Easy Bible
Mission Assist www.easyenglish.bible
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
The EasyEnglish New Testament smart-phone app was
judged by
the Premier
Digital Awards 2018 as one of the best
launched in 2018.
It’s available free of charge and has already
been downloaded in 150 countries around
the world. The EasyEnglish Bible is a new
version of Scripture using a limited vocabulary of just 1,200 words and simple syntax,
and was devised by a small team of Mission
Assist volunteers.
Peterson, marriage & missions
Gavin Peacock
Date posted: 1 Sep 2017
Though we may be greatly distressed by the rise of the LGBT agenda, Gavin Peacock argues that we should seize the moment
Recently Eugene Peterson hit the headlines in the US with his affirmation of same-sex marriage.
He will hold me fast
Janice Pibworth with the story of the hymn written by Ada Ruth Habershon1 (1861-1918), who died 100 years ago this year
When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail,
He can hold me fast.
Towards understanding South Africa
Chris Sugden and Gavin Mitchell
Date posted: 1 Dec 2018
Cape Town South Africa is a bewildering mix of fabulously beautiful landscapes and vineyards which provide a resource for a booming tourist industry, within a few miles of vast stretches of shanty towns where people attracted by its stable economy come to seek well-being for themselves and their families.
The irony is that this ‘rainbow nation’ of many different languages, races and cultures did not start off as nation at all. Cape Town was only intended from the 16th to the 19th centuries to be a refuelling port for food and water for sailing ships of the merchant companies of Portugal, Holland, France and, finally, England en route to their trading empires in the East Indies and India.
history
Calvin’s atrocities?
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there’.
This famous first line by L.P. Hartley (1895–1972) in his novel The Go-Between (1953) has long been a favourite maxim that orients my teaching of history, for it is notoriously difficult to treat former eras of history with the degree of empathy that they need to make them understandable.
Keith Small 1959–2018
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
Keith Small was one of the foremost Qur’an scholars of our time. His work on early manuscripts was to provoke new questions among secular and Islamic scholars alike.
While at Dallas Theological Seminary, Keith read of Henry Martyn, and resolved to give his life to work among Muslims. He married Celeste Gardner in 1985, equally committed to the Muslim world, and they moved to the UK in 1989, settling in Dewsbury.
Non-violent protest in China
Asia News
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
One hundred people plus Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Church in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, were arrested over the weekend of 8-9 December.
Sensing that arrest was imminent, the pastor drafted a letter, asking that it be made public two days after his arrest. In it he expresses his ‘disgust’ for Communist persecution of Christians, but says he is not interested in changing the country’s social system. His goal is to bear witness through non-violence and to denounce violations of religious freedom. God will bring down the Communist regime. The church has existed for thousands of years, but no political power has lasted thousands of years.
news in brief
Algeria: closure
The official notice that a village pastor in Algeria received on 30 December confirmed that his church had been ordered to close.
Pastor Rabah Messaoudi had won a legal battle in 2017 after local officials in the Muslim country tried to close his church. Those acting for the pastor have said they will appeal again, as the church is affiliated to an organisation of 45 churches through which the national commission confirms their authenticity.
Megan Franklin 1981–2019
Lena King
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
On Sunday 16 December at the end of a Christmas service, Megan Franklin, wife of the pastor of St Giles Christian Mission, Islington, eight-months pregnant, slipped on a step and cut her knee.
It seemed so minor that my husband, along with the others present, heard nothing of it. However, it soon turned everything upside down. After suffering headaches Megan visited hospital on Christmas Day and their intensity with resultant loss of sight soon caused alarm. On Friday 28 she phoned to cancel our family visit, yet the following day she permanently lost consciousness. She died as a result of a Strep-A bacterial infection on Sunday 6 January. Mercifully, the doctors were able to deliver the little boy successfully by Caesarean, to become the seventh child in the family.
Sharm El Sheikh church
Langham Partnership
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
In December, the Revd Dr Andrea Zaki joined
the South Sinai Governor to lay the foundation stone for the first evangelical church in
the Red Sea city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Dr Zaki, President of
the Protestant
Churches in Egypt, said the church will seek
a holistic mission by serving everyone equally.
