Can you help us come up with a title for a new Good Book Guide?
We're looking for a title for the new Good Book Guide on Esther and would be glad of any suggestions you may have. Major themes of the book are God's deliverance, perfect timing and sovereignty even over the superpowers of this world, and our need to trust in God's sovereignty and faithfulness to His promises.We'd love to hear from you!
1 Corinthians 16 has, rather unexpectedly, helped me put into words a thought that’s been buzzing round in my head ever since Mark Driscoll wrote his “Blog for the Brits” a few weeks back. Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church has been much in my mind because I’m editing Mark Dever’s second Good Book Guide volume on this book which is out next month—the second early in 2013).
What struck me about chapter 16 is that Paul clearly thinks it would be good for the Corinthian church for a pastor “from the outside” to spend some time with them. He himself can’t come for a while (v 7-9); so he’s sending Timothy, who will “carry on the work of the Lord” (v 10). It seems it was quite common for a Christian leader from a different country to come and spend some time with a church—in Titus 3 v 13 it seems that Apollos—himself from Corinth—has been spending time in Crete.
Which makes good sense. Think of it as church-management-consultancy. When a firm wants to see how they can do better, where they’re being complacent or unprofitable, they don’t get someone who works for them to analyse them; they get someone from the outside. Someone who knows how things are done elsewhere; who can challenge assumptions; who can ask the difficult “Why” questions; who can give the church what Mark Dever calls a “larger vision”.
It’s really helpful to hear what Christians who aren’t from “round here”, but have come to spend some time “over here”, think of our church which exists “right here”.
All of which brings me to something Driscoll said to British evangelicals: “Please ask … why, when there are big events for evangelicals, a speaker often has to be brought in from another country to preach?”.
UK evangelicalism has its weaknesses (as did the Corinthian church, the Cretan church, and as in fact does every church). But perhaps one thing we’ve got right is our willingness to listen to, learn from and be challenged by pastors from other countries.
It’s not that when there’s a big event the organisers have to bring in a foreign speaker (after all, it’s the word of God, not the standard of the speaker, that matters). It’s that they often choose to—because an overseas speaker’s gospel-centred perspectives will be different to ours.
And here’s my provocative thought to finish off with: what proportion of American “big events for evangelicals” invite a headline speaker from overseas? What perspectives and challenges would a UK pastor bring to American assumptions and approaches to ministry? (I can think of a few, but that’s a whole other blog!)
It’s not a sign of something wrong with a church that they do ask outsiders to come and speak to them, critique them, help them. Perhaps it is troubling when a church network doesn’t. Is the issue more with US evangelicalism than British? Comments below!
The arrest of two priests in Eastbourne on Tuesday highlights a growing issue for the place of the Gospel in public life.
Many Christians will have applauded the Cardinal Keith O'Brien's statement about Marriage over the weekend. But scroll down the responses to online articles, and you will find a huge amount of hostility. And not just the usual, and often orchestrated, response from gay lobby groups. There is a growing groundswell of opinion that the Church has lost all its moral authority to comment on these things because of the rank hypocrisy it has displayed over child sex abuse in recent years.
Admittedly, the Anglican church has reacted better to revelations of scandal than the Roman Church, whose cover ups have been its undoing in the US and Ireland in particular. The Anglican hierarchy has had the sense and courage to deal more openly and decisively when these things have come to the fore. Let us pray that they do the same with this developing story.
Scandals of ministers involved in immorality will be with us all the time. They will always be shocking. They will always be unexpected. They will always leave us thinking : "How could this have happened?" And they will continue happening despite all our best efforts to be CRB'd, mentored and accountable to each other. Because, as the proverb says, it is the human heart that is deceitful and wicked above all things. It will find ways of wriggling through the cracks of the barriers we put in the way.
Scandals like this, in God's goodness, should spur us on to renew our efforts at getting our structures accountable. But it should also spur us on to examine our own hearts afresh, and to ask how we are contributing to the growing view that the church is just "a bunch of hypocrites".
OK, I confess – I’m not universalist in my understanding of the gospel. But I do believe the gospel message is universal. The offer of new life in Christ is available to all irrespective of age, education, nationality or taste in music. No one is too bad to be forgivable through Christ – or too good to need forgiving. The gospel is perfect for anyone – but evangelistic courses are not. That’s why I was delighted yesterday to put the finishing touches to the latest member of the Christianity Explored range: Christianity Explored Universal.
The idea behind the Universal range is that it uses clear, simple English that is accessible to as many people as possible. It is ideal for internationals for whom English is a second language, but also for anyone who would find this feature useful. The course doesn’t involve listening to any talks. Instead, there are eight straightforward Bible studies in Mark’s Gospel. The questions and concepts are kept as simple as possible, and don’t make any assumptions about previous Bible knowledge. There are short summaries and illustrations as you go along, and plenty of help to understand tricky Bible words or phrases.
