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Christianity Explored has just celebrated its tenth birthday.

We thought we should celebrate what has been achieved and — most importantly — plan and pray about how to take the ministry forward over the next ten years.

‘Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful’ (Revelation 17.14).

We come — from across the world — to remember our brother John. We come to give thanks to God for him; and to offer his family, with those like Frances Whitehead who were closest to him, our shared support in loss, and in that grief which goes with love. And along with them, his curates, colleagues, study assistants and innumerable friends — and latterly his devoted nurses and carers at the College of St. Barnabas.

Sam believes that he is called to full-time gospel ministry. His church leaders agree.

He has led a home group for some time and has done a little preaching. He is a godly man and gives evidence of having the necessary gifts. He and the elders of the church think it is time for him to begin serious training. How should he go about it?

After rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, ‘the city was large and spacious’, but there were few people in it (Nehemiah 7.4).

There is a similar situation in many churches in our inner cities. There are small congregations in buildings that quite simply need more people. It would be wonderful if these were filled through conversions, but that is not happening. No doubt some churches are in-grown, but most churches I know are actively evangelistic. What these churches need is more people with the attitude, gifts and money that will strengthen them in their mission.

General

A famous letter was written in AD 112 by Pliny, the governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor, to the Roman emperor Trajan, asking for advice concerning the attitude to take in relation to groups of Christians in his province. This is a fascinating and vital piece of evidence concerning the activities of early Christians and the attitude of the Roman authorities to them.

Thomas Helwys founded the first Baptist congregation in Spitalfields, London, in 1612. He advocated the principle of religious liberty, and for this was thrown into Newgate prison, where he died by 1616.

No props. No costumes. No professionals. Every incident in Mark's Gospel in 90 minutes.

Andrew Page tells us about his brainchild, the Mark Drama, which gets student groups and churches acting out the gospel.

God has done a remarkable work in the country of Albania. Gani Smolica was caught up in it from the beginning….

Gani was born in Peja, Kosovo in 1958. His family were Albanian Muslims, but at school, being part of the former Yugoslavia, he was taught atheistic Marxism. He studied English Language at university and, as a good student, was invited to become a member of the Communist Party. It was an offer you could not refuse. So he went to Communist Party meetings, but at home he observed the Muslim feasts, though he did not really believe in God at all.

For the past two years, since stepping down as Senior Pastor of Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh, Peter Grainger, along with his wife, has been ‘pastor at large’, visiting some of the Chapel’s 40-strong missionary family — in North Africa, India, Bolivia, Romania, Malawi and the UK.

It took eight months from leaving Britain in March 1871 for journalist Henry Stanley to reach the town of Ujiji near Lake Tangyanika and to utter the immortal words, ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume?’ on meeting the famous missionary. It took my wife and me 18 hours to reach the city of Blantyre (named after Livingstone’s Scottish birthplace) in Malawi to meet our missionaries, David and Kirsty Kanyumi, serving at the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi.

The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is made up of three small islands in the Caribbean.

The largest island, Grand Cayman, is home to 55,000 people from over 100 nationalities. While small, the island represents an important opportunity for exporting the gospel, as the nations traffic to and from her shores.

Polygamy is the practice of having more than one wife or husband at once.

It is practised in a number of religions, including some branches of Mormonism, African tribal cults and Islam.

Helen Thorne-Allenson

Date posted: 1 Jan 2012

On November 12, 1,200 young people aged 14-18 and their leaders descended on central London. Not to watch the Lord Mayor’s show. Nor to take part in any of the current protests in the capital. But to head to Westminster Chapel to learn about Jesus Christ at the one-day event ‘Sorted’.

This annual feature of the youth work calendar, dedicated to encouraging and supporting Bible-centred youth work throughout London and beyond, has now been running for over ten years. Shortly after this year’s event, Helen Thorne caught up with chair of the planning team, Nathan Howard to find out for EN what went on and why events like Sorted are so important.