What are your views on the economic situation facing the nation and the world? What have you made of discussions in recent weeks around tariffs and globalisation? Such issues can often seem somewhat divorced from our Christian faith. And yet these are matters which affect all of us, every day, in many different ways.
At Evangelicals Now, one of the things we are interested in is “joined-up thinking” in relation to our faith and our world. In other words, if Christ is Lord of all, how does that Lordship affect every area of human life and thought? And that includes economics.
We greatly appreciate the blessing of being brought up in a Christian home, but does this guarantee children from Christian families will all be converted?
A recent study by Pew Research Center conducted across the world showed that Christianity and Buddhism don’t have a very high success rate of passing on faith through the generations.
“I don’t feel any different - I can’t believe I’m 90!”
That comment - with varying changes to the number - is not uncommon. I have heard it repeatedly from those whom others would describe as old. Currently, my mother-in-law is slowly coming to terms with her increasing frailty at 93, although she seems to be constantly surprised by it.
Do you ever feel like switching off the news? I know I do. Another alert flashes up on your phone, another crisis, and you sigh, “again,” before setting it aside.
And then come the questions: is that wrong? Am I tuning out when the world needs more compassion? Maybe, like me, you’ve seen so much bad news that your heart feels a bit worn out. You scroll past a tragic story not because you don’t care, but because, honestly, constantly caring can feel exhausting.
One of the things that all communicators need, if we're serious about getting better, is good feedback. We need the help of others to sharpen our gift and improve our craft. Often others are better placed to be able to spot things we do well and the things that need work.
But receiving feedback can be painful. Sitting down in a room with others, often when we’re feeling vulnerable, isn’t always something we’re keen to embrace.
I was at a talk recently given by former Labour MP Jon Cruddas about the importance of Christianity in the Labour Party and socialism and found myself agreeing with almost everything!
Now I am not about to tear up my Conservative Party membership card. However it reminded me how for Christians in politics there is much more which unites us than divides us, and amid polarising political winds it is worth spending a little time exploring these Christian unifying forces.
There has lately been a big push back in youth and children's ministry against leaving the job of discipling young people just to the "professional", the church youth and children's worker.
Instead there has been more of a return to the Biblical idea that God has given the responsibility of bringing children up to love the Lord primarily to their parents. This shift has encouraged churches to work with families and help them to do this discipling work, rather than just employing a youth and children's worker to do it instead.
To what extent has Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolutionised so many areas of life, not least medicine?
Reading the second chapter of Professor John Lennox’s book 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity was a veritable tour de force — an eye-opening experience for me, at any rate.
There is something undeniably powerful about a personal testimony. It’s real, it’s living, and it carries the undeniable mark of God’s hand at work.
Recently, I had lunch with some Jewish friends who do not recognise Jesus as the Messiah. Instead of debating theology or trying to construct the perfect argument, I simply shared a testimony — Oli’s story. I didn’t have to persuade, argue, or convince. The testimony did the work for me, and it can for you too.
Are ghosts real? In October 2022 Danny Robins, a writer and journalist, launched an investigation which became an incredibly popular podcast series, TheBattersea Poltergeist.
Listeners’ response was overwhelming and many sent in their own stories of experiences with the supernatural. Robins took some of those and made another series he called Uncanny. It has become hugely popular podcast and is now a TV series.
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years" - attributed to Mark Twain.
There can often be something of the restless teenager in the heart of a church planter - eager to step out, carve their own path, and move beyond the familiar embrace of the mother church. Yet, as Twain’s reflection suggests, experience often proves more valuable than we initially assume. The mother church, far from being outdated, will hold wisdom that should not be so hastily dismissed.
The nineteenth series of the BBC show The Apprentice continues to captivate audiences across the UK. Hosted by the business magnate Lord Sugar, The Apprentice does what it says on the tin: 18 entrepreneurs compete against each other to become his next apprentice.
The programme’s premise is simple: prove to Lord Sugar that you’re the best. If you succeed, you will become his next business partner, earning a six-figure salary. Fail to do so and you will hear those unforgiving words: "You’re fired." You will then be removed from the boardroom and taxied back to obscurity.
Monday morning isn’t where I usually expect to hear the gospel explained with vigour and vim. If I’m honest, I’m often not anticipating much in the way of either first thing.
So tuning into Radio 5 Live last week for a catch up on the weekend’s news, I didn’t have much in the way of evangelistic expectations. But then presenter Nicky Campbell announced that the focus of the show was to be forgiveness, following the interview of the former Archbishop of Canterbury on Sunday 30 March with Laura Kuenssberg.
Earlier this month, my team, Cambridge United, faced Wrexham in an English Football League One fixture.
Not long ago, Wrexham AFC was a struggling non-league team, but now they are close to getting into the Championship. For Wrexham, it would be their third successive promotion, whereas Cambridge United is heading to League Two. The odds were against us.
