CE breaks into prison
Ian Roberts & Stephen James
Date posted: 1 Apr 2013
Can prisoners be transformed by the gospel? In theory, we know the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. But here are three recent examples where that is exactly what has happened in practice.
‘C’ came from a church background but had lost his faith when his little nephew died. By the time he was released from prison he had rediscovered his relationship with God and was committed to serving him in the mission context in a local church. ‘J’ decided, when he came to prison, that it was now or never in terms of finding out about Christianity. He will be baptised shortly, and is seeking to give his life to Jesus. ‘S’ has been a Christian for a number of years but has struggled with drugs. Although very knowledgeable about Jesus, the basics of his faith have been rebuilt, and he too is now considering baptism. That is a major step for him, because, as he says, ‘It’s a once and for all’ — when he is baptised, there is no turning back to his old ways.
Letter from America
Growing up in the manse
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 May 2013
I grew up in a boarding school. My father was a boarding school house master, and we lived on the grounds of this community.
I did not grow up in a manse or vicarage or parsonage. My children, of course, are growing up ‘Pastor’s Kids’ (PKs). How can I help them flourish in that environment?
Andrew Butler, 1949-2013
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 May 2013
Andrew Butler, who died from cancer in Taiwan on March 2, had served for 40 years with OMF International.
Edith Schaeffer, 1914-2013
Barry Seagren
Date posted: 1 May 2013
Edith Rachel Merritt Seville Schaeffer was born in Wenzhou, China, to missionary parents working in the China Inland Mission.
Though she lived in China only until the age of six, she retained vivid memories and a life-long love of China. The family moved back to the States and, while attending Beaver College, she met Francis Schaeffer. They were married in 1935. He had three pastorates in the States in the then Bible Presbyterian Church, with her always completely involved. Their daughters Priscilla, Susan and Deborah were born during those years while their son Franky was born in Switzerland in 1952.
Wow! What a week!
St. Andrew’s Parish Church, Leyland, packed over 70 events into an amazing nine days under the umbrella of ‘Life Week’ in March.
A team of 12 students from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, led by the enthusiastic octogenarian evangelist Dr. Michael Green, spearheaded the mission. The church and surrounding venues were consistently packed as exciting and varied events drew in many from this enclave of South Ribble Borough, Lancashire.
Let's find foster families
EN
Date posted: 1 Jun 2013
A young Nigerian boy looks out of his bedroom window. Hoping to see the flash of headlights. Hoping to hear the sound of tyres on the gravel drive. He isn’t waiting for the postman to deliver his shiny new bike. He isn’t waiting for his mate to collect him for the long-awaited cinema trip. He is simply waiting for his mum and dad to turn up to take him home — the mum and dad he has never met.
He waits his whole childhood. He thinks he would have made quite a good son, despite his high energy levels. He certainly would have made them proud the day he won his Olympic medals, or the day he was awarded an MBE for services to athletics. But Kriss Akabusi spent his whole life in foster care and care homes; potential parents visited him, but none picked him.
Spiritual ignition
Mike Harris
Date posted: 1 Jun 2013
Book Review
JOHN & CHARLES WESLEY
Selections from their writings and hymns — annotated & explained
Read review
Falling short
Hywel Jones
Date posted: 1 Apr 2013
Book Review
INTERPRETING DEUTERONOMY
Issues and approaches
Read review
Melvin and Magdalene
Karen Soole
Date posted: 1 May 2013
Some Christians were offended by the airing of Melvin Bragg’s BBC documentary The Mystery of Mary Magdalene on Good Friday.
I was not one of them; possibly because my expectations were so low that I was pleasantly surprised by the affirmation of the Gospel accounts as historical evidence.
Notes to Growing Christians
Joy is...
David Jackman
Date posted: 1 May 2013
‘The fruit of the Spirit is joy.’
If a Christian is defined as someone in whom God’s Spirit lives, then a joyless Christian is a contradiction in terms. Yet we all know that much of life is not characterised by joy, and so we either tend to feel guilty, because clearly we are not ‘spiritual’ enough, or we sigh briefly and then get on with things. But there are those nagging Bible commands. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice’ (Philippians 4.4). What’s it all about?
