Category Archives: Evangelicalism

Another church on Mayfair

Pastoral Ministry

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Name: Richard Coekin

Family: Married to Siân; four children, Charlotte (9), Rupert (7), Rhian (5), Johnny (3).

Ministry background: Trained at Moore College, Sydney, and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford; four years at St Mary’s, Manchester; appointed pastor of Dundonald Church, Wimbledon, in 1995, and has served as that church’s first full-time minister since it was planted in 1990.

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The future of evangelical Christianity

Life

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With doom and gloom being predicted on all sides for the future of mainstream Christianity, what sort of future should evangelicals look forward to? Phillip Jensen looks into the Bible and into the future for some answers.

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Have evangelicals lost their way?

Thought, Sola Panel

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Originally published in Briefing #1 (April 1988).

We live in an age of change. Evangelicalism, as much as anything else, is going through transformation, but are the changes for better or worse? For some, Evangelicalism is maturing and evolving into a responsible contribution to Christianity. Others see the changes as a sell-out of principles, and a denial of the faith of our fathers. Whither Evangelicalism?

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Return to Colossae

Thought

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Why do so many Christians seem incapable of resisting the appeal of ‘the latest thing’? Is it that we are still waiting for that missing dimension which will finally restore the fortunes of our church? How strange it would be if the answer were right under our noses, waiting for us in the well-known words of Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

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Matters of the heart: What is an evangelical? (Part 2)

Thought

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We need to be reminded m.ore often than we need to be instructed, someone once wisely uttered. It is a characteristically human trait to forget that for which we stand, even though we still stand for it. Last Briefing, Mark Thompson reminded us of the heart of evangelical belief, casting his words in the light of today’s various endeavours to redefine what it means to be an evangelical. He began to describe the distinctives of evangelical theology, starting with the authority of Scripture, the seriousness of sin and the atonement. He continues that task in this article, challenging us to be truly loving and to love the truth, as we clearly adhere to these distinctives: the matters which give us our heart.

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Saving the heart: What is an evangelical? (Part 1)

Thought

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The last few years have seen a plethora of books on the subject of evangelicalism. While some writers are critical, the overwhelming majority of them present the picture of a Christian movement which is sweeping all before it, triumphing over both liberalism and ritualism. Evangelical Christianity is making the church at large sit up and take notice. But the triumph is an illusion. Behind the hype, the citation of statistics and the self-congratulation, many evangelicals have become confused and distracted from the critical tasks of evangelism and edification. Part of the cause of this is a new reluctance in some quarters to clarify just what is genuine evangelical belief and practice.

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