Part of my role at Christians Action, Research and Education (CARE) involves travelling and speaking at different churches and conferences around the UK. I’m frequently asked to speak on issues around the end of human life.
This means covering both assisted suicide, but also palliative care and clearing up some misunderstandings about what happens when someone dies.
“It all seems to happen at once,” someone said to me at church this morning, reflecting on the last couple of months in her family.
Watching the news, it’s hard not to feel the same way. The first two months of President Trump’s office in the White House have turned the news cycle into even more of a roller-coaster than expected. Those pictures of the Ukrainian Ambassador to the US watching with her head in her hands as Trump and Vance laid into Zelenskyy in the last week of February summed up how most of us were feeling. It’s genuinely impossible to predict what will have happened by the time you read this.
One thing most British evangelicals have in common with the majority of their fellow countrymen is a shared dislike of Donald Trump. What’s more, many of us experience bafflement at Trump’s popularity among our American evangelical cousins.
I do not share this dislike and bafflement, however. As a Brit, my attitude toward American politics is largely "not my circus, not my monkey." But I want to offer a defence of Trump. And not just of why people may have voted for him back in November 2024, but why they can feel justified in having done so six months later.
The recent news about the tragic deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, has deeply affected me.
Arakawa died from hantavirus, probably one week before Hackman, whose Alzheimer's meant he probably didn't even realise his wife had passed away. The thought of this elderly couple spending their final days alone, unknown, undiscovered deeply troubled me - echoing my own experiences of grief. Last year, my father passed away, and I wasn't able to be there with him at the end. Since then, I've wondered many times what those final moments were like for him. Did he feel alone? Was he afraid? Did he know how much he was loved? It's a pain that never really leaves you — the questions, the regrets, and the longing to have done things differently.
Comment
God, mammon & economics
What are your views on the economic situation facing the nation and the world? What have you made of discussions in recent weeks around tariffs and globalisation? Such issues can often seem somewhat divorced from our Christian faith. And yet these are matters which affect all of us, every day, in many different ways.
At Evangelicals Now, one of the things we are interested in is “joined-up thinking” in relation to our faith and our world. In other words, if Christ is Lord of all, how does that Lordship affect every area of human life and thought? And that includes economics.
The Supreme Court, transgender ideology - and women
Is the steady but rapid descent into the insanity that is transgender ideology starting to unravel?
Today (16 April) the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled that "woman" under the Equality Act 2010 means a biological woman.
Can you inherit faith?
We greatly appreciate the blessing of being brought up in a Christian home, but does this guarantee children from Christian families will all be converted?
A recent study by Pew Research Center conducted across the world showed that Christianity and Buddhism don’t have a very high success rate of passing on faith through the generations.
What the aged know that the young must learn
“I don’t feel any different - I can’t believe I’m 90!”
That comment - with varying changes to the number - is not uncommon. I have heard it repeatedly from those whom others would describe as old. Currently, my mother-in-law is slowly coming to terms with her increasing frailty at 93, although she seems to be constantly surprised by it.
Should you feel guilty for scrolling past the bad news?
Do you ever feel like switching off the news? I know I do. Another alert flashes up on your phone, another crisis, and you sigh, “again,” before setting it aside.
And then come the questions: is that wrong? Am I tuning out when the world needs more compassion? Maybe, like me, you’ve seen so much bad news that your heart feels a bit worn out. You scroll past a tragic story not because you don’t care, but because, honestly, constantly caring can feel exhausting.
Christians, how good is your communication?
One of the things that all communicators need, if we're serious about getting better, is good feedback. We need the help of others to sharpen our gift and improve our craft. Often others are better placed to be able to spot things we do well and the things that need work.
But receiving feedback can be painful. Sitting down in a room with others, often when we’re feeling vulnerable, isn’t always something we’re keen to embrace.
Looking for national renewal in politics? Look here
I was at a talk recently given by former Labour MP Jon Cruddas about the importance of Christianity in the Labour Party and socialism and found myself agreeing with almost everything!
Now I am not about to tear up my Conservative Party membership card. However it reminded me how for Christians in politics there is much more which unites us than divides us, and amid polarising political winds it is worth spending a little time exploring these Christian unifying forces.
Defending the Youth and Children's Worker: it's not just the parents' job!
There has lately been a big push back in youth and children's ministry against leaving the job of discipling young people just to the "professional", the church youth and children's worker.
Instead there has been more of a return to the Biblical idea that God has given the responsibility of bringing children up to love the Lord primarily to their parents. This shift has encouraged churches to work with families and help them to do this discipling work, rather than just employing a youth and children's worker to do it instead.
Reflections on John Lennox: 2084 and the AI Revolution
To what extent has Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolutionised so many areas of life, not least medicine?
