Review of Packer’s ‘Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age’
“I was eating pizza the other night with two young men, one a Christian, the other a seeker. We talked about what it means to be a Christian and some of the challenges of the Christian life.
The first surprise was that they/we couldn’t get through two family-sized pizzas. The youth of today!
The second was that they thought that becoming a Christian in 2024 was a way of rebelling.
One told how his boss, a Gen X Roman Catholic, explained that young men shouldn’t be going to church but should instead be finding a girlfriend to sleep with and getting drunk. The young man found this boringly orthodox, ignoble, and distasteful. He felt certain that there must be a better way to live.
I’m having conversations like these more and more these days. Are we seeing early signs of a spiritual awakening among young people? I wonder whether the Lord is beginning a new work among these younger generations.
What I know for certain is that the Church must be ready to receive young seekers. That means that our churches must be refuges of radical, self-sacrificial love. Parched and thirsting for meaning and community in today’s desert of online isolation and spiritual desolation, nothing will attract young people more than an actual flesh-and-blood loving Christian community. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
This kind of strange Christ-like love can arise only from an intimate relational knowledge of Jesus himself.
This is where a book like Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age comes in.
J. I. Packer (1926–2020) was a British theologian, author of the now-classic Knowing God (1973), who for most of his working life was a professor of theology at Regent College in Vancouver. He stands alongside John Stott, F.F. Bruce, Michael Green, Dick Lucas, Martyn-Lloyd Jones and other superb conservative-evangelical British preachers and theologians of the twentieth century.
The book is in fact a lightly edited transcription of five lectures that Packer first delivered at Kuyper College in Grand Rapids in 1978, and then at Moore College in Sydney. …”
–At AP, Campbell Markham reviews J I Packer’s Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age. (Bold added.)
And you can also see or hear Packer’s five lectures at the Moore College Annual Lectures in 1978 – in glorious grey and white, thanks to the Donald Robinson Library at Moore College.
His series title was “We Preach Christ Crucified”. Very much worth watching.
At about an hour each, why not consider watching these with your Bible Study?
Lecture 1 – We’ve a Story to Tell.
Lecture 2 – The man Christ Jesus.
Lecture 3 – He emptied himself: the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Lecture 4 – The wonderful exchange.
Lecture 5 – No other name: the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
Related:
The Moore College Annual Lectures 2024 with Tom Schreiner.
A way back from disillusionment and disappointment in ministry — The Pastor’s Heart
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“Disillusionment is one of the great threats to the Christian life and to Christian ministry
A wise man said the worst thing in ministry was not a pastor who quits, but a pastor who doesn’t quit, but who keeps going when they’ve given up.
Sydney Missionary and Bible College Karl Deenick shares his own experience of hitting a major wall after seven years of pastoral work.
We unpack how ministry challenges can lead to a sense of disillusionment, especially among millennials, plus a way back.”
– Many will resonate with this one. Watch or listen here.
Related:
Gathered Together by Karl Deenick. (Matthias Media.)
Peter Adam’s talks at the 2001 Proclamation Trust Senior Ministers Conference:
The Making of a Man of God – 1.
The Making of a Man of God – 2.
The Making of a Man of God – 3.
Reading the News the Biblical Way
“The news can be overwhelming on a good day and depressing on a normal day. Wars, scandals, financial crises, social decline, and political buffoonery are enough to make anyone exhausted.
We need to learn to read the news the biblical way. Revelation can help us. …”
– Darryl Dash at The Gospel Coalition Canada reminds us of two important truths from the Book of Revelation.
FREEDOM24 conference August 5
From Assoc Professor Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia:
“Freedom for Faith is hosting the FREEDOM24 Conference 9am-4pm on Monday August 5th at Village Church Annandale in Sydney. I highly recommend this conference!
Livestream tickets are free, to maximise access for those who cannot attend in person.
FREEDOM24 conference will develop your understanding of threats to religious freedom in Australia from historical, theological and policy perspectives.
Historian Sarah Irving-Stonebraker will examine the history of religious freedom, while John McClean of Christ College will share a theological perspective on how the church is to respond to legal threats to ministry. We will also have a number of experts unpack the major religious freedom concerns in Australia, as well as implications and paths forward for advocacy.
