I’m particularly struck at how much it feels like a significant season to write my first article for Evangelicals Now.
I am humbled and shaken by recent shifts in the global political landscape, and I hear similar sentiments from friends who look and sound like me: young(ish), Black, African, Christian and resident in multi-cultural cities in the West.
The lad in the middle of the photo accompanying this article is me. The boy on the bicycle to my right is Moti. The boy on my left is Zami.
I last saw them when I was 11 years old after moving house from Stamford Hill in London, still home to a significant Jewish population. Though a brief friendship in the scheme of things, these Jewish boys played an important role in my formation, life and mission as a Christian. Seldom a day has passed since our first meeting that I have not thought of or prayed for Moti and Zami - and Asher, Joshua, Samuel, Yitzahk and many others whose names sadly now escape me.
Recently, King Charles hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for cancer charities and issued what was described as a “heartfelt message” to fellow cancer sufferers. He spoke of the “daunting and at times frightening experience” for cancer sufferers and their loved ones.
The Royal Family has been touched with cancer in recent years, with both the King and the Princess of Wales undergoing treatment which has mercifully proved to be successful. They have allowed a far greater measure of openness with the public about their diagnosis and treatment than was the case when Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne and a greater privacy and distance was maintained.
Raised in non-conformity, I have never been comfortable with liturgical prayers.
While no one would deny the beauty and the elegance of the Book of Common Prayer, it seems too stilted and too formal to address the Lord with words written hundreds of years ago.
It is easy to think that the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) can is being perennially “kicked down the road”.
However, en readers are invited to note that we are about to enter a season in which Diocesan Synods across the Church of England are being invited to hold a special discussion on the proposals. Make no mistake – these discussions will be used to give “ballast” to the project – and the juggernaut will lumber on.
As I write this, the world seems to have gone conclave crazy! Prompted by the death of Pope Francis, the secretive and ceremonial process of selecting his successor has captured the popular imagination.
I have seen numerous conclave-inspired cartoons and memes – my favourite being the AI-generated video of the cardinal contenders set up to look like the drivers in the F1 credit sequence. A large part of this fascination is no doubt due to the excellent and Oscar-nominated film released at the end of 2024, based on the novel Conclave by Robert Harris. As one online commentator wryly remarked, Conclave will surely now get watched like a Christmas movie every time a pope dies.
The “great man theory” of history, often ascribed to the 19th-century philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle, has a lot at least superficially going for it.
The concept posits that “universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. They were the leaders of men, these great ones; the modellers, patterns, and in a wide sense creators,” as Carlyle puts it.
You've most likely read or heard about the quiet UK revival, namely the rising interest in Christianity among younger generations as explored in the Bible Society's latest report.
I remember when my husband and I ran Whizz Kids groups for kids at large events. We prayed that if children became Christians, it would be an obvious work of the Spirit. As a result, we have heard many stories of children saying they felt they were woken by Jesus, or He spoke to them in the shower. One even felt God's call when on a funfair ride! A call to faith that only God could take the glory for.
Several years ago, I attended a truly uplifting worship session at a mega-church in Leatherhead. Yet, at the conclusion of that session, I was disappointed to hear the Senior Pastor trot out the usual shop-worn arguments for the continuance of tithing in the New Testament.
Of course, I can understand churches’ attraction to having a substantial and predictable source of church funds. However, stretching the applicability of an Old Testament regulation to our New Testament era is not the way to do it.
Most people born in the 1980s will be familiar with the character Thomas the Tank Engine. First published in a book in 1945, his adventures were later adapted into a TV show Thomas and Friends which ran from 1984 until 2021.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of this British classic, an unseen version of the pilot episode, discovered in the Mattel archives, filmed back in 1983, has been made available on YouTube.[1]
I still remember the weight of that brown envelope in my hands. My entire future seemed contained within those folded A-level results. With trembling fingers, I opened it, and my heart sank. The grades weren't enough for medical school.
In that moment, I hadn't broken any moral code. There were even mitigating circumstances that had affected my performance. Yet what overwhelmed me wasn't guilt - it was shame.
I came across an interesting statistic the other day: only about 2.5% of any given population are considered true “innovators.”
These are the folks who instinctively think outside the box - the pioneers, the ones who approach problems from unexpected angles and aren’t afraid to take risks on ideas others might dismiss. They're the trailblazers.
