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Recent tensions in the Anglican Communion over homosexual practice have caused Professor Packer great heartache. Here he takes the opportunity to explain his actions.

In 1966 in Britain, when evangelical leader Martyn Lloyd-Jones called on Anglican evangelicals to leave the Church of England, I, with John Stott and others, stayed put and maintained that this was not the way to go.

Last month, Lindsay Brown focussed on UCCF's influence in Britain; in this second article, he looks at UCCF's contribution to the church worldwide.

Under God, UCCF has been one of the greatest influences in the history of mission in the 20th century - a fact of which few British evangelicals are aware. In this article, I have space only to trace its impact on the growth of evangelical student ministry around the world. It was one of the ten founding members of the IFES, which now brings together over 300,000 students in 150 countries. UCCF continues to play a significant part in developing student ministry in many nations. The link between a strong student ministry and faithful church teaching hardly needs to be spelled out.

How's your personal evangelism going? - I'm not just asking if you've been leading on Christianity Explored course or even speaking at guest events. I'm wondering how we're all doing in making opportunities to explain the gospel to people, talking about Jesus with our work colleagues, or unbelieving family members, and finding ways of being a witness in the community in which we live?

I'm asking, not because I'm in a position to make such a challenge, but because I have been deeply challenged. And by a surprising group of people: students in Christian Unions.

General

Robert Bruce, Scottish minister, was born in 1554. Having opposed King James VI's design to introduce bishops into the Church of Scotland, he was banished from Edinburgh and for several years confined to Inverness, but great crowds attended whenever he was able to preach.

James Buchanan, Scottish Free Church theologian, was born in 1804. Like most Scottish evangelicals, he left the established church in 1843, and became minister of St. Stephen's Free Church, Edinburgh, and later professor in New College.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Mar 2004

This year the Super Bowl was between the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers. During the Super Bowl I went to a Super Bowl party.

A Super Bowl party means eating and watching the game on TV, or at least the commercials which air in between the frequent time outs and other interruptions which so bemuse a British observer. The commercials are particularly expensive to air during this prime time viewing moment of the year and consequently vie for being the most memorable or funny.

Hypocrisy is just as alive in the prisons as it is in the churches!

Usually, preaching the gospel in prison means that most of your hearers know they have 'messed up' their lives, and they know that you know they have. So there is often a more honest starting point of admission of sin than sometimes we see in our respectable churches.

Islam in France is on the move. It is estimated that there are now about five million Muslims in France (against fewer than one million Protestants or Jews), and one million or so have full voting rights.

Such a substantial minority can only be expected to make its voice heard and to retain the electoral attentions of politicians.

Twenty per cent of Britain's population lives on housing estates - almost ten million people. Yet these areas are little impacted by churches.

The Living in Estates Conference was designed 'to refresh and encourage those already engaged in this mission field and to inspire and advise those thinking about making the move'.

Mike Creswell works for the Southern Baptist News Service. In November he visited Iraq and looked at some of the projects the Southern Baptists are involved with.

Approaching Baghdad, the twin-prop, 19-seat plane does not circle. It does not descend slowly. Instead, the plane does a hard right turn, goes just about sideways and sort of falls out of the air, levelling off at the last minute to land some seconds ahead of your stomach. Fortunately the pilot tells you before it happens that it's going to happen, but still . . .

Have you ever sat next to someone in church who sings like a yak with bronchitis? What can possibly be going on in their heart as they honk out 'I'm in that place once again' on a monotone?

I spoke on a Christian Union's house party a while ago, and we saw in the Bible that if we belong to Jesus, then whoever we are, whether we can sing or not, we have the most intimate relationship with God that we could ever hope for or deserve (1 Corinthians 6.17).