National week of prayer comes to an end
en staff
Date posted: 23 Oct 2024
en Board member Carl Knightly, Director of Networks at London City Mission was among those at Emmanuel Centre, Westminster, as part of the ‘National Week of Prayer’.
Writing on X, he said: ‘Many people came together to pray for the UK, and this was one of numerous events occurring across the nation, and indeed nations… It was a blessed and profound time of prayer and worship, as we came before God to lift up the UK to Him. I was privileged to facilitate some of that prayer time, and join with fellow believers in this special afternoon.’
everyday theology
Substitute ‘saviours’
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 18 Oct 2024
Justification of sinners by grace alone lies at the heart of the gospel. It is the proof and consequence of the fact that Christ is so entirely all-sufficient a Saviour that His work needs no supplementing by us. While this may be good news, it is not an easy truth for the fallen to swallow.
The fact that Jesus pronounces a foul sinner righteous while condemning a life committed to religious uprightness (see Luke 18:9-14) offends our pride. For the humbling effect of Jesus’s teaching, so entirely condemning our self-reliance, makes it far easier to reserve the message of justification by grace as one only for beginners or outsiders. Justification may be an essential evangelical truth, but it is one that all evangelicals struggle to live by.
Four new churches on the same day
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 14 Oct 2024
Four new church plants were launched on a single Sunday, three within the growing International Presbyterian Church (IPC) - bringing the total to 20 churches.
On 1 September, Grace Church Coventry, Christ Church, Headington and All Saints, Exeter were launched. The IPC denomination has, under its ‘2030 vision’, an ambition for 20 new churches by 2030. Jonty Rhodes, elder at Christ Church Derby and chair of the denomination’s church-planting committee said: ‘It’s been an encouraging few years.’ Also on 1 September, a new AMiE (Anglican Mission in England) congregation, Christ Church Hessle, held its commissioning service.
bridging cultural divides
Are you only friends with people like you?
Jason Roach
Date posted: 12 Oct 2024
In my experience, eating fish and chips at the seaside can be a life threatening experience. Not because of the quality of the fish and chips, but because of the flocks of birds trying to eat it at the same time.
On one memorable trip, I was in the process of trying to rescue my daughter's meal from a veracious seagull, when its partner in crime took the opportunity to swipe mine. I think they must have enjoyed it, because a few minutes later they deposited most of what they had digested on my head. In His wisdom, the Lord has ordained that trips to the beach would remind me of that old adage: birds of a feather, flock together.
Prayer times literally ‘out of this world’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 8 Oct 2024
During the Covid pandemic, Christians had to learn how to engage with church differently because of national restrictions. Now, two NASA astronauts have taken virtual church to a whole new level.
Christians Barry Wilmore and Tracy Dyson, who were among the four astronauts on the Boeing Starliner’s flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, are members of Providence Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas.
safeguarding briefing
Church culture: 'But we've always done it that way'
Jules Loveland
Date posted: 7 Oct 2024
In every church, there is an often unseen influence that can bring life and progress to a congregation or leave it stagnated. This influence is church culture.
Frequently overlooked and under-appreciated, culture is always present. It shapes the way we think, behave, and interact with one another. Understanding the significance of our church culture is essential, for effective evangelism, growth and pastoral care.
Beach missions bring smiles
en staff
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
United Beach Missions (UBM) holds a variety of outreach events every summer.
Among them, is a ‘Smugglers Trail’ in Benllech, Anglesey.
Timothy Dudley-Smith: A life in three scenes
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 15 Aug 2024
RT REVD TIMOTHY DUDLEY-SMITH OBE: 1926-2024
Timothy Dudley-Smith will be remembered best for his rich contribution to hymnody. He is widely-regarded as the greatest modern hymnwriter of the 20th and early 21st centuries. At his 90th birthday celebration, Pam Rhodes, presenter of BBC Songs of Praise, described his popularity as springing out of ‘his understanding of the human condition’.
Why is some ‘sound’ expository preaching just so dull and boring?
Jon Barrett
Date posted: 4 Oct 2024
‘The preacher pulls the little cord that turns on his lectern light and deals out his note cards like a riverboat gambler. The stakes have never been higher.
‘Two minutes from now he may have lost his listeners completely to their own thoughts, but at this minute he has them in the palm of his hand. The silence in the shabby church is deafening because everybody is listening to it. Everybody is listening including even himself. Everybody knows the kind of things he has told them before and not told them, but who knows what this time, out of the silence, he will tell them?’
bridging cultural divides
Crossing cultures as an introvert
Jason Roach
Date posted: 3 Oct 2024
A common concern around welcoming people from different cultures into the local church is that it is impossible for introverts. I remember one person saying, 'I find it hard enough to speak to my friends, let alone to strangers!'
