News

Andy with Glen Scrivener; “Atheism, Islam and the Prodigal God”

by Editor

Speak Life are a great Christian ministry based down in England, and led by Glen Scrivener. They are engaged in all sorts of work, including video, podcasts, written articles, as well as working with churches, CU’s etc. Their website is worth looking at to see the range of things they do. Our fields of ministry obviously overlap, so we really enjoy it when we get to work with them. The most recent opportunity for this was when Andy Bannister from Solas, appeared on their Reset programme which you can watch below.

The ReSet series is itself a fascinating series of programmes. The whole series can be seen on YouTube here:

The Rusty Gap

by Editor

Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope within you.
1 Peter 3:15

 Some years ago, my wife and I enjoyed an Easter vacation in New York city. On one particular evening, following an Off-Broadway musical and a stroll along 8th Avenue to drink in the Manhattan ambience, I turned on the TV in our hotel room to be met with an infomercial for Beachbody’s latest DVD workout programme, Insanity. For the next twenty-five minutes, I was sold an exercise regime claiming to be unlike anything else on the market, and promising pro-athlete conditioning and washboard abs in just sixty days. So upon return to Ireland, I paid my dues to the gods of fitness and pushed play on my first Insanity workout DVD. Let’s just say the workout programme was appropriately name: Insanity is a max-interval, forty-five minute cardio blitzkrieg. I managed about sixteen minutes before having to go outside and throw-up! Yet, slowly but surely, as I kept daily pushing play on my DVD player and hitting the workouts, my body began to respond. The workouts became more manageable, even enjoyable. My body became leaner, my endurance longer, and my muscles stronger. And even if I wasn’t quite ready to join the cast of Baywatch just yet, eventually I made it to day sixty: Insanity complete.

Having reached my goal, I stopped training or watching my diet as closely. Ten months later, I decided to return to Insanity and attack the regime all over again. This time, it only took fourteen minutes for me to revisit my lunch! Why? Because physical fitness is a dynamic reality; our fitness levels never stay static but progress or regress according to how they are stimulated. I am one of those irrational people who, despite my wife’s protests, convinces myself that I can more or less pick up at the level of exercise I left off at following a long hiatus. The hard reality is that, in trying to do so, I either end up discouraging myself to the point of losing motivation, or often injure myself and spend the next two months in physiotherapy recovering before I can even contemplate attempting any level of exercise again. The fact is, our bodies respond to being worked in certain ways. Often, they are capable of far more than we expected when we first began exercising. Yet the moment we stop using our bodies in this way, our fitness doesn’t remain static at the level we left it. It recedes to a basic level until we do things again to build it back up.

The same is often true of evangelism.

Interestingly, when the Apostle Peter encourages Christians to “…always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope within you” (1 Peter 3:15), the word he uses for “ready” (hetoimoi) is a word that, at its root, carries the idea of physical fitness. In other words, preparedness for effective evangelism is a lot like exercising. Becoming fit takes hard work, dedication, and following good instruction from inspirational people who know more about it than you currently do. And, much like physical fitness, maintaining our proficiency in public witness requires a continual exercising of our evangelistic muscles because, the moment we stop, we get rusty – our skillset begins to atrophy. That is why readiness in Christian witness is not like readiness for a marathon or exam in the sense that we know when the test is coming, and once we have done it we don’t need to keep training any longer. Fitness for evangelism is much more like First Aid training: we have to remain continually ready because we often have to respond effectively to an opportunity that arrives without any prior warning whatsoever. The only sure way, therefore, to guarantee our fitness for these unexpected moments, is to live in a continual state of evangelistic fitness: always be ready.

No doubt many of us can recount seasons of regular involvement in sharing our faith with others, perhaps in those early days as a new Christian, or on summer mission teams with our peers during those four-month holidays that university students have to endure. Like most people, we probably found those initial attempts at sharing the gospel both intimidating and stretching, but the more we kept pushing ‘play’ on those witnessing opportunities, the more we saw the Lord gradually increase our evangelism strength and fitness; it became something we actually enjoyed, rather than simply endured. Yet somehow – often unintentionally – the demands of work, family, care-giving, romance, even church activities took over and evangelism became neglected, like an old pair or running shoes or dumbbells now collecting dust in the garage. Eventually, however, someone or something can come along that motivates us to get off the proverbial couch and back into intentionally shining the light of the glorious gospel into a dark and broken world. But, if we’re honest, committing to regularly share our faith again with others might feel like having to run the London marathon when the only thing you have run in the last fifteen years is a warm bath. Our evangelism is rusty; our proficiency at meaningfully sharing our faith is badly out of shape.

So if we feel a little rusty or all out of shape for evangelism, what can we do? The simple answer is that we have two options: First, we can do nothing and come up with all kinds of creative reasons why we cannot get evangelistically active once again. Or, second, we can commit ourselves afresh to obeying the bible’s command that every Christian be respectfully and persuasively communicating the hope of the gospel among those they know and love. If you find yourself vying for option 2 (and I suggest that you do!), let me offer a few pieces of practical advice that I personally have found helpful in removing the evangelistic rust and getting my public witness moving again.

First, seek out effective means of motivation. One of the very first things that I will often do when I want to get back into a workout regime is to watch inspirational videos on Youtube or Instagram that document people’s fitness transformations. It helps me to see what is possible with a little dedication and stimulates confidence that I too could achieve similar feats of progress. The same is true of Christian witness. Often it’s in encountering the remarkable ways that God has used other people just like us that we gain the confidence that the Lord can and will help us, if only we will give evangelism a proper go once again. So, why not try watching some videos online or reading an inspirational biography of a Christian missionary or unlikely convert (for example, Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love by Thomas A. Tarrants, A War of Loves by David Bennett, or David Wilkerson’s classic The Cross and the Switchblade)? You could also explore some of the Solas PEP Talk podcast episodes, or our new series on faith at work, to discover how other people are navigating their Christian witness. If you can, it might also be beneficial to dig out some old photos or footage from mission trips or evangelistic initiatives that you’ve been involved with in the past. Once you get over the embarrassment of your old haircut (or the nostalgia that you once had hair!), perhaps, like the altars Abraham built, you’ll find  doing so to be a stimulating reminder of the joy, grace and help you experienced from God in the past when you stepped out in witness for Christ. Why should you expect any less from the Lord if you step out once again?

