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T H E M AG A Z I N E O F T H E E VA N G E L I C A L A L L I A N C E
Have you heard the good news?
A DUMMIES’ GUIDE…
CAN I JUST BE GOOD?
How to evangelise
THEOLOGY
Good deeds or good news
60 SECONDS
GOOD QUESTION
BIG INTERVIEW
THE EVANGELISM EXPERTS
They tell us how
CONNECT
CULTURE
NOV/DEC 2016
NEWS COMMENT FEATURES
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Amaris Cole: When was the last time you shared
CONTENTS
your faith? I recently asked that on Twitter, and was so encouraged by the responses.
idea-torial
FIVE THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW UNTIL THIS ISSUE
I probably didn’t choose the right moment to do so – sorry Miss Gifkins – and I definitely didn’t use the right words. He wasn’t convinced: “Because if God really does answer prayers, why hasn’t he given me a Playstation?” But isn’t the confidence we have as children amazing? I can’t guarantee that I’d be quite so persistent now. When was the last time you shared your faith? I recently asked that on Twitter, and was so encouraged by the responses. So many of you are regularly telling the good news, and speaking of the ways that God has changed your life with those who don’t know Him yet. But it isn’t always straightforward, is it? We all want to play our part in the great commission, but how? And are we actually allowed to these days? Well, hopefully this edition will help. You’re probably aware that this autumn the Alliance is launching a brand new project to equip individual Christians and churches across the UK to share faith in their specific context. Read more about that on page 10.
8 Around the WEA News from the alliances around the world.
I still remember trying to tell Nathan Booth about Jesus during a year four spelling test.
FEATURES
Mondays are a good day to share your faith! Watford striker Odion Ighalo’s twitter bio says: “My God is able” Some Christian law students are being refused employment in Canada Opinions formed from religious belief are protected in law My boss once wrote a letter to Michael Jackson – but didn’t send it
And if you’re worried about what the law says about
14 – 15 We are the evangelists Individuals, churches and charities: meet some amazing people doing amazing work.
REGULARS 4-5 Connect News from across the Alliance
12 60 Seconds The Church of England’s Rachel Jordan-Wolf speaks about how good we are at sharing our faith.
20 – 21 Good Question Can I just be a good person? We explore whether good deeds alone are enough.
24 – 25 Big Interview Watford footballer Odion Ighalo tells us how he lives out his faith, on and off the pitch.
28 idea-list 5 ways to talk about Jesus. From social media to telling stories – we get tips from Elim’s Gary Gibbs.
24 Big Interview.
34 Last Word
telling others about your faith, then you’ll be pleasantly
Our general director tells us his favourite things about the Alliance.
surprised. The Alliance has just released an amazing resource that shows just how much freedom we have in the UK. Read more about Speak Up on page 23. This edition is all about equipping you as a Christian in the 21st century to spread the good news. We take
28
it back to basics on page 16 and 17 with our practical guide of how to evangelise. Get inspired on page 14 and 15 by hearing stories of those already doing this and hear from a premier league footballer using his
idea-list.
34
Last Word.
position for good on pages 24 and 25. We are so encouraged that so many of our members are already regularly evangelising, but hope this magazine will encourage and equip you further. Amaris Cole Editor @AmarisCole
We’re on Twitter! Follow us @idea_mag
Head Office 176 Copenhagen Street, London N1 0ST tel 020 7520 3830 [Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm] fax 020 7520 3850 info@eauk.org www.eauk.org Evangelical Alliance leadership team Steve Clifford, Gavin Calver, Fred Drummond, Elfed Godding, Emrys Jones Dave Landrum, Peter Lynas, Chine McDonald
Email address changes to members@eauk.org Northern Ireland Office First Floor Ravenhill House 105 Ravenhill Road, Belfast BT6 8DR tel: 028 9073 9079 nireland@eauk.org
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
IDEA MAGAZINE / 3
CONNECT
News from the Alliance across the UK
Why I’m leaving a legacy to the Alliance We asked three of our wonderful supporters who have remembered the Alliance in their will what prompted them to do so: “My desire and prayer is that the Alliance be used to strengthen and challenge the Church to teach and preach the good news of Christ and reach out with it to others and society at large.” “I think it very important that you are in touch with the government and able to put a Christian view point across.” “I was a personal member of the Evangelical Alliance for more than 25 years and when I retired, I felt I could no longer contribute on a regular basis but wanted to still show my support.” You too can help pave the way for future generations with a gift in your will to the Evangelical Alliance. If you’d like to know more or request one of our legacy information booklets, please visit www.eauk.org/legacies or ring Nicky Waters on 0207 520 3858 for a confidential conversation. Thank you.
Five prayer points Praise God for the work of His Holy Spirit through the Church – over 170 years, the Alliance has seen many movements of God in the United Kingdom, and we are encouraged by the desire for unity being displayed by so many churches at this crucial time in our history. Praise God that He is constantly drawing people to Himself, through the most unlikely of people and in the most unlikely ways. Please pray for the Great Commission website as it launches. Pray that this unique evangelism hub would be a well-used resource for individuals and churches around the UK, as we seek to bring people to Jesus.
Help make Jesus known With your help, the Great Commission website will equip the Church to communicate the gospel clearly, confidently and powerfully. Your support could help us produce and share weekly videos of people coming to faith; it could help collate and categorise evangelism resources for easy access; it could enable training videos and articles to build the confidence and ability to powerfully spread the gospel. You can help make Jesus known with a gift of as little as £3 a month to support the Alliance’s mission work. To do so visit eauk.org/supportmission.
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Please pray for protection and encouragement for those who have contributed so much to the Great Commission website – from those who shared their testimonies and stories, to churches who are trying to reach out to their communities in innovative and new ways. Please pray for the people who made first-time commitments to Jesus during the UK summer festivals. The reports from the Alliance team who attended these festivals were very encouraging; please pray that those who made commitments to Christ remain strong, and rooted in His love.
CONNECT
DEEP IMPACT Bookings for Deep Impact 2017 are now open. The conference will run from 20 – 22 January 2017 in Aviemore. Deep Impact is for all who are involved in youth or children’s work in a paid or voluntary capacity and as the only conference of its kind in the UK in 2017, we’re excited about welcoming delegates from across the UK nations. Confirmed speakers and worship leaders include Rich Atkinson, Andy Harding, Hannah Heather and Allan McKinlay. Further info can be found at http://www. deep-impact.org.uk/the-conference-2017.html
SCOTTISH PUBLIC LEADER
Matt Barlow, Christians Against Poverty.
After months of planning we’re excited to launch the Scottish Public Leadership programme in November 2016. We have recruited a group of around 15 emerging leaders as participants to be part of the pilot. They will receive equipping, mentoring and support until May 2017 from existing public leaders, theologians and Alliance staff. We’re so excited by the potential of this programme so please do pray for us and the participants as we run it over the coming months.
The Alliance’s new council meets
KOREAN CHRISTIANS IN SOUTH WALES
The new council met at the end of September for two days to discuss how the UK Church can help make Jesus known. The council looked at the areas where we are currently working well to introduce people to Jesus, as well as looked at what activities and efforts they had seen bear fruit. Ranging from courses such as Alpha and Christianity Explored, to different forms of church services, to activities serving the community. Matt Barlow, chief executive of Christians Against Poverty, shared how as the organisation celebrated their 20th anniversary, they saw 1,000 people in 12 months come to know Jesus for the first time through their work. Ahead of the launch in October council members were given a sneak peek of the Alliance’s Great Commission project, as well as discussing where the project could go next, the council joined together to pray for evangelism in the UK. Gavin Calver, director of mission for the Alliance, commented: “We’ve had an amazing EA council looking at how we might all become even more of a ‘making Jesus known Church’. Through discussion, fellowship and prayer we looked at this issue and were really challenged as a collective in both our personal and professional contexts to each play our part to the full in sharing the gospel within our community and context.” The council has been reshaped to better reflect the diversity of the UK evangelical Church, across ethnicity, age and gender, and as part of the discussions was further challenged to find ways to ensure all parts of society and the Church are represented in this group. The council acts to advise and influence the work of the Alliance, as well as to provide a forum for prayer and discussion.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
Hundreds of Korean Christians descended on south Wales this autumn, marking a special relationship between the two countries. Events took place around Cardiff, where 150 South Korean Christians hosted a meal for the city’s church leaders and held a prayer meeting in St David’s Hall. Hundreds gathered to hear an 80-strong South Korean choir and an address by Jacob B Hahn, pastor of Seoul Full Gospel Church and president of the Full Gospel Theological Seminary. For South Korean evangelicals, this year marks the 150 anniversary of the gospel’s safe passage to their shores. In 1866, a young Welsh missionary, Robert Jermain Thomas, fulfilled his life’s ambition by distributing the Bible to ordinary Koreans who lived along the banks of the Taedong River, near Pyongyang in North Korea. Thomas was a passenger on board an American ship, the General Sherman, which became engaged in hostilities against the Koreans. In the melee of attack, Thomas threw copies of the Bible to the shore before later dying in a brutal assault. From such an unpromising start, new converts were made and a nation evangelised. In 1900 Christians in Korea represented one per cent of the population, whereas today the figure is closer to 30 per cent. Elfed Godding, national director of Evangelical Alliance Wales said: “It was so inspiring to hear of the growth of the gospel in South Korea and how generations of Welsh missionaries bore witness to Jesus in a very different culture. It’s humbling to realise that Korean Christians are praying passionately for churches in Wales, and themselves coming to work alongside us as we seek to reach our nation with the love of Jesus.”
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News from the Alliance across the UK
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REMEMBER THIS “We say: you can’t take your money with you. I think Jesus almost said the opposite. He said use money so that people will welcome you into what he called ‘everlasting habitations’. It was almost this idea that you can send it on.” We spoke to Rob Parsons from Care for the Family, about how the Church should be caring for lone parents and why we all need to write a will. You can read the full interview with Rob online now. Have you considered paving the way for future generations with a gift in your will to the Evangelical Alliance? If you’d like to know more about leaving a legacy to the Alliance or request one of our legacy information booklets, please visit www.eauk.org/legacies or ring Nicky Waters on 0207 520 3858 for a confidential conversation. Thank you.
