Mission field of the workplace
William Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Wes Illingsworth asks William Taylor about the new ‘Questions for Life’ mission
In March 2018, ‘Gospel at Work’ Lunchtime Talks networks made a special effort to take Christ’s answers to life’s biggest questions into their workplaces.
history
Reformers & mission V
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
Geneva was not a large city. During Calvin’s lifetime it reached a peak of slightly more than 21,000 by 1560, of whom a goodly number were religious refugees.
Nevertheless, it became the missionary centre of Europe in this period of the Reformation. Calvin sought to harness the energies and gifts of many of the religious refugees so as to make Geneva central to the expansion of Reformation thought and piety throughout Europe. This meant training and preparing many of these refugees to go back to their native lands as evangelists and reformers.
history
Reformers and missions
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
The 16th-century Reformers had a poorly-developed missiology and overseas mission was an area to which they gave little thought.
That is what is said. ‘Yes’, this argument runs, ‘they rediscovered the apostolic gospel, but they had no vision to spread it to the uttermost parts of the earth.’ Possibly the first author to raise the question about this failure of early Protestantism was the Roman Catholic theologian and controversialist, Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621). He argued that one of the marks of a true church was its continuity with the missionary passion of the apostles. In his mind, Roman Catholicism’s missionary activity was indisputable and this supplied a strong support for its claim to stand in solidarity with the apostles.
Mission comes front and centre
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
Tim Chester is our guide along the Keswick Convention’s path to world mission
‘Unknown to me, I had been waiting for this moment. Every part of me tingled with fervent joy and happiness that I was allowed the privilege of responding, and that Christ was inviting me to serve him, to be called his ambassador, his missionary.’
history
Reformers and mission II
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
Last month we begin to think about the argument that the Reformers had no missionary vision or passion.
This month we continue to ponder this important theme by looking at John Calvin’s thinking about the missionary advance of the church.
history
Reformers & missions III
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Calvin is insistent that believers must actively employ
their strength to bring God’s
salvation to others.
In his sermon on Deuteronomy 33.18-19
Calvin can thus argue that it is not enough to
be involved in God’s service. Christians need
to be drawing others to serve and adore God.
Specifically, how does God use the strength
of Christians? Calvin’s answer is that it is by
their words and by their deeds.
Field of dreams
Student sport mission field
Mike Harris
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
All over the country, freshers are starting their first year at university.
Anyone who has been a student knows the challenge of trying to live for Jesus in those early weeks where everyone is grappling for a sense of belonging, an identity, image, reputation and a group of friends.
The Third Degree
Using media in CU mission
Joe Cook
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
More and more, meeting students where they are means meeting them online.
As a result media, and specifically video, is increasingly being used to reach students with the gospel.
history
Reformers & missions IV
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
In seeking to re-evangelise
Europe, the Reformers made
powerful use of the latest
technology at their disposal,
namely, the printing press.
By Calvin’s death in 1564, his interest in
Christian publishing meant that there were
no less than 34 printing-houses in Geneva,
which printed Bibles and Christian literature
in a variety of European languages. In the
1550s particularly, Geneva was a hive of
biblical editions and translations.
Field of Dreams
Sport is a mission field
Graham Daniels
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
‘The reason I go to church on Sunday is that I follow Jesus! Do you ever go to church?’
Those words changed my life.
He will hold me fast
Janice Pibworth with the story of the hymn written by Ada Ruth Habershon1 (1861-1918), who died 100 years ago this year
When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail,
He can hold me fast.
The urban priority
Dave Williams
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
Dave Williams reminds us of some uncomfortable facts about the evangelical church
‘The UK is a mission field and the church needs to step out of maintenance mode and into mission mode.’
Independent but together
Mark Herbert
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
A story of church revitalisation
Mark Herbert is one of the pastors at Long Crendon Baptist Church.
Field of dreams
Teaming up with church
Sarah Righetti
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
How well do you know your local area?
I’m pretty confident that wherever your church is based, there will be sportspeople and sports clubs on your doorstep. And there will probably be sportspeople in your church family too.
Jesus for Jewish people
Christian Witness to Israel
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
With anti-Semitism on the rise, Christian Witness to Israel reminds us of their work
Kyle was a homeless Jewish drug addict.
Believing in Barrow
Robin Ham
Date posted: 1 Oct 2018
A new Cumbrian church plant is giving thanks for six months of life and looking ahead to God’s provision as they face the future…
The joke is often made that Barrow-in-Furness is at the end of the longest cul-de-sac in the country!
To the ends of the earth
Mark Foster
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
Mark Foster brings us news of how the gospel is being taken to the far east of Russia
They’ve been doing it for almost 70 years.
Chris Wright: a wee Belfast boy
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
My parents were missionaries for 20 years in Brazil before I was born.
Two of my older siblings were born there. I arrived after they returned to Belfast shortly after the Second World War. So I grew up in a home where Christian faith was inseparable from mission commitment and global interest (aided by a stamp-collecting hobby). I remember asking Jesus to come into my heart as a young child of five or six, when my brother Paul asked me if my name was in the Lamb’s Book of Life; and when I asked how I could be sure (probably not quite understanding which book he had in mind), he told me to do just that.
Please fight for the unborn
Dave Brennan
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Dave Brennan with a biblical mandate to mobilise against abortion
As the 19th century draws to a close, English missionaries in King Leopold II’s Congo Free State face a heart-searching dilemma.
Culture watching
Where’s my super-suit?
Sarah Allen
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Superhero movies seem to be churned out by Hollywood every few months now.
We’ve had Wonder Woman and Black Panther, Iron Man, The Avengers and X-Men all saving the world and defeating evil in their different fashions. Those who enjoy these films (I have to say, they are not my cup of tea) know what to expect – dramatic action sequences; often ambiguous political scenarios; heroes who are like us, but better; heroes who come from another world; personal conflict as the hero accepts their mission, and evil which is a threat to human relationships as we know them.
People come, people go
Linda Allcock
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
Linda Allcock on the mixed emotions experienced in a mobile congregation
‘People come. People go.’ That was the phrase repeated in The Globe Church original promotional video at our launch in 2015.
Christopher Ash: ongoing surrender
Keswick Ministries
Date posted: 1 Aug 2018
I suppose most of us sometimes wish our stories were more exciting than they are.
That goes for the stories of how God first brought us to faith in Jesus Christ; we sometimes wish – foolishly – that the contrast with our pre-conversion life might be more dramatic because we had sunk into deeper depths of sinfulness before our conversions than we did.
Storm clouds over China’s church
Tony Lambert
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Tony Lambert gives his assessment of what is going on in the world’s most populous nation
Since the death of Mao in 1976, the church in China has enjoyed remarkable growth and revival.
Reformation worship
Jonny Gibson & Mark Earngey
Date posted: 1 Sep 2018
Have we drifted too far from the Reformers’ vision of church?
How do you structure your church services?