2021: LOOKING AHEAD
A variety of evangelicals reflect on what might lie ahead in the next 12 months
Innovative evangelism? Adrian Reynolds, Associate National Director FIEC
I hope and I pray that 2021 will see churches give evangelism its appropriate focus. In general terms, the lockdown has held us back: churches have often succumbed (understandably) to survival mode – let’s just keep going! Others have seen opportunities, but have not really known how to make the most of them. Others still have not known how to adapt to a changing environment and have simply mourned what they cannot do rather than explore what they can.
China: Preacher Pu climbs cliffs for the gospel
Bible Society
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
It’s not very often a preacher has to scale a cliff to get into his pulpit, but that is the kind of terrain that Pu Zhidui must overcome as he oversees eight churches comprising 2,000 believers.
The area in which Pu preaches, Fugong county, has 360 churches and 80,000 Christians, but just 67 lay preachers and four pastors.
Safeguarding questions
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
Dear Editor,
In the January John edition of en, Benton drew a striking parallel between the recent advent of safeguarding officers in the church and the introduction of video assistant referees (VAR) in English Premier League football. Provocatively, John chose to transpose the initial, lumbering use of VAR (seen as ‘petty’, ‘unjust’ and ‘dominant’) with the worst-case scenario of safeguarding officers subverting their roles to wrest authority from local church elders.
Contextualised gospel?
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
Dear Editor,
I was bemused and saddened by Tim and Lois Wells’ article in the February edition the merits or otherwise of of en about contextualising the gospel.
Peter Anderson 1931 – 2021
John Blanchard
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
On 21 January, the British evangelist Peter Anderson died in a care home in Leicester.
Born in Glasgow, he enrolled in the Army when he was 18 and was posted to Singapore, where he became a Christian under the ministry of a Chinese doctor. Sensing a call to full-time evangelism, he applied for a place at Redcliffe College – only to find that it was for ladies only! He then enrolled in Matlock Bible College (later called Moorlands) and on graduating, immediately began itinerant evangelism.
EMW hits the road in Wales
The Evangelical Movement of Wales writes:
‘Rather than holding our residential English language conference in Aberystwyth, we are making plans for the main speaker, Sinclair B. Ferguson, to preach in smaller venues around Wales in August. These meetings will also be live-streamed.
Christians in Sport reaches 70,000 in Covid and launches new evangelism resource
Jonny Reid of Christians in Sport writes: In the first lockdown, Christians in Sport encouraged sportspeople to Pray STAY Say – encouraging Christians to stay in the lives of their sports mates. As part of that campaign we delivered five online sports quizzes with a short talk explaining the Christian faith. We’re thrilled that over 70,000 people joined in.
In November, the second lockdown saw elite sport able to continue, but for competitive amateur sportspeople, sport halted once more. However, the guidelines gave opportunities for sportspeople to do something outside with one other person, so we launched Train 1-2-1. This brand-new resource encouraged people to go for a run or cycle with friends, and then ask them three questions about Jesus’ identity, mission and call.
Awr i blant? Syniad gwych!*
Two encouraging pieces of news from the
Evangelical Movement of Wales (EMW).
Steffan Job writes:
A group of officers and leaders from the
camps and conference work have produced
some online videos to fill the gap left by the
summer cancellations, and so began Awr i
blant (An hour for children).
evangelicals & catholics
Roman Catholic universalism?
Leonardo De Chirico
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
It has been rightly called the ‘political manifesto’ of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
In fact, there is a lot of politics and a lot of sociology in the new encyclical All Brothers, a very long document (130 pages) that looks more like a book than a letter. Francis wants to plead the cause of universal fraternity and social friendship. To do this, he speaks of borders to be broken down, of waste to be avoided, of human rights that are not sufficiently universal, of unjust globalisation, of burdensome pandemics, of migrants to be welcomed, of open societies, of solidarity, of peoples’ rights, of local and global exchanges, of the limits of the liberal political vision, of world governance, of political love, of the recognition of the other, of the injustice of any war, of the abolition of the death penalty. These are all interesting ‘political’ themes which, were it not for some comments on the parable of the Good Samaritan that intersperse the chapters, could have been written by a group of sociologists and humanitarian workers from some international organisation, perhaps after reading, for example, Edgar Morin and Zygmunt Bauman.
Co-Mission: praying the Lord’s Prayer
Co-Mission
Date posted: 1 May 2020
Along with
churches
throughout
the
country, Co-Mission churches in London
are adjusting to life in the face of a global
pandemic. We are finding new ways to keep
congregations connected, preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ and care practically for one
another and our neighbours.
On Sunday 15 March, Dundonald Church
met together for the last time before social-distancing
rules made church gatherings
impossible. Richard Coekin (Senior Pastor
of Dundonald Church) led the congregation
in this expanded version of the Lord’s Prayer:
Kenya: church marks 50
years with warning
Charles Raven
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
The story of Anglican growth in Africa and
decline in the West is very familiar, but this
is often spoken of as if it were simply the
result of underlying social, economic and
cultural
forces, without giving sufficient
attention to the role that leadership plays,
for good or ill.
The Anglican Church of Kenya, which
has just celebrated its 50th anniversary as
an independent Province, is an interesting
example. The
current Archbishop
and
Primate, Jackson Ole Sapit, may not yet
be as well known outside Kenya as some of
his predecessors (such as David Gitari who
was a prominent opponent of President
Moi’s attempt to entrench one-party rule, and Eliud Wabukala, who was Chairman
of GAFCON
from 2011
to 2016), but
he too is bringing courageous and creative
leadership to the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Global partnership to reach the world
China Christian Daily
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
The Global Assembly
of Pastors
for
Finishing the Task (FTT) has held an online
forum to discuss how to mobilise churches
to cover 5,000 unengaged and unreached
people groups.