It’s part of a bigger fear among Christians that we just don’t have what it takes to reach out to those who are different from us. What do we do when we want to communicate across cultural differences, but the bar just seems too high?
Ten questions with: Oliver Wyncoll
1. How did you become a Christian?
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian family, attending an Open Brethren assembly in Banbury during my childhood. When I was eight, I went to a Christian boarding school in Bath for ten years. I was known as a Christian at school, but had no real relationship with Christ as my Lord and Saviour and rarely wanted to read the Bible on my own.
Three churches unite to launch new plant in Kidderminster
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 30 Sep 2024
In a display of unity, three churches in Worcestershire have overcome stylistic and theological differences to form a new church plant, recognised by the FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches).
Set to officially launch in January 2025, the formation of the new Grace Church Kidderminster occurred after two churches in the Wyre Forest each approached the lead pastor of nearby Woodgreen Church, Richard Lacey, for help. With small and aging congregations, both Kidderminster Evangelical Church (KEC) and Christ Church Wyre Forest, (CCWF) had recognised a need for external assistance – they contacted Lacey within weeks of each other.
Enlightening articles
Date posted: 26 Sep 2024
Dear Editor,
I have just been reading your September issue on the aeroplane travelling to speak at a mission in Kosovo. I am so pleased I have done this. Two articles especially have spoken to me directly as I prepare to share the gospel.
Christian Afghan women fear ‘double persecution’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 25 Sep 2024
Christian women in Afghanistan are now facing ‘double persecution,’ according to an evangelical mission agency, as draconian new Taliban restrictions take force.
All women have been banned from speaking or showing their faces in public in the Taliban’s latest infringement on women’s rights since reclaiming power in 2021.
Aber 2024: the power of revival
James Allan
Date posted: 24 Sep 2024
The annual conference of the Evangelical Movement of Wales (EMW) took place as usual in Aberystwyth during the second week of August.
The highlight of the conference each year is the preaching of God’s Word in the Great Hall of the university campus. This year’s speaker was David Meredith, Mission Director for the Free Church of Scotland.
bridging cultural divides
Bridging cultural divides: it takes one small step
Jason Roach
Date posted: 20 Sep 2024
'I gave them my freedom (bus) pass and scribbled down the address of the church on the back of a receipt! Praying that they'd come along today.'
If I could have raised one eyebrow I would have. As it was, I simply smiled. It seemed risky... He had only met Araz, Dilvan and Genc* - the three Kurdish men that he spoke of - the day before. They had been housed in a local hotel while their Asylum claims were processed.
a Jewish Christian perspective
Not ashamed
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
As someone who has been in missionary work in the UK for over 35 years, I have noticed that the church and Christians have grown less confident in sharing Jesus with those around them.
Many fear being ridiculed by identifying themselves as Christians. This is nothing new; Christians have often suffered a fear of rejection because of their faith, thus the Apostle Peter’s exhortation in 1 Peter 3:15 to always be ready to give an answer to anyone who enquires about the hope you have within you.
news in brief
Urban missionary launch
A free hub – created by and for urban missionaries – has just been launched by The Message Trust. The Proximity urban mission resource hub has been created for churches, individuals and other organisations sharing the gospel in UK estates and inner-city communities.
It ranges from videos and podcasts to advice and teaching and further topics ‘covering all areas of mission’. Proximity is also to create virtual and online communities with regular gatherings across the UK. The Message Trust explained why it has launched Proximity: ‘We know just how tough urban mission can be … sadly many have told us they feel isolated and under-resourced. We don’t want that to be the case anymore.’
Post-election: A tale of two speeches
John Woods
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Preachers, politicians and stand-up comedians still speak to crowds. President Zelensky of Ukraine has combined the last two of these in his colourful career. He has demonstrated the power of well-chosen words delivered in the right place to the right people.
Many speeches have been delivered during the UK election campaign that drew to a decisive conclusion on 4 July.
When pens are an answer to prayer
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
God answers prayer in amazing ways, and He did so in Kenya with just a few pens and pencils, as Robbie Toop of Mission Africa revealed.
The organisation has been sending mission teams to the African nation for ten years and sent Kathryn Lindsay, its first long-term worker, in 2023.
Imagining the CofE 'de facto parallel province' as a reality
You may have heard mention of a ‘de facto parallel province within the Church of England’ over these last few weeks.
The announcement of the Alliance to the commitment of its construction has been met with widespread appreciation within the evangelical constituency, but with various questions being raised. Let's look at two of those questions now.