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This article from the ’The Times’ newspaper was sent to me by a friend (whom I have never met) who looks out for such things for me.

The older generation will be more familiar with his name and labours. This will stir some good memories and impart encouraging information to younger Christians.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

Brother Andrew obituary

Declaring on visa applications that his occupation was “teacher”, Brother Andrew rarely found himself denied official permission. When he reached border patrols, his car overflowing with Bibles and tracts, he would mutter a prayer under his breath: “Lord, who made blind eyes see; now make seeing eyes blind.” Time and again, customs officers waved him onwards with a cheery greeting. In Czechoslovakia, when the suppression of the Prague Spring had put an end to relative religious freedom, he even handed out Bibles to the occupying Soviet troops, who were left somewhat bemused.

On his travels, Brother Andrew discovered the subtle ways in which the communist authorities, instead of banning the Church, ground down its leaders and worshippers, ensuring that they were demoralised. Christian agitators lost their jobs for spurious reasons and were denied university places without explanation. State-sponsored official churches gave the impression of a freedom of faith while underground churches, where allegiance to the state did not go hand in hand with allegiance to faith, were persecuted.

The battered VW Beetle became the symbol of Brother Andrew’s charity, Open Doors

After half a dozen journeys, distributing Bibles in Yugoslavia, Hungary and East Germany, Brother Andrew was summarily arrested during a return visit to Yugoslavia and expelled from the country. It marked the beginning of a more formal Bible-smuggling operation called Open Doors, using an ever-expanding volunteer base to take the Gospel to the east. His VW Beetle became the symbol of the charity. (more…)

The sad testimony of the publishing of the 2021 census appears to show a Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster in decline! Its numbers are down some 29.15% from just twenty years ago! The trends of those twenty years need to be examined.

2001 Census

While the 2001 Census recorded 11,902 registered as Free Presbyterian, the recent Census states that this number was down to 8,433.

Question for us all

That poses a serious question for every Free Presbyterian, especially the ministers and elders of the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers.

The question is: ‘Why is there such a decline?”

Increase and expansion is what the people of God may expect when theirs ways please the Lord. So it was in the early Church, as Acts 2:47 shows: “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

There certainly was a time when something of what is stated here of the early church was known and experienced by us. It is not so now and the census sadly makes that abundantly clear.

This decline is something that many believers have observed and a few have dared to speak of. (more…)