The Mormons are coming
Bobby Gilpin
Date posted: 1 Jan 2013
‘Would you like to hear more about the restored gospel?’
This is a question many of the 58,000 missionaries for the Mormon Church (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) ask people worldwide every day. This 14-million-member-strong movement is getting public attention as Mitt Romney, the losing US presidential candidate for the Republican Party, is a committed member.
John Chapman, 1930-2012
John Chapman, Sydney’s leading evangelist for more than 50 years, passed away in hospital on November 16 2012 at the age of 82.
‘Chappo’, as he was affectionately known, was converted in his teens and was active in youth ministry. Following a stint as a manual arts teacher, he spent a year in Moore College and was ordained in the Diocese of Armidale in 1957. After a challenging curacy in Moree, he was appointed Youth Director for the Diocese in 1960 and then Director of Christian Education (1966-68).
The Third Degree
12,000 at CU carol services
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Feb 2013
An estimated 12,000 students attended Christian Union carol services in 2012, the biggest of which drew over 3,000 attendees.
Associate Christian Union Staff Worker Michael Ots was the speaker at Durham Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (DICCU) carol service. He commented: ‘It was awesome to see over 3,000 people packing every corner of the cathedral to hear about Jesus. It’s not unusual for [carol service] attendance to be at least four times that of the CU. In Durham it was ten times! Student carol services are probably the most effective events of the whole year at getting not yet Christians to hear the gospel’.
Trainers tied for action!
John Benton
Date posted: 1 Feb 2013
Though nominal Christianity is declining in Britain, Bible-believing Christian faith seems to be making real headway.
The increasing suspicion that God has something special in store is epitomised by the transformation that has occurred at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST) in the last couple of years.
Letter from America
Caesar salad
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Dec 2012
‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s...’ This is the famous pronouncement of the Master in response to a particularly intense period of Pharisaic grilling. But what precisely does it mean as Christians in America negotiate a cultural landscape that appears less friendly to traditional Christian values and the message of the gospel than in the recent past?
The blogosphere is not short of answers, but I suggest that 1 John, in particular, provides a compelling look at the right way to respond. In the context in which John was writing, there was an incipient ‘Gnosticism’ that was advocating a toned down spirituality, denying that Jesus was the Christ in ‘flesh’, and therefore that it was possible to be spiritual without actual practical commitment to the local church or, indeed, without practising righteousness. In other words, in response to pressures from a pagan environment, the church was susceptible to a form of teaching that allowed it to live in a less combative fashion with its neighbours — understandable in its own right — but by means of denying core doctrines (‘Jesus is the Christ’) and core moral behaviour (‘practising righteousness’).
The Third Degree
Pray for 5, give to 5, invite 5
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Dec 2012
CUs in Great Britain have begun preparations for their February Uncover missions by launching the Uncover ‘pray for five, give to five and invite five’ campaign. UCCF hope that the national initiative, which involves students praying for five friends, giving those friends a Gospel and inviting them to read it one-to-one, will reach 50,000 students in 2012/13.
Tim Rudge, UCCF Field Director, was the main speaker for Royal Holloway Christian Union’s launch event. He commented: ‘The CU did a fine job. They made it simple, so that students could easily understand the strategy. On each chair the CU had put out a copy of the Gospel, a pray for five prayer card and a copy of the Uncover Seeker Bible Study Guide. They bundled their Gospels in to attractive “gift” packages of five.
New mission to England
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Aug 2011
‘The Anglican Mission in England [AMIE] stands for the promotion of mission, of biblical church planting and of the selection, training and deployment of ordinands for ministry in the Church of England.’
With these words, the Rev. Paul Perkin, the chair of AMIE’s Steering Committee, welcomed over 140 people to its inaugural event in St. Peter’s-upon-Cornhill, London, on June 22. The next day, Paul and other leaders of AMIE addressed a gathering of leaders on its vision at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, London.
Cruel to be kind?
Robert Strivens
Date posted: 1 Jan 2013
Book Review
WHEN HELPING HURTS
How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor ... and yourself
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Churches and charitable status
Ben Bourne
Date posted: 1 Jan 2013
Much ink has been spilled recently over the decision by the Charity Commission to deny the Plymouth Brethren charitable status in respect of one of its gospel halls in Devon (the Preston Down Trust).
