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Dear Editor,

Please forgive a note to clarify some potentially damaging confusion in recommending churches for people moving abroad.

Dear Editor,

I have just been reading your September issue on the aeroplane travelling to speak at a mission in Kosovo. I am so pleased I have done this. Two articles especially have spoken to me directly as I prepare to share the gospel.

Dear Editor,

I greatly appreciated David Robertson’s forthright feature on the Church of Scotland’s decline It (September en). particularly grieves me too because of the debt my family owe to Scottish missionaries who came out to South Africa to help shepherd my Dutch-Afrikaner ancestors, scattered to the interior by overbearing British rule in Cape Town.

Dear Editor,

Just a quick note to thank you for Andrew Marsay’s piece ‘How can we think deeply about Islam?’ in the July issue of en. I thought this was an excellent article and Andrew did a great job packing so much into a short space.

Dear Editor,

David Robertson (en March), poses the very relevant question of why many Christians today are so concerned about being ‘nice’. Robertson Biblically demonstrates the case at appropriate times, for preaching the gospel extremely vigorously. It is also obvious there would be no Christianity today without Christ’s unwavering mission stance and likewise that of His steadfast followers down the succeeding ages, whether Catholics or Protestants.

Dear Editor,

David Robertson (en March) poses the very relevant question of why many Christians today are so concerned about being ‘nice’. Robertson Biblically demonstrates the case, at appropriate times, for preaching the gospel extremely vigorously. It is also obvious there would be no Christianity today without Christ’s unwavering mission stance and likewise that of His steadfast followers down the succeeding ages, whether Catholics or Protestants.

Dear Editor,

Most of the discussions around unity in faith and life for Christians currently revolves around ethical issues specially, in this season, to do with gender or indeed the teaching of the Holy Scriptures on male and female, as the divinely ordained context for marriage and sexual relations. Such attention to the ethical content of our faith is deserved, because after all Jesus did not mince words: ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them’ (John 14: 23).

Dear Editor,

I just wanted to applaud your efforts in the January 2023 edition, especially with respect to the wide coverage you have given to the question of Israel and the Jews – obviously including my own submission of Jonathan Arnold’s testimony.

Dear Editor,

I was fascinated by the article ‘Should we own property?’ by Michael Haykin (en December) about Benedict’s rule regarding private ownership. I am busy re-reading the wonderful biography William Carey: The Father of Modern Missions, by S. Pearce Carey, and am interested to add to the discussion the fact that he and originally four others agreed a covenanted community of fellowship in Serampore, based: ‘on equality of each, pre-eminence of none; rule by majority, allocation of function by collective vote; superintendence by each in monthly rotation; … the mutual forbidding of trading or of labour for personal gain, together with the pooling of all earnings, the apportionment of frugal pay to each family according to its needs, and the consecration of the whole surplus to the Mission’s expansion’ (pp. 183/4).

Dear Editor,

I enjoyed reading John Stevens’ article in the September edition on the new format of cricket with the introduction of The Hundred tournament.

Dear Sir

In July’s en, a full-page piece appeared about my published work, theology and associations, with particular attention given to The Mission of God 2016 (MoG). Misleadingly deploying partial truths, ana-baptist social activist James Paul Lusk – a retired career bureaucrat determined to save Britain from a so-called ‘Christian Right’ – sadly fails to engage the thesis of the book: the meaning of the Lordship of Christ and Kingdom of God in light of God’s total law-word. More balanced reviews of MoG were published in the UK by Prophecy Today and Affinity.

Dear Editor,

In the January John edition of en, Benton drew a striking parallel between the recent advent of safeguarding officers in the church and the introduction of video assistant referees (VAR) in English Premier League football. Provocatively, John chose to transpose the initial, lumbering use of VAR (seen as ‘petty’, ‘unjust’ and ‘dominant’) with the worst-case scenario of safeguarding officers subverting their roles to wrest authority from local church elders.

Dear Editor,

I was bemused and saddened by Tim and Lois Wells’ article in the February edition the merits or otherwise of of en about contextualising the gospel.

Dear Editor,

In September’s en you helpfully drew attention to developments in Hong Kong, explaining that this may result in some Christians using rights granted by the UK government to settle here.

Dear Editor,

I would like to ask readers to pray for the Highbury Centre at 22-26 Aberdeen Park, London N5. Since 1893 it has been a place of welcome for missionaries and Christian friends from all over the world, who appreciated its Christian ethos.

Dear Editor,

Since reading the Independent Inquiry into the Child Sexual Abuse in Cof E churches, I became aware of how much the report mirrored my daughter’s experience. The difference was that this happened in an evangelical church. Therefore, I believe this report is valuable for all churches and needs to be read thoughtfully.

Dear Editor,

Several of the Christian organisations, missions and churches which I support or belong to include in their regular mailing a Prayer Diary, with valuable topics and news for every day of the year.

Dear Editor,

I write in response to the article ‘Living with difference’ in the July issue of en.

Dear en,

Rachel Jones’ article (‘Is this how intro-verts feel when life is normal?’) immediately caught my eye. May I put in a plea that The Good Book Company seriously consider a book on personality types and the implica-tions for how we do church and discipleship? While the issue is not openly addressed in Scripture, it is perhaps implicit. Take, for example, Peter and John and their witness in Acts 3. All the action centres around Peter (the extrovert?) while John (the introvert?) is not reported as saying a word! And if it is indeed the case that behind the Gospel of Mark (fast-moving, action-packed) is Peter, then the contrast with John’s more thought-ful, intimate Gospel is telling. Squeezing introverts into an extrovert mould in terms of worship, fellowship and mission may be doing the gospel a disservice, so a quiet, thoughtful, biblical appraisal may be just the ticket! ; )