That’s Easter — Videos from St. Helen’s
A few years ago, St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London produced some thought-provoking videos for Easter and Christmas.
You may like to consider how you could use these two Easter videos –
Forward them to a friend. Watch them together on your phone. Show them in church!
Easter messages 2016
Easter is a wonderful opportunity to speak with clarity about the meaning of the Lord Jesus’ death, and the implications of his Resurrection.
Please pray that church leaders will communicate that message as they should, that Christ will be honoured, and that men and women will turn to him in repentance and faith.
Here are some of the messages we’ve spotted so far.
Will our messages to the world this Easter be as simple and clear as the sign in the photo? –
Diocese of the Northern Territory, Bishop Greg Anderson –
“Political commentator Mungo MacCallum recently described Malcolm Turnbull’s performance in the top job as ‘a hugely disappointing resurrection’.
Maybe it is good that the word resurrection still has some place in today’s media. But the first resurrection sets the benchmark. All other so-called resurrections, including the PM’s, are inevitably hugely disappointing. They all, in the end, run out…”
Diocese of Armidale, Bishop Rick Lewers –
“What is surprising about Easter is that the death of Jesus on the cross is all about clemency. Not His, but ours. It is where God would take upon himself the sins of the whole world, accepting the blame for what we have done in preference to leaving us stranded in our blameworthiness with no hope of forgiveness…”
Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook –
“Toplady’s hymn expresses it well:
‘Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked turn to you for dress;
Helpless look to you for grace;
Foul I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.’
By dying on that cross, Jesus won our salvation…”
Diocese of Melbourne, Archbishop Philip Freier –
“What is the resurrection promise of Easter Day? – God’s love will endure and continue, no matter what. Christians look to Jesus’ rising from the dead as not just an historic action but as the promise of his presence with us today – even in the worst of circumstances…”
Australian Baptist Ministries, National Ministries Director Keith Jobberns –
“The Easter celebration is a reminder that humans have been given a second chance. The Easter narrative records that in Jesus, and through relationship with Him we can find freedom from the shackles of fear, acceptance despite our faults and the opportunity to begin anew with God and our fellow humans…”
Diocese of North Queensland, Bishop Bill Ray (PDF)–
“Yes, Christians believe that ‘on the third day Jesus rose from the dead’, but Christianity is more than just believing, it is living this new life in Christ and bringing it to others…”
(Photo: Bicycle bearing a gospel message, in Federation Square, Melbourne, with St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in the background, 19th March 2016.)
Peter Adam to Bishop Richard Condie — ‘A Bishop without a Bible is no Bishop at all’
“Your special robes, your Pastoral staff and a cross, they are reminders to you, and to us, of your weighty responsibilities.
But the Bible is your instrument of ministry, the powerful means God has provided for you to preach the gospel and train people in God’s service. It is given to you: use it!…”
– Dr Peter Adam preached at the Installation of Richard Condie as Bishop of Tasmania on Saturday.
Peter’s sermon has now been published on the Diocese of Tasmania website (PDF file). Take the time to read it – and take these words to heart. (h/t David Ould.)
A conversation, not a recitation
“I have argued in past pieces of the inestimable value of learning a gospel outline. However, a gospel outline is not like a script that we learn off by heart and then recite to a captive audience…”
– At GoThereFor, Stephen Liggins reminds us of the need to actually have a real conversation with another person when we want to share the gospel.
Seven Rules for Online Engagement
“Christians have had their share of social media successes in over the past few years, many of them related to identifying theological error and defending theological truth. This work has been carried on through blogs, of course, but also through Facebook and YouTube and other forms of digital communication.
But for all of the success, there have also been a lot of failures. Many of the most egregious failures have been in discussing or debating controversial topics.
As we learn to engage controversy using these new platforms, we do well to consider how to we can speak with equal parts truth and love—love that is strengthened by truth and truth that is softened by love…”
– Tim Challies distils some very helpful and godly counsel on ‘gospel polemics’ published by Tim Keller.
Related: Learning to Speak Christian in an Online World at Moore College, 17th March.
William Taylor on preaching the early chapters of Genesis
William Taylor shares some observations on preaching through (or reading through) Genesis 1-11 – at St. Helen’s Preaching Matters.
New Priscilla and Aquila Centre website
The Priscilla and Aquila Centre at Moore College has a brand new website.
Check it out – including their Resource Centre.
From the Vault No. 4
Learning to speak Christian in an online world
“On March 17, I’ll be speaking at Moore College’s first Centre for Christian Living event for 2016. The topic: Learning to speak Christian in an online world. …
Christians need to be online – or at least some of us do. That’s because there are real people who spend a large part of their lives online, and these people need to hear (or read!) the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10:14). If we Christians aren’t there with them, they will not hear of Jesus. All they will hear is the “noise” – the endless frivolous chatter, and worse.
But – we need to be very serious about how we speak. That’s because God takes our speech incredibly seriously. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, for example, when he talks about living God’s way, much of the time he’s talking about the way we speak…”
– Lionel Windsor at Moore College previews an event coming up at The Centre for Christian Living.
Equipped to Preach the Word — A new resource by David Jackman
Here’s an exciting new (and free!) resource from the Proclamation Trust –
“Equipped to Preach the Word is a new resource we’ve put together as a series of videos and accompanying manuals to put resources into the hands of those who long, under God, to train up a new generation of faithful and effective Bible preachers.
Topics include: the nature and necessity of revelation, interpretation and application; apostolic priorities and practice; contemporary challenges in the culture and the church; careful reading and thoughtful analysis of Scripture; watching your life and doctrine; the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly.
This course helps you to train others to acquire and develop the necessary practical tools and skills to expound the Bible’s message.”
– Read more about it, download the Leader’s and Trainee manuals, and see the videos – all on this page.
Why evangelistic courses are like a good joke
Stephen Liggins writes to encourage you to continue to run evangelistic courses.
Here’s why he reckons it’s worth it – at GoThereFor.
Preaching Christ in the Old Testament — Kevin DeYoung at Preaching Matters
Kevin DeYoung has been preaching at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, and took time out to address ‘Preaching Christ in the Old Testament’ for Preaching Matters.
Word-Filled Women’s Ministry
“I think the greatest strength of Word-filled Women’s Ministry is that it takes the word of God seriously, and it takes the importance of women understanding and sharing God’s word with others seriously…”
– Jane Tooher writes at Equal But Different about the new book Word-filled Women’s Ministry from The Gospel Coalition.
The Blood of the Martyrs is Seed
At the Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors last month, Dr Tim Keesee spoke on “The Blood of the Martyrs is Seed”, with profound reflections from 2 Corinthians 4.
Tim is, of course, the man behind the Dispatches from the Front videos and book.
“You can’t save your own life. You can only spend it. Spend it well.”
Sobering, mightily encouraging, and very much worth watching.
George Whitefield on the Homilies
“If I may be suffered to give my opinion, the dreadful ignorance as to the fundamentals of our holy religion, that almost everywhere abounds amongst the members of our established church, is chiefly owing to our neglect of preaching and putting into their hands the grand doctrines of the Reformation, contained in these Homilies and our other doctrinal articles.”
– Quoting George Whitefield, at the beginning of Lent Church Society introduces a series of daily extracts from The Homilies. Should be worth following.
Update: Here’s the first post – Edward VI’s preface to the “Book of Homilies”.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…