“We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year” – we really do. It is our genuine wish that you really enjoy the Christmas period and that the coming year is one you will look back on fondly for the rest of your life.
But maybe, “merry” and “happy” are good but rather limited aspirations for what we might experience in the coming days! Even a cursory reading of the Bible will reveal that while God has no problem with us being cheery or happy, he has far greater ambitions for us than that. In fact in one poignant moment in the gospels Jesus instructs his disciples in the pursuit of greatness. The context of his remarks is more poignant still as the disciples had been bickering about who was the greatest amongst them, in a similar conversation to the one they had when they looked for ‘best seats’ in the kingdom they were convinced Jesus was going to launch.
Fascinatingly Jesus doesn’t rebuke their idea that greatness itself is wrong (he doesn’t commend insignificant useless lives) but he does tell them that their whole concept of what constitutes greatness is entirely mistaken. The disciples seem to have been thinking in terms of accumulating the kind of prestige, power, recognition and influence that allows access to this world’s good and pleasures.
Instead Jesus did two things. Firstly he predicted his death, and in so doing reminded them that he had come to die at the hands of sinful men and then rise again. This clearly bewildered the glory-hunting messiah-followers who found his words incomprehensible. Then secondly, after telling them that he had come to die, (which we also know meant taking the lowest place, become the servant, demonstrating the greatest love, and laying down his life for the sins of the world) he told them this: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” In other words, be like him. In fact, he says that when we welcome the least, we welcome him and the Father!
The problem with Jesus’s ethical teaching thoughis that while it is utterly compelling, morally unsurpassed and ethically beautiful – it’s completely beyond our ability to do! The truth is that as we look back over our lives, they have shown moments of kindness and sacrifice for others, but also plenty of evidence that our hearts are enraptured with the very same things that the disciples stumbled over. Some of us love money, others status, others influence and reputation, others possesions – and that the pursuit of these things controls our lives to the extent that they prevent us from ever being truly great in the terms Jesus describes! We might think that Jesus’ vision of service is the most beautiful thing we have ever read, but who of us can ever say that we have truly lived this vision out? Worryingly when Jesus then says: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me”, hat actually means that the disciples he addressed had rejected God when they sought power, and so have we.
As we look twards the New Year, Jesus offeres us two pieces of really good news.
The first is that, he came to die for us – to redeem us from every act of selfishness, power-grabbing, and that he can do that because he alone has lived out the lofty ethics he proclaimed. The pinnacle of Jesus’ great life is his sacrifical death on the cross to redeem the undeserving. The one truly ‘great’ life is that lived by Jesus himself. If you accept Jesus’ definition of greatness, no King, Emperor, artist, pilgrim, scientist, entrepreneur, or philanthropist looks remotely close to that which we see in Christ. Though he was the king of glory he took flesh, and spent his first days here lying in a feeding trough in an obscure village. He touched lepers and outcasts, washed our feet and gave his life for the undeserving. He lived the one truly great life, fully and completely acceptable to God. And when he died, he didn’t do so as some grandiose gesture – but in order to share his ‘greatness’ with us. He gave his life, to both pay the debt for our sin, and also to give us his righteousness, to share his great life with us. We are saved by grace!
The second piece of good news, is that Jesus came to change us. In his grace he welcomes us as we are, but doesn’t leave us as we are as he instigates regime-change in our hearts. Paul would write in Ephesians that we have been “saved by grace with good works prepared in advance for us to do”. That is, in the power of the Spirit, we can bcome more like Christ, beacuse those good works are likely to be in service to the poor, the least, the undeserving, the unglamorous – and result in no recognition in this world for us whatsoever. However as we are set free from the control of the idols which once controlled our hearts, we are libertated to pursue true greatness!
The question is, as we face 2025 – will we pursue things of genuine greatness which store up treasures in heaven, or are our hearts set on the treasures of earth which rot, rust and fail?
Even in Christian ministry we can get this wrong! Greatness in ministry doesn’t necessarily mean preaching impressive sermons to vast crowds in state-of-the-art auditoriums. Such opportunities are, after all open to very, very few people. For sure, if you are gifted like Billy Graham, or George Whitfield – preach your heart out. But in Jesus’s kingdom greatness isn’t restricted to the gifted few, because serving the poor, sharing the gospel with a neighbour, praying for the lost and broken, sitting with the bereaved, being on the church cleaning rota – is available to virtually everyone.