‘Sad... but never surprised’
Esther Smith
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
Esther Smith reminds us of the work of the charity Caring for Life
‘We’re never surprised by what we find behind closed doors; sad, but never surprised.’
Zambesi Mission: enabling not patronising
Mike Beresford Mission Director – Zambesi Mission
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Zambesi Mission (ZM) celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.
It was established in 1892 as a self-supporting, self-propagating mission in Malawi (formerly Nyasaland), a place then described as ‘beyond the habitation of white men’.
EFAC reorganises & renews its mission
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Feb 2018
At a meeting of Trustees in October, the
Evangelical Fellowship
in
the Anglican
Communion (EFAC) restated its vision and
appointed new leadership.
EFAC’s purpose remains to encourage and
develop biblically
faithful
fellowship and
mission throughout the Anglican world. It
is adjusting its goals and strategies to best
serve its constituency, which has seen tremendous change since John Stott founded
the Fellowship in 1961.
The urban priority
Dave Williams
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
Dave Williams reminds us of some uncomfortable facts about the evangelical church
‘The UK is a mission field and the church needs to step out of maintenance mode and into mission mode.’
Field of dreams
Teaming up with church
Sarah Righetti
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
How well do you know your local area?
I’m pretty confident that wherever your church is based, there will be sportspeople and sports clubs on your doorstep. And there will probably be sportspeople in your church family too.
Independent but together
Mark Herbert
Date posted: 1 Nov 2018
A story of church revitalisation
Mark Herbert is one of the pastors at Long Crendon Baptist Church.
Christianity Explored’s growing global impact
Christianity Explored Ministries
Date posted: 1 Dec 2018
Many churches in the UK have been using the various evangelistic courses developed by Christianity Explored Ministries for several years. There are an increasing number of countries who now have access to them in their native languages.
Following the launch of Christianity Explored (CE) in Albania in May, the evangelistic course has had a major impact across the nation.
GBM: ‘Be of good cheer.’
Matt Benton
Date posted: 1 Dec 2018
‘When the servant’s wish and the master’s call coalesce, it will happen.’ This was the glorious and timely assurance ministered by David Campbell to the 600 or so who attended this year’s Grace Baptist Mission Annual Mission Day on 27 October.
David’s message, which closed the day conference at the Renewal Centre, Solihull, was not one of triumphalism. Rather, skilfully and gently, taking Acts 23.11 as his text against the backdrop of Paul’s desire to preach the gospel in Rome and the journey there, David reminded us that God’s plans always come to fruition and yet so often happen very differently from how we expect.
Cardiff: hungry students
Hayley Marchant
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
In November, the Christian Unions of Cardiff
held their annual city-wide events week.
Christian students on six different campuses across three different universities, as
well as an
international outreach
team,
stepped out to ask questions of their peers,
illustrated stories, answered questions and
proclaimed the good news.
Holding on to power
Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
The Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC) has re-emerged after being somewhat dormant over the last decade.
That it is re-emerging with global participation and recognition among clergy and lay leaders in national groups indicates where apostolic succession truly lies – in the faith deposit entrusted to the people of God. For the news that EFAC was starting up again was met with instant brand recognition and welcome from evangelical Anglicans around the world.
Milestones 2019
Joy Horn
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
Joy Horn flags up Christian anniversaries worth noting in the coming year
EVENTS
Morgan Llwyd, said to be the first non-conformist minister in Wales, was born in 1619. Converted under Walter Cradock, he served as a chaplain in Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army and became minister in Wrexham. His books have influenced Welsh national consciousness and literature to the present day.
Brave men
Ernest Shackleton’s advert for volunteers for his Antarctic expedition may be mythical.
Nevertheless, it truly reflects the brave spirit of the men who went. ‘Men wanted for a hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, constant danger, safe return doubtful…’ But such ‘foolhardy’ courage is desperately needed today by evangelicalism in the West. This relates to two particular areas.