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Over a hundred gathered for this year’s ‘Connected’ leadership conference at Dewsbury Evangelical Church, drawing in (mostly) men from the North of England.

In a period of profound changes in our culture, the theme of this year’s conference was ‘Things we dare not forget’. John Benton was the main speaker, giving two papers and sharing an afternoon Q & A platform with Luke Jenner (Pastor, Grace Baptist Church Halifax). There was also an informative and encouraging church reports session with six ‘messengers’ from across the footprint of the conference.

‘The Christian Union should be banned from having a freshers’ stand.’

This was the unilateral announcement last October (2017) of two rogue members of Oxford’s Balliol College Junior Common Room Committee. This was to make the Balliol freshers’ fair a ‘safe, secular space’. This decision was subsequently overturned by an irate student body, but the incident caught the attention of the national media.

Christian Witness to Israel [CWI], one of the world’s oldest missions bringing the good news of Jesus to Jewish people, marked its 175th anniversary with a special event at St Aldate’s, Oxford on 27 January.

The event featured a number of missionaries including Igal Vender, who works with Jewish homeless people and drug addicts, and Aviel Sela, talking about his work with Holocaust survivors.

Nine men were ordained on 6 December as the first deacons and priests of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), the breakaway conservative evangelical movement that seeks to plant Anglican churches in England but outside the Church of England.

The nine were ordained by the Rt Revd Andy Lines at a service at a Baptist church, the East London Tabernacle.

On 16 December, 1867 Amy Carmichael was born in Millisle in Northern Ireland and, 150 years later, on 16 December, a beautiful sculpture of her as a ten-year-old girl was unveiled outside Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church in Bangor. The church is home to the annual Worldwide Missionary Convention.

The sculpture was the idea of Derek Bingham, ten years ago. It was created by Christian artist and sculptor, Ross Wilson. It portrays a determined girl, holding in her hand a notebook – her diary of grace, containing God’s plans for her life – looking out to the world.

Amongst the Israelites, old age was held in high regard and respect for the elderly was obligatory. Proverbs 16.31 tells us that, ‘grey hair is the crown of glory.’ As a follicularly challenged minister in his 30s it is easy to subtly downplay the truth of such verses. Unquestionably, modern Western society does not honour old age to the extent to which it once did.

Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that 1.2 million elderly people in England would describe themselves as chronically lonely, with almost half of those going without seeing anyone for five days out of every week (Age UK). The astounding nature of such statistics is only furthered when one considers that by 2035 almost half of the adult population will be over 65 (Office for National Statistics). While many churches are unquestionably working hard amongst an aging population, Christian resources aimed at the elderly are comparatively sparse.

The Grange Baptist Church in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, welcomed Adam Robertson as the assistant pastor on 19 November.

Adam, who studied at Moorelands, worked at Hillview Church in Hucclecote, Gloucester prior to the move to Letchworth. Pastor Mark Sewall welcomed Adam and his wife Iuliana into membership of the church. Their young daughter Ava won the hearts of the fellowship when they met her earlier in the year.

On 9 September, over 150 people gathered for the induction of Peter Sherwood as evangelist at Welcome Hall Evangelical Church (WHEC), Bromsgrove.

Pastor Brooks explained how the elders had been seeking the Lord’s will over the appointment of a second full-time worker for over a year, and were increasingly convinced that the role should be that of an evangelist. In March, Peter Sherwood was put in touch with Pastor Brooks by a mutual contact, and after an extended period of prayerful consideration, was called by WHEC in July.

The two-week-long OAM Tenby beach mission took place during July and August on the sunny Pembrokeshire coast.

Converted through the work of a beach mission, each summer this writer now leads the work, beginning every day with personal and team devotions and prayer times, before leaving for the beach.

August saw 1,000 believers descend on Aberystwyth for the annual Evangelical Movement of Wales Aberystwyth Conference.

The main speaker for the week was Art Azurdia, a pastor and professor from Portland, USA. He spoke from Acts, with the theme for the week being Spirit Empowered Mission. He faithfully and dynamically explained what Pentecost means for today.

The College Council of Oak Hill College announced that the Reverend Jonathan Juckes has been appointed President with effect from 1 January 2018.

Johnny brings to the role practical parish and pastoral experience across a wide variety of parish situations, as well as many years of involvement in theological training.

It wasn’t easy to find the Barbican Centre for this year’s Evangelical Ministry Assembly (EMA) amid London’s burgeoning road and building works. But it was worth the tricky navigation for Tuesday – Thursday, 27–29 June.

The conference theme was ‘Bearing Fruit and Growing’, with the morning Bible readings coming from Ephesians. These were given by Andy Gemmill of the Cornhill Training Course in Scotland and reminded those there that, amid the spiritual battle, ‘your church is what Christ’s rule looks like now.’ We need to ‘do church’ (I’m not sure I like that phrase) by faith, not by sight, because for all its present flaws the church displays God’s wisdom to the astonishment of the heavenly powers.

Durham Christian Union won an award for ‘Best Society Event’ at the National Society Awards on 19 May.

Hosted by the National Union of Students and Red Oak Roller, the evening celebrated university societies around the United Kingdom and what they contribute to their members, their campuses and to the wider community.