Hereâs the coffee-break conversation.
âI see someone else reckons theyâve had their phone tapped.â
âYes, it seems like every C-List celebrity is on some tabloidâs hacking list! Do you think privacy is important?â
âWell, of course. We have a right to privacy, to be able to have things other people canât pry into.â
âYes, good point. There are quite a lot of things about me I wouldnât want my nearest and dearest knowing, let alone splashed across some national newspaper. Though ultimately we canât really keep anything at all private, can we?â
âWhat do you mean?â
âWell, God knows everything about us. We canât keep things private from him. He even knows the secrets of our hearts. And Jesus said that one day they will be made known for everyone see (Luke 12 v 2-3). I find that quite a sobering thought, really. Don't you?â
And (hopefully!) weâre offâŚ
For the first time, Amazon sold more e-books than paperback books in the US in the last three months of 2010, it has announced.
This is probably something of a milestone in the reading worldâs journey from looking at pages to looking at Kindles, iPads and so on. And while the US is ahead of the UK in this trend, itâs likely that (as with everything else) Britain will follow their lead.
Weâve just started to produce ebook versions of some of our products (you can get the Christianity Explored paperback as an ebook) â but weâd love to know a couple of things from you:
Do stick answers, and any comments/opinions/advice on the whole brave new world of ebookism below!
The most searched Bible verses
Perhaps, when we look back at the time weâre living through, weâll call it âThe Age of the Leaksâ. Thereâs been the expenses scandal; the Wikileaks revelations; and in the last few days, a news story about how the Palestinian negotiators were secretly prepared to give up far more than they admitted in public.
All of which means people are massively suspicious of what those in authority tell us. Even if they tell us they think that black is black, weâre waiting for a leaked document revealing that really they think itâs probably white.
We have become instinctively distrustful of what we hear. Yet, at the same time, I know that I tell stories which put me in the best possible light, and keep quiet about things I know might damage my reputation.
And perhaps thatâs why I was struck by a particular comment in some Explore Bible notes Iâve been editing for the July-September issue, written by Christopher Ash, who is the Director of the Cornhill Bible Training course in London.
On trial for His life, Jesus told the high priest: âI have spoken openly to the world ⌠I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard meâ (John 18 v 20-21).
Christopher comments: âWhat Jesus said privately was the same message as the one He gave publicly. He had no secret agenda. He had nothing to hide.â
How wonderful to have a leader who says what he means, holds nothing back, and never seeks to distort or deflect.
But Christopher points out that we need to copy this approach in how we speak about the gospel with people today:
âLike Paul, who ârenounced secret and shameful ways [and did] not use deception, nor ⌠distort the word of Godâ (2 Corinthians 4 v 2), we need to think about our openness about the gospel.
âThere ought to be no part of the Bibleâs teaching that we keep secret, or only talk about when weâre with people who are already Christians.â
âŚthen check out the blog of the Bible-centred youthworker conference, which is running from Monday to Thursday this week.
Tim Thornborough's updating the blog from the conferenceâand there'll be loads more stuff going up over the next couple of weeks.
We'll be putting the highlights on the Good Book Blog, but keep coming back to the conference blog for news, encouragements, and the main points from seminars such as:
If you weren't able to get the time off/money together to go on the conference itself, spending a few minutes a few times over the next few weeks to visit the blog is the next best thing!
Men + weekend + bible. Is it as simple as that? Richard Perkins, a pastor in South London, has written up his essential elements for a Menâs weekend away. Highly recommended for anyone involved in the often tricky task of Menâs ministry.
Something interesting's come out of a study conducted by the Evangelical Alliance, who surveyed over 17,000 professing Christians (self-identified evangelicals and self-identified non-evangelicals).
Here are the headline figures:
âEvangelicalsâ are more likely to see the Bible as their supreme authority (83% as opposed to 43%), and read it each day (52%-26%). They're more likely to talk about their faith with non-Christians (58% at least once a month, compared to 38%). They're far more likely to see sex outside marriage as wrong (62%-26%).
So far, so unsurprising. One thing that did strike me is the difference between younger and older evangelicals:
Young evangelicals (16-24) are less likely than their elders to:
And they're more likely to talk to non-Christians about their faith.
One interesting quote in the report from Andy Frost, Director of Share Jesus International, on this younger age group: âFor many, beliefs have been shaped by good youth work and summer festivals, rather than personal devotions.
âOne of the greatest challenges is to enable this age group to take responsibility for their own discipleship amidst busy, media saturated lives.â
Do these stats reflect your experience in your church? How can we as older Christians help those younger ones to spend time with God in his Word and in prayer? And do let us know: how can we as a publisher help you âon the groundâ to do this?
I know, I know, Christmas is well and truly over, and no-one wants to think about it till next November at the earliest (apart from super-organised people who are picking up discounted Christmas cards and decorations for next year).
But in publishing, we have to think ahead (not something I'm known for): and we're starting to develop a short evangelistic book which uses the historical events of the first Christmas to explain the gospel. It's for giving to friends, handing out at carol services, and so on.
Here's my current question: How do you get to the cross and resurrection from the Christmas story?
Obviously, no gospel explanation is complete if it includes only the manger, and not the cross and the tomb. But how to get there without a horrific, crunching gear change?
That's where I'd love your help! If at Christmas-time you've ever chatted to friends, family or colleagues who don't know Christ, how did you get to the cross? How have you heard others do it? How would you like it to be done in a book you could happily give to those contacts?
All ideas very gratefully received! Post a comment below. And then get the book next Christmas to see how we did itâŚ
