Dithering or deciding?
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
There have been a lot of headlines about the
Church of England in recent weeks.
Many open letters have been written, a
celibate gay bishop has been paraded, and
even Church meetings in Tunbridge Wells
have got a mention. I don’t think it is just
the lack of real news during the ‘silly season’
that has caused it. No, it is also the fact that
the Shared Conversations about Scripture,
Sexuality and Mission are officially over, and
the time has come to make a decision. And
there is no easy answer.
Roger Cook 1941 –2016
Jim Sayers
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
Roger’s great contribution in his many years of
service was developing radio ministry in both
France and Francophone Africa.
Known widely
among Grace Baptist
churches for his work
in GBM Radio at
Abingdon, he and his wife Helen began their
missionary service in Belgium. In 1967 they
were the first GBM missionaries to be sent
into Europe by their church in Hounslow, as
GBM adopted a church-based approach to
mission.
In 1969
they moved
to Mons,
where they worked to plant a church, coming face to face with the growing ‘practical
atheism’ of an otherwise Catholic culture.
Healthy church evangelism
JEB
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
Duke Street, Richmond was the venue for
the second Healthy Churches Conference
which took place on 5 September and is
from the ‘9Marks’ background.
Last year the speaker was Mark Dever of
Capitol Hill Baptist, Washington. This year,
with the focus on evangelism, it was Mack
Styles of Redeemer Church, Dubai.
Audrey Osei-Mensah 1936 –2016
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
Audrey Laura Osei-Mensah was born
in
East Ham and professed faith in Christ aged
14,
through her confirmation class
in
Wanstead.
In
1955
she went up
to
Birmingham University to read geography.
As she wrote in her memoirs: ‘It was during
my first year that Bible study replaced geography as my first
love, which
it has
remained ever since!’
She served on the Birmingham CU Exec
alongside a thoughtful student from Ghana:
Gottfried Osei-Mensah, with whom she maintained
a
friendship while
teaching
at
Clarendon School
from 1959 to 1962. In
1962 she applied for a position with SIM in
Nigeria, whereupon Gottfried, by now with
Mobil Oil in Accra, proposed to her. At her
father’s suggestion, she first went to Ghana for
three months to get to know Gottfried’s family
and context. They married the following year.
A pair of shoes led me to Christ!
Randy Newman
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
A quarter of a million Jewish people live in the UK – and this month, most of them will be celebrating Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But for Randy Newman, author of Questioning Evangelism, it was this Jewish Festival that started his journey to faith in Christ. Everything changed when he looked down at his shoes…
I was born into a Jewish family in the suburbs of New York City.
news in brief
No ghost trains
A visitor to Perrygrove Railway in the Forest of Dean has reported that it has decided to become a Halloween-free attraction.
Appreciating that not every family wants ghosts and ghouls when out with their family through all of October, which includes the half-term break, the railway attraction has decided to go ghost free.
news in brief
Algeria: Facebook crime
A Christian in Algeria was sentenced on 1 August to three years in prison and given a heavy fine for blasphemy against Islam and its prophet for a social media post.
Slimane Bouhafs, 49, was arrested for posting a message on social media about the light of Jesus overcoming the ‘lie’ of Islam and its prophet. He also published photos showing the execution of a civilian by an Islamist terrorist. His family said the trial was a ‘sham’.
YOUNG LEADERS TAKE BATON
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
Six years after the Third Lausanne Congress came the Third Lausanne Younger Leaders’ Gathering (YLG2016) in Jakarta.
YLG2016, held in August, was probably the most connected gathering of leaders ever. Its planning was chaired by a Brazilian, Sarah Breuel who, with her young family, is serving in Italy with IFES. In the previous year, an online platform was launched.
Africa: Council of Anglican Provinces
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
The Council of the Anglican Provinces of
Africa (CAPA) was
founded
in 1979
in
Chilema, Malawi, by the Anglican Primates
of Africa. It reaches out to individuals, communities and groups through more than 40
million dedicated Church members in the
25 African countries with an Anglican presence. That 40 million
is over half
the
Church-going Anglicans in the world.
CAPA is headed by a council to run the
Provinces’ activities. Its secretariat, headed
by General Secretary Canon Grace Kaiso
from Uganda, is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
PNG: thank you, fifty times!