Second, begin praying regularly for opportunities to share your faith, as well as for people you know who are not yet Christians. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together described prayer as an “… unbroken, constant learning, accepting and impressing upon [our] mind of God’s will in Jesus Christ.” In other words, prayer is the context in which God shapes our minds and wills to reflect His own love for lost people. Our passion for people to meet Jesus will never be greater than when it’s learning to echo the love of the One who wept over Jerusalem, and prayer is where we capture this quality. In doing so, our appetite for evangelism will move beyond an unhealthy dependency on how convenient we find it at any given moment, or how capable we may or may not feel ourselves to be at it. Instead, we will keep going, even in those moments when it’s difficult and discouraging, because God has transformed our hearts to share his love for people and because we are thoroughly convinced that “there is no other name under heaven given among mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Make a list of five or six people that you would like to have a conversation with about your faith and ask the Lord to give you the courage to have a meaningful conversation with them about Jesus.

Third, be realistic about your evangelism fitness levels and don’t try to do too much too soon. One of the potential hazards in finding inspirational evangelistic figures is that we often want to be able to do the kinds of things that they did, without realising that we are viewing or reading the product of potentially decades of experience and learning in effective Christian witness. So, before you run out and sign yourself up for the Grill-A-Christian night at the local Student’s Union or Atheist society, take a lesson from my unrealistic ventures in getting back into fitness by attempting levels of exercise that I was nowhere near ready for at that stage. You might just save yourself (and others!) embarrassment or, worse, spiritual injury if you do. If, in reality, you are only getting back into evangelism, start with manageable opportunities that are likely to keep you engaged and encouraged. This might be signing up to help facilitate an Alpha or Christianity Explored group alongside a more experienced Christian. It might be strategically sharing good evangelistic content, such as Solas’s Short/Answer videos, on your social media platforms. It could be organising events in your workplace or local community where you invite speakers to come along and discuss ideas on big questions about life, truth and meaning. It may even be taking the time to intentionally work out, write down and memorise a strong, three-minute answer to the question, “Why are you a Christian?” and then find ways to naturally weave it into conversation with others at appropriate times.

Finally, don’t do it alone. I am far more likely not to give up on a new exercise regime if I am doing it with others who can keep me motivated and accountable. It’s the same with Christian witness. Evangelism can be a long and discouraging experience at times, and we all need those Samwise Gamgee figures who can support us, reassure us, and rightly recalibrate our perspective at crucial moments. Try to find a collective of people – ideally from your own church or community (but, if not, then online) – who are passionate for evangelism and with whom you can pray, share resources, and talk with about inevitable disappointments and successes. We at Solas delight in connecting and resourcing people in the context of evangelism. So if we can assist you or your church in any way, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Returning to evangelism after an all-too-long season on the couch can be even more intimidating than getting back into physical fitness, even ones as intense as Insanity. It is going to time, hard work, experience and the support of others to help us rebuild our confidence and rediscover those skills of knowledge, perception and conversation that will enable us to become fit evangelists. Remember, however, that our Great Instructor, the Lord Jesus Christ, understands our fears and weaknesses, and knows how to develop us in His own time and in ways suitable to our personality, if we are truly serious about the process. He is not going to throw us into the evangelism equivalent of a 10k within our first week. Instead, as we keep showing up and putting ourself in evangelistic contexts, He will strategically work with us – guiding us, stretching us and encouraging us every step of the way until, eventually, we realise the incredible progress that we have made. Why not, even today, commit again to the kind of fitness that will bring greater and more lasting rewards than even physical exercise (cf. 1 Timothy 4:8)? The kind of fitness that won’t simply benefit your life, but truly has the power to play a crucial role in forever transforming the life of another human being.

There is certainly nothing insane about that kind of workout.

Students at St Pete’s

by Editor

Back in the depths of winter, Andy Bannister was invited to speak at the student group at St Peter’s Free Church of Scotland in Dundee. St Pete’s is a church with a long association with Solas (!) so it was great to be there and meet their student group which meets on a Sunday night. When Andy visited them, there were about 45 students there. After the long-months of Covid-restrictions, meeting people in-person is always a great joy! One of the students, Jonathan McClung wrote this report of the evening for us.

Andy Bannister came to St Peter’s and talked about sharing Hope during the Coronavirus crisis- He used 1 Peter 1:3-5 to show the unique wonder of the Christian hope. That our hope is grounded in the resurrection and God’s promise of Christ’s return where He shall create a new heaven and earth.

Following this he gave a number of top tips for evangelism with a focus on sharing our Hope in Christ with others.

For many of us the highlights of the evening were his top four tips regarding evangelism today under the restrictions we have, which were particularly helpful. He encouraged us to get to know our neighbours and take time with those we come across and that was very helpful.

The worst joke Andy told was that it was fortunate people were wearing masks because he couldn’t tell whether they were laughing or not!

We really hope to be able to put what he said into practice!

if you’re looking for a student group in Dundee, click here.

PEP Talk Podcast With Susie Ford

by Solas

When we hear from those with degrees in theology and positions in ministry, it can be tempting to feel inadequate or guilty about our own efforts in evangelism. So how can we make efforts at sharing the gospel without falling into a performance-driven mindset?

With Susie Ford – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Susie Ford works in ministry and studies theology part time with Highland Theological College. She is a member of the Passion for Evangelism community which mentors and encourages women in public proclamation of the gospel, and loves discussing faith issues with those exploring Christianity. In her free time Susie can always be found with people, whether drinking coffee, baking or walking.

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.

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The Knowledge Gap (Part One)

by Editor

I remember around the time of the Iraq War that BBC Radio 4 ran a feature on the US Secretary of Defense entitled “The Donald Rumsfeld Sound Bite Of The Week”.  One week he made this statement that has lived on in infamy: “There are known knowns – there are things we know, we know.  There are known unknowns – there are things we know, we don’t know.  And there are unknown unknowns – the things we don’t know, we don’t know”.  Although it’s clunky, it actually makes a lot of sense in life – and in evangelism too!

In evangelism there are things we know that we know.  We know the essential truths of the gospel: “I am a great sinner but Jesus is a great Saviour”.  We know who Jesus is, why He came and how to follow Him.  We know and can testify to our experiences of the comforting and transforming power of Christ in our lives.  In many ways that’s all we need to know to be faithful ambassadors for Jesus, who show and tell the world that Jesus is good news.   These are the known knowns.

In evangelism there are things we don’t know that we don’t know.  You never quite know at the start of a conversation where it’s going to go – it’s a bit like the opening title sequence of the TV programme Stingray: “Anything can happen in the next half hour!”  You don’t know how God has been silently and secretly at work preparing the heart and mind of the other person through the circumstances of life to be open to consider the gospel.  You also may not know if there are painful experiences lurking in their past which have made them hostile and bitter against the things of God.  These are the unknown unknowns – and all we can do about them is pray for God’s help and be sensitive to the prompts of His Spirit.

Also in evangelism there are things we know that we don’t know.  These are the known unknowns.  There are questions that we are scared of, there are topics we hope that no one will ask us about, there are doubts that we’ve never bottomed out for ourselves so we can’t help someone else make sense of them either.  I know many people who are reluctant to get into conversations about their faith because they are afraid of being asked a question that they don’t know how to answer – they are afraid of letting down the Lord or looking foolish in front of others.  However, the good news is that there is something we can do about the known unknowns, so that they don’t hold us back from sharing what we do already know.

So how do you turn a “known unknown” into a “known known”?

Well it begins with celebrating the fact that there are many things that you don’t know.  That qualifies you to belong to a very special category of people: learners!  If there’s one thing this world needs more of it’s learners – after all, none of us like a know-it-all, do we?  In fact, the biblical word disciple literally means “learner” – by definition Christians are called to be learners of Christ.

You can graduate from school, college or university but you should never graduate from learning.  The old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is a lie – provided that the dog wants to learn then there’s no end of the things it can learn across its lifetime.  Just as you can develop and strengthen your muscles by routinely doing some basic exercises, so through building in time for learning you can develop your mental muscles and skills.  It could be as simple as redeeming the time on your commute by listening to a good apologetics podcast or downloading an eBook onto your phone that you can read in the 5 minutes waiting in the car for everyone else to be ready to leave the house.

Committing to be a life-long learner also gives you life-long permission to say: “I don’t know”.  Admitting you don’t know something doesn’t shut down the conversation, in fact it probably opens up more opportunities to carry on the conversation later.  So practice saying (without any sense of guilt or shame): “That’s a great question.  I don’t know the answer – but let me go away, find out and come back to you” (and here at Solas we exist to help you find answers and resources to continue those sorts of conversations).

After you’ve embraced your identity as a learner, then you need to decide what gaps in your knowledge you’re going to tackle.  It might seem daunting at first – where do you start?  There seem to be so many possible topics that might come up, which can feel suffocating and debilitating.  However, here are a few ways to reflect on where to start:

  • What doubts do I struggle with in my own heart and mind?
  • What questions have people raised with me in the past that I wasn’t sure about?
  • What are the objections that come up in our sceptical society today?

Only you can answer the first two prompts, but let’s think together about the last one.  In the early years of university ministry I spent a lot of time studying the five “defeater beliefs”.  These are the things that people commonly use to complete this sentence: “I can’t take seriously Christianity because of…”:

  • Sex (eg Why is God so restrictive of our sexual freedom?)
  • Supernatural (eg How can you believe a dead man rose again?)
  • Science (eg Hasn’t science disproved the God hypothesis?)
  • Scripture (eg Isn’t the Bible unreliable or irrelevant?)
  • Suffering: (eg How could a good God allow evil things to happen?)

You can find helpful answers to these and many other common questions in “What Kind of God?” by Michael Ots, or “The Reason For God” by Tim Keller, or “Rebecca McLaughlin’s recent book “Confronting Christianity”.  If blogs (rather than books) or listening (rather than reading) are your thing, then check out the resources freely available on www.bethinking.org or our very own Andy Bannister’s “Short Answers” series of videos on the Solas website.

By investing time to study through these resources you will fill your knowledge gaps.  You will build up a store of answers, arguments, evidence you can draw upon in conversation – or if you aren’t confident thinking on your feet or struggle to remember things, then you can at least say: “That’s a great question.  Actually I have read a great book… I have heard a great talk on that – can I share it with you and then we can chat about it afterwards?”

However, please don’t forget that God is God and you are not.  He knows all things, and you do not.  He is the educator and you are the learner.  He is the one who alone can open blind eyes, deaf ears and change peoples’ hearts by His Spirit.  Since our job is to point to Jesus, you don’t need to have read everything or thought about every possible question to be able to share what you do know!

P.S. If you want to take a deeper dive into studying any of the specific “defeater beliefs” mentioned above then I would suggest starting with…

Sex:
“Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With?” by Sam Alberry
“A Better Story: God, Sex and Human Flourishing” by Glynn Harrison

Supernatural:
“The Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel
“Is Jesus History?” by John Dickson

Science:
“Can Science Explain Everything” by John Lennox
“God’s Undertaker” by John Lennox

Scripture:
“Can We Trust the Gospels” by Peter Williams
“Why Trust the Bible?” By Amy Orr Ewing

Suffering:
“Walking with God through Pain and Suffering” by Tim Keller
“Where is God In a Coronavirus World?” by John Lennox

 

Andy Bannister: Evangelism at St Andrews University

by Editor

In December the St Andrews University Christian Union were able to hold a carol service, in-person; working within the Covid-regulations that were in force at the time. So there was a good crowd in the church itself where I went to speak; but it was also streamed online because numbers in the building were restricted. It was great to be with them back at Christmas, because shortly I will be joining them again for their CU mission. That one will be completely online unfortunately, as in-person events won’t be allowed by then we think.

Christian Union carol-services are great though! Firstly they seem to be amongst the easiest events for Christian students to invite their friends to. It seems to be both an ‘easy-ask’ for the students and a great way of preparing the way for the mission-week in the New Year. Then on this occasion, the students told me that the tickets had gone like wildfire, because there were no other events taking place; everything else on campus was cancelled because of Covid/lockdown! Students were desperate to get out of of their halls and flats and go to an event so the CU was the only event in town!

The students put on a really great service, with carols and readings, and then I was invited to bring a Christmas message. I spoke on “the perfect gift”, because a great present has to be personal, meaningful, needed and costly! I was able to have a bit of fun with that around Christmas presents, but then pivot to the story of Jesus. God’s great gift to the world was personal (he didn’t send a piece of information, or a document – he came himself). This was also deeply meaningful because the gift of a saviour met our deepest and most profound need.  I was able to (of course!) throw some terrible Christmas jokes in there as you would expect and hope there was some laughter behind all the masks!

What we hope and pray, is that some of the students who were willing to come along and consider the claims of Christ there for the first time, will come back to the mission week, connect with us there and take things a stage deeper.

