News

Why The Culture Wars Might Never End

by Editor

According to the narrative from the United States, the election of the new President, Joe Biden, has put an end to the internecine hostility of the past four years.  Biden, says he will govern for all Americans. His call for a United States rather than a Red States or a Blue States is a welcome call in the midst of the most hotly contested Presidential election ever.

It’s a nice statement. A nice sentiment. A once-again united United States, free from the aggression of the past four years. A move towards a more genteel general public, one in which we can have honest conversations around the common goal of human flourishing.

Yet the waves of a political change are primarily surface waves. The undercurrents that move a society are cultural and they run deep. The political heat may have dialled down with Biden’s election, but the cultural temperature continues to rise.

Why is this the case? Why, against the myriad sighs of relief that the White House is somehow now in safe hands again, will the divisions in the United States, and indeed the Western world, continue unabated despite hopes to the contrary?

The answer is simple: Everyone agrees that the goal of our society is to promote a vision of, and enact a practice of, human flourishing.  However very few agree on what that vision looks like, and therefore what practices we should enact to reach it.

Simply put, there is no longer a common understanding of what human flourishing looks like. There is no common view of the “chief end of man” to borrow a religious term.

Let’s take that term “human flourishing” and break it down to “human” and “flourishing”.  As I say in my upcoming book Being the Bad Guys: Living for Jesus in a world that says you shouldn’t, the foundational understanding of what it means to be human is now a contested matter.

While this has been the case for some time, it is only now, with a much more vocal post-Christian secular framework, that the chasm has opened up in cultural, legal, political and societal settings as to what it means to be human, and how this works out in practice.

Hence when a British doctor said that he would refuse to use the preferred pronouns of a transgender patient, based on his understanding of binary male and female from Genesis, he ended up in a tribunal hearing. He lost his case.

But it’s the tribunal findings, encapsulated in the statement below, that are most significant:

“Belief in Genesis 1:27, lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals.” [1]

 Do you see that? This statement reveals that there is no longer a common understanding of humanity, no shared assumption from whence it springs, from whom it may come, much less its chief end.

The tribunal’s conclusion is bald. The framework of Genesis is not only at odds with the modern understanding of human identity, it is hostile towards it, and will not lead to flourishing. It must, therefore, be resisted and prosecuted.

While not all of the culture wars concerns can be sheeted home to a battle between Christians and non-Christian or post-Christian people, much of the conflict arises there. Christianity’s orthodox views are no longer considered silly and antiquated, but rather evil and harmful.

The Christian framework gave rise to the idea of a common view of human flourishing, one that has embedded itself deep in our Western psyche. The post-Christian cultural agenda wishes to retain the framework, while jettisoning the Christianity that built yet, and still retain a positive vision of society.

However this will prove harder in practice than some think. Tom Holland, in his latest book, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, says this:

That human beings have rights; that they are born equal; that they are owed sustenance and shelter, and refuge from persecution: these were never self-evident truths.[2]

 See what he is saying? These are Christian assumptions borne from an understanding of what it means to be human. Australian author and pastor, Mark Sayers, observes that the post-Christian progressive desire is for “the kingdom without the King”.  All of the fruit of the gospel without the root of the gospel.

Which brings us to the word “flourishing”.  In an interview in The Guardian newspaper in Australia, la Trobe university academic and activist, Roz Ward, who is the architect behind a contentious program promoting sexual diversity in public schools said this:

“I will never give up fighting for a more free and joyful world”[3]

 To which we might say, “Aren’t they our words and hopes?” The concepts of freedom and joy, and a world in which all wrongs are righted, is thoroughly grounded in the biblical idea of human flourishing, brought about when God rights all wrongs and ushers in His new creation.

The kingdom without the King desires freedom and joy also. We should assume that, given our view that humans are created in the image of God and were made for a purpose and towards a telos or goal.

Yet without the King, the secular utopia imagines a very different chief end of men, women and all non-binary humans, namely the enthronement of the authentic self. And authenticity is increasingly discovered, we are told, through sexual freedom and identity.

Which simply means the culture war is fundamentally a religious one, whether one side recognises the terminology or not. And as with all religious battles much heat is generated.

The points of intersection between the Christian and the post-Christian secular frameworks are now fewer in number and smaller in size than ever. They share the same stated goal of “human flourishing”, but hold diametrically opposing ideas of how to get there. There is no longer enough common ground or common vision to permit co-existence, at least not peaceful and trusting co-existence.  Something will have to give.

