Closure on a closure?
When a church shuts, what are we to think?
Some months ago, the church I served as pastor for over 15 years worshipped together for the last time.
Gospel transformation
Barbara Sherwood
Date posted: 1 Feb 2018
Book Review
GOD KNOWS WHAT I’M DOING HERE:
The incredible story of a mission worker saved
from a rebellious past
Read review
Bearing fruit in old age
Jonathan Worsley
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Amongst the Israelites, old age was held in
high regard and respect for the elderly was
obligatory. Proverbs 16.31 tells us that, ‘grey
hair is the crown of glory.’ As a follicularly
challenged minister in his 30s it is easy to
subtly downplay the truth of such verses.
Unquestionably, modern Western society
does not honour old age to the extent to
which it once did.
Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that 1.2
million elderly people
in England would
describe
themselves as chronically
lonely,
with almost half of
those going without
seeing anyone
for five days out of every week (Age UK). The astounding nature of
such statistics is only furthered when one
considers that by 2035 almost half of the
adult population will be over 65 (Office for
National Statistics). While many churches
are unquestionably working hard amongst
an aging population, Christian
resources
aimed at the elderly are comparatively sparse.
Adam in the garden (city)
Ken Hawkins
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
The Grange Baptist Church in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, welcomed Adam Robertson as the assistant pastor on 19 November.
Adam, who studied at Moorelands, worked at Hillview Church in Hucclecote, Gloucester prior to the move to Letchworth. Pastor Mark Sewall welcomed Adam and his wife Iuliana into membership of the church. Their young daughter Ava won the hearts of the fellowship when they met her earlier in the year.
CAR: the forgotten emergency
World Watch Monitor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2018
There is a sense of emergency in the Central African Republic (CAR) where security has dramatically deteriorated across the country: President Faustin-Archange Touadéra failed to establish his authority beyond the capital, Bangui, 18 months after his election.
Gunmen are at crossroads in broad daylight, in a neighbourhood near the international airport. At night, gunshots can still be heard in the capital. In the capital, businesses and schools are working fairly well. In one of the epicentres of the violence, PK5, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood, markets and shops have re-opened (CAR is 76% nominally Christian, 14% nominally Muslim).
Just a boy amidst the Revival
Richard Bewes
Date posted: 1 Nov 2017
Richard Bewes recounts his childhood with missionary parents in East Africa
My parents were missionaries in Kenya.
Good news in F.E. Colleges
Claire Povey
Date posted: 1 Nov 2017
It all started for Festive ten years ago.
An eclectic mix of people with a heart for Further Education Colleges and Sixth Forms sat around a table and prayed for God to take what they had and multiply it.
Evangelist
Jeremy Brooks
Date posted: 1 Nov 2017
On 9 September, over 150 people gathered
for the
induction of Peter Sherwood as
evangelist at Welcome Hall Evangelical
Church (WHEC), Bromsgrove.
Pastor Brooks explained how the elders
had been seeking the Lord’s will over the
appointment of a second full-time worker for over a year, and were
increasingly
convinced that the role should be that of
an evangelist. In March, Peter Sherwood
was put in touch with Pastor Brooks by a
mutual contact, and after an extended period of prayerful consideration, was called by
WHEC in July.
Canada: new confessing Anglicanism
Andrew Symes
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC)
consists of over 70 congregations, which
over the past ten years have seceded from
the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC), or
have begun as new plants.
The movement
began with
biblical-ly orthodox groups coming
together as
‘Anglican Essentials’ in the 1990s, to re-state
the basics of apostolic faith in a context of
increasing influence of secularist and liberal
thinking among the leadership of Anglican
and other mainline churches.
Letter from America
Wars and rumours of wars
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Many of us would suppose that we live in unusually disturbed times.
A leading relief organisation in America estimates that they are dealing with, on average, far more serious crises in the early part of this century than in previous decades. There appears to be a growing flame of upsets, civil wars, brutality – and downright barbarism. Not to mention North Korea: what on earth is the world going to do about that most unstable situation?
