The Director’s March message

Dear friends,

A few words about some of the things I have been involved in for Affinity during February:

Our Social Issues Team met in London and it was encouraging to hear about the work of Crossteach from their national director, Wayne Harris. Crossteach work with local Christian communities to enable young people in schools to “critically engage with the Christian faith in a fun and relevant way”. This means they support and resource in-school Christian clubs and activities. Wayne told us of some of the real opportunities there are for them and the positive feedback they receive, but also the challenges they face in an environment where so many young people are both ignorant of the Bible and the gospel and also indoctrinated to be sceptical of and, in some cases, hostile to, Christian truth.
 
Later in the month I attended a “Cultural Leadership Symposium” hosted by the Wilberforce Academy. It was an intense 24 hours of lectures and discussions including great speakers such as Dan Strange and Joe Boot. Topics included a “Theology of Religions” which wasn’t anything new but a really useful summary of a number of threads: idolatry, distortion of the desire for God in all of us, demonic activity and the parasitical use of Christian values. There were also lectures on Islam and about how the Lordship of Christ should affect all of our lives. As a bonus there was a fascinating account by Gavin Ashenden, formerly chaplain to the Queen, about the circumstances leading to his departure. It seems that speaking the truth is not compatible with liberal values.
 
Pray for the Church of England. The recent synod debate and vote on same-sex marriage exposed the division between those who want to remain faithful to Christ and the Scriptures and those who are essentially arguing that self-determined morality is the way of love. Some of you may have given up hope for the Anglican Church years ago, but many faithful brothers and sisters are doing excellent gospel ministry in these churches and there are a phenomenal number of these churches up and down the land at the heart of their communities.
 
By the time you receive this email the Affinity Theological Study Conference will be about to commence, running from 1-3 March. Please pray for a great time of study and reflection and for an important Affinity Council meeting that will take place during the conference.

Yours in the secure love of Christ,

Graham Nicholls