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Why should Christians be green? Don’t we pay taxes so that the government can deal with issues like global warming? And besides, hasn’t the church got better things to do?

These are the kinds of questions which go through the minds of many ordinary churchgoers as the TV news carries yet another story of what the scientists are saying about changing weather patterns.

In 2005, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that if evangelicals chose a Pope, they would be likely to select John Stott.

Stott, who is 85, has been at the heart of evangelical renewal in the UK. His books and biblical sermons have transfixed millions throughout the world, and he has been involved in many important world councils and dialogues, not least as chair of the committee that drafted the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and the Manila Manifesto (1989), defining statements for evangelicals.

Academic Theology as it is taught and studied in university faculties (AT in future) has changed progressively over the last 100 years.

It was once seen as the best way to prepare people for ministry, but is now frequently acknowledged to be almost irrelevant to that aim. University theology today is just not intended for that purpose. A senior academic theologian in a university department recently told me that if people wanted training for ministry they should look for it outside the universities, in institutions that aim to provide just that. This is a big change, and churches have not always caught up with the situation. For instance, some Anglican proposals for improving the training of ministers recently urged that there should be more academic theology insisted on for ordinands.

To mark such a special anniversary, a booklet has been produced which outlines this wonderful history. Compiled by IMM’s Hon. General Secretary, David Shillitoe, this testament to God’s work among the mining community makes very encouraging and inspiring reading. The extract below selected by Alicia Felce gives an example.

Having begun in a truly miraculous way with the conversion of a 70-year-old wealthy mine owner, the Mission has moved on to working in challenging situations to bring the gospel to dark places.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Apr 2006

Readers of a certain ilk may recognise the reference to an album from the aged rock group Supertramp: ‘Crisis? What crisis?’ The picture on that album ironically captured a man sunbathing with icons of industrial waste in the background.

For many today, the American establishment’s refusal to act on warnings of global warming has a similarly absurd, ostrich-like head in the sand feel. It would be funny if it were not so tragic.

Stuart Townend’s songs have captured the hearts of Christian people across the whole church spectrum. As he embarked on a new tour, he talked to EN.

EN: What, or whom, are your primary musical influences?

Over recent months God has intervened in the life of one local church and a national mission organisation to cause them both great happiness.

Their problem

What seemed to be an impossible situation for the Railway Mission (RM) and Calvary Evangelical Church (CEC) in Brighton proved eventually to be no problem to God.