And that is the major reason that the culture wars are set to continue, no matter who is in the White House.

Steve McAlpine is lead pastor of Providence Church, Midland; and writes on culture, theology and church for City Bible Forum, in Australia. He lives in eastern Perth (the one in Australia, not Scotland!), with his wife Jill, and in his spare times lives running and coffee.

 

Steve’s new book, “Being the Bad Guys” is now available for pre-order here. In it he examines the way in which the Christian message -once seen as the foundation for morality, is now often viewed as harmful and immoral. He then thinks through ways in which the church can faithfully navigate this new territory.

 

 

  1. Caleb Parke, “Christian doctor of 30 years loses job for refusing to use transgender person’s preferred pronoun”, Fox News 3 Oct. 2019 (www.foxnews.com/faith-values/christian-doctor-fired-gender- pronoun) (accessed 30 Jan. 2020)

[2] Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World (Little, Brown, 2019), p 524

[3]  Roz Ward, “I will never give up fighting for a more free and joyful world”, The Guardian 1 Sep. 2017 (www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2017/sep/01/roz-ward-i-will-never-give-up- fighting-for-a-more-free-and-joyful-world) (accessed 30 Jan. 2020)

 

Virtually Keswick Convention

by Editor

Like everything else The Keswick Convention was affected by the Coronavirus pandemic and the associated restrictions, so they moved everything online. They had a really impressive programme of morning Bible readings (Christopher Ash on the Psalms), evening celebrations looking at hope with speakers like Andy Prime, Jeremy McQuoid and Amy Orr-Ewing; children and youth streams and a seminar programme too. The seminars all focussed on hope, with things such as lament and grieving on the agenda.

Kristi Mair and I were invited to lead a seminar on “Sharing hope with friends” looking at the whole area of evangelism in these strange times! The gospel of Jesus remains the only source of true and lasting hope in a world marred by sin and death. The gospel is God’s “Good news” which breaks into our lives with His goodness, grace, forgiveness and eternal hope.

Kristi examined some of the questions that the Covid crisis has raised, especially the absence of hope in secularism. In contrast to the way in which the pandemic has cruelly exposed the hopelessness of secularism, she explored the wonderful hope that God gives us in Christ. I then moved on to talk about some of the practical aspects of sharing that hope with friends. Obviously in the context, evangelism under Covid-restrictions was a key theme in there.

Keswick gets huge numbers for their events so it was great to open the virtual floor to all of them for Q&A at the end. People from all over the country sent questions in by text, which emcee John Taylor put to Kristi and I.  Questions included things such engaging the apathetic and the successful with the gospel, listening, social media, feeling a failure in evangelism, and more!

I was actually in the Keswick studio with John , while Kristi joined us online from where she was in Leicestershire; and together we put the seminar together! I really enjoyed being there with them, as they are great people and did such a great job in moving from a physical to an online event there in their lovely studio.

You can watch the whole of Andy and Kristi’s evangelism seminar above or find the entire Virtually Keswick 2020 Convention here.

PEP Talk Podcast With Stuart and Cameron McAllister

by Solas

Is there any mission field as close to our hearts as our own family? If you are a parent, it can be an overwhelming burden to pass on your faith to your children.  It is a unique form of “evangelism”, much different to sharing with other adults but still has some similarities. Today Andy and Kristi speak to the authors of Faith That Lasts: A Father and Son on Cultivating Lifelong Belief where they outline three dangerous myths that we all too easily buy into: that fear can protect our children, that information can save them, and that their spiritual education belongs to the experts.

Order Faith That Lasts (released 26 Jan 2021) from IVP (USA) or Amazon (UK)

With Stuart and Cameron McAllister – PEP Talk

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Our Guests

Stuart McAllister comes from a non-Christian home in Glasgow. He joined Operation Mobilization in 1978 and was once imprisoned for distributing Bibles in Yugoslavia. An itinerant speaker, Stuart  regularly speaks in churches, universities, and other forums (including a Solas conference in 2010) all over the world.

Stuart’s son Cameron McAllister was born on the mission field in Vienna. Cameron is now an itinerant speaker, broadcaster, and writer, based in Atlanta in the USA. 