Rob Parsons.
WATCH THIS REACHING THE WORLD ON YOUR DOORSTEP We’re looking forward to joining Global Connections and London City Mission to host a day of teaching, training and encouragement to help churches and individuals to engage with people around them of different faiths and cultures. Head to our website now to watch Steve Clifford and other speakers on the day speak about this fantastic event. Wednesday, 23 November 2016. 10am to 4pm at St Jude’s Church, St Mellitus College, London. Tickets are available online for £25 per person. for more information and to buy tickets, visit the Global Connections website.
SIGN UP FOR THIS Leaders resource Are you a church leader, do you lead a ministry or work for someone who does? Make sure you’re subscribed to idea for leaders, our regular email that accompanies each edition of idea magazine. It rounds up the best of the magazine for leaders who may not have the time to read the whole issue, as well as pointing you towards some exclusive content that will help you or your church leader by inspiring, encouraging and equipping them in their ministry. The next edition will include important information from CCPAS about how to make sure your church is up to date with child protection strategies, as well as what to do if you have any worries about the past. The organisation warns that all churches, whatever their size and age, will soon be under scrutiny from a government enquiry, and now is the time to get all of our houses in order. Justin Humphreys, executive director of CCPAS, said: “We must get back to understanding our biblical mandate to safeguard the vulnerable - rather than falling into the tick-box trap, being content with a bureaucratic approach in order to satisfy the requirements of the state.”
WHO’S WHO ALL CHANGE FOR THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE COUNCIL This September saw the first summit of our new, younger council, as mentioned in the Connect pages. The group is now far more representative of age, gender, denomination and geography, and we hope it will guide us to work even more effectively for our members. You can read the full list of names on our website: eauk.org/connect
Whatever your preferred social media channel, be sure to get the latest news from the Evangelical Alliance by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Just type Evangelical Alliance in the search bar and join the club. IDEA MAGAZINE / 6
Superbook Academy is an online Sunday School curriculum that teaches Bible lessons supplementing the episodes from CBN's children animated series, Superbook®.
www.superbookacademy.com
The Only Calendar with a Free Christmas Story-Activity Book The 28 page book illustrated by Alida Massari is designed to be used every day in Advent. Behind each of the 24 windows there is a different shaped Fairtrade chocolate.
How To Buy Calendars Direct Churches, schools and groups can buy in bulk directly from us at www.realadvent.co.uk/shop. We supply in boxes of 18.
Other Shops A range of independent retailers,
bookshops and cathedrals have stocks of the advent calendars. Traidcraft, TLM, Eden.co.uk and Embrace the Middle East also have stocks and some can send bulk and singles. Tesco is the only supermarket selling the calendar, but only in their larger stores.
"..a great idea." Alan Titchmarsh
Twelve Days of Christmas
Also . Available.. To order Angels or Twelve Days visit www.meaningfulchocolate.co.uk
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
See website for details of stockists: www.realadvent.co.uk
RRP £3.99 These Meaningful Chocolate tree decorations are a great way to share the Christmas story and decorate the tree.
RRP £8.99
With 12 Belgian Marc De Champagne Truffles - one for every day of the Christmas Festival. Also includes a free 16 page guide to Christmas traditions.
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AROUND THE WORLD EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE
UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM OR BELIEF FINISHES BRIEF Prof Dr Heiner Bielefeldt concluded his brief as United Nations special rapporteur for religious freedom or belief in June.
The World Evangelical Alliance said: “One of the particulars of Professor Bielefeldt’s approach is his vision on human rights and particularly the freedom of religion and Professor Bielefeldt concludes conviction. his mandate as Special Confirming that Rapporteur. human rights are not a religion, he defended them in a pragmatic and lucid manner. By refusing the idea that human rights can be opposed to each other, Professor Bielefeldt emphasised their complementarity. “This is particularly evident in the so-called Rabat Plan of Action to ban incitement to hatred towards national racial and religious minorities of which Professor Bielefeldt is one of the primary promotors. By identifying incitement to hatred as a form of discrimination – practically forbidden by human rights – it allowed Professor Bielefeldt to put in place measures to protect minorities – often Christians – by this process and its outcomes. “His charismatic personality and his bold vision about human rights and the right to freedom of religion or belief have rendered Professor Heiner Bielefeldt the genuine admiration and profound recognition of the concerned civil society representations at the U.N.” In 2016, Open Doors UK’s World Watch List reported that North Korea remains the most difficult place in the world to be a Christian, followed by Iraq and Eritrea. IDEA MAGAZINE / 8
Members of the AEA meet in the Ivory Coast to discuss leadership.
AFRICAN EVANGELICALS MEET FOR LEADERSHIP SEMINAR The Association of Evangelicals in Africa held a leadership development seminar in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire during August for the leaders of the national evangelical fellowships in the countries of francophone Africa. The theme emphasised training leaders for galvanising the Church to reach and disciple the remaining unreached people groups of Africa. Speakers included Dr. Mario LI-Hing, the chairman of the AEA Board, who spoke
on the topic of biblical leadership in the context of kingdom advance, advocating a Christian leader’s priority to fulfill the great commission, and Dr Solomon Andria, a missionary and leadership speaker, challenged the participants to be transformational leaders who live out biblical qualities and disciplines in ministry. You can read a more detailed report of the meeting on the AEA website, aeafrica.org/news
CHRISTIAN LAW SCHOOL GRADUATES REFUSED CHANCE TO PRACTISE IN CANADA
Photo credit: Christ Beckett
Appointed in June 2010, Professor Bielefeldt worked closely with nations and stakeholders on the issue of persecution and religious freedom. Throughout his appointment he visited countries around the world to review their human rights situations with regards to freedom of religion and conscience. Each visit resulted in a report that registered the situation in the country and proposed recommendations. In addition to country visits, reports addressing specific sensitive subjects, like the right to conversion, the freedom of conscience and religion at school and equality of sexes were published.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) are supporting Trinity Western University (TWU) in appeals in three states that refused to admit graduates or not consider the university an accredited institution. TWU is a Christian university in British Columbia and an affiliate of the EFC. Provincial law societies in British Columbia (B.C.), Ontario and Nova Scotia voted to create obstacles for graduates wanting to practise law in those provinces, either by refusing to admit TWU law school graduates or not to consider TWU an accredited school. Several other provinces will accept future TWU graduates. Objections centre on the institution’s Community Covenant, which requires students and faculty to pledge to abstain from certain activities and behaviours during their studies including the viewing of pornography, the possession or use of alcohol on campus, and “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman”.
The EFC believes law societies that have voted not to accept TWU law graduates have overstepped their mandates and that such decisions violate the religious freedom of TWU and its graduates. TWU launched legal challenges in the three provinces that initially supported the law societies, before the result being appealed. The appeal in Nova Scotia was successful, but not in Ontario. The verdict is still to come in B.C. The EFC has submitted joint interventions with Christian Higher Education Canada and intends to continue to the Supreme Court if necessary.
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IDEA MAGAZINE / 9
NEWS
The Great Commission – simplified At the Evangelical Alliance we’re good news people. We’re passionate about seeing the UK Church share the amazing message about Jesus and his power to transform lives today. And the exciting thing is – each and every one of us has a part to play in sharing this good news. That’s why we’ve created a new website hub, the Great Commission, to inspire and equip you and your church in talking about Jesus. God’s mission is lived out in our lives in so many ways. The Church in the UK is an amazing force for good, humbly serving society across the land. But in speaking to leaders of churches across the UK – big and small – there’s a sense that we, the UK Church, have lost some of our confidence in the gospel. The Talking Jesus research positively highlighted that 67 per cent of those in the UK who currently don’t know Jesus say that they do know a Christian. This is great and further highlights the good work that Christians and churches are doing in building friendships with those in their communities. And yet, 43 per cent of UK adults are not convinced that Jesus was even a real person. Our heart at the Evangelical Alliance is to encourage and empower the UK Church in evangelism, that together we might see people throughout our land come into a lifetransforming relationship with Jesus Christ. Greatcommission.co.uk is a place to watch stories of lives changed by Jesus throughout the UK. You’ll also find stories of how others have shared their faith – exploring times when everything’s gone well, as well as times when it all went wrong. A new story will be available each week to share and freely download, reminding us that God is at work in our land. We’ve also produced a promo video with excerpts from the inspiring stories, as well as information explaining more about the site. We’d love it if you could share these stories in your church, as we think they’ll be a great encouragement to Christians across the UK. At greatcommission.co.uk you can also read reflections that will encourage and stimulate you as you think, dream, pray and plan about what evangelism could look like in your place. These reflections come from Christians across the diversity of the UK
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Church, sharing the lessons they’ve learnt from their context.
reflections and resources in our dedicated prayer section.
And the Great Commission site also equips you to act - connecting you to the evangelism tools and resources already out there, helping you personally share your faith or plan outreach activities for a wide variety of contexts.
The site will be constantly developing and evolving, so please get in touch with your ideas and stories through the website or our Great Commission Facebook and Twitter accounts.
