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Nearly 400 church leaders and teams from across the denominations and networks in Wales recently gathered at Venue2 Swansea for the annual New Wine Cymru leaders conference.

In the light of the statistical and empirical evidence pointing to a significant spiritual openness in Wales and the UK, the conference theme was creating a Culture of Mission in the Local Church. Conference guest speakers were Paul Williams who is the Bible Societies CEO and research Professor of Marketplace Theology at Regents university Vancouver.

The Grace Baptist Mission (GBM) has held its Annual Mission Day in Euston.

Highlights of this year included welcoming missionaries to serve in Uganda, in the Netherlands (Abigail and Adrian Yeboah – see photo), and a new missionary to join the Radio Team based in the UK.

United Beach Missions (UBM) holds a variety of outreach events every summer.

Among them, is a ‘Smugglers Trail’ in Benllech, Anglesey.

Adam Malooly writes: Praise God! 23–25 June was a fantastic weekend away as people from 29 Co-Mission churches around London gathered on a field in Canterbury to worship, pray, learn from God’s word and enjoy fellowship.

The occasion was the Co-Mission REVIVE festival, with this being its 19th year running. We were so grateful to have over 2,000 people come together at the University of Kent. Being Christians in our corners of London sometimes leaves us feeling isolated, so to be reminded of God’s goodness in growing His church here in London for His glory was a real encouragement. The theme of the weekend was ‘Faithful through the Storm’. We reflected on this topic and heard from our main speakers: Matt Fuller (Pastor, Christ Church Mayfair), Ray Galea (Pastor, Fellowship Dubai) and Jack Sara (President, Bethlehem Bible College).

European Mission Fellowship held its annual Ballymoney conference in Ballymoney Baptist Church, NI, on 20 May 2023.

With approximately 130 people filling the church, Phil Dunn (EMF’s NI Representative) introduced the theme of the event: ‘Here we stand! Not ashamed of the gospel’. In a world that we all know is changing rapidly, Phil reminded us that we are called to stand firm, courageously contending for the truth of the gospel. This set the tone for the morning, which was to include mission news, panel discussions and book reviews.

Two hundred women gathered for the sold-out ‘Women for Mission’ (WfM) Conference organised by the Free Church of Scotland which took place at Culloden-Balloch Baptist Church, Inverness.

The first conference of its kind since 2018, ‘it was a real joy to have a wide age range of participants, including babes in arms whose behaviour was exemplary throughout the whole event,’ the FCoS website reports. ‘We were privileged to have as our main speaker Helen Thorne, Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK, and author of a number of books.’

Nicola Laver

Date posted: 1 Jun 2023

Two mission organisations are planting a foothold in Britain for the first time.

HeartCry Missionary Society is now supporting missionaries in England; while the New Anglican Mission Society (NAMS) is preparing to establish a UK base for church planters.

A new survey has identified which groups practising Christians tend to share the gospel with, and those people who may miss out on hearing the good news. The research holds significant findings on the attitudes of Christians towards sharing their faith.

The research was conducted by Savanta, and was commissioned by London City Mission, an organisation dedicated to equipping everyday Christians in London and beyond to share their faith. The survey asked practicing Christians to share their confidence levels for sharing their faith with others, with interesting results:

Luke Randall

Date posted: 1 Dec 2023

Former Scripture Union (SU) Scotland CEO Andy Bathgate died on 17 October, aged 68. He leaves his wife Alyson, with whom he shared over 40 years of marriage, and his three daughters, son-in-law, and grandchildren. He died peacefully at home.

Andy was the CEO of SU Scotland from 2001 to 2020, having volunteered with SU since his teens. He was also the Scottish team leader for UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) and was a founding member of CVE (Christian Values in Education) Scotland, serving as its Chair from its inception in 2014 until his retirement from the role in 2022.

Verwer was born 3 July, 1938. His parents were Eleanor Caddell Verwer and George Verwer Sr., a Dutch immigrant and electrician. They lived in Wyckoff, New Jersey, outside New York.

Verwer ‘was an athlete and boy scout, but spent a lot of time chasing girls and getting into trouble,’ as US magazine Christianity Today reported. This included starting a fire in some woods and breaking into someone’s home.

Richard Coekin is stepping down as Senior Pastor at Dundonald Church and Mission Director of Co-Mission in 2024 to pursue a ‘new season’ of ‘ministry, training and equipping church leaders’. 

Coekin has ‘faithfully and courageously served’, declared a statement from the trustees of the Co-Mission Churches Trust, Co-Mission Initiative Trust and the Dundonald Church Governing Elders.

Around 60 workers from across the UK gathered in Manchester to explore how their careers and sharing the good news of Jesus were made to go together.

Work+Go Manchester 2023 combined plenary sessions looking at the value of work in God’s world and with seminars exploring the practicalities of working out faith in different vocations such as medicine, coding, art and the charity sector.

Milla Ling-Davies

Date posted: 1 Dec 2023

A new report from the Bible Society has revealed that the fastest-growing church in the UK is the Chinese Church.

In just the last two years, there has been 29% growth in the Chinese Church in the UK – a large jump from the 7% growth they’d seen in the previous ten years. This is largely due to people emigrating from Hong Kong to Britain.

A Soho church is issuing a heartfelt plea for a new pastor to join it in one of the UK’s toughest mission areas.

Andrew Murray, who has been pastor of Hope Church, West End – which serves Soho and Covent Garden – says that after four decades of struggle the congregation is now just nine.