By John Halford
BOREHAMWOOD, England--We heard officially July 16 that our application to become members of the British Evangelical Alliance has been accepted.
We had been working on this for about five years. Joel Edwards, president of the Alliance, told us about three years ago that the evangelical churches in Britain were rather suspicious of us and it would take time to convince them that the change of direction in the WCG was genuine. We also wanted to be sure that our congregations in Britain were behind this application.
We worked with Rev. Edwards and other members of the committee. At a meeting last November he told us that he felt the time was appropriate and suggested that if we still planned to submit an application we should do so.
The EA is the most vigorous of the church groups operating in this country. Its members have congregations from nearly every denomination, from Roman Catholic to Pentecostal.
What it means is that when people check up on the legitimacy of our church, being able to say we are members of the Evangelical Alliance stops any other questions, as the Alliance does not accept those who are considered cults.
This will also allow those of our congregations who wish to, to work closely with other member churches. It opens up many opportunities for our magazine. Writers can now write for us without any fear that they may be helping a cult.
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