O-Yea? Oh yes!
Andrew Dalton
Date posted: 1 May 2022
A town crier has been successfully used by a church to attract people to its mission week.
Morley Town Crier Steven Holt was engaged by Morley Community Church in West Yorkshire to publicise its events.
‘Musicianaries’ ain’t bringin’ no moody blues
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 May 2022
A North Carolina folk duo is preparing to come to Chelmsford, Essex to share the gospel through music.
Songs of the Folk (aka classically trained married couple Andrew and Lauren Cason), discovered that music opened doors for them into people’s lives to share the Good News of Christ – often to the most marginalised in society or those harder to reach.
New missionary vision for Europe
European Missionary Fellowship
Date posted: 1 May 2022
Andrew Birch, Mission Director for the European Mission Fellowship (EMF), talks the organisation’s growing to en about vision for the continent of Europe.
Andrew, what’s the vision you’re developing?
Evangelical Futures: Seven needful qualities
Jonathan Lamb
Date posted: 1 May 2022
An ancient Chinese proverb reminds us that ‘to prophesy is extremely difficult, especially with regard to the future’.
This is certainly the case as we try to anticipate the future of evangelicalism, and is heightened still further by the fact that we live in a context of considerable social and political volatility, confront a rising and more aggressive secularism, and live within communities with growing non-Christian religious affiliation. But most of all, humility is called for because of the most significant reality of all – God’s sovereign engagement in the life of the church and in the realities of our world. In the midst of so many unknowns, we trust His good purposes.
Affinity seeks diversity, welcoming ethnic minority churches
Affinity
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
It has been an exciting first half of 2022 for Affinity, a network of around 1,200 churches and Christian organisations working in partnership for the sake of the gospel, writes Graham Nicholls.
We were delighted to welcome new members to Affinity – churches from a diverse range of backgrounds including majority Jamaican, Congolese and Chinese churches.
Images from Ukraine
Churches minister to Ukraine’s war-stricken young and old:
Photo Left – Hunter Brewer, of the Presbyterian Church in America’s Trinity Church (Collierville/Germantown area of Memphis), writes: ‘We have a family in our church plant and the mum is from the Ukraine. Her brother-in-law is a minister there. This is a picture of her niece. She drew a picture of the Russians bombing and the air raid speaker. Let us pause for a second and pray for peace (Ps. 22:28).’
pastoral care
Ministry’s dark feelings
Helen Thorne-Allenson
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
Ministry is a privilege. It’s a hugely high
call. And whether we’re full time and paid,
or volunteering a few hours within the local
church, we can all know we have a part to
play in the greatest mission the world has
ever known.
It’s wonderful
to help people come
to
Christ and grow in their faith, in all the
circumstances of life. The process of pointing
people to Jesus can be a joy. The relational
depth, a delight. When we glimpse the fruit
God is bringing into people’s lives, we can be
stirred to praise. But, just between you and
me, that’s not how we always feel, is it?
Ten Questions: ‘More than a conqueror’
Geoff Thomas
My name is Geoff Thomas and I was the pastor in Alfred Place Baptist Church (Independent) in Aberystwyth for 50 years. I retired five years ago. My wife Iola died after having Alzheimers for four years. Two years after Iola’s death I married our old friend Barbara and came to live in Chiswick, London. For someone who loves history, London is a most interesting place for an old man, though I do miss the seaside and friends in Aberystwyth. There are many gospel churches in London and it is surprisingly religious. I am a member of Amyand Park Chapel in Twickenham and thank God for the congregation and its pastor, Gerard Hemmings.
Matt’s mission
to Naunton
Stephen Johnston
Date posted: 1 Jul 2021
Naunton Lane Evangelical Presbyterian
Church, Cheltenham, has inducted a new
minister, The Revd Matt Faux.
The appointment ends a three-year gap.
Matt, who originally trained as a teacher, had
completed a BA in Theology at Union School
of Theology, Bridgend. Matt is married to
Rachel and they have three boys: William,
Joshua and Isaac.
Conversation not conversion?
UK National Ministry Survey
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
A new UK National Ministry Survey shows an apparent contradiction between a majority of the general public disapproving of ‘people trying to convert others to their faith’ and thinking ‘everyone should leave everyone else alone’ (73%), and high numbers of the general public feeling comfortable about having a conversation with a friend about Jesus (54%) or attending an Easter service (50%).
The National Ministry Survey was a collaborative endeavour of Co-Mission, A Passion for Life, FIEC and ReNew seeking mission data for the benefit of the UK church.
Wings of Love span the Atlantic
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
Wings of Love, the newest plane to join Mission Aviation Fellowship’s life-saving fleet, has touched down in Africa.
The aircraft, a Cessna Caravan, had departed from Winnipeg, southern Canada, to begin its 6,000-mile, transatlantic journey to Angola.
From prison to Westminster Chapel
London City Mission
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
Graham Miller, Chief Executive of London City Mission, shares his joy of hearing dramatic accounts of people who have been saved out of chaotic and destructive lives into God’s family:
Meet Craig (see photo), brought up in North West London in a non-religious household. By the age of 21 he was living a chaotic life, committed a crime and was sentenced to prison.
