In Depth:  Ray Porter

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Suffering and grace in China

Suffering and grace in China

Ray Porter

Book Review GUIZHOU The Precious Province

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Dorothy Marx 1923 – 2017

Dorothy Marx 1923 – 2017

Ray Porter

Few people in England will have heard her name, but it is very likely that any Indonesian Christian you meet will ask whether you know her.

Born into a Jewish family in Germany, the descendant of many rabbis, Dorothy came to school in England in 1938. Arriving without a word of English, she discovered that she had better Latin and Greek than her teachers. She had one last visit back to Germany before war broke out, but after that never saw her parents again. Her mother died in Auschwitz, but her father’s fate was unknown. With funds cut off she had to abandon thoughts of university, but when she was 17 her life was completely re-orientated, as she had a dream of Jesus that brought her to faith. She became a member of Cheam Baptist Church and, after study at Ridgelands Bible College, was accepted as a member of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in 1953. In 1957 she landed in Indonesia.

Bridging strategy

Bridging strategy

Ray Porter

Book Review CHANGING LANES, CROSSING CULTURES: Equipping Christians and Churches for Ministry in a Culturally Diverse Society

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Ailish Ferguson Eves 1938 –2017

Ailish Ferguson Eves 1938 –2017

Ray Porter

Her Irish Christian name reflected her ancestry, but she died with a traditional Batak scarf (ulos) around her neck, signifying her adoption into the Hasibuan clan during her time working in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Converted at the age of 15 through the ministry of Humphrey Newman at St John’s Church Welling, she went to university in Leeds, then taught RE in Yorkshire. After further study at London Bible College she was sent to Asia with OMF in March 1969 by Sidcup Baptist Church. She served in Bandung, West Java, as a lay Elder in the Gereja Kristen Indonesia, whose members were mainly Chinese. She preached, taught and counselled regularly in the congregations, but her greatest ministry was to students and other young people.

Denis J. Lane 1929 –2017

Denis J. Lane 1929 –2017

Ray Porter

In the 1960s and 1970s two remarkable men led OMF International. The General Director was Michael Griffiths, the public face of the mission. The other was the Overseas Director, Denis Lane, who was responsible for its daily running. He was the man who turned vision into reality.

Born in Worthing, in 1949 he graduated from London University with a Law degree. The next year he started training for CofE ministry at Oak Hill. The Vice-Principal at the time was Alan Stibbs, who had served with OMF’s predecessor, China Inland Mission. Denis then went to a curacy in Deptford while completing the London University BD. A second curacy followed in Cambridge before, in 1960, with his wife June, he joined CIM/OMF to serve in Malaya. Isabel Kuhn’s book Ascent to the Tribes was instrumental in leading them to this ministry. They went with their young son and spent six years in the South Perak district.

Adèle Ellis 1936 –2016

Adèle Ellis 1936 –2016

Ray Porter

Adèle MacBeath was set on an academic career in the early 1960s. An MA graduate from Glasgow University with a double first, she then completed an MLitt on the Italian author Lampedusa and had embarked on doctoral studies in Rome when God intervened to redirect her life into missionary service.

She had fallen in love with David Ellis, a student at the Bible Training Institute, where her father, Andrew MacBeath, was Principal.

Persecution class

Persecution class

Ray Porter

Book Review JARS OF CLAY What the West Needs to Learn From the Persecuted Church

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Field work

Field work

Ray Porter

Book Review MISSION MATTERS Essays on the Theory, Practice and Contexts of Mission

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Guy Longley 1924 – 2013 Barbara Longley 1924 – 2013

Guy Longley 1924 – 2013 Barbara Longley 1924 – 2013

Ray Porter

‘In life they were loved and gracious and in death they were not parted’ (2 Samuel 1.23) could be applied to Guy and Barbara Longley, who died within 24 hours of each other on November 7 and 8.

They met as members of the last group of CIM missionaries to go into China in 1949. Guy was from Broadstairs in Kent and his three brothers also served as missionaries. Barbara (née Beck) was a nurse from Ontario, Canada. They married in Hong Kong in 1951.

Snapshots of China

Snapshots of China

Ray Porter

Book Review AFTER IMPERIALISM Christian identity in China and The Global Evangelical Movement

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Dr. William Lees, 1924 - 2013

Ray Porter

Bill Lees died on March 14 in Reading where he had lived since 1966.

His earlier ministry in Malaysia had continued to be a major part of his life so that it was appropriate that the main address at his Thanksgiving Service was by Dr. Philip Lyn from Skyline Church, Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia.

Andrew Butler, 1949-2013

Ray Porter

Andrew Butler, who died from cancer in Taiwan on March 2, had served for 40 years with OMF International.

Mission: no new crisis

Ray Porter

Where is mission going? This is the question that Thorsten Prill asked in his three articles in the August to October 2012 issues of EN.

