The Third Degree
Making friends in Kingston
Kate Duncan
Date posted: 1 Apr 2017
‘Would you be interested in our events this week?’
I was offering an information flyer to passersby in the university hallway, a busy thoroughfare en route to lectures. Most students had taken one. Some even stopped to chat, asking ‘What’s this about?’ or having a go on the ‘Question Wheel’ – discussing purpose, identity or love over a free bowl of cereal or cup of coffee.
Before it’s too late
Tim Sunderland and Phil Walter ponder the sad case of a declining church putting things off for too long
Goodway Road was a small church on a housing estate in the north of Birmingham.
Knowing God Better
Depending on God’s Spirit
Jonathan Lamb
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
‘I believe in the Holy Ghost,
I believe in the Holy Ghost.’
It was apparently the habit of the great
Baptist preacher, C. H. Spurgeon, to say this
quietly under his breath every
time he
mounted
the
steps of
the pulpit at
the
Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Even if
the story is apocryphal, Spurgeon’s ministry
affirmed the importance of the Spirit’s work:
‘Men might be poor and uneducated, their
words might be broken and ungrammatical;
but if the might of the Spirit attended them,
the humblest evangelist would be more
successful than the most learned divine
or the most eloquent of preachers.’
Huge momentum!
Ray Evans
Date posted: 1 Jan 2017
Book Review
SPIRIT EMPOWERED MISSION:
Aligning the Church’s Mission with the Mission
of Jesus
Read review
Crossing the Culture
Hearing God in Silence
Angeline Liles
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
‘God still sees us even though we worship in secret.’
In rural 17th-century Japan, a native Christian convert assures two newly arrived Jesuit priests on a mission from Portugal that his faith, and the faith of his fellow villagers packed into the dimly lit hut, is fervent and resilient, even in their impoverished and persecuted state.
Daisy Barclay 1916 –2016
Sue Brown and others
Date posted: 1 Jan 2017
Daisy Barclay died in November, just a
few weeks after her 100th birthday.
Born in 1916 in the east end of London,
Daisy Emma Barclay (née Hickey) was the
youngest of seven children. After the death
of her mother, when aged two, she was fostered by a Baptist couple
in Cheshire.
Through them she came to faith in Christ.
Joan Margaret Wales 1916 –2016
Ronald Clements
Date posted: 1 Jan 2017
Joan served with China Inland Mission
(CIM) as an evangelist from September
1945 until her expulsion from China in
April 1951.
She continued as a missionary, working in
Thailand with OMF International, until her
‘retirement’ in 1983. In her 70s and 80s she
was able to return to China on short-term
teams,
teaching English. Her biography,
Point Me to the Skies (Monarch Publications),
was published in 2007.
FIEC: leaders’ challenge
Mike Hitchings
Date posted: 1 Jan 2017
The FIEC Leaders’ Conference, held in 2016 from 31 October to 3 November, is the main annual gathering for FIEC churches.
563 pastors, church leaders and church workers representing over 200 churches met this year in the metropolis of Hemsby on the Norfolk coast.’
The Communist experiment
Richard Bewes
Date posted: 1 Mar 2017
Richard Bewes reflects on the revolution of 1917 and its fruit in the last 100 years
Forget Trump for the moment.
news in brief
Appeal lost
In a legal challenge to the law surrounding end of life issues, campaigners have said they will continue to protect the most vulnerable despite losing an appeal in mid-January.
Disability campaigners Nikki and Merv Kenward lost an appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice where they were protesting amendments to guidelines which make it less likely that medical staff will be prosecuted for wilfully ending a patient’s life.
DNA Download in the city
Dan Haynes
Date posted: 1 Mar 2017
In January, St James Clerkenwell played home to the first City to City UK DNA Download conference, with 45 churches and 13 UK cities represented.
The conference provided an opportunity to think about theological vision and ministry values that are needed to see the cities of the UK reached with the gospel. The Gospel: it renews hearts, changes lives, builds the church and impacts the world. The City: aim to equip churches for the challenges and opportunities that come from ministering in UK cities. The Movement: City to City UK is a movement of church-planting churches, working together from different tribes and networks.
Laugh?
Dr Chris Wigram
Date posted: 1 Mar 2017
Play Review
I WAS A TEENAGE CHRISTIAN
Read review
Church plants again
Dave Williams
Date posted: 1 Mar 2017
Dear Sir,
I think it’s a good thing that there’s an
ongoing conversation about church planting
into our unreached areas via your
letters
page. I know that, from time to time, en
puts the spotlight on church planting and on
gospel work in tough areas. Maybe another
spotlight on the great work happening in
needy areas would be timely.
How evangelical is the Pope?
