Lighthouse International Church
Clive Thorne
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
In the 2001 census Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims represented 4.6% of the population of England and Wales.
This rose to about 7% in 2011 and is expected to be over 10% in the 2021 census. A conservative estimate is that people of these faiths will constitute over a quarter of the population of England and Wales by 2050 in only about 30 years time. Many inner city areas have seen church after church closed down, with some being converted into mosques or temples. What is the church doing to reach this burgeoning mission field on our doorstep?
Why GAFCON?
Chris Sugden and Vinay Samuel
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
‘Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.’
The successful conclusion of GAFCON 2018, ten years after its formal beginnings as a global Anglican movement that had its roots in, among others, the Lambeth Conference of 1988 of which Archbishop Manasses Kuria of Kenya said: ‘This was our Lambeth’ and (then Bishop) David Gitari of Kenya said: ‘Anyone who wants a resolution passed in 1998 will have to come to terms with the African bishops.’
Christopher Ash: ongoing surrender
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
I suppose most of us sometimes wish our stories were more exciting than they are.
That goes for the stories of how God first brought us to faith in Jesus Christ; we sometimes wish – foolishly – that the contrast with our pre-conversion life might be more dramatic because we had sunk into deeper depths of sinfulness before our conversions than we did.
Reformation worship
Jonny Gibson & Mark Earngey
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Have we drifted too far from the Reformers’ vision of church?
How do you structure your church services?
Standing on the authority of God’s Word
Charles Raven
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
In this column last month, Chris Sugden and Vinay Samuel helpfully answered the question ‘Why GAFCON ?’. This month, as the full significance of the third GAFCON conference held in June becomes clearer, I want to offer a personal reflection on the question of where GAFCON is going.
The short answer is nowhere! The appeal in GAFCON’s Letter to the Churches to the Archbishop of Canterbury to restore godly leadership has been ignored and there can be no doubt now that it is through GAFCON that the faithful Anglican tradition will be continued. The powers-that-be seem determined that the Communion should embrace the optional orthodoxy of ‘good disagreement’.
Association Day in East Anglia
Mark Newcombe
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
The new-look Association Day ‘Foundations
18’ took place on 7 July with the theme
‘Growing and Going’, held at a new venue,
the Faith Mission Centre at Earl Stonham
outside Stowmarket.
Lewis Allen of Huddersfield preached
twice,
supplemented
by
seminars
from
Graham Daniels, Ray Evans and Jim Sayers.
Connecting the isolated
SAT-7
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
A viewer survey in July by Christian satellite TV channel SAT-7 produced hundreds of viewer testimonies, showing that SAT-7 is changing perceptions towards Christianity and is providing valuable support for believers across the Middle East and North Africa.
Over 5,000 people responded to the survey, which was promoted on social media. Viewers rated SAT-7 highly on almost all criteria including image, sound, and content quality. SAT-7 says that the viewer testimonies are ‘compelling evidence that SAT-7 is succeeding in its mission of making God’s love visible in the Middle East and North Africa’.
Storm clouds over China’s church
Tony Lambert
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Tony Lambert gives his assessment of what is going on in the world’s most populous nation
Since the death of Mao in 1976, the church in China has enjoyed remarkable growth and revival.
Training and sending
Dave Ramsey
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
During the week beginning 13 May, the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland held its annual assembly meetings in Lisburn.
The 118 churches across the island work together in evangelism, church planting, mission, training, women’s and youth work. The assembly kicked off with ‘Association Sunday’, when churches are encouraged to engage in pulpit swaps and joint services.
DELAYED BLOSSOM
Dr Martin Seccombe
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
The eyes of the world were on Japan in 2011.
This was when it was left reeling from the triple disaster of a powerful earthquake, a devastating tsunami and a catastrophic nuclear accident. Seven years later, Japan is gearing itself up for a happier return to global attention – the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the Olympics in 2020. Sporting occasions can be a fantastic opportunity to bring a nation together in unity and celebration.
