letter from Australia
Year-long mission lifts off for 2024
David Robertson
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
A national student mission in Australia is getting underway after more than 2,000 undergraduates attended a special conference in preparation.
The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is the largest student campus ministry in Australia. At the end of 2023 over 2,000 students (across Australia and many parts of the world) were transformed by, trained in, and sent with the gospel of Jesus at the AFES National Training Event.
Clare Heath-Whyte: Biographer of the neglected & ‘unfamous’
Andrew Atherstone
Date posted: 11 Oct 2024
Biography is perennially popular, one of the best-selling and most absorbing forms of historical writing.
Many biographies focus on the rich and famous, the movers and shakers, the politicians, warriors, celebrities and adventurers who have changed the world. But one of biography’s unique strengths is that it also allows marginal and neglected voices to take centre stage. Characters who are normally written out of the narrative step forward into the limelight. They may not have won great battles, led international campaigns, or created seismic shifts in global culture, but every life is fascinating and every voice has much to teach.
bridging cultural divides
The ministry of eating together
Jason Roach
Date posted: 15 Nov 2024
One of my favourite recent television shows was a series called Travel Man, which featured the UK comedian Richard Ayoade.
The premise was to watch two comedians (Richard and a special guest), experience the culture of a city somewhere in the world for 48 hours. Recognising the rising popularity of city breaks, they aimed to avoid tourist traps, give practical advice and soak in something of the local culture. They would take in some sights, sample some food and try out some more outlandish things before heading home. Somehow they edited all that fun down into 24 minutes.
200 killed by Islamic extremists in Burkina Faso
Luke Randall
Date posted: 15 Nov 2024
Over 200 people have been killed in a series of repeated attacks on a community in Burkina Faso which is believed to be predominantly Christian.
Fides News Agency, which informs people about mission work and conditions faced by Christians around the world, reported that the attacks started in early October in Manni village in the east of Burkina Faso, which saw Islamic extremists attack a military patrol, before attacking the local village market the next day.
Evangelicals react to Welby resignation
en staff
Date posted: 12 Nov 2024
Evangelicals are reacting to the news that Justin Welby has resigned.
In an unprecedented move, the Archbishop of Canterbury submitted his resignation to the King following an increasing clamour in recent days for him to go after last week's publication of the Makin Review.
How churches can avoid accidental financial crime
Paul Houghton
Date posted: 9 Nov 2024
Misunderstandings and compliance issues have strained the relationship between churches and banks.
Let's delve into the most critical concerns: financial crime exposure and the need for better understanding and communication.
Andrew Neden becomes chair for Kingom Bank
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 8 Nov 2024
Andrew Neden has officially been appointed as Chair of the Board for Christian bank Kingdom Bank, succeeding David Swanney who had held the role for the past ten years.
Neden is a chartered accountant who has worked in a variety of different roles, including the Global Chief Operating Officer in Financial Services for KPMG. While joining the board in December 2023, he was formally appointed as Chair in March and uses his wealth of experience in the financial sector to play a key part in the governance of the bank.
culture watch
Learning from Hollywood's remakes
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 7 Nov 2024
Have you noticed that cinema and TV today is dominated by remakes, sequels and spin-offs?
In the months before Christmas, we’ll see Moana 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Gladiator 2 and Mufasa: the Lion King. Then 2025 will bring us the eighth Mission Impossible movie, another Avatar film, a new version of the Fantastic Four – I could go on. In 2026, a remake of The Goonies is even set to be created, 40 years on from its release!
everyday theology
'We should not be content with bare doctrine'
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 4 Nov 2024
Evangelicals are never about propositions alone: we want the theological truths of the gospel to transform us by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2).
We want to know God, in a personal way. We don’t simply affirm that Scripture is our supreme authority and that we are justified by faith alone through Christ alone. We actually submit to Scripture as our supreme authority and enjoy Christ as our only Saviour, praising Him from our hearts for His all-sufficiency and grace.
letter from America
How weather affects the US psyche – and the UK’s too
Josh Moody
Date posted: 4 Nov 2024
At time of writing, Hurricanes Helene and Milton have had significant impact on parts of America.
The regularity of natural events like this (the ubiquitous insurance moniker ‘Acts of God’) is surprising for those who grew up in the more placid weather patterns of the UK. Yes, hurricanes can hit there too – I remember the one that (as the joke was) turned leafy Sevenoaks into ‘One oak’. I actually slept through that hurricane, awakening to the sound of other teenagers rushing around with hilarity at the mild effects of broken glass and the like where our dormitories were.
everyday evangelism
Why the exclusivity of Jesus is so wonderful
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 Nov 2024
Recently Pope Francis was fiercely critiqued for his teaching at an interfaith event in Singapore. Both Protestants and Catholics have charged him with the serious error of ‘indifferentism’.