I’m excited about Christianity Explored Universal because it works with such a wide range of people – groups of international students, a homegroup that wants to study Mark, or someone exploring the life of Jesus on a one-to-one basis. And if, as we hope, the Lord graciously uses this course to bring many people to know Him for themselves, there’s a follow-on course – Discipleship Explored Universal – to help them begin to grow in their love and knowledge of Him.
Christianity Explored Universal will be launched in September in the UK (it will be a few weeks earlier if you are in the States). Discipleship Explored Universal is available now, as is a range of short “Access for all” tracts that again use simple, clear language to explain the gospel message.
Sometimes you come across a quote that just needs to be shared:
"A nominal Christian is content with proving the way of salvation by a crucified Redeemer. But the true Christian loves it, delights in it, glories in it, and shudders at the very thought of glorying in anything else ... Let all your joys flow from the contemplation of his cross."
Charles Simeon
It’s not just a job for the professionals. We all have a role to play. There are hurt people in every congregation and we are all called to roll up our sleeves and get involved in spurring them on (Hebrews 10:24).
But pastoral care is not a simple task. It’s hard to speak the truth in love. And, as I was reflecting with a seminar group this weekend, we all too often let our desire to be encouraging overtake our need to be Christ-like and end up saying things that have the potential to be profoundly unhelpful.
What things? Well, the list is large and at first glance fairly innocuous but here are the big 3 phrases that we think should rarely, if ever, pass our lips and the reasons why they really don’t help.... continue reading
I’m used to being the centre of attention on the bus. I guess it’s the huge, metallic silver cello case on my back. Some people stare or laugh. Others ask what it is. And there’s the regular wisecrack: “I bet you wish you’d chosen the piccolo instead”. But yesterday I lost everyone’s attention. Why? Because a man got on carrying a huge, 5ft by 4ft picture of the Michelangelo image of the finger of God. The bus was full of the usual crowd of elderly shoppers, mums with toddlers, and students who’d just woken up. Every one of them riveted by the man and his picture. Clearly a silver cello can’t compete with a piece of the Sistine Chapel! But it did get me pondering…
Up until that moment, I suspect I was the only one on the bus who was thinking about God. But suddenly He was thrust into view – at least for those who recognised the picture. I’d love to tell you I used this the way Paul used the altar to an unknown God (Acts 17v23). “You see this painting of God’s finger? Let me tell you about the whole of God, and how you can know Him.” But I hesitated too long – and the man got off the bus and into the station, presumably to astound a lot of people on a train as well. So I fluffed my chance. But I’m praying that God will use the incident anyway. That someone from that bus will continue to think, or maybe even say “Guess what I saw on the bus” to a Christian with more courage than me. Because, while a giant finger on a bus is pretty memorable, it’s nothing at all alongside the incomparable riches of our Lord God.
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4 v 8)
Rather than competing for a gold medal, the athletes of Paul's day competed for a laurel crown. It is the heavenly crown that makes all the pain and sacrifice worth it for the Christian—our glorious future, which makes any pain in the present more than worthwhile. In the Olympics, one person gets the gold medal: in God's family, everyone who trusts and loves Jesus, longing for His return, will receive the crown of righteousness.
As I sat listening to the sermon at church last Sunday morning, I was struck by a big division. Some folk were scribbling earnestly in notebooks as the end of 2 Corinthians was unfolded for us. Others were just sat listening.
I've heard regular encouragements from the pulpit over the years, many suggesting that note-taking is a sign of real "keen-ness" as a Christian. And certainly there are some things to commend it:
The case against
But there is also a strong case against taking notes. Just because you are taking notes doesn't mean you are concentrating. You can be just as distracted from thinking about the meat of the message while scribbling as not.
Our media-driven generation has an uncomfortable disconnect between the way they use information and the age old biblical task of public preaching. Younger people in particular have a different relationship with information because of the way they access it. Lumps of facts and statistics are available at a click. Most of our young know how to get information, but are less sure how it should be processed. Hearing a sermon is not primarily about accumulating information, or about admiring the artfully alliterative point structure.
(Some people at church were even tapping away at their smartphones, raising the deep suspicion that they were not note-taking at all, but texting their friends about where to hook up for lunch, or trying to get to level 129 on Gemquest.)
And the anti-note brigade have some heavyweights on their side: Jonathan Edwards and Martyn Lloyd-Jones to name two.
Edwards said:
“The main benefit that is obtained by preaching is by impression made upon the mind in the time of it, and not by the effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered” (quoted in The Salvation of Souls, eds. Richard Bailey and Gregory Wills, 11).
Lloyd-Jones followed Edwards noting:
“The first and primary object of preaching is not only to give information. It is, as Edwards says, to produce an impression. It is the impression at the time that matters, even more than what you can remember subsequently … It is not primarily to impart information; and while you are writing your notes you may be missing something of the impact of the Spirit.”
And I certainly relate to that. I am not generally a note taker, because I find it easier to think about what is being said without the encumbrance of pen, paper or tablet. Although I have been known to reach for them if something is particularly noteworthy.
Are you a note taker or not? We'd love to hear the reasons why you do or don't.
