Bywyd Llawn (Life to the full)
Evangelical Movement of Wales
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
The Welsh National Eisteddfod held
in
the first week of August in Cardiff gave an
opportunity for Christian mission by the
Evangelical Movement of Wales.
Footfall past
the
stand
in Cardiff was
heavy, and good conversations were had
each day. As part of a questionnaire pass-ers-by could fill in, people were asked to rate
four sentences from 1-10:
Grace Baptist joy
JEB
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
An Association AGM is usually a duty that
must be done and no more. But that of the
Association of Grace Baptists in the South
East on 6 October, at St Giles’ Mission,
North London, turned into a real joy.
Four new churches
joined
the group,
from Chelmsford, Hythe, Streatham and
Ebbsfleet. The new book Pure Church, show-ing the biblical basis for the Association’s
ecclesiology,
was
launched.
Graham
Nicholls, the director of Affinity, to which
the Association belongs, articulated the aims
of his work for wider fellowship.
‘I don’t know’: state of UK popular theology revealed
Humphrey Dobson
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
How much do people in Britain today know about God, the Bible, or Jesus Christ?
And what about within the church – do evangelicals think clearly about theological issues, or does confusion abound? The State of Theology survey, commissioned by Ligonier Ministries, has uncovered what people in the UK are actually thinking.
To the ends of the earth
Mark Foster
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
Mark Foster brings us news of how the gospel is being taken to the far east of Russia
They’ve been doing it for almost 70 years.
Iraq: believers survive and thrive
Paul Perkin
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
‘You can say you are not a man or a woman, you can say you are not a Kurd, but you cannot say you are not a Muslim; it’s in your DNA.’
This is according to a Muslim-background believer in Jesus (MBB), who indeed told his family he was now a believer in Isa [Jesus]. He came to Christ through an atheist newspaper telling the accounts of people who had turned from Islam to Jesus (the paper held no candle for any religion but was vaguely interested in those who converted from one to another!)
India: ‘God is on the move’
Langham Partnership
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
For a new believer in northern India, it’s not uncommon to be baptised at midnight, not because it’s more meaningful by moonlight, but because the cover of darkness offers more safety in a region where Christians increasingly face persecution.
For a new believer, gaining ultimate freedom in Christ often means losing other freedoms, like drawing water from the community well or walking down the street without fear of being beaten. Amazingly, churches are growing where many of the 400 million people are in desperate poverty and most have never heard of Jesus.
news in brief
Speaker speaks out
Freedom of religion is less important than homosexual and transsexual rights, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said in early July.
He made the statement while hosting an event for a homosexual website. He said: ‘I respect people’s rights to adhere to and profess their faith, but for me, where there is a clash between somebody’s adherence to faith on the one hand and the acknowledgment of and demonstration of respect for human rights, the latter has to trump the former.’
Chris Wright: a wee Belfast boy
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
My parents were missionaries for 20 years in Brazil before I was born.
Two of my older siblings were born there. I arrived after they returned to Belfast shortly after the Second World War. So I grew up in a home where Christian faith was inseparable from mission commitment and global interest (aided by a stamp-collecting hobby). I remember asking Jesus to come into my heart as a young child of five or six, when my brother Paul asked me if my name was in the Lamb’s Book of Life; and when I asked how I could be sure (probably not quite understanding which book he had in mind), he told me to do just that.
Culture watching
Where’s my super-suit?
Sarah Allen
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Superhero movies seem to be churned out by Hollywood every few months now.
We’ve had Wonder Woman and Black Panther, Iron Man, The Avengers and X-Men all saving the world and defeating evil in their different fashions. Those who enjoy these films (I have to say, they are not my cup of tea) know what to expect – dramatic action sequences; often ambiguous political scenarios; heroes who are like us, but better; heroes who come from another world; personal conflict as the hero accepts their mission, and evil which is a threat to human relationships as we know them.
Please fight for the unborn
Dave Brennan
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Dave Brennan with a biblical mandate to mobilise against abortion
As the 19th century draws to a close, English missionaries in King Leopold II’s Congo Free State face a heart-searching dilemma.
New church for Huntingdon
Jon Gilbert
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Huntingdon is a market town about 20 miles to the north-west of Cambridge with a population of about 24,000. Being situated where the River Great Ouse meets the Roman Ermine Street (from London to York), Huntingdon has always been situated on a crossroads.
Although there are a number of small churches from various denominations, the rapidly growing population of Huntingdon and the surrounding area means that there is a huge need to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ salvation to the many who currently have no church connection.
GOD’S CALL TO CARE
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
This year’s theme, SENT is at the heart of what the Keswick Convention has long been about: mission.
