What do you think of when ‘mission’ is mentioned?
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 6 Feb 2026
Growing up in the UK church, when the word “mission” was mentioned, I’d instinctively picture overseas work. The phrase “mission field” conjured up images of far-away countries with people I perceived as different from myself. Was I correct in my definition?
David Baldwin, CEO of 2:19 Teach to Reach – which exists to help local churches share the gospel cross-culturally – maintains that there is a difference between evangelism and mission: “Whereas evangelism means sharing the gospel with those in our usual circles, mission always involves movement across some kind of boundary; geographical, cultural, ethnic or other.”
updates from the mission field
Why caring for mission partners matters
Kerstin Prill
Date posted: 14 Mar 2026
Caring well for mission partners can make the difference between silent struggle that leads to early departure and the reassurance needed to continue faithfully in ministry.
But what support is needed and who is best placed to provide it? How can agencies, sending churches and personal supporters offer meaningful care? And what would help mission partners communicate their needs with honesty and confidence?
updates from the mission field
Mission: Across the street and across the world
OMF International UK
Date posted: 11 Feb 2026
In this piece, mission organisation OMF International UK provides en readers with an update on its work.
The worker bee has represented Manchester’s hardworking spirit since the Industrial Revolution. In keeping with that spirit, OMF UK has been a hive of activity as we moved our office from Kent to Manchester in 2025.
updates from the mission field
Mission in Naples: 'Italian gospel workers are heroes'
Mark Oden
Date posted: 20 Jan 2026
In the heat of the summer of 2013, Jane and I, and our four kids (Sofia, Inez, Luisa, and Archie), moved from leafy Sevenoaks to noisy, crowded Naples, Italy, to work alongside a Brethren church we’d built links with previously.
We spent two years serving in Pozzuoli, then moved into the centre of the city to plant the Chiesa Evangelica Neapolis (the Greek name for the city, meaning "new community"). In March 2026, we intend to leave Naples, having been called to serve Chalmers Church, Edinburgh.
Children’s ministry in Moldova: ‘My daddy fixes children’s hearts’
Abbie Watts
Date posted: 18 Feb 2026
“The love of Christ compels us.” Taken from 2 Corinthians 5v14, this verse is the strapline of Christian Mission International Aid (CMIAID) and underpins everything the Christian charity does.
I recently arrived back in the UK after spending two weeks with CMIAID in Moldova. Started by Matthew and Ruth Hillier and Dan Marianciuc, the multi-faceted organisation does whatever it takes to share the light and truth of the gospel to those of all ages and stages of life in Moldova and other Eastern European countries.
Jellyfish sting girl given urgent MAF flight
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 3 Jan 2026
A teenager who received an excruciatingly painful sting from the poisonous, transparent tentacles of a box jellyfish, was flown to hospital from a remote part of Arnhem Land, Australia in just 25 minutes – thanks to the Mission Aviation Fellowship.
By road, the tortuous journey from Nyinykay homeland to Gove would have taken about three hours – assuming that the rough bush tracks could be traversed without trouble or, during the rainy season, flooding.
From bird migration to Biblical mission
Karen Soole
Date posted: 28 Feb 2026
March is the month when flocks of overwintering birds begin to leave the UK. Bird migration is an incredible natural phenomenon that occurs around us, yet many of us do not notice it.
But each year, as many birds leave our relatively mild winters behind to breed further north, birders and conservationists wonder how many will return. Those who dedicate their lives to this work are acutely aware that all is not well. The decline in numbers of once-common garden birds, such as sparrows and starlings, is drastic. It is easy to miss until someone tells you: “House sparrow populations in the UK have declined by approximately 60 –70% since the 1970s, with nearly 30 million vanishing from the countryside and cities.” The biggest problems most declining species face are habitat destruction, food availability, and disease.
First City Mission marks 200 years
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 21 Feb 2026
The world’s first official City Mission, Glasgow City Mission, is celebrating 200 years of service in Scotland’s largest city.
Established in 1826, Glasgow City Mission was founded by young Glaswegian David Naismith at just 26 years old. Moved by the poverty he witnessed in Glasgow, Naismith put the gospel into action by caring for people’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
Churches gear up for Life ’26 nationwide mission
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 1 Jan 2026
Churches across the country are preparing for a focused period of evangelism. Life ’26 is a nationwide gospel mission, starting in March, where church fellowships will share the gospel with their communities. A Passion for Life (APFL) oversees the mission. This year, the theme is a question: “Ever feel like something’s missing?”
Alex Hillman, APFL’s Communications and Operations Lead, told en: “Over 250 churches, from Thurso in the North of Scotland to St Helier in Jersey, will be joining together to share the gospel with friends, family, neighbours and people in their communities, under a common banner [and] with a shared mission campaign identity.”
updates from the mission field
My sponsor's words 'carried me for years'
John O.
Date posted: 9 Mar 2026
NB: The following content contains references to suicide and could be upsetting and triggering.
A childhood marked by loss
I grew up in rural Eastern Uganda. My parents were teachers and I had dreams, like any child. When I was nine, my mother became seriously ill. After a long and traumatic illness, she died when I was 12.
Sometimes evangelism begins with roast chicken
Alistair Chalmers
Date posted: 18 Mar 2026
There is a front door in almost every Christian’s life that is far more strategic than we realise.
We pray for revival in our nation. We long for gospel advance in our towns. We want deeper discipleship in our churches. And all the while, God has given many of us a dining table.
Artemis astronaut's Christian faith
en staff
Date posted: 1 Apr 2026
The pilot of the pioneering space mission Artemis II is a committed Christian.
Victor J Glover is a member of the Church of Christ, a grouping of conservative Protestant congregations mostly found in the USA.
Two complementary models of planting
Andy Lines
Date posted: 10 Mar 2026
As I look back on five years since the official launch of the Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE), it has been fascinating to reflect on the way our ministry has developed under the Lord’s guidance. In particular I’ve been able to discern two complementary models of mission through church planting.
In 2017 I was appointed as “Missionary Bishop to Europe” by GAFCON, to promote a Biblically-faithful Anglican movement in our region as an alternative to alignment with Canterbury. What is a “missionary bishop”? To summarise, we could say that it is a leader who gathers faithful individuals and emerging congregations into an Anglican fellowship and polity in a designated area. And it is to actively instigate the establishment of the church, ordaining and pastoring clergy, linking the new local movement with orthodox Anglicans globally, under the leadership of the GAFCON senior archbishops.
Caffeine and Kingdom?
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 25 Mar 2026
Can coffee fuel evangelism? If it’s Tommy’s Coffee, then “yes!” say directors Luke Porter and Joel Barwick, who founded the kingdom-building coffee ministry last year.
The coffee cart, based in St Thomas’ Church, Newcastle, first started serving customers in May with a mission to simultaneously caffeinate and connect with the city’s residents.
A Passion for Life ignites church outreach
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 23 Mar 2026
More than 340 churches are taking part in a nationwide evangelistic mission around the Easter period.
Churches as far north as Thurso, Scotland and as far south as Jersey (plus a church in France, en has been told!) are participating in Life’26 – facilitated by outreach organisation A Passion for Life (APFL) and covered in detail in both the January and February print editions of en.
everyday evangelism
It’s almost Life ’26!
Gavin Matthews
Date posted: 7 Feb 2026
With the countdown in full swing to this nationwide gospel outreach (see more via en article here), Gavin Matthews spoke to Nick McQuaker from A Passion for Life about what to expect and how to get involved.
a Jewish Christian perspective
'Jewish evangelism is crucial to world evangelisation'
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 8 Feb 2026
Romans 11 confronts us with one of Scripture’s great paradoxes: God brings life out of death. Israel’s stumbling became salvation for the nations, and one day Israel’s restoration will mean “life from the dead” for the whole world. This mystery is not a theological puzzle – it is a mission challenge to the church.
Paul writes that God allowed Israel to experience a “spirit of stupor”, and many ask why. Why would the people chosen to be a light to the nations be blinded to the Messiah? Paul gives the answer: “Because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles – to make Israel envious.” Israel’s loss became our gain. Out of their rejection came reconciliation. Out of death came life. It is the pattern of the cross itself.
Prayer for 100,000 Scots
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 4 Mar 2026
The Free Church of Scotland is encouraging Christians to each pray for ten people in their lives, throughout this year and beyond, as part of a new nationwide prayer initiative.
Engage 2026 plans to see believers across Scotland praying daily for friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and others God has placed in their lives - including those they may find it difficult to connect with.
Gafcon's G26 conference: What's the agenda?
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 2 Mar 2026
The Gafcon Global G26 Conference begins tomorrow (3 March) in Abuja, Nigeria, lasting until Friday (6 March). en will be providing coverage of the conference, with some introductory key details below.
What is Gafcon?
The Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) is an international movement and fellowship of orthodox Anglican churches, bishops, clergy, and laity united around the historic Christian faith as received in the Anglican tradition.
AI’s assault on the press
Jenny Taylor
Date posted: 2 Apr 2026
My father had a saying, an old Suffolk “saw”: “While fools go prating far and wide, we stops at ’ome, my dog and I.”
There is a certain truth in that. The world seems to be getting more “foolish”, and I am less convinced that prating far and wide – a public life of activism for its own sake, be it political or journalistic – makes much difference to the betterment of the human condition. And anything with “global” in its name makes me run for the hills.
Communion from the hands of the tailored and the track-suited
Jason Roach
Date posted: 2 Apr 2026
There was a glint in his eye. I couldn’t quite tell if it was a tear or a smile. He grinned, put his coffee down on the table and said: “As a teenager, it was the most special thing about church every Sunday.”
We’d been talking about life on estate churches.
Leading evangelical missiologist Andrew Kirk dies
Daniel Kirk
Date posted: 1 Feb 2026
J. Andrew Kirk died on the first of January, at the age of 88, from an unexpected heart attack.
Kirk, an ordained Anglican minister for over 60 years, was a leading Evangelical missiologist in the second half of the 20th century, who was a co-founder of the influential Latin American Theological Fraternity (FTL in Spanish) as well as the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC). He wrote over 20 books, co-authored many more and wrote hundreds of journal articles; firstly as a New Testament scholar and then as a missiologist. His most important books were Liberation Theology: an Evangelical View from the Third World (1979), What is Mission? Theological Explorations (1999) and Being Human: An Historical Enquiry Into Who We Are (2019). Kirk visited and lectured in over a hundred countries and supervised postgraduate students from all the world’s continents.
How do you relate to your church's mission partners?
Don’t get me wrong, every missionary is grateful for the financial support they receive from churches.
They’re also blessed by knowing that churches are praying for them from the moment they leave these shores until they return at some future point. In fact, I was just sharing with a church yesterday that when a missionary says they’re travelling from one place to another and would like people to pray, they really mean it. It isn’t a filler item in a list of prayer points; the journey probably involves dangerous, ice-covered or corrugated desert roads, or even the risk of hijacking.