Questions to face We are in a 'celebrity culture'. The celebrities and scientists are the most important 'movers and shakers' in most people's eyes today. Religion, to the powers that be and the media, is simply either troublesome or irrelevant. A very modern attitude was expressed by one character spoken of in the Bible called…
Read more
Why did Jesus die? Dudley Reeves Why did Jesus Christ die? Could there be a more important question for any of us than that? If you had been outside the city walls of Jerusalem that epoch-changing day, the answer would have seemed obvious. Jesus died because he was crucified. The six-inch-long Roman spikes through his hands…
Read more
Movers and shakers Ken Scott has been appointed as the new mission promoter for the Baptist Missions. Mr Scott, who with his wife Jeannie served with the organisation in Peru for eight years, will be helping churches get involved with Baptist Missions worldwide. It's been a good first quarter for WEST Theological Seminary, with three…
Read more
Why on earth did Jesus come? John BlanchardEP Books; 40 pages; £1.20; ISBN: 978-0-85234-706-5 Attractively produced, this publication sets out to explain, in a lively manner, the true facts of the Christmas story. It tackles some of the myths and legends which have grown up over the years and shows the reader the true 'reason…
Read more
Christian Worship The long-awaited new Christian Worship hymnbook has now been published. With more than half the first print run sold prior to publication, the publishers have been greatly encouraged. The book continues to sell well. The result of almost five years work, there is a Words edition (words only, no tunes) and a…
Read more
God's zoo The half-term Holiday Bible Club at Thornton Heath Evangelical Church saw more children than in previous years, with more than 70 each day on average. But we had been praying for a lot more than good numbers. The children attending the club, which was called 'God's zoo', heard the gospel clearly proclaimed. The…
Read more
The all-sufficiency of Christ Is faith in Jesus Christ all that I need to be justified? Has Christ really done it all for me? Today we face a variety of teachings which directly or indirectly erode Paul's gospel by telling us that faith in Christ is just not quite enough. We must add some little…
Read more
Prayer brings revival Dr A. T. Pierson once said, 'There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer'. Not many people realise that in the wake of the American Revolution (1776-1781) there was a moral slump. Drunkenness became epidemic. Out of a population of five million,…
Read more
Expelled 'No intelligence allowed': so reads the subscript to the controversial new film hitting the UK. Written by investigative journalist Ben Stein, it exposes an alarming trend among US academics to remove from their posts any lecturer or scientific researcher who advocates or even mentions intelligent design (ID). The film shows several leading academics and…
Read more
A shared ministry Three evangelical churches in north-east UK have been blessed by the appointment of a shared evangelism co-ordinator, in the form of Daniel Johnson from North Shields. In January, Mr Johnson was inducted into his new role. He will share his time between North Shields Evangelical Church (EC), where he is a…
Read more
John Bunyan on prayer Ian McNaughton When it comes to prayer, three 'giants' stand out among the third generation English Puritans, namely John Owen, Richard Baxter and John Bunyan. They all wrote works on prayer.1 John Bunyan's, however, is the most accessible.2 John Bunyan (1628-1688)3 has become the most influential of…
Read more
At the door of the empty tomb Just before Christmas, I was on a long train journey. To pass the time, I picked up a copy of the Metro and came across a review of the recent decade - the noughties. As I scanned the double-page spread, I expected to see events like the 9/11…
Read more
Retirement service Emmanuel Evangelical Church, Newport, has marked the retirement of Rev. Graham Harrison with a thanksgiving service for nearly 48 years of faithful ministry in the church. Many people attended the event on a Saturday afternoon in January, coming from all around to give glory to God for this ministry. There were past…
Read more
Project pancake The 'Kidz Klub' team at Oulton Broad Free Presbyterian Church had the blessed opportunity to run a tenth Holiday Bible Club in the February half-term break. The theme was 'Project: pancake!' as the three days included Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. In the lessons we used the related traditions of pancakes and Lent…
Read more
'I really want to be like Jesus' Do you really want to be like Jesus? Is it possible we think we do, but really we don't? I have a friend who is a GP. When he decided he wanted to be a doctor he couldn't do it without putting in the hard work. He knew…
Read more
A first for IFES in the Balkans Last summer, we organised an IFES (International Federation of Evangelical Students) summer camp in Dalmatia, on the Adriatic coast. For the first time it was for Serbian and Croatian students. Previously, Serbian and Montenegrin IFES camps had been held for many years by Evandeosko udruzenje…
Read more
Stratford Elisha John has been welcomed to Gurney Road Grace Baptist Church in Stratford, London, as its new minister. He succeeds Pastor Achille Blaize, who retired in September 2009 having served faithfully as minister of the church since 1975. The church gave Pastor Blaize a retirement party last September, with many speakers and…
Read more
'He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty' Timothy Cross continues looking at the Apostles' Creed Forty days after Jesus' victorious resurrection, Scripture tells us that Christ 'was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God' (Mark 16:19). Luke recorded this event in…
Read more
Film reviewAvatar James Cameron has a knack of making films that redefine cinematic boundaries. Titanic did it, and now he has done it all over again with his latest film Avatar. The facts speak for themselves: a $280,000,000 budget; 14 years to make it; new technology invented; box office returns of $1 billion in just…
Read more
Should we abandon the substance of the Trinity?Guest ColumnGarry Williams, MA, MSt, PhD Last month's article laid out the basic facts of the doctrine of the Trinity - that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and there is one God. Implicit in these statements is the distinction between…
Read more
