In 2013 my wife and I travelled to Wittenburg, Germany on 31st October. We joined thousands of others who had come to the birthplace of the Reformation, on Reformation Day – for it was at Wittenburg, on 31st October 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Castle Church, and unexpectedly kickstarted the most significant Christian renewal since the apostolic age.
In this issue of the magazine, we’re celebrating and remembering the Reformation with a series of articles centred around the five solas that became a summary of what the Reformation stood for. (If you’re not sure what is meant by ‘the five solas’, Tim Chester’s introductory article explains all.)
Those solas remain vital today, so whilst some of our articles look back at what those solas represented during the Reformation, others look ahead to what they mean in our own day. I ask ask whether the Reformation is over, whilst Sheila Stephen introduces us to one of the forgotten martyrs of the English Reformation, Anne Askew.
But there’s much more in this issue. Gareth Davies shares his fascinating story of how he moved from atheism to faith in Christ. Lewis Roderick continues our series on the work of God in the soul of man by looking at sanctification. David and Maura Baldwin tell us of the work they’re doing to help churches support people caught up in the migrant crisis. John Funnell helps expose the sin of pride, and James Sercombe shares some of the ways Crickhowell Evangelical Church is reaching into its community. Finally, Jonathan Stephen and Geoff Thomas both look back at their time in seminary, and the lessons that they learned.
There are many ways of remembering the Reformation. The best way is perhaps to thank God for the Reformation, mourn that it was necessary, and pray that in our own day, the Lord would help each of us to be true reformers. For many of us that might mean acknowledging our need for personal reformation. For others, perhaps our churches need to re-apply, in our own day, the principles the Reformers taught us. As you read through this issue of the magazine, why not pray that the Lord would speak to your soul through these articles? Soli deo Gloria!