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As the first year of the new millennium draws to a close, the calls for Christian unity regardless of truth, seem to be ever louder. The following article came to EN from The Institute for Evangelical Formation and Documentation (IFED) and Italian Evangelical Alliance.

In the years following Vatican II (1962-65) evangelicals have shown renewed interest in Roman Catholicism.

John Piper is the senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church (BBC) in Minneapolis.

He is author of more than a dozen books and has been in the UK speaking at conferences organised by such diverse groups as FIEC, Banner of Truth and the Clarendon Centre.

Radical changes are in prospect for all churches in England and Wales . . .

Proposals put forward by the Home Office and the Charity Commission will require places of worship to register with the Charity Commission from April 2001. The Charity Commission estimate that in total 100,000 groups will be affected.

The first article in a three-part look at a serious hindrance to evangelical unity . . .

Earlier this year, a booklet was issued with the title Bible Churches Together - A Plea for True Ecumenism(1). It had three related aims: to clarify the position of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches with regard to the ecumenical movement, to provide some background information about the new network called Essentially Evangelical and to urge greater co-operation between all churches that were genuinely submissive to the authority of the Bible.

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim ('In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate') - is how most speakers began their talks at the London conference of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in September.

One speaker began with the words: 'In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; peace to him that is far off and to him that is near - Isaiah 57.19'.

John Benton

Date posted: 1 Nov 2000

While visiting England in September Professor Jim Packer spoke to EN.

In this, the second part of his interview, he takes up questions which follow on from his emphasis on the need to contend for the biblical gospel within Anglicanism.

God's grace has miraculously transformed a notorious cocaine smuggler, a man who destroyed countless lives, into an ardent Christian.

Jorge Valdes said he was pocketing more than $1 million a month in the late 1970s as the US head of Colombia's notorious Medellin cartel, then the world's largest criminal organisation.

After the Ascension of Jesus, the witness of the apostles to the Jewish community was marked with outstanding success.

In only one day, the Jewish feast of Shavuot (Pentecost), 3,000 were baptised, and each day following 'the Lord added to their number' until over 5,000 men believed, not counting women and children. No section of the Jewish community lay outside the reach of the good news, even '. . . many of the priests were obedient to the faith' and with the transformation of the Sanhedrin's leading hit-man, Saul of Tarsus, first-century Judaism was shaken to its core.

Over 10,000 evangelists, pastors and preachers met in Amsterdam in early August for the largest international gathering of ministers ever held.

Ill health prevented Billy Graham from attending the conference that his organisation had hosted. At the last minute even plans for him to deliver the opening address by satellite had to be abandoned.

It is full of cast-off sofas and television sets. It has an ancient organ and piano gathering dust in one corner, and a disused pool table shrouded by junk of all descriptions in the other.

A huge sheet of plywood covering the ancient snooker table props up two huge loudspeakers that pump out music generated by the two record decks that it also supports. The weather-beaten green side-door, the entrance to the room, is cheap, shabby and entirely appropriate. The room is not state-of-the-art, neither is it conventional in church terms. It is not luxurious, but comfortable. Not chic, but cosy. The Underground is the perfect venue for the youth outreach every Saturday and Sunday night.

In an age of preoccupation with the superficial, to discover a man of real quality and courage can be exciting and humbling.

Such a man is my 76 year old friend, Joe Pilkington. Let me tell you a bit about him.

Some people see the Church of England as in crisis at the present time. Perhaps lessons from great men of the past need to be heeded.

John Charles Ryle was born on May 10 1816 at Park House, Macclesfield. His father was a banker with an income of £15,000 a year, and he grew up in an environment of privilege and prosperity, but spiritually there was little evidence of vital Christianity. In recalling these early days, he concluded that they were 'destitute of any real religion'.

For 50 years now, a remarkable work of the gospel has been going on in France among the travellers, called 'gypsies' or 'Romany people'.

These were the folk who live mainly in Eastern Europe (and also Spain). Hitler tried to eliminate them along with the Jews and other minorities. They have also been subject to attacks in recent years from extreme right wing groups in Europe.

The fourth conference of 'Essentially Evangelical' met at High Leigh in mid-June, attended by a wide range of evangelicals. Here is a summary of the vision-setting address given by David Jackman, Director of the Cornhill Training Course, at the end of the consultation.

'Essentially Evangelical' was born in 1997, at a conference in Bawtry Hall, which drew together a number of leaders across the spectrum.

Sadly 'Can't train, won't train' summarises what many ministers feel about developing the next generation of church leaders. But it needn't stay like that . . .

There is a wealth of encouragement in the Scriptures that point towards a much more positive approach. An increasing number of ministers are getting involved and passing on their insights and experiences (see, for example, The Briefing No. 218).

'But we sang that last week!' Do you know who chooses your church's hymns? Is more than one person involved? Prayerfully? Is it you? Are they chosen on the spot, or the day, week, or month before?

Most musicians, especially the non-expert, appreciate the early choosers. The church where the hymns were announced 12 months ahead, is an extreme case! However you answer my questions, the selectors affect us all.

Much of modern Western evangelicalism can be likened to a defective cookery book in which the methods are specified, but the ingredients are not or, at best, are very weakly defined.

The preparation details, oven temperature, technique etc., are given an inordinate amount of attention but the ingredients are overlooked. This article explores the concepts of style and content-relevance and truth, and urges us not to make truth a secondary matter.

Fangcheng County in southern central Henan, China is an agricultural district with 926,000 inhabitants. 60 years ago, Henry Guinness, David Adeney and other missionaries of the China Inland Mission travelled by bicycle with Chinese colleagues throughout the villages, and small churches were planted.

Today, there are so many Christians that hostile cadres have labelled the area a 'Jesus Nest'.