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 Confidence Gap

by Editor

I had what can only be described as a crisis of confidence. I looked at my bike, and looked at the road, then looked at myself, then looked at my bike again. There was definitely something in me that wanted to get on and ride, but yet.. I couldn’t quite muster up the confidence to actually do it. When I was young, I did thousands upon thousands of miles on that old bike and truth be told, I really missed riding. On the other hand, I hadn’t ridden for a couple of years I was much older, I was unfit, tired, and several stone too big for my cycling clothes. Being a MAMIL is awkward enough; being a fat one, was perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back![1]

I knew cycling would be good for me. I knew I would benefit from it and I missed it. However, it was easier just to walk back into the house and duck the challenge. Which I did.

That is strangely not unlike many people’s experience with evangelism. For many in church today, especially adults – evangelism is something they used to do, had some wonderful experiences in; but haven’t done any for ages, and simply lack the confidence to start again. It’s not that they don’t entirely miss it, or that they have no desire to take up the challenge, it’s more that they have become a bit out of practice, a bit unfit, and what they used to do naturally – now feels really awkward. For many of us, our faith in Jesus has become the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’ in our long-term friendships. We may have mentioned it at the start of new friendships, and our church activity might be visible; but our actual faith in Jesus himself is conversationally off-limits and we’re stuck. Likewise, I know so many people, who speak fondly of university missions or children’s clubs, street work or door-to-door, or of personal witness to friends years ago; who just don’t feel ‘match-fit’ and able to get going again. A Barna Group study in 2019 showed that virtually every Christian longs to share something of their faith in Jesus with others[2]. For many of us though, getting back on the bike is the hardest step.

I’ve observed two problems which flow from this malaise, both in myself and others.  The first is a loss of confidence in the gospel itself. The second is a loss of confidence in our own calling, gifting and ability to be a witness for Christ. Let’s consider them briefly:

Research in the UK and USA contexts shows that most people who become Christians do so in adolescence or young adulthood. In fact, the proportions seem to drop as people get older[3]. No doubt other belief commitments show similar patterns, as very often trajectories settled upon during formative years remain for life.

These two patterns seem to feed off one another. The time investment in evangelism which many Christian people gave before the responsibilities of adult life took over; are matched by the probability that evangelism amongst our peers might become more difficult as we age with them. The consequence is that it might have been a long time since we saw someone put their faith in Jesus. It may have been a long time since we have seen someone we know well being transformed by the power of the gospel. In that context it is all too easy to tacitly accept either that God doesn’t do that anymore, or that He can only work in certain cultural contexts, and that contemporary secularism inevitably has the final word.

A similar problem arises in terms of our own usefulness. I know many people who saw friends and classmates deeply impacted by the gospel at university; but have been less fruitful in adult life, and have lost confidence not in the gospel itself – but in their own effectiveness as witnesses to it. They look back fondly at great days in the past, but lack the confidence to re-engage today.

When I trudged back into the house, leaving my bike forlornly in the shed; I felt deflated, defeated and a little bit sad. I knew what needed to happen, but simply lacked the confidence to put it into practice. The retreat from evangelism feels almost the same. I know, because I have done both.

What can we do if we find ourselves in this predicament? I have some suggestions.

The first is to embrace Psalmist-like honesty with God about where you are with this. In terms of the ‘Confidence Gap’, Psalm 126 is short and particularly helpful.[4] You can read the whole Psalm here:

The first half of the Psalm (v1-3) involves the Psalmist looking back to great things God has done in the past. The return from exile in Babylon under Nehemiah seems to be in view here. The Psalmist renews his confidence in God by remembering great blessings poured out. Looking back, it was like a dream, when people were amazed at God’s work, and God’s people were full of joy.  The second half (v4-6) strikes a very different tone. These verses are a plea for God to restore their fortunes. The talk here is of weeping, and longing. So that’s exactly where we should start if we find ourselves stuck in the Confidence Gap.

So, we can look back and see what God has done, in our lives, and in church history; and regain some confidence. Reading the stories of people like the Wesleys or Robert Murray McCheyne or the Lewis revival of the 20th Century can help us to see what God can do. [5]Hearing testimonies of how people became Christians is really important – we should tell our stories to each other more! Then we should turn this renewed longing to God in prayer, asking God to restore what has been lost, and to turn our sorrow in joy. Spend some time in Psalm 126.