So as the proverbial ‘man at the gate of the year’ marks out this milepost in the progression of time and points us in the direction of the hand of God beckoning on onwards, we can look at this new year with some confidence. The one true great life has been lived – for us and we are saved by his grace. Romans 8 says: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”, which means at the very least, that God’s agenda for us in this new year is to make us increasingly more like Jesus! Jesus offers us forgiveness for every time we have settled for eternal mediocrity by pursuing the the things this world values as ‘great’; and then he calls us towards lives of true greatness, which he defines as self-sacrificial service to the least; sharing with them both physical bread, and the bread of life.
We hope that this New Year is one of great joy for you – but the truth is that we don’t know what triumphs or tragedies we might face this in it. What we can say with real certainty is that the coming year can be ‘great’, (eternally great), if we receive the love, forgiveness and greatness of Christ – and follow His call to serve others in His name. In so doing, to become more like Him.
So think, as you begin this New Year, not what you can grasp but what you can give. Who you can serve, not what you can store up. How can you take the lowest seat, not the loftiest throne? How can you imitate the humility of Christ, who though being in very nature God, did nto consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, ? How can you serve in ways that gain no recognition from men, or status in this world, but which will make you just a little more like Christ?
I spoke at the Canterbury Christchurch Christian Union mission earlier in the year, where I met Luke Barrs who is the pastor of Canterbury Baptist Church (CBC). The CU hosted a series of ‘international dinners’ that week, and Luke contributed a really good short devotional talk at these events, which is where we got chatting.
Luke then invited me to come and preach at Canterbury Baptist Church, on my next visit down to Kent. So I spoke on ‘Confident Faith’, partly drawing on some of the conversational tools found in my book “How to talk about Jesus without looking like an idiot”.
After the service there was a church lunch and I had thought it was aimed mainly at their many students – but it was a whole-church lunch with people of all ages, older folk, families and, of course, students in search of a free lunch too! After the meal, I was invited to lead a Q&A session, primarily about evangelism with the 70 or so people who stayed.
As it was the start of term, there were an unusual number of students about who are surfing around different congregations looking to see which church they would settle in. Apparently one of the Iranian student leaders suggested bringing a crowd of students to CBC to catch up with me, which was lovely too. And it meant a lively Q&A with lots of younger folk in! There were students from Christ Church CU, Kent University and the University of Creative Arts (USA).
One of the questions asked was, “why should students get involved in things like mission on campus?”, so that was great! There was a warm response to the Have You Ever Wondered? book too. A youngster asked, ‘Why does God give us pets and then let them die?’ and ‘Will all pets be in heaven?’ The final question I was asked was rather poignant, as the issue of sharing the faith in the context of a harrowing story of suffering was raised by a church member. So it was good to be able to think through some of those sensitive issues with them.
The minister at CBC, Luke Barrs, added, “Andy’s encouragement particularly blessed the students, and each of them heard that they could be surprised at the impact they could make to others through sharing their faith. It was highly practical and we will be highlighting his three questions in our church magazine: “What do you mean by that?”, “Why do you think that?” And “Have you ever wondered?” We’re also looking forward to getting Andy back next year for an event for many of our local Baptist and other mission-minded churches to attend.
As the nights grow dark and the mercury drops in the thermometer, it’s a good excuse to curl up on the sofa and watch your favourite Christmas movie.
What is it that we love about the most popular Christmas movies? Perhaps it’s because they contain a message resonates with the deepest desires of our hearts. For example think of the message in …
“It’s A Wonderful Life”: hope outlasts despair
“Love Actually”: love overcomes all obstacles
“Die Hard”: good defeats evil
Although these films are fiction, we all want to believe such things are possible in fact. And the good news is that all these things – and more – have come true in the birth of Jesus Christ that we celebrate at Christmas. The Christmas Nativity isn’t just another feel-good but made-up story; it’s ‘based on true events’.
However, for some people it’s hard to take seriously the reality of the Nativity. The scene of the divine son of God born in human form, lying in the manger, watched over by His virgin mother, visited by shepherds to whom the birth was announced by a choir of angels from the realms of glory, and later presented with gifts by the three kings from the orient – all of these events happening under a new blazing light in the heavens. It’s a beautiful and wonderful story, but is it just that: a made up fairy tale? Can we who live in the advanced 21st century world still believe in God, angels and a miracle baby born to a virgin?
Before answering that question, let me tell you about my favourite Christmas movie: A Miracle on 34th Street. It tells the story of a little girl who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus. Her broken-hearted divorced mother has raised her that way, not wanting her to grow up believing in things (like Santa or Real Love) only to end up disappointed when she discovers they don’t exist. However, all that begins to change when she meets a wonderful, kind, old man called Kris Kringle. He makes her start to question whether Santa might exist after all and be incarnate in the person of Kris Kringle.
To cut a long story short, to avoid being confined to a mental hospital for the rest of his life, Kris Kringle must prove in court that he is in fact Santa Claus. For example, the authorities challenge him to prove it by bringing in a reindeer and making it fly – but Kringle explains that’s impossible because they only fly on Christmas Eve. It all seems hopeless. But at the last possible moment, as the judge is about to rule against Kringle, the little girl gives him a Christmas card with a dollar bill inside it. She has circled on it the words “In God we trust”. Inspired by this, the judge announces that if the government can believe on the basis of faith, that God exists, then also the court can believe without evidence that Santa exists in the person of Kris Kringle. Everyone celebrates and the story ends happily ever after.
However, I’m troubled by the writers equating Santa with God – and relegating God to the category of things that people believe in the absence of supporting evidence. Essentially this film assumes that people who believe in God are guilty of wishful thinking. Although, to be honest, most secular people think the same way about religious people.
Our secular society thinks that way because we’re following in the footsteps of sceptics like the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud, who explained away religion as wish fulfilment. He dismisses religion as the projection of our desire for a father-figure to take care of us and protect us in the midst of the uncertainties and difficulties of life in this world.
However, it’s not only people who believe in God who can be accused of wishful thinking. Perhaps those who claim to be atheists or agnostics have their own subconscious wishful desire for there to be not to be a God, who has a will for our lives and to whom we will have to give an account for how we live.
All this to say that the wishful thinking criticism cannot take us very far. It cuts both ways – against both believers and non-believers in God.
Instead, what makes Christianity different from all the other belief systems and religions of the world, is that it doesn’t begin with us, our thoughts and wishes. Instead it begins outside of us, with things that really happened in history at the first Christmas.
We find the story of the first Christmas Nativity in Luke’s gospel. It was written by someone who carefully investigated and researched, speaking to the living eyewitnesses and gathering the evidence about Jesus. Still to this day it is a highly respected ancient historical source.
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”
Notice that Luke, acting as a historian, is careful to record for us a series of facts about the First Christmas…
Firstly he records the WHEN of Jesus’ birth. This isn’t a made up fictional story that begins with the words: “Once upon a time”. No this story begins during the global reign of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus and the local administration of Governor Quirinius. Approximately, according to our modern calendars, this dates to around the year 4BC.
Secondly he records the WHERE of Jesus’ birth. This story isn’t set “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away”. Instead it took place in the little town of Bethlehem – a satellite village a few miles outside of the capital city of Jerusalem in the land of Israel. He wasn’t born in a royal palace, or in a swanky hotel, but in a place used for keeping animals.
Thirdly he records the HOW of Jesus’ birth. Luke tells us the familiar story re-enacted in countless school and church Nativity plays. We’re meant to notice that there was nothing ordinary about the birth of this child. In an earlier passage, Luke recorded how his mother was a virgin who conceived a child by the supernatural power of God. The Spirit of God was working in Mary’s empty womb, preparing a body for the Son of God to inhabit and be born into this world. In a later passage, Luke records how angels appeared to the locals, announcing the birth of Jesus and inviting them to come worship Him.
The only lingering question that this leaves us with is WHY was Jesus born? And the answer is LOVE!
The Nativity is a part of God’s great love story for the people of this world. The tragic part of this story is that God’s love is an unrequited loved. Within each of our hearts there is a deep suspicion and lack of fondness for God. We resent the idea that we owe God our allegiance and appreciation. We reject God as the giver of our lives and the author of the story of this world. Instead, we have stolen the divine author’s pen and insisted on writing on own script for life and being the author of our own destiny. The Bible calls this sin. Sadly, through sin, we’ve made a mess of ourselves and left a trail of misery across the pages of history.
Nevertheless, because God still loves us, He has written himself into the story of this world, to begin putting things right again. Seeing the confusion and chaos, the misery and meaningless, the injustice and inhumanity, Jesus stepped down into this world -becoming one of us – suffering as one of us – dying on the Cross for us and our sins – and history records the fact of His rising again from the grave demonstrating that evil and death need not have the last word in our story. That’s not wishful thinking. It’s true!
That was the life changing discovery of C.S. Lewis, while out one night walking with his Christian friend J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of The Lord of the Rings saga). Lewis was one of the leading thinkers of the era and a professor at Oxford University. His area of specialist study was medieval literature, but his deepest passion was ancient mythology. He experienced a conflict between his head and heart, reason and desire: “all that I loved I believed to be imaginary; nearly all that I believed to be real I thought grim and meaningless”. But all that changed on this nighttime stroll along Addison’s Walk in Oxford.
Discussing Christianity and mythology, Lewis asserted that the gospel story of the dying and rising Jesus was like the other myths: “lies breathed through silver”. However, Tolkien replied: “they’re not all lies”. Instead, Lewis came to realise that evening that Christianity is “the true myth” – “the one that really happened”. That realisation changed his life and destiny forever. And it can change yours too this Christmas, if you are willing to believe it too.
Welcome to the final Launch Pad article, we hope they’ve been useful and fruitful. We don’t anticipate that anyone will have been able to do all 52 challenges: things like sport, art, or writing will suit different people. What we do hope is that you are becoming bolder, clearer and more visible in your witness for Jesus!
Underlying Launch Pad is a firm resistance to the pressure we face from secular society to ‘privatise our faith’. No-one minds if we think Christian thoughts, read Christian books or sing Christian songs in our own homes or in church; the challenge of evangelism is to live all our life for Jesus and find ways of showing the world who he is, and what he means to us.
Our last suggestion for a way to get the gospel outside the four walls of the church is to engage in some good old-fashioned carol-singing. To go out into the public arena and openly declare the praises of Jesus is a great thing to do. Carol singing provides us with one of the few culturally understood ways of doing that! And many of these well-known songs contain the gospel.
So try following:
Pray!
Chose a venue and get permission. Town centres are great, old people’s homes often welcome them, and one church we know sings outside Tesco’s every December. Failing that, if you can muster a good crowd, then local neighbourhoods have also been used: people will come out of their homes to listen!
You’ll need a musician to keep you in tune. An acoustic guitar is easiest (electric instruments can be limited by access to a power source).
Bring printed lyrics sheets—not everyone knows the words!
A quick run-though is a great bonus so that you are all together.
Create a festive atmosphere with ‘Light of the world’ balloons, and church-flyers and chocolates to hand out (check that the venue are OK with these things). Be ready to chat to passers-by.
Invite anyone who wants to join in the singing to tag-along!
Go out and sing, and really worship the Lord with all your heart, publicly declaring His praise with gusto!
“O Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord!”
Pray: Lord we love you. Help us to tell the world! Amen
Gavin Matthews went to ‘The Gathering’ – The annual conference of the United Free Church of Scotland, to lead a seminar track for Solas. In the video he talks about the day – and working with the UFCoS.
“He looked at me and said ‘I hate Christians! You Christians are anti-women, anti-science, anti-progress, anti-gay, anti-transgender, anti-environment’… I found myself praying ‘Lord, what on earth do I say?’.”
How would you respond to someone who hates everything about Christianity? Watch below to find out how Andy replied, and hear his practical advice on having better conversations about Jesus.
It all started for me with historical questions about Jesus when I was a teenager, questioning things I was hearing and asking what it was credible to believe…that is where it began for me.”
What evidence is there for the life of Jesus and can we trust it? Gavin Matthews speaks to theologian David Wenham about one of the most important questions of all.
In this short video, Steve Osmond explores what different worldviews have to offer, and how Christianity offers better answers to the main questions of life. But there’s so much more – a restored relationship with our Creator!
Short Answers is a viewer-supported video series: if you enjoy them, please help us continue to make them by donating to Solas. Visit our Donate page and choose a free book as a thank-you gift!
On a cold December evening I made my way to speak at an old church building. I was there early to get set up, and the hall was quiet. The string quartet and choir arrived and began to warm up. The hall felt big and empty, and there was a small voice inside my that whispered doubtful thoughts – “would anyone really come to a carol service in the middle of the week?” I anticipated a small turn out, probably only of die-hard Christians with nothing else to do.
How wrong I was!
It’s fascinating how music continues to be something that can bring people together – the joy that it brings and the deep emotions that it can stir. What fascinates me even more is that in our post-Christian society the idea of singing carols is still something that gets people excited – so much so that they would brave a cold, dark winters night.
A few minutes before the event began, I’d had my head down for a few moments, being distracted as I read through the lyrics on the sheets that had been passed around. Turning to see the crowd my eyes lit up. The venue was almost completely full, and only a few seats at the very back were open. As surprising as that was, I was even more astonished to see that the majority of the chairs were occupied not by silver heads, but a range of other, more youthful, colours.
The local university Christian Union has organised the carol service and advertised it to the public, and had also invited their university friends. We sang some great old carols, and then I shared a simple message about the Christian hope – a message that many of the people there had never heard before. After the event there were mince pies and hot drinks for all, and I had some great conversations with several people who weren’t Christians, but had come along and really enjoyed the evening, and said they would be keen to come to another church event to hear more.
The organisers were not professional event planners, or musicians – just a group of willing and enthusiastic students! Why not arrange a carol service with an evangelistic message for the people of your community? Solas can help you with some ideas, or perhaps provide a speaker.
Prayer: “Please direct me as I look to share the light of the Gospel in my community”
“So what? Who cares?” the battle cries of the apathetic ring out from the young (and not-so-young) people of the UK. It seems today the conversation for winning souls needs to start by convincing people they’ve got souls in the first place! As Christians, what can we do to stir up spiritual curiosity and show that Jesus really matters for everyone?
Darin and Joy Stevens recently launched Start to Stir, which exists to help Christians share faith in a culture that is largely indifferent towards faith and God. Fuelled by their over twenty years experience working with youth from outside the church, and training youth ministry students at ForMission College, they want to help everyday Christians learn how to stir curiosity in the gospel. Their first tool, the Stir Course, is already being used in over 200 churches and schools across the country.
About PEP Talk
The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, Andy Bannister (Solas) and Kristi Mair (Oak Hill College) chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.
How do we make low-key, friendly contact with people outside the church and initiate conversations that will lead to Jesus? One survey suggested that half the adult population of the UK have no contact whatsoever with a church, which means they are beyond the reach of the invitations we normally distribute either in person, or online.
One church in Birmingham struck on a brilliantly innovative idea to help them meet new people, in a positive way. In the run-up to Christmas, they set up a free gift-wrapping service in the centre of their city!
They assembled:
A small team of cheerful volunteers
A few tables
A sound system with festive tunes
A mile of wrapping paper
A few hundred metres of ribbon and hundreds of bows
A large box of Sellotape
Hundreds of gift labels
Scissors
Some “Free Gift Wrapping” signs
They got permission from the local council, informed the police and on the Saturday before Christmas, got to work. Their aim was to bless as many people as possible and answer any questions that people had. As word got out that there was a free gift-wrapping service going on, it became really popular.
The majority of reactions were very positive too.
Shopkeepers (including the ones they bought the stationary supplies from) were encouraging. Many high streets are struggling, and any kind of community ‘value-add’ to the shopping experience is always welcomed.
Shoppers too were delighted that they were being offered a hand. Hearing that the gift-wrapping service was being done by a church, they assumed that it was a fundraiser for restoring a cathedral, and that the ubiquitous thermometer-style fundraising display would soon be working its way up the bell-tower!
