Robin Dowling 1946 – 2020
Geoff Gobbett
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
Robin Dowling, a well-known former Grace Baptist pastor, missionary and theologian, departed to be with Christ on 31 July 2020.
He will be sorely missed as a much-loved husband, father and grandfather. He served his generation in the ministry of the gospel from the 1970s till fairly recently. Coming from Bristol, he was well known amongst churches there when he took on the pastorate at Salem Baptist Church in Kew, Richmond, Surrey in the late 1970s. He immersed himself in encouraging Grace Baptist Churches, serving the Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East).
Why Christmas Day but not Ascension?
Christopher Idle
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
Dear Editor,
Several of the Christian organisations, missions and churches which I support or belong to include in their regular mailing a Prayer Diary, with valuable topics and news for every day of the year.
Petty rules
Michael Haighton (Revd)
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
Dear Editor,
I write in response to the article ‘Living with difference’ in the July issue of en.
Saudis tell UN that Muslim
prejudice is ‘racism’
Barnabas Fund
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
Saudi Arabia has called the United Nations
to focus on ‘eliminating Islamophobia’ as
an outworking of tackling online racism
and xenophobia.
Meshaal Bin Ali Al Balawi, Saudi’s Head of
Human Rights at the United Nations Mission
in Geneva, addressed
the Human Rights
Council, flagging the internet as a ‘space for
practicing racism’ as he called for the UN to
work towards finding a ‘solution’. The Saudi
leader stated that the world needs to ‘prohibit
racial discrimination in all its forms’.
Keswick: inside the Convention’s ‘Tardis-style’ new centre
EN
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
It might sound like a cliché, but on this occasion it happens to be true.
Stepping inside the Keswick Convention’s Derwent Project really is like entering Doctor Who’s Tardis. Not only does it appear to be much bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside, but it is big – in fact, enormous. Indeed, the space seems to go on and on and on… To paraphrase the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if you thought it was a long way to the local shops, think again…
Ever felt like an impostor?
Sam Hodgins discusses feeling like a fraud and her new identity in Christ
Seventy percent of people are reported to have experienced ‘impostor syndrome’ at least one time in their life. It’s that feeling you have when everyone around you seems to know what they’re doing, but you have no clue. Or when you’ve been asked to take on some responsibility, but you feel like a fraud and wonder when you’ll be found out.
earth watch
Nature in lockdown!
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
How has
lockdown been
for you? The
coronavirus pandemic has affected virtually
every aspect of our lives. Christians have
rightly spent much time discussing when
and how we will be able to meet face-to-face
again for worship.
While most of us were stuck at home
though, many
people
had
a
renewed
appreciation of the nature all around us.
In the absence of traffic noise, we noticed
how loud the birdsong is. Our local parks
and green spaces took on a new importance
for our daily exercise. At the end of every
working day my wife and I would walk
through
the meadows near our house,
enjoying the beauty of creation in a way that
perhaps we didn’t before.
LCM: God’s work goes on
Graham Miller
Date posted: 1 Jul 2020
May 2020 marked 185 years since three
Victorian visionaries – horrified at
the
huge numbers of people in London living
in appalling conditions and without the
hope of Christ – formed the London City
Mission. They quickly assembled a group of
missionaries to go to the slums to proclaim
the gospel.
Yet most of our missionaries were forced
to mark the anniversary by staying at home.
Despite a massive increase in people raising
serious questions about life, death and the
meaning of it all, we are having to enforce
social distancing
and
stop our physical
meetings – initially it was so frustrating.
CiS: thousands hear the gospel online
Christians in Sport
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
Over 75,000 people took part in online sports quizzes run by Christians in Sport from April to June as most competitive and elite level sport stopped.
Teams would take part in four rounds of creative sports questions and then hear a short gospel talk from either Graham Daniels or Ian Lancaster, with Christian team-mates given follow-up questions to work through with their teams.
Taking the High Road
Association of Grace Baptist Churches (SE)
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
Would you accept a call to pastor a church
of six or seven people?
That
is what David Wilson did back
in 2015. High Road Baptist Church
in
Finchley had reached a low ebb and, when
David was inducted in February 2016, his
mission was to ‘re-establish’ the church.
news in brief
Azerbaijan: fired
On 10 June, Baku Appeal Court rejected arguments that letters given to a Christian fired from his workplace were illegal.
Former parliamentary staffer Rahim Akhundov said he was fired in December 2018 on secret police orders because he is a Christian. Courts said he could not appeal earlier as Parliament sent the letter nine months late. He will appeal to the Supreme Court when he receives the written appeal rejection.
pastoral care
The newly vulnerable
Helen Thorne-Allenson
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
We’ve mastered a lot of ‘new’ in recent months. Whether that’s new ways of providing services, new ways of engaging in mission, or making the most of new opportunities to train furloughed workers for gospel service, it’s been a steep learning curve for many in the local church.