Secondly, we should be intentional and disciplined about praying for people, and asking for the courage to take opportunities to speak to them. Spiritual breakthroughs are won in prayer firstly, and conversationally only secondarily. God can still break through into real-life situations and draw people to himself; and His method for doing that is always prayer.

Isaiah 64 is a heartfelt cry that God would act again for His people, which famously starts, “O that you would rend the heavens and come down!”.[6] When two elderly sisters became burdened for the youth of their village who were not interested in the things of God, they started to pray, and that prayer movement ushered in what we know as The Lewis Revival. Whenever we are stuck in a rut, the escape route begins with prayer.

Thirdly, it’s important to develop a healthy sense of the sovereignty of God. God is in control of all these things and can be trusted – so even if we are struggling we don’t need to panic. The sovereignty of God, in the Bible – is not the same thing as fatalism. I knew a westerner who once crossed a busy street in Islamabad, Pakistan with a local. The local stepped out into the traffic, barely looking – and almost got killed. “Inshallah” said the local to the bemused guest. In other words, I don’t really look at the traffic, I’ll only die if Allah wills it, in which case, I’ll die anyway – so why look! However, the Biblical view of God’s sovereignty isn’t like that, as it doesn’t involve a distant unknowable God; but our Father in heaven, who uses us and our prayers in unfolding His will in the world. That means that we don’t ultimately need to be crippled by a loss of confidence, as we are not being called to change the world single-handed, but merely be faithful to our small calling. Evangelism is God’s work, and so participation is a privilege; not a chore.

When I was a student, I witnessed a campaign of harassment and intimidation between two households in the flat above mine. I was summoned to Dundee Sheriff Court to give my account of what happened. The citation which the police gave me stated two things. The first was that I was a witness, and the second was that I was required to testify. The key thing was that I was only asked to say what I saw. I wasn’t the prosecuting lawyer, just a witness. The lawyer was the one arguing the case, calling witnesses and drawing the lines of argument together to convict. We can learn to trust The Holy Spirit to take the lead in evangelism, because all we are required to do, is to speak when summoned. That’s why Paul wrote,

“5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow”[7]. 

Grasping that takes the pressure off us – enabling us to make a small start in just being witnesses; for whom simply being faithful is enough.

God also says ”Do not despise the day of small things.[8]” We know from the history books of the Bible, and from church history, that there have been times when God has poured out amazing blessings – and other times when His work has seemed more difficult. We don’t appear to be living in days of great revival, today in this country at least. But that doesn’t mean we should ‘despise’ these days, give up, go home, quit or accept the lie that the Holy Spirit has retreated to Heaven. Rather we should be alert, watchful and prayerful. We might just be given an opportunity today to say a brief word for Jesus, and be part of chain of events which ushers the mercy and salvation of God into someone’s life. Today might be the time when an outreach event through your church could be the start of new life in Christ for someone who needs Him.

Without my wife’s encouragement I would never have got back on that bike. I was stuck in a rut, and just didn’t have the confidence to get back on and ride. On one occasion, I had even got the bike out and got it all ready, then bottled out and put it away. However, she literally stood with me, saying. “you can do this again”, as I carried my bike down our front steps to the road. When Jesus sent out the seventy-two in Luke 10, he sent them out in twos[9]. If you are stuck in the chasm of lost-confidence in evangelism try climbing out with someone else – impossible things can seem suddenly doable when someone has their arm around your shoulder. Pray together, and look for opportunities together; the difference is remarkable.

That first bike ride was a nightmare. I was so out of shape that I almost gave up within a mile of my house. I live in an especially hilly area where the roads climb up from the river in all directions. At the top of the first climb I all but came off the bike, my head hurt and I felt sick. It was really uncomfortable. And embarrassing. Out with a neighbour later that week, the climb was slightly easier, and every ride hurt less than the last. Last Saturday, I did a 100mile ride around mountain Perthshire. Spinning along the South Loch Tay Road, with the sun shining on the Munros over the loch, it was utterly glorious. And I wondered why it had taken me so long to get going again.

May God renew our confidence in Him, and revitalise us, and send us out with the gospel with such joy and conviction that we wonder why on earth it took us so long to get going!