And it’s a vital question. The big trends in global mission are exciting and challenging. Global South churches are fast becoming key players in mission sending. Western Europe is once more being seen as a vital mission field. Numbers of churches in the UK are engaging directly in mission, sometimes by-passing the traditional mission agency route.

Sensitive alarm sounding

Ray Porter

Book Review THE ETHICS OF EVANGELISM A philosophical defence of ethical proselytising and persuasion

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Chinese miracle

Ray Porter

Book Review THE POWER TO SAVE A history of the gospel in China

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Ask the right question

Ray Porter

Book Review FROM BUDDHA TO JESUS An insider’s view of Buddhism and Christianity

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Young turks to missionary patriarchs

Ray Porter

Book Review SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION The story of OM

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Manipulating the man

Ray Porter

Book Review THE LIVES OF DAVID BRAINERD The Making of an American Evangelical Icon

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All over the world

Ray Porter

Book Review GLOBALIZING THEOLOGY Belief and practice in an era of World Christianity

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Missionary funding

Ray Porter

The most exciting thing about teaching at a theological college is seeing students go out into ministry.

Some have obtained a curacy and can look forward to a further three or four years of training on the job. Others have obtained similar posts as assistants in Free churches. All of them can now look forward to an assured salary and housing. Their future financing will be the responsibility of their church.

Top drawer

Ray Porter

Book Review PAUL THE MISSIONARY Realities, Strategies and Methods

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James Hudson Taylor III, 1929-2009

Ray Porter

James Hudson Taylor III died on March 20 at his home in Hong Kong. Like his great-grandfather he loved Christ and the Chinese and served them to the end. Some of his last words were, ‘God is good’. He was a great example of a godly man and a warm friend and colleague.

James was born in China to missionary parents who resolved to stay in the country to serve the Christian believers as the war with Japan developed. He was interned with other children and staff of the CIM Chefoo school. His grandfather, Herbert, was in the same camp and he got to know him well and thus had a direct personal link with Hudson Taylor himself!

Alice Compain, 1934-2008

Ray Porter

Alice Compain, the veteran OMF missionary to Cambodia and Laos, died at a nursing home in Pembury, Kent on September 4 2008 at the age of 74.

Alice was prepared by God to be a missionary to Laos and Cambodia. Born into a multilingual Christian family in London. English, French and German were the languages of the home. At the age of six she began to play the violin and that would prove the key to much of her subsequent service.

If you’re not doing outreach…

Ray Porter

Book Review THE MISSION OF GOD Unlocking the Bible’s grand narrative

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Home thoughts from abroad

Ray Porter

Book Review CONTEXTUALISATION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Patterns for theology and mission

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Missionary issues

Ray Porter

Book Review GET A GRIP ON MISSION The Challenges of a Changing World

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Pray for Buddhists

Ray Porter

Book Review PEOPLES OF THE BUDDHIST WORLD A Christian Prayer Guide

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In the name of the Father…

Ray Porter

Book Review DELIGHTING IN THE TRINITY Just why are the Father, Son and Spirit such good news?

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Last revival

Ray Porter

Book Review SOUNDS FROM HEAVEN The revival on the Isle of Lewis 1949-1952

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Breathing mission

Ray Porter

Book Review GOOD NEWS FOR ALL NATIONS Mission at the Heart of the NT

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For or at them?

Ray Porter

Book Review OPENING UP EPHESIANS

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Celebrating our common humanity

Ray Porter

Former American President Bill Clinton delivered the 2001 Dimbleby lecture with the title 'The struggle for the soul of the 21st century'. This topic should concern Christians and especially missionaries.

After an interesting review of the problems the world faces in the 21st century, Clinton poses the question as to what is more important in the world today: our differences or our common humanity?

The uniqueness of Christianity

Ray Porter

'He's a Pakistani, but I think he's a Christian', was one of the more bizarre comments from Rochester Cathedral at the announcement that Michael Nazir-Ali was to be the new Bishop.

New syllabuses for Religious Education have shown that there is a continuing debate about which religion should be taught in state schools. The Prince of Wales has declared his desire to be a defender of 'faith' or 'the divine' rather than of any religious group. The Archbishop of Canterbury seems to favour a multi-faith Coronation Service for Charles III. There are some suggestions that the evangelisation of ethnic minorities in Britain should be banned as racial discrimination. It is in this climate that we are to speak about the call to cross cultures with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not just non-Christians who are confused about the link between race and religion.

BREAKFAST ON THE BEACH

Ray Porter

Book Review By Peter Trumper

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New Issues Facing Christians Today

Ray Porter

Book Review By John Stott

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For Such A Time As This

Ray Porter

Book Review For Such A Time As This: perspectives on evangelicalism, past, present and future

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