Leonardo De Chirico
Date posted: 1 Dec 2016
Leonardo De Chirico uncovers the particular brand of Catholicism that Pope Francis advocates and gives a biblical assessment
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis on 13 March, 2013.
GAFCON: ‘to free our churches’
Charles Raven
Date posted: 1 Jan 2017
GAFCON has confirmed the dates for its third international conference. Between 17-22 June 2018 it will return to Jerusalem, the venue of the first Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008 (from which the movement takes its name).
The GAFCON announcement explains that ‘The city stands as a constant reminder of the birth of the gospel and the movement’s determination to remain true to the teachings of our Lord and his Word’ and so, to appreciate the significance of the 2018 conference, it is worth recalling how it all began.
Ever-present past
Joy Horn lists some of the Christian anniversaries coming up in 2017
Events
In 1517 Bernard Gilpin was born at Kentmere Hall, Westmorland, into a distinguished family. He became rector of Houghton-le-Spring, Co. Durham, and became known as ‘the apostle of the North’ for his constant tours, preaching the Reformation gospel.
pastoral care
How can I pray for you?
Steve Midgley
Date posted: 1 Jan 2017
An essential feature of biblical counselling is that we pray for those we counsel.
Not ‘pray about them in their absence’ but ‘pray with them in their presence’.
Caught between bishops and the blue sea
Gavin Mitchell
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
The Anglican Church of the Province of Southern Africa, now known as the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), is one of the provinces of the Anglican Communion that claims to walk the tightrope of the ‘middle path’ in the doctrinal and moral wars of the modern Communion.
ACSA believes that its hero status, from the leading role that it had in the anti-apartheid movement, gives it the new role in championing the indabas (discussions) which some see as essential to the future of Anglicanism. In reality, this means pressure from many bishops and lay leaders for ‘continuous conversations’ until sufficient minds are changed (for a Synod vote) to the new pan-sexual morality. If they can achieve this while convincing people in the pews that nothing is really changing and after all ‘this is what Jesus would want us to do’, all the better.
defending our faith
Reformation and reason
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
2017 marks 500 years since the Reformation (dating it from Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Door).
Hopefully, for many Christians, this will reawaken an interest in our heritage. It is time to blow away the dust, if we have allowed it to settle, and read some classics of Christian history. John Calvin’s Institutes, Martin Luther’s Table Talk and later Puritan writings, like those of Jonathan Edwards, will all help remind us of the depths and riches of Reformation theology.
Nigeria: who will help us?
World Watch Monitor
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
Christians in the south of Nigeria are failing to help their persecuted compatriots in the north, according to a veteran humanitarian campaigner, it was reported in late December.
Baroness Caroline Cox, who has made numerous aid missions to the country said: ‘My personal view is that many of those churches are immensely wealthy and I would hope they could do more to help those who are suffering in the north, particularly the internally displaced people who are left. They could work with churches [in the north] who know the needs to reach those most in need. From a Christian point of view, St Paul said that where one part of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer. There is an obligation to help our Christian brothers and sisters.’
Stitching together a new life with Jesus
Gospel For Asia
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
Kavana, a 22-year-old in Asia, shared her story of God’s faithfulness in her life.
‘When I was 16 years old, my father suddenly passed away. After that, my mother and I became helpless. We had no work to earn money and meet our needs.
Church plants again
Roland Clarke
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
Dear Sir,
Paul Hinton (en letters, December) makes some valid points about church planting. I agree that if mission drives church planting, we shouldn’t just look for a ‘quick win’ by planting churches likely to appeal to students and professionals … whom we know to be on the doorstep! And yes, there is no excuse for establishing churches merely to further our theological ‘brand’ or to expand the latest ‘network’ of churches. To these concerns I would add the depressing trend among some contemporary church plants of resistance to accountability by the leadership. Too often, there is a failure to make the transition from the ‘solo ministry’ of the church planter to a fully functioning church.
Carey: Roman takeover?
JEB
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
Understandably, Luther and the great matters of the Reformation took pole position at the annual Carey Conference for pastors and wives and Christian workers this year.
Held at the Hayes Swanick, 3-5 January, there was quite a raft of different speakers. Paul Gibson, pastor at Wheelock Heath, roared away from the start with an excellent biography of Martin Luther that focussed helpfully on the great Reformer’s weaknesses. Anfechtungen became the buzz word! There were superb Bible readings from Rupert Bentley-Taylor on the power of the Word (Isaiah 55) and the power of the gospel (1 Corinthians 1) – very much Reformation concerns. John Benton spoke on lessons for leaders from the psychology of Samson. Linda Alcock did a brilliant job with the women’s track, leading the sisters through Titus, and Ian Fry gave a sparkling and yet very disturbing talk on the needs of children and the work among young people in today’s church.