Indifferentism is the belief that all religions are alike in their ability to bring you to God – it doesn’t matter which path you’re on, they all reach the top of the mountain. Whatever his corrections and clarifications later, his words at the Singapore conference sounded suspiciously like that teaching. ‘Every religion is a way to arrive at God’ he said. At the same time he made fun of the kind of person who says: ‘My God is more important than your God’. ‘Is that true?’ he asks the audience, expecting the answer, ‘No’.
Nigeria: Horrific death toll of Christians
Luke Randall
Date posted: 1 Nov 2024
The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has called for the Nigerian government to strengthen religious rights, following their discovery that Christians have been the most violently persecuted group in Nigeria during the last four years.
A study by ORFA revealed that 16,700 Christians have been violently killed out of an overall civilian total of 55,900, mainly by Islamist extremists. This makes them the most discriminated-against people group in the country. Other groups to feature high on the list were security forces and terror group members.
news in brief
Nicaragua: Legal status cancelled
Scores of Protestant churches, the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance, and the Latino-Islamic Cultural Association, were among 169 civil society organisations whose legal status has been cancelled by the Nicaraguan government.
The move follows the similar cancellation of 1,651 civil society organisations last month, and brings the total number of organisations that have arbitrarily lost their legal status since 2018 to 5,552. Among those cancelled are two historic Protestant denominations: the Episcopal Church of Nicaragua (dating back to 1612), which belongs to the Global Anglican Communion, and the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, established in 1847.
letter from Moldova
‘Please preach for as long as you want!’
Donald J Morrison
Date posted: 9 Sep 2024
Горячий христианский привет каждому читателю! Translated from Russian, this reads: Warm Christian greetings to every reader!
It is now just over 20 years since I made my first mission trip to Moldova writes Donald J. Morrison. One afternoon at the London Theological Seminary (LTS) compound in London, a Moldovan friend – with whom I was studying – asked if I would do him a ‘very big favour’. Sometimes we discover that swiftly saying ‘yes’ without any rational thought can have far reaching and widespread consequences! What was this ‘very big favour’? Would I drive a 15-seater bus, gifted by a London church, to his home town, Cahul in Moldova! Always open to a new challenge, I volunteered to go! The six-day epic journey was memorable – in more ways than one! After travelling through seven countries, and encountering mega ‘border problems’ we finally reached our destination, having covered 1,840 miles! Since then, we have been back many times. Before providing a report about my very latest trip, let me give you a brief overview of the country.
Jewish mission marks anniversary
Charles Gardner
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Christ Church Jerusalem, the city’s headquarters of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish People (CMJ) is celebrating its 175th anniversary.
Founded in London in 1809 by William Wilberforce and others, CMJ last year celebrated the bicentenary of its involvement in the Holy Land. But it was not until 1849 that Christ Church was built.
New minister for Govan Free Church
Luke Randall
Date posted: 27 Oct 2024
David MacPherson has been appointed as the new minister of Govan Free Church. He moves to the West Glasgow congregation following ministry in other congregations including Bon Accord Free Church in Aberdeen and Greenock Free Church, as well as a period of mission work in Peru.
About 85 people attended the service of induction, which saw the church induct only its second-ever minister, following Norman Mackay’s departure in 2022. Mackay had planted the church in 2013.
380 CofE evangelicals discuss gospel growth
Chris Tufnell
Date posted: 27 Oct 2024
Amid great uncertainty in the Church of England, 380 delegates from over 170 churches have gathered at the national ReNew conference in Leeds.
ReNew is a united movement of Anglican evangelicals, both inside and outside of the Church of England, with a positive vision for the growth of the gospel through pioneering, establishing and securing healthy local churches.
Middle East: ‘sleep-deprived and anxious’
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 26 Oct 2024
‘We are sleep deprived and anxious,’ evangelicals at the centre of the Middle East conflict have told en, ‘but we keep faith in God.’
As the conflict involving Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran reached ever-higher temperatures, staff at Christian TV station SAT-7 reported how they are caught right in the heart of the terrifying situation.
Amazing Grace: John Newton exemplified 'the great doctrine of love'
Ruth Eardley
Date posted: 25 Oct 2024
According to theologian Jim Packer, John Newton was ‘the friendliest, wisest, humblest and least pushy of the 18th -century evangelical leaders’. At a recent church history lecture by Dr Lesley Rowe, Leicestershire folk were also pleased to learn that Newton had a special place in his heart for the county and visited on several occasions.
Newton was motherless from the age of six, boarded at a harsh school from the age of eight, taken to sea at 11 and an accomplished blasphemer by age 12. He was press-ganged into the Navy, flogged, enslaved and, famously, became captain of a slave-trading ship.
What now for evangelicals in the chaotic CofE?
Justin Welby’s resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury is truly unprecedented. No archbishop has ever, in the history of the Church of England, resigned - not even in 1621 when the primate of all England shot and killed a gamekeeper with a crossbow while hunting.
Some are still defending him, either praising the good aspects of his ministry, or even (like Charles Moore in the Spectator) saying that he should not have resigned.