I hope the answer is no. For anxiety is a horrible, painful, and disabling experience. But according to current surveys most people in the UK today are anxious. A recent poll reported 64 percent of the population were stressed or anxious, which means over 40 million Britons today are feeling anxious. Now I think…
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Church leaders from the UK and overseas have been sharing the highs and lows of the coronavirus lockdown with Evangelical Times. At the time of writing, government instructions for churches not to assemble to minimise the spread of Covid-19 remain in place. From the outset ministers had big decisions to make. Revd Jeremy Bailey…
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This is the second part of a recent interview with John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in California. Each month millions around the world listen to his sermons through radio broadcasts or the Grace to You website. ET: Judgements regarding separation are tricky, for example when you associate or not. How much agreement…
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During this time of physical-distancing and isolation, some have asked about having communion during the live-stream service. Since we live-stream the singing and the sermon, why not live-stream the communion service and allow each family to observe it in their own homes? This sounds reasonable, but our New Testament ecclesiology will not allow us…
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As I write this, we’re a few days into the coronavirus ‘lockdown’. A couple of weeks ago, people were just realising the seriousness of the crisis that was soon to engulf the country. The phone rang. It was an old friend who wanted some advice. She spoke first to my wife and then my…
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‘It is not good for man to be alone’ declared the Lord when considering the plight of Adam in the garden of Eden. So he created Eve to be his companion and to relieve his loneliness. Adam, like all his descendants, was God’s image bearer and since God himself is not alone but exists…
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Nothing prepares you for the dying moments of a loved one. On Wednesday 1st April 2020 I received a phone call at 12:35pm from a concerned Doctor from Leverndale Hospital in Glasgow. My father, Revd John J. Murray, had been in isolation since 17th March when he tested positive for COVID-19 but his condition…
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Across the globe, places of worship have been asked to close. Governments have no authority to forbid churches to gather. In the UK, the Conventicle Act of 1664 forbade such gatherings. Preachers like Bunyan preferred to stay in prison rather than not preach to gatherings lawful in God’s eyes but unlawful in the eyes…
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‘Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men…’ (Psalm 140:4). The torrent of examples of abuse and inappropriate practices or behaviours within and without Christ’s church fills the heart of any observer with shock, compassion for the victims, and anger at cover-ups and institutional failures. There are…
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We moved from North Wales when I was seven years old. But my memories of life there are very vivid. Plodding to school through the snow during the winter of 1963. Climbing the oak tree in the fields behind our home. Playing the third king (‘myrrh I bring’) in a nativity play and refusing,…
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Henry had a derelict father who distracted himself with fishing and hunting. Lazy and irresponsible, he sent young Henry off to boarding school, left him to be taken in by the headmaster, and came to sign his letters ‘Uncle’ instead of ‘Father’. And yet for Henry Francis Lyte (1793–1847), who would grow up to…
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I was recently invited to a ministers’ lunch at Grace Baptist Church, Dunstable. The speaker was Rico Tice from All Souls, London. Around forty people had gathered as Rico spoke on the subject of ‘Personal holiness in leaders’. I was reminded of some basic truths: the reason I am a Christian is because the…
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