On discovering that this church wanted to give to them, rather than get something from them, several shoppers were stunned and said: “Really, why?” “God has blessed us, and we want to bless you”, the volunteers said. That naturally led to conversations about the real meaning of Christmas—about a “God who gave his one and only son”.
For some church members, their best conversations about Jesus in years—and the most invitations they gave out to people to church—all came about because of a free Christmas present wrapping service!
How can your church bless strangers at Christmas?
Pray: Lord, please make us a blessing to those around us this Christmas! Amen.
With interest surging in spiritual matters generally, and Christianity in particular, it’s a great time to consider running a ‘seekers course’, like Alpha or Christianity Explored. These create the ideal setting for people to meet informally over food and explore more about what Christianity is. Guests can experience Christian hospitality and community, ask their questions and contribute their ideas too. These courses also give people the opportunity to respond to Jesus themselves, without any pressure or expectation. Over the years, countless people, who were not yet ready to go to church, have found them a safe place in which to encounter Jesus.
Gordy, who has run both CE and Alpha said: “The beauty of these courses is that if you can operate a TV you can run a course, it is so simple!” Both CE and Alpha offer straightforward advice on using their materials. He says that running them regularly is a great way to make sure that when anyone is interested in Jesus there’s always something to invite them to! He loves handing out invites at the parent and toddler groups, Christmas services and community BBQs the church hosts.
One woman asked her local church if she could have her baby baptised. They are a Baptist Church who don’t baptise infants, but rather than turn her away, they invited her to Alpha as a way of exploring the meaning of Christianity. A year later, after putting her faith in Christ, she was baptised and her daughter was dedicated!
Hosting a course is a commitment of time, prayer and hospitality but the evenings you invest could be ones that God uses to change someone’s life—for eternity! Some people feel at ease in a home, others in a church, others in a café, so be flexible. Get the materials, get praying and invite people to come. As well as Alpha, Gordy’s church is also planning the Hope Explored course—a short, three-week course to invite the people they connect with at Christmas to come to. Likewise, when one Alpha group bonded closely but weren’t ready for church, they stayed together and did the Discipleship Explored course!
Pray: Lord, use us to reach people with the good news of Jesus. Help me to use the best resources and hospitality to love, welcome and introduce people to you. Amen
This past weekend I had the opportunity to teach at Whitby Bible School hosted by Whitby
Evangelical Church.
It’s an annual Bible school weekend aimed at young adults from 18 to around 30 years old,
where people from several evangelical churches come together for a weekend of fellowship
and teaching. This year the organisers wanted to do an apologetics track to speak about
some of the big questions that regularly come up with that age group, to better equip them
for sharing the Gospel, as well as to build them up in their faith more.
Speaking to a room of around 30 young adults, I had the opportunity to do 4 sessions with
Q&A time after each. The talk titles were: True for you but not for me: How to have conversations about faith in an age of relativism, Can God & Science co-exist?, Blindfolds and crutches: Is faith in God is just an emotional crutch, or is there good reason for it?, and Can happiness last?
This was my first time in Whitby, and although the streets were filled with pirates – quite
literally – I look forward to visiting again, and especially to see our friends at Whitby
Evangelical Church again soon.
It’s really encouraging to have the opportunity to speak at events like this where people are
hungry to learn more as a way to be more effective in sharing their faith, but also as living
out what they believe as disciples of Jesus.
Bringing an African perspective to PEP Talk today powerfully reminds us of the spiritual and experiential realities that we often minimise in our Western culture. With wonderful enthusiasm and amazing stories, get inspired by the host of the Inspired podcast as Simon Guillebaud chats with Andy and Kristi.
Simon Guillebaud MBE, spent two decades living in war-torn Central Africa, and speaks out of that context with raw urgency and passion for the last, the lost and the least. He’s the Founder of Great Lakes Outreach, host of the popular ‘Inspired’ podcast, author of the award-winning book Choose Life, and travels widely stirring up the Church for radical discipleship. His wife Lizzie and he live in Bath with their three teenage children.
About PEP Talk
The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, Andy Bannister (Solas) and Kristi Mair (Oak Hill College) chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.
