New Director of Co-mission
en staff
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Andy Mason is the next Mission Director of church-planting network Co-Mission, it has been announced. He will begin the role on 1 September.
Mason will continue to be Minister of St John’s Chelsea, and aims to combine that role with being MD of Co-Mission, doing both part-time. The network aims to ‘plant and establish 360 reformed evangelical churches.’
Philip Hacking: Hugely influential evangelical leader dies
en staff
Date posted: 20 Dec 2024
From the Keswick Convention to Word Alive to local church ministry and beyond – it is hard to overestimate the scope and significance of Philip Hacking’s ministry. He died on 6 December with 93 years of life and nearly as many years of gospel ministry behind him.
Philip was born in 1931 into a working-class family and grew up on the terraced streets of Blackburn, Lancashire. He attended the Church of the Saviour, a fairly new Anglican parish. It had a significant impact not just on his life but his ministry with the patterns that were laid down there. Philip wrote: ‘Prayer and Bible study and expository preaching were the order of the day, and I discovered the joy of seeing the treasures of the Bible unfolded’. They would remain the ‘order of the day’ throughout his ministry. He remembered too how ‘as teenagers we were encouraged to lead our own youth groups and to be involved in Christian witness’. Strikingly, at the same time as Philip, three others from the row of terraced houses in which he lived were called into ordained ministry.
Makin Report: Key findings and conclusions
en staff
Date posted: 7 Nov 2024
Key findings of the Makin Report
The 'key findings' of the Makin Report (see news item here) are as follows and readers should be aware that some of the details are deeply distressing:
'John Smyth was an appalling abuser of children and young men. His abuse was prolific, brutal and horrific. His victims were subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks. The impact of that abuse is impossible to overstate and has permanently marked the lives of his victims. John Smyth’s own family are victims of his abuse.
'Dynamic' Gospel Coalition UK could help 'Reformed complementarians', says Nicholls
en staff
Date posted: 24 Oct 2024
A new Gospel Coalition for the UK and Ireland could help those with ‘broadly Reformed and complementarian convictions’ develop ‘new and dynamic partnerships,’ Affinity’s Graham Nicholls says.
Speaking to en, and in the wake of the most recent meeting of the advisory council of Affinity – an evangelical umbrella group uniting 1,200 evangelical churches and organisations which succeeded the old British Evangelical Council founded by Martyn Lloyd-Jones – Nicholls said no other organisation was quite filling that gap at the moment.
Sex 'only for heterosexual marriage,' says possible Welby successor
en staff
Date posted: 21 Nov 2024
The Church of England’s lead bishop for the controversial ‘Living in Love and Faith’ (LLF) sexuality discussions – tipped by some as the next Archbishop of Canterbury – says he continues to believe sex is only for heterosexual marriage.
Martyn Snow, Bishop of Leicester, who is being touted as a possible successor to Justin Welby, answered ‘yes’ when pressed on the point in an interview with en. And he said Church of England evangelicals in the Alliance (the umbrella group of orthodox believers in the denomination) should not yet despair about their wishes for alternative structural provision being met.
Evangelicals react to Welby resignation
en staff
Date posted: 12 Nov 2024
Evangelicals are reacting to the news that Justin Welby has resigned.
In an unprecedented move, the Archbishop of Canterbury submitted his resignation to the King following an increasing clamour in recent days for him to go after last week's publication of the Makin Review.
National week of prayer comes to an end
en staff
Date posted: 23 Oct 2024
en Board member Carl Knightly, Director of Networks at London City Mission was among those at Emmanuel Centre, Westminster, as part of the ‘National Week of Prayer’.
Writing on X, he said: ‘Many people came together to pray for the UK, and this was one of numerous events occurring across the nation, and indeed nations… It was a blessed and profound time of prayer and worship, as we came before God to lift up the UK to Him. I was privileged to facilitate some of that prayer time, and join with fellow believers in this special afternoon.’
Timothy Dudley-Smith dies
en staff
Date posted: 14 Aug 2024
The acclaimed hymn-writer Timothy Dudley-Smith, who was also a leading evangelical figure in the Church of England in his generation, has died.
Dudley-Smith wrote around 400 hymns including 'Tell out my soul', 'Name of all majesty' and 'Jesus, prince and saviour'.
Warm-hearted and influential pastor dies
en staff
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
The former pastor of one of the largest evangelical churches on the south coast of England has died.
Tony Sargent, who helped Worthing Tabernacle Church flourish into an even more thriving church, died aged 83. He had an extensive ministry across UK evangelicalism and was previously a director of Evangelicals Now.
Haiti: missionary evacuation plan
en staff
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Missionaries trapped amid escalating violence in Haiti are to be evacuated under a plan by Florida Governor Ron De Santis.
Speaking on television, DeSantis said: ‘I have authorised rescue flights like we did in Israel after the 7 October (Hamas attacks) because we’ve got a lot of folks who are part of Christian missionary groups and they do things to try to actually help a very troubled country.’
Coekin severs final C of E links – and unveils ‘gym’ plan
en staff
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Richard Coekin, the Senior Pastor of Dundonald Church, Wimbledon, says the 1,100-strong congregation has finally severed all links with the Church of England because of its ‘tragic denial of God’s word’.
Speaking to en, Coekin said the CofE’s so-called Prayers of Love and Faith ‘encourage same-sex attracted people down a path which leads away from God and His salvation instead of lovingly warning and supporting them in godliness’. He added: ‘We cannot accept this – or walk with those who do.’
Fred Drummond
en staff
Date posted: 1 Mar 2024
Fred Drummond, the director of the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland, is leaving his role this summer, it has been announced.
Gavin Calver, CEO of EAUK, said: ‘Fred has been instrumental in leading the team in Scotland and has played an invaluable role on the leadership team; providing support for the leadership and wider team, engaging with our members, and inspiring us with his prayerfulness, wisdom and prophetic insight during his 17 and a half years on the staff team.’