[1] https://www.welovecycling.com/wide/2016/05/24/mamil-one-without-even-knowing/

[2] https://www.barna.com/research/millennials-oppose-evangelism

[3] https://www.nae.net/when-americans-become-christians/ ,  talkingjesus.net 

[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20126&version=NIV

[5] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=5562

[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2064&version=NIV

[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+3%3A5-7&version=NIV

[8] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zachariah+4%3A10&version=NIV

[9] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A1&version=NIV

Outreach with Loch Leven Church, at Kinross

by Editor

Loch Leven Church is a fairly new church in Kinross. They were celebrating their second anniversary and had planned an outreach event in the town in a big beer tent. Sadly that wasn’t possible because of some last minute changes to the Coronavirus regulations, but the brewery who owned the tent also own a big field close to the town, and allowed the church to use that instead. They were given permission to hold a ‘drive-in service’ and decided to give it a go. I have never done a drive-in service in my life. So preaching to a field full of cars was new, exciting and I have to say – rather strange!

The church are busy fundraising for Rachel House in Kinross, one of the CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland) hospices doing amazing work in their town – and so a special collection for them was part of the service. So that was really good to be part of.

The church had their worship band on a stage at the front of the field, from where they led us. And then I was invited to speak. I did a talk on “Where is God in the Coronavirus crisis?” which was deliberately pitched at people who are not yet Christians, but may have come seeking answers and seeking for God. Of course, in these contexts (especially when everyone was in cars!) it’s impossible to get much idea who the audience are, because interaction is limited. But we did do a Q&A which had some interesting questions come in. Some of the questions were clearly from Christians asking about some aspects of their faith; but others were more obviously from people exploring Christian faith from the outside, or from the margins. Because we were amplified in the field, there were quite a few people listening in from the adjacent footpath and surrounding area which was great too.

Richard, one of the church leaders there in Kinross explained that it was also really good for people in the town to see that the church is alive, that it is active and has a message to share. It was important too that the church was seen to complying with the relevant Covid-restrictions and was doing something that was completely safe. There was no sense that the church was going to be spreading the disease or harming anyone in Kinross by being thoughtless or cavalier with the virus restrictions. All the attendees were in cars, and the folks on the stage were carefully distancing. The church seemed to have found a great balance between on one hand being a witness for Christ by being public with their faith; but on the other not compromising that witness by being reckless or thoughtless. I really appreciated their attitude!

I also love to see churches being innovative. They normally meet in a school, and that facility is currently unavailable to them. They are not wrestling with the complexities of reopening a building, because they don’t have one, and the building they usually use has been closed to them for the time being. In addition to the online meetings they have been doing they have also been willing to experiment with things like this drive-in service! The challenge for the church is to see what it can do in this strange climate, rather than what it can’t. Loch Leven Church are just brilliant at this.

Is the God of the Old Testament a Moral Monster?

by Solas

Prof. Richard Dawkins famously once labelled the God of the Old Testament, “the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.” Whether we believe that the Old Testament is fiction or not, the God character it portrays is often assumed to be a colder, more violent, and more morally dubious deity than the Jesus we discover in the New Testament. Yet, when when we avoid baseless hearsay and do the hard work of examining the character of the OT God from the full scope of the text itself, we discover that the God that it presents is far from the capricious deity that Dawkins asserts him to be. In this episode of Short Answers, Gareth Black helps us to discover why this is the case, meaning that we may need to revise our assumptions about the character of the God of the OT.

 

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PEP Talk Podcast Highlights of 2020

by Solas

Whew! It is finally 2021 and everyone is glad 2020 is behind them. But wait, something good must have happened. Although it was different and challenging, there was still a lot to thank God for in terms of how His gospel was advancing.  Whether it was reaching new people online or a new openness brought about by difficult circumstances, Andy and Kristi reflect on the highlights of sharing the gospel in a very strange 2020.

Highlights of 2020 – PEP Talk

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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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MIND THE GAP: What Holds You Back From Evangelism?

by Editor

New Year is full of traditions: the parties, the fireworks, the falling-asleep-in-front-of-the-TV-and-missing-the-big-moment and, of course, the resolutions. Every year millions of us fall for idea that somehow, because it’s the 31st of December, we can boldly commit to improve our health or relationships, take up a new hobby, lose a bad habit, or in some other way radically restructure our lives. I’m not immune from this habit: I have, not once but on two separate occasions, foolishly made a New Year’s resolution to learn the harmonica—coming from a fairly musical family, I have long felt deeply inadequate that the best I can manage is the spoons.