The CU President, Rachel Henry wrote:
In terms of numbers, we had the maximum number of people allowed under the restrictions, 50 in the building, but tickets sold out really quickly!  It was great to see CU members, especially first years, use the opportunity to bring their flatmates and friends. It went really well. It’s obviously strange to do a Carol service where we could only listen to carols and not join in, but it was still a great chance to hold an event in person, share the Bible, pray, and reflect on the gospel through Christmas!  In terms of follow up, we are running two courses this semester called ‘Explore’, one based on the Bible and one on big questions, for people who are interested in finding out more about Christianity. We have also had 2 people sign up to read Uncover Mark with a CU member this semester which is really exciting! We are praying that students will engage with our upcoming events week, 15th-19th February, with Andy speaking online on the theme of HOPE.

So as I prepare to head back to St Andrews CU to share the gospel with the students there, I’d be hugely grateful for the prayers of Solas supporters. Please pray for me that I’d speak wisely, truthfully and persuasively; pray for the students to have courage and tact as they invite friends – and pray for their non-Christian friends because above all we’d love to see them putting their faith in Jesus.

Isn’t Teaching Your Faith to Your Children “Indoctrination”?

by Solas

Is it wrong to raise children in a religious tradition? Is the accusation of “indoctrination” that is sometimes flung by atheists fair or accurate? Wouldn’t it be better to raise children ‘neutrally’? But is there such a thing as neutrality—don’t *all of us* have a worldview and don’t all parents aim to convey that to their children? These are just a few of the thorny questions that Andy Bannister tackles in this packed episode of Short Answers.

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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 “Digital Media Fund” under the Campaign/Appeal button.

Life, Faith and Philosophy: In Conversation with Kristi Mair

by Editor

Many people at Solas know Kristi Mair’s voice from PepTalk podcasts, have heard her speak at a Confident Christianity conference –or read one of her articles on our website – but may not have any idea who she is! So we caught up with Kristi and talked to her about her life, faith, philosophy, and student ministry – amongst other things!

Solas: So Kristi, tell us – what do you get up to when you aren’t doing all these things for Solas?

Kristi: My life is incredibly varied! I work full-time as a Research Fellow in philosophy, ethics and apologetics at Oak Hill Theological College, in London. I teach, and provide pastoral support for the full-time female students in the college. I’m pursuing a PhD alongside that as well. Then in my own time I get to do university missions, team days for UCCF, evangelistic events for businesses, and help other organisations such as Solas; I have writing opportunities, for people like Crosslands apologetics, and Union School of Theology. So I have a whole host of things going on, writing, speaking, training, putting books together, authoring academic modules, lecturing, evangelism and studying.

Solas: How long will it take do complete your PhD?

Kristi: I’m 4 years into the programme, and was on track to submit my thesis in my 5th year, but with all the interruptions of Covid, I don’t think that is going to happen. I found studying under lockdown much harder than I’d expected, and so I anticipate another couple of years.

Solas: I assume that lockdown/Covid has affected not just your PhD work, but all those different areas you work in such as university missions, teaching, using research libraries etc?

Kristi: Well one of the joys of teaching at Oak Hill is that all the full-time residential students have stayed. So some things have continued, but on the other hand because of the regulations they’ve had to stay in their flats, so I haven’t seen that many people! With university missions, they’ve actually all gone ahead, but all moved online, and it has been a real joy to be involved in that. Other groups such as Passion for Evangelism, have done loads of events online too. We’ve done, “Jesus, Race & Gender”, and “What is the value of women?”. Oak Hill has done lots of online vents as well, that I’ve been involved in on things such as “Where is hope in a time of Covid?”, which I did with a lawyer and a medical doctor.

In some ways evangelistic opportunities have opened and broadened; and for my own friends there are more events that I can invite them to which they are happier to engage with – without having to leave their home. So Nigel Halliday’s event on ‘Christmas in Art’, using the history of art to tell the Christmas story is something I can invite friends to. With CU carol services, there have been some provisions in law for religious gatherings, so some of those are going ahead – in a limited form. So I am going to Durham Cathedral, where they will record the carol service talk, then broadcast it the next week. So even though we can’t be gathered together in the cathedral, I can go there and speak. I’ll record the Birmingham University CU carol service talk on my laptop at home and send it to them.

I feel the poverty of how the restrictions have impacted us in communities and as individuals too. On the other hand I’m thankful for the ways it has helped us to find new ways of reaching people.

Solas: Do you think that the higher numbers of non-Christian people engaging with gospel content online during this period has been offset by lower traction, accountability etc? People might have done a whole course in person, but then might dip in selectively to bits of an evangelistic course online..?

Kristi: Yes, without physical commitment, there’s little opportunity to establish good relationships in which, even if you disagree with what’s being said, you’ll go along because the person who invited you is great to hang out with.  And then there is the lack of the really important conversations afterwards.

Solas: So you are involved in all this Christian thinking, communicating, evangelism now. But where does that all start? Where did Christian faith begin for you?

Kristi: I can’t really pinpoint it. Some people have this amazing transformative event on a particular day, but for me it was slow – and it was a process. I moved to the UK when I was 6 or 7 with my Mum. She remarried, and he adopted me. She was a committed Christian and she would pray with me in the evening, but she worked so much and didn’t really know what it looked like to disciple a child in the ways of The Lord – because she was raised under communism. She came away from the Catholic Church and established an underground church in communist Eastern Europe – (it’s actually an amazing story!). This took place in the era of Ceaușescu and they were involved in Bible-smuggling, and all sorts of things! But to me, God was like an abstract idea, or an absent Father-figure or one who you might go to if you were naughty. But God was not someone who had any real impact on my life, day-today. Then, when I was ten, my adopted Dad went out one day to post a letter, and died of a heart attack. It was completely unexpected and I remember my Mum saying (in our living room, surrounded by the paramedics, a GP and a couple of neighbours), “don’t worry darling, Daddy is with Jesus now.” And for me that was decisive, because if Jesus is who he says he is, then he won’t only impact my life now – but will for all eternity too.

I knew that what my Mum said to me was a big thing, but that I didn’t quite understand it. Then I went through a really angry phase, thinking, “If God is good – then why suffering. If God actually exists, then why did that happen?” I’d also push back to my Mum, saying “you need God, because you can’t handle the reality of how awful this is, so you need a psychological crutch of a ‘daddy’ in the sky, so that you can sleep better at night.” I didn’t mince my words!

Solas: How old were you at this stage?

Kristi: I was very precious, eloquent and 10!

