Anglican Mission in England to establish Diaconate
AMiE
Date posted: 10 Sep 2024
The latest Synod of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) has seen its three bishops present a detailed paper on why they have Anglican bishops, presbyters and deacons.
Lee McMunn writes: ‘Their substantial report traced the Biblical and historical roots for why we do what we do. We concluded that Anglican orders are very much fit for purpose, are for the blessing of the Church and should be joyfully embraced. As a result of our discussions, we resolved to establish a vocational Diaconate for godly and gifted men and women who have been properly identified and trained.’
evangelicals & catholics
Mission impossible?
Leonardo De Chirico
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Evangelicals have known for centuries that Rome is a ‘mission field’.
It is no coincidence that as soon as the breach of Porta Pia opened in 1870 (when Rome was liberated from Papal power and the Pontifical State ended), Bibles and Christian tracts were immediately smuggled in to further the evangelisation of the city. Rome was a mission field because it prevented the free circulation of God’s word in the vernacular language and suppressed any attempts to bring about a Biblical reformation.
New Director of Co-mission
en staff
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Andy Mason is the next Mission Director of church-planting network Co-Mission, it has been announced. He will begin the role on 1 September.
Mason will continue to be Minister of St John’s Chelsea, and aims to combine that role with being MD of Co-Mission, doing both part-time. The network aims to ‘plant and establish 360 reformed evangelical churches.’
Philip Hacking: Hugely influential evangelical leader dies
en staff
Date posted: 20 Dec 2024
From the Keswick Convention to Word Alive to local church ministry and beyond – it is hard to overestimate the scope and significance of Philip Hacking’s ministry. He died on 6 December with 93 years of life and nearly as many years of gospel ministry behind him.
Philip was born in 1931 into a working-class family and grew up on the terraced streets of Blackburn, Lancashire. He attended the Church of the Saviour, a fairly new Anglican parish. It had a significant impact not just on his life but his ministry with the patterns that were laid down there. Philip wrote: ‘Prayer and Bible study and expository preaching were the order of the day, and I discovered the joy of seeing the treasures of the Bible unfolded’. They would remain the ‘order of the day’ throughout his ministry. He remembered too how ‘as teenagers we were encouraged to lead our own youth groups and to be involved in Christian witness’. Strikingly, at the same time as Philip, three others from the row of terraced houses in which he lived were called into ordained ministry.
King Charles III becomes patron of mission agency
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
King Charles III has become the Patron of the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS).
He takes over from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II in support of the Anglican evangelical mission agency, which said in an Instagram post that it is ‘delighted’ the King wants to continue to have a relationship with them.
Tolworth: A new Hope
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 20 Dec 2024
This autumn, a group of around 100 adults and children came together to launch a new church on an estate in Tolworth, south west London.
Hope Church Tolworth is an initiative between members of Cornerstone Church, Kingston (who are a part of church-planting network Co-Mission) and others who have come from Emmanuel Church, Tolworth (who are Anglican). They met for the first time on Sunday 24 November in a local Primary School building, following months of gathering for prayer, picnics and meals. The pastor is Bart Erlebach, who was formerly the minister of Emmanuel, Tolworth.
South Asian interchange
Why race and class matter for mission
Rani Joshi
Date posted: 1 Jun 2024
July and August will be a time of celebrating South Asian heritage – a similar concept to Black History month. Whilst this is lovely, it also makes me think: why don’t we remember and celebrate one another’s cultures more?
As I have been meeting and talking to different organisations and leaders, I’ve been recognising the beauty of the church, but also the challenges it carries and faces. We have such great opportunities to celebrate and love one another as Jesus did, so where are we perhaps needing to do better?
Debunking 3 myths about the origins of Christmas
Ryan Burton King
Date posted: 7 Dec 2024
Christmas. 'It's the most wonderful time of the year,' Andy Williams croons. Or, as a cast of characters from Jim Henson's Creature Shop sang in The Muppet Christmas Carol, it is 'the summer of the soul in December'.
But for others, it is a season of woe, an opportunity to blow a cold frost wind over the festivities with assorted dubious claims, doubtless well-intentioned but badly thought through and poorly communicated.
letter from Uganda
From Essex to Uganda: ‘Culture shock and feelings of panic’
Philip Knight
Date posted: 5 Dec 2024
In November 2023, my wife Heidi and I pulled up our roots, leaving our Essex home and the church I had pastored for 28 years, for Koboko, North West Uganda.
Our mission? To help the team of Keliko believers who are translating God’s word into their mother tongue. The work is supported by Wycliffe Bible Translators and Grace Baptist Mission.
‘God speaks my language’
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 4 Dec 2024
‘God speaks my language’ – the theme and testimony of many at Grace Baptist Mission’s Annual Mission Day.
At Friends House on London’s Euston Road, many GBM missionaries shared stories on the last Saturday in October of how people all over the world are hearing God’s word in their own heart language – through preaching, teaching, Bible translation, personal evangelism, literature and radio programmes.
women in mission
Tired of feeling guilty about evangelism?
Anna Price
Date posted: 31 Oct 2024
Seeking to develop a culture of evangelism in our church, we recently surveyed our church members about how they felt about evangelism. One response made me laugh out loud, only because it resonated so much with me: ‘I absolutely hate evangelism, but I do love to talk about Jesus whilst sharing my daily life’.
The truth is, I would go a step further; I hate evangelism and really don’t think I talk about Jesus much in my daily life. I wonder how many of us feel something of that and the guilt that that induces!
news in brief
USA: Evangelicals not equipped to share faith
A survey has revealed that, while most American evangelicals believe it is their duty to share Biblical teachings, many feel unprepared to do so.