FTT is a movement of 1,600 churches and
organisations who have come together to reach
the Unengaged, Unreached People Groups
(UUPGs). These are people groups who have
no access to a Bible, believers, or a body of Christ and have less than 0.1% evangelical
believers. Rick Warren is the director.
New outreach aimed at 95% of under-18s
en staff
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
Scripture Union England and Wales (SU) has
launched a mission framework, Revealing
Jesus, based upon
research undertaken
about how people come to faith. Its aim
is to see children and young people find a
personal vibrant faith in Jesus.
It’s designed to connect with the 95% of
under-18s who have no contact with church
in England and Wales.
In
four
steps, –
Connect, Explore, Respond, Grow – young
people are guided and supported on their
faith journey.
LCM: Bible study boom
London City Mission
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
Graham Miller of London City Mission writes:
Are we preaching the word in season and out of season? My friend, Jeremy Marshall, said that he’s never had so many take-ups for one-to-one Bible studies as he had at the beginning of lockdown. One of our missionaries, Olly Sherwood, had so many wanting to study with him that he had to train up extra study leaders. Preach the word in season and out of season.
90% of pastors lack proper theological
training, major conference is told
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
90% of pastors have no formal theological
education,
a
specialist
in
theological
education in the Global South has told an
international consultation.
Dr Manfred Kohl, who has experience in
supporting and financing ministry training,
explained
that
for
this
reason he
funds
only people – and not buildings. He also
challenges institutions and their funders to
think
radical
thoughts about
theological
education.
Two-day-old Barako saved in ‘miracle’ flight
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
Even though the number of flights MAF made in 2020 was reduced because of coronavirus, its planes were still able to bring hope, help and healing to 26 of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations.
In Kenya, where overland travel can be dangerous by day and treacherous at night, Pilot Daniel Loewen-Rudgers flew a baby boy from Dukana, on the Ethiopian border, to Kijabe Hospital, when the condition of the newborn became critical. According to Daniel: ‘It was a miracle we could fly to a good hospital like Kijabe during the pandemic.’
history
Of Bede and birds
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
Last month we looked at the life of Bede
(c.673–735),
the Anglo-Saxon historian
who is best known for his Church History
of the English People (Historia Ecclesiastica
Gentis Anglorum).
Why does this historical work – which
traces
the history of England
from
the
Roman occupation to 731, the year that
it was completed, as well as detailing the
conversion of
the Anglo-Saxon peoples –
merit calling Bede a model historian?
Scots Free Church
planting push
Freechurch.org
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
With
the
aim
of
planting
30
churches by 2023,
a Church Planting
Director has been
announced by
the
Free
Church
of
Scotland.
The Revd Neil
MacMillan
said:
‘Planting new churches
is a vital part of our mission
in secular
Scotland. As we sustain and nourish existing
congregations,
the gospel also drives us
outwards to new places and new people. The
most
important element of this challenge
is prayer, so pray for a movement of God’s
Spirit in our nation so that we can do all this
and much more.’
C of E orthodox fight on as new Anglican group set up
EN
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
Evangelicals in the Church of England have been preparing to contend in the wake of the launch of Living in Love and Faith – while a new Anglican network has also been set up.
At the latest General Synod, a presentation was given on the new Living in Love and Faith (LLF) resources on issues of sexuality and gender.
Revealed: untold story of students in Covid
Milla Ling
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
Many of us are aware of the difficulties that students have faced this year; Covid outbreaks on campus, intense loneliness and even protests against extreme restrictions – it is becoming a sadly familiar story. But underneath and alongside this, runs another, lesser-known story of the innovation and passion shown by the Christian Unions.
Faced with a tough and completely different context, the CUs courageously rose to the challenge and tried exciting new ways of sharing the hope of Jesus within the universities.
Leatherhead: church lockdown launch
Joel Murray of the FIEC describes how God
has been answering the prayer of a church
in Leatherhead:
How often do we really pray Ephesians
3:20, asking God to do immeasurably more
than we ask or imagine?
Can we renew our cities in a Christian way?
I have a great love for cities; especially London, where I was born and bred. However, despite their attractiveness as major centres of cultural and intellectual activity, when we consider the UK’s soaring urban crime rates and the relatively higher incidences of self-harm and suicide in our cities, it’s clear that something has gone seriously wrong. Last year, in our urban cities and towns, there were 34.7 recorded acts of violent crime per 1,000 population, compared to 6.8 in rural areas. Additionally, there were more than double the number of vehicle offences per 1,000 in predominantly urban areas, when compared to predominantly rural areas. While social scientists have discovered an exponential relationship between population density and both deprivation and the crime rate, unravelling the underlying causes – and, more importantly, potential cures – has proven far more difficult. Frederic Le Play was a celebrated 19th-century French sociologist, engineer and economist, who, in his twenties, was converted to Christ from atheism. He was also the first scholar to investigate shifts in family configurations systematically. His ability to speak five languages and understand eight facilitated his extensive surveys of working-class families in different European, North American, Asian, North-African and Asian countries. Although a pioneering technologist, one of the key findings from his 1855 publication ‘Les ouvriers européens’ (‘European workers’) was that, despite the benefits of industry and urban development, the major social upheaval that they caused had resulted in smaller nuclear families replacing traditional extended families. He also explained that the resultant loss of intergenerational ties (including moral and religious traditions) had led to moral decay.
Despite this evidence, Le Play’s findings were keenly contested by some of the 20th century’s leading sociologists, until his position was eventually vindicated by later studies.