Northern training
Professor Michael Reeves
Date posted: 1 Apr 2019
Dear Sir,
Jeremy Marshall’s article ‘Why a Northern
lucidly highlights
Seminary?’ (March en)
the great need for gospel work in the North
of England, which has often been neglected
by theological education, church planting,
and
investment. He rightly observes that
evangelicalism has a Southern and London
bias at the expense of northern English cities, let alone Scotland and Wales.
London Gospel Partnership
Brian O’Donoghue
Date posted: 1 Apr 2019
At the first London Gospel Partnership Conference, on 2 February, leaders gathered from a diverse range of churches to be encouraged in biblical ministry across the capital.
Kevin De Young gave two outstanding talks at East London Tabernacle on the theme of God’s Message by God’s Means for London. His first address on 1 Thessalonians 2 highlighted the centrality and importance of God’s word for God’s work in gospel churches. His second talk (The Big God of Small Things and Small People, Zechariah 4) was a magnificent encouragement to trust in God’s power even as we are so conscious of our own great weaknesses.
Missional motherhood
Gloria Furman
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
Gloria Furman on how the Second Coming throws a new light on being a mother
The missional vision of motherhood helps correct our nearsighted mothering.
Timothy Alford 1933–2018
Simon Percy
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
Timothy Alford went home to glory on 6 December 2018.
I first met Timothy when I was a young pastor in the early 1990s and he was the General Secretary of Africa Inland Mission (AIM). Little was I to know then how much of an influence he would have upon me and the work I am now doing at Pastor Training International (PTI).
Revitalisation: why bother?
John James
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
John James on what is so good about turning round dying churches
‘It is easier to give birth than raise the dead,’ my friend replied, as I began to talk about the church revitalisation project we were prayer-fully considering.
Germany: teen outreach Europe
OM Internationale
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
3,200 teenagers and adults from all over Europe (and beyond) came together to TeenStreet (TS) 2018 in Oldenburg for a week full of worship, Jesus, passion, life and fun.
As different as all the countries, cultures, backgrounds and churches might be, one thing connects everyone at TS: they know Jesus and want to grow closer in their relationship with him.
news in brief
Algeria: tent ban
Christians in Algeria were forced out of a tent they were worshipping in by police on 28 January after their church building was sealed by authorities.
The tent, set up in the grounds of Azaghar Church, enabled the 300-strong congregation to continue worshipping following the forced closure of their church building for spurious ‘health and safety’ reasons. The church lost the use of its building in October 2018, despite the congregation responding to requests to install fire exits and fire extinguishers.
Douglas Dawson 1922 – 2019
Philip Grist
Date posted: 1 Mar 2019
My friendship with Douglas Dawson began
nearly 70 years ago when in 1952 he came
to speak at our newly-formed Fellowship of
Youth group at Zion, Trowbridge.
Doug’s life began in East London. There
were six children in the family connected
with the chapel in Hainalt Road, Leyton.
Doug left school at 14 and in 1941 he volunteered for the RAF reserves.
news in brief
One a day
The UK Deed Poll Service reported a sharp rise in the number of parents paying £35 to alter their child’s title from ‘Miss to Master’ or ‘Master to Miss’ in the past five years, with about one under-16-year-old making the change every day, it was reported in January.
‘We used to issue a couple of these deed polls every couple of months, but now it’s seven to ten a week,’ said Louise Bowers, a senior deed poll officer. The majority are teenagers, but some are as young as ten.
Millennials and internships
Matt Waldock
Date posted: 1 Mar 2019
Matt Waldock of City Church Manchester on how to attract young graduates into short-term church work
You simply cannot avoid them!
Fight or flight?
David Baker
Date posted: 1 Mar 2019
There are two schools of thought about the
way forward for evangelicals in the Church
of England at the moment.
The first school of thought is what might
be called the ‘into the lifeboats’ approach.
This ‘boats’ view believes the CofE is lost.
Those who think otherwise, it is implied, are
wasting their time. People should be planning
to leave – perhaps to the Anglican Mission
in England (AMiE) or the Free Church of
England; furthermore, to put any energy into
other strategies is merely to repeat the same
failed actions of the last 50 years, it is argued.
If we keep on with the same tactics we will
merely replicate the same results.
Michael Green 1930 – 2019
Richard Cunningham
Date posted: 1 Mar 2019
The Revd Canon Dr Michael Green (1930 –2019) died peacefully on Wednesday 6 February following ill health.
A persuasive evangelist and distinguished theologian, he was in demand as a speaker until his recent illness.
Field of Dreams
Sport is a mission field
Graham Daniels
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
‘The reason I go to church on Sunday is that I follow Jesus! Do you ever go to church?’
Those words changed my life.
Technology
InSight into our universe
Pete Nicholas
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
On Monday 26 November Nasa’s Mars InSight probe touched down.
It is a wonderful technological achievement. Please note, I am using the adjective intentionally, ‘wonderful’ – an achievement that is (and should be seen as) ‘full of wonder’.
Easy Bible
Mission Assist www.easyenglish.bible
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
The EasyEnglish New Testament smart-phone app was
judged by
the Premier
Digital Awards 2018 as one of the best
launched in 2018.
It’s available free of charge and has already
been downloaded in 150 countries around
the world. The EasyEnglish Bible is a new
version of Scripture using a limited vocabulary of just 1,200 words and simple syntax,
and was devised by a small team of Mission
Assist volunteers.
Peterson, marriage & missions
Gavin Peacock
Date posted: 1 Sep 2017
Though we may be greatly distressed by the rise of the LGBT agenda, Gavin Peacock argues that we should seize the moment
Recently Eugene Peterson hit the headlines in the US with his affirmation of same-sex marriage.
He will hold me fast
Janice Pibworth with the story of the hymn written by Ada Ruth Habershon1 (1861-1918), who died 100 years ago this year
When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail,
He can hold me fast.
Towards understanding South Africa
Chris Sugden and Gavin Mitchell
Date posted: 1 Dec 2018
Cape Town South Africa is a bewildering mix of fabulously beautiful landscapes and vineyards which provide a resource for a booming tourist industry, within a few miles of vast stretches of shanty towns where people attracted by its stable economy come to seek well-being for themselves and their families.
The irony is that this ‘rainbow nation’ of many different languages, races and cultures did not start off as nation at all. Cape Town was only intended from the 16th to the 19th centuries to be a refuelling port for food and water for sailing ships of the merchant companies of Portugal, Holland, France and, finally, England en route to their trading empires in the East Indies and India.
Megan Franklin 1981–2019
Lena King
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
On Sunday 16 December at the end of a Christmas service, Megan Franklin, wife of the pastor of St Giles Christian Mission, Islington, eight-months pregnant, slipped on a step and cut her knee.
It seemed so minor that my husband, along with the others present, heard nothing of it. However, it soon turned everything upside down. After suffering headaches Megan visited hospital on Christmas Day and their intensity with resultant loss of sight soon caused alarm. On Friday 28 she phoned to cancel our family visit, yet the following day she permanently lost consciousness. She died as a result of a Strep-A bacterial infection on Sunday 6 January. Mercifully, the doctors were able to deliver the little boy successfully by Caesarean, to become the seventh child in the family.
Keith Small 1959–2018
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
Keith Small was one of the foremost Qur’an scholars of our time. His work on early manuscripts was to provoke new questions among secular and Islamic scholars alike.
While at Dallas Theological Seminary, Keith read of Henry Martyn, and resolved to give his life to work among Muslims. He married Celeste Gardner in 1985, equally committed to the Muslim world, and they moved to the UK in 1989, settling in Dewsbury.