Sent right where you are
Martin Salter
Date posted: 1 Jun 2018
Martin Salter, speaker at this year’s Keswick Convention, on how good deeds should dovetail with evangelism
When we speak of ‘mission’ or ‘missionaries’ we tend to automatically think of those in far-off places.
Grenfell Tower: one year on
Graham Miller & Jackie Blanchflower
Date posted: 1 Jun 2018
Last June, the 24-storey tower block of public housing flats in North Kensington was engulfed in an horrific fire.
In the early hours of Wednesday, 14 June 2017, a fire broke out at Grenfell Tower in West London. 71 people lost their lives. The fire continues to impact the whole nation.
news in brief
Algeria: appeal denied
A case that began with police in Algeria stopping a Christian suspected of carrying Bibles in his car ended on 16 May with a large fine for the church leader.
A judge denied Pastor Nouredine Belabed’s appeal against a sentence of a 100,000-dinar (£643) fine and payment of court fees under a controversial law that forbids ‘undermining the faith of a Muslim’. Belabed had received the sentence on 8 March, including a three-month suspended prison term.
Myanmar: plight of Christians ignored by world media
World Watch Monitor
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
Almost 7,000 people belonging to the largely Christian minority group in Kachin, northern Myanmar, have fled their houses since fighting between the army and a rebel group flared up in early April, according to recent figures from the Red Cross.
‘It’s a war where civilians are being systematically targeted by members of Burma Army … [yet] the international community chooses to overlook it,’ political analyst and writer Stella Naw told the Guardian newspaper, with international attention on Myanmar focused on the humanitarian crisis facing the country’s Rohingya Muslims.
India: hostel closed
World Watch Monitor
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
Seventy-four children had to
leave their
Christian-run hostel in Rajasthan in early
May, after
the High Court dismissed a
petition challenging the child welfare committee’s seizure of
the central office of
Emmanuel Mission India.
Emmanuel Mission International (EMI),
founded in 1960 by Archbishop M.A. Thomas,
is well-known for providing quality education to students from under-resourced backgrounds, regardless of caste or religion. EMI
now runs five societies. One, Emmanuel
Education Society, runs over 40 schools in
Rajasthan state.
Evangelism that really works
Jeremy Marshall
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
Imagine 12 people sitting in a pub chatting about John’s Gospel.
Nobody checks their phone, nobody needs to leave. This is despite the fact none of them has been in church for years (some never).
Falkirk: celebration
The Revd Iain MacAskill
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
A mission in the tradition of Billy Graham, with
his grandson Will Graham preaching, took
place in the Falkirk Stadium during June.
Central Scotland Will Graham Celebration
of Hope was advertised as ‘not just an evangelistic event; it is a process of prayer, training, outreach, and follow-up that takes place
over a 12-month period – and it begins and
ends with the local church’. Around 9,500
people attended over
the weekend, with
31,000 watching on mobile devices
from
87 countries across the world. 65% of the
spiritual responses to the event came from those under the age of 35. Will Graham
preached with clarity and conviction: about
the prodigal son; time; and the thief on the
cross at the finale on Sunday.
news in brief
Egypt: naked aggression
Coptic houses were attacked in a village on 4 June, after Copts objected to a group of young Muslim men swimming naked in a canal in front of their homes as Coptic women sat outside.
A Muslim mob gathered around the homes of Christians across the canal and began pelting them with bricks and stones, while shouting ‘Allah is the greatest’ and chanting slogans against Copts. They broke the windows and doors of houses, and looted and destroyed some properties. Six people were injured, requiring stitches.
Turkey: still being held
World Watch Monitor / CNN
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
The American Charge d’Affaires in Ankara
said in late June that Turkey’s continued
detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson on
spying and terrorism-related charges was
impeding US-Turkish relations.
Philip Kosnett said there is a ‘strong sense
of unity in Congress between Republicans
and Democrats’ on the need for Brunson
to be released. He continued that there is:
‘A similar sense of unity between Congress
and the administration that, in order for the
relationship between Turkey and the US
to progress, we need to resolve that status
not only
for Brunson but also
for other
American citizens and local Turkish employees of US missions who we feel are detained
unjustly under the state of emergency’.