Whatever our particular New Year’s resolutions, for many of us it is nevertheless invariably the case that come February, many of them lie in smoking ruins, our good intentions to improve our health, happiness, or the local cultural music scene shipwrecked on the reef of reality.

Why do our resolutions so often fail, despite us often having the very best of intentions when we make them? What accounts for the embarrassingly obvious gap between our intentions and the lived reality? There can be many reasons: not counting the cost, not being honest about our weaknesses, not appreciating how deeply ingrained habits can be, not making the time, not being realistic or, in my case, not accounting for my wife flattening my harmonica with a lump hammer.

Whether it’s a light-hearted intention (playing the mouth organ like Larry Adler) or a more serious one (losing some weight and improving our exercise regime), whatever it is we’re aiming to do, if we’re going to succeed and turn our intention into reality, we need to confront, honestly and head on, those things that risk holding us back. Rather than fall into the gap between intention and action, we need to identify the gaps so we can avoid them.

And the same is true in our spiritual lives. New Year can be a wonderful opportunity for reflection for Christians—we can look back and pray over the year behind, thanking God for the good things and repenting of where we messed up. We can look ahead to the new year with expectation for what God will do, and commit ourselves afresh to following Christ in the  next twelve months. Maybe we might also decide to set ourselves some discipleship challenges: perhaps we resolve to pray more this coming year, or read through the whole of the Bible, or share our faith more often with friends, colleagues, and neighbours.

Yet even those very noble intentions can, if are not careful, end up soon forgotten and covered in cobwebs—which then only leads to apathy, guilt, or frustration when we remember, sometime towards the back end of the following autumn, that once again we have fallen short.

In his marvellous little book, The Screwtape Letters, in which C. S. Lewis pens an imagined correspondence between a senior and a junior devil, the latter advising the former how best to torment and trip up his “patient”, Screwtape touches on this theme. He advises Wormwood, his young charge, to try to get the Christian he is tempting to either boldly overestimate his abilities, or to tie themselves up in knots at their inadequacy. Screwtape writes: “Tortured fear and stupid confidence are both desirable states of mind”.

And when it comes to evangelism, I think “tortured fear” sums up how many of us often feel when we think about sharing our faith with our friends. Fear that we’ll look foolish. Fear that we just don’t know how to begin talking about Jesus. Most Christians want desperately to share their faith more naturally and regularly; many of us have perhaps made New Year’s resolutions along the lines of “This is the year I’ll talk to my neighbours about Jesus”; and many of us have not followed through. There is a gap between what we know we should and wish we could do, and what we actually do.

Addressing that that gap is the very purpose of this brand new series on the Solas website. Over the coming weeks, we’re going to take a look at some of the gaps that, for many of us, stand in the way of us talking about Jesus with our friends and neighbours. It’s my hope that by naming those gaps—by looking at them honestly, wisely, and biblically—we can begin to tackle them. Rather than boldly proclaim “next year will be different!” we can more modestly promise “this year I’m going to take some practical first steps”.

I encourage you to track with this series over the next few months. This is not a series for experts but for ordinary Christians like you and me, that we hope you will find challenging and encouraging, honest and practical, and which will give you both food for thought and practical tools to help you evangelise more.

As you begin this new year—or if you’re playing catch up mid-year and wading through this series like a Netflix binge watching marathon—let me suggest a helpful spiritual exercise to try right at the start. Find somewhere peaceful and quiet and have a think about these three questions:

  1. Do I really want to share my faith more this next year? (If the honest answer is no, then pray that the Lord would give you an increased heart for the lost and a deeper motivation to reach them. Don’t try to whip yourself into an emotional frenzy by sheer willpower—ask the Lord to change your heart).
  2. What are the names of some of the people with whom I’d like to share my faith this year? (Make a list and put it in the front of your Bible: begin praying for each person, by name, once a week or more. Pray especially that the Lord would create opportunities for you to naturally speak with them).
  3. What are some of the fears that hold you back, the gaps that stand between you and sharing your faith more often and more confidently? (Naming them can be very helpful. You might also want to write these down and begin praying about them: e.g. ‘Lord, please help me overcome my fear of not knowing what to say …’)

You see the good news, in all of this, is that however much we want to share the gospel with our friends, however great our desire is for our friends to know Jesus, God’s desire is even greater than ours. His love for our friends is infinite more than ours. And so when we step out in faith—when we confront the gaps that keep us from evangelism—we do this not in our power, but in the power of his Holy Spirit that God gives us. As the Apostle Paul put it so memorably:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

The “Mind the Gap” articles can be seen here.

