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Once upon a time an international mission (they used to be Missionary Societies) asked me for a list of 'missionary hymns' to use at its meetings and services. I drew up a core selection of 120 drawn from over 30 books

We wondered whether to classify them or simply list them A-Z. I offered two basic sections; God's initiative (Jesus shall reign; Thou whose almighty word) and our response (Facing a task unfinished; O Master, when thou callest)- and so on. But many classics (Ye servants of God; We have a Gospel to proclaim) include both, matching the perspective of the Great Commission in Matthew 28.

Publishing Christian art books today is a hazardous business; most of it is in the hands of small enthusiastic publishers committed to publishing art rather than building a business empire.

So it's been quite a surprise in the last year or two to see one of the most exciting developments in this field coming, originally, from Britain's largest publishing-and-bookshop giant, STL. The first mention in this column came with an enthusiastic review of Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin, Art and Soul (1999), published under STL's Solway imprint and one of the most substantial books on Christian art to have been published in the evangelical market since Hans Rookmaaker's decades ago.

In his now almost legendary address at the opening of a 'National Assembly of Evangelicals' held in October 1966, Martyn Lloyd-Jones urged that evangelicals must stand apart from false ecumenism and 'stand together as churches, constantly together, working together'.1 It has been all too easy for commentators of every doctrinal hue to draw simplistic and unjustifiable conclusions from what was said that night. The fact is that the preacher had no clear blue-print for the future in his mind.

This past autumn I had a seven-week journey through eight provinces of China and was made aware of a serious theological threat to the unity of this country's fast-growing Church.

Since 1996 Bishop K. H. Ting (Ding Guang-xun) has been advocating with a sense of urgency a Faith Reform Movement, the teaching of which strikes at the very heart of Protestant theology. This concept was enunciated when the Three Self Patriotic Movement was formed in the early 1950s.

General

The Council of Chalcedon in 451 affirmed that the divine and human natures are united in the person of Christ.

The Officers' Christian Union was founded in 1851.

Know anyone with a camping stove stashed away somewhere?

It could be a valuable evangelistic tool this month. Oh no! Just when you thought it was safe to read a youth column, someone's mentioned the 'e' word.

My story is of how God became 'my hiding place', my hope in a place where there was no hope.

My parents came over to England in the early 1960s. I grew up in the city of Coventry in a Pakistani Muslim home. Family life was very strict and traditional; we were not allowed to mix socially with the English children at school.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jan 2001

He was an unusual character. Small, squat and very lively.

A group of bright-eyed, intelligent students were gathered around him, crowding out the large room in which we were meeting. There were books everywhere - wall-to-ceiling bookshelves with line upon line, double-shelved large volumes of theology and philosophy, science, and you name it.