Issues examined will include: …”
– Details and link for tickets.
Savour Christ in Every Psalm
“For the greater part of church history, Christians have viewed the Psalms through the lens of fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
In particular, they have read the Psalms as the songs of Jesus — songs sung by Jesus in his life on earth, and songs in which the risen and ascended Jesus still leads his church in singing on earth. …”
– At Desiring God, Christopher Ash encourages us to do what millennia of Christians (including centuries of Anglicans) have done.
Things I wish I heard in a Funeral Sermon
“Several months ago, I attended a vaguely Christian funeral. It was Christian in the sense it had familiar elements of our faith: a Bible reading, a short sermon and a cross adorning the hall. Yet it was vague because I left uncomforted and unconfronted by the substantive truths of our faith.
The guests came and went without hearing the gospel. Our hope of seeing the dearly deceased was not articulated beyond the ethereal mention of faith, hope and love. …”
– This article by Renee Zou, published by The Gospel Coalition Australia in May, is an encouragement to all who have an opportunity to speak or preach at such difficult times.
Hate Speech – Vilification Laws and Threats to Religious Speech
Associate Professor Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia –
“I have presented a paper today surveying Australia laws on ‘hate speech’ and ‘vilification’, as they have an impact on religious free speech. The paper can be downloaded here…”
What I wish I knew before becoming a senior minister
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“What would Dave Keun and Jon Kwan like to tell their younger selves if they could travel back in time before they took on the position of senior minister?
How has their sense of ownership changed?
What has been most difficult about the transition to the role? What mistakes have they made?
Dave Keun has been senior minister of Kellyville Anglican Church in Sydney’s North West since March 2022.
Jon Kwan has been lead pastor of St David’s Forestville (on Sydney’s Northern Beaches) since May 2022.”
Jonathan Edwards and the Spiritual benefits of Church Music
“Christianity has always been a singing faith and music plays a big role in the life of the church. But church music is also controversial. Some people leave a church because of music, while others join a church because of music. Some churches split because of music, and others make a lot of money from their music.
Jonathan Edwards, a pastor-theologian from 300 years ago, can help us step away from the politics of church music for a bit to consider the theology of church music. …”
– Ricky F. Njoto writes at The Gospel Coalition Australia.
Related:
Music for the Church: Mark Dever Interviews Keith Getty – at 9Marks.
On Repetitive Worship Songs – John Piper at Desiring God.
A Word for the Church of England — and all of us
The latest Carson Center Podcast from The Gospel Coalition is an address by Don Carson on 1 John 2:3-27, “Christian Obedience, Love, and Perseverance”.
It shows God’s word is every bit as relevant today as it was when it was written –
“John lived at a time when there were many competing religions and Christianity was just old enough to be losing its edge. You had now second- and third-generation Christians. Many people who had been around for a while had lost something of their first love, and others … new young Turks … were convinced that new rising theologies were far more attractive, far more convincing than the old stuff passed down by the has-beens.
At the same time, there was a great deal of pressure in the empire towards what we would call today philosophical pluralism. That is, you could believe anything you like, so long as you don’t say that your view is right and other views are wrong. That you must not say. Then, inevitably, there were some people who were very strong on picking up particular points and making them everything. …
In that context, John writes his epistle. What he tends to do is to gravitate towards the essentials of the faith and set up absolute boundaries. They are as striking, they are as definitive today as they were 2,000 years ago. In this passage I read, John articulates three contrasts: those who talk and those who perform, those who love the world and those who love the Father, and those who are antichrists and those who are Christians. He does not leave much room for anything in between. …”
– Listen – or read the transcript – here.
How do we diagnose complex problems within our church?
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“All the time in church there are unexpected things happening. We or someone else makes a decision to change something which then relationally or missionally impacts another area of church life that we didn’t expect. …
Whatever size your church is – the church system is complex, interdependent and interconnected.”
– Dominic Steele speaks with Greg Lee from Newcastle’s Hunter Bible Church.