More than happiness
The first thing to realise is that joy is not the same thing as happiness. Often people say that joy is much deeper, which has led to the observation that some Christians’ joy is so deep it never seems to surface! The difference is not so much in depth as in duration. Happiness happens — it comes and goes and is largely the response of our emotions and feelings to external events. Nobody can be permanently happy; indeed you only have to set out determined to ‘be happy’ to soon feel quite miserable. So what is the joy that Christians have which is not experienced by those who do not share our faith?
The Third Degree
90 missions!
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Apr 2012
Over 90 CU mission weeks have taken place on campuses all around Britain this academic year.
Responses to the gospel have been varied but Christian Union events weeks continue to be a source of great encouragement.
Disciple-making leaders
JR: You speak around the country about the need to grow and disciple leaders within local churches. Briefly, how do you understand biblical leadership?
MH: Paul speaks in Philippians 1 and 2 Corinthians 1 about working with people for their progress and joy in God, so that they grow firm in their faith and have abundant joy in Christ. That’s a great, simple definition of spiritual leadership. You don’t have to think very hard to see why a church that is standing firm in their faith and full of godly joy is going to be a beacon for the gospel.
EMA: summer in the City
Adrian Reynolds
Date posted: 1 Mar 2013
2013 marks 30 years of the Evangelical Ministry Assembly.
It’s now well established as an annual feature in the ministerial calendar. But why do people keep coming. EN asked a few regulars.
Youth Leaders
Community life...
Dave Fenton
Date posted: 1 Apr 2013
Most of our youth groups are attached to a church. It may be just one of the activities the church gets up to alongside its services on Sunday. There are youth groups which are completely separate from the life of the church and there are others where there is some kind of link between the two. How much should integration be attempted or should we wait until they are 18 when they simply move up to ‘adult church’?
All-age service
One answer to this is the all-age service which some do well and for others it becomes a children’s service where the adults and older children are spectators. In a typical church with people of most ages represented, is it possible for there to be some degree of shared activity? Starting with services, I think it is possible to bring young people into what is done there. If they stay in the morning services or turn up in the evening their presence needs to be acknowledged. That does not mean the whole service is geared to their language and culture, but, if they are there, what can’t they do. They can welcome at the door, they can read a lesson, they can pray, they can play in the worship band and, at the end, they can help count the money and make the coffee. It may even appropriate for a 16-year-old to preach the first five minutes of a sermon (initially) and have his talk critiqued by a sensitive mentor.
Back catalogue
Joy Horn
Date posted: 1 Jan 2013
Here are some encouragements and challenges from the past.
The monk Columba sailed from Ireland, with 12 companions, and after a perilous journey landed on the island of Iona in 563. He founded a monastery there to train young men for the evangelisation of the North Picts.
The Mormons are coming
Bobby Gilpin
Date posted: 1 Jan 2013
‘Would you like to hear more about the restored gospel?’
This is a question many of the 58,000 missionaries for the Mormon Church (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) ask people worldwide every day. This 14-million-member-strong movement is getting public attention as Mitt Romney, the losing US presidential candidate for the Republican Party, is a committed member.
The Third Degree
12,000 at CU carol services
Pod Bhogal
Date posted: 1 Feb 2013
An estimated 12,000 students attended Christian Union carol services in 2012, the biggest of which drew over 3,000 attendees.
Associate Christian Union Staff Worker Michael Ots was the speaker at Durham Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (DICCU) carol service. He commented: ‘It was awesome to see over 3,000 people packing every corner of the cathedral to hear about Jesus. It’s not unusual for [carol service] attendance to be at least four times that of the CU. In Durham it was ten times! Student carol services are probably the most effective events of the whole year at getting not yet Christians to hear the gospel’.
'We're paratroopers...'
There is a stirring line in |Band of Brothers|.
The TV series tells the story of ‘Easy Company’ led by Dick Winters, part of the 101st US Airborne Division in the months following D-Day.
The German counter-attack came unexpectedly in December 1944 through the Ardennes and the 101st were given the task of holding the area around the strategic town of Bastogne. Short of warm clothing, equipment and ammunition, the soldiers of Easy Company arrive to find fellow Americans in retreat. At this point, Captain Winters is informed that the German panzers are about to cut the road to the South. ‘It looks like you guys are going to be surrounded’, explains Second Lieutenant George Rice. Then comes Winters’ heroic reply: ‘We’re paratroopers, Lieutenant. We’re supposed to be surrounded’.