Rosie Crowter
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
On July 10 1966 the Evangelical Church of Papua New Guinea (ECPNG) was born.
So, in July this year, there was much rejoicing and celebrating in the various districts as we remembered how God had brought his messengers with the wonderful Good News that ‘Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners’ – sinners from every tribe and nation in the world, including this island with 850 tribes!
After mission
Janet Cordle
Date posted: 1 Jan 2013
Book Review
HEADING HOME
My search for purpose in a temporary world
Read review
The Shandong revival
Jonathan Bayes
Date posted: 1 Aug 2016
Jonathan Bayes with a little bit of history of the church in China during the 1930s to encourage us
Shandong is a coastal province in the north-east of mainland China.
Engaging
Martin Salter
Date posted: 1 Jul 2016
Book Review
CHRISTIAN MISSION IN THE MODERN WORLD:
Updated and Expanded
Read review
Steve Brady’s story
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Aug 2016
Steve Brady, Principal of Moorlands College in Dorset, will tell you that he is from Liverpool and a true Evertonian.
Steve Brady loves football, but truly comes alive when talking about the Word of God. Steve comes from a mixed church background and had little to do with church during his childhood.
Knowing God Better
Hearing God’s Word
Jonathan Lamb
Date posted: 1 Aug 2016
It was similar to working on the mains electricity of a house, but doing so with the electricity still switched on!
This was how the scholar-clergyman J.B. Phillips explained the experience of working on a paraphrase of the Bible some years ago.
KESWICK CONVENTION’S GLOBAL FAMILY
Jutta Devenish
Date posted: 1 Aug 2016
You might be walking through a snow blizzard in Hokkaido, or in the warm Caribbean sunshine of Trinidad, or in the shade of the forests of Belgrave Heights outside Melbourne, or driving along the sophisticated streets of Helsinki.
But in all of these locations you will see banners and posters advertising Keswick!
The place of prayer
Peter Lewis
Date posted: 1 Aug 2016
Peter Lewis encourages us to realise that seeking God’s face is never a waste of time
It must have been a strange sight.
A weekend for Muslims
Paul Barnes
Date posted: 1 Jul 2016
Over 70 people gathered at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire for a weekend of prayer for Muslims, 10-12 June.
Longstanding members of the Fellowship of Faith for the Muslims (FFM) mingled with representatives of various mission organisations – some of whom were serving missionaries visiting the UK: a couple from South India serving with Tribals Transformation India; an Indian Manipuri family with three children serving with SIM in Bangladesh; and a couple from Basel serving in France. There were several believers who had turned to Christ from a Muslim background, including an Iranian family who were present with their two children, having fled persecution in Iran.
Northumberland weekend
George Curry
Date posted: 1 Sep 2016
Those who attended the Northumberland
Bible teaching weekend said it was an excellent
event. Sponsored by Longhorsley
Mission Church, Kevin Bidwell (Sheffield)
and Derek Cleave (Bristol) addressed the
200+ who gathered on 2–4 July 2016.
In three sessions Kevin Bidwell opened up
our call as Christians to run, wrestle and box.
Derek Cleave, also in three sermons, ably
helped us explore the obedience of Abraham.
From death to life
Donald Morrison
Date posted: 1 Jul 2016
Donald Morrison reports on the precious life of a baby saved by the gracious intervening providence of God
How true the words of William Cowper.
Oxford’s 25 missions
Andrew Atherstone
Date posted: 1 Feb 2015
In February, the Christian Union at Oxford University launches a major mission to students: Andrew Atherstone delves into the archives.
Tim Keller and Os Guinness are in town.
news in brief
Bangladesh: murdered
On 5 June, Sunil Gomez, a Christian grocer, was murdered inside his shop in a Christian neighbourhood in the district of Natore.
On 7 June, Ananda Gopal Ganuli, a Hindu religious leader, was killed in Jhenaidah after performing his regular religious rites in a temple in the Naldanga area, where he served as a priest. Attacks on religious minorities by extremist groups in Bangladesh have escalated rapidly in recent months. Responsibility for the murders has reportedly been claimed by Daesh (Islamic State).
