Peru: jam and mission
Latin Link
Date posted: 1 Sep 2015
Homemade jam is bringing integral mission
to Quechua communities of Cusco, it was
reported in early August.
For the past four years, ATEK, an organisation that seeks to strengthen local churches through the use of Quechua Scriptures,
has provided training in needy communities
of Paruro province.
Capital Gains
The invisible mission field
Graham Miller
Date posted: 1 Nov 2015
Reading through Scripture I am struck by Christ’s commitment to those on the margins of society.
I feel challenged that he didn’t use clever strategies to aim first to reach the best and brightest from the Jerusalem temple school so that they could be useful for his efforts. Instead, Jesus spent time with lepers, tax collectors, fishermen, women and Samaritans. In recent years the movement to revitalise the church with new plants and initiatives has sometimes focused on the young, the bright and the mobile. If we are to be faithful to the Great Commission we must be careful that our outreach doesn’t leave out large segments of society.
Oxford’s 25 missions
Andrew Atherstone
Date posted: 1 Feb 2015
In February, the Christian Union at Oxford University launches a major mission to students: Andrew Atherstone delves into the archives.
Tim Keller and Os Guinness are in town.
The Third Degree
CU Spring missions
Kate Duncan
Date posted: 1 Apr 2015
‘For the first time, I have begun to understand Christianity.’
So said a student at a London university following an evening of Sixties’ style festival fun and a talk on ‘The God who Loves us’. She had joined hundreds of other students for one of the joint London Christian Unions’ (CU) city-wide events during their mission week in January. It was a week of creative and persuasive evangelism with lunchbars, Text-a-Toasties, question boards, free cafés, photo booths, questionnaires, Grill-a-Christian, Meals with a Message, art exhibitions, musical performances, testimonies and dramas.
OMF: ‘staying aligned’
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Dec 2015
Julia Cameron on the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship
A spoof of the Bee Gees song ‘Staying Alive’, was sung by senior leaders at OMF’s 150th anniversary, as a gathering in July celebrated its beliefs, vision, mission and values.
GBM: a light in every city
JEB
Date posted: 1 Dec 2015
These days, the annual get-together of supporters of Grace Baptist Mission alternates between venues in London and the Midlands. On Saturday 24 October it was the turn of the Renewal Centre in Solihull.
Around 650 people gathered and the theme highlighted the needs of Europe under the banner ‘A Light in Every City.’ Graham Field, chairman of the Mission’s Council, began the day emphasising that our mission is determined by our master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Daryl Jones, mission coordinator, used a cricket analogy to emphasise the need for partnership in mission, especially between the churches and GBM.
Nigeria: sacrificial faith
Morning Star News
Date posted: 1 Dec 2015
Amid ongoing dangers, Christian leaders in Nigeria in October recalled the exemplary faith of indigenous missionaries who gave their lives in areas overrun by Islamic extremist militants.
While President Muhammadu Buhari told an India-African summit in late October that Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has been contained to ‘sporadic’ attacks in remote areas, leaders of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) told how Nigerian missionaries sent to those areas have suffered.
Taking every opportunity
Daniel Shwe
Date posted: 1 Dec 2015
How Christmas invitations led to conversions of Chinese students
My name is Daniel Shwe.
Oxford: Christ uncovered at CU mission
Alistair Reid
Date posted: 1 Apr 2015
Seventy-five years ago, the Christian Union at Oxford (OICCU) hastily threw together an outreach initiative to the university in the heart of the Second World War.
It was small and disorganised, and their speaker, Dr Martin Lloyd Jones, pulled out at the last minute with illness. But an enduring idea was born: a focussed initiative, once every three years, to give as many Oxford students as possible the opportunity to hear, engage with and respond to the gospel. That vision has remained constant, and so 9-14 February saw Uncover, the Silver Jubilee of triennial OICCU missions.
South Asian Concern celebrates
Victoria Vinet
Date posted: 1 Nov 2015
On 19 September, at the King’s Cross Baptist Church, there was cause for celebration as a congregation of supporters of the South Asian Concern (SAC) movement marked 25 years since their founding in 1989.