Review of the Year

by Editor

This is not a year I am likely to forget in a hurry! Who would have known that 2020 would have ended up being one of the most unusual, frustrating, and challenging—but also exciting years—in Solas’s history.

It all started so well. 2020 kicked off with one of the busiest few months I can remember, with dozens of events across the country. From helping churches put on small evangelistic events in coffee shops or at curry nights, to fantastic mission weeks at universities; from a packed Confident Christianity conference in Glasgow to speaking everywhere from Inverness to Dumfries to Derbyshire, the first three months flew by in a whirlwind.

And then came the COVID-19, lockdowns, face masks, social distancing, toilet roll hoarding, and general chaos. As I drove home from my final pre-lockdown event in Glasgow, I remember thinking “Well, it’ll be a few weeks of peace and quiet, and then things will open up again”. How I misjudged that one! Six months on and the New Normal is neither new, nor normal. Praise the Lord, however, that the gospel remains unchanged, no matter what the circumstances!

Like many organisations, Solas had to scramble to reinvent much of what we were doing when COVID hit. Thankfully we already had a large digital presence and I was terrifically encouraged to watch how the Solas team I’m privileged to lead, responded with creativity and energy as we moved all our work online. Evangelistic and training events became webinars and we were excited to see Christians, sceptics, and seekers tune in and engage with our live Q&As. With many secular magazines and newspapers reporting that more people than ever before were watching or engaging with religious content as the pandemic raised spiritual questions, we certainly saw that trend at Solas and were delighted to be able to answer people’s questions about the Christian faith and the hope it can uniquely bring in uncertain times. Despite the challenges, 2020 was nevertheless an exciting year for Solas in so many ways, most especially in our hiring our second evangelist and apologist, Gareth Black. Gareth is a very gifted young speaker and writer and is based in Belfast, where he’ll be expanding

Solas’s work across Northern Ireland and beyond. Solas’s new vision and strategic plan, also launched this year, looks to how Solas can develop our work of evangelism and training beyond Scotland and into the other parts of the UK—Northern Ireland, Wales, and the regions of England, and Gareth’s joining us is the first major step on that journey.

As we approach the end of the year, we’re excited, too, that many churches are now beginning to think about small events again and where audience sizes have to be limited due to things like social distancing, Solas is well equipped to be able to serve and resource churches—we’re now travelling frequently to speak to small groups and so if your church would like to put on a small evangelistic event, or a training evening, do reach out to us.

There are challenges ahead too, for which we’d value your prayers. We’ve been terrifically excited to see Solas’s finances improve even in these difficult times and we’re now over three-quarters of the way to being fully funded and sustainable. Unlike some other organisations, which are able to rely on massive funding from overseas, Solas has always aimed to be locally funded and supported, with a mix of major donors but also a massive base of supporters across the country giving a small amount each month. That strong local base has really helped us this year and we’re grateful we haven’t had to furlough staff but have been able to expand our work.

None of this would be possible without your prayers, your encouragement, and your financial support. We don’t take this support for granted— we know in these days that many are facing financial hardship and making the commitment to give to evangelism and mission can be costly. Thank you for standing with us and thank you for helping us reach more people than ever before with the good news of Jesus, the good news that there is hope, even in uncertain times. I pray that whatever the next year brings, you will know God’s peace and provision, and that he provides you with many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus with those he brings across your path.

In Christ
Dr Andy Bannister
Director

Heading into 2021 with confidence in God

by Editor

How would you sum up 2020? What words would you use to describe the year just gone? Challenging? Perplexing? Difficult? Lonely? Unexpected? Surprising?

Rewind to 1st January 2020. Who would have predicted that within a few months, much of life as we know it would grind to a halt, schools would be closed and church congregations would not be able to physically gather to worship together?

And now as we embark on this New Year, there are still many uncertainties about what lies ahead in the next 12 months. Will there be any more spikes in Covid infection rates? How long will it take for the Covid vaccines to be widely available? Will we see the end of ‘lockdown’? As the year unfolds, what will the toll of last year’s restriction look like in terms of the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial health of our nation? As if this wasn’t enough, we might add into the mix the added unknown impact of the UK leaving the EU!

With uncertainty all around us, it can be disheartening. We might be prone to feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. In our present situation with all that is unknown, hear these wonderful words of hope from the book of Ephesians (2:10):

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

One writer has said that the book of Ephesians was written to expand the horizons of the Apostle Paul’s readers so that they might better understand the dimensions of God’s eternal purposes and transforming grace. So allow God, by the power of His Spirit, to expand your horizons as we consider what He might be saying to us here at the start of 2021.

Already in Ephesians chapter 2 we have learned that because of God’s transforming grace, believers are made “alive with Christ” (2:2). If this was not astounding enough, Paul goes on to explain something more of God’s eternal purpose for His people: “For we are God’s handiwork.”  The Greek word here might well carry the connotation of artistic skill. The ESV translates it as “his workmanship” or the NET as “his creative work.” Each piece of art reflects something of the artist. The only other use of this word in the New Testament is in Romans 1:20. There Paul says that God’s character- His eternal power and divine nature- are clearly seen through the created world. These dear believers in Ephesus have been transformed through the work of God’s grace. By saying they are “God’s handiwork” in 2:2 Paul likens them to the created world referred to in Romans 1; they are to clearly display something of the character of God to the watching world.

How do God’s people show that they are his handiwork? Through “good works” for which they have been created in Christ Jesus. Paul could not be more clear in the preceding verses; no one is saved by good works but we are saved for good works. To a watching world, this is how the believers live out the Gospel and reveal their Creator’s character: by doing good works.

But there is another precious truth in this verse. Not only are believers God’s handiwork, but Paul finishes this verse by saying that our Great God has prepared good works in “advance for us to do.” Here is a reminder of a theme that occurs throughout the book of Ephesians: God is sovereign! He has sovereignly brought us to Himself through the gift of faith and He will continue His work of transformation is us. Hopefully as you reflect on 2020 with all of its challenges and perplexity that you can see that God has indeed been at work in your life, like a skilled artist, making you more into His own likeness (4:24). As we begin 2021 with all of its uncertainties, we don’t know what this year will hold, but God does. And he goes before us into this New Year preparing good works for us to do.

So what are some of these good works that God has prepared for us? Well the book of Ephesians is crammed full of what this might look like for us:

– increasing adoration of God for his gift of salvation (1:3-9)
– deeper prayerfulness (there are two sublime prayers in 1:15-19 and 3:16-20)
– growing spiritual maturity (4:13-15)
– greater mastery over our sinful tendencies (4:25-32)
– expressing love and humility in our closest relationships (marriage, families and work situations: 5:22-6:9)
– cultivating wisdom in how to stand against the powers of darkness (6:10-18)
– developing a readiness to share the Gospel (6:19-20)

So as we begin 2021 with all of its uncertainties, may these words from Ephesians 2:10 serve to expand our horizons and help us further grasp the dimensions of God’s eternal purposes and transforming grace. If we are in Christ Jesus, we can take great hope that while we don’t know what the future holds, God does. He goes before us. As part of God’s handiwork, in the year that is before us in what ways will you display His character to a watching world?

Gordy Mackay is the Community Pastor at Perth Baptist Church in Scotland.

Is Christmas Cancelled?

by Solas

When we look at the circumstances of Christmas 2020, could it be worse? In this year’s Christmas Short Answers message, Gareth Black looks at the circumstances surrounding the first Christmas. Far from ideal, they were the context for the most unshakeable hope.

Gareth mentions the latest article by Gavin Matthews found in the Scotsman newspaper here.

Share

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Support

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.

A Beginner’s Guide to Apologetics – Complete Series

by Editor
Support evangelism and evangelism training across the UK

Throughout the year we have been publishing articles every fortnight, introducing people to positive arguments and evidence for Christian Faith. Billed as “A Beginner’s Guide to Apologetics”, these introductory articles were all written by competent scholars in a range of academic disciplines, but are accessible to general readers. All the contributors added suggestions of further more specialist reading for those who want to delve more deeply into the issue at hand.

Here are links to the entire series, so you can find every one of them directly from this page without searching through the website. We have found engaging with these thinkers illuminating, exciting and encouraging. Although this series consists of new writing and is book-length in total, we are not printing, packaging and selling it.. it’s all freely available here for you to enjoy.

Click on an image to go to the relevant article: the first one links to the series introduction.

  

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, a huge thanks to all the contributors to this series.