Solas: I thought you were going say 15, or 16!

Kristi: My anger boiled until I was about 15 or 16 though, getting more and more intense.

Solas: And have you calmed down now?

Kristi: Just about!! (laughs!) But I’d get really annoyed about the good-God / suffering dilemma. Because I’d go along to Alpha events at the local church, or talk to a Christian – and they either wouldn’t listen to my question – or just not answer it. Or they’d answer it and I’d think, “that just doesn’t make any sense, that isn’t logical.” It was actually worse when people fudged an answer rather than saying, “I don’t know, let me think about that.” So I concluded that these people didn’t even know much about what they believed, and it didn’t make belief attractive. My reaction to all that was to become increasingly angry, and it was my Mum who was the main influence on me at that time. We had long, long conversations at the kitchen table, and she was incredibly patient. In all the questions, she would always help me to see something new and true about Jesus. Sometimes I’d be moved to tears by what I learnt – but then the anger would come back my eyes would glaze over. It was as if I could see something, but then it was hidden. So I started reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and Surprised by Joy, when I was 13 or 14 years old. I just loved reading, I was an only child in a house with lots of books! I also really appreciated discovering William Lane Craig, as someone with two doctorates, at the top of his game philosophically – who was a Christian. I wouldn’t commend every aspect of his approach, but it was helpful for me at that stage to discover someone with faith, really grappling with these questions with some credibility.

So, all these influences were helping me in my thinking. Then I remember my Mum saying to me one day, “What are you going to do with Jesus?” An extract from my Mum’s diary from that time (which I have only just seen!) said, “Kristi was up all night reading Mark’s gospel”, and I don’t remember that at all! My Mum pointed out that indecision was in fact a decision – a negative one by default, but that you can’t sit on the fence indefinitely.

Then one day as I was walking I realised that Jesus was my Lord and Saviour – and that I needed to do something about that. So I got confirmed in the local Anglican Church. The confirmation classes with an older couple called Len and Meg were really significant too. They weren’t ‘famous Christians’ like CS Lewis who I could never meet, and they weren’t my Mum – and they were ‘catechised’ me into the faith. They influenced me, not just by what they taught, but with their deep love for and joy in Jesus and by sharing wonderful cakes! So I both understood the structure of my faith better – and saw something of Jesus in those two lives.

Solas: So now having lived as a Christian since then… what do you most love about being a Christian and what, I suppose, are the harder challenges?

Kristi: What a question! Well in Psalm 40, which I was reading with a friend here at Oak Hill this morning, it says that The Lord does not delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, but that The Lord wants to write His law on our hearts – a broken and contrite heart is what He wants. So I am most thankful to Jesus that He wants the whole of me, my heart – and while it is easier to focus on the externals, and give something, (just burn something in the temple), He goes beyond that and wants to capture my heart.

At the same time, that is also what is most challenging, because while He wants all my heart, I don’t want to give the fullness of myself to Him. And there are parts of my heart, or things I withhold from Him because, ‘What if He isn’t good after all?’ What if He crushes me? And that is the life of the disciple, learning to give the fullness of your heart to him, and as I walk with Him I see that He is not content to only have part of me.

Solas: So moving from the inner spiritual life, to your practical expression of that. Can you tell us about some of mission work you’ve been involved with? How you got involved, and how it’s changed..

Kristi: Well I worked for UCCF for eight years, and was assistant team leader in the East Midlands for the last five of those. Then before that I was a student worker for an Elim church in Birmingham, alongside working for Friends International – so that really got me into student mission – especially learning to how best care for international students and give them an opportunity to hear about Jesus, sometimes for the first time ever. Some came from countries where the Bible was banned, and they were really keen to read something that was not allowed at home. So I loved students, and then UCCF gave me enormous opportunities to work more with them – working very closely with University Christian Unions. I loved helping Christians to engage more fully in what Christ has done for them, and then to help those who do not yet know Jesus to see that he stands up to scrutiny. University life is a great opportunity to explore these questions – never again will you have those 2AM discussions in halls.

When I started work at Oak Hill, I still had really good relationships with the CU’s and by the Lord’s kindness, continued to be asked be involved in student ministry, leading events weeks, speaking on campuses, Q&A’s, lunch bars, carol services – all those things!

Solas: And how far do you travel doing this?

Kristi: I’ve been to Dundee! And as UCCF is part of IFES, with them I have been as far as Switzerland, and Germany – doing student conferences with people from across the continent.

Solas: And how has student ministry changed in the fifteen years you’ve been doing it?

Kristi: When I was first involved in student missions on campus, it was in the heyday of militant atheism – so the questions were very different and were really heavily influenced by the ‘four horsemen of the apocalypse’, Dennet, Harris, Hitchens and Dawkins. But then that soon that lost its intellectual credibility – when for example Dawkins would intellectually justify rape, as the logical outworking of his atheism.

Solas: Because categorical moral evil doesn’t exist, as it has no place in naturalism..?

Kristi: Yes, and so rape is as arbitrary as growing a sixth finger, he said in one interview. If we really are just DNA, then good and evil don’t actually exist. Then of course, Peter Singer and the whole ‘post-birth abortion’, argument as well. And so on campuses (where rape-culture is such an issue) people needed to distance themselves from those arguments. But what was left was a bit of as spiritual vacuum, and something of a hunger and thirst for transcendence; for beauty, truth and goodness.

So now I think we are in a period when students are really hungry for transcendence. But most of them have not heard a rational, cogent presentation of the gospel which meets their intellectual as well as existential desires. So the questions have moved from those of credibility, to those of desirability. Now, if you address the desirability question well – it will move to the credibility question. So it’s “I want this…. Is it true?” rather than, “you should want ithis because it’s true”. So, that’s the kind of shift we’re seeing at the moment.

In postmodernity there is the whole question of the “instrumentalisation of knowledge”, where people will only want to learn something if they can then use it in some defined way. From which you can get ‘therapeutic moral deism’, in which people want things such as the comfort that Jesus brings. The problem is that if you’ve come to him to use him in that way – once you’ve used him for that you can just as quickly discard him.

Solas: So then you’ve written a book and edited one too! Tell us more..

Kristi: Well, More > Truth came about because IVP approached me to write for them in their ‘More’ series. I had just done a talk on the campus at Durham on the whole ‘post-truth’ phenomenon, entitled, “Is truth possible in 2016?”, so it was just after Trump had been elected so people were asking, “has this really just happened?” and were questioning the whole area of fake-news. So, I jumped onto that cultural moment, because the whole question of truth, (what is truth, and how do we know what’s true) is of huge significance to Christians. So More > Truth is aimed at Christians and is designed to help them think through (at an accessible level), what it means that Jesus said he was “the way the truth and the life”. It’s a topic I’d love to explore again in a different way in the future sometime.