Quite a few of us might be hoping that there’s not too much more ‘new’ ahead. A return to something more familiar is the longing in many a heart. But let me pose four pastorally-orientated questions and suggest there might still need to be a little more ‘new’.
evangelicals & catholics
The unsettled legacy of Pope John Paul II
Leonardo De Chirico
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
Karol Wojtyła (1920–2005), since 1978 better known as Pope John Paul II, has been one of the most influential men of the 20th century.
The centenary of his birth is a useful opportunity to reflect on his legacy. His life was at the centre of the major affairs of the 20th century: the tragedy of Nazism and the trauma of the Second World War, the apex and fall of Communism, the Second Vatican Council and its debated implementation, the apparent triumph of Western democracy and the oppressive costs of globalisation for the Majority world, the fracture of ideologies and the rise of secular hedonism. Supporters have acclaimed his achievements in terms of navigating, surviving and overcoming the dangerous streams of our post-something world. Critics have pointed out the double-faced, contradictory trajectory of his life and his very backward-looking Catholic outlook.
Introverts
Alan Bailyes
Date posted: 1 Jul 2020
Dear en,
Rachel Jones’ article (‘Is this how intro-verts feel when life is normal?’) immediately
caught my eye. May I put in a plea that The
Good Book Company seriously consider a
book on personality types and the implica-tions for how we do church and discipleship?
While the issue is not openly addressed in
Scripture, it is perhaps implicit. Take, for
example, Peter and John and their witness
in Acts 3. All the action centres around Peter
(the extrovert?) while John (the introvert?)
is not reported as saying a word! And if it
is indeed the case that behind the Gospel of
Mark (fast-moving, action-packed) is Peter, then the contrast with John’s more thought-ful,
intimate Gospel
is telling. Squeezing
introverts into an extrovert mould in terms
of worship, fellowship and mission may be
doing the gospel a disservice, so a quiet,
thoughtful, biblical appraisal may be just the
ticket! ; )
Nigeria: militants exploiting lockdown
Morning Star News / Barnabas Fund
Date posted: 1 Jul 2020
Fulani militants were seen to be exploiting lockdown as they launched a series of murderous attacks throughout May.
Militants killed at least eight Christians and injured scores of others on 12 May in one of a series of murderous attacks on villages in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Large numbers of gunmen stormed the villages of Bakin-Kogi, Idanu and Makyali, in the Kajura Local Government Area of Kaduna State, causing families to flee into the bush and to neighbouring communities.
. . . but God meant it for good
A round-up of encouraging news stories during the coronavirus pandemic
Uganda: was I dreaming?
For three days in Uganda, blind Anna and her granddaughter lived on nothing but water and a daily cup of milk, given by a neighbour, which the pair shared between them.
Brazil: deadly
outreach?
The Christian Post
Date posted: 1 Jul 2020
In May, a judge blocked the appointment
of a former Christian missionary and pastor
to head the country’s federal Indigenous
Affairs Agency after concerns were raised
by advocacy groups that oppose evangelical
outreaches to tribes in the Amazon.
Ricardo Lopes Dias had worked with
New Tribes Mission, now called Ethnos260,
for ten years. The group’s missionaries have
engaged
in efforts
to contact unreached
people
groups
and
tribes deep
in
the
Amazonian rainforest.
Where now for the Anglican Communion?
Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Jul 2020
Covid-19 has prompted many thoughts about what life could look like now that we have been forced to abandon, for a while, uninterrupted global travel, foreign holidays, and despite the foreshortened lives and devastated economies, enjoyed with the earth and its airspace a sabbath of sabbaths.
Lambeth 2020 and GAFCON in 2020 postponed gatherings that would have signalled the continuing tear in the fabric of the Anglican Communion. Does this postponement and the pandemic crisis signal a possibility of different opposing groups in the Anglican Communion finding a way of remaining in one Communion both seeking and showing the unity Christ prayed for the church? Seeking the unity of the Church has always been a key commitment of the Anglican tradition. Might there be space for thoughts about what the Global Anglican Communion might look like?
James Wood 1931 – 2020
Keith Ferdinando
Date posted: 1 May 2020
James Wood, who died on 11 March at the age of 88, had a wide and significant pastoral ministry over many years.
Born in Bolton in 1931, he was saved as a boy and sensed God’s call to ministry in his teens. He served for a while at Capernwray Hall with Major Ian Thomas, and intended to train for the Anglican ministry at Tyndale Hall in Bristol following national service (1950–52).
Last Word: farewell!
‘Money can’t buy life’ (Bob Marley). ‘We are beggars – this is true’ (Martin Luther). ‘Happy…’ (Raphael). ‘Now God be with you, my dear children; I have breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ this night’ (Robert Bruce).
As the regular writer of this column, I believe that last words are important. Although I confess both a foolishness and a propensity to go over my word count, I disagree with Karl Marx, who on his deathbed apparently barked: ‘Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.’