Islamic State militant turns to Christ
Religion Today
Date posted: 1 Jul 2015
An Islamic State militant has reportedly converted to Christianity after dreaming of a ‘man in white’, who he believed was Jesus, it was reported in early June.
The ISIS fighter had killed many Christians before the dream, and had confessed that he ‘actually enjoyed’ killing the Christians.
A building project?
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
Dear en,
I plan to update my 2007 book Building for the Gospel: A handbook for the visionary and the terrified. It is written for churches which are exploring the possibility of a building project.
A time to plant
Matthew Mason
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
Why is British soil unproductive for the gospel? How can we not lose heart? At St Paul’s Hammersmith on 25 June, The Planting Collective – a partnership of Acts 29, Co-Mission, and the FIEC – heard Tim Keller and John Piper offer answers at their first biennial conference, ‘A Time to Plant’.
It was thrilling to see 400 delegates from across the UK, Europe, Africa and America. 25 years ago, church planting in Britain was unusual. Now, many churches are being planted, in villages and cities, reaching young professionals, the urban poor, immigrant communities and middle England. It was also encouraging to be reminded that there is no mystique to planting. Most delegates and seminar presenters were ordinary pastors of ordinary churches. The central things are prayer, God’s Word, love for people, godly lives and a heart for the lost.
Japan: Hiroshima and humanity
JEB
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
In July I found myself in the city of Hiroshima in Japan.
This August sees the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on this city from the US bomber named Enola Gay. There is now a Peace Park at the site under where the weapon was detonated 600m above the city. The museum has a scale model where the bomb is represented as a small ‘sun’ – which in some respects it was – exploding in the air at 8.15am on the morning of 6 August 1945. There will no doubt be ceremonies to mark the anniversary of this ghastly event, which in many ways sadly marks the advent of ‘the nuclear age.’
Syria: rescuing Christians
The Times / en
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
The generosity of British Christians who saved a penniless Jewish child from Nazi-occupied Austria has prompted support for a rescue mission to save Christians from death at the hands of Islamic State.
Lord Weidenfeld arrived on a Kindertransport train in Britain in 1938 with only a few shillings in his pocket. Now aged 94, he is helping Barnabas Fund to rescue up to 2,000 Christian families from Syria and Iraq and resettle them elsewhere.
A little adrift
Barbara Sherwood
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
Book Review
HEART OF A LIONESS
Sacrifice, Courage and Relentless Love
Among the Children of Uganda
Read review
A little gem
Karen Soole
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
Book Review
A CHRISTIAN'S POCKET GUIDE TO LOVING
THE OLD TESTAMENT
One Book, One God, One Story
Read review
Guildford: King’s Church
King’s Church Guildford
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
It was with great joy that the members and supporters of King’s Church Guildford met on 9 May for a Service of Thanksgiving and Commissioning.
Around 150 people from near and far gathered in the Boxgrove Primary School hall, where the church meets every Sunday afternoon, to give thanks to God for his great goodness in the early months of the establishing and development of the church. It was also an opportunity to pray for and commission the leadership of the church and in particular the pastor.
Dr Montagu Barker 1934 –2015
Professor David Cranston
Date posted: 1 Aug 2015
Monty Barker was born in Glasgow on 12
March 1934. After studying classics he
turned to a career in medicine, training at St
Andrews and Dundee.
In 1954 he was diagnosed with TB meningitis and for one month was expected to die. He
recovered and a career in psychiatry followed,
partly though the advice of a senior college
who told him ‘You don’t have to be bonkers to
become a psychiatrist’. He was appointed as a
consultant in Bristol, where junior staff and
medical
students
found him an excellent
teacher, although at times quite intimidating.
Nepal: shaken to the core
Paul Barnes
Date posted: 1 Jun 2015
‘We are expecting a massive earthquake someday.’
A Christian leader told me this when I visited Kathmandu a couple of years ago. Nobody knew when, but they knew it was coming: the seismologists predicted it.
Soul provider on track
Railway Mission / London City Mission
Date posted: 1 May 2015
The UK’s rail chaplaincy service, providing
pastoral support
to rail staff and British
Transport Police officers, has from early April
been provided solely by the Railway Mission.
Its partner organisation, London City
Mission, has moved resources from workplace
settings in order to focus on the least reached
in the capital – those in poverty and on the margins. The two Christian charities, both
established in the 19th century, have worked
closely together for many years to provide a
confidential
listening ear and meaningful
advice to people at all levels of the industry.
The Railway Mission plans to take on an
additional two chaplains by the summer.
WHAT GOD CAN DO IN TEN YEARS
Jenny Thomas
Date posted: 1 Jul 2015
An independent church in Chippenham, Wiltshire, celebrated the launch of its new building with a community open day on its ten year anniversary weekend.