The church trust, a member of the Exclusive Brethren, was refused charitable status on the basis that it failed to demonstrate that it provided a genuine public benefit.
Careforce: the legacy
Ian Prior
Date posted: 1 Nov 2012
‘A legacy is something you leave behind that will benefit others.’
Have you noticed how in recent years everything and everyone has to have a legacy? Events, people, organisations are now measured by their legacy — by what of worth they leave behind.
Crosslinks: 90 years and counting
Andy Lines
Date posted: 1 Oct 2012
October 27 marks the 90th anniversary of the launch of the Bible Churchmen’s Missionary Society (BCMS), now called Crosslinks.
This is a landmark shared with the FIEC. As we look back with thanks to God, it is also salutary to ponder the continuing need for such a society.
Michael Cole, 1935-2012
Nick Cole
Date posted: 1 Nov 2012
Squadron Leader Michael Cole, OBE, explorer and practical missionary, was born on April 10 1935. He died of cancer on September 25 2012, aged 77, at his home in Ross-on-Wye.
Michael Cole adopted the words of the Victorian missionary explorer David Livingstone, ‘Sympathy is no substitute for action’, as his own personal motto.
Heart change
Sally Orwin Lee
Date posted: 1 Dec 2012
The lyrical opening to Dire Straits’ ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the melodic refrain of Brothers in Arms resonated in my sound track while coming of age in the early 80s.
Knopfler’s song, ‘Sailing to Philadelphia’, featured in June this year. I didn’t sail to Philadelphia, ‘a world away from the coaly Tyne’ where family roots lie. I flew there to complete the two modules of Biblical Counselling training provided by CCEF, which require on-site attendance: Counselling Observation and Essential Qualities of a Biblical Counsellor.
Evangelicals <i>maintenant</i>
John Benton
Date posted: 1 Dec 2012
On the other side of the Channel, the gospel is making progress. 20 years ago, there were probably some 1,800 Bible-believing churches in France. Today it is more like 2,500. That is quite rapid growth.
This was the estimate of Reynald Kozycki, who works among evangelicals at a national level. He says that over 100 new churches have been started in Paris mainly through migrants from other countries. But throughout the country a positive work of church planting is being pursued (through agencies like France Mission) and producing fruit.
The Third Degree
Missions' flying start
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Jan 2012
We’re thrilled by what the Lord has been doing through Christian Unions last term. Here are some highlights.
The CU at Reading, in partnership with local churches, hosted a meal for a remarkable 280 international students. Susie, a member of the CU, met a Chinese girl who said she would like to find out more about the Bible. ‘She was very enthusiastic’, commented Gareth Leaney (Staff Worker, Reading). He continues, ‘[she] even asked if she could use a Bible app on her phone so she could understand the translation’.
Frontline ministry
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Nov 2012
Before the African sun has crept over the hills to the north, the 63 Sudanese men planning to enter the army as chaplains begin running in formation.They chant prayers and sing about Jesus. The soldier at the front carries a green flag with a red cross bearing the words ‘Mountain Chaplaincy Corps’.
The chaplains run for 60 minutes, passing through the town of Nimule, then climb to the top of a hill before running back down again and returning to the camp led by Wes and Vicky Bentley. As the soldiers stream into the compound, it begins to get light — a soft pink glow appearing on the eastern horizon.
Loopers
Jason Gardner
Date posted: 1 Nov 2012
None Review
The cost of intervention LOOPERS
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'Historical barriers'?
A reader wrote into EN. He was worried.
He wondered what I thought of a talk on YouTube given at this year’s Spring Harvest. If you want to see for yourself what is being said, you can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAZ4FKHE9cQ.
The talk is given by Les Isaac, who is involved with Street Pastors ministry, and is about Christian unity. He refers to Revelation 7, which speaks of John’s vision of heaven in which people from every nation, tribe and language worship together before God’s throne. The speaker’s thrust is that a lot of Christians are waiting for such unity in heaven, but God ‘wants us to be one now’.