Prayer fuel: China – world’s largest printer of Bibles and USA – SSM laws

World news in brief – en page 11

Here are a handful of news-bites included in the June issue of en. Please use these articles to spur your prayers, personally or in regular prayer meetings, as we pray for persecuted Christians worldwide.

China: Bible industry – Amity Printing press, based in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, is the world’s largest printer of Bibles, it was reported in late April.

Pakistan: Mental health – In an attempt to protect mental health sufferers from the injustice of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, the country’s Sindh province passed in April an amendment to its 2013 Mental Health Act, which demands that anyone accused of blasphemy must undergo a psychological examination.

USA: Clinton’s turnaround – Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, called for the US Supreme Court to rule in support of same sex marriage this June.

For more news and prayer fuel from around world and in the UK visit our website or subscribe to en for monthly updates.

Prayer fuel: ‘The Chosen One’ and Porn warning for teens

UK News in Brief – en page 3

Here are a handful of news-bites included in the June issue of en. Please use these articles to spur your prayers, personally or in regular prayer meetings, as we pray for our country.

Lost in translation – It was reported that a service in Westminster Abbey which included an exhortation in Turkish included a reference to ‘The Chosen One’ with the ‘one’ not being a reference to Jesus, but to Mohammed.

Abort ethics – It was reported in early April that Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister plans to change the law to allow abortion in certain circumstances.

Porn warning for teens – An NHS psychiatrist has warned that teenagers who watch pornography may struggle to recognise that it does not portray normal sexual behaviour.

For more news and prayer fuel from around world and in the UK visit our website or subscribe to en for monthly updates.

Editors commentary: Who wants to be anonymous?

We live in a celebrity culture.

And, sure enough, the church has bought into it. We have celebrity Christians of various sorts who bestride the evangelical scene. They have an enormous following. If they tweet a commendation of something, thousands of Christians buy into it.

In and of itself there is nothing wrong with celebrity. ‘Some have greatness thrust upon them.’ Some simply are very gifted people. But others covet it, seek it, grasp for it. That’s where the problem arises. And these days everyone seems intoxicated with a desire to be known, recognised, appreciated and respected. We crave to be a ‘somebody’, to be something – anything – other than nothing. Our Bible Colleges and pulpits include those in search of fame. But Jesus made himself nothing (Philippians 2.7).

Christian ‘wannabes’

Of course, the desire for celebrity in the church is nothing new. The disciples argued over ‘Who will be the greatest?’ (Mark 9.34). James and John were also at it (Mark 10.37). All this is actually a dreadful blight on…(to read more click here)

This article was first published in the June 2015 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to en or visit our website www.e-n.org.uk.

Nationalism and the UK post-election (June issue highlights)

Coming up in the June issue of Evangelicals Now…

June issue of en

 

• How should Christians think about Nationalism and the future of the UK post the election?

• Lancaster church grows with no frills

• Why upholding Biblical Complementarianism matters

The June issue is out now! Read it online or enjoy the printed paper with your morning cuppa!

You may subscribe to have regular access every month to all of the articles for the ridiculously cheap price of £0.84 a month – £10.00 per year!

Running a school today?

Headmaster Alun Ebenezer reflects on what Christianity ought to bring to education

Alun Ebenezer

Not a week goes by, it seems, without a faith school, or the subject of education and faith, hitting the headlines.

The Trojan Horse situation in Birmingham has put the topic firmly in the spotlight. The government and the Department for Education (DfE) are understandably worried about impressionable young people being indoctrinated and radicalised. Furthermore, as with schools, nurseries found to be teaching creationism as scientific fact will be barred from receiving education funding.

On top of this, in his annual report, the Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said that almost a third of England’s secondary schools are not good enough. He went on to say that improvement at secondary level is stalling and in some cases sliding backwards, with weak leadership and a culture which tolerates low level disruption to blame. This is compounded by recent league tables that suggest 117,000 children are at inadequate schools and evidence which shows that British young people appear to be falling behind their contemporaries in other countries.

No time to retreat

At such a time as this many Christians do not want to send their children to state schools because they are worried that what they will be taught flies in the face of biblical Christianity and frightened of the ungodly influences that will surround their children.

But far from being a time to retreat and be downcast, what an opportunity a time like this presents! I cannot think of a better and more important time to be involved in education. The main responsibility for educating children is within the family and by parents. They are the ones God holds responsible. On 26 occasions the book of Proverbs calls fathers to instruct their children and on 13 occasions it calls mothers to do the same task. However, family life seems to have broken down in Britain today and schools and other agencies are required to play the role the family once did. While we can argue all day that this should not be the case, as long as the situation is as it is, surely we should see this as … (to read more click here)

Alun Ebenezer,
Headmaster Fulham Boys School

This article was first published in the February issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, visit us online or subscribe to en for monthly updates.

