Trust and obey?
“The survey reveals 64 percent of churchgoers agree with the statement: ‘A Christian must learn to deny himself/herself in order to serve Christ.’
Nineteen percent disagree with the statement.”
– Ed Stetzer has new research from the US.
The pain threshold
“Is the New Testament pattern of normal Christian witness, ‘Always be ready to invite your neighbour to an evangelistic barbecue’? ‘Go into all the world and get them to hear someone else make disciples’?”
– Chris Green, Vice Principal of Oak Hill College in London, has a point. Read it here.
Modernity
“Twice in the Bible we read of God ‘dwelling with us’.
The first looks back in time when ‘the word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14) and the second looks ahead when ‘God will dwell with us’ (Revelation 1:3). We live in between the two, looking back to the first and forward to the second.
Modernity is an enticing idea. It suggests that all our hopes are located in the time that is ‘now’. But when you think about it modernity is whenever you live. When the wheel was invented it was modern times, or the dishwasher, or the iPad.
Modernity is always moving – on and on, faster and faster. Go to any electronics outlet and the products are different from just a few months back. Cameras do different things, likewise TVs, and computers. I have the sense of being left further and further behind, helpless to catch up. The machines seem to be getting more complicated. By the time I reach step 4, I have forgotten step 2. …”
– Bishop Paul Barnett suggests three responses to modernity – read it all at his blog.
Jesus Is …Beyond Fiction
“I cannot believe how often educated people pull out the claim that Jesus probably never existed. Except that it’s not PC to say so, it really deserves the title of Old Wives Tale!
Down in my neck of the woods, Gospel for the Gong has been running a ‘Jesus Is ________.’ month of mission. …”
– Sandy Grant shares some resources – as well as news of a terrific evangelistic initiative – at The Briefing.
Serving God’s words
Adrian Reynolds at The Proclamation Trust draws attention to the book ‘Serving God’s words’, published this time last year – a Festschrift to Peter Adam, with contributions by Don Carson, David Peterson, David Jackman, Peter Jensen, Gerald Bray, Michael Raiter, and others.
– Read the brief review here. Book available here.
How to wreck a church
“What is it about false teaching? First it dazzles, finding its ways into magazines and onto TV news programmes and book displays. It also deceives – drawing the unwary half a degree off course. It then distorts, for the principle of the ever-widening angle will eventually see church members ten years down the line embracing teachings that are far removed from Scripture. And, finally, it destroys.”
– Timely reminder from Richard Bewes – at Anglican Mainstream.
‘God’s Library’ — new eBook from Greg Clarke
Bible Society Australia CEO Greg Clarke has published a free eBook to coincide with the Society’s 25 Words campaign. It’s designed to encourage both Christians and non-Christians to look into the Bible.
From the Preface:
“All other books are also-rans… the Bible is publishing’s success story. This introductory book is written especially for those who feel that they really should know something about the world’s most influential text, but may have been afraid to ask, put off by the Church, found the black leather cover and cigarette paper pages ominous, or just never got around to it.”
It’s available free online until 9th November here in a Flash-based screen reader.
If you have a mobile device, you’ll probably need the PDF version (7.8MB direct link).
The New City Catechism
“Last week Tim Keller asked ‘Why Catechesis Now?’ This morning TGC introduced the New City Catechism, adapted by Tim Keller and Sam Shammas from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York…”
– Andy Naselli has the links and some related resources.
Why Catechesis now?
“The church in Western culture today is experiencing a crisis of holiness. To be holy is to be ‘set apart,’ different, living life according to God’s Word and story, not according to the stories that the world tells us are the meaning of life.
The more the culture around us becomes post- and anti-Christian the more we discover church members in our midst, sitting under sound preaching, yet nonetheless holding half-pagan views of God, truth, and human nature, and in their daily lives using sex, money, and power in very worldly ways. …”
– Tim Keller lays out the need for a new Catechism to be launched next week by The Gospel Coalition.
Related: Grounded in the Gospel – J I Packer on The White Horse Inn.
Creeds and Confessions in the Contemporary Church
Carl Trueman was interviewed on the role of creeds and confessions in the church – at Christ the Center broadcast.
Where general church culture is increasingly forgetting the place of creeds, this is worth hearing. The interview starts 5:15 into the audio file.
Related: See also the video about Trueman’s new book The Creedal Imperative here. (Availability.)
Why Archbishops must lead Theologically
The latest issue of The Australian Church Record (number 1906 / October 2012) is now available for download at their website.
Here’s the Editorial – Read more
The Power of overlooking an Offense
“In her masterful biography of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin records an interesting story in the mid-1850’s, when Lincoln was in the middle of his career in law. The story shines light on Lincoln’s ability to overlook major personal offenses. …”
– Trevin Wax gives an illustration with wide contemporary application. (h/t Tim Challies.)
Preaching Matters
The beginnings of a what looks to be wonderful video resource from Great St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.
Preaching Matters. (h/t Reformation21.)
The hermeneutics of homosexuality: A response to Michael Kirby
“In his winsome way, the Honourable Michael Kirby introduces his recent Marshall Memorial Lecture with a surprising autobiographical account of his Sydney Anglican Protestant credentials, given the more Melbourne Anglo-Catholic audience…”
– On the ABC’s Religion and Ethics website, Gordon Preece (co-editor of Sexegesis) responds to a lecture by Michael Kirby, also published on that website.
‘Churchman’ digitised for the Web
“Church Society are pleased to report that Rob Bradshaw, Director of “Theology on the Web”, has recently digitised and uploaded to the internet, most back articles of Churchman (est 1879), dating from the 1920s. In total Rob has uploaded 3,531 individual Churchman articles to his Biblical Studies website, for which the Council of Church Society express their deep gratitude.
Click here to view the Churchman page on Rob’s Biblical Studies website. It is hoped in due course that these files will also be made available on the Churchman website. …”
– from Church Society’s EV News.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…