Certain images slip by our attention until we discover their depth. One such image might be the parable of the hen and her chickens in the Gospel of Matthew – but only until we realise the extraordinary nature of the hen’s care for her brood.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)
If anyone else was glued to this year's World Snooker Championship, they might have been confronted by a nagging question: just what should we make of Zhao Xintong?
The 28 year-old became China’s first snooker world champion by beating class-of-ninety-two legend Mark Williams in a one-sided final. Xintong wrapped his native flag around himself as he lifted The Silver Lady, the sport’s most coveted trophy.
We've recently had a bunch of local elections, and I was reminded of the famous quote of Tip O’Neill, then US House of Representatives Speaker, that “all politics is local."
A good case though can be made for the prosecution that politics is far from being local but rather national even international as we are now in an era of globalisation, where events in countries like China, Russia and the US have have a big impact on our economics and politics.
Jeremy Clarkson continues to have his usual column in The Sunday Times. His theme was internet scammers, and his message was if you want to scam, "Go big." It was written with his usually waspish irony.
He ended his column with this finale: "Go big. That's my message if you are considering becoming a celebrated conman. Take a lesson from the biggest fraudster of them all: Jesus. 'I can walk on water. My mum was a virgin and my dad's God. And I'm going to start an industry selling this guff that will last for 2,000 years.' Top man."
In 2018, back pain ceased to be the main reason people were taking days off work. The number one spot is now occupied by the stress-anxiety-depression family of mental health problems.
Some used to say that people with back pain were malingering; now, we reserve that accusation for people with mental health issues.
In a recent book I wrote with Jonny Reid called Spiritual Game Plan, we included a chapter about godly conduct as a Christian fan.
We draw attention to James 3:9-10, which says: "With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be."
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Are you trying to be happy? Should you be?
Would you say that you are happy? If so, then I am genuinely delighted – praise be to God!
Yet a deeper question presses upon us: is happiness the chief goal you are pursuing in life?
Is the dream of a diverse Western church fading?
I’m particularly struck at how much it feels like a significant season to write my first article for Evangelicals Now.
I am humbled and shaken by recent shifts in the global political landscape, and I hear similar sentiments from friends who look and sound like me: young(ish), Black, African, Christian and resident in multi-cultural cities in the West.
Antisemitism: Never again?
The lad in the middle of the photo accompanying this article is me. The boy on the bicycle to my right is Moti. The boy on my left is Zami.
I last saw them when I was 11 years old after moving house from Stamford Hill in London, still home to a significant Jewish population. Though a brief friendship in the scheme of things, these Jewish boys played an important role in my formation, life and mission as a Christian. Seldom a day has passed since our first meeting that I have not thought of or prayed for Moti and Zami - and Asher, Joshua, Samuel, Yitzahk and many others whose names sadly now escape me.
King Charles, cancer – and the compassion of Christ
Recently, King Charles hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for cancer charities and issued what was described as a “heartfelt message” to fellow cancer sufferers. He spoke of the “daunting and at times frightening experience” for cancer sufferers and their loved ones.
The Royal Family has been touched with cancer in recent years, with both the King and the Princess of Wales undergoing treatment which has mercifully proved to be successful. They have allowed a far greater measure of openness with the public about their diagnosis and treatment than was the case when Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne and a greater privacy and distance was maintained.
Perverted prayer?
Raised in non-conformity, I have never been comfortable with liturgical prayers.
While no one would deny the beauty and the elegance of the Book of Common Prayer, it seems too stilted and too formal to address the Lord with words written hundreds of years ago.
The ‘black hole’ at the centre of the Church of England
It is easy to think that the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) can is being perennially “kicked down the road”.
However, en readers are invited to note that we are about to enter a season in which Diocesan Synods across the Church of England are being invited to hold a special discussion on the proposals. Make no mistake – these discussions will be used to give “ballast” to the project – and the juggernaut will lumber on.
Popes, elections, Eurovision – and disappointment
As I write this, the world seems to have gone conclave crazy! Prompted by the death of Pope Francis, the secretive and ceremonial process of selecting his successor has captured the popular imagination.
I have seen numerous conclave-inspired cartoons and memes – my favourite being the AI-generated video of the cardinal contenders set up to look like the drivers in the F1 credit sequence. A large part of this fascination is no doubt due to the excellent and Oscar-nominated film released at the end of 2024, based on the novel Conclave by Robert Harris. As one online commentator wryly remarked, Conclave will surely now get watched like a Christmas movie every time a pope dies.
Great men?
The “great man theory” of history, often ascribed to the 19th-century philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle, has a lot at least superficially going for it.