Youth leaders column by Dave Fenton: The Nobel Army

credit: istock

This is a call to action!

I am writing this just before I make my annual pilgrimage to High Leigh to meet with fellow full- and part-time youth ministers. When I started youth ministry in 1985, there were very few full-time workers around. It is a real joy to meet with those who have committed their lives to such service in the church. There are still many pressures on people who fulfil this ministry but, without question, it has been a blessing to the church.

Support for volunteers?

However, for every one full-time youth worker, there are at least ten people who are not employed by the church who turn up faithfully week by week. I wonder if our so-called ‘volunteers’ get all the help they need or deserve. More often than not… (to read more click here)

Dave Fenton is the training director of Root 66, which runs training courses for youth ministries across the UK. If you are interested in discussing ideas further with him about this project, please contact him via Evangelicals Now. He would be delighted to hear from you.

This article was first published in the February 2015 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, visit us online or subscribe to en for monthly updates.

Is there anybody out there?

Paul Copan and Kenneth D Litwak critique Naturalism and Scientism from the Christian point of view

istock

Most children read Dr Seuss at some stage.

In Dr Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who, a mean-spirited kangaroo opposes the elephant Horton’s conviction that small persons can exist in an invisible world on a flower Horton found. Despite Horton’s conviction about what he clearly heard, the kangaroo announces, ‘If you can’t see, hear, or feel something, it doesn’t exist!’

This pretty well summarises the view of many scientifically-minded academics on campuses today. They are opposed to the postmodern mood embraced by many of their peers, but they venture into another form of academic dogmatism.

Science alone?

During the Protestant Reformation, renewed emphasis was give to certain doctrines that had been diminished over the centuries: sola scriptura (‘Scripture alone’ is ultimately authoritative and, when push comes to shove, trumps church tradition) solus Christus (‘Christ alone’ is the basis of our salvation), sola gratia (God’s ‘grace alone’ is the source of our salvation) and sola fide (the means of salvation is ‘by faith alone’ rather than human effort). Well, in the academy, we regularly encounter the quasi-religious dogma of sola scientia, that ‘science alone’ can give us … (to read more click here)

This article is an edited extract from The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas by Copan and Litwak, published by IVP, ISBN 978 1 783 591 282, and is used with permission.

This article was first published in the February issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, visit us online or subscribe to en for monthly updates.

Prayer fuel: Gospel making headway and YouVersion Bible app.

UK news-in-brief (en page 3)

Here are a handful of news-bites included in the May issue of en. Please use these articles to spur your prayers, personally or in regular prayer meetings, as we pray for our country and issues we are all facing, along with persecuted Christians worldwide.

Dawkins chaplains? (UK) – Hospitals may have to provide atheist chaplains, according to NHS guidelines published in early March.

RE incentive (UK) – Graduates are being offered bursaries in an attempt to recruit more RE teachers, it was reported in March.

World news in brief (en page 11)

Albania: headway – The gospel is slowly making headway in Albania, it was reported in March.

World: new milestone – The YouVersion Bible app has now been downloaded over 175 million times on Smartphones and tablets around the world, it was reported in March.

For more news and prayer fuel from around world and in the UK visit our website or subscribe to en for monthly updates.

Any gospel witness amongst Yorkshire youth? Enter Yorkshire Camps!

Andrew and Hannah Peace

Each Monday evening, for the last 12 months or a so, a small group has come together to pray.

They were praying for the provision of a centre which could provide a strategic base for gospel witness amongst young people in Yorkshire and beyond. On 24 February God answered their prayers in a remarkable way. To understand the story we have to roll back around three years.

While working at The Oakes Holiday Centre, a Christian camp centre in Sheffield, Andy and Hannah Peace started to pray that God might open the door to start a similar work further north. It was a big idea. With no team around them, or money to get them started, it seemed unlikely.

But God stepped in. He supplied the people and finances to get started and in faith they ran their first camp in Easter 2013. Spurred on by a great time and delighted parents, Yorkshire Camps was up and running.

Yorkshire is quite spiritually barren. Less than 1% of the population have contact with a church. Most churches have small or struggling youth groups, which makes it difficult. However, to bring groups together not only makes it possible for Christian young people to be encouraged, but allows non-Christians to be reached for Christ.

Bigger vision

Since that first venture, Yorkshire Camps has run over 16, hiring centres in West and North Yorkshire. Most have been full and some young people have professed faith. Older campers have returned to help out younger campers. Over the past two New Years, two groups of teens came together for three days. Reflecting on these Andy said: ‘Watching young people see in a New Year with their Bibles open, hearts soft and minds attentive to what God was teaching them, was thrilling!’

As good as these were, however, Andy and Hannah’s vision was for something much greater:… (click here to read more)

Yorkshire Camps

This article was first published in the May issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, visit us online or subscribe to en for monthly updates.