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Geographically and physically, the region of Pamir in Tajikistan is an area of outstanding beauty.

The Pamir mountains are lofty and lonely, one of the last ‘undiscovered’ regions on earth, and one of the ‘world’s best kept secrets’ according to a former British ambassador to the country. The average height of the mountains in the eastern Pamir region is over 20,000 feet above sea level.

Chris Wright suggests the scale and scope of Stott’s ministry were epic

‘I am a great believer,’ John Stott would often say, ‘in the importance of B.B.C. Not the British Broadcasting Company, nor Bethelehem Bible College, nor even Beautiful British Columbia. But “Balanced Biblical Christianity”.’ In my own assessment of John’s life and ministry I suggest a Biblical balance of Old and New Testaments by saying that the scale and scope of John Stott’s significance within the global church has been both Abrahamic and apostolic.

Has there ever been a time when God has called you to ‘GO!’ and you’ve replied ‘NO!’? If you’re anything like me, then the honest answer will be: yes.

But not because you were wanting to be disobedient, but rather because you were feeling disabled by inadequacy. In those moments the soundtrack playing inside your head is like Robbie Williams’ hit track ‘I love my life’ played backwards. You don’t hear the words: ‘I am wonderful, I am magical, I am free’; instead you rehearse the lyrics: ‘I am weak, I am sinful, I am unable’.

By Andy du Feu

Want to see Tom Cruise perform a magic trick, joke about ex-presidents, or tee-off?

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.

Alex Jacob

1. How did you become a Christian?

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’.

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?

David Norbury

1. How did you become a Christian?

Church planting can sometimes seem like a relatively new phenomenon, but whether it is or not depends on what you mean by church planting. 

A good friend and mentor of mine – who has planted two churches in France – believes that when Paul instructed Timothy to ‘do the work of an evangelist’ (2 Tim. 4:5), he was instructing him to plant churches. To evangelise – to make disciples of all nations (Mat 28:19) – is to see churches started. Church planting, in this sense of the term, is as old as the early church.

A variety of evangelicals reflect on what might lie ahead in the next 12 months

Innovative evangelism?  Adrian Reynolds, Associate National Director FIEC

I hope and I pray that 2021 will see churches give evangelism its appropriate focus. In general terms, the lockdown has held us back: churches have often succumbed (understandably) to survival mode – let’s just keep going! Others have seen opportunities, but have not really known how to make the most of them. Others still have not known how to adapt to a changing environment and have simply mourned what they cannot do rather than explore what they can.

Carl Chambers

Date posted: 1 Jan 2021

Carl Chambers argues that victims of abuse have been failed by churches too easily covering things up

In 2015, Matthew Syed published a book called Black Box Thinking. He contrasts the culture of the airline industry with the health service in the US and UK.

Martyn Whittock

Date posted: 1 Dec 2020

In 1620, 102 ill-prepared settlers landed two months later than planned, in the wrong place on the eastern coast of North America.

They were a mixture of ‘saints’ (asylum-seeking members of separatist Puritan congregations) and ‘strangers’ (economic migrants necessary for the financial success of the venture). By the next summer, half of them were dead. Yet, from this inauspicious beginning, the impact of the Mayflower settlement still resonates 400 years later.

A missionary, writing under the pseudonym Peter Morrison, issues a wake-up call

Genocide. The Armenians. The Jews. Rwanda. And more recently the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica and the Muslim Rohingya of Burma. And now many fear… the Muslim Uighurs of China – more than 1 million of whom have been imprisoned in ‘re-education’ camps.

Sam Hodgins discusses feeling like a fraud and her new identity in Christ

Seventy percent of people are reported to have experienced ‘impostor syndrome’ at least one time in their life. It’s that feeling you have when everyone around you seems to know what they’re doing, but you have no clue. Or when you’ve been asked to take on some responsibility, but you feel like a fraud and wonder when you’ll be found out.

Tony Baker reflects on several decades of friendship with J.I. Packer

The first time I heard Dr Jim Packer must have been at midweek talks he gave to the CU in Oxford (OICCU) in the 1950s.

It might sound like a cliché, but on this occasion it happens to be true.

Stepping inside the Keswick Convention’s Derwent Project really is like entering Doctor Who’s Tardis. Not only does it appear to be much bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside, but it is big – in fact, enormous. Indeed, the space seems to go on and on and on… To paraphrase the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if you thought it was a long way to the local shops, think again…

Janice Pibworth

Date posted: 1 Apr 2020

Janice Pibworth tells the story of Christian campaigner Helen Cadbury

Helen Cadbury was the sixth child of Richard Barrow Cadbury of the famous Cadbury’s chocolate business.

Gary Clayton wonders why Easter in the West appears to have so little to do with the season celebrated by Jesus

Many years ago, shortly after I became a Christian, I took part in an evangelistic sketch showing the difference between various religions. One actor quoted from Mohammad, another from Buddha, Confucius and so on. Finally, it was my turn.

From the Bible By The Beach Chair of Trustees, David Bourne...

It was with much sadness, but recognising the fast pace of events, that the Trustees took the inevitable and necessary decision to cancel this year’s Bible By The Beach conference which was due to take place at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne from 1 – 4 May.

We find ourselves in confusing and troubling times, and yet we remain confident in our good and sovereign Lord and in His good purposes.

Sharon James looks at the role of Christianity in the public square

In 1793 a poor cobbler from an obscure village in Northamptonshire arrived in Calcutta. Driven by the conviction that God should be glorified in all nations, William Carey (1761–1834) is remembered as the father of the modern mission movement and as a great educationalist and social reformer.

First Madagascar, then Venice. We stopped by MI5, picked up some drinks and headed to the casino. But suddenly a fight broke out, gunmen appeared, and we all dropped to the floor. Not my average Friday evening.

I recently became one of 120,000 to experience Secret Cinema’s Casino Royale. It was a thrilling evening: a secret location, black tie and special missions, culminating in an immersive showing of the film, complete with live actors and pyrotechnics. It’s a format that has soared in recent years, perhaps because it consciously offers something not digital. Phones are sealed away and people have to interact. Instead of immediate and constant information, it offers secrets. And instead of a ‘purely digital experience’ it offers ‘touch’.

An extract from Stephen Witmer’s new book

In one sense, love itself is not very strategic. Anyone who’s ever been a parent understands this.

Wes Illingsworth asks William Taylor about the new ‘Questions for Life’ mission

In March 2018, ‘Gospel at Work’ Lunchtime Talks networks made a special effort to take Christ’s answers to life’s biggest questions into their workplaces.