The concept posits that “universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. They were the leaders of men, these great ones; the modellers, patterns, and in a wide sense creators,” as Carlyle puts it.
A quiet revival - for all?
You've most likely read or heard about the quiet UK revival, namely the rising interest in Christianity among younger generations as explored in the Bible Society's latest report.
I remember when my husband and I ran Whizz Kids groups for kids at large events. We prayed that if children became Christians, it would be an obvious work of the Spirit. As a result, we have heard many stories of children saying they felt they were woken by Jesus, or He spoke to them in the shower. One even felt God's call when on a funfair ride! A call to faith that only God could take the glory for.
Defending the Youth and Children's Worker: Taking on the gospel teaching
In my article last month, we started looking at whether there was a place for a Youth and Children's worker in today's church.
We began to do so by establishing that while the family has a role in bringing up children to follow Jesus, the church also has a key role to play.
Should we continue tithing today?
Several years ago, I attended a truly uplifting worship session at a mega-church in Leatherhead. Yet, at the conclusion of that session, I was disappointed to hear the Senior Pastor trot out the usual shop-worn arguments for the continuance of tithing in the New Testament.
Of course, I can understand churches’ attraction to having a substantial and predictable source of church funds. However, stretching the applicability of an Old Testament regulation to our New Testament era is not the way to do it.
80 years of Thomas the Tank Engine - and simpler times...
Most people born in the 1980s will be familiar with the character Thomas the Tank Engine. First published in a book in 1945, his adventures were later adapted into a TV show Thomas and Friends which ran from 1984 until 2021.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of this British classic, an unseen version of the pilot episode, discovered in the Mattel archives, filmed back in 1983, has been made available on YouTube.[1]
How to apply the gospel across cultures? Talk about shame
I still remember the weight of that brown envelope in my hands. My entire future seemed contained within those folded A-level results. With trembling fingers, I opened it, and my heart sank. The grades weren't enough for medical school.
In that moment, I hadn't broken any moral code. There were even mitigating circumstances that had affected my performance. Yet what overwhelmed me wasn't guilt - it was shame.
Should you copy and paste from other church plants?
I came across an interesting statistic the other day: only about 2.5% of any given population are considered true “innovators.”
These are the folks who instinctively think outside the box - the pioneers, the ones who approach problems from unexpected angles and aren’t afraid to take risks on ideas others might dismiss. They're the trailblazers.
The hen and her chicks: an image of God's tender love
Certain images slip by our attention until we discover their depth. One such image might be the parable of the hen and her chickens in the Gospel of Matthew – but only until we realise the extraordinary nature of the hen’s care for her brood.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)
How should we respond to snooker champion Zhao Xintong?
If anyone else was glued to this year's World Snooker Championship, they might have been confronted by a nagging question: just what should we make of Zhao Xintong?
The 28 year-old became China’s first snooker world champion by beating class-of-ninety-two legend Mark Williams in a one-sided final. Xintong wrapped his native flag around himself as he lifted The Silver Lady, the sport’s most coveted trophy.
Does the Bible agree that 'politics is local?'
We've recently had a bunch of local elections, and I was reminded of the famous quote of Tip O’Neill, then US House of Representatives Speaker, that “all politics is local."
A good case though can be made for the prosecution that politics is far from being local but rather national even international as we are now in an era of globalisation, where events in countries like China, Russia and the US have have a big impact on our economics and politics.
Responding to Jeremy Clarkson: Is Jesus a 'fraudster'?
Jeremy Clarkson continues to have his usual column in The Sunday Times. His theme was internet scammers, and his message was if you want to scam, "Go big." It was written with his usually waspish irony.
He ended his column with this finale: "Go big. That's my message if you are considering becoming a celebrated conman. Take a lesson from the biggest fraudster of them all: Jesus. 'I can walk on water. My mum was a virgin and my dad's God. And I'm going to start an industry selling this guff that will last for 2,000 years.' Top man."
Are doctors ‘over-diagnosing’ mental health problems?
In 2018, back pain ceased to be the main reason people were taking days off work. The number one spot is now occupied by the stress-anxiety-depression family of mental health problems.
Some used to say that people with back pain were malingering; now, we reserve that accusation for people with mental health issues.
Watching our conduct in the transfer window
In a recent book I wrote with Jonny Reid called Spiritual Game Plan, we included a chapter about godly conduct as a Christian fan.
We draw attention to James 3:9-10, which says: "With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be."