People

Emily Pollok

Date posted: 27 May 2025

Kim Shin-jo, a North Korean assassin-turned-pastor, has died aged 82.

Undergoing a radical transformation, Kim became a Christian after being captured in South Korea in 1968. In what is known as the “January 21 Incident,” Kim’s special commando unit was shot down during an attempt to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung Hee.

Tributes are being paid to renowned Biblical scholar Gordon Wenham, who has died.

Wenham, born in 1943, was a Reformed British Old Testament theologian and writer, and was once described by US academic Tremper Longman as “one of the finest evangelical commentators today”.

Emily Pollok

Date posted: 24 May 2025

American missionary Josh Sullivan is sharing his testimony of how God rescued him after he was kidnapped in South Africa earlier this year.

“I want to begin by thanking God for delivering me from what was undoubtedly the worst experience of our life,” Sullivan wrote in a post on Facebook. “I also want to thank him for delivering me from my sin 28 years ago when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Because of my personal relationship with Jesus, He gave me the peace I needed to get through.”

Rachel Cocksedge has been appointed as new Executive Assistant at Faith in Later Life.

“She’ll be playing a key role in supporting our mission to equip and inspire churches to reach and empower older people. Please pray for wisdom, joy and God’s guidance as she serves with us,” the organisation reports.

The new President of the Bundestag, the German Parliament in Berlin, following recent elections, is Julia Klöckner.

“A senior politician of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Klöckner is considered a confidante of party leader and incoming Chancellor, Friedrich Merz,” Evangelical Focus reports.

David Larmour

Date posted: 2 May 2025

More than 80 people have celebrated the appointment of two new elders at a vibrant evangelical church in Newcastle.

Following a short period with one elder at Welbeck Road Evangelical Church, the pastor David Larmour has now been joined by clinical scientist Andrew Macdonald (photo left), 62 and civil servant Rodney Aiken (right), 38. During a well-attended celebration service to mark the new elders’ appointments, Rodney, Andrew and church members made public promises and declarations. This was followed by a fellowship lunch, enjoyed by young and old alike.

The Board of Edinburgh Bible College are pleased to announce the appointment of Ramone McKenzie to succeed the current principal John Brand as he stands down in 2026.

Brand has served as principal since the college was founded in 2012.

Family, friends and colleagues have gathered together to celebrate Ian Hamilton’s faithful service as President of Westminster Seminary UK.

During the service, he was gifted with the release of a new book, Catholic Calvinism – a collation of essays on ministry published in his honour.

The Railway Mission is appointing Mameri Ese as a new Trustee.

Mameri is a senior project manager at Great Western Railway (GWR), with extensive expertise in finance, project delivery, and strategic leadership.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 26 Apr 2025

Global Christian Relief (GCR), the relief organisation for persecuted Christians, has appointed Brian Orme as its new chief executive officer.

Brian was promoted from his role as chief field operations officer and vice president of communications.

Lydia Houghton

Date posted: 25 Apr 2025

The humanitarian work of Christian mission organisation Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has been honoured by King Charles.

Representing MAF, CEO Donovan Palmer (pictured left), Trustee Max Gove, Deputy Country Director in Uganda Sam Baguma, and Becky Waterman attended a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the King, Queen Camilla and Princess Anne, where the “exceptional” work of approximately 100 humanitarian charities was recognised.

Andrew Cowan has been appointed as Tutor in New Testament and Greek at Oak Hill Theological College from September.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Andrew studied at Cambridge before serving in various ministry roles in London and training for ordained ministry in Oxford.

Famed American boxer George Foreman, who has died, was also a committed Christian.

Known for his famous bout against Muhammad Ali in the so-called “Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974, he subsequently became a church minister - retiring from boxing at just age 28.

Luke Randall

Date posted: 18 Apr 2025

Christian astronaut Barry Wilmore, known as “Butch”, has finally returned to earth from the International Space Station (ISS) after an unexpected nine-month stay due to problems with the spacecraft which transported them there.

The man from Texas spent almost 300 days on the ISS with fellow astronaut Sunni Williams despite having only expected to remain there for eight.

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 31 Mar 2025

Bethlehem Bible College has appointed Dr Yousef Alkhouri as its new academic dean.

Gaza-born Yousef questioned his faith in his early years, having lived under Israeli occupation. In 2007 he enrolled at Bethlehem Bible College, then did a Master’s degree in Divinity in the US and a PhD in the Netherlands – returning to the College in 2018 as a faculty member.

Simon Medcroft has been appointed to serve as Director for Essex with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC).

Simon has served as pastor at Danbury Mission for 20 years and will now be seconded to FIEC for one day a week to serve affiliated churches in Essex – one of the fastest growing but least churched counties in the UK.

Evangelical Ashley Null has become Bishop of North Africa.

He has studied at Yale and Cambridge and is regarded by many as a leading expert on Thomas Cranmer and the theology of the English Reformation. He has also worked as a sports chaplain, counselling Olympic and other elite athletes. He was a keynote speaker at the 2023 conservative Anglican movement GAFCON IV in Kigali. Since 2018, Null has been chairman of the board of the Alexandria School of Theology in Egypt.