175 years of witness
Christian Witness to Israel
Date posted: 1 Mar 2018
Christian Witness to Israel [CWI], one of the world’s oldest missions bringing the good news of Jesus to Jewish people, marked its 175th anniversary with a special event at St Aldate’s, Oxford on 27 January.
The event featured a number of missionaries including Igal Vender, who works with Jewish homeless people and drug addicts, and Aviel Sela, talking about his work with Holocaust survivors.
Planting: principles v pragmatism
Michael Farrier
Date posted: 1 Mar 2018
Michael Farrier tells us about his research into starting new churches
‘Here is the church, Here is the steeple, Open the door, And here are the people!’
First AMiE ordinations in the UK
Church Times
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
Nine men were ordained on 6 December as the first deacons and priests of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), the breakaway conservative evangelical movement that seeks to plant Anglican churches in England but outside the Church of England.
The nine were ordained by the Rt Revd Andy Lines at a service at a Baptist church, the East London Tabernacle.
Next year’s history
Joy Horn
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
Joy Horn helps us to remember our Christian heritage
JANUARY
24. John Mason Neale, who is chiefly remembered for his hymns, was born in 1818 in Bloomsbury, London. A linguist, familiar with some 20 languages, and a poet, of High Anglican convictions, he revived many old carols and translated others from Greek and Latin. O come, o come, Emmanuel and Christ is made the sure foundation are two of the best known – and, of course, Good King Wenceslas.
Count it all joy
Helen Roseveare
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
Helen Roseveare tells her story of grappling to find happiness when the will of God is difficult.
I had arrived at Ibambi, in the Belgian Congo, one Tuesday in March 1953.
Making ‘gospel sandwiches’
Alex Hays
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Alex Hays shares news of some encouraging gospel work in Asia
It was Charles Spurgeon who said: ‘If you give a man the gospel, wrap it in a sandwich. And if you give a man a sandwich, wrap it in the gospel.’
Dorothy Marx 1923 – 2017
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Feb 2018
Few people in England will have heard her name, but it is very likely that any Indonesian Christian you meet will ask whether you know her.
Born into a Jewish family in Germany, the descendant of many rabbis, Dorothy came to school in England in 1938. Arriving without a word of English, she discovered that she had better Latin and Greek than her teachers. She had one last visit back to Germany before war broke out, but after that never saw her parents again. Her mother died in Auschwitz, but her father’s fate was unknown. With funds cut off she had to abandon thoughts of university, but when she was 17 her life was completely re-orientated, as she had a dream of Jesus that brought her to faith. She became a member of Cheam Baptist Church and, after study at Ridgelands Bible College, was accepted as a member of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in 1953. In 1957 she landed in Indonesia.
The missing Sola?
Clive Every-Clayton
Date posted: 1 Feb 2018
Clive Every-Clayton on universal Truth for a post-modern age
We still bask in the memory of the great work of God 500 years ago.
Bangor: significant statue
Roger Carswell
Date posted: 1 Feb 2018
On 16 December, 1867 Amy Carmichael was born in Millisle in Northern Ireland and, 150 years later, on 16 December, a beautiful sculpture of her as a ten-year-old girl was unveiled outside Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church in Bangor. The church is home to the annual Worldwide Missionary Convention.
The sculpture was the idea of Derek Bingham, ten years ago. It was created by Christian artist and sculptor, Ross Wilson. It portrays a determined girl, holding in her hand a notebook – her diary of grace, containing God’s plans for her life – looking out to the world.
Closure on a closure?
When a church shuts, what are we to think?
Some months ago, the church I served as pastor for over 15 years worshipped together for the last time.
Gospel transformation
Barbara Sherwood
Date posted: 1 Feb 2018
Book Review
GOD KNOWS WHAT I’M DOING HERE:
The incredible story of a mission worker saved
from a rebellious past
Read review
Bearing fruit in old age
Jonathan Worsley
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Amongst the Israelites, old age was held in
high regard and respect for the elderly was
obligatory. Proverbs 16.31 tells us that, ‘grey
hair is the crown of glory.’ As a follicularly
challenged minister in his 30s it is easy to
subtly downplay the truth of such verses.
Unquestionably, modern Western society
does not honour old age to the extent to
which it once did.
Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that 1.2
million elderly people
in England would
describe
themselves as chronically
lonely,
with almost half of
those going without
seeing anyone
for five days out of every week (Age UK). The astounding nature of
such statistics is only furthered when one
considers that by 2035 almost half of the
adult population will be over 65 (Office for
National Statistics). While many churches
are unquestionably working hard amongst
an aging population, Christian
resources
aimed at the elderly are comparatively sparse.
Adam in the garden (city)
Ken Hawkins
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
The Grange Baptist Church in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, welcomed Adam Robertson as the assistant pastor on 19 November.
Adam, who studied at Moorelands, worked at Hillview Church in Hucclecote, Gloucester prior to the move to Letchworth. Pastor Mark Sewall welcomed Adam and his wife Iuliana into membership of the church. Their young daughter Ava won the hearts of the fellowship when they met her earlier in the year.
CAR: the forgotten emergency
World Watch Monitor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
There is a sense of emergency in the Central African Republic (CAR) where security has dramatically deteriorated across the country: President Faustin-Archange Touadéra failed to establish his authority beyond the capital, Bangui, 18 months after his election.
Gunmen are at crossroads in broad daylight, in a neighbourhood near the international airport. At night, gunshots can still be heard in the capital. In the capital, businesses and schools are working fairly well. In one of the epicentres of the violence, PK5, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood, markets and shops have re-opened (CAR is 76% nominally Christian, 14% nominally Muslim).
Just a boy amidst the Revival
Richard Bewes
Date posted: 1 Nov 2017
Richard Bewes recounts his childhood with missionary parents in East Africa
My parents were missionaries in Kenya.
Good news in F.E. Colleges
Claire Povey
Date posted: 1 Nov 2017
It all started for Festive ten years ago.
An eclectic mix of people with a heart for Further Education Colleges and Sixth Forms sat around a table and prayed for God to take what they had and multiply it.
Evangelist
Jeremy Brooks
Date posted: 1 Nov 2017
On 9 September, over 150 people gathered
for the
induction of Peter Sherwood as
evangelist at Welcome Hall Evangelical
Church (WHEC), Bromsgrove.
Pastor Brooks explained how the elders
had been seeking the Lord’s will over the
appointment of a second full-time worker for over a year, and were
increasingly
convinced that the role should be that of
an evangelist. In March, Peter Sherwood
was put in touch with Pastor Brooks by a
mutual contact, and after an extended period of prayerful consideration, was called by
WHEC in July.
Canada: new confessing Anglicanism
Andrew Symes
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC)
consists of over 70 congregations, which
over the past ten years have seceded from
the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC), or
have begun as new plants.
The movement
began with
biblical-ly orthodox groups coming
together as
‘Anglican Essentials’ in the 1990s, to re-state
the basics of apostolic faith in a context of
increasing influence of secularist and liberal
thinking among the leadership of Anglican
and other mainline churches.
Letter from America
Wars and rumours of wars
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Many of us would suppose that we live in unusually disturbed times.
A leading relief organisation in America estimates that they are dealing with, on average, far more serious crises in the early part of this century than in previous decades. There appears to be a growing flame of upsets, civil wars, brutality – and downright barbarism. Not to mention North Korea: what on earth is the world going to do about that most unstable situation?
Churches in jeopardy
Eric Barger
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Eric Barger on the liberal roots of the Emergent Church
Over a century ago, spiritual liberalism swept through the once-sound mainline denominations, wreaking theological havoc on anyone in its path.
Beach, teach and reach
J.P. Earnest
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
The two-week-long OAM Tenby beach mission took place during July and August on the sunny Pembrokeshire coast.
Converted through the work of a beach mission, each summer this writer now leads the work, beginning every day with personal and team devotions and prayer times, before leaving for the beach.
Facing the finances
How’s the money in your church?
I hope there’s enough and I hope you pay your pastor adequately (1 Timothy 5.17, 18). Without a proper salary he will worry about his family bills and that is bound to affect his ministry adversely. Churches who underpay their preacher tend to suffer spiritually. The ‘keep him poor, keep him humble’ attitude in some churches is appalling.
But, visiting various places, I have become aware that some churches are facing financial problems – and they are not the type of church you would expect to be in difficulties. They are generally growing churches. I have heard it said that the optimum church size financially is one of around 80 members – one pastor to support and volunteers doing what they can. It is when churches go beyond that threshold that expenses per capita rise steeply. More staff may be required (not least for administration), maybe the building needs to be enlarged, or a new kitchen is required. Perhaps more people are offering themselves for Bible College or the mission field.