Harringay, 1954 – a personal recollection
John Peet
Date posted: 1 Apr 2018
I was only a teenager in 1954 when a young American evangelist, Billy Graham, and his team were invited by local churches to come to the UK and conduct an evangelistic crusade in London.
I have a mixture of good memories of the team and their ministry. The ‘song leader’ was Cliff Barrows, and George Beverley Shea, with a rich baritone voice, was the soloist.
Leadership and the Oxfam scandal?
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Apr 2018
The scandal surrounding Oxfam staff in Haiti in 2011 has brought to light the need for the leadership in global organisations to address the imbalance of power between well-resourced institutions and desperate people struggling to survive in a disaster zone.
At the heart of the issue is accountability. The history of Christian mission, and of the Anglican Communion in particular, suggests that accountability must be rooted in the local situation. Anglican bishops around the world long since ceased to be accountable to any UK-based ecclesial body. They are leaders in their own ‘provinces’ and accountable to their own people. Powerful charities, which are the 21st-century equivalents of 19th-century missionary societies, could do well to develop similar models of local accountability, to address the issues and implications of the imbalance of power and its misuse.
TAKING A LIBERTY
Richard Cunningham
Date posted: 1 Apr 2018
‘The Christian Union should be banned from having a freshers’ stand.’
This was the unilateral announcement last October (2017) of two rogue members of Oxford’s Balliol College Junior Common Room Committee. This was to make the Balliol freshers’ fair a ‘safe, secular space’. This decision was subsequently overturned by an irate student body, but the incident caught the attention of the national media.
news in brief
New law
A campaign was launched in late February
to bring about a law to protect religious
freedoms in the UK.
The law would hope to ‘affirm the freedom from being required to support a particular worldview or set of beliefs in order to
hold a public sector job; stand for election;
work in teaching, healthcare and law; study
at university; or give parental care to a child.
A review of the supporting literature is on page 5.
news in brief
BBC ups religion
The BBC will increase its mainstream religious output by giving greater prominence to non-Christian festivals such as Eid, Passover and Diwali, it was reported at the end of December.
It intends to broaden its audience by reflecting ‘an increasingly pluralistic society’. The BBC’s atheist head of religious programming, James Purnell, said it was important for British society to understand where it had come from and how religion plays an important part in that, stating: ‘The issues around belief are incredibly important to how we live.’
Word on the world
Chris Wright
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
Langham Partnership’s International Ministries Director Chris Wright seeks a biblical response to the current world
Right now, we are living in a terminal phase of Western civilization.
Youth work – now and then
Roger Carswell
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
Roger Carswell calls for urgent action
I wonder how different from ours will be the Lord’s record of church history in the 20th century?
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!’
defending our faith
Excavating the truth
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Mar 2018
Late last year Donald Trump declared that the US would recognise Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel.
For many tourists to the Holy Land this seemed fairly uncontroversial. Given that this is the location of the Israeli Parliament, many visitors always assumed Jerusalem was its capital. However, in practice Tel Aviv has been the internationally recognized capital with diplomatic missions located there. Trump’s plan to move the American embassy has created real friction on the ground.
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.
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.
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.’
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.