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Despite sadness in its first year, Christ Church Hemel (CCH), launched in December 2014, has seen the Lord’s guiding and sustaining hand throughout.

Spicer Street Church in St Albans were keen to plant another church and, three years ago, the door opened with an opportunity to plant into the neighbouring town of Hemel Hempstead. A core group was quickly identified, money was raised and Sam Buckley was given the opportunity to lead the plant. Lots of time was spent planning and praying in the lead up to the intended start date – early October in 2014.

Seventy-five years ago, the Christian Union at Oxford (OICCU) hastily threw together an outreach initiative to the university in the heart of the Second World War.

It was small and disorganised, and their speaker, Dr Martin Lloyd Jones, pulled out at the last minute with illness. But an enduring idea was born: a focussed initiative, once every three years, to give as many Oxford students as possible the opportunity to hear, engage with and respond to the gospel. That vision has remained constant, and so 9-14 February saw Uncover, the Silver Jubilee of triennial OICCU missions.

On 19 September, at the King’s Cross Baptist Church, there was cause for celebration as a congregation of supporters of the South Asian Concern (SAC) movement marked 25 years since their founding in 1989.

SAC is a charity focused on revealing the uniqueness of Christ in a cross-cultural effort to bring him among these multi-faith communities.

On 17 October, Heath Church Cardiff and Emmanuel Chapel Newport met together to ordain Ben Fiddian to the Christian ministry and to induct him as assistant minister at Emmanuel.

The ordination was conducted by Wyn Hughes, the minister and elders of the Heath, while the induction was conducted by the minister of Emmanuel.

November 21 and 22 saw the open day and dedication service for Netherside Hall, Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Camps venue that featured in April’s en.

After two weeks of torrential rain it was yet another answer to prayer that the official opening of Yorkshire Camps’ new venue was on a weekend which was dry, even if the countryside was dusted with snow.

The ‘Talking to Jesus’ report presented to the Anglican Synod in late November showed that 40% of people don’t believe Jesus was a real person. But it also showed that younger people are actively sharing their faith.

However, more than half of non-Christians have had a conversation with a practicing Christian about faith in Jesus (57%). Having had that conversation, of those who had not become a Christian, one in five (19%) still wants to know more about Jesus Christ.

On 4 November, Moorlands College welcomed Christian campaigner Baroness Caroline Cox to open the new Wessex Auditorium and Community Hub.

The building project saw the demolition of a ‘temporary’ dining hall and chapel built in the 1970s to make room for a Community Hub that has already revolutionised student life at the college. The Wessex Auditorium, which seats up to 300 people, is a focal point for student worship throughout the week, epitomised by the ten-foot tall steel cross standing to the north.

Greenisland Baptist Church is an evangelical congregation meeting seven miles from Belfast along the north shore of Belfast Lough, with its building about to undergo demolition and rebuilding.

It was founded in 1996 after seven local people started to meet to pray for the community. The church had a number of temporary venues until 2000 when it purchased and renovated the old health centre at the heart of the village. Within a short space of time the Lord blessed the congregation, which grew fourfold. For the past ten years, a capacity of 200 for Sunday services has been severely strained. In 2006 the possibility of meeting in a replacement building at the current location, or elsewhere in the village, was explored.

In the city centres of Oxford and Cambridge in June, people from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, Turkey, China, Russia and atheists from the UK stopped to hear a presentation of the gospel as a United Beach Missions ‘Christian Answer’ team preached and witnessed for the Lord Jesus.

Many stopped, asked questions and listened to reasoned, interactive, Christian presentations: ‘How can God allow evil?’, ‘Who am I?’, ‘Reasons not to be an atheist’, ‘Did Jesus rise from the dead?’ And then there were the very many personal conversations as people willingly and eagerly discussed the claims of Jesus Christ.

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) in partnership with the Free Church of Scotland is to offer a new training course at Edinburgh Theological Seminary (ETS), it was announced in September.

FIEC directors will deliver the lectures alongside other experienced pastors which will enable participating students to obtain a new ETS certificate in ‘Independent Church Ministry’.

On 30 June Minister David Meredith of Smithton Free Church was offered the position of Missions Director for the Free Church of Scotland.

In mid July he accepted the position after spending two weeks in prayer and discussion with the elders at Smithton, as well as others in the wider Church.

Supporters of the European Missionary Fellowship (EMF) in the north-west of England gathered at Chorlton Evangelical Church, Manchester on March 8 for an afternoon conference.

A report was given by EMF missionary Volodymyr Kostyshyn, who pastors a church in Ternopil, west Ukraine, both about his own ministry and also about recent political developments in Ukraine.

Christian conferences are often strong on the great matters of the gospel but offer little guidance as to the nuts and bolts of church life.

9Marks Ministries, headed up by Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C., majors on local church related issues and Tuesday 1 September saw the first 9Marks conference in this country. With around 100 church leaders in attendance, it was hosted at Duke Street Church in Richmond where the pastor is John Samuel. The main mover behind the day was Jonathan Worsley of Kew Baptist Church, himself a former intern at Capitol Hill.

Beth Keel & Michael Taylor

On the first weekend of September around 25 young people arrived in Whitby for the annual September Bible School.

This year the theme of living as a Christian in the modern world was taken. Andy Patterson (FIEC Missions Director) and Phil Heaps (Grace Church, Yate) were the speakers. Kamal and Emma Zarour shared news of their work amongst Muslims in Manchester.

Students, staff and supporters gathered on Saturday, 12 September for the WEST Dedication Service to mark the beginning of the new academic year.

Principal Jonathan Stephen explained the values underlying the work of WEST and Union. These are: delighting in God; growing in Christ; serving the church and blessing the world. Jonathan said: ‘We join God’s mission to fill the earth with the glory of Jesus as we are led by the Spirit.’

On Monday 15 June more than 120 people gathered at Bankside Space in Southwark, London – which will be home to The Globe Church – to hear about this new venture.

The Globe Church is being planted in an area of art galleries and entertainment venues with theatres, restaurants and hotels on its doorstep. It’s also home to tens of thousands of people who live in Lambeth and Southwark. The new church is a joint initiative between several FIEC churches in London and the capital’s Co-Mission network of evangelical churches.

On Saturday 27 June the church at Radcliffe Road Baptist Church (RRBC) met with invited friends from other churches to give thanks for Geoff and Maggie King’s 30 years of ministry in Bury, Greater Manchester.

In 1985 Geoff and Maggie left Derby Road Grace Baptist Church, Watford, to re-plant a small and fading work in Bury. Along with David and Laura Higham from Wigan, Geoff and Maggie were supported in this work by their sending churches and by the Grace Baptist Mission.

On Saturday 24 June 1865, James Hudson Taylor visited a friend in Brighton, England. Six years of missionary service in China had intensified his burden for the interior of that great land and its 300 million people.

But there was no mission organisation prepared to launch out into the inland provinces. He was burdened by the fact that every hour of the day a thousand Chinese were dying without Christ.