Five points of encouragement
John Piper
Date posted: 1 Jan 2014
John Piper explains how the doctrines of grace encourage and stimulate his Christian faith
The five points of Calvinism are not unimportant.
Russia: Olympic outreach
Crosswalk
Date posted: 1 Mar 2014
SOAR International Ministries, an Alaska-based organisation dedicated to missions
and outreach in Russia, has partnered with
local Russian churches during the Sochi
Winter Olympic Games,
to spread
the
gospel to tourists and communities converging on the event.
The ministry sent 40 volunteers to Russia
to establish a number of ‘fun zone’ hospitality centres in local church buildings. They
will also go out into parks and other public
venues to invite others to partake in their
activities.
Bishops: double-speak on Pilling
Wallace Benn
Date posted: 1 Mar 2014
Wallace Benn comments on the recent consultation
‘No church can live in integrity if it proclaims loyalty to Scripture, but then ignores Scripture when faced with new proposals for her life.’ (Bishop Keith Sinclair)
Harrowing!
Mary Stolarski
Date posted: 1 Mar 2014
Book Review
THIS IMMORAL TRADE
Slavery in the 21st century
Read review
Building for the gospel
Long Crendon
Date posted: 1 Mar 2014
Immediately after planting a new church
in the neighbouring town of Thame in
2008, Long Crendon Baptist Church
(LCBC) started making plans to redevelop
the church building.
During the weekend of February 1-2, the
church celebrated the opening of its new
£1.5m facilities. An Open Day was held for
the community on
the Saturday, during
which thanks were given to the architects,
builders
and various other
community
organisations who had offered use of their
facilities during the nine months in which
the church building was out of action.
Visitors were impressed with the transformation of the building.
Small churches
Priscilla Seidler
Date posted: 1 Mar 2014
Dear Sir,
In
‘Growing
a
rural
church’
in
the
February issue of EN (an interesting article),
Chris Sinkinson talks about ‘critical mass’
and needing a certain number within a
church to be able to do useful gospel work.
He says: ‘Less than [in the region of 30 people] and we may lack the critical mass to
really be an effective church’.
Three ways in Oxford
Ruth Moore
Date posted: 1 Mar 2014
Oxford can seem to be a place that meanders
along at snail’s pace; dreaming spires, etc.
But dig a little deeper, and you find that
Oxford life is hurtling along at a bewildering
speed: corners of land morphing overnight
into student accommodation, ever-growing
pockets of social deprivation, and waves of
new arrivals from all over the globe.
Shaping up!
Mike Wildsmith
Date posted: 1 Mar 2014
Book Review
GOD REDEEMING HIS BRIDE
A handbook for church discipline
Read review
news in brief
Mixed views
In a report published in mid-November, two thirds of GPs were shown to be in favour of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) dropping its opposition to assisted dying.
The survey found that 38% of 689 GP respondents favoured the adoption of a neutral stance on assisted dying by the RCGP, while 31% said the college should go even further and support a change in the law to allow doctors to help terminally ill patients to die in the UK. The article notes that the RCGP is currently opposed to a change in the law on assisted dying.
GBM: more new missionaries at annual meetings
EN
Date posted: 1 Dec 2013
This year was
the
turn of
the Renewal
Centre in Solihull to play host to the Grace
Baptist Mission (GBM) annual meetings.
On October 26, the venue was full with
750 or more Christians from across the country. The theme was ‘A heart for mission’. One
of the highlights of the day was the introduction of new missionaries who have come into
the work.
Mission - quo vadis?
Thorsten Prill
Date posted: 1 Aug 2012
In June 2005 Jonathan Stephen, principal of the Wales Evangelical School of Theology, published an article entitled ‘The Current Crisis in Evangelicalism’ in EN.
Stephen looked at a number of postmodern heresies which posed a severe threat to Bible-centred Christianity. Among these heresies in contemporary evangelicalism identified were Open Theism, the New Perspective on Paul, and the Emerging Church, as well as the rejection of the doctrine of penal substitution. Seven years on, these postmodern theologies have undoubtedly gained influence. However, they no longer pose a threat to evangelical churches in Europe and North America alone. There is another group in the evangelical constituency that is also affected: mission organisations and their partners overseas.
Guy Longley 1924 – 2013 Barbara Longley 1924 – 2013
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Jan 2014
‘In life they were loved and gracious and in death they were not parted’ (2 Samuel 1.23) could be applied to Guy and Barbara Longley, who died within 24 hours of each other on November 7 and 8.
They met as members of the last group of CIM missionaries to go into China in 1949. Guy was from Broadstairs in Kent and his three brothers also served as missionaries. Barbara (née Beck) was a nurse from Ontario, Canada. They married in Hong Kong in 1951.
news in brief
Algeria: repeated attacks
The pastor of a church in southern Algeria
reported on November 12 a fresh attack on
his church – the third of its kind – which he
says proves that some Algerians are against
the presence of churches in their country
The attackers
threw a
tyre
inside
the
building and then tried to smash the gate
into the building. They dispersed when the
police arrived, but none were arrested.
GFA: the Great Omission
Gospel For Asia
Date posted: 1 Jan 2014
Most Christians are familiar with Jesus’ command, the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations.
But with the average Christian giving less to mission than the cost of a coffee, once a month, it appears that the church is omitting the commission, it was concluded in December by Gospel for Asia.
4 million hits
www.easyenglish.info
Date posted: 1 Feb 2014
A website which offers the Bible in easy-to-read English clocked up 4 million visitors
from more than 200 countries during 2013.
The EasyEnglish version and commentaries use a vocabulary of just 1,200 words
and are for those who have learned English as
a second language. For those who have a
greater knowledge of English there is another level using 2,800 words. Both levels follow simple forms of grammar.
Moment or movement?
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Feb 2014
In my youth we enjoyed the old game of seeing how many people we could squeeze into a Mini.
Little did I know how useful those skills would be when trying to organise ReNew, a new conference for conservative evangelical Anglican leaders that took place last November.
HOPE launch in London
1,000 people from across London crowded
into Central Hall, Westminster, on October
14 for the Crossing London Hope 2014
Vision Night of
inspiration, music and
Christian worship and praise.
There were
thought-provoking
ideas
about the future of Christian mission
in
London, and news of some exciting initiatives coming up in the next 12 months as
Crossing London partners with many other
groups, organisations and churches, to try to
see the capital and its people renewed by the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Cornwall: walkers return
Andrew Chapple
Date posted: 1 Dec 2013
The black and white of the St. Piran county flag was the colour of the month through September.
Walk Cornwall 2 did three weeks of evangelistic mission in the far west county, all under the auspices of Through Faith Missions, utilising local leadership.
Keswick to reach non Christians
John Risbridger
Date posted: 1 Dec 2013
As the Convention encourages Christians to bring their unbelieving friends, we speak to John Risbridger, Keswick’s Chairman
EN: You took over as Chairman of the Keswick Convention in May 2012. Now you are established in the role, what is your vision for Keswick over the next 5-10 years?
JR: The team of trustees are all still committed to the same things Keswick has valued for decades. Our vision remains the spiritual renewal of God’s people for his mission in the world. So we want to provide high-quality Bible teaching that draws evangelical Christians from across a wide background of different churches to worship and grow together and to encourage a strong commitment to mission in all its forms, both in the UK and across the world.
GAFCON: largest since Lambeth
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Dec 2013
GAFCON 2013, which met at the Conference Centre and Cathedral at All Saints Nairobi, can legitimately claim to be the largest worldwide gathering of Anglicans since Lambeth 1998 which was attended by all Anglican bishops and their wives.
331 bishops and archbishops and 1,358 delegates, including over 300 women, met together, among whom 120 were from England, Ireland and Wales.
CHURCH — BORN AGAIN!
Malcolm MacGregor
Date posted: 1 Dec 2013
A church plant that almost failed has taken off and goes independent in January.
Billy, Justine, Gill, Emma, Gary, John, Maggie, Amy are just a few of the many who have come to faith over the past six years at Shepherd Drive Baptist Church on the Chantry and Pinewood estates in Ipswich. If you have never been to the ‘far east’, Ipswich is a historic sea port on the river Orwell with a couple of large marinas full of posh yachts. Now just over an hour from Liverpool Street station in the City of London, it is also a rapidly growing commuter town.
Making a mark for God
Situated at a key point on this expanding housing development, the church is starting to make a real mark for God among the many young families who live round about. It was, however, back in the 1970s that a Christian nurse living on the estate first felt a burden to reach the local children with the gospel. In due time this led to a church plant, which, in spite of sincere efforts and a good building, never really impacted the area as it might have. After a closure of around three years, the fellowship was re-launched in 2007 with a specific aim of reaching the un-churched.
Young historians
Mary Stolarski
Date posted: 1 Jan 2014
Book Review
ANSELM OF CANTERBURY:
Christian biographies for young readers
Read review
A remarkable Chinese leader
Tony Lambert
Date posted: 1 Jan 2014
Tony Lambert reflects on the life of Pastor Samuel Lamb who went to be with the Lord in recent months
Pastor Samuel Lamb died in Guangzhou (Canton) in south China in early August 2013.
