Olympics 2024: Eric Liddell tracts reach thousands
Christians in Sport
Date posted: 23 Jul 2024
This year presents a huge opportunity to engage sportspeople with the good news of Jesus around major sporting events.
Alongside a Sports Mission Pack, Christians in Sport has partnered with publisher 10ofThose to produce a tract titled ‘Racing for Glory’ on the life and witness of Eric Liddell, a century on from his famous gold medal winning performance at Paris 1924.
letter from Madagascar
Prosperity gospel challenges evangelicals
Joel Morris
Date posted: 12 Sep 2024
Last month, I had the privilege to visit our ministry partner in Madagascar, Pastor Faly, who is based in a local church in the capital, Antananarivo.
His ministry is doing an impressive amount of gospel work in the community and across the nation – from publishing and printing theological books, to training preachers, a youth camp, a new medical ministry, and working with people with disabilities.
Nigeria believers face ‘brutal violence’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 10 Sep 2024
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has said, in a statement at the 56th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Switzerland, that the Nigerian government must do more to protect Christians from the ‘brutal violence’ of extremist groups.
The WEA spoke of ‘patterns of repeated violence’ by extremist groups in Nigeria which are wiping out communities and displacing thousands. It called on the country’s government to do more to ‘disarm violent groups’ and ‘boost security’ in the nation.
Scripture Union’s new boss aims for 95% of children
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Dave Newton took over as National Director of Scripture Union (SU) in March. Now he has his feet under the desk, Evangelicals Now asked him about his vision for its future.
SU was originally founded in 1867 to help adults and children know God through the Bible. Today, its 1,500 volunteers run over 60 camps and missions a year.
Keswick 24: Feeling spiritually dry?
Mark Ellis
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
I know what it’s like to feel dry. To feel Jesus is distant. To know in my head I couldn’t be closer; that my life is now hid in Christ. But not to sense that in my heart. To feel my eyesight is clouded and my heart is stale.
And the Keswick Convention is not the answer to my problem. But it can help. Because our good God gives us many ways to bring our hearts closer to the sunshine of the gospel; many ways that will melt our hearts as we look to Jesus. And what I love about the Convention is that it’s like an oasis. It’s an opportunity to be refreshed. And then sent back out again.
South Asian interchange
The cost of following Jesus
Rani Joshi
Date posted: 5 Sep 2024
In recent months, as I’ve been meeting more South Asian believers who have come from other faiths, I questioned if we really understand the cost of following Jesus and what discipleship looks like for those who have come from a different faith. Especially from a ministry context.
Over 5.5million people in the UK are from a South Asian background and do not know Jesus. If mission and evangelism is at the heart of what you are doing, then it’s important to understand how to help people transition well, remain in their communities and culture (if they feel called to).
We need divine help more than ever, Ukraine pastors say
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 31 Jul 2024
Only divine intervention can bring about a lasting peace in Ukraine, church leaders there say.
That’s the message from a mission organisation working in the heart of the ongoing and bloody conflict caused by Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion.
everyday theology
Are you a ‘real sinner’?
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 4 Sep 2024
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
news in brief
Laos: pastor murdered
A pastor has been shot and killed by masked gunmen on motorbikes in a village in Northwestern Laos, as reported by The Christian Post.
Thongkham Philavanh, aged 40, who was a pastor in Vanghay Village and the head of Lao Evangelical Church, was shot seven times as he was feeding his chickens and ducks. He died on his way to hospital, leaving his wife and two teenage children in mourning.
letter from Spain
God at work - even in Benidorm
Trevor Ramsey
Date posted: 30 Aug 2024
It started as a normal Friday. We had gathered in the rented church building in Benidorm to remember our Lord’s death with the breaking of the bread - a service which we held every Friday morning. It was just a small gathering but we are always aware that we are honouring Christ and always expectant for lives to be changed.
About 20 were about to start worshipping the Lord when a young lady walked in. She was bilingual with an English mother and Spanish father - one of the thousands of similar individuals along Spain’s famous Costa Blanca.
defending our faith
The training challenge
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 29 Aug 2024
One of the great challenges facing the church is how we train the next generation of apologists, pastors, evangelists and other workers.
