Many court cases have taken place in recent years in which Christians, for various reasons, have fallen foul of the law. This has ranged from refusing to bake a cake with a message that goes against one’s convictions; to preaching in the open air, where someone has been offended and made a complaint; to…
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This is the second edition of a title originally published in 2004. The author, director of Matthias Media and father of five children, sets out to address the ‘fatherhood crisis’ by changing how we think about fatherhood. He observes that it is no accident that the appalling lack of responsibility shown by many fathers…
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This book charts the progressive departure of Primitive Methodism from biblical orthodoxy around the turn of the 20th Century. A previous volume chronicled the rise of the movement a century earlier. The original Primitive Methodist leaders sought a return to the spirit and methods of John Wesley; today they would have been labelled as fundamentalists.…
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Sir Roger Scruton is a political philosopher, university lecturer, public commentator, opera composer, wine critic and all-round good egg who likes to write two books every year. Scrutonia is his ‘world of farmers and philosophers, of Wagner and wine, of animals and Aristotle.’ He identifies as a ‘man of letters’. Where we are is Scruton’s ‘personal…
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The author of this book is the FIEC training director. This title is part of a series reproducing seminar teaching given at the FIEC ‘Hub’ conference. It is aimed at those in gospel ministry or church leaders pastoring such men. It intends to help these men progress in godliness and that such progress can and…
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This small paperback from the Lausanne Movement is a work of two halves. First comes Michael Reeves’ introduction to the world-changing events of 500 years ago. The reader is led through Martin Luther’s protest against indulgences, his new understanding of the righteousness of God and the events that transpired at Worms and Wartburg. Thereafter…
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This book seeks to encourage godly ways to manage emotions such as sadness, anxiety and anger. It warns against sinful responses to these feelings and is addressed to Christians who struggle in this area or who wish to better support others. Haddow makes it clear that, although Christians still wrestle with sinful desires or…
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At first glance, the title of this book may seem ambitious, given that there is so much to say about the Bible. On reading it, however, one soon realises that the author has gone a long way to reaching the goal. This book, fourth in a series of six, covers: the story of the…
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In this useful and interesting book, Edwards shares many reasons for trusting the veracity of the Bible. It is the first book in a series of six that will go on to address: the authority of Scripture; the formation of the canon; the history of the text; Biblical criticism and personal Bible study. Starting…
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This is a book that might well be used by both leadership trainers and trainees. Beginning with the model leader, Jesus himself, the author shows how he trained by example. He never demanded of his followers what he himself was not prepared to do and to be. Several examples of leaders, especially in Africa…
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This superbly illustrated book presents a compelling case that our world displays the hallmarks of design and testifies to the exquisite handiwork of our creator. Evidences are first drawn from a selection of land mammals, sea creatures, birds and insects. The authors use their technical expertise to explain many aspects of design that are…
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William Tyndale was born around 1494 in Gloucestershire, most probably in Stinchcombe. In the English-speaking world he is arguably one of the most influential men since the apostles. He was a Christian, preacher, theologian, translator and Reformer, yet was executed for heresy by strangulation, and then his body was burned. Not much is known…
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Charles Woodrow reports on the preparation of the new mission hospital. It has been nearly 20 years since I closed down the surgical work I was engaged in during my first eight years in Mozambique, fully expecting to build and inaugurate a mission-owned surgical centre within the next five years. While that was slowly…
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Medical missionary Charles Woodrow of Grace Missions, serving along with his wife Julie, reports on sustained and very encouraging gospel progress in Mozambique. In July we had another rewarding Fiel Ministries Conference, our 18th annual meeting for pastors and church leaders, with 345 attending from throughout the northern two-thirds of Mozambique. This tied with…
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It’s a long-established truth: children merit supportive care. Jesus valued children, and the Light of Hope Mission — a Siloam Christian Ministries project in India — is doing the same. One such child is Jennifer, whose father abandoned her and her mother when Jennifer was a baby. Although her mother tried working in domestic…
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Please keep praying for the ministry to a pagan nation of Kurds and Yazidis that live in the mountains in Armenia. Our missionary Artur Marandyan, with a team of Armenian and Kurdish ministers, preach to this nation that lives high in the mountains, in villages isolated from civilisation. There has recently been an outreach…
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Some years ago, we aired a series of Arabic radio Bible discussions under the title, God’s original purposes for the Hebrew nation. It was blessed with much lasting gospel fruit. The Holy Spirit stirred the hearts of many Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa to understand the ultimate purpose of God’s call…
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Christians have been helping to minister to people in France in the wake of the terrorist shooting in Carcassonne and Trèbes, on 23 March — a shooting that left four dead and many physically injured and mentally traumatised. Hicham, a pastor ministering in south-western France, who has written before for Evangelical Times, has written:…
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Britain’s capital has been awash in recent months with reports of violent deaths. It has now outstripped New York as a place of violent homicide. Ten years ago, this writer’s first article for Evangelical Times (September 2008) was a reflection on the terrible knife crimes that rocked London in 2008. At the time, I…
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Billy Graham’s death on 21 February brought to a close one of the most remarkable Christian lives of the 20th Century. In 1983, when US President Ronald Reagan presented the evangelist with the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in America, he said, ‘His contribution to the wellbeing of the human race is…
