Search results for Gavin Calver
Gavin Calver announced as new CEO of the Evangelical Alliance
The Evangelical Alliance is pleased to announce that Gavin Calver will be our new CEO. He will succeed general director Steve Clifford, who announced in April that he will step down later this year. Dr Tani Omideyi, chair of the Evangelical Alliance’s board of trustees, said: “Gavin excelled…
Look how far we've come
For me personally, the Evangelical Alliance’s history holds a significant place in my heart because both my grandad and my dad led the ministry before me. I’ve known the honour it is to lead but also the huge personal cost involved. As a family, we were not able to spend as much time together as we…
Gavin Calver
No time like now
Firstly, there is a clear change in spiritual temperature of our country. The coronavirus pandemic is the ultimate bittersweet moment. The amount of people suffering, struggling and dying is absolutely tragic, and this is making this season so challenging. At the same time this crisis is presenting…
Gavin Calver
Ashamed of the Gospel?
The UK church can often seem to have lost some of its confidence in the gospel. This is very unlike Paul, who says in Romans 1:14–16:"I'm obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I'm not…
Gavin Calver
Where have all the teenagers gone?
Recent research showed that 86% of those who become Christians in the UK do so under the age of twenty-five (Evangelical Alliance, Time for Discipleship?, 7). This shows the huge need for evangelistic youth ministry and the incredible potential it possesses. The difficult and disengaging teenagers…
Gavin Calver
What's stopping us?
We were having a great week and being blown away by all the Lord was doing. The theme of ‘Only the Brave’ exploring determined discipleship from the book of James was having a huge impact on the event and we were settling down to hear another message. The diminutive figure of Hae Woo unassumingly…
Gavin Calver
Prayer, faith and witness
Driving back from speaking at Gold Hill Baptist Church on Sunday, 15 March, there was a strange sense in my gut that things were about to change. The media stories were growing and the idea that things were about to become less free was increasingly clear. Within days, everything was being live…
Gavin Calver
A clarion call for justice
Let us stand together as brothers and sisters in Christ, as we cry out for justice, as we stand with those suffering oppression, as we weep with those grieving and in pain. We all have a responsibility to act against discrimination and systemic racism in our workplaces, in our churches, in our…
Gavin Calver
The church is open and here to serve
Anxiety, pain and anger are all heightened emotions for us in this time of crisis. Daily death tolls relentlessly remind us of our own mortality and fragility. Our freedoms have been curtailed, our relationships cut off, our future is uncertain. Lockdown has robbed us of any pretence that we are in…
Gavin Calver
Open letter to the UK faith minister
Dear Lord Greenhalgh We would like to thank you for the regular opportunities to meet with you throughout this pandemic. We recognise the importance of public health and the difficult decisions faced by political leaders; however, the Evangelical Alliance is concerned that from Thursday, 5 November…
Gavin Calver
Brave and kind
It was 2019 and I had been sensing very profoundly that, if I got the role, I was going to need to be extremely brave to handle the season that lay ahead and to stand firm on God’s word in the face of so much opposition. This was not to be foolhardy bravery in isolation, it had to be coupled with…
Gavin Calver
Intercession is not complicated
So often we can be praying for something without really believing that the Lord can change the circumstances dramatically. We can easily give up praying because we feel weary, believe it’s never going to happen or even stop caring. Moody loved his friends so much that he kept on praying again and…
Gavin Calver
Why nothing is impossible in 2023 – including reaching the UK with the gospel
I’m an optimistic, hope-filled, good news person and, as such, seeing in the New Year is a time when I look forward to all that lies ahead. A few days into the year and already the singing of 'Auld Lang Syne’ and the London fireworks on the telly are but a memory, but for me, the hope of a move of…
Gavin Calver
Bishops' proposals depart from orthodox teaching. The Church of England needs our prayers for courage and conviction
To my evangelical brothers and sisters, I wanted to write to you, as a wider family of evangelicals, in this incredibly important moment that we find ourselves in. Like many of us, the Church of England has had a tremendous influence on my discipleship. It has the potential to shape and model to…
Gavin Calver
Growing together and going together
However, as an optimist I can find myself disappointed when things don’t turn out as I’d hoped: despite thinking it might be the year to finally win, England manage to lose on penalties again and the grey clouds never fully moved out of the way for the blue sky on the beach. Despite moments of…
Gavin Calver