Out of black shadows
Stephen Lungu, from South Africa, tells his story
I had no premonition at all. I didn’t even know it existed: the final missing piece of the jigsaw of my life.
EMF: return to HQ
David Butler
Date posted: 1 Dec 2014
‘Great are the works of the Lord; they are
pondered by all who delight in them’ (Psalm
111:2), were the words with which Martin
Leech, director of the European Missionary
Fellowship (EMF) opened one of the sessions
at the mission’s October Autumn Conference.
EMF missionaries
came
from Belarus,
Belgium, Czech Republic, Romania, Spain
and
the
UK
to
stay
at
Guessens,
Hertfordshire – the Mission’s HQ – for a long
weekend of Bible ministry, reports, prayer, discussion and fellowship. Public meetings were
held at Guessens on the Friday evening at
which Matt Hill, the new director of Spanish
Christian publishing house Editorial Peregrino and István Salánki from London’s Hungarian
Reformed Church spoke of their ministries.
Out there
Matthew Benton
Date posted: 1 Dec 2014
Book Review
DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT:
Stories of gospel advance in the world’s
difficult places
Read review
Is personal evangelism dying?
Mike Mellor
Date posted: 1 Dec 2014
Mike Mellor challenges us all to become soul-winners
I am burdened to bring to our attention a greatly endangered species in the UK church.
Locating Lambeth?
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Dec 2014
Transition of leadership is always a testing time for organisations.
This is certainly true for the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which came into being in 2009. Following the consecration to the office of bishop of a man who was in a samesex relationship, those who could not accept this within a Christian church formed a new church, faithful to Anglican teaching. It was recognised by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON), which first met in 2008 in Jerusalem.
Opening up in Coventry
Paul Watts
Date posted: 1 Dec 2014
A service of thanksgiving for the new building of Lower Ford Street Baptist Church (LFSBC) in Coventry was held on 11 October.
The official opening had already taken place on 14 September when the Lord Mayor of Coventry, the local MP, and those involved in the construction attended. The previous building, strategically located on the edge of the city centre near to Coventry University and opened in 1857, was no longer fit for purpose. Rebuilding started in 2013. Hillfields Evangelical Baptist Church and Durbar Avenue Evangelical Church kindly shared their services/buildings while LFSBC were ‘homeless’.
Who was Pharaoh?
Ian Cooper
Date posted: 1 Jan 2015
Ian Cooper investigates
After 17 years in the Police Force I understand what is and is not ‘evidence’.
In the heart of Manchester
Andy Paterson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2015
On 5 October around 300 people gathered to celebrate and witness the commissioning service for City Church Manchester.
Started in September with support from churches in Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester itself, this young church (already numbering about 80 people) met to hear preaching from Richard Cunningham (UCCF), prayers from supporting friends, and covenant challenges to themselves and their pastors, Ralph Cunnington and Matt Waldock. They meet in Central Hall on Oldham Street, in the heart of the city and are part of the growing family of FIEC new church plants.
Bangladesh: school attack
World Watch Monitor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2015
Hundreds of extremist Islamists attacked a
Christian
school
in Bangladesh
on
5
November in response to locals who were
outraged by rumours stating that the school,
which welcomes children of all faiths, was
forcing Muslim children
to convert
to
Christianity.
The mob comprised about 200 people.
The students were not physically injured, but
12 of its 14 members of staff were beaten. A
female teacher endured a serious head injury.
Another teacher said that he managed to run
away from six Madrasa students, armed with
knives and machetes, after being forced out
of his classroom.
Interrupted by hope
Esther Bennett
Date posted: 1 Jan 2015
Esther Bennett explains how a deeper understanding of being a child of God transformed her Christian life
It’s New Year’s Eve 2011.
Word Alive – worth the effort
Two church leaders tell us about why they make it a priority
Over the Easter holidays next year thousands of Christians will gather at two Word Alive events in North Wales.
Prepared to
preach
John Mollitt
Date posted: 1 Jan 2015
On 22 November, a
second
‘Certain
Sounds Seminar’ was held at Starbeck
Mission in Harrogate.
Last year the subject was
‘Basic Public
Speaking’ and this year ‘The Fundamentals
of Preaching’. Twenty five speakers/preachers
or potential speakers/preachers gathered to
hear Ron Collard and John Mollitt give
papers on the supremacy of preaching in a
multi-media society; motivation and inspiration; preparation of
self; preparation of
material; proclamation and examination.
From Houston to Hull
St John
Date posted: 1 Jan 2015
A team of 12 members of Champion Forest Baptist Church, Houston arrived at St John, Newland in Hull for a seven-day mission in November, with local church members led by US super lawyer, Mark Lanier.
Mark is one of the top ten trial lawyers in America and teaches an adult class of around 800 at his home church in Houston (biblical-literacy.org). He has recently published a book, Christianity on Trial (IVP) which has already sold 15,000 copies in the States.
LCM: planting in Samaria
London City Mission
Date posted: 1 Nov 2014
London City Mission (LCM) held its annual Thanksgiving Service on September 17 with guest speaker Andy Paterson, Mission Director with FIEC, inspiring and motivating LCM staff and supporters alike as he called on them not to lose their nerve or to give up on sharing the gospel verbally.
He also challenged LCM to: ‘Help plant and support indigenous gospel-hearted churches with some of the brilliant evangelists that you have. You need to work with those churches so that they effectively welcome and grow people who are coming to faith in Christ. Please use your expertise to develop a generation of working-class church leaders’. Thirdly, he impressed upon the LCM the role it has to play in helping to train and equip churches in London to cross cultural boundaries and create truly multiracial, multi-ethnic churches in London.
Directed conversations?
Reform / Christian Today
Date posted: 1 Nov 2014
On October
1,
the Reform Council
expressed its dismay that the objectives of
the
‘Shared Conversations on Scripture,
Sexuality and Mission’ had been changed.
As a result orthodox Anglicans had been, in
effect, excluded.
It has called on its members not to participate under these conditions.
Portugal: a strategic work for the gospel
Stephen West
Date posted: 1 Nov 2014
It is 30 years since the Communist regime forced Fabiano to leave his home country of Mozambique with nothing. He was already serving the church there and was recognised by the African Inland Mission as a potential leader. They were his only contact on his arrival in Britain, knowing no English.
He immediately entered Moorlands College in Hampshire – learning Greek and English. Subsequently he obtained a degree at London Bible College and in 1988 married Suzana, who had emigrated from Mozambique to Portugal.
The new wave of feminism
Karen Soole
Date posted: 1 Dec 2014
Karen Soole on the mistakes of the past and the biblical way forward
Injustice against women is in the news.
Abandoning crisis repentance?
William Wade asks if we are replacing definite conversion with a relational journey
The way we do evangelism has changed.
Harry Waite 1923 – 2014
Peter Dunn
Date posted: 1 Oct 2014
Pastor Harry Waite was called into the Lord’s presence on August 19, aged 91.
He was one of those men who came under the influence of Doctor Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel during the 1940s and 1950s and embraced the Reformed doctrines in a way that then shaped his preaching throughout his long ministry.