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If we are to be Jesus’ disciples, then by definition, we are to learn of him. How then are we to learn from one we have never met? We cannot hear the words that come out of his mouth as those described in the Gospels did; but we can read those words, and hear…
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The first of three edited extracts from Edgar Andrews’ new book, What is Man? Adam, alien or ape? It’s easy to confuse SETI with YETI because both relate to creatures that probably don’t exist. The Yeti is a proverbial beast that inhabits the Himalayas and walks upright like a human, but leaves huge footprints…
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There is a genre of Christian biography which delights in recording the doings and sayings of eccentric preachers, and William Trewartha Bray – Cornish miner and Methodist local preacher, small, spare and wiry of build – falls into that category. If his name is mentioned, most people know little if anything about him beyond…
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There is a problem in our churches with many empty pastoral positions across the UK. There are many reasons for this problem, one that could possibly get worse as the ‘baby boomer’ generation steps down from ministry responsibilities. The FIEC identified a possible obstacle to ministry staffing as the lack of clearly defined access,…
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Pastoring a church member who has suffered childhood sexual abuse is hard enough. Doing so when the person in question has entered the national and international media spotlight is even harder. That is precisely what Jim Savastio has faced in recent months. Jim is the pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky.…
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A middle-aged man looks in the mirror, puts on a bright orange wig to cover his bald head and suddenly he’s young again – allegedly! But why does he do it? If you see him in the street, it’s obvious it’s a wig! The colour doesn’t match his eyebrows or stubble and you can…
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Only divine wisdom could have enabled the apostle Paul to handle a church like Corinth. And today we need biblical wisdom to avoid the sort of errors prevalent at Corinth. Things were bad in Corinthian culture — in Roman society ‘to Corinthianise oneself’ meant to abandon yourself to unbridled immorality. And things were bad…
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a man who went at all of life full-on. He laughed and cried much; he read avidly and felt deeply; he was a zealously industrious worker and a sociable lover of play and beauty. Christ and the Bible Spurgeon was soaked in scripture. You can pick almost any sermon —…
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Often regarded as ‘America’s pastor’, Rev. Billy Graham was vastly influential in the United States and around the world as a minister and evangelist. Ever a simple and humble man, he was close friends with nearly every US president since Truman. Born in 1918, he was alive from the presidency of Woodrow Wilson to…
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In 2016 St Columba’s Free Church in Edinburgh officially launched the Esk Valley church plant. Nearly two years on, it has grown from the initial four-person group that established it. Under the leading of St Columba’s, Rev. Tom Muir and his family moved to the area to help initiate the plant. Now there is…
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The spiritual journey of King David was the focus of the 2018 Our Daily Bread Conference in Westminster Chapel, London. About 1,000 people, from across London and the South East, gathered in March to worship Christ and hear the Scriptures explained by former pastor and author Bill Crowder. In the first of four addresses,…
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On Monday 26 February, Dr Lesley Rowe gave a church history lecture at Little Hill Church in Wigston, Leicester. Dr Rowe is an Associate Fellow in History at the University of Warwick. She has lived in Leicestershire for about 30 years and has given many lectures on church history and published two books. This…
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More than 100 Christian leaders from across the North of England attended the Connected Conference, a single-day event hosted by Dewsbury Evangelical Church in March. It was difficult to pick out the high points of this busy conference, as there were so many. In his first address John Benton, director of pastoral support for…
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‘What is man?’ is the question David asked in Psalm 8. It is also the title of a sequel to Professor Edgar Andrews’ popular book, Who made God? The new book, entitled What is Man: Adam, Alien or Ape?, was published in a Dutch edition in February this year, even though the English version…
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The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) congregation in Ayr took leave of their minister, Rev. Gavin Beers, at a gathering on 24 March. After a ministry of 12 years in Ayr, he has accepted a call to Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Mebane, North Carolina, USA. This church was established as a mission congregation in…
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Glasgow played host to a large crowd on Friday 9 March, as people gathered to hear a talk by John Lennox, professor of mathematics at Oxford University. The internationally renowned speaker took as his subject the interface between science, philosophy and religion, in a lecture called Are God and faith anti-science and anti-reason? This…
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Government plans to create ‘integrated communities’ could end up marginalising Christian schools, according to reports. Building on the Casey Review in 2016, the 80-page Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper, published in March, aims to promote British values and improve community integration rather than segregation. While the Green Paper rejects a proposal to regulate sharia…
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Over 300 church and charity leaders packed into St Mary’s Church London, on 20 February 2018, for a day conference entitled ‘Above and Beyond’. This gave specialist advice and updates on governance, legal matters and charity regulations, and was organised by the Evangelical Alliance. Shirin Aguiar reports on key points made during the day.…
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In another bizarre event marking the global invasion of immorality into Western churches, the Presbyterian Church leadership of Canada (PCC) has written a ‘letter of repentance to the LGBTQI community’, confessing various ‘sins’, such as how the church has fostered a ‘homophobic environment’. This news follows the establishment of the Rainbow Communion, a commission…