From warfare with Spitfires to spiritual warfare: a key global mission
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Feb 2022
Eighty years ago what is now an unremarkable industrial estate outside Swindon was a hive of activity. Scores of Supermarine Spitfires rolled off the production lines at the South Marston works in the fight to rid the world of Adolf Hitler.
Today a small part of the same site is, its occupiers claim, busily embroiled in the vital spiritual struggle to send to pastors across the developing world the books they need to teach the gospel accurately to their flocks.
letter from the
Philippines
Reuben & Cathy Saywell
Date posted: 1 May 2022
So it begins. A new life as missionaries, 7,000 miles from home, in the far east country of the Philippines – in particular, a densely populated municipality named Santa Maria, about 15 miles north of the capital city.
This is a work that my wife and I have been preparing for and praying over for almost a decade. The two of us met as teenage freshers at Aberystwyth University, and from then until now, every day, from that very first meeting, we have had the call for gospel witness in this needy nation heavy upon our hearts. And now, at last, we’ve made it!
Baptist same-sex pressure
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 May 2022
The Baptist Union
(BU)
council
is
considering
changing
the ministerial
requirements
in
relation
to
same-sex
marriage for its ministers.
It
is understood 70 people, mainly BU
ministers who are part of pressure group
Affirming Baptists Together, signed a letter
to the General Secretary of the BU requesting
that it effectively change its rule requiring its
ministers to be single or in a heterosexual
marriage on the basis that it is discriminatory.
‘Remember
vulnerable’
en staff
Date posted: 1 May 2022
Churches are being urged to remember that,
for some people, returning to church as the
pandemic eases is still a difficult thing.
Carl Knightly, part of the leadership team
at London City Mission and an Ambassador
for Faith
in Later Life,
said:
‘Whilst
vaccination
rates are high and cases
far
lower than they were, many are still fearful
of the implications of catching Covid and
becoming unwell.
A Bible and a memory foam mattress – it must be Word Alive!
Amanda Robbie writes: A refreshing, a reunion, a rejoicing. So many good things can be said about last week’s Word Alive event ‘Back Together Around the Word’. A crowd of almost 4,500 gathered at Pontins in Prestatyn after a three-year gap, thanks to the hard work of Nigel Beynon and Tom Roberts and the organising team, and of course, the grace of God.
Our family geared ourselves up with jumpers and shorts, raincoats and swimming kit, a slow cooker and a memory-foam mattress topper. We stuffed the car and entrusted the dog to kind carers and made our way to Wales to face all kinds of weather and the joyous sight of Christians getting together to learn from the Lord and one another.
Haiti: help after tanker fireball horror
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
A petrol tanker which crashed, overturned
and exploded – unleashing a fireball killing
90 – is the latest in a series of tragedies for
Haiti, after which Christian agency MAF
has helped bring disaster relief.
The Mission Aviation Fellowship has been
at the forefront of assisting in the wake of
this most recent traumatic event – only a
short while after starting to wind up
its
humanitarian
response
to an earthquake
which had claimed 2,200 lives a few months
earlier. When the devastating 7.2 magnitude
earthquake struck Haiti’s western peninsula
on 14 August 2021, causing major damage
and destroying tens of thousands of homes,
MAF personnel responded immediately.
An alcoholic father. Homeless as a child in Brazil. Ministry in Nepal. Now the UK…
Jonathan Winch
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
Jonathan Winch, Executive Director of Westminster Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Newcastle, spoke to Ronaldo André, one of their students. This is part of their conversation. ‘When I was five I ran away from home; my father was an alcoholic and would have killed me. I spent the next year and a half living on the streets of Brazil.
‘The police can’t arrest little children; they just beat them up and let them go. My life as a little child became about drugs, theft and robbery on behalf of the criminal gangs that vie for control of Brazil’s streets. I witnessed stabbings; I saw people setting others on fire. And then one day a woman stopped me and offered me a place in a children’s home.
Should we own property?
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
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).
750 churches show passion!
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
More than 750 churches across the UK and Ireland have signed up to A Passion for Life – a pioneering, month-long, evangelistic mission this Easter.
The mission is providing the tools to enable individual churches to ‘plan, build and promote’ their evangelism in the lead-up to Easter. They range from online support resources to training videos, which the organisers said are being well-received by churches.
AMiE renews
aim for 2050
AMiE
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE)
says it is seeing encouraging signs of growth
both
in existing churches and
in new
fellowships joining.
AMiE describes itself as ‘a fellowship of
faithful Anglican churches committed
to
gospel mission’ and is linked to GAFCON,
the global movement of Anglicans committed
to orthodox views on sexuality.
Do we tell half-truths?
This year, there has been a stand-out new genre on streaming services: the scammer show.
These dramatic reconstructions of ‘fake it until you make it’ chart the rise and fall of charismatic individuals who persuaded people to depart with eye-watering sums of money. Among them, Inventing Anna is the story of the fake German heiress Anna Sorokin, WeCrashed tells of the Neumans who raised billions of dollars whilst running at a colossal loss and, in my opinion, the best, The Dropout charts the fall of the biotech company Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes.