The best foundation for long-term cross-cultural ministry

Simon Gillham, Head of the Department of Mission at Moore College, asks, “what kind of foundation prepares a person best for long-term cross-cultural ministry?”

See his thoughtful and encouraging answer at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Slip, slop, slap for sustainable sacrifice

“I keep hearing heartbreaking reports of burnout among Christian ministers.

Christopher Ash’s book Zeal without Burnout is a very short, but very good, biblical and pastoral reflection on the topic. He talks about his own experience of burnout, and includes lots of stories from others in Christian ministry.

He argues that we should be thinking in terms of “sustainable sacrifice,” i.e. “the sort of self-giving living that God enables me to go on giving day after day” (p. 26).

His chapter titles are nuggets of gold in and of themselves …”

– Lionel Windsor begins “a series of blog posts about how I try to put ‘sustainable sacrifice’ into effect on the ground”. Keep an eye on it at Forget the Channel.

Watch the Annual Moore College Lecture livestream tonight

If you couldn’t get to Moore College for the first evening of this year’s Annual Moore College Lectures, you can watch it from 8:00pm via the college’s livestream.

“Dr Paul Williamson is our speaker for this year’s Moore College Lectures on the topic of Death and the Life Heareafter. Join us to think through the big questions of death, heaven and hell, beginning with a public lecture on the evening of Friday 19 August, and continuing with 5 morning lectures from Monday 22 to Friday 26 August. This is a free event with no registration required.”

Deuteronomy: One Nation under God by George Athas

Here’s a new book to be released on 30th September 2016 by CEP, under their Aquila Press imprint –

“Deuteronomy is a daunting book for many readers of the Bible, yet it is arguably the ‘theological backbone’ of the Old Testament.

In this clear and insightful commentary, George Athas brings Deuteronomy to life for contemporary readers, and looks at how the ancient context helps us to better understand this book. He also explains the meaning of Deuteronomy for its original readers, traces the significance of the promises in Deuteronomy through Israel’s history to their ultimate fulfilment in Christ, and considers the enduring message of this extraordinary book for Christians today.”

If you’re keen, you can pre-order the book now!

“God made me for China” — Eric Liddell beyond Olympic glory

“Those who have seen Chariots of Fire well remember how it ends, with the magnificent and sentimental music of Sir Hubert Parry’s anthem ‘Jerusalem’ and William Blake’s famous words: ‘Bring me my Bow of burning gold; Bring me my Arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire!’

Then the screen fills with these words in text:

‘Eric Liddell, missionary, died in occupied China at the end of World War II. All of Scotland mourned.’

The end.

But in those few words was the real story of Eric Liddell…”

– Have your heart warmed to the true story of Eric Liddell – in this new post from Albert Mohler. (Photo: Wikipedia.)

Moore College to celebrate 500 years of the Reformation

Moore College will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with some key events.

It’s time to mark your diary!

Details at the College website.

Simon Manchester on Preparing to Preach

In the latest Preaching Matters from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, North Sydney’s Simon Manchester speaks about Preparing to Preach.

“What are the priorities we need to have in good preaching?

Preaching Matters welcomes Simon Manchester this month, asks him what his sermon preparation looks like, and he gives us some examples of why handling the text rightly is so crucial for good preaching. Simon talks to us about being sailors and divers, and preaching Jesus not just the Bible.”

Watch it here. Most encouraging.

A Sovereign Protector I have

“The book of Esther is another reminder that God is in control of all things, not just some things. God is well able to use peoples’ evil intentions to bring about His good purpose.

Joseph’s brothers; the evil Prime Minister of Persia, Haman; the weak Roman Governor of Palestine, Pontius Pilate; the able Jewish lobbyists, who demanded the death sentence for Jesus; and later the deacon Stephen, are all examples that the Sovereign Lord ‘rules the peoples justly and guides the nations of the earth’ (Psalm 67:4).”

– in his latest message, Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook calls believers to remember who is in control – the One to whom every knee will bow.

(Image: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)

Dick Lucas on What makes an excellent Bible teacher

Earlier this year, Nancy Guthrie spent an hour with Dick Lucas in London for her ‘Help me teach the Bible’ series.

She asks Dick about the early days of his ministry at St. Helen’s, about the Proclamation Trust, and then turns to the character of a Bible teacher, and the way Dick approaches a passage for preaching.

Strong encouragement for preachers, and for congregations.

Listen to the 56 minute conversation at The Gospel Coalition. (54MB mp3 file.)

(Photo: from a St. Helen’s Bishopsgate video.)

Is Same Sex Marriage a “Human Right”?

“The question posed by the title of this post is simply this: is it a denial of a fundamental human right, for a legal system not to extend the category of marriage to include marriage between parties of the same sex?

The question was posed in a stark way by recent reported comments of the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Prof Gillian Triggs. …”

– Neil Foster’s latest post at Law and Religion Australia, asks if there is an internationally recognised ‘human right’ to same-sex marriage.

EMA 2016 talks available

Audio and video files from Proclamation Trust’s EMA 2016 are available for your edification. Thanks to Proc Trust for this wonderful resource.

Audio files here.

Video files here.

Tim Challies on ‘Heaven is for Real’ and other ‘heaven tourism’

“In March 2003, young Colton Burpo was in serious distress.

Doctors did not yet know it, but his appendix had burst and his life was in grave danger. When doctors at one hospital were unable to diagnose him, his parents raced him to a new hospital where he was rushed into surgery, the doctor warning ominously that their son was in grave danger.

Colton survived his surgery and emerged from it telling a strange story…”

– In his series on bestselling ‘Christian’ books, Tim Challies revisits the genre of ‘Heaven Tourism’, and republishes an infographic he created in 2015.

Hope because Hell has not yet come

“This past Sunday at our church we started a new sermon series on the book of Lamentations. The title of this series is “Hell of a subject” because Lamentations teaches us about the wrath or “fierce anger” (1:12) of God, of which an eternal hell is the ultimate expression.

We don’t often hear about the wrath or fierce anger of God, let alone about an eternal hell. Most people would say something like, “My God would never do that!” Rather than worshipping and serving the God of the Bible, most people worship and serve the God of their own making, who, not-surprisingly, has all the same opinions as themselves. Lamentations will help us. Lamentations gives us a small foretaste of the wrath of God…”

– At the REACH South Africa (formerly CESA) website, Andre Visagie shares strong observations from Lamentations.

Amazing Love? A review article from Church Society

From Church Society in the UK:

‘Amazing Love: Theology for Understanding Discipleship, Sexuality and Mission’ is a new book, edited by Andrew Davison, which seeks to promote a change to the Church of England’s doctrine of marriage.

In an extended two-part review, Dr Peter Sanlon, Vicar of St Mark’s Church, Tunbridge Wells, analyses the claims of the book –

Part 1:

“This aim of this book can be given in the authors’ own words: ‘This short book explains why we think it’s good for Christians to embrace their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, and to celebrate their relationships … We think that the Church should be willing – delighted even – to hallow and strengthen such commitments.’…”

Part 2:

“This volume has the appearance of being a digest of thoughtful and considered academic research. However that is just the surface reality – a carefully curated image. Academic publisher, long sub-title, titled academics listed as authors. It looks like academic work; but upon closer examination the mirage fades.…

It is stated on numerous occasions in the book that the aim of the authors is the embrace and acceptance of homosexual relationships by the Church of England. In reality the book has a much larger goal. The goal is nothing less than a wholesale revision of the Christian Faith into a different religion.”