Reading the second chapter of Professor John Lennox’s book 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity was a veritable tour de force — an eye-opening experience for me, at any rate.
Jewish people still come to Jesus
There is something undeniably powerful about a personal testimony. It’s real, it’s living, and it carries the undeniable mark of God’s hand at work.
Recently, I had lunch with some Jewish friends who do not recognise Jesus as the Messiah. Instead of debating theology or trying to construct the perfect argument, I simply shared a testimony — Oli’s story. I didn’t have to persuade, argue, or convince. The testimony did the work for me, and it can for you too.
Are ghosts real? Uncanny tales and the resurrection
Are ghosts real? In October 2022 Danny Robins, a writer and journalist, launched an investigation which became an incredibly popular podcast series, The Battersea Poltergeist.
Listeners’ response was overwhelming and many sent in their own stories of experiences with the supernatural. Robins took some of those and made another series he called Uncanny. It has become hugely popular podcast and is now a TV series.
How to say a good goodbye to your sending church
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years" - attributed to Mark Twain.
There can often be something of the restless teenager in the heart of a church planter - eager to step out, carve their own path, and move beyond the familiar embrace of the mother church. Yet, as Twain’s reflection suggests, experience often proves more valuable than we initially assume. The mother church, far from being outdated, will hold wisdom that should not be so hastily dismissed.
You're fired? Not in God's kingdom
The nineteenth series of the BBC show The Apprentice continues to captivate audiences across the UK. Hosted by the business magnate Lord Sugar, The Apprentice does what it says on the tin: 18 entrepreneurs compete against each other to become his next apprentice.
The programme’s premise is simple: prove to Lord Sugar that you’re the best. If you succeed, you will become his next business partner, earning a six-figure salary. Fail to do so and you will hear those unforgiving words: "You’re fired." You will then be removed from the boardroom and taxied back to obscurity.
Justin Welby, Easter and forgiveness: A gospel moment on Radio 5 Live
Monday morning isn’t where I usually expect to hear the gospel explained with vigour and vim. If I’m honest, I’m often not anticipating much in the way of either first thing.
So tuning into Radio 5 Live last week for a catch up on the weekend’s news, I didn’t have much in the way of evangelistic expectations. But then presenter Nicky Campbell announced that the focus of the show was to be forgiveness, following the interview of the former Archbishop of Canterbury on Sunday 30 March with Laura Kuenssberg.
Common grace in action: Wrexham AFC's rise
Earlier this month, my team, Cambridge United, faced Wrexham in an English Football League One fixture.
Not long ago, Wrexham AFC was a struggling non-league team, but now they are close to getting into the Championship. For Wrexham, it would be their third successive promotion, whereas Cambridge United is heading to League Two. The odds were against us.
Is assisted suicide really that bad?
Part of my role at Christians Action, Research and Education (CARE) involves travelling and speaking at different churches and conferences around the UK. I’m frequently asked to speak on issues around the end of human life.
This means covering both assisted suicide, but also palliative care and clearing up some misunderstandings about what happens when someone dies.
The sheer beauty of creation – an antidote to cynicism
“It all seems to happen at once,” someone said to me at church this morning, reflecting on the last couple of months in her family.
Watching the news, it’s hard not to feel the same way. The first two months of President Trump’s office in the White House have turned the news cycle into even more of a roller-coaster than expected. Those pictures of the Ukrainian Ambassador to the US watching with her head in her hands as Trump and Vance laid into Zelenskyy in the last week of February summed up how most of us were feeling. It’s genuinely impossible to predict what will have happened by the time you read this.
Christian fiction for children: is it worth it?
As Christian parents, none of us ever think that our children are going to leave the church. It’s unimaginable.
But the reality is, around half of all children who are brought up in church, walk away from the faith of their parents. That hurts, doesn’t it?
In defence of Trump
One thing most British evangelicals have in common with the majority of their fellow countrymen is a shared dislike of Donald Trump. What’s more, many of us experience bafflement at Trump’s popularity among our American evangelical cousins.
I do not share this dislike and bafflement, however. As a Brit, my attitude toward American politics is largely "not my circus, not my monkey." But I want to offer a defence of Trump. And not just of why people may have voted for him back in November 2024, but why they can feel justified in having done so six months later.
The UK isolation crisis: what can we do?
The recent news about the tragic deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, has deeply affected me.
Arakawa died from hantavirus, probably one week before Hackman, whose Alzheimer's meant he probably didn't even realise his wife had passed away. The thought of this elderly couple spending their final days alone, unknown, undiscovered deeply troubled me - echoing my own experiences of grief. Last year, my father passed away, and I wasn't able to be there with him at the end. Since then, I've wondered many times what those final moments were like for him. Did he feel alone? Was he afraid? Did he know how much he was loved? It's a pain that never really leaves you — the questions, the regrets, and the longing to have done things differently.