Make Disciples!

Bishop Paul Barnett reflects on Matthew 28:16-20 and disciple-making. Here are a few quotes:

“Christ was a disciple maker. His disciples were disciple makers. You and I are to be disciple makers. This is not just for clergy, it’s for all of us.”

“Disciple making is an infection that is caught as much as it is taught. It challenges our Christian faith to be real, joyous and others centred.”

“Congregations should free up their ministers’ time so they can do the research so as to properly teach and instruct their congregations. That is their main job.”

– Read it all here.

Questions for Mark Dever

Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC was recently asked a series of short questions by christianity.com.

Questions include: What should I look for in a local church?
What books would you recommend on the topic of Church history?
Is heaven going to be a renewal of this earth?

Find them here.

 

Richard Bewes and Alec Motyer in conversation

Recently Richard Bewes and Alec Motyer were in Inverness, where they were interviewed by David Meredith, Minister of the Free Church of Scotland.

The video interview runs for 47 minutes, and covers their friendship, Keswick, preaching, Christ in all the Scriptures, and much more. (h/t Reformation21.) See also interviews with John Blanchard, Sinclair Ferguson and Helen Roseveare.

The Sydney Family Album — 8, Howard Mowll

“It really is rather hard to overplay the contribution of Howard Mowll to the shape and character of the contemporary Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

His election as Archbishop in April 1933 was a critical moment in the diocese’s history, a decision for its evangelical heritage rather than the more eclectic theology others were advocating at the time. His tenure of the office during World War II and the equally critical post-war years set directions, embedded principles and fostered a new generation of leaders who enabled Sydney Anglicanism to remain unambiguously Protestant and evangelical while engaging seriously with the challenges of a new era…”

– Mark Thompson continues his series on those who shaped Sydney Diocese.

Some recent books on Church History

“It remains as important as ever for the church not to lose sight of where it has come from, to be inspired by the great examples of the past as well warned by the mistakes that we are in danger of repeating.”

– Lee Gatiss reviews seven recent books on church history to see how solid and how useful they might be for the church, in Churchman.

Themelios — November 2011

Issue 3 of Volume 36 of Themelios is now available as a free download from The Gospel Coalition website.

Contributions include an editorial on Spiritual Disciplines by Don Carson, and An Evaluation of the 2011 Edition of the NIV, by Rodney Decker. There’s also a host of book reviews. Worth taking the time to read.

Marriage Petition to the 2011 ALP National Conference

Resolutions calling on the Australian Government to retain the current definition of marriage have been passed by –

Members of churches are being urged add their voices through a petition being circulated by the Australian Christian Lobby. It affirms the current definition of marriage as “the union of a man and a women to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life”.

The hope is to have 100,000 people sign the petition before the ALP’s National Conference in December. Read more

Is God a Delusion?

Three weeks ago, at the invitation of the Oxford University Christian Union, William Lane Craig addressed the challenges of Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. See his lecture at BeThinking.org, run by the UCCF.

(Dawkins had been invited to debate Craig, but declined to take part.)

Planning a Christmas sermon series

At the 9Marks Blog, Michael McKinley has some suggestions on planning sermons for Christmas.

Might come in handy!

The Columbo plan — Do you mind if I ask you a question?

A few years ago we pointed to an interview with Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason ministries in the US. Now Justin Taylor has links to a video presentation where Koukl explains his approach to apologetics. Entertaining and encouraging.

A Tale of two colleges

“Shorter University and Mercer University are institutions of higher education in Georgia, and both have been historically related to the Georgia Baptist Convention — the state’s largest Baptist group. Both schools have been in the news in recent days over the issue of homosexuality. Seen together, the actions taken by the schools point backwards to critical decisions made in the past, forward to issues that will be faced by every college, and directly to the present, where the future is taking shape before our eyes.…”

– A cautionary tale from Georgia – by Albert Mohler.

Jesus and Richard Dawkins

In a recent lunchtime gathering at St Helen’s Bishopsgate, William Taylor addressed the challenge of the ‘new atheists’. This is a six minute video clip from a longer message.

Big Porn Inc

At The Centre for Public Christianity, Justine Toh interviews Melinda Tankard Reist on her new book (‘Big Porn Inc’) exposing the destructive forces of the Mega porn industry. See the interview here.

(She’s also speaking in Sydney on 21 November. For more information and to register, see the Centre for Christian Living at Moore College.)

And Steve Kryger at Communicate Jesus has a list of online safety resources.

A sweet and bitter providence

This album, inspired by John Piper’s book A Sweet & Bitter Providence, is worth checking out:

“Big truth and beautiful sounds are a powerful combination. The Joy Eternal has touched me both ways. One of my biblical sieves for what is real is the apostolic word ‘sorrowful yet always rejoicing’. I hear that in these songs, and they ring true. Beautifully true. May God give them wings.” – John Piper.

Get it here. (And you can leave a tip.)

His Story is History and History is His Story

“Tacitus the great historian of First Century Rome leaves us in no doubt about the main historical outlines of the New Testament. Tacitus, a leading politician and a provincial governor, reports that the ‘Christians’ took their name from a person called ‘Christ’ who was executed by Pontius Pilate in Judea in the era of Tiberius Caesar.

Tacitus expected the movement to die with its founder but instead it spread to Rome where, by the time of the great fire in AD 64, it had become ‘immense’.

Tacitus’s history tell us (a) Jesus was known as ‘Christ’, (b) that he was therefore a genuine figure of history, (c) when and where he was executed, and (d) that in spite of his death as a disgraced felon within thirty years his movement spread from Palestine on the edge of the empire to its heart, Rome…”

– Read it all – at Dr Paul Barnett’s blog.

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