Emmanuel Church Chippenham (ECC), which has met in a local school since its formation, bought a former Exclusive Brethren building last October. After several months of extensive renovation work, which included levelling the floor, installing windows and repairing the roof, the building was officially opened on Saturday 2 May.
news in brief
Algeria: turning to Christ
Due to their disillusionment with the Arab Spring and the rise of violent Islam, thousands of Muslims in Algeria are requesting Bibles and becoming Christians, it was reported in May.
Ali Khidri, executive secretary for the Bible Society in Algeria, said that ‘hundreds’ of people every month were turning up at his office in Algiers requesting a Bible, and that many more were going to churches to enquire about the Christian faith. According to Bible Society in Algeria, there are between 100,000 and 200,000 Christians in Algeria – an increase from just 2,000 30 years ago.
Bedside table
Ruth Williams
Date posted: 1 Jul 2015
What’s the last thing you do at night? Ruth Williams sets us a challenge
What does your bedside table look like?
Keswick is growing
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Jul 2015
2015 sees the 140th anniversary of the Keswick Convention and the possibility of an addition to the current site.
The possibility of securing the land adjacent to the Rawnsley site in Keswick, through purchasing the former Derwent Pencil Factory site, has arisen. In looking at how best to manage a growing event and being keen to integrate many things at one main site, this new step forward will secure the future for a growing summer convention, as well as allowing for an extension of activities at other times of the year.
Capital Gains
Courageous perseverance
Graham Miller
Date posted: 1 May 2015
One of the greatest joys of gospel ministry is to hear stories of lives transformed by the good news of Jesus Christ.
However, the Bible warns us that for every seed planted in good soil, there will be others that land on stony ground or among thorns. For LCM missionaries working among the Muslims of Newham or the council estates of New Addington it is necessary to be patient. It can take several years to see a contact come to church, so we cannot give up on a ministry for lack of fruit after 18 months. Instead, we teach evangelists the biblical value of courageous perseverance; courage to reach the difficult, unreached people groups, and perseverance to keep going through the disappointments and daily sacrifices of gospel ministry.
DRC: mission possible
African Enterprise
Date posted: 1 Jan 2014
Despite logistical and financial difficulties,
the organisers of a mission in Kinshasa in
October were full of praise for God.
The mission had three phases: a forum of
evangelists; a church
leaders’
training on
evangelism; and stratified evangelism in nine
venues. The size of the city and the mission
being organised with very little finance made
it a challenge, especially mobilising the local
church congregations. But still 22% of the
mission budget was raised locally.
Missionaries and NHS
Global Connections
Date posted: 1 May 2015
The April edition of en covered the 6 April
changes to access to NHS healthcare for
missionaries based overseas.
The clarification of ‘ordinary resident’ has
now been more clearly defined (!) by the government. This is the key criteria for receiving
free NHS treatment, beyond emergency /
GP treatment for returning missionaries, for
whom until recently, an exemption existed.
Clifford Pond 1924 –2015
Malcolm MacGregor
Date posted: 1 May 2015
Clifford Pond grew up in Welwyn Garden
City, his father was an itinerant preacher and
Clifford came to faith at quite an early age
and had a strong impression that one day he
too would be a minister of the gospel.
He left school at 14 and worked as a messenger boy for the GPO. At the start of the
Second World War he
joined St
John
Ambulance Brigade and then transferred to
the RAF Medical Service.
‘Unstoppable’ at this year’s Bible By The Beach
Emily Lucas
Date posted: 1 May 2015
What is every Christian’s prayer?
Surely it is for the message of Christ to spread to every corner of the world and transform lives.
Manchester: Presbyterian plant
Ben Franks
Date posted: 1 Jun 2015
Since its formation in 1991, the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church in England and Wales
(EPCEW) has been passionate
about
church planting.
Over the past two decades God has grown
this little denomination from five congregations to 18, with churches in England, Wales
and
even Sweden
and Germany. There
remain, however, many places without a distinctively Presbyterian and Reformed
influence and they see much work to be done. It is
their prayer that God will continue to raise up
churches upholding the inerrancy of Scripture,
adhering to the Westminster Standards, and
fulfilling the Great Commission.
HARVEST FIELD IN YORKSHIRE
Lewis Allen
Date posted: 1 Jun 2015
Yorkshire is a county which needs no introduction.
Famous for its landscapes, agriculture, industrial past and present, and modern commercial clout, its sporting success and the warmth (and pride) of its people, Yorkshire is a well-known brand.
Growing doing nothing new
Nathan Weston
Date posted: 1 Jun 2015
Lancaster, 6 March 2005, 10am
In a tiny ‘gospel hall’ in a back street in Lancaster around 20 people begin to gather for the weekly meeting of Moorlands Church. The church is a mainly elderly congregation, who want to see their city reached for Jesus, but have found their numbers and energy dwindling. This morning, however, there is the excitement of a new beginning.