SAC is a charity focused on revealing the uniqueness of Christ in a cross-cultural effort to bring him among these multi-faith communities.
news in brief
Burma: building protested
Buddhist structures have been erected in a Baptist church compound, it was reported in late October.
Ethnic Karen Christians in Hpa-An, capital of Karen state, have protested a Buddhist pagoda and a stupa since building began in August. Myaing Kyee Ngu Sayadaw, a revered Buddhist abbot and founder of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, led the building despite the protests of the Christian community. The Karen Buddhist community reportedly did not support the monk’s decision. The Baptist church has been a functioning fixture at the site since 1919.
Assisting in Newport
Bernard Lewis
Date posted: 1 Dec 2015
On 17 October, Heath Church Cardiff and Emmanuel Chapel Newport met together to ordain Ben Fiddian to the Christian ministry and to induct him as assistant minister at Emmanuel.
The ordination was conducted by Wyn Hughes, the minister and elders of the Heath, while the induction was conducted by the minister of Emmanuel.
news in brief
Bonaire: radio upgrade
TWR are to upgrade the shortwave/AM transmitter on Bonaire to 450KW, doubling the potential audience to 100 million people across Latin America, it was reported in September.
TWR have been broadcasting Bible teaching from Bonaire for over 50 years. Thousands of pastors and small home churches exist purely because of the evangelism and discipleship offered through TWR’s broadcasts. The upgrade will cost around £2.5 million in total.
Effective or defective?
David Baker
Date posted: 1 Nov 2015
Almost 450 church leaders met together for
the 2015 ReNew Conference at Chesford
Grange – the third conference that Anglican
Mission in England (AMiE), Church Society,
and Reform had organised together with the
purpose of encouraging church leaders to
pioneer, establish, and secure healthy local
Anglican churches throughout England.
Although I had hoped to attend, I was not
able to, so am grateful to Brian O'Donoghue
of St Helen’s Bishopsgate for most of the following report. In his chairman’s address,
William Taylor of St Helen’s outlined the
history, necessity, and strategy of ReNew and
introduced this year’s theme - ‘Shoulder to
Shoulder; partnering
together
in mission
and ministry’. He stressed the need for interdependence – in prayer, people, and finance.
Persecution class
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Nov 2015
Book Review
JARS OF CLAY
What the West Needs to Learn From the
Persecuted Church
Read review
The working class and Christ
David Binder
Date posted: 1 Dec 2015
David Binder interviews SixtyEightFive founder, Ian Williamson.
Many have argued that the evangelical church in the UK has been largely dominated by the middle class.
IVP / SPCK
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 1 Dec 2015
Dear en,
Like many, I was very grieved at the sudden and somewhat shocking news that IVP
had become a wholly-owned subsidiary of
SPCK. I write now only to reassure en read-ers on a question raised by your editorial
comment in the November news piece.
Is our leadership wasting talent?
Catherine Cowell and Sean Kennedy on releasing the enthusiasm of church members
‘No, the church won’t be able to support your project, because it’s not part of what we do,’ said the Revd Simon.
Work in Progress
Being a big noise?
Roger Loosley
Date posted: 1 Oct 2015
Subject: Dr Phil Harper, CEng MIMechE MInstNDT PhD MEng, who runs his own company in Sheffield making ultrasonic measuring and monitoring equipment for engineering applications. Married with two children.
Age range: 30–40.
Interests: Food, cooking, DIY.
RJL: Were you were brought up in Sheffield?
Phil: No, I was brought up on a farm in Kilkenny in Southern Ireland.
The Third Degree
IFES World Assembly
Kate Duncan
Date posted: 1 Oct 2015
What do you get when you gather 1,000 evangelicals from 148 countries in a Mexican resort?
Nothing less than una fiesta grande: a plethora of culture and a little foretaste of Revelation 7.9: ‘…there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…’