Then, Healthy Faith came about in quite a different way. It was early in the first lockdown, and Michael Green had just passed away, and I was chatting to my mate Luke Cawley. And the question was raised, about how Michael might have responded to lockdown and global pandemic. The answer was obvious, he’d want to encourage Christians and share Jesus! So we asked lots of people to write a short chapter on aspects of life under Covid. IVP loved the idea, and agreed to publish it. Our heart and desire was to give Christians biblical reflections to encourage them in a difficult time, and to focus on different areas of life (singleness, parenting, facing death, loneliness) – but with the hope that it would interest non-Christians too. It made it into the Top-10 on Amazon’s “Infectious Diseases” chart!

Solas: And then you’re doing PhD research, tell us more!

Kristi: So I am looking into the study of knowledge – ‘how do we know what we know?’ I’m looking into it because, even though I was a Christian when I got to university, I was heavily influenced by ways of knowing, that dehumanise us. I was hugely influenced by Descartes, who was saying that “I think therefore I am” – and so I saw a human being as pretty much a thinking machine, a thought generator, and that the way in which you determine what truth is, is personal and individual. And that led me to a bit of a knowledge crisis – because I thought, ‘how then can I trust other people, because I don’t know what they are thinking, I can’t see in the brain!?” And so while Descartes would say that the one thing I can trust is that I am thinking when I’m thinking which shows that I am thinking…. How can I trust that others are thinking; because I can’t know that they really are!

But there was a disconnect between Descartes and the real world, because his description was at odds with the way that knowing actually works. How do I know that someone actually loves me? How do I know that memories exist, or other minds? So I was dissatisfied with what I thought knowing was, and was intellectually curious. And that in turn affected how I read the Bible, asking questions such as “how can I know what the author’s intention was?”, and “what was the divine author’s intention here?” and “how can I know that I am reading scripture in the way that God wants me to?” Especially as I know that sin is in the way too, so how can I trust that the word is true?! So these questions, really colour the way in which as a Christian I view the Bible and God Himself.

So I prayed about this and asked The Lord to direct my reading and my footsteps to find good answers to these questions. Then I came across the work of Esther Meek, a philosopher in the States, who is writing on something called “Covenant Epistemology”, a phrase that she has coined. That is about how we as ‘know-ers” bring the fullness of our physicality and embodiment to the knowing process. While Descartes wanted to cut-off the body, and say that it is just the mind, Esther Meek says that there is a bodily-rootedness to all our knowing. Scientists might seek objectivity by not allowing their presence to affect the process of experiment and observation but Meek observes that the scientists bodily experience of life affects even which experiments to conduct and shapes the outcome to some extent.

Esther Meek was in turn drawing on the work of a former scientist turned philosopher called Michael Polanyi. His book on personal knowledge shifted our view of what knowledge is, and how we know anything. His work focusses on the way in which we know that we know something when we know that there is more to know! Modernity tries to put knowledge within a box, and say “I know that I know this, because I can give you a propositional statement”. Polanyi says it is not less than that, but, you can also know that you know it because you can now enjoy that, in previously unimagined ways. So when you learn to ride a bike, you can then enjoy riding it with all kinds of people to all kinds of places. And that applies to all of knowing. We indwell our physical body, and as we submit ourselves to clues, reality reveals itself to us.

And our knowledge of God works like this, as we submit to the clues of scripture, because while we cannot know exhaustively, we can know things truly; as God reveals himself to us. But that also applies to all knowing adventures, learning to write, baking a cake, or scientific experiments. You are submitting to the clues of that activity, and as you submit, reality breaks in and surprises you and you are then able to become a better knower because you are not in the driving seat of knowing. Rather, you ‘come to know’.

So in my PhD I am bringing all that together and applying it to the two big questions in philosophy, about the relationship between the knower and the known and how that relates to the big debates in philosophy between different schools such as ‘analytical philosophy’ and ‘continental philosophy’. The latter school has focused on the personal experience of the knower, while the former is based on what can be known, the object of enquiry, e.g. logic/propositional statements/syllogism, it’s objective and non-personal. So I’m trying to show how both fields are needed, they are poles on the same spectrum.

But this isn’t just important to that specialist field of philosophy, but also to the church and to evangelism, apologetics and discipleship.  I am aiming to draw on Polanyi, strengthen Esther Meek’s covenant epistemology, and show how that is a retrieval of historic Christianity through Augustine, and then apply it!

Solas: So then ministry-wise, once you have you the PhD completed in two years, what are your future plans for ministry?

Kristi: I will submit myself to reality and see what The Lord wants me to do. At the moment, I want to steward well what He has given me, which is this PhD programme, and then beyond that I don’t know. There aren’t many established routes for women in my position, and I don’t want to go into local church leadership or anything like that. I don’t know whether I’ll end up in academia, or in a more secular academic institution. It is also a privilege to do what I currently do at Oak Hill, and bring a woman’s perspective into the training of future church leaders. So who knows!

Solas: Thank you for talking to us – that’s really interesting. Great for Solas readers to be able to find out a little more about you.

Kristi: Thankyou!

Conversational Evangelism with Claudy Water Fellowship

by Editor

The Claudy Water Fellowship is part of Glenabbey Church, which Solas has had some involvement with over the last few months. They meet every Monday night, usually with about thirty people, to study the Bible, pray and encourage each other in their walk with God.

Gareth Black was asked to do a session for them on ‘Conversational Evangelism’ – which is something really central to the work we do at Solas. He took them through both Biblical and practical aspects of this important subject. He kicked off the workshop-style interactive session by talking about a man who he had helped to come faith in Christ – at a university mission. The key thing about that story was that this man’s journey to faith hadn’t involved huge stadium-sized evangelistic events, or famous preachers – but informal conversations with Christians who were willing to take time, to listen, to engage and share God’s word with him, and answer his questions.

Then Gareth looked at some of the reasons we find sharing our faith so difficult. Whenever we ask people to consider this issues such as fear of rejection; or of not knowing enough to answer people’s questions adequately always come up. Gareth asked the folks at Claudy Water what question they would least like to be asked by a non-Christian enquirer, and then looked at ways of approaching those.