A great little guide William McKeown People often wonder if there is a simple guide to basic Christian teaching and living. Yes, there is; one of less than 100 pages. It may be read and re-read, enabling the reader to learn more about the Christian faith. It is the Heidelbergcatechism. Many Christians have never heard of…
Read more
Uganda disaster Severe landslides in eastern Uganda have killed hundreds of people and wiped out entire villages. During heavy rainfall, villagers feared for their livelihoods as muddy waters started to engulf their homes. They sought refuge in churches, hospitals and schools, but these were to become mass graves for many people. In a winter…
Read more
Psalm 119 for life - living today in the light of the Word Hywel R. JonesEP Books; 156 pages; £9.50; ISBN: 978-0-85234-703-4 Here we have the essence of Psalm 119 distilled into 156 pages and applied to the Christian life. The book began as a series of devotional addresses given by the author to students at…
Read more
Testing times in Algeria A growing church in Kabylia, north-west Algeria, was to begin meeting in their new premises on 26 December 2009. But when the believers arrived at the Tizi Ouzou church, they found around 50 Muslim protesters barring the doors. This growing church in Tizi Ouzou built their premises to accommodate 350 people.…
Read more
Royal Show This month a number of people in the East Midlands feel a gap in their lives. It was at this time we got ready for July's Royal Show at Stoneleigh. Equipment had to be checked, volunteer forms completed and a training day held. The witness began in 1971 as an outreach from…
Read more
The breastplate of righteousness John W. Keddie In Ephesians 6, the first buttress against Satan's lies and deceptions is the truth of God's Word - the truth as it is in Jesus. What's next? It is the breastplate. 'Having put on the breastplate of righteousness' (Ephesians 6:14).The breastplate was a vital feature in any Roman soldier's…
Read more
Assisted suicide The laws on assisted suicide have been clarified again by Keir Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions, following a massive consultation process. The original clarifications were given last year, but following a series of high-profile court cases, Mr Starmer agreed to revisit the clarifications, setting out a range of factors that might influence…
Read more
Sri Lanka We thank God for the recent teaching and training programmes in Trincomalee taken by Dr Gareth Crossley, from Derbyshire in England. Dr Crossley’s subjects included Christology, commitment and the sovereignty of God. It was a blessed programme, with many brothers re-kindled, motivated and encouraged to get more involved in preaching…
Read more
Who made God?Searching for a theory of everything Edgar AndrewsEP Books; 303 pages; £9.95; ISBN: 978-0-85234-707-2 This is an attractively produced hardback volume. It is written for 'expert and layman alike' (p.10) and aims to compare two different hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 is the approach of atheism: there is no God - all that exists is…
Read more
Tough choices As the nation prepares for an election during one of the worst recessions of recent history, and after years of legislation often unfriendly to Christian values, how should we prepare ourselves to vote? 'You Christians really do have it tough. I never realised how serious it was. Maybe it's you Christians who should…
Read more
Election special Election fever is beginning to grip the nation. Behind recent salacious stories highlighting rogue apples in the barrel, there are dedicated people working hard to govern us rightly. Simoney Girard here interviews politicians from each of the three main national parties to try to discover how Christianity informs their work*. The Labour PartyStephen Timms,MP…
Read more
What every parent should know about the Internet (5) - Google knows everything David Clark You may have heard the saying that 'Google knows everything'. What this generally means is that almost all knowledge is accessible on the Internet through the Google search engine. But have you ever considered how companies use the Internet to market…
Read more
Broken Britain? An evangelical church from Aughton near Ormskirk decided on a high-profile way to answer the current 'Broken Britain?' question. Aughton Park Baptist Church took out a lease on a town centre shop and for six weeks used it as a drop-in centre for local folk to discover more about its 'Broken Britain?' exhibition. …
Read more
The Word made flesh The gospel is about a person - the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the common emphasis at a recent afternoon and evening of preaching held at Belvidere Road Church, Liverpool. We were privileged to have the ministry of Geoff Thomas, Stuart Olyott and Philip Eveson, and all three speakers referenced 1…
Read more
My God is true Paul D. WolfeBanner of Truth; 150 pages; £6.25; ISBN: 978-1-84871-044-3 I wonder whether you have had a scare through the possible diagnosis of cancer or some other life-threatening disease? I can recommend this book for all Christians to read, even before they get a scare or serious diagnosis. The story and its…
Read more
Support for Swindon Swindon Evangelical Church was filled to capacity for the ordination of Rob Tylee as part-time pastoral assistant with responsibility for training and evangelism. Brought up in Swindon, Rob gave a clear and comprehensive account of his conversion as a teenager and how he soon felt a sense of being called into the…
Read more
Called to preach The first ever Protestant Truth Society (PTS) preachers' conference drew more than 30 men from 24 churches to learn about the preaching aspect of ministry. The one-day conference was arranged by preachers for preachers and held late last autumn at Ebenezer Baptist Chapel, Old Hill, near Birmingham. It aimed to encourage…
Read more
Civil partnerships shock Within the course of an hour, the door of unintended consequence was forced open as the House of Lords voted overwhelmingly to allow civil partnerships to be conducted on church premises. During the debate, tabled for 10.00pm on 2 March, several members of the House of Lords put forward sensible arguments against…
Read more
Australian Aboriginal churches Australian Indigenous Ministries (AIM), previously known as the Aborigines Inland Mission, is a conservative evangelical organisation whose foundations go back to 1905. From the beginning, ministry was aimed at establishing Aboriginal Christians to lead and guide their own people. With the benefit of hindsight, AIM recognises that more in…
Read more