Conducted by the Institute of Faith and Culture, the 2024 Survey on Christian Cultural Engagement found that 92% of evangelicals agree Christians should share truths from God’s word with those who hold different views. But only 35% feel ‘ready for most opportunities’ to discuss the Bible’s stance on cultural and controversial issues. 18% say they are ‘ready for any opportunity’ to share Biblical truths, while 32% said they could only discuss a few topics.
Manchester: Vision for 30 new churches by 2030
Ralph Cunnington
Date posted: 30 Dec 2024
The Northern Gospel Project is seeking to see 30 gospel churches planted in Greater Manchester by 2030, through training, funding, and providing care for church planters and their teams.
So far, we have trained 15 church planters through the Incubator training course, cared for seven church planters through Planters Collectives, and raised £63,000 to seed fund church plants across the city.
A life remembered: Tony Campolo
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 30 Dec 2024
The outspoken American preacher and ‘Red Letter Christian,’ Tony Campolo died last month aged 89.
The evangelical speaker and author was a forceful influence in the American church and was best known for calling Christians to follow Jesus’ teaching by loving and serving the poor and vulnerable in society.
The power of calling God 'our Father'
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 30 Dec 2024
In Matthew 6:9, Jesus says: 'Pray … like this, "Our Father in heaven."' These words open the floodgates of prayer — and heavenly blessing.
We live in a world where people believe they are self-sufficient. They don’t need to cry out for help. And Christians are swept along: we are becoming like busy Martha, doing our many tasks but failing to sit with Mary at Jesus’ feet. But without prayer, Christians are hollow. For prayer is the mark of Christian integrity.
The Parthians are coming... to Matthew’s Gospel
Ray Porter
Date posted: 24 Dec 2024
The visit of the Magi recounted in the second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is one of the more curious parts of the Christmas story.
First, that we find it in this Gospel which is written primarily for a Jewish audience, and secondly, that such pagan astrologers should be lauded as those who come from a distant land to worship the infant Jesus. And then we have the matter of the star, which has excited the imagination of astronomers down the centuries; and that is before we get the accretions of legends and the perversions of countless nativity plays. The symbolism that we attach to the gifts they brought and the echoes that we find of Old Testament prophecies take us away from a consideration of what we might be able to reconstruct from their contemporary historical setting and why their coming so alarmed not just Herod but the whole of Jerusalem.
news in brief
Pakistan: Judge rules in Christian’s favour
A judge in Pakistan has overturned a ruling which had prohibited a Christian from correcting his name and religion on his national identity card after he was the victim of a fake conversion to Islam.
Morning Star News reported that the original ruling had said that 24-year-old Christian Sufyan Masih could not be listed as a Christian again due to his supposed conversion to Islam. His lawyer revealed that due to an inability to read or write, he had unwittingly put his thumbprint to the fraudulent form without knowing what he was affirming.
bridging cultural divides
Festive stress: an opportunity for grace?
Jason Roach
Date posted: 13 Dec 2024
Every year, as Christmas approaches, I find myself navigating the festive family diplomacy of our intercultural marriage. It's a delicate dance that starts with a seemingly simple question: 'So, where are we spending Christmas Day?'
My wife pulls out her diary. 'Right,' she says, 'let's work out the logistics.' For her family, it's straightforward - maximise the number of people, find the most convenient time, get everyone together. My family, though? Completely different story.
Makin Report: Key findings and conclusions
en staff
Date posted: 7 Nov 2024
Key findings of the Makin Report
The 'key findings' of the Makin Report (see news item here) are as follows and readers should be aware that some of the details are deeply distressing:
'John Smyth was an appalling abuser of children and young men. His abuse was prolific, brutal and horrific. His victims were subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks. The impact of that abuse is impossible to overstate and has permanently marked the lives of his victims. John Smyth’s own family are victims of his abuse.
Fear and fervent prayer: lessons from South Korea's Christians
David (Sung Tae) Kim
Date posted: 12 Dec 2024
South Korea, long recognised as a symbol of democracy in Asia, now faces significant fear and uncertainty after President Yoon Suk-yeol's recent declaration of martial law.
This move included attempts to restrict civil liberties, suppress political activities, curb media freedoms, and grant the military authority to take control of the National Assembly. These measures have stirred widespread fear and protest across the country.
The Westminster Conference 2024: creeds, confessions and controversies
Jeremy Walker
Date posted: 10 Dec 2024
The Westminster Conference gathered for 2024 in St Giles Mission Hall, Islington. Though it has changed its place, it has changed neither its name nor its nature, for it remains an opportunity to consider theology through the lens of church history and so learn powerful lessons for the church of today.
The conference spans two days, each having three sessions, with questions and discussion following all but the closing session. The first two sessions on the Tuesday were given over to questions of the Trinity and Christology, as Stéphane Simonnin and Gary Brady walked us through the Council of Nicaea and the Salter’s Hall debates, showing us that both in the fourth and eighteenth century, men were wrestling with the doctrine of the Trinity, the relations of the persons, and the two natures in the one person of Christ — leaving us both with rich blessings to inherit and ongoing questions to answer in the face of continued drifting from truth.
Are the Prayers of Love and Faith 'killing' CofE mission and ministry?
For evangelicals in the Church of England there is one key question in the current crisis about blessings for same sex couples: How do I stay faithful to God in mission and ministry in the local parish church as the majority of the House of Bishops continues to reject the Bible’s teaching, contradict the foundational doctrine of the denomination and abuse power?
We are united on the importance of that question, but we not united on the answer. That is not a criticism, because there are a variety of answers depending on context, calling and conscience.