Cultural issues were next on the evening’s schedule, and Gareth took them through some of the reasons that evangelism is difficult today, especially in terms of how the church and evangelism is perceived by people outside. Christianity is seen as irrelevant, irrational – and increasingly as immoral and so Gareth looked at how we minister faithfully in that context.

Gareth then focused on a key Biblical text. He showed the folks at Claudy Water Fellowship the way in which 1 Peter 3:14-17. This text debunks a lot of myths that surround ‘apologetics’, such as that it is only a niche, highly academic discipline which doesn’t have much to do with the everyday lives of ordinary Christians. Rather it is something relevant, accessible and which God calls and empowers all Christians for.

The evening came to a conclusion with a practical look at the use of questions in everyday evangelism. Gareth looked at why questions matter, and why we should take people’s questions seriously. Finally Gareth developed a framework for looking at people’s questions –looking at motives for asking those questions; always remembering that the aim of the exercise is to win people not arguments. He looked at the art of asking ‘open questions’ which allows people the opportunity to explain their assumptions and experiences; before then looking at ways of responding persuasively and allowing a helpful conversation to keep flowing.

Numbers were limited because of Covid restrictions and some of the logistics meant that Q&A was limited; but the folks at Claudy Water Fellowship were positive about the evening and want to explore this further, and put it into practice.

If you would like a Solas speaker to come and do a training session for your church, or small-group; we’d love to come! With speakers on the ground in Scotland and Northern Ireland we are always happy to come and help equip your folks with helpful, biblical, practical tools for sharing their faith. We are flexible around working within whatever the Covid-restrictions are at the time; and also work extensively online where this suits local fellowships. If we can be of help, please do get in touch through the ‘connect’ button at the top this page.

PEP Talk Podcast With Duncan Cuthill

by Solas

We can sometimes make too much of the distinction between practical ministry and spiritual ministry, emphasising one at the cost of the other. But what is it about meeting physical needs (especially in a deprived urban environment) that lends credibility to our spiritual efforts in the area of evangelism? This time on PEP Talk, Andy and Kristi hear about how both are being put into action at Edinburgh City Mission.

With Duncan Cuthill – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Our guest is the CEO of Edinburgh City Mission, Duncan Cuthill. He was converted at an Edinburgh mission event as a young person, later working for the Scottish Tourist Board and UCCF. He left Scotland in the mid-00s to study theology at Cornhill in London, subsequently working with London City Mission for twelve years. Duncan returned to Edinburgh to lead Edinburgh City Mission in 2017.

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.

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The Doubt Gap

by Editor

Have you ever had a dream so vivid that you believed it was real?  If it was a bad dream, then waking up would have been a moment of tremendous relief.  Whereas, if it was a good dream, then waking up would have been tinged with regret.  But here’s a thought: How can you be certain that you’re not asleep right now?  In fact, how can you be sure anything is real?

That’s the dilemma dramatised in the blockbuster film: The Matrix.  It tells the story of a computer hacker, called Neo, who discovers that his entire world is an illusion.  His whole life, everything he has ever known and experienced has been part of a computer generated simulation.  The film left many people with the haunting question: what if we too are plugged into the Matrix?  How can we be sure anything we experience is real?

This isn’t just a question in science fiction – in fact it has been wrestled with by thinkers for centuries, starting with Plato and later Rene Descartes.   Descartes intensely struggled with uncertainty about his own version of the Matrix – he asked: what if a demon is deceiving me, causing me to hallucinate and experience things that aren’t actually there?  He came up with a plan: he methodically doubted everything possible to doubt, until he was left with the only thing left that he could not doubt.  That is what led him to declare: “I think, therefore, I am”.  The one thing that he could be absolutely sure existed was his own mind which was doing the doubting!

However, Descartes’ lingering problem was the possibility that everything your mind thinks is being deceived – perhaps your brain really has been removed from your body by a mad scientist and plugged into the Matrix?  (You cannot disprove that possibility!)  If reality is defined and determined solely by what goes on inside our heads, then it is possible to radically doubt almost everything.  And that’s not healthy!  You cannot live life to full if you are paralysed with radical doubts and uncertainties.

That is also true for the Christian life.  It is not uncommon for Christians to struggle at times with questions like: Does God really love me; Can I trust the Bible; are the promises of the gospel too good to be true?  Unsettling doubts can steal your joy in the gospel of Jesus, and hinder your witness for Christ.  Indeed, as a people of faith some find it hard to admit that they struggle with doubt – not only to other Christians (who they fear might judge them as being inferior believers) but also to non-Christians (who might raise them to the surface in conversation or in asking us questions).

In this article I want to take you on a journey that will help you get over the hurdle of doubt.

  • You can believe in God confidently (even without certainty)

All of us live tolerating a level of uncertainty – none of us can claim to enjoy absolute certainty and be doubt-free.  For example, if you’ve ever watched one of those courtroom dramas you’ll recall that the prosecutor never has to prove their case with 100% certainty – they only have to present evidence that proves the person is guilty “beyond a REASONABLE doubt” – there will always remain some POSSIBLE doubt and uncertainty (perhaps the accused really does have a secret evil twin!).

You see human beings are finite and there will never be a time when we possess total knowledge or absolute certainty.  We always have to live by a measure of faith, which also means there will always be room for doubts to creep in.  But those doubts need not paralyse us – in faith or in evangelism.  Let’s think some more about that…

Ten years ago, two scientists Richard Dawkins and John Lennox were having a public debate entitled “The God Delusion?”  Dawkins defined faith as believing in something (God) without any evidence for it.  However, Lennox argued that it’s not quite so simple. He explained how the world is not divided into those who have live based on FAITH and those who live based on REASON.  Everyone lives based on a combination of FAITH and REASON.  For example Lennox asked Dawkins: “How do you know your wife loves you?”  Dawkins replied indignantly: “You know why, you know your wife loves you because of all sorts of little signs, catches in the voice, little looks in the eye, and that’s the evidence. That’s perfectly good evidence, that’s not faith.”  But here’s an uncomfortable thought: what if Richard was being deceived by his wife, who was in the midst of a secret affair?  As unlikely as it seems, it remains remotely possible she was giving Richard all these little signs so he didn’t get suspicious.  So Lennox is right in pushing Dawkins to admit that we all live our lives on the basis of a combination of faith and evidence.  That means we can believe something confidently even without certainty!  That’s not only necessary in our relationships with friends, spouses, business partners, but a necessary part of having a relationship with God through faith in Jesus.

That then is what the Bible means when it describes the Christian as “walking by faith and not by sight”.  The Christian faith is not a blind leap into the dark.  Instead, Christianity is a reasonable faith – because there are many good reasons to believe in God and many pieces of evidence that support the claims of Jesus.  That’s why the Christian can believe confidently even without certainty.

 (2) You can belong to God while still possessing doubts

If we’re honest, some of us fear that God is angry, disappointed or offended by our questions and doubts.  The good news is that I think God is big enough to handle our biggest and hardest questions!  If you don’t believe me, then we can read one eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus – in the Gospel of John.  We’re going to meet a man, who lived, walked, talked with Jesus – who witnessed His death on the Cross for our sins – and who also to his great surprise witnessed Jesus’ victory over death.  His name is Thomas – sometimes he is known as “Doubting Thomas”.

Thomas was grieving the brutal murder of Jesus, and disappointed that all his hopes for Jesus bringing God’s kingdom seemingly having been destroyed.  Suddenly he hears this astonishing news.  But in response Thomas refuses to engage in wishful thinking!  He demands to see the evidence for himself that Jesus is truly alive again!  “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now I think Doubting Thomas unfairly gets a bad reputation, when he’s actually a great example of someone who is seeking the truth!  He’s sceptical about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead –because nothing like that had ever happened before!  The Greeks and Romans didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, in fact they didn’t like the thought of it – far better for the soul to escape the body.  The Jews did believe in the resurrection of the dead, but only at the end of history.  Thomas didn’t have a box in his mind for the resurrection of one person in the middle of history.  So it’s no wonder this didn’t make more sense to him.

But the story doesn’t end there, because a week later we read: “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas got to see with his own eyes, to touch with his own hands, to hear with his own ears the living, walking, talking proof that Jesus had been raised wonderfully from the dead!  The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate proof of His claims that He is God come into this world to save us.  Only then did Thomas believe in Jesus – because that’s what the evidence demanded.

As a Christian who sometimes experiences doubts and wrestles with many questions, I am really encouraged to watch how Jesus dealt with people like me – kindly, gently, lovingly.  In the same way, Jesus is not disappointed or ashamed of you when you struggle with doubts.

But notice that while Jesus is gentle and accommodating of Thomas’ weak faith, he still challenges Thomas not to stay in that place, but to move away from it and make progress into a more reasoned and reasonable faith.  That’s what all Christians should pursue too: faith that seeks greater understanding.

  • You can develop a more confident faith in God

Here are three quick suggestions to help you make progress:

BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR DOUBTS: Don’t struggle with them on your own. Bring them out into the open, ask an older Christian pastor or parent or friend about them.  You are not the first person to ask and wrestle with these things.  I’m always so encouraged that there are far more experienced and intelligent people who have come before me, who have found answers that I could not find within the four walls of my mind.

BE DOUBTFUL ABOUT YOUR DOUBTS: Remember just because there remains some POSSIBLE DOUBT does not mean that it is a REASONABLE DOUBT.  Every doubt is actually an alternative belief – so challenge your doubts: what reasons do I have to believe you are true?  How does this doubt weigh up against all the evidence and reasons in Christianity?  Challenge your specific lingering doubts – read books and blogs that give answers to your hardest questions.  Study the good reasons drawn from science, history, philosophy, archaeology, and many more fields that support what the Bible claims.

BE DELIBERATE ABOUT DEVELOPING YOUR FAITH: Like if you go without food, you grow tired and weak – so also it is possible for our faith to get weaker if we’re not making use of the things that God has given us to help us grow: reading His Word, speaking with Him in prayer, gathering with His people, serving in His name.

Thrive Conference

by Editor

“The Thrive Conference” is an event based in Scotland, designed to help Christians live out their faith in the workplace. Solas Director, Andy Bannister, spoke at Thrive last year, and was invited back to speak again; but this time inevitably the event was exclusively online.

Andy was involved in an interactive conversation alongside Ros Loaker from Transform Work UK. Their ministry focuses on connecting Christians in the workplace and getting them to pray for and support each other their; while at Solas, out focus is in helping people to share their faith.  Dr Tharaka Gunarathne, a Christian psychiatrist and motivational speaker interviewed them around the theme of ‘inclusion’. Inclusion is of course a really significant cultural value, enshrined in countless workplace policies as well as in shared cultural assumptions.

Many Christians feel awkward in that context talking about their faith, not least because Christian faith is in one sense exclusive. Jesus famously said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except through me”. So there is a potential conflict there between gospel and culture which opened up the whole conversation.

The conversation was wide-ranging and fascinating, exploring the whole way in which while Jesus’ truth claims are exclusive; He and His church are radically inclusive; attracting people from almost every sector of society, background, socio-economic, religious, cultural, linguistic background. The session ended with a discussion on how to extend this welcome to more and more people in workplace by allowing them access to the gospel through all manner of workplace events. All the participants agreed that providing a space for non-Christian folks to ask questions was really important especially at the moment.

The Q&A that followed was incredibly wide-ranging – one of the most expansive Q&A sessions that we’ve ever been involved with at Solas at least!

The whoel seminar is available here:

Or click here to access all the sessions on the Thrive YouTube Channel.

Understanding and Reaching Muslims Training: Further Resources

by Andy Bannister

We hope you enjoyed the session! Below, you can find links to Andy’s slides and some other resources.

Download a copy of Andy’s slides as a PDF here.

Check out Andy’s brand new book, Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? You can read (or listen to) the first chapter free — and find links to places to get the book.

We also have a free ebook: Islam in Context by Andy Bannister and Tanya Walker. You can download it from the Solas website here.

 

Two other great books to read are:

Watch a Solas Short Answers video:

For more information about the Solas Centre for Public Christianity that Andy leads, visit www.solas-cpc.org. In particular, do check out our SHORT/ANSWERS video series. Over a million people have now watched, downloaded, or shared one of these videos with friends. They’re a great, free evangelistic resource. 

If you’d like to help support Solas’s work of evangelism and evangelism training across the UK, you can do for as little as £3 a month and we’ll send you a choice of one of several great books as a gift.

Would The World Be A Better Place Without Religion?

by Solas

“Imagine no religion” sang John Lennon, in a song that has become something of a secular anthem. But would the world be a better place without religion? Would an atheistic, secular world be a happier, more peaceful place — or does history show us something quite different? And besides, what do mean by the word ‘religion’ anyway?

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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 “Digital Media Fund” under the Campaign/Appeal button.