Abuse hidden in darkness: damaging trust
Date posted: 3 Sep 2024
Dear Editor,
I could not agree more with your correspondent on hidden abuse (July en). It is the cover-up, lies and deceit that follow the original abuse which damages our faith and trust in the Christian church most.
Training men for ministry: encouraging 'one man ministry'
Date posted: 22 Aug 2024
Dear Editor,
I am encouraged by the response to my Open Letter which you recently published [en June]. I have received considerable feedback personally, all of which has been entirely in agreement and supportive, and which comes from across the spectrum of the generations. This is not an issue on which older men are criticising the younger generation, as has been presented. I am also encouraged because it has, at least, stirred up a discussion, something which can only be good.
Training men for ministry: in a post-Christian nation
Date posted: 22 Aug 2024
Dear Editor,
I read John Brand’s letter June (en 2024) concerning training men for pastoral ministry with interest. The Church of England have recently reported that those seeking ‘vocations’ are 40% down on the 650 they had hoped for – I suspect en’s regular readers will have a good idea why that is, but I doubt that the CofE will publicly recognise the reasons! I only foresee that shortfall increasing as they continue in their apostasy.
Training men for ministry: more correspondence
Date posted: 18 Jul 2024
Dear Editor,
Evangelicals Now recently published an open letter from John Brand, principal of Edinburgh Bible College. It’s addressed to 'church leaders training men for ministry.' Well, that kind of sounds like me, so I hope that John and en will accept an open letter in response from those of us seeking to train future pastors.
Children & smartphones
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Dear Editor,
Thank you for Glyn Harrison’s wake-up call in the June issue of en, ‘Social media and our children’ on page 15. After clearly sounding the alarm, Glyn concludes by asking: ‘And what are we going to do about it now?’
Reform UK
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Dear Editor,
I was disappointed to see such scant coverage of Reform UK in your election coverage.
Middle East complexities
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Dear Editor,
I was heartened to see Joseph Steinberg’s Biblically insightful and well-balanced article on page 23 of the May edition of en, especially after reading Iain Taylor’s piece on page 11 which unfortunately seems to imply that the Israeli army (and by extension Israel) is responsible for the decline of Christianity in Gaza.
Abuse hidden in darkness
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Dear Editor,
I write as someone who loves Jesus, whose life has been shaped through faithful Bible preaching. In recent years my faith has also been significantly damaged by abuse in a church setting, the subsequent handling and hiding of the truth. The isolation and inability to trust church leaders is soul crushing. Many victims of abuse in our churches have been caused to fall. We can’t be Christians in isolation, yet churches have been places of hurt.
Training men for ministry
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Dear Editor,
John Brand’s ‘open letter’ in the June issue of en raises significant issues about the need for healthy training of committed men for the preaching and pastoral ministry.
Trump’s stable era
Date posted: 1 Jun 2024
Dear Editor,
I agree with Keith Jowitt’s letter in the April en, pointing out the unbalanced nature of Martyn Whittock’s attack on Trump and his supporters. One might have hoped that en would provide a more nuanced article in response. Instead, in the April issue we find a piece by Dave Burke joining in the fashionable trend of Trump-bashing.
An open letter to church leaders training men for pastoral ministry
Date posted: 1 Jun 2024
Dear fellow labourer, in the work of the gospel.
I have been turning over the content of this letter for several weeks because I want to make sure I get the tone and wording as right as I possibly can, but this is a burden that has been weighing on my heart for some time and I need to share it with you.
Holiness problem?
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Dear Editor,
I wonder if we have a holiness problem. I say this looking in at myself as well as out at others. Some examples of why I wonder this:
Abuse among Christians
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Dear Editor,
Thank you for continuing to highlight spiritual and emotional abuse in church organisations. The anonymous letter in this month’s edition, (en April 2024 p.7), has prompted me to write in for the first time.
Lust and adultery
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Dear Editor,
In response to Eric Stewart (en March letters) who says that the Bible only condemns the physical act of homosexuality! Jesus said in Matthew 5:28 if any man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. How much more wicked is it to think about [someone of the same sex] in that manner!