Mission overseas and mission ‘right where you are’, a going out into the world sharing the good news of the gospel through word and deed. This year, visitors to the Keswick Convention will have the opportunity to take a peek into the world of mission and experience some of the many opportunities we have, as Christians, to reach out to the lost and suffering. For the first time ever, the Global Village Experience will be available at the Convention and will be hosted on the pencil factory site right next to the missions exhibition tent, Base Camp.
USA: chaplain cleared
The Christian Institute
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
A decorated US Army chaplain who faced a
court martial over accusations of discrimination against a lesbian couple was cleared of
all charges, it was reported on 25 August.
Major Scott Squires was investigated and
faced dereliction of duty charges after he
told a soldier he could not lead a marriage
retreat that included a same-sex couple. The
chaplain had to pull out of the event when he
learned of the same-sex couple and arranged
for an alternative chaplain to take over, but
his actions were deemed discriminatory.
Marriage: divorced from truth
en staff
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
The government opened a consultation1 in July (closing on 7 November) on Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education, seeking views on the draft regulations and statutory guidance to schools.
This is already part of the curriculum in most schools as PHSE, but is due to become compulsory. Many parents, including Christians, are abdicating their responsibility to teach sex and relationships to their own children. Aware of this, the government has taken the chance to construct a curriculum which includes some helpful elements, but also some unhelpful teaching about sex and family life.
France: outreach in Carcassonne
Brother Hicham
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
‘Reaching Carcassonne’ 2018 took place from 21–28 August, in partnership with La Voix des Prophètes, United Beach Missions (UBM) and with the support of La Maison de la Bible.
The team of 29, aged between 17 and 67, included students, professionals, civil servants and retired people from different countries in Europe. It was an encouragement to see several recent converts from the local church participating in the outreach.
Ethiopia: graduation
Church Mission Society
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
The first students graduated from groundbreaking St Frumentius’ Anglican College, in Gambella, western Ethiopia in the summer.
For these students, the road to graduation has been especially challenging: two of the seven graduates are refugees and the others are from two different ethnic groups that have a history of conflict.
Stranmillis: pressing on
Harold Gibson
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
It is with a sense of great anticipation and with thankfulness to God that the congregation of Stranmillis Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Belfast returned to its normal location in September.
For the past 12 months the church has been in a period of transition. Having vacated their normal location at 36 Stranmillis Road at the end of July 2017, due to the major building and redevelopment project, services of worship relocated to Stranmillis University College on Sunday mornings and to Lisburn Road Hall in the evenings.
Scottish Anglican Network: contending & learning
The Revd David McCarthy
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
St. Thomas’ Church, Edinburgh, has a long history as an evangelical congregation.
It was founded in 1844 as an Independent Anglican Church, following the introduction of the Oxford Movement to the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC). It gradually grew closer to SEC from the 1940s onward. Rectors have included George Duncan, Gordon Bridger (later of Oak Hill College), John Wesson (later of Trinity College, Bristol) and Philip Hacking (later of Christ Church Fulwood, Sheffield).
USA: walk out on Pence
EN
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
In contrast to the UK prayer breakfast in
Parliament where the leaders of the nation
were called to listen to someone speak from
the Bible, the Southern Baptists took up the
request from Vice-President Mike Pence to
speak at their convention in mid-June.
In a piece
for The Gospel Coalition,
Jonathan Leeman wrote: ‘… having a political leader address our churches or associations of churches tempts us to misconstrue
our mission. Our mission is not the mission
of the Republican, Democratic or any other
party. Our mission, when gathered,
is to
work toward Great Commission ends. To
bring
in a politician risks subverting our gospel purposes to the purposes of that politician’s party. … it undermines our evangelistic and prophetic witness … it hurts the
unity of Christ’s body’. There would inevitably be divided political opinions in a church
over any individual or party.
The octogenarian in the train station
EN
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
On 3 July George Verwer celebrated his
80th birthday and announced a tour of the
UK to 20 or so train stations to give friends
a chance to meet him and pray.
He said he needed a ‘sabbatical’ from big
events after last year’s OM 60th celebration.
George said he wanted to be able to have
time to sit with people, and big parties don’t
allow for that. So through July and August he plans to sit in coffee shops and train stations for a few hours so people can have a few
minutes conversation, ‘maybe a prayer and
for sure a photo – for me maybe a few tears’.
People come, people go
Linda Allcock
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
Linda Allcock on the mixed emotions experienced in a mobile congregation
‘People come. People go.’ That was the phrase repeated in The Globe Church original promotional video at our launch in 2015.
Enfield: what’s in a change of name
FIEC
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
‘A name change on its own doesn’t really mean much… but it’s a great opportunity for us to use this to talk to people in Enfield about Jesus!’ said pastor, Nathan Howard, to a room full of church members.
And so it was put to the church: a ‘relaunch’ as Enfield Evangelical Free Church became Enfield Town Community Church. There would be new signage, a new website and a timely excuse for a big invitation to all their community.