Churches in jeopardy
Eric Barger
Date posted: 1 Dec 2017
Eric Barger on the liberal roots of the Emergent Church
Over a century ago, spiritual liberalism swept through the once-sound mainline denominations, wreaking theological havoc on anyone in its path.
Beach, teach and reach
J.P. Earnest
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
The two-week-long OAM Tenby beach mission took place during July and August on the sunny Pembrokeshire coast.
Converted through the work of a beach mission, each summer this writer now leads the work, beginning every day with personal and team devotions and prayer times, before leaving for the beach.
Just who is raising objections?
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
Five bishops in the Anglican Church of Australia have asked their church lawyers whether bishops can take part in consecrating another bishop of a church which is not formally part of the Anglican Communion.
They raised objections to the consecration in May of the Rt Revd Andrew Lines of the Anglican Church in North America by the Archbishop of Sydney and bishops of Tasmania and Northwest Australia. These proceedings were set to dominate the meetings of the Church’s General Synod in September.
Acts in Aberystwyth
Dylan Brady
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
August saw 1,000 believers descend on Aberystwyth for the annual Evangelical Movement of Wales Aberystwyth Conference.
The main speaker for the week was Art Azurdia, a pastor and professor from Portland, USA. He spoke from Acts, with the theme for the week being Spirit Empowered Mission. He faithfully and dynamically explained what Pentecost means for today.
Ailish Ferguson Eves 1938 –2017
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
Her Irish Christian name reflected her ancestry, but she died with a traditional Batak scarf (ulos) around her neck, signifying her adoption into the Hasibuan clan during her time working in North Sumatra, Indonesia.
Converted at the age of 15 through the ministry of Humphrey Newman at St John’s Church Welling, she went to university in Leeds, then taught RE in Yorkshire. After further study at London Bible College she was sent to Asia with OMF in March 1969 by Sidcup Baptist Church. She served in Bandung, West Java, as a lay Elder in the Gereja Kristen Indonesia, whose members were mainly Chinese. She preached, taught and counselled regularly in the congregations, but her greatest ministry was to students and other young people.
The Third Degree
The last best opportunity
Kate Duncan
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
University is a key moment.
From day one, university promises a chance to reinvent yourself, to make lifelong friends and to load your CV with qualifications that will guarantee you your dream job upon graduating.
standing together
The yawning gap
Graham Nicholls
Date posted: 1 Aug 2017
‘Sending missionaries abroad is boring.
‘It belongs to a bygone pioneering age. It’s part of cultural imperialism. It’s no longer necessary. It’s not a priority.’
news in brief
Africa: Study Bible
Earlier this year, Oasis International launched the Africa Study Bible, with notes by more than 300 African pastors and scholars.
The Study Bible uses the New Living Translation and contains more than 2,600 features casting light on Scripture from an African perspective. Christian ministry African Christian Textbooks is a ‘cornerstone partner for the distribution’, according to Oasis.
Alternative Synod?
Peter Sanlon
Date posted: 1 Aug 2017
One year ago the Daily Telegraph announced on its front page the new ‘Anglican Partnership Synod’.
Nicknamed a ‘shadow synod’, it marked a new form of partnership between Anglican churches in Kent and Sussex.
Sudan: eight arrests
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
The Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC)
challenged a government decision in late
August to impose an unelected leadership
committee on the church, which only came
to light when church leaders were arrested.
The Ministry of Guidance and Religious
Endowments, which oversees religious affairs
in Sudan, appointed an alternative Executive
Committee of the SCOC, led by Mr Angelo
Alzaki, to manage church affairs. Eight senior SCOC leaders were arrested and charged
with trespassing on the church headquarters
and refusing to hand over control of the
church to Mr Alzaki. They were released on
bail later that day.
Argentina: dictionary
Church Mission Society
Date posted: 1 Oct 2017
In August, a team led by Bob Lunt completed
and published a Wichí–Spanish language dictionary to complement the Wichí Bible translation, which was first published in 2002.
The Wichí
language, spoken by up
to
50,000 people
in parts of Argentina and
Bolivia, is the most common language of the
Mataco-Mataguayan language family.
