They made the right move
Elisa Beynon
Date posted: 1 Jul 2006
Relocating? As we saw last month, it’s a complicated business for Christians on the move. While issues like closeness to family or schools loom large and programmes like Escape to the Country push the line of finding the perfect house, Christians are faced with the challenge: how to move in a way that keeps the gospel central?
Whatever the presenting reason for moving — a need for more space, a new job, the need to care for family members, Christians only thrive when they are being fed by God’s Word and are part of a church family where they can use their gifts to serve and encourage others. This means that, for those of us who are thinking of moving house, the aim should be to put finding a church like this at the top of our list of priorities. In other words, to put those glossy house brochures to one side until it is clear which church it is right to settle in: one where the Bible is preached clearly and faithfully and where there will be opportunities to serve and encourage others. This month EN talks to four people, Jennifer, Bill, Richard and Jane (not their real names) who have sought to do that. They tell us how they went about it, what issues they faced and how they feel now about their decision to put church first.
Why Christian education?
Rosemary Saunders
Date posted: 1 Jun 2006
Seven children from two Christian families, two Christian teachers and a chapel schoolroom were the foundation of Wyclif Independent Christian School in 1982.
The parents were convinced that the Lord was leading them to provide an education for their children which was God-centred, Bible-based and free of the secular humanism that was beginning to pervade the state education system.
The Third Degree
Engaging with culture - bethinking.org
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Apr 2006
Charlie is a typical student. His mop of unkempt hair hides an enquiring mind.
When he isn’t watching daytime TV, or attending one of his twice-weekly lectures, he likes nothing better than partying with his pals in the Students Union, where the beer flows freely. Dancing together, ankle deep in spilt drinks with the sweaty hordes might not be your idea of a good night out, but for Charlie it’s probably the best wash he’s had in weeks. And don’t let his image scare you off; Charlie wants to talk. He wants to know how he can help his friend Anna, who has an eating disorder. And how he can deal with the suffering his family is going through as a result of his mother being diagnosed with bowel cancer. So, he wants to meet you for coffee, to talk about how Christian hope might be able to give him some hope.
Faith on the wing
Jonathan Carswell
Date posted: 1 May 2006
The Irishnman, Andrew Trimble, has quickly become a household name in the rugby world.
Thanks to his speed, agility and tough tackling, the young rugby giant has propelled himself to the centre stage of both club and international rugby. As the Six Nations Championship drew to a close with Ireland’s defeat of England, Jonathan Carswell, caught up with him to find out what the real ‘Trimble’ was like…
Youth Leaders
Values...
Dave Fenton
Date posted: 1 Mar 2006
Churches produce a lot of paper. Most churches you go into have mission statements, basis of faith documents and all sorts.
It’s often the process that led to the document that is more important than the document. If the mission statement is left in a rack in the hope that someone will pick it up it probably wasn’t worth the effort, but if it expresses the heartbeat of the group then it will constantly be used. So anything we produce for our youth group must be a living document.
Is it discipleship or evangelism? YES
Simon Percy
Date posted: 1 Apr 2006
That is how a new course from America, called ‘The Person of Jesus’, introduces itself. It certainly promises to be something of benefit to the church here in Britain.
The course seems to hit two nails on the head at the same time.
Memories of a mentor
Rebecca Manley Pippert
Date posted: 1 Apr 2006
In our age of celebrity mania, we need heroes more than ever. How grateful I am to God for having given me a true hero.
Ruth Siemens came bursting into my life when I was a recently converted college student studying in Madrid, Spain, in the 1970s.
Taking a stand for truth
John Benton
Date posted: 1 Jan 2006
In October, a South African bishop ordained three staff members of the Co-Mission Initiative churches, based in South West London, whose senior pastor is Richard Coekin. The Bishop of Southwark has since revoked Richard’s licence as a Church of England minister (see front page article).
Since the ordinations, there have been media interviews, in which Richard Coekin has clarified that his main concern is about the authority of the Bible in the modern Church of England. From right across the country, evangelical churches and individuals have inundated Richard’s church office with emails and letters of unqualified support. There have been messages from abroad, not just from South Africa, but from Australia, America, Brazil and more, simply saying that they agree wholeheartedly with what Richard is seeking to do.
