Your Views

Dear Editor,

In 1967 (I am a very old man) I was teaching Physics in a multi-ethnic, English medium school in Miri, in Borneo. Some of the students came from remote, recently become Christian, longhouses, travelling down-river maybe for two weeks to get to the school — no roads in the jungle in those days. One day, two of the Christian Union lads asked me a question.

Dear Editor,

I have just read the article by Peter Adam in August’s en. I just want to share my appreciation and thank you for publishing it. Superbly written and well timed! I will be sharing it with my peers. Love en! Keep up the good work! Thank you for all that you do!

Dear Editor,

While we were grateful for the coverage that en gave in January, February and March this year to Life ’26 mission, I must express disappointment with your negative presentation of it last month. Your article, entitled “Nationwide mission brings mixed results”, followed the publication of our Insights & Impact Interim report.

Dear Editor,

It was good to see the article by Becca Nunes in June 2026 en, giving advice on a Christian approach to art.

Dear Editor,

Much as I recognise the debt the evangelical church owes to MLJ, I do get concerned when he becomes so revered he appears almost beyond criticism or contradiction. In the last of the series of articles about him (en, June 2026), Adam Ramsay quoted Bob Horn, who wrote that he (Bob Horn) “disputed all such minimisations [of MLJ]”; Horn referred to him as “The Gospel Lion”, who had “a far bigger mind than any who played him up or put him down...[he was] bigger than them all. That was his greatness...”

Dear Editor,

In the current (June) edition of en, the writer of the South Asian interchange article states: “Sunnis believe in ‘Ali’ and Shias in Muhammed”.

Dear Editor,

Each month it comes, en gets priority reading. It is doing and has now done these many years so much good. I share in giving thanks! May God bless and keep the whole team in increasing usefulness.

Dear Editor,

I look forward to each month’s en and am inspired and enjoy the many articles that each edition contains.

Dear Editor,

I am writing to thank you for the very timely article in May’s en by Ian Hamilton. The repeated phrase that struck me as I read it was “Behold the mystery of iniquity”.

Dear Editor,

I was saddened to learn in your May issue of the passing of Pastor A.N. Martin.

Dear Editor,

en readers might be interested in a simple form of evangelism that is bearing real fruit in our local conservative evangelical Anglican church on the Surrey/West Sussex border.

Dear Editor,

In the May issue of en, Ken Brownell, in his article on icons in Eastern Orthodoxy, writes: “images of the invisible Father the Orthodox agree are not permitted”. Orthodoxy is not a monolith with one supreme leader. There are variations in doctrine and practice. Although there have been synods that have prohibited images of God the Father, this has not prevented certain iconographers from portraying Him in their icons.

Dear Editor,

In response to Rachel G’s letter in the May issue of en, as a 64-year-old I like to think I’m well able to use QR codes and Slido. What is, however, of concern is the tendency to reduce any questions for a speaker to a limited number of words in a Slido comment or, worse, to only pick out the most popular questions. That misses the opportunity to be mutually shaped by truly pertinent questions and challenges which do not lend themselves to such limitations.

Dear Editor,

I found Jon Kuhrt’s interpretation of C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle as a prophetic parable for contemporary geopolitics to be intriguing and compelling (en online, posted 17 April).

Dear Editor,

I am so enjoying Adam Ramsay’s series on Martyn Lloyd Jones – thank you for publishing it. As a first-year student in London, for the first time I had the choice of attending any church from a vast array of options. Wanting to remain fairly local to my student accommodation, my best options were a conservative evangelical offshoot of a well-known larger “parent” church, or a large, well-known charismatic church in the area.

Dear Editor,

My wife and I belong to St John’s CofE church in Yeovil. We have found that the provision of Jesus-centred books on the bookstall is proving extraordinarily popular. This has been really helped by the church card reader having a bookstall option.

Dear Editor,

In Rebecca Chapman’s interview with Andrew Graystone (en February, page 17, online version here) entitled: “Evangelicals after John Smyth”, Mr Graystone suggested the Titus Trust withheld information from him and that the trustees dismissed his advice out of hand. I was present at the meeting in question and would like it known that Mr Graystone’s account badly misrepresents what took place.

Dear Editor,

Chris Sinkinson’s piece on archaeological finds relevant to King David (en May 2026, p. 25, online version here) is accompanied by a cropped photo of Michelangelo’s David. With regard to the latter, may I quote some comments by Francis Schaeffer (How Should We Then Live?, chapter 3): “Michelangelo took a piece of marble so flawed that no one thought it could be used, and out of it he carved this overwhelming statue. But let us notice that the David was not the Jewish David of the Bible. David was simply a title. Michelangelo knew his Judaism, and in the statue the figure is not circumcised. We are not to think of this as the Biblical David but as the humanist ideal ...

Dear Editor,

Thank you for Ian Hamilton’s article on ‘Fearing God’ [read said article here]. Perhaps we could add that the fear of God shrinks all other fears (implied by Isaiah 8v12-13). And may we add non-biblical illustrations? There are earthly things larger than us yet which we are drawn to approach (if not use), but these will prove fatal unless we respect the terms of engagement: the sea for swimmers, the cliff for climbers, the rope for cavers, the air supply for astronauts, the road for drivers, and electricity for our devices.

Dear Editor,

As a lady of a certain age (65 to be precise), I am really pleased to see many young families in our churches. However, there is a tendency for church leaders to accommodate these people more than those of my own age; events accessible by scanning QR codes and questions to leaders using slido.com [a way in which people at an event such as a conference or church service can ask questions from their phones and vote for their favourite ones]. I fully realise that these families are the next generation, but I would appreciate comments from other readers of every age with their experience in their churches.

Dear Editor,

Christians can and do speak on controversial subjects, from abortion to Zionism, and sometimes disagree. This cannot be helped, and probably does no harm, so long as Christians on all sides are seen to be wise, thoughtful and gracious. If we seemed to be silly, ignorant and spiteful it would do a great deal of harm, even if we all agreed!