Made in Our Image
Recently, on The Pastor’s Heart, Dominic Steele interviewed Stephen Driscoll about the coming AI tsunami.
Stephen’s book Made in Our Image, is now available from Matthias Media.
“Artificial intelligence is coming. And this tech revolution, perhaps more than any such revolution that’s gone before, will change the world. No life will be left untouched.
How do Christians navigate their way through these momentous changes? What does Christianity have to say about this brave new world? What will living for Jesus look like in a world where humans, made in God’s image, coexist with intelligent machines made in our image?
Author, pastor and self-confessed ‘tech realist’ Stephen Driscoll sets out to answer those questions with a deep dive into the intersection of faith and technology. Avoiding the extremes of both the tech worshippers and the ‘doomers’, Driscoll offers accessible and illuminating insights into the nature of AI, along with practical tips on how Christians might use this technology for good. Most of all, he shows how the deepest structures of biblical thought will equip Christians to live with AI.
This book is a must-read for tech-savvy optimists and sceptics alike.”
You can watch the promo video above – and order the book here.
A Theology of Reproductive Technology
“For the last few decades, Oliver O’Donovan’s Begotten or Made? has been difficult to find and expensive to buy. Thanks to the foresight of the Davenant Institute, an organization aimed at renewing the intellectual life of contemporary Protestantism, that’s no longer the case.
This ‘New Edition for the 21st Century,’ published some 38 years after the original, is now both readily available and affordable – at least on Kindle, and also in paperback for those in the U.S. and Canada. What’s more, it comes with a new introduction by Matthew Lee Anderson, which helpfully highlights the significance of the work, and a fresh afterword from O’Donovan himself.
Begotten or Made? is the published version of the London Lectures in Contemporary Christianity delivered by O’Donovan in 1983. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Rob Smith and Andrew Spencer provide an introduction to the second edition of “this increasingly important work”.
From the page for this book on Amazon, Carl Trueman writes:
“Though written decades ago, this little book by O’Donovan is a masterpiece and still one of the best reflections on what it means to be human in our modern world. It transformed my own thinking on key issues and deserves to be widely read by a new generation of theologians, philosophers, and pastors.”
Gospel ministry in winter
Bishop Jay Behan writes in the latest Ministry Matters of the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa NZ –
“Back in late 1996, my wife Jaimee and I moved to London for me to study. We had only been married a few months, so arriving in England was a time of great change in our lives. We had only been there a short time, and autumn was just starting to change to winter, when we found ourselves listening to a radio programme which described something else that was new to me: Seasonal Affective Disorder, with perhaps the most appropriate acronym of all time—SAD!
What was described was a significant change in mood and behaviour brought about by the change of season, particularly the change to winter. Seasonal Affective Disorder apparently caused “winter depression”, marked by low energy and generally feeling down as a lack of sunlight and increased time indoors took effect. I remember listening to the programme and not only completely rejecting this thing called ‘SAD’, but also ridiculing the English for making up things and not being able to cope with the cold and dark.
Needless to say, a few weeks into the English winter and after many days of no sunshine, not only did I believe in SAD; I was convinced it was the root of all the problems people living in the UK experienced!
As I write this, we in Aotearoa have arrived in winter, which seems an appropriate time to consider the way the winter season can affect life and ministry. …”
– Read the full newsletter here.
“ Winter may seem like a time to batten down the hatches, but it’s also a season ripe with evangelistic opportunities. As always this requires thought, intentionality, courage and clear-mindedness. But the best day for gospelling is today. God will give us opportunities we did not have yesterday and may not have tomorrow.”
Ministry families and adopting and foster care
This week on The Pastor’s Heart:
“How do you balance the instability and chaos of external ministry with adding a foster child or adopted child to a ministry family?
What are the implications of taking children in crisis into the ministry home? What motivates ministry families to become foster parents or to adopt? How do older children and the church respond?
Sarah and Mat Yeo serve at Hurstville Grove Anglican Church in Sydney.
Matt Wilcoxen pastors St John’s Darlinghurst in inner Sydney.”
Update:
See also “Creating a circle of support for foster children” – SydneyAnglicans.net.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…