You can easily share what you’ve found on the site by creating boards to save the stories, reflections and resources you’d like to show others. You can then give chosen individuals access to view these boards – whether that’s friends, members of your PCC, or your youth team. Or you can share your boards publicly to inspire others. We want to give you confidence to speak up, so the Evangelical Alliance has partnered with the Lawyers Christian Fellowship to produce a comprehensive, easy-to-read guide to the law and your gospel freedoms. And because we all long to see a major move of God in our land, all of this has to be undergirded by prayer. So you’ll find prayer
We’d love you to join in, so whether you’re talking about Jesus with others all the time, or just starting out; feeling confident or not at all; praying lots, or wanting encouragement to pray more, we hope that greatcomission.co.uk will be of real help for you. For the latest updates follow us on Twitter – @great_comm – and finally, do be praying with us that together we’ll make Jesus known. Also visit talkingjesus.org Visit greatcommission.co.uk today to be inspired and equipped in talking about Jesus – and do make sure your church leader’s aware of this new website too.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
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60 SECONDS WITH…
Rachel Jordan-Wolf We chatted to the Church of England’s national mission and evangelism advisor about why, how and who should evangelise. Your job is huge; so can you tell us what you do without taking up the whole 60 seconds? Keeping the main thing the main thing in the Church of England, which is talking to people about Jesus. The easiest way to describe my role is that I’m a champion for that. Why should we share our faith? I have an A and a B with that. A is because it’s a Commission and it’s the most exciting thing we can ever see – seeing someone coming to faith and seeing their life transformed by Jesus. And B is because Jesus’ final words to us were to go. If we follow him we should do what he says, but it’s not just because we are told to – it’s exciting. How well is the Church of England doing at evangelising at the moment? Under the leadership of our two archbishops with a heart and passion for evangelism the culture has changed. The culture of the Church of England is a much more positive place where we recognise the importance of sharing our faith. But the Church of England is made up of hundreds of individuals and what really matters is whether they are all sharing their faith, and from Talking Jesus, an amazing piece of research we did with HOPE and the Evangelical Alliance, we looked at whether Christians are sharing our faith, and we found that many, many of us are. It was so encouraging. What are the most innovative projects you’ve come across? Well another thing that has put evangelism at the heart of the Church of England is the Fresh Expressions movement. Where dioceses have taken Fresh Expressions seriously, they have added 10 per cent to their dioceses. It’s amazing, and about embracing change and innovation to reach people who were previously outside. I’ve seen everything from Messy Church to skate park church. It’s trying to be much more creative. It’s putting what we have learnt with mission together with our heart for evangelism. What I’m always impressed with is the faithfulness of the people doing these projects. The stories I have heard of really normal, faithful people having a go, be it the teddy bear picnic church to transforming the church fete into a real village community festival. That was great. There’s such a commitment to planting new churches that are relevant to a younger generation like Gas Street in Birmingham – recognising that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Do you think evangelism is just something for certain people with certain gifts? The gift of evangelism might be quite a specific gift for some, but we are all called to witness to our faith – which is evangelism. People are mostly brought to faith because of a friend. It’s about being normal – not a project, not great resources, but being there, sharing their life, sharing their faith, and then inviting them to something and talking about the difference following Jesus makes in our life. That is by far the most fruitful evangelism strategy we have. IDEA MAGAZINE / 12
Rachel Jordan-Wolf.
You’ve spoken before about your work with prostitutes and drug addicts in the red light district of Amsterdam. Do you have a plan to bring the good news to places like this, or is every case different? There are principles that you learn about context and culture that are really important, but at the heart of everything is relationship. Even in street evangelism – which is still about being real people that follows Jesus – that’s the interesting thing to others. Just last weekend my church was doing street evangelism. It’s just a friendly conversation with someone on the street that is authentic and real. And we listened. In Amsterdam we were just doing that over the long haul. You are still trying to be you. You are being vulnerable. Some of them ended up as great friends. Many of them, through no fault of their own, ended up in these situations, and little things meant a huge amount – we are all human. Just things like making a birthday cake, just real friendship and sharing life was really important. I’ve also worked with homeless people in London. I’m still friends with one of the girls and have been walking with her for four or five years. I have a few friends like this, who might make it to the first night of Alpha or come to a few church services, but that’s it. Some people come to faith instantaneously, but many others take a long journey. There isn’t a rule. We have to remain faithful and keep praying. The Church of England’s Thy Kingdom Come initiative is about praying for this nation and praying for five people that you know to come to faith. I’m consciously praying for five of my friends, but we each just need to reach one. If everyone has a heart for one person and reaches them, then everything would change. If our readers have someone in mind that they’d like to share their faith with but aren’t sure how, is there one piece of encouragement you can offer? God loves them more than you do, and His timing is not our timing. Pray for courage. Think of something you can invite them to, and if they say no, invite them again, and if they say no, that’s ok, because you can invite them again another time. It’s not about being pushy, but being persistent.
F R O M T H E B I L LY G R A H A M E VA N G E L I S T I C A S S O C I AT I O N
Would you like a compelling way to share Jesus Christ with friends, family members, and neighbors who
THE POWERFUL NEW MY HOPE FILM
don’t know Him? Show them The Worth of a Soul, the 2016 My Hope UK film featuring engaging real-life stories and a profound message from Franklin Graham. Encourage your church to join with other congregations across the UK and host a showing of The Worth of a Soul. To order your free DVD—or to find out how to stream it online—visit MyHopeWithBillyGraham.org.uk. Invitations and posters are available for download.
“What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” —MARK 8:36, NKJV 2016 BGEA
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IDEA MAGAZINE / 13
F
TURE
Individuals, churches and charities across the UK are doing amazing work in their communities – transforming lives with the good news of Jesus Christ. We’ve collated a few amazing stories here, but we’d love to hear your stories, too. Email us about your projects, or tweet us @idea_mag to tell us more.
God honours the dreams of the faithful. When Jacob awoke from his dream he said: “The Lord is here! He is in this place and I didn’t know it.” (Genesis 28:16). I believe as evangelists we’re called to recognise where God is and link in to the work that’s already in hand. Rev Sue Pegg THE CITY COMMUNITY CREATORS
THE RURAL REVIVAL As a Methodist minister I serve rural churches in Yorkshire. I see my role as being a dream catcher and when I asked the churches on the sheep farming hills of West Yorkshire to dream the dream, they said they were keen to see the congregations grow. Believing that God was already at work in the community (Missio Dei) we simply opened our doors, linked in to village life and welcomed all. We joined in with the secular festivals taking place, and just as the early Christians did we linked the Christian message to what was happening. As a result, congregations grew, people came to faith and God honoured the dream. Later, working in the east of the county and caring for six church communities I shared the dream of a market town church with a recently renovated building. Isolation was a problem with young and old alike, and
the problems of recession were setting in. When local businesses struggled we held a wedding fayre in the church and invited many to have a stall.
All our outreach teams come under the umbrella of streetwise: the aim is to reach out to the lost and be Church to people outside the building.
When young parents were unable to afford a summer holiday we simply changed our building into a seaside venue and celebrated ‘holiday at home’ with sand pit and ball pool. When folk struggled at harvest time we gave everyone a hamper of food to either keep or give away. Our Tea and Toast event provided a meeting place to combat isolation. Every event we organised was free of charge and God honoured the dream. Being welcoming to all, we were helped by lively worship and nurturing through Start and Alpha courses, the congregation began to grow and thrive.
The prison ministry is currently visiting two prisons monthly. We minister to inmates in prayers and being a light in the darkness.
Now serving the folk in rural North Yorkshire I’ve begun to dream with the congregations of eight little churches. I never know where ministry is leading, but never doubt that
The senior citizens team visits three elderly homes. We have fellowship with the residents monthly or fortnightly; for some of the residents that is the only church they
The homeless team visits the homeless on the streets of London once a month in particular areas; ministering to them in prayers, counsel, food and clothing. The Kidz Klub ministers to unchurched children monthly, teaching them biblical morals. The mothers of the children in Kidz Klub asked us to set up Mumz Klub, where lessons about parenting are taught.
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F can attend due to mobility. We celebrate their birthdays in the fellowship. We have an annual BBQ and Christmas lunch with hampers every year for 100 senior citizens. The Homework Klub helps unchurched children with their maths homework and we pray for them, too. Praise Christian Centre Streetwise THE YOUTH Missional Generation (MG) equips young people to be influential for God in every arena of life. We work with the local Church to see their young people strengthen their voices and be at the cutting edge in society through mentoring and encouraging them to share the culture of MG and consider how they can be influential in their own arenas of life. Our support and mentoring has helped one young man decide to use his God-given skills in graphic design to help those who are living at home with medical issues to feel like their house is a home rather than
a medical facility – see an example of his amazing work at jamesdevlindesign.com. Missional Generation looks to raise up a generation of young people who are passionate about living out the kingdom of God everywhere. We teach them: God formed you, Christ accepts you, and the Holy Spirit empowers you. This shapes how we mobilise young people in annual local mission initiatives, how they access our Mission Academy local training courses and explore the devotional and video resources we offer. Our long term goal is to see young people share and model the gospel to their peers as they grow in boldness of faith and live without limitations to serve God. We are currently located in Leeds and Bradford, and have a calling to see the churches and young people along the M62 corridor resourced for missional living. Since February 2016, we have seen more than 60 individuals make a confession of faith, as well as seeing young people we regularly work with teaching and exploring scripture with their peers, as they take a lead in their own evangelistic style. Missional Generation
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THE LANGUAGE LEADERS Everyday Church Online was launched last year to take church to an internet community of three and a half billion people. So far we have reached people of 111 different languages from 180 countries, and we’ve recently launched native speaking services in German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. We have people join us who can’t make it to a brick building because of disabilities, shift work, family pressures, fear – perhaps because they’re from another religion – or location, for example. Some people just want to find out more about Christianity. Inviting people to Everyday Church Online could be as easy as sending a link to the services in an email or through social media. People we talk to are very receptive to the idea of going to church on the internet and then later giving us a visit – even those people that have refused to come to our church buildings for years. We are able to cross many boundaries to reach people, both in our local communities and worldwide, and have them as part of the congregation. The online church is reaching previously unreached people because of the way we’re communicating with the demographic – that’s been more important than the geography. Everyday Church
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Your easy-tounderstand guide to evangelism, looking at when, where, who to and even what to do when it all goes wrong. The experts give us their advice on how we can all share our faith.
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Chapter 1 – who should be an evangelist? Some Christians are amazing evangelists, and can reel off amazing stories of bringing people to Jesus. Gavin Calver, the Alliance’s director of mission, is one of those people. So we asked him exactly who should be following his example. “The short answer is that although some are set apart with the specific gift of the evangelist, all who love Jesus need to play their part in evangelism. Nothing will change in the UK if we’re dependent on the odd charismatic personality who can deliver a rousing talk.” Compelling stuff. Gavin says we need a “mobilised Church, with every person playing their part and stepping into all that the Lord has for them”. He went on: “We all have colleagues, neighbours, friends that the Church may struggle to impact with the good news through any other means than us. So let’s all get active. God is doing great things and we need to play our part and join in with Him.” So we can all evangelise – whether we feel like evangelists or not.
