, and reflected a new sentiment absent from previous gatherings: betrayal.