The Best Possible Gift — the case for theological education
“Theological education is a costly business. Whether you are raising your own support, or whether it’s being funded by the church, it’s expensive to be trained for ministry. There’s a personal cost, too. Giving several years of your life to theological education is sacrificial. …
This short film looks at the case for theological training and features short interviews with people who are currently in training or who are now doing ministry in a wide range of contexts in the UK and Ireland…”
– A new resource from Oak Hill College in London.
The REAP Journal — to help you read God’s Word
Growing Faith (part of Youthworks) have just released an new Adult Edition of their REAp Journal.
From the blurb:
“If you’re training to be an athlete or concert pianist, you’ll no doubt have a daily workout or regime to get you to your goal. So, how do you train to be godly? By devoting yourself to the word of God and being disciplined in allocating time to its study and meditation!
Sounds difficult? It doesn’t have to be! This REAP Journal will help you to reach your spiritual goals with an easy-to-use format and a daily Bible Reading Program to keep you on track.
REAP stands for Read, Explore, Apply and Pray and is designed to make reading the Bible easy as a part of everyday life. There’s a version for Adults, Youth and Kids, with similar daily passages across all versions (with special consideration for each demographic), meaning that families can learn together just as easy as individuals can.”
– You can get it here. (Youth edition, Kids’ edition.)
Christmas messages 2014
It’s time for Christian leaders to release their Christmas messages.
Please pray that all will speak clearly and plainly of the saving gospel of Christ.
We’ll post messages as we find them (in no particular order).
- Archbishop Philip Freier, Melbourne.
- Bishop Trevor Edwards, Vicar General, Canberra & Goulburn.
- Bishop Ian Lambert, Bishop to the Australian Defence Force.
- Bishop Bill Ray, North Queensland.
- Bishop John Harrower, Tasmania.
- Archbishop Glenn Davies, Sydney.
O Christmas Tree
This year’s Christmas video from Revival in the UK is out. It’s a little quirky – yet has an excellent message. Watch and share.
Previous videos:
Christmas in Dark Place.
Santa vs. Jesus.
Wise Judgements
“For many years biblical scholars have baulked at the idea that Jesus was a transcendent figure and have busied themselves redefining him in humanistic terms.
Is this due to the ‘secular’ spirit of the age that airbrushes the Almighty from the public square?
For a period in early the twentieth century some thought there was little we could know about Jesus, for example, in 1934 Rudolph Bultmann declared, ‘We can now know almost nothing about the life and personality of Jesus’. The pendulum has swung back so that in 1985 Ed. Sanders could say, ‘We can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish… we can know a lot about what he said…’.”
– New Testament scholar Bishop Paul Barnett has published some fascinating work he’s been doing on the judgements of Jesus.
‘Logic on Fire’ trailer
At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor shares the trailer for a forthcoming film, “Logic On Fire: the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones”.
Christmas mission, Christmas transmission
“For years I’ve been wrestling with how we might ever attract non-Christians to willingly engage with media that communicates the gospel. And then it hit me. The one time non-Christians do want to engage with the Christian message is at Christmas – and there’s no starker example of this than the church carol service. But there’s more. Each Christmas I’ve also heard media channels such as Classic FM playing lots of carols amongst their regular programming, even taking requests for carols!
How interesting that the Christmas story is being broadcast on secular media, to a Christmas-hungry audience. And so after years of wondering, an idea was born – Christmas Carols Radio…”
– Ben Vane, studying at Oak Hill College in London, had a great idea.
Check out Christmas Carols Radio and pass on the URL to your friends in time for Christmas.
[We first posted this link in October. Now’s the time to mention the site to your friends!]
Vinegrowers
Vinegrowers have a new website, complete with some articles to help us see the need for a disciple-making culture in our churches.
“Vinegrowers has seized on a vital biblical truth that’s too easily forgotten in the busyness and distraction of modern ministry life: the heart of Christian growth is God’s people speaking God’s word in the power of God’s Spirit.”
– Dr Lionel Windsor.
To Give Knowledge of Salvation to His People: A Christmas Mandate for Christian Ministry
“So many moments of our lives pass with almost no sense of significance. The twenty four hours in a day fade into the memory of the seven days of the week, then the thirty-odd days of a month, and then months into years. The years pass into the mist of memory.
But certain moments, certain days stand out in vivid contrast. These are occasions of bright and lasting memory — births, deaths, family reunions, and Christmases. Add to those moments like this, a commencement ceremony. There is something even more special about this ceremony, however, for this is the graduation of those called to Christian ministry, and this ceremony comes fast upon Christmas…”
– from Albert Mohler’s commencement address to be preached later today at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. (If you’re keen, the commencement ceremony will be live-streamed at 10:00 a.m. US EST Friday December12 – the same as 4:00am AEDT Saturday December 13.)
Related:
If you haven’t seen it, last year Southern Seminary gave thanks for 20 years of leadership of Albert Mohler in this 25-minute video. Worth watching – not just for the interesting history, but also a reminder of the value and importance of keeping a theological college faithful to the gospel.
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
Christian cartoonist Adam Ford (Adam4d) offers this primer on the religion of many westerners.
(These concepts will be familiar to listeners to Mike Horton’s White Horse Inn.)
Winter (heart) warmers
From The Proclamation Trust:
“Last month saw our annual Autumn Ministers conference, the audio from which is now online. Vaughan Roberts’ opening and closing expositions from Revelation encouraged and challenged us in our ministry.”
Listen to both expositions here.
Vanishing Church? Latest 9Marks Journal
The latest 9Marks Journal has been released. The theme: Vanishing Church? Seeking the Right Perspective as Opposition Grows.
Download it as a PDF file.
Challenge and Choice — Australian Anglican Schools Today
“The book Challenge and Choice – Australian Anglican Schools Today by Dr Ruth Edwards was launched in Brisbane on Wednesday 3 December.
The work represents a significant attempt to not only survey the history of these religious schools but to map something of the future that lies before this sector.”
– See the story from the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn.
Preaching Matters: Charlie Skrine and contextualisation
In the latest Preaching Matters from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, Charlie Skrine thinks through Acts 17 and contextualisation. Encouraging and helpful.
Themelios Vol 39 No 3 (November 2014)
The latest issue of the academic journal Themelios is now available from The Gospel Coalition. As always, a wealth of material, including book reviews. (h/t Andy Naselli.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…