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The Irishnman, Andrew Trimble, has quickly become a household name in the rugby world.

Thanks to his speed, agility and tough tackling, the young rugby giant has propelled himself to the centre stage of both club and international rugby. As the Six Nations Championship drew to a close with Ireland’s defeat of England, Jonathan Carswell, caught up with him to find out what the real ‘Trimble’ was like…

Churches produce a lot of paper. Most churches you go into have mission statements, basis of faith documents and all sorts.

It’s often the process that led to the document that is more important than the document. If the mission statement is left in a rack in the hope that someone will pick it up it probably wasn’t worth the effort, but if it expresses the heartbeat of the group then it will constantly be used. So anything we produce for our youth group must be a living document.

That is how a new course from America, called ‘The Person of Jesus’, introduces itself. It certainly promises to be something of benefit to the church here in Britain.

The course seems to hit two nails on the head at the same time.

In our age of celebrity mania, we need heroes more than ever. How grateful I am to God for having given me a true hero.

Ruth Siemens came bursting into my life when I was a recently converted college student studying in Madrid, Spain, in the 1970s.

In October, a South African bishop ordained three staff members of the Co-Mission Initiative churches, based in South West London, whose senior pastor is Richard Coekin. The Bishop of Southwark has since revoked Richard’s licence as a Church of England minister (see front page article).

Since the ordinations, there have been media interviews, in which Richard Coekin has clarified that his main concern is about the authority of the Bible in the modern Church of England. From right across the country, evangelical churches and individuals have inundated Richard’s church office with emails and letters of unqualified support. There have been messages from abroad, not just from South Africa, but from Australia, America, Brazil and more, simply saying that they agree wholeheartedly with what Richard is seeking to do.

My wife Hazel and I met Bob and Joy Horn in the summer of 1972. Bob had written an article for The Evangelical Magazine entitled ‘The Christian and the World’ and we asked Bob to speak on this subject to a group of young graduates and professionals, who met to discuss contemporary issues on Friday nights at our local church at Chislehurst.

That was the beginning of a great and close friendship that has lasted until Bob left us to be with the Lord.

As the sound of 2,000 women’s voices filled the Westminster Central Hall last October for the London Women’s Convention, my mind was racing. It raced forwards to that glorious day when those whose hope is ‘in Christ alone’ will be with him — and my longing was for more to be added daily to that number.

It raced backwards to my childhood memories of praise filling that very same Hall at the Brethren Missionary Meetings.

The Anglican clergyman, whose licence was removed by the Bishop of Southwark following legal but irregular ordinations by a South African Bishop, has exercised his right of appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.

The Rev. Richard Coekin, Senior Pastor to the fast-growing ‘Co-Mission’ churches of South West London, claims that, although his relationship with Bishop Tom Butler has been ‘impaired’ by the House of Bishops’ recent statement on civil partnerships, which led him to seek help from a foreign bishop, this does not legally or morally justify the removal of his licence.

Famous books

Three notable books were published in 1656: Blaise Pascal’s Lettres Provinciales, John Bunyan’s Some Gospel Truths opened, and Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor.

Isaac Watts’s Horae Lyricae was published in 1706.

This January sees the 50th anniversary of the killing of Jim Elliot and four other young missionaries as they tried to reach the Auca Indians of Ecuador for Christ.

‘You’re so excited!’ Elisabeth said when Jim arrived home. ‘I’ve never seen you so excited before.’