Chapter 2 – what you need to know before you go But wait, am I allowed to say anything? We’ve all seen those cases in the media of people who aren’t allowed to wear their cross at work, surely talking about faith is a no-go? “You need to know that you have far more freedoms to share the gospel than
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you think,” says Dave Landrum, director of advocacy at the Alliance. “In fact, as our Speak Up resource shows, whether in public of private, whether at work or at play, you have more freedoms than most people in the world today.” While it’s important that we exercise these freedoms with responsibility, accounting for professional duties, cultural sensitivities and the need to never abuse trust or authority, it’s vital we exercise these freedoms, he goes on: “This is because the gospel is synonymous with freedom, both personally and socially. Historically, the liberty to share the gospel, and the freedom to accept or reject Jesus, has informed religious freedom for everybody. In turn, religious freedom has supported many other human rights and civil liberties. So, if you don’t use your
freedom to share the gospel, you may eventually lose it.” The fact is that, you are in relationship with God because someone, somewhere, at some time talked to someone about Jesus. So, you should know that you are free to Speak Up.
Chapter 3 – what to say To many people, evangelism can seem daunting. How do you start a conversation about faith, and once you have, what should you say? Well actually, nothing, says Rachel Jordan-Wolf, the national mission and evangelism advisor for the Church of England, who believes listening is the place to start. “Always start by asking more questions than giving answers.”
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So let’s all get active. God is doing great things and we need to play our part and join in with Him.”
and clubs, among many other ‘third spaces’. She said that while sometimes it relates to our approach; it can just be a question of timing or circumstances. “As long as you have shared your faith sensitively and with compassion, then remember that their response is not your responsibility. We are called to share with grace and truth, and we leave the rest to God.” Carolyn said she finds it useful to remember that we can’t save anyone, as Billy Graham says: “It’s God’s job to judge, the Holy Spirit’s job to convict and our job to love.”
Chapter 5 – the next steps That’s the way to engage the person you’re speaking to, she says. “What do they think the meaning of life is, have they ever prayed, do they think there is a God?” But when should we ask these questions? “There are certain cues. Sometimes it’s because you are talking about the difference God makes and they are asking questions, sometimes it’s when they are going through a difficult time and you can offer to pray for them.” Even if that cue doesn’t arrive, you can still have other conversations: “One thing we can all do is work out what sort of thing our friends would come to at church – and if it’s not happening – make it happen. You’ve got to be part of a church you are comfortable to invite people to. Some people who come to
church just like the experience at first – and that’s important. You don’t need a major event to invite someone to church if you’re comfortable with your church. I call it friendproofing church and it’s a challenge for everyone. We need to make sure we aren’t doing anything weird.”
Chapter 4 – what to do when it goes wrong “Don’t be put off, but consider what you can learn from this and how you may do things differently next time,” says Carolyn Skinner from Third Space Ministries, an organisation that shares faith at sporting events, gyms
It’s a journey that continues past conversion and into discipleship, so make sure you always have something else to invite someone to. Rachel Jordan Wolfe heard a really good story from one of the Church of England dioceses: “There was a church that gave out 1,000 mince pies at Christmas. From this, 400 people came to the carol service. Following that, 20 people came to Alpha and two people came to faith and got baptised. And that’s good. We’ve got to put people on the journey and have something to invite people to next – always thinking of the next step.” Keep inviting, keep investing and keep believing that God can do anything.
by Amaris Cole NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
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by Barry Cooper
How to steal past wat The power of storytelling in telling the gospel C. S. Lewis, writing to an aspiring young storyteller in 1956, gave this advice: “Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was ‘terrible,’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers: ‘Please will you do my job for me.’” During the development of our new evangelistic series, Life Explored, those words began to burrow under our skin like a tick. We started to wonder: when we tell people the good news about Jesus Christ, are we doing it in such a way that people say: “This really is good news”? Or are we effectively saying to our hearers: “Please, will you do my job for me?” Now of course, Lewis was giving advice about writing stories, not offering tips on how to share the gospel. But perhaps stories ought to be a more regular fixture in our evangelism. Consider, for example, the 46 recorded parables of Jesus. Why is so much of the Lord’s teaching expressed as a story? Or consider the fact that when God wishes to tell Israel that she had sinned against Him, He does not merely say: “You have done a horrific thing and disobeyed my law.” He casts himself and Israel in a story: she as the adulterous wife, he as the cuckolded husband. The sexual language, Almighty
God as a jilted lover, God’s people as a whore drunk with lust. We’re not being told: “This is shocking.” It’s being described in such a way that we are shocked. Or consider the way Nathan calls King David to repent of his adultery. Rather than confronting him with raw propositional truth – like John the Baptist confronting King Herod in Mark 6:18 – Nathan does something remarkable and altogether more circuitous. He tells David a story: “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the
poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” (2 Samuel 12:1-4).
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tchful dragons David, his sympathy and indignation piqued by the story, is furious with the rich man: “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” (2 Samuel 12:5-6). And it’s at that moment, of course, that Nathan drops the bomb. He says to David: “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7) How is it that a simple story can catch the conscience of the king? To understand why, we need to remember that sin, like the back of one’s own head, is often more visible to others than it is to us. We rationalise and justify it so that, over time, our consciences become accustomed to it. Like David, we need to be shown reality as it would appear to us if we were taken out of ourselves for a moment. And that, as we know, is what stories do. Not only that, but stories are stealthy. Many of us immediately adopt a defensive posture as soon as we begin to hear criticism. Or we freeze up emotionally if we’re being told how we ought to feel. But stories – which seem from the outset to be about someone else – slink past the twitchiest of radars. C. S. Lewis put it like this: “…I saw how stories… could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. And reverence itself did
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We started to wonder: when we tell people the good news about Jesus Christ, are we doing it in such a way that people say: “This really is good news”? Or are we effectively saying to our hearers: “Please, will you do my job for me?”.
harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if it were something medical. But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.” That’s why, with Life Explored, we tried to do something we’d never done before. We created six stories, six short films, each designed to create its own ‘Nathan moment’. For example, we retell the story of Hosea and Gomer in session five, relocating the characters to Edo period Japan. The audience’s disgust at the way the wife repeatedly deserts her husband is exactly fitting, and that is the moment when we can say with Nathan, that’s you and me. That’s the way we treat the one who gives us life and breath and every good thing we enjoy (Acts 17:25). At the same time, something remarkable
happens when an audience sees the lengths to which the husband goes to win back his wife. They resonate with the self-sacrifice. They marvel at the depth of his love and devotion to her. And suddenly we’re no longer telling people that the gospel is good news. They’re starting to feel it for themselves. Preview Life Explored at facebook.com/ lifeexplored Barry Cooper is the author or co-author of numerous books and resources including Life Explored, Can I Really Trust The Bible?, Christianity Explored, Discipleship Explored, One Life, and If You Could Ask God One Question. He was part of the group who planted Trinity West Church in Shepherd’s Bush, London. As a member of the Evangelical Alliance, Christianity Explored is one of 600 organisations supported by the Alliance. If you would like your organisation to become a member of the Alliance, visit eauk.org/connect/join-us/
“THE FRUIT OF ACADEMIA SHOULD REFLECT THE SUBJECT OF STUDY. LST IS AN ACADEMIC THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION. A RIGOROUS ONE AT THAT. HOWEVER, HAVING STUDIED HERE, WHAT I HAVE LEARNT ABOVE ALL IS HOW TO LOVE.” SIMEON BURNETT, LST STUDENT
‘Like’ us on Facebook: facebook.com/LondonSchoolofTheology | Twitter: @LSTheology | www.lst.ac.uk NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
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GOOD QUESTION
by David Simmons, Cinnamon Network
Can I just be a good person? There is a chap in my local community who walks around the streets getting to know people. No matter who they are, he will go up to them, start a conversation, and turn that conversation to what they believe, finding out their perspective on God, and whether he can pray for any aspect of their life. He is wellknown – and actually very well-liked – in the community, and his efforts bear fruit – not only is he a natural evangelist, but he loves to take other believers with him, help them to share their faith with others, and to pray for the sick. I find that inspiring. When it comes to natural evangelists, look up Todd White – you can find his Lifestyle Christianity series on YouTube. Within one day he will typically have seen someone healed of an illness, led them and their family to Jesus, paid for all their shopping, and baptised them within the following few days. I find people like that inspiring - and incredibly challenging. Let’s look at the question: I suppose it is asking that as Christians, can we just be a moral, upright person, and care for other people, without having to share our faith? It all depends on the context. You would not expect an anaesthetist who was a Christian to ask a patient: “Do you know where you are going when you die?” just as she puts them into a deep sleep. You
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would not expect a politician who was a Christian to challenge a constituent on the doorstep with the gospel along with their party’s latest manifesto. One question I would ask is: “Why do you ‘just’ want to be a good person?” Perhaps you are fearful of offending someone, or saying the wrong thing, of being insensitive. I can fully understand people’s apprehension in speaking out about the gospel. In fact, when we talk about ‘speaking out about the gospel’, I too, would be somewhat apprehensive. That sounds so formal, so far removed from everyday life. The first key is to be truthful to yourself, and to start with what you have: your own story of what Jesus did – has done – and is doing – for you. We can all look at people like my friend in the local community, or Todd White, and say: “I can never do that.” Yet as Polonius said in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Above all else, to thine own self be true” (Hamlet, I, iii). I can’t suddenly grow dreadlocks and become Todd White (try as I might); the key is to be secure in my identity in Jesus, and to be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit as I go about my daily routines. If I have a friend who is struggling with particular issues in their life, as well as offering practical, relational help and just being there for them, I might pray
Pic credit: Michael Dougherty
GOOD QUESTION
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…”
and ask God: “What aspects of my story might help that person?” or “how do you want me to show your love to them?” My witness may be spoken, but it may also be demonstrated in acts of love. I could reassure them that I will be praying for them, and perhaps, I might offer to pray for them there and then – many people are surprisingly receptive to offers of prayer. I used to be an actor, and many years ago was in a dressing room. We were getting ready to go on stage, and the room was filled with the adrenaline-fuelled babble of thespians about to perform. Someone asked me a question about my faith, and so I quietly answered her question, so as not to draw too much attention to myself. Before long however, I realised that the entire room had grown quiet as the other members of the company were straining to hear what I had to say. It was a wholly unexpected moment, and it didn’t last long, but it taught me a valuable lesson. The second key then, is always to be ready. As Peter says: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV). He doesn’t say always find a way to turn the conversation to salvation and repentance, or look for every opportunity to win an argument. He talks about always being
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prepared and, as Paul adds: “In season and out of season.” (2 Timothy 4:2). You never know when you may be called on to tell your story, so make sure you are able to tell it! As part of that, it really does help to be able to explain the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection, not just from a biblical standpoint, but also from the perspective of your daily life – people frequently find this fascinating – how can an event from 2,000 years ago affect your daily life in today’s world? The third key is love. No matter what else we may do, we must be motivated by God’s love, empathy and compassion for others. Paul is quite eloquent on this point: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1). If we are to avoid coming across like that dreadful gong, we need to be motivated by love. Outreach exists happily within the context of loving friendships and relationships. If your friends truly matter to you – and possibly more importantly if you matter to them – your constant, faithful witness will bear fruit. It may take time. It is especially important that your friend knows the relationship is not dependent on them becoming a Christian, and that your love is unconditional.
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Read our full impa ct report online eauk.org/im pactreport
2016 REVIEW
The Alliance agenda Ever wondered what life at the Alliance really looks like? As it’s our very special 170th year, we thought we’d open up our diaries and let you have a sneak peek at what we’ve been up to. January With a huge focus on the Great Commission in 2016, our team was boosted by the arrival of a new role – evangelism resources coordinator. The plan began to shape, through conversation with others, prayer and preparation, to create a hub for some of the best evangelism resources in the UK, to equip, encourage and enable Christians to share their faith with those around them.
February We held a second training day for church leaders looking to reach out to the millennial generation with our programme threads. The 30 leaders gathered were taught simple changes that churches can make to ensure their community is more effective at welcoming those in their 20s and 30s. The Northern Ireland Alliance launched 100 Days of Prayer, commemorating 100 years of history – “healing the past, honouring the present and hope for the future”. The Talking Jesus research was presented by the Alliance team to 120 church leaders in Liverpool.
for information purposes only – but it was a very enlightening lunchtime. Our Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland teams ran church hustings ahead of their national elections, which were attended by nearly 2,000 people.
June Our special EU referendum edition helped churches across the UK engage in the vote on membership of the European Union, and we visited churches and events to talk about what a Christian vision for Europe, in or out, might look like. In Northern Ireland, threads attended the Catalyst conference once again.
October
March
July
The Alliance helped launch and distribute the education resource, You’re not alone, guiding parents through the education system. Our One People Commission were introduced to the plans for the Great Commission, and offered their specific insight and advice to the project, which was now being designed. Steve Clifford attended the World Evangelical Alliance gathering in Seoul, South Korea.
As summer well and truly arrived, we organised a little party for those who work in our London office. We had food, drinks and a photobooth. We were joined by two new members of staff, our membership recruitment coordinator and public policy researcher. The Wales office organised the Waleswide church planting conference, and our directors attended and spoke at a whole host of summer festivals and conferences.
April Our director of mission Gavin Calver spoke at Spring Harvest, after writing this year’s official book with his wife, Anne. Later in the month, ahead of the London mayoral election, we gathered the main candidates with an audience of more than 500 to find out what they had to say on the issues that mattered most to Christians. Our Welsh office was busy with the Gweini North Wales prison conference, which was a day of reflection, equipping and encouragement for all those involved in prison ministry.
May Ahead of the referendum, the staff in the London office heard from two staff members on very different sides of the debate. This was an internal debate IDEA MAGAZINE / 22
exectutive director: finance & services, Helen Calder, after 17 years of service. The birthday celebrations continued, too. We had current general director Steve Clifford and former general director Clive Calver in conversation at a special event at LICC in London. Later in the month our brand new Council met for the first time at High Leigh.
August Our 170th birthday! We celebrated with cake and lovely wishes from friends. Our anniversary appeal launched, and we were so grateful for all the birthday gifts. We also worked with the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship to produce a guide to what the law says about your freedom to share the gospel, our Speak Up resource launched in August. Some of our staff decided to sign up for Tough Mudder – a 12-mile obstacle course. Training started immediately in the local park, causing aching legs and sore arms!
September Our millennial project, threads, launched two new videos created for Instagram to show promote the site, threadsUK.com, as well as to be used by readers to show their non-Christian friends what faith looks like in everyday life. We also said goodbye to our
Our whole staff team from the four nations gathered in High Leigh, Hertfordshire, for two days of worship, teaching and inspiring for the year ahead. The month also saw the long-awaited launch of the Great Commission website. We held our Voice for Good public leadership training weekend during October, too, to help Christians provide a voice in public and to the media. This was helped by our new dedicated coordinator who joined the Alliance in the autumn. The busy month concluded with our unity initiative, Gather, taking a delegation to Movement Day in New York.
November We will take our Speak Up resource to the parliaments and assemblies in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast to engage with politicians on the importance of protecting our freedom to share the gospel. To round-off the months of celebration, we will then hold a church service to thank God for His faithfulness over the last 170 years, and prayer for another 170! We will be joined by friends of the Alliance and people who have been crucial to our successful past. The Alliance is joining with London City Mission and Global Connections to run the Reaching the World on Your Doorstep conference, teaching churches in urban areas to reach out to those around them who might be from other faith backgrounds.
December We will gather for our annual Christmas lunch, playing games and giving thanks to God. Party hats all around! We will also celebrate the knowledge that nearly 60,000 people have been visiting our website each month, keeping in touch with the latest Alliance projects, news from the UK Church and features. It’s been another great year – thank you for being a part of it through your prayers and support.
POLITICS
by Daniel Webster, advocacy and media manager at the Evangelical Alliance
Speak up for your freedom to share the gospel There are many upsides to working for a Christian organisation, but one of the significant downsides of working for the Evangelical Alliance is the limited opportunities to share the gospel with my colleagues. I talk about my faith from my desk, over lunch, on the phone and email on a daily basis, but for the most part not with people of other faiths and beliefs. However, for many reading this you will have significant opportunities, but lack confidence and are possibly worried that in doing so you will get into hot water. At the Alliance we exist to help you share the good news in your neighbourhood, work, streets and just about anywhere and this privilege shouldn’t be taken for granted. In many parts of the world there are significant restrictions on preaching the gospel or worshipping publicly. For example, earlier this year Russia passed new laws that only allowed registered churches to conduct missionary activity. This isn’t to say that there are no limits on how and when we share the gospel. There are and some of these are common sense and reflect a godly wisdom. Speak Up is a resource developed by the Alliance and the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship to encourage Christians of the freedoms they do have, and guide them through what the law has to say about sharing your faith. We’ve produced a report drawing together how the law applies in different contexts, as well as a summary booklet, and there’s a snapshot of what those resources cover that can be accessed at www.greatcommission.co.uk/speakup.
terms, you should not be treated less favourably than others because of your faith. IN PUBLIC PLACES There’s a well-established freedom that’s protected in UK law to preach in public places. If you’re doing this here are a few tips: 1.
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If you’re preaching in a park check whether there are specific bylaws that apply to the park – these should be posted at the entrance.
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Maintain a good relationship with your local council, and inform them of what you’re doing.
AT WORK
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If you’re broadcasting sermons, or making them into podcasts, the law governing online electronic communications comes into play.
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If you have the privilege of sharing the gospel with someone else on their property, then you have freedom to do so, but make sure you’re attentive to their wishes and act sensitively.
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If you’re in a commercial venue that is hired for a Christian meeting there are other legal issues in play, but in general
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ONLINE The law makes it a criminal offence to send “by means of a public electronic communications network” a message that is “grossly offensive” or “indecent, obscene or menacing”. Basically, where hateful and threatening comments are distributed on social media there is a risk of prosecution, even if those messages are expressed in religious language.
Most of us spend a lot of time at work and this will often be where we are in contact with people who aren’t Christians. Employers will usually not have a problem with you talking about Jesus and Christian issues if you do so carefully and sensitively.
The American pastor Kevin DeYoung offers a golden rule to “assume that everyone everywhere will read what you write and see what you post”. Think about whether you would be happy to say it to someone face to face and whether it would help people come to know Jesus.
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SO SPEAK UP
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IN PRIVATE PLACES If you’re in your home, or your church building you have almost unlimited freedom in what you say in speaking about the good news.
Check that the land you are on is a public place and not private land – shopping centres and the land around them are often privately owned.
But most of all, bring Jesus into your work place and do whatever you can to help the people you’re working alongside day in day out find out something about the person who saves and transforms our lives.
Remember you’re in your job to do your job. If you have opportunities to share the gospel that’s a great bonus, but make sure you’re committed to the job you’re employed for. Choose your time and place carefully, this is where the combination of common sense and godly wisdom comes in. Talking to colleagues out of work hours and away from your workplace may be the best option.
3.
Develop a culture of talking about faith. If it becomes normal, then it won’t be a surprise for colleagues when you bring it up. Ongoing conversations are also more likely to have a deeper impact than an isolated message. If your view on an issue is based upon your faith, then feel free to say so. Religious beliefs have stronger protection in law.
4.
Respect your colleagues’ wishes and don’t abuse your authority. If it’s clear that they don’t want to hear what you’re saying, respect that.
Sharing the gospel is such an important part of our religious freedom because as we do it we get to introduce other people to the greatest freedom of all. This is the time for us to speak up.
At the Alliance we exist to help you share the good news in your neighbourhood, work, streets and just about anywhere and this privilege shouldn’t be taken for granted.” IDEA MAGAZINE / 23
BIG INTERVIEW
Ollie Baines and Liam Flint
Odion Ighalo: My God is able I’m not perfect, but I try and live my life for God.” Odion Ighalo is a Nigerian footballer who plays for Watford and his national team. He speaks about his faith openly and often tweets about God. As part of their new book, bloggers Ollie Baines and Liam Flint interview the striker about his career, asking how his faith effects that.
You’ve been in England for a little while now. What have you made of it so far? It has been great. England is known for its football and it’s one of the best countries to play in the world. Also, playing in the Premier League is something I’ve always dreamt of and I am happy to be a part of it. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to play in it, so I’m very happy. What made you sign for Watford? Well, before I joined on loan I had been following the team for about two years when the Pozzo family took over Udinese. I thought it was a good team who could gain promotion to the Premier League one day. I felt I could help the team and fight together as one to get promoted. My aim was not to come and play Championship football forever, it was to come and help the team get promoted to the Premier League, which I am very happy we have done. How did you come to faith? I was born in a Christian background in Nigeria. As a Christian, I believe in God and I have seen Him do wonders in my life in many ways and on many occasions. Any time I get on my knees and pray to God, I see a difference. Everything I have, everything I have achieved today is because of the grace of God. I made a vow that all glory should be given back to God in my life. As someone who believes in God I know I am not perfect, but I do acknowledge that there
is somebody out there who is keeping me going when I cry out to Him. On your Twitter page your bio says: “My God is able”. What does this mean? It means, my God is able to do all things. There is nothing that God cannot do. So I
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www.focus.org.uk IDEA MAGAZINE / 24
BIG INTERVIEW
people cannot see or leave their homes, so every day I wake up and thank God for a new opportunity. I also do a special prayer before a game too, so my life is all about God and praying to Him and thanking Him. I’m trying to do my best, I read my Bible as well. I’m not perfect, but I try and live my life for God. What is it like to be a Christian in football? Being a Christian in football for me is normal. I have a few other Christian team-mates like Heurelho Gomes, he’s a good Christian. Also, Ikechi Anya and Troy Deeney, too. But you know, I believe in God, I don’t care what anybody else says about it, I don’t care if people criticise me; I believe in my God. Everything I have is God. Everything I have done is God. So I don’t really mind what other people say. What’s the best moment of your career? I’m having the best moment of my career now. Because every day I wake up and I see a new opportunity to live, it’s an opportunity to accomplish something I am yet to accomplish. I want to give God thanks for where I am today, because I wouldn’t be here without him. say: “My God is able, able to do all things,” He created the heavens and the earth, He created the universe, He created the world we are in today, so there is nothing impossible for God. So that’s what it’s short for – my God is able.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
What does your faith mean to you? It means a lot to me. Not just on the pitch, but in my life, everything I do. I have God first. I can’t go out of the house in the morning without praying, thanking God for a new day. Some people cannot walk, some
This interview is an extract from Cross the Line by Ollie Baines and Liam Flint (SPCK, July 2016). Buy it now online and visit xtheline.co.uk to read more of their interviews with sport stars of faith.
IDEA MAGAZINE / 25
F
TURE
by Fred Drummond, national director, Evangelical Alliance Scotland, and director of prayer
Discipleship deficit I love the great commission, found in Matthew. It is brilliant that it starts in worship (verse 17), is rooted in the authority of the risen Christ (verse 18), and brings clarity to the mission of the people of Jesus. Disciples are to make disciples. They were to give their lives as learners and followers of Jesus to create new learners and followers of Jesus. They were not called to make members, or even converts, but disciples. I want to address three issues in this article: what do we mean by disciple? What are some barriers to discipleship? Is it possible to create a discipleship culture? The invitation The night had been great fun. Alison had been very unsure about the school prom. As she thought, most of the guys had stayed talking and joking among themselves. She and her friends had laughed, chatted, stood around, half hoping to be asked to dance and also petrified that someone might ask. Still, it was near the end and nothing disastrous had happened. As she scanned the room she let her gaze fall on the few couples who had been brave enough, or stupid enough, to dance. Then she noticed Steve. He was walking over towards her. He was the head boy, liked by just about everyone. He was looking
at her. Alison studied her shoes. He stopped in front of her: “Alison.” He spoke her name clearly but quietly. “Will you dance with me?” “I don’t really know how to dance,” she mumbled, shocked that of all the people in the room he had asked her. He had known her name and invited her. “Don’t worry,” he said: “I know the steps to every dance. Just trust me, stay close, follow my lead.” Alison felt that everyone was watching her. What should she do? Did she have the courage to step away from the wall and her friends or should she just say no? He put out his hand and said her name again. She put her hand in his and stepped into the adventure of the dance. I have told a longer version of this story in several conferences on discipleship. I love the image of dance as a model for discipleship. I know it is not perfect, but it is used by several people. Ken Gire, in his book The Divine Embrace writes: “There are places He wants to take us on the dance floor, things He wants to show us, feelings He wants to share with us, words He wants to whisper in our ear.” Discipleship begins at the invitation of Jesus. He calls us to leave the safety and trust him into the unknown. He gives us identity by calling us by name and our lives are spent in the constant learning and following. It will not be easy, it will involve mistakes and frustration, pain and confusion. Yet it will be fulfilling what life was always meant to be. It is identity, relationship, and risky, sacrificial adventure. It is both sitting at the Master’s feet, and being sent out by him. That costly adventure where we grow, learn and follow Jesus is what we as believers are all called to. We are to live it daily, all our lives, living in his authority and going where he leads. Millions of decisions where we are called to simply to say yes to him. Barriers to discipleship I’m sure we can list many barriers to making disciples today. I could do some analysis of the culture and point to a society that lives for instant gratification – a culture that finds long-term commitment difficult and defines itself by celebrity, image, etc. However, here are three provoking thoughts, all based on ourselves as the Church. I believe the biggest barriers to discipleship are not in the world, but in the Church.
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F
Is it possible that in our desire to build numbers we have, in our sharing of the gospel, ignored the place of cost and commitment? Have we offered revisionist gospel that has deleted anything that may put someone off? We can give the impression that everything revolves around us. Jesus is just there to meet my needs. Do I need anything? If so, I’ll go to Jesus. Do I want happiness in life? Then I’ll go to Jesus. Do I want eternal security? Then I’ll go to Jesus as an insurance policy. We can let Jesus be the spiritual veneer on our secularism. In presenting Jesus in this way, we are in danger of turning the suffering servant into our servant. I really like the NLT version of Luke 14:26 – 28 “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you can’t be a disciple. And you can’t be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me. Don’t begin until you count the cost.” Could it be that we are spending more time, money and energy on making converts than we are on how we disciple those who hear the call of God. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be sharing the gospel or spending energy on evangelism. However, have we thought through what walking with people might look like? What does discipleship community look like? How do we put it into place? Have we got disciples ready to mentor and walk intentionally with new disciples? Who is teaching others to pray, to listen, to persevere? Do we underestimate the desire and ability to rise to challenges of new disciples? Particularly younger ones. Are we frightened to challenge the very ones who are up for challenge? Are we diluting parts of the message for people who actually long for the radical, sacrificial challenge to follow Jesus despite the cost? My hunch is that people are tired of a grey spiritual low-cost, commitment-free Christianity and long to see a radical kingdom people who live differently. I believe we should be brave enough to point to the joy and the cost, the success and the failure that is part of learning from and following Jesus.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
TURE
Is it possible to create a discipleship-making culture? I believe discipleship comes from encountering Jesus, hearing his call and recognising his authority over life. He calls people by name into a relationship of love, trust and obedience. It is joyful, adventurous and sometimes costly. It is Jesus first. Seeing each other as disciples, living in the authority of Jesus forces us to ask a different set of questions than when we simply see ourselves as members of a congregation or fellowship. Discipleship calls us into the realms of life sharing, vulnerability, accountability and openness that are not always the marks we would associate with Church.
If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even your own life. . .”
Can we find ways to create these sorts of spaces in church life that enable us to grow together? Are we prepared to invest time, energy and money in creating structures that may radically alter how we function, so that we become disciples who make disciples? Do we have people who are more mature in faith ready and willing to invest their lives into others’ so that disciples make disciples who make disciples? Are we making time to share life with others? The challenge is before us. God has given us clarity on our calling, to be disciple makers. How are we doing?
IDEA MAGAZINE / 27
IDEA-LIST
by Gary Gibbs, director of REACH, the evangelism and church planting department of Elim pentecostal churches
5 ways to start a conversation about your faith In his first letter, Peter encourages believers: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1Peter 3:15) Now, why would someone ask you about your faith? What about if we lived ‘questionable lives’?
1. Live a ‘questionable life’
There are a few differing statistics on this, but what is for sure is that the vast, vast majority of people who end up becoming followers of Jesus do so, humanly speaking, in the context of a friendship with someone who already loves God. My tips presuppose that we are being ‘up close and personal’ with just a few people who are currently far away from God. So, here we go…
I started following Jesus aged 17 having never previously been involved in anything churchy or religious. What provoked me to find out was Alison. We were at school together and she was the real deal. There was something about the way she treated people, her kind words and some ‘vibe’ she carried that begged the question. I began asking and, before long, I received! I like Mondays 2. What did – it’s a great you do at the time to talk weekend? about Jesus! Whether you are in the office, at the school gate, after a lecture, having lunch, people often talk about what they got up to over the weekend. So, what did you do? It probably doesn’t happen every weekend (or Sunday), but why not throw into the conversation a story about someone becoming a Jesus follower or a healing miracle or something the speaker said that would make your unbelieving friends think… I’ve discovered that a text or a private message is a brilliant way to invite a friend to come along to a guest event such as a dinner, an Alpha course, an evangelistic service, etc. If you simply blurt an invitation into their face, the kneejerk reaction will often be a negative.
3. Use social media
A good number of my Facebook friends are not-yet Christians and from time to time, I’ll post a link to a short video that will IDEA MAGAZINE / 28
challenge their worldview. Most of my posts are not ‘religious’ in any great way – catching fish takes patience!
4. Ask a question •
Here are a few I have in my armoury that I trust the Holy Spirit can help me to use in an appropriate time and way:
•
“On a scale of one to 10, with one being a million miles away from God and 10 being the Pope, what number would best describe where you are? What would need to happen to change the number (positively!)?
•
“If it were possible to know God personally, would you be interested?”
•
“Did you know that the majority of people have at some point in their life had a strange, spooky or supernatural experience which they can’t explain? Has anything ever happened to you like that?”
I don’t mean fairy tales or lies! One of the ways we overcome the dragon – Satan – is by “the word of our testimony” (Revelation 12:12). The story of your conversion is a powerful, foundational tool that you can share with someone. Simply ask them about their own spirituality, listen carefully to what they say and then ask if you have ever shared with them how you became a Jesus follower: if not, continue to tell your story – it’s called having a conversation.
5. Tell stories
Having said that, your salvation is not the last time God helped you! The truth is that you have got lots of transformation stories you could share of how the Lord has intervened in your life and helped you, comforted you, bailed you out of sticky situations. If you can link one of these experiences to something a friend is going through at a particular time, how powerful will that be?
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THEOLOGY
by Rich Powney
The theology of conversion: how the Church has lost the language “Amazing grace how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found Was blind but now I see.” These lyrics have been sung in churches of multiple traditions up and down the UK for hundreds of years. It captures the saving work of Christ that is at the heart of the gospel. In Jesus’ words: “He came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). And yet, as Gavin Wakefield in his book Conversion Today points out: “Conversion suffers bad press, with connotations for many people of compulsion in religion, colonialism, intolerance and even brainwashing.” Consequently, given that one of the key tenets of evangelicalism is the belief in conversionism – the view that human beings need to be converted to follow Jesus Christ - it’s important, in view of the bad press conversion has received, that we briefly assess how we understand conversion in the light of scripture, tradition, reason and experience. Conversion as a concept is central to the New Testament witness. The writers use the Greek words epistrephein (to turn back, to return to the source of the way of life) and metanoia (to think again, to change mentality, to repent) alongside other terms such as new birth (1 Peter 1:3) and new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). All of this communicated that, in differing contexts, people were experiencing the phenomenon of turning from “former attitudes and loyalties to a new allegiance to God’s saving activity in Jesus Christ”. It seems fair to argue that this formed the basic story line of the early Church. In the Christian tradition, people’s experience of conversion has differed. Yet conversion can still be understood to be a consistent thread throughout the history of the Church. Whether it be Augustine’s ‘light of confidence’ flooding into his heart, IDEA MAGAZINE / 30
the more lengthy conversion process of a calling into the monastic life, Martin Luther’s sudden conversion after his own inner struggle or John Wesley’s heart being strangely warmed, the hundreds of thousands who responded at Billy Graham crusades in the last century or more recently the success of courses like Alpha and Christianity Explored – the Church has consistently sought and seen people turning from their old life to new life in Christ Jesus. In more recent times, there has been greater levels of study into the nature of conversion. James Engel created the Engel Scale as he sought to demonstrate that many people are on a process to a decision, helpfully re-orientating some of our understanding around conversion. Furthermore, in the 1990s Lewis Rambo’s work Understanding Religious Conversion highlighted seven dimensions of conversion: context, crisis, quest, encounter, interaction, commitment and consequences. In this work, Rambo isn’t trying to take away the work of God’s Spirit in bringing someone to faith in Christ – he wants to help us understand the human dimensions at work in any conversion process. Works such as these have helped to enhance approaches to evangelism in the post-Christendom context of the UK. There has been a positive move often summed up in language such as: “We’re called to make disciples not converts.” This experience of the Church in recent decades has developed a growing discipleship culture and an emphasis on the importance of church communities becoming full of disciple-making-disciples. Growing awareness of the necessity to equip Christians to be disciples in all areas of their life is incredibly positive, as evangelism
continues to become a natural overflow of your relationship with Jesus in all areas of your life, rather than an added extra. And yet, this helpful development of a growing understanding of the process of conversion and the centrality of discipleship to the life of the Church, could mean conversion gets pushed out. We can lose the language of making converts, but in Matthew 28 Jesus does command us to go and make disciples. Yet we must not lose the language and practice of seeing people making a decision to follow Jesus Christ, to take up their cross and become his disciple, converting from their old ways to new life in Christ. This decision may happen over time or in an instant. Either way, our very brief tour of how the Church has understood conversion has re-affirmed the centrality of conversion in the Christian message, and specifically within the evangelical tradition. So what does this mean for evangelism in the UK today? While the language of conversion may be out-of-fashion, the principle of turning to Jesus Christ and away from your old life is still central to the Christian faith. The centrality of this in the witness of the New Testament and in the tradition of evangelicalism, needs to continue to inform our evangelistic practice. As we see people decide to become disciples of Jesus, these decisions may be made in an instant or as part of a process. Yet to borrow an analogy from my old lecturer professor Tony Lane – in our world the sun takes longer to rise near the poles compared to tropical regions – yet in both cases, it is evident that the sun has risen. Why? Because you can see its effects.
PASTOR POINTS
CULTURE
WHO SAID THAT? … 1. “Jesus to himself did not try es iev th o tw e th t er conv d ite wa on the cross; he ed rn tu em th until one of to him.”
?
?
2. “Oh God, here’s my Bible, Here’s my money. Here’s me. Use me, God.”
5 - There is no 3 - “God proved better evangelist his love on the Cross. in the world than When Christ hung, and bled, the Holy Spirit. and died, it was God 4 Jesus Christ saying to the world: did not say: “I love you.” “Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right.”
?
Billy Graham CS Lewis
?
?
DL Moody Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Gladys Aylward
Answers: 1 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 2 – Gladys Aylward, 3 – Billy Graham, 4 – CS Lewis, 5 – DL Moody
REVIEWS
MAKING NEW DISCIPLES: EXPLORING THE PARADOXES OF EVANGELISM by Ireland, M. & Booker SPCK
BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST
Making New Disciples approaches the need to share the gospel with those who don’t know Jesus. It explores this topic through a combination of statistical research, familiarity with the local church, and understanding of the present generation we need to reach, church history, contemporary stories, and analysis of scripture. This provides an informed, foundational discussion drawing from many perspectives and an enjoyable read. This book manages to inspire the reader whilst also getting you thinking. It ought to be praised and read alongside other books so as to draw more richly on the treasures of scripture.
by Carol Wallace
Reviewed by Matt Greene
Reviewed by Graham Hedges
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
Lion Fiction Ben-Hur is back on screen in a re-make of the story of the Jewish nobleman who learns to forgive the Romans after encounters with Jesus. Carol Wallace’s re-write retains the classic features including a sea battle, and the famous chariot race but drops the stilted style of Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel. The film is one of the cinematic events of the year, but the novel deserves a wide readership and I hope it will be stocked in bookshops and libraries.
IDEA MAGAZINE / 31
LEADERS’ QUESTIONS
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What’s the most memorable thing to have happened when you shared your faith? We’ve asked three Christian leaders to confess a few of their most memorable moments, and they replied with their own hilarious and heartbreaking tales. When I was about nine years old, I really felt like it was up to me to share the gospel with Michael Jackson. So I hand-wrote a letter to him explaining that even though he was the most famous person in the world, he didn’t know Jesus which was the most important thing. I chickened out of sending it, but kept it for several years. I was 25 when he died and often think back to how different things might have turned out for him if I had just posted it. Chine McDonald, director of communications and membership at the Evangelical Alliance There have been many memorable moments. But one that sticks out is I’ve just done a gospel presentation and I’m going to invite people to respond. As part of this, I invite the keyboard player up to the stage, to offer some background music. On his way, the keyboardist trips up and accidentally presses a preset button on the keyboard. This causes the Benny Hill Chase music to blast out in the venue, not quite the atmospheric accompaniment I was going for. Mark Ritchie, evangelist There are lots of times when I’ve simply bottled it from sharing my faith, but one story that sticks out is when I had said to someone that I’d pray: “If God’s real, then help me to notice you this week.” When I followed up with her, she said something did happen immediately, but for the rest of the week she didn’t see anything happen. I was deflated. But interestingly, she had shared about this with her colleagues and so when I visit my local coffee shop the other staff members talk to me about it. You never know how God intends to work in situations. Miriam Swaffield, student mission developer at Fusion UK
Our regular look back through the Alliance archive by Kim Walker, research and information officer for the Evangelical Alliance
The Alliance has long lived up to its name I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to read that the Evangelical Alliance has always placed great importance on evangelism.
towns to put on similar united evangelistic events; many leaders answered the call and a number of public meetings were held around the country.
One of the practical objects agreed at the 1846 meeting was to unite in making the gospel known and through that unity bring men and women to God.
In the early 20th century the Alliance started to get involved in larger scale evangelism events. Most people will probably know about the Alliance sponsoring the Billy Graham crusades in the 1950s, but there were other events of note.
One early example of this was led by one of the founders of the Alliance, Dr Edward Steane, who organised a series of weekly evangelistic meetings aimed at nonchurchgoers in Exeter Hall, London. The popularity of the meetings meant that on some weeks unless you got there early you wouldn’t be admitted as it was full. The meetings were led by church leaders from both the established and free churches, a deliberate move to demonstrate unity by Dr Steane. Following the success of the meetings, Steane called on members of the Alliance to work together, across denominational boundaries, in their own IDEA MAGAZINE / 32
In 1924 the Alliance bought representatives from churches and Christian agencies together to fund, build and staff an evangelism bungalow on the site of the British Empire Exhibition of 1924. The exhibition was a major event aimed at encouraging international trade and celebrating the different cultures and peoples of the Empire. It comprised numerous pavilions and exhibition tents that were spread over a 216-acre site at Wembley, London. The Alliance brought together many Christian agencies and churches
The evangelism bungalow.
to fund, build and staff an evangelism bungalow on the site. The exhibition was open for six months in 1924 and was reopened again in 1925. Twenty million people visited the exhibition over the two years. The evangelism bungalow was used to hold prayer services and small public talks, and was used as a base for those doing outreach to exhibition goers as well as to the workers at the exhibition. The Alliance also organised, in partnership with other Christian groups, evangelistic meetings addressed by the well-known evangelists John McNeil and Gipsy Smith at the large conference hall of the exhibition.
LETTERS: HAVE YOUR SAY
In your words
We love hearing from you, so have your say on any of the issues raised in idea or make any comments about the Evangelical Alliance by emailing idea@eauk.org EVANGELICAL? Thanks for an excellent article in the latest idea. I’m a little disappointed that the conclusion is near unqualified reaffirmation of the status quo, which sort of suggests if there is a deficiency it’s with the salespeople not the product. There are several challenges that I have with the E word, even as I loosely define myself by it, closely allied with the P word for pentecostal, the C word for charismatic, all of which are for me in lower case. Contextually the only uppercase for me is C for Christian. In other words, I’m unhappy when evangelical ceases to be an adjective as ‘evangelical about cycling’ and becomes a pronoun as in evangelical Christian, or worse a noun and becomes a synonym for Christian, standing alone as evangelical i.e. Christian (forgive me as it’s been a long time since I did English grammar - hope you get the point even if I get my adjective mixed up with my noun and my pronouns). There are internal, epistemological problems with evangelical. Some may find the exclusivity tendency of the defenders of evangelicalism problematic since it is as though evangelicals mean by church unity, evangelical unity. It needs to be explained in what way evangelical unity is synonymous with church unity.
prepared to synonymise any of them with Christianity. For me then evangelical needs deconstruction and reconstruction, not just a play on the word. Just some random thoughts in response to your excellent and provoking article. Dr Joe Aldred NIGHT TIME READER I write as an avid nighttime reader of idea magazine Having just spent a magnificent weekend celebrating the marriage of our granddaughter Lizzie Armitstead, World Champion cyclist and Philip Deignan, I had my usual sleep pattern last night. That meant a half hour reading and your magazine was there at hand. Am I an evangelical? Thankfully, last night I read page 26. Thank you Katherine Cole for your contribution as you have helped me tremendously come to a conclusion that yes, I am an evangelical. My faith journey has taken some years from the signing of the ‘pledge’ when I was a child at the Band of Hope. Then this weekend sharing with some young men at the wedding celebrations how Jesus has impacted my life.
I was born into evangelicalism and pentecostalism, indeed into Christianity. I am a Christian now by persuasion, but I’m not
One part of my journey was to attend Spring Harvest for a few years with my husband and young family. Clive Calver brought the Bible to life for me as he addressed the huge congregation. As my faith in Jesus grew I became an elder at our local URC Church. Somehow at the time I wanted to know how other people worshipped the living Lord. Having sought permission to attend worship for a year at other churches I experienced a complete relationship with Jesus and found
Editor Amaris Cole – idea@eauk.org
Director of communications and membership Chine McDonald
Consulting editors Chine McDonald and Peter Lynas
idea is published bi-monthly and sent free of charge to members of the Evangelical Alliance. Formed in 1846, the Alliance’s mission is to unite evangelicals to present Christ credibly as good news for spiritual and social transformation. There are around two million evangelical Christians in the UK, according to a 2007 Tearfund survey.
Pentecostals, charismatics, denominations generally accept that they are part of ‘the Church’, evangelicalism seems quiet on this point and appears to assume a catholicity synonymous with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Contributing authors Barry Cooper, Daniel Webster, David Simmons, Fred Drummond, Gary Gibbs, Haydon Spenceley. Advertising manager Candy O’Donovan c.odonovan@eauk.org Design & Print Cliffe Enterprise NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
idea is published in accordance with the Alliance’s Basis of Faith, although it is impossible in every article to articulate each detail and nuance of belief held by Alliance members. Articles in idea may therefore express views on which there is a
HEARD IN TWEETS Chine McDonald @ChineMcDonald Why I’m an evangelical... Featuring my mama @StellaMbubaegbu eauk.org/idea/why-im-an… @idea_mag Graham Miller @Windy_London What a joy to work in gospel partnership with brothers & sisters at @EAUKnews @idea_mag #EA170 Gavin Calver @GavCalver I wrote this little piece for our @EAUKnews magazine @idea_mag. I’d love to know what you think eauk. org/idea/does-evan… Johnny Stewart @jsni My favourite quote from today “It is very hard to campaign for justice without offending the unjust” @EAUKnews Evangelical Alliance @ EAUKnews Saying farewell to our brilliant finance director Helen Calder who’s moving on after 17 years! #ThanksHelen pic. twitter.com/T8wMzQplqX
HOW OFTEN DO YOU SHARE YOUR FAITH? here are the results 27% 18% 36% 19%
At least once a week Once a month on average At least once a year Very rarely
that I belonged anywhere. My three children, now with families of their own have found worship with the Church of England, Baptist, URC, Assemblies of God. Even now to the point of leading worship as biblical studies lecturer, Baptist minister, Christian missionary in Africa. All I know is that I am blessed with the love of Jesus Christ in my life and I just wanted to share some of my journey with you. Reading the Bible daily and praying using three prayer diaries is a great start to my day. Once a fortnight with my husband we worship at the Salvation Army and then alternate with the local Methodist Church. Do you think I am an evangelical? In Christian love Marjorie Dunn divergence of opinion or understanding among evangelicals. Letters and story ideas from members are welcome, and will be considered by the editorial board, which reserves the right to edit letters and stories for length and style. We regret that we are unable to engage in personal correspondence. Unsolicited material will only be returned if accompanied by a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. idea accepts advertisements and inserts to offset printing costs. Advertising in idea does not imply editorial endorsement. The Alliance reserves the right to accept or refuse advertisements at its discretion. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from the editor. IDEA MAGAZINE / 33
LAST WORD
Steve Clifford the general director, writes…
The Evangelical Alliance: why we do what we do
On 19 August we celebrated our 170th birthday and it was great. In fact, the celebrations continue. Thanks to all those who made contact - it was great to receive the cards, emails, phone calls and all the social media traffic. We were so encouraged to hear from you as to how much you respect and appreciate the work that we do. I have to confess that although I love the front cover of the last idea magazine, when I saw a copy of it lying around in our resource centre, I wondered what on earth it was – it took me a while to realise it was our special edition. We’ve been at work for 170 years, but sometimes it’s good to stand back and reflect on why we exist and how we aim to serve you, our members. Easy to lose the big picture In the day-to-day challenges of church life, I realise how easy it is to lose sight of the big picture. Overwhelmed by pastoral and practical local issues, we miss out on what God is doing across the nations and how we can play our part in it. That’s why we are determined to keep telling the stories that will encourage, inspire and provide ideas that you could implement where you live. idea magazine, our website, Friday Night Theology, Everything Advocacy, social media, the resources we publish and the training days we run are all designed to keep the vision big. Easy to feel isolated We are part of a Church that spans the globe, but it’s easy to feel as if we are on our own and isolated. We work hard to connect people, build relationships locally, regionally and nationally. Our work in the Celtic nations and the Gather network are all about building unity and nurturing relationships for the sake of transformation, while threads is about connecting a whole community of young adults. Easy to feel voiceless With so many voices bombarding us with messages, it’s easy to feel voiceless. TV, radio, film, social media and education are all shouting loudly and often with messages that we disagree with. That’s why IDEA MAGAZINE / 34
we speak for you with a message and in a tone that we trust you’ll agree with. Our advocacy team are out there speaking for you in the media, TV, radio, newspapers and to the government in Westminster and the Assemblies. Easy to feel powerless However large or small your church is, it’s so easy to feel powerless with no real influence. That’s where our public policy teams are at work; they can influence civil servants, politicians and ministers on issues that are important to you. We won’t always get our own way with proposed legislation, but your views will be put forward. And of course, we will keep encouraging and supporting you in prayer. Our regular prayer briefings are designed to provide you with all you need to pray powerfully. Easy to feel stuck If your church has been around for a while, it’s easy to feel stuck - we aim to get you going. One of the great new initiatives which is emerging this autumn is a Great Commission website. It’s designed to provide a one stop shop for churches and individuals who are looking to reach out in evangelism. We won’t be providing most of the resources, but we will be directing you to those that already exist - and if they don’t, we’ll be encouraging them to be created. We’ll also provide some great videos that will tell wonderful stories of people who have recently come to Christ, or churches that have seen some encouraging breakthroughs. Our work in encouraging and supporting public leaders is all about raising up a whole army of change makers right across society. So that’s what we do and why we do it. Thanks for trusting and supporting us as we work to serve you the church across the UK. Steve Clifford eauk.org/join
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1. O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
2. O morning stars, together  proclaim the holy birth, and praises sing to God the King, and peace to all on earth. For Christ is born of Mary;  and, gathered all above,  while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love;
3. How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!  So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven.  No ear may hear His coming;  but in this world of sin, still  where meek souls will receive Him,  the dear Christ enters in. 4. O holy Child of Bethlehem,  descend to us, we pray;  cast out our sin, and enter in,  be born in us today.  We hear the Christmas angels  the great glad tidings tell: O come to us, abide with us,  our Lord Emmanuel.
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O little town of Bethle hem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go Yet in thy dark streets by. shineth The everlasting The hopes and fears Light; of all the years Are met in thee tonight. O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth, And praises sing to God the King, And peace to all on earth. For Christ is born of Mary; And, gathered all above, While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wonde ring love. How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming; But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive The dear Christ enters Him, still in. O holy Child of Bethle hem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christm as angels The great glad tidings tell: O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel.
As they most rare book are offered available gifts to purchase. At Thy cradle rude and bare, So may we with holy joy, Pure, and free from sin’s alloy, All our costliest treasures bring, Christ, to Thee, our Heavenly King. 7
04/08/2014 14:33
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