YWAM founder Cunningham dies
en staff
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
Loren Cunningham, the founder of international mission agency YWAM (Youth With A Mission), has died.
US magazine Christianity Today described him as a ‘charismatic visionary’ who ‘mobilized millions of young people for short-term trips’. He was 88.
West Kilburn
Elizabeth Sims writes: On 16 September about 150 people met to give God praise and thanks for a new season in the life of West Kilburn Baptist Church (WKBC); the induction of Steve Palframan as the new pastor and the commissioning of our church revitalisation.
During the service, we recalled how over the past 2 years God had led us to this day. We gave God thanks for His gracious hand upon us whilst we were without a pastor and praised Him for the help and guidance of Johnny Prime and Trevor Archer from the FIEC.
Huge statue’s mission story
Mike Beresford
Date posted: 1 Nov 2022
A new statue called ‘Antelope’ has been unveiled on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in London.
The artwork depicts Malawian pastor John Chilembwe standing next to a white pastor, John Chorley (see photo below, bottom left). Chilembwe came to faith in Christ in 1893 and was baptised on 17 July that year after getting to know Joseph Booth of the Zambesi Industrial Mission (now Zambesi Mission).
FIEC focuses on shepherding
Joel Murray
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
Nearly 90 church leaders from across London arrived at Stockwell Baptist Church on for the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Church’s (FIEC) latest regular London Gathering.
The event is organised three times a year for church leaders (pastors, elders, women’s workers, and others) who are serving in FIEC churches and in other evangelical churches, groups and missions across London.
Scripture Union aims for ‘at least’ 3,500 groups in five year programme
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
Scripture Union is aiming for ‘at least’ 3,500 groups in just three to five years time as it embarks on a new nationwide initiative.
SU – a Christian charity for children and young people aiming to share the gospel – is beginning its new ‘Mission Possible’ nationwide tour.
‘This will sear Jews and Arabs for years to come...’
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
Isaiah 40:1 ‘Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.’
When I was eight years old, I remember sitting in front of my family’s black and white television while watching the Yom Kippur war unfolding in front of my eyes. It was exactly 50 years ago and, as a Jewish boy growing up in the USA, it was my first realisation that there was a country named Israel that Jewish people call home.
What is evangelical unity? Does it even matter?
Graham Nicholls
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
What is evangelical unity and does it matter? And anyway, who’s to say what an evangelical actually is, and even then, what would visible evangelical unity look like?
That was part of our discussion at the autumn meeting of the Affinity Council – a group of leaders from churches and Christian organisations that help guide Affinity as we set our priorities.
CofE bishops ‘openly commending’ unscriptural prayers
en staff
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
Dismay, anger and outrage from across the Church of England evangelical spectrum are greeting fresh proposals by bishops in relation to sexuality.
A majority of the C of E’s House of Bishops says it will commend its divisive ‘Prayers of Love and Faith’ for use with same-sex couples ‘in public worship’ such as Sunday services – while 11 have publicly dissented.
Would you be able to spot a narcissist?
John Steley
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
When we think of the word ‘narcissism’ we may imagine people taking selfies, maintaining an attractive image on social media or something similar. True narcissism, however, is something far more serious.
It destroys communities, churches, marriages, families and individuals. It is not just a case of people showing-off, annoying as that may be. True narcissism is destructive and it needs to be understood. That is why I have written the booklet.* It is a warning for all who work with people – that is all of us.
Antisemitism condemned
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
Evangelical churches in the UK have started to experience the impact of the significant increase in antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on 7 October.
A church in Bridgend recently received a lengthy message through its online contact form saying: ‘It has become apparent that you fall into the category of dangerous Christians on account of your attitude to the Jewish people who are the biggest usurpers in the history of mankind … And yet the evangelical Christian world idolises them as though it was a duty to do so …’
1,000 church leaders consider: ‘What is justice?’
Joel Murray
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
Nearly 1,000 church leaders from more than 500 churches across Britain have met at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool for FIEC’s annual Leaders’ Conference.
The theme for the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches’ 2023 conference was the justice of God: what it means to follow and love the God of justice as He ultimately brings all things under Christ, the just and righteous ruler.
Even in Malaysia, antisemitism is rife
Peter Riddell
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
The Gaza War, triggered by the murderous Hamas attacks on Israelis on 7 October, has polarised communities and nations. However, Malaysia, a multi-religious nation with a 65% Muslim majority, provides a unique example of how the narrative can be shaped by mainstream media, activists, governments and their agencies.