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Millennials and young people who no longer attend church regularly are tuning into Christian radio programmes more frequently than ever, according to research. The survey, carried out by ComRes among UK adults on behalf of Premier, found those aged between 18 and 35 make up the largest proportion of those tuning into its radio…
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European Mission Fellowship (EMF) has announced the closure of its European School of Biblical Studies. After this year’s course finishes, the school will discontinue, following the EMF trustees’ decision. According to a statement, EMF together with London Seminary will launch a Northern Seminary in West Yorkshire, with a new foundation course commencing in September…
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The Burning Bush Christian bookshop in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, has celebrated its 30th year of ministry among the community. In a newsletter, owners since 1991 Billy and Ruth Neill give thanks to God for his provision in keeping the shop open and flourishing, despite several dramatic incidents. They recall: ‘These included a runaway car…
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Partick Free Church (Continuing) has entered a new and exciting phase with the acquisition of a permanent place of worship. In June 2016, Partick United Free Church (UFC) entered into a rental agreement with Partick FC(C) to share the Partick UFC building, but by the end of November 2016 Partick UFC voted to close, due to declining attendances. The…
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Churches will not be inspected as part of government attempts to counter extremism, the Department for Education has confirmed. Under the approach first mooted by David Cameron, any setting which provided instruction to children for more than six hours a week could have been inspected by Ofsted. But amid strong concerns from groups including The…
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Scientists are developing ways to help astronauts survive high levels of radiation in space, and even get them to Mars without the deadly exposure expected during three years of space travel. Talking to the Guardian newspaper, astronaut Commander Scott Kelly called radiation a ‘known hazard’. And, while scientists are planning manned trips to the…
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London’s Natural History Museum is working on a project to scan and recreate in 3D fragile fossils brought back on The Beagle. The aim of the project is to recreate Charles Darwin’s fossil collection in such detail it can be studied by scientists as well as the general public. The findings will be uploaded…
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British mothers have launched the ‘Be Here For Me’ campaign to prevent a ban being imposed on pro-life groups standing outside abortion facilities. Mothers who were helped by vigil members outside abortion clinics have spoken out against the introduction of censorship zones that would ban help for women outside abortion facilities. As part of…
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Liberal pastor and author Steve Chalke has stirred up controversy yet again by publishing an e-book in which he claims the eunuch converted after meeting Philip the evangelist (Acts 8) was somewhat akin to today’s transgender people. His book, The gender agenda: towards a biblical theology on gender identity, reassignment and confirmation, claims to…
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Girl Guide leaders have protested against new rules that allow boys self-identifying as female to share changing rooms, showers and tents with biological girls. Last year, Evangelical Times reported that the Girlguiding UK association had published guidance stating biological males could use the facilities of the gender with which they self-identify. Parents were not…
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A gay clergyman, disciplined for violating Church of England (CofE) teaching on marriage, has lost his case at the Court of Appeal. Canon Jeremy Pemberton entered into a same-sex marriage in 2014, despite CofE rules not allowing clergy to do so. He had his licence as a priest revoked for this action, whereupon he began…
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Government recommendations to reduce the maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) have not gone far enough to tackle problem gambling, a charity has warned. In March, the Gambling Commission recommended the maximum stake on FOBTs should be set at £30 or less. But campaigners believe it should be reduced to £2 — the…
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Members of the House of Lords have heard arguments for and against allowing medical practitioners to have conscience rights enshrined into UK law. In March, Baroness O’Loan’s Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Bill went to the Committee Stage in the House of Lords. The bill will clarify the law to ensure conscience protections are in…
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Human trafficking in the UK has seen a shocking rise in 2017, figures from the National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed. According to the NCA, 5,145 potential victims of human trafficking were submitted to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2017. This marked a 35 per cent increase on 2016’s figures, making it a…
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Parents will have their rights to bring up their children handed over to the state if the Scottish parliament criminalises smacking. This was the warning from lawyer Gordon Lindhurst, a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), who claimed the Scottish government’s arguments in favour of a ban on smacking were underhand. Writing for Scottish…
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Freedom of speech is being curtailed at universities and colleges across the UK, a report from Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has found. In March, the JCHR published a report in which it warned excessive measures have been implemented at some universities. These measures, such as the banning of speakers or the…
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Masked attackers in Western Sudan murdered a church pastor in Darfur, along with his wife and two daughters in March. According to reports from Barnabas Fund, the attackers broke into his house early in the morning, gathered the family in the living room and asked Pastor Stephen to explain why he had not responded…
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China has increased its pressure on Christians in China, especially in the central Henan province, where public security bureaus and religious affairs commissions have been targeting house churches. According to reports from US organisation China Aid, a new initiative in Nanyang, Henan, explicitly forbids any kind of religious gatherings in people’s homes. Anyone caught…
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Canadian preacher Pastor David Lynn has been released by the police without charge after being falsely accused of hate speech. Mr Lynn, a leader of a church in Toronto, had been arrested and held for more than 20 hours at Fresh Wharf Custody Base in Barking, London, after preaching the gospel outside Barking tube…
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