The needs are great. I know many churches who are looking to recruit pastors but struggling to find someone appropriate. Likewise, how do we train apologists? Many online apologists using YouTube and other forms of social media are self-taught, mean well, but sometimes mislead.
Teesside outreach sees 1,400 respond
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 7 Jul 2024
Festival Teesside, featuring evangelist Andrew Palau, was ‘a massive success’ and the ‘fruition of 15 years of hard work,’ says mission organiser Stephen Sutton.
Sutton, who is pastor of Beacon Baptist Church, Middlesborough, also said that the gospel seed had been sown and that local churches were now deploying ‘the skills of the harvest field’ which the Palau team provided.
Christian schools alarmed by charging of VAT on fees
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 24 Aug 2024
The imposition of VAT on private school fees threatens the survival of small Christian schools, which are ‘worlds away from the Harrows and Etons of this world’, the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT) is warning.
Meanwhile, the head of a small private school says Christian parents are being punished, and has challenged the church to support families and Christian education.
‘I was born with no eyes and my husband is blind too’
Philippa Lomas
Date posted: 22 Aug 2024
Philippa Lomas shares her journey of faith and discipleship:
I was born without any eyes and am completely blind. As you can probably imagine, this was a great shock to my parents, who had other, fully sighted, children. My parents are both Christians, but they really wondered what good God could bring out of the situation.
A forgotten classic
Gordon Robertson
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Book Review
REBECCA’S REVIVAL:
Creating Black Christianity in the
Atlantic World
Read review
Irish Presbyterians plan ahead
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) agreed at its General Assembly for 2024 that it needs a radical shake up of mission and ministry, while new Moderator Richard Murray called on the PCI to find better ways of connecting the gospel’s message to an uninterested and at times ‘hostile’ world.
About 1,000 ministers and elders from the denomination’s more than 500 congregations attended the three-day Assembly in Belfast which agreed to what it described as a ‘radical process that will see a comprehensive reconfiguration of ministry’ across the denomination.
How do we help avoid evangelical civil war and promote real unity?
Andy Mason
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
We conservative evangelicals need each other. The challenges before us are just too big. We really can’t be what God has called us to be on our own. Our future should really be together. The stewarding of the gospel in our time demands it.
However, our future is also very tied to our ability to get on with one another. We need a very good capacity to navigate internal disagreements. Above all, we need a deep resistance to fracture and splintering. Some might feel that this is unproblematic. After all, we have the gospel of God, and one would’ve thought that that was enough to overcome any difficulties. Things are, though, a bit more complicated.
Chance conversation leads to church gift of £10,000
Rob James
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
‘A lift for Narberth’ is more than a building project. It sums up the church’s vision, says Phil Prosser, senior leader of Grace Church.
Narberth is a small but growing market town in south-west Wales with a lively shopping centre, arts and cultural scene, a very active community life, and a charismatic evangelical church with ‘high hopes’ for its future mission in the community.
World vision
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 Jun 2024
Book Review
THE LAUSANNE LEGACY:
Landmarks in Global Mission
Read review
letter from Moldova
A ‘big God’ for a small and suffering land
Graeme Innes
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Until a couple of years ago, Moldova was a largely obscure backwater but, due to the war on its doorstep, Moldova now finds itself near the new dividing line between East and West.
Though great upheaval continues to dominate the region, Operation World statistics show that Moldova, and her neighbours Romania and Ukraine, are the three countries which have seen the greatest gospel growth within Europe in the last 35 years. After significant openness to Christ during the period following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is now a deepening hunger for faithful Bible preaching amongst numerous evangelical churches in Moldova.
What does a Scriptural analysis of the King's Speech show?
On Wednesday, King Charles delivered the Labour government's first King's Speech in the House of Lords. Part of the State Opening of Parliament, the speech set out the new government's priorities for the months ahead. This was a speech designed to demonstrate that the new government means business. Themed around Labour’s five key missions, there are a grand total of 40 Bills, with four of these being draft ones.
Labour’s missions are as follows: secure sustained economic growth, make Britain a clean energy superpower, build an NHS fit for purpose, make Britain’s streets safe, and break down barriers to opportunity at every stage.