Two days after the Hamas attacks, the mainstream broadsheet New Straits Times, in an article by Luqman Hakim, summarised a ‘complex attack’ by the Hamas military wing on Israeli settlements which were taken over. The ‘Israeli Occupation Army’ then launched an operation against the Hamas groups. No mention was made of the massacres of Israeli civilians by the Hamas attackers. Attention was, however, directed to a mosque funded by Malaysian sources that was destroyed by Israeli bombing. The article concludes with the declaration that: ‘Despite the destruction, the jihadist spirit of Muslims will never fade.’
earth watch
Are we doomed?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
‘We’re doomed’, a catchphrase familiar to viewers of Dad’s Army, might have been Private Frazer’s reaction to the recent State of Nature 2023 report, the first for four years.
It’s a comprehensive analysis of trends in wildlife abundance and distribution in the UK, produced by more than 50 nature conservation organisations.
‘I was born into a family of Jewish atheists in Ukraine’
International Mission to Jewish People
Date posted: 1 Dec 2023
Misha’s story in his own words: I was born into a family of Jewish atheists in Ukraine. My parents and my grandparents were all Jewish atheists. As a result, I grew up embracing atheism, following Communist ideology and believing that there was no God.
Being Jewish, I thought that any Jewish person who believed in Jesus was a traitor to our people, even though I hadn’t explicitly been taught this. Our family didn’t celebrate Jewish holidays, but we held to a strong Jewish identity based on intellectual and moral pride. If I had to describe myself back then, I would say I was ‘a Communist Pharisee’.
2,957 patients... 17,520 animals... 1,520 filmgoers –
and 800 people finding solace and hope in Christ
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
In the West, it’s fairly easy to see a doctor,
dentist or vet. In a remote, drought-stricken
area of Kenya, however, the inhabitants are
not so fortunate, Gary Clayton writes.
Earlier
this
year, Mission
Aviation
Fellowship partnered with
friends
from
Christ Is The Answer Ministries (CITAM) to
fly a team of doctors, dentists, veterinarians
and missionaries
to Olturot
in northern
Kenya.
Bibles opened in Bulgaria
Thomas McBride
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
Students from the UK have formed a mission team with UCCF to Bulgaria for the first time in eight years.
A team of students from university CUs across the Midlands, led by two staff from UCCF (the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship), spent a fortnight teaching local students English while providing an opportunity to study God’s word with them.
Irish mission’s big reach
What's The Story
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
Around 15% of the entire population of Ireland – if not more – may have engaged with the What’s The Story? mission held across the island.
Statistics released by the organisation behind the initiative state that out of a total population of 5.1million, of which only around 1% are currently evangelical believers:
Portugal: rapid evangelical growth
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
UK mission agencies Crosslinks and European Mission Fellowship are hailing the astonishing growth of evangelical churches across Portugal over the last few years, driven mainly by highly intentional church planting.
Data recently published by the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance shows a remarkable increase in church plants by evangelical churches. Fully 44% of the evangelical churches in the country were started after 2001 and over 60% have ‘defined plans and locations to plant new churches in the next five years’. A large majority say their church is growing. These churches range in size from less than ten members to congregations of over 300.
Pain after report on Mike Pilavachi
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
Churches and Christian organisations have spoken of their sadness and pain as the official report into well-known charismatic leader Mike Pilavachi said he displayed coercive and controlling behaviour at the church and had inappropriate relationships.
His actions included massaging young male interns and wrestling young men as he used his ‘spiritual authority to control people’.
‘Numerous’ conversions and baptisms in new network
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) is growing. Not just because churches are joining or because new churches are being planted – but because God is at work in the lives of ordinary men and women who want to profess their newfound faith in the Lord Jesus.
In June, Trinity Church, Scarborough posted online some fantastic photos (some of which are show here) of a service where nine of their congregation were baptised, which prompted the question, to a WhatsApp group of ANiE leaders, of where else this was happening,
‘I thought, wow, that is three seismic events in one year...’
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
Andrew Wilson is based in Eastbourne and serves as the Teaching Pastor at King’s Church London.
Andrew will be familiar to many from his books, including The God of All Things and 1 Corinthians for Today, the Think Theology website, and his regular columns in US magazine, Christianity Today. Our Reviews Editor John Woods was pleased to have the opportunity to chat with Andrew about his latest book Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West, which is now hot off the press from Crossway.
Scottish call
to mission
20 Schemes
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
Nine churches have been planted in just
ten years in a pioneering Scottish project
– thanks to believers who have grasped the
concept of ‘missional living’.
20schemes is a church planting ministry
set up and
run by Niddrie Community
Church, which is located in the scheme of
Niddrie, south-east Edinburgh. And this year
the initiative is celebrating a decade in action.
The Malta plan: training 50,000 leaders in three years
Christians in Sport
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
This November in Malta, after four years of planning, UK Christians in Sport staff will join over 100 leaders in sports ministry, from more than 30 countries involved in competitive and elite sport, for a four-day conference.
The conference includes the release of over 150 brand-new resources in four languages, and an internationally accessible leadership development programme.