Robert Millen Horn, 1933-2005
Ray Gaydon
Date posted: 1 Feb 2006
My wife Hazel and I met Bob and Joy Horn in the summer of 1972. Bob had written an article for The Evangelical Magazine entitled ‘The Christian and the World’ and we asked Bob to speak on this subject to a group of young graduates and professionals, who met to discuss contemporary issues on Friday nights at our local church at Chislehurst.
That was the beginning of a great and close friendship that has lasted until Bob left us to be with the Lord.
Looking up, looking out
Hazel Gaydon
Date posted: 1 Mar 2006
As the sound of 2,000 women’s voices filled the Westminster Central Hall last October for the London Women’s Convention, my mind was racing. It raced forwards to that glorious day when those whose hope is ‘in Christ alone’ will be with him — and my longing was for more to be added daily to that number.
It raced backwards to my childhood memories of praise filling that very same Hall at the Brethren Missionary Meetings.
Luv Esther
Iain Clements
Date posted: 1 Jan 2006
None Review
Luv Esther is a new musical based on the book of Esther, and is produced by New Generation Music and Mission.
Read review
Anniversaries in 2006
Joy Horn
Date posted: 1 Jan 2006
Famous books
Three notable books were published in 1656: Blaise Pascal’s Lettres Provinciales, John Bunyan’s Some Gospel Truths opened, and Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor.
Isaac Watts’s Horae Lyricae was published in 1706.
Appeal to Archbishop
The Anglican clergyman, whose licence was removed by the Bishop of Southwark following legal but irregular ordinations by a South African Bishop, has exercised his right of appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.
The Rev. Richard Coekin, Senior Pastor to the fast-growing ‘Co-Mission’ churches of South West London, claims that, although his relationship with Bishop Tom Butler has been ‘impaired’ by the House of Bishops’ recent statement on civil partnerships, which led him to seek help from a foreign bishop, this does not legally or morally justify the removal of his licence.
He is no fool
Irene Howat
Date posted: 1 Jan 2006
This January sees the 50th anniversary of the killing of Jim Elliot and four other young missionaries as they tried to reach the Auca Indians of Ecuador for Christ.
‘You’re so excited!’ Elisabeth said when Jim arrived home. ‘I’ve never seen you so excited before.’
The Third Degree
A day in the life of a... Christian Union Staff Worker
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Nov 2005
In the beginning…
uccf:thechristianunions has always held the cross at the centre of its ministry. It was in 1910 that the first Christian Union (Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union) disaffiliated from the dominant Christian student movement of the time (the SCM) because of the SCM’s liberal interpretation of key gospel doctrines — notably they did not hold as central the atoning blood of Jesus.
The Inter-Varsity Fellowship (now known as uccf:thechristianunions) was formed shortly after. ‘It was only a few months later that the realisation dawned on us that if a CICCU was a necessity in Cambridge, a union of the same kind was also a necessity in every university of the world’ (F. Donald Coggan, Christ and the colleges, p.71).
Monthly media and arts column
Eleanor Margesson
Date posted: 1 Dec 2005
How much do you know about the computer games that teenage boys will be asking for this Christmas?
If you were lucky enough to own a ZX80 games console in the late 70s then you were probably the envy of all your friends. Oh the excitement of the downhill skiing game! The joy of avoiding huge white square pixels with your cursor as they hurtled towards you at increasing speeds! Perhaps you even had a brilliant top score in the game of ‘pong’, the table tennis game with the rewarding ‘beep’ as the ball was successfully batted back over the electronic net. What satisfaction on a rainy afternoon!
The Third Degree
Religious & Theological Studies
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Dec 2005
In the evangelical student world, theology can hardly be said to have a good name. ‘Ivory Tower’, ‘God in a box’ — such are the slogans used to describe and dismiss the rigorous thinking-through of biblical truth.
Added to this, the secular academy has had a long history of antagonism towards any place for personal belief within its theology and religious studies departments, providing a significant challenge for any evangelical students. So, Dr. Bruce Winter, Warden and Director of Tyndale House, writes: