NEW LIFE
AUGUST 2012
Issue 222
How rising star is shining
40p
GOOD NEWS STORIES
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OLYMPICS SPECIAL ON PAGE 2
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PARALYMPIC DREAM AFTER A NIGHTMARE START IN LIFE
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MASSIVE CHURCH GROWTH
CHALLENGE... Mark Ritchie
PACKED... A church in Birmingham during Sunday worship
by Matthew Murray IT’S OFFICIAL! The Church in Britain is booming. Researchers in Durham have revealed that a staggering 5,000 new churches have been formed in the last 30 years – that’s more than three a week. They also claim that: ● HALF A MILLION Christians attend black majority churches in Britain, up from almost none in the 1950s ● More than a MILLION of the nation’s believers are from black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities
experts
Preacher’s ‘cross’ country challenge A PREACHER will carry a cross for 700 miles in 70 days to highlight the importance of Christianity in Britain. Scotsman Mark Ritchie plans to stop at 30 venues on his tour and hold evangelistic services where he hopes to reach 7,000 people.
challenge Mark, who lives near Nottingham, will begin the venture in Brighton, heading north to Edinburgh, then jumping west to Wrexham before finishing the courageous challenge in Hull. The trek comes a year after
w idespread riots rocked the UK. It was during this dark t i me t h at Ma rk dec ided that he needed to do something to promote the gospel throughout the country. Mark, who regularly puts on stand-up comedy gospel shows across the nation, will start the trek on August 26, finishing on October 27. He said: “At each stop I will communicate the message of the cross – a message that Jesus takes away the sins of the world. The gospel is a message of joy, hope and destiny. It also cannot be ignored.”
The adult membership in the Anglican Diocese of London has grown by 70 PER CENT since 1990. The findings, by experts at theological college Cranmer H all, par t of D urham University, have been published in a new study entitled, ‘Church Grow th In Britain From 1980 To The Present’. The statistics contradict ● Continued on Page 3
BOOMING BRILLIANT