News

Launch Pad 34: Hold A Sports Outreach Event

by Editor

Sport brings people together, keeps us fit and builds community. Around a third of all adults in this country play a sport regularly and many others spectate. Churches around the country are also finding that sports-themed events make a great setting for sharing their faith with their friends and neighbours. That is especially true in an Olympic Games Year (2024), or football World Cups (2026).

Christians in Sport (CiS) work with hundreds of churches to help run events including sports dinners, quizzes and live screenings of big games, as well as 5-a-side, dodgeball or netball tournaments. Every event is sport-themed, provides opportunities for Christians and non-Christians to meet and a simple presentation about the Christian faith.

Dave from CiS said, “We keep our talks very gospel centred and clearly understandable to the unbeliever. As the events are primarily aimed at sports people, we often use sports illustrations or analogies to bring colour to the gospel message and help the listener relate and apply it to their own lives. In the 2012 Olympic year, one especially memorable one was called ‘One Giant Leap’ in which we used Mike Powell’s long jump record (which still stands) to illustrate the giant gap that stands between God and humanity. It goes on to explain how Jesus jumped that gap and can bring us back into relationship with him. We’ve often pulled out the 8.95m using a tape measure and everyone’s jaws drop as they see just how far he went!”

CiS offer the following advice:

  • Think about your audience, and pitch your event to their interests; take account of whether they are primarily sports fans or participants.
  • Try booking a neutral venue, like a sports hall or ; i.e. somewhere non-Christians feel at home. Go and chat to the manager in-person.
  • Contact CiS or Solas for help with speakers, talks, topics, quizzes and videos to use.
  • Don’t hide that this is a Christian event!
  • Invite friends in-person.
  • Involve other local churches to widen the net.
  • Have some follow-up planned for anyone who wants to know more about Christ (a course, event, a Bible-reading with teammates invitation etc)
  • Go for it!

Pray: Lord, thank-you for the potential in sports outreach, help us to reach the sports loving men and women in our town with the gospel. Amen.

Previously: Launch Pad #33 Invite a Christian band to play in your community or home

Next: Launch Pad #35 Become a local mission volunteer

Answering Muslim Friends and Colleagues: Andy at the ICMDA Webinar

by Editor

Solas is based in Scotland, works across the UK – but as you can see from the webinar from the ICDMA, has an international reach too. The ICDMA is the International Christian Medical and Dental Association, which links up medics and dentists right across the world. What is not apparrent to viewers of this video is that when it was broadcast, it was simultaneously translated into many languages and re-published in those countries! In this session Andy discusses sharing the Christian faith with Muslim friends and colleagues.

What would Jesus say to Keir Starmer?

by Solas

Whether it is India or Germany, the USA or the UK, 2024 seems a big year for elections. For many of us, we look for integrity in choosing new leadership. But why shouldn’t the new Prime Minister seek to profit from his new-found power? In this topical Short Answers video, Andy Bannister suggests that it’s really only the example of Jesus that can give Keir Starmer (or ourselves) a model for good leadership.

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Please share this video widely with friends or family and for more Short Answers videos, visit solas-cpc.org/shortanswers/, subscribe to our YouTube channel or visit us on Twitter Instagram or Facebook.

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 a free book as a thank-you gift!

Launch Pad 33: Invite a Christian band to play in your community or home

by Editor

I love watching live bands. For many years I played bass in a rock band and one of the things I loved most was watching other bands play when we were out gigging. I’ve seen hundreds of great bands…and many not-so-great bands too! My experience, is that time and again music has an amazing way of bringing people together and breaking down barriers that may otherwise exist. Sometimes it can be tough to find the right words to say what we mean, but then we hear a song, with its heart warming and stirring melody, which expresses so well what we’re feeling –  and it resonates with the longings of our heart. Music has a way of going straight to our soul.

So why not use music as a way to reach out to your non-Christian friends?

The Gospel is the most beautiful message ever written, and since the earliest days Christians have been capturing that beauty in music and song. Today there are hundreds of amazing Christian artists out there making music to the glory of God and clearly singing about Jesus – and guess what, it even sounds good.

So, why not organise an event where you invite a good Christian band – and invite those from your community to come along and listen? This could be at the local town hall, the local café or pub, or even in your home. Spice things up and throw in some food and drinks – make it fun, and, importantly ask the band to explain the meaning behind the songs here and there. Let the band know that you want the event to be a space where the truth of God’s love, and why it matters, is clearly presented.

While the band is taking a break, speak to those who’ve come along and ask them what they’ve thought about the music and the message that was shared. This will lead to some really good conversations that go past the surface level and on to important spiritual things. Then, offer a way of follow up for those who are interested. That could be a book, a tract, a course, or a copy of the band’s CD with the lyrics printed on the inner sleeve, or an invitation to a church event!

Prayer: “Thank you for the gift of music. Help me use it to share your love with others”

Previously: Launch Pad 32 When I Survey

Next: Launch Pad 34 Hold a Sports Outreach Event

Andy Bannister and Mark Oliver on BBC Radio Devon

by Editor

Our friend Mark Oliver, who leads Plymstock Chapel, was invited along with Andy Bannister onto BBC Radio Devon to chat about life, big questions, evidence and the issues of around sharing the Christian faith in today’s world. You can hear a recording of the programme segment above. (10 mins).

With Amber Nesbitt

by Solas

Steve Osmond chats with a UCCF student worker this week on PEP Talk. She helps explain some of the trends, challenges and opportunities happening right now on university campuses. From awareness of spirituality to ignorance of basic Biblical concepts to a loneliness pandemic, these are the things shaping evangelism and discipleship amongst young adults today.

With Amber Nesbitt – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Amber Nesbitt is a Staff Worker for UCCF based in Edinburgh, where she works alongside Napier and Queen Margaret Christian Unions. She attends Charlotte Chapel Church in Edinburgh and her family are in Surrey. She loves to hang out with friends/family, learn about different cultures and food, explore new places and dance!

Find out how to support Amber at https://www.uccf.org.uk/our-team/amber-nesbitt

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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Launch Pad 32: When I Survey

by Editor

People love to talk about themselves. Enjoying sharing our story with others is a natural part of being human. Thus the more that we take an interest in somebody else—in their lives, their interests, their beliefs—the more they will probably take an interest in us. And there’s a gospel opportunity right there.

Solas Director Andy Bannister has spent years engaging Muslims with the gospel. He has found that a great way to start conversations with Muslims is to ask about their faith. “So you’re a Muslim? What do you believe?” And after asking follow up questions, there’s a natural opportunity to say “I’m a Christian: some of what we believe is similar, but there are also some big differences too …”

To explore in a more structured way what a friend, family member, or neighbour believes, you could try using a worldview survey. Now if that sounds a bit technical, don’t panic! A “worldview” is the set of assumptions that somebody has about reality. It’s the basic beliefs they bring to their choices, decisions, values and more. But people rarely notice their worldview in the same way we rarely notice the air we breathe.

You can open up somebody’s worldview with questions like these:

  • Do you think there’s a God? And if so, what is God like?
  • What does it mean to be human?
  • What’s gone wrong with the world?
  • What’s the solution?

You could ask these questions informally (like the conversations Andy has with Muslims). Or you could do a more formal survey: some churches have used surveys like these in door-to-door visiting. Other churches have gone out on their local streets and surveyed people (just be polite if people don’t want to stop and talk—not everybody appreciates a questioner with a clipboard!)

On an evangelism course he has taught for years, Andy sets students an assignment to survey a friend or family member with these questions. He says that in many cases, the survey started a much bigger conversation about the gospel. The survey broke the ice (“I’m doing a course and need to ask somebody a few questions; would you help?”) and then things really took off. Because once you’ve asked these four questions and listened well, your friend will often ask: “So what do you think?”

Prayer: Lord, please help me to take an interest in others! Amen

Previously: Launch Pad #31 Give Away A Book!

Next: Launch Pad #33 Invite a Christian band to play in your community or home

 

Isn’t That Just Your Interpretation?

by Solas

“That’s just your interpretation…we can’t really know what the Bible means” – Is that really true? Or, is it possible to get to an objective understanding of what the words of the Bible really mean – how they were understood and what they meant in their original context? In this Short Answers video, Steve Osmond unpacks this idea to explain how we can have confidence when it comes to reading the Bible, and especially when it comes to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Share

Please share this video widely with friends or family and for more Short Answers videos, visit solas-cpc.org/shortanswers/, subscribe to our YouTube channel or visit us on Twitter Instagram or Facebook.

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 a free book as a thank-you gift!

Launch Pad 31: Give Away a Book

by Editor

Despite the internet and social media, books remain incredibly popular. Traditional bookshops may have retreated from the High Street, but the online trade is booming to the extent that in 2021 over 212 million new books were shifted in the UK. There is huge untapped potential for sharing your faith here!

One friends of ours is a nurse. Georgie always carries some Christian books with her, and looks for opportunities to give them out, or lend them to colleagues. Her handbag might contain a gospel book, an intriguing Christian biography or a work of Christian apologetics, or something devotional pointing to the peace and comfort that comes from knowing Christ in this troubled world.

Giving books is not Georgie’s whole evangelistic strategy, but it is part of it and requires some forethought and planning. As well as praying for opportunities, using questions to open and deepen conversation with the people she works with and cares about, she regularly offers people a book. If the question of suffering comes up, she might say, “I’m reading a really interesting book about that at the moment, by a man whose wife was suffering from dementia, and how his faith was tested by it, but it really helped him through it. Would you like to borrow it?” Similar conversations occur around questions of meaning, purpose, identity and relationships.

Very often people have been receptive to Georgie’s offer and have read and discussed all kinds of books with her.

Another helpful approach is to read a good book in the staff room at work. If a colleague asks, ‘What are you reading?’, you might answer: “It’s a fascinating book by a leading scientist about his Christian faith and why he thinks that science points towards there being a God. I’ve almost finished it, would you like a look when I’m done?”

The Solas book “Have You Ever Wondered?” has been written specifically as an ideal giveaway book to non-Christian people. Gently pre-evangelistic, it explores things like beauty, truth and justice and shows how they make most sense as pointers towards God. Consider getting some copies and praying for an opportunity to give them, or something similar, away.

Pray: Lord, thank you for the power of the written word. I commit to carrying a good book with me this week; please give me an opportunity to give it away.

Previously: Launch Pad #30 Invite a Well-Known Christian To Give Their Testimony

Next: Launch Pad #32 When I Survey

 

Hope in Chaos – Outreach in St Albans

by Editor

Cornerstone Church in St Albans invited me to speak at their outreach event, which they held in their local golf club, an excellent neutral venue which was attractive to a much broader audience than just the usual church crowd. Cornerstone have booked the golf club before, it’s a popular venue with good food, in a handy location.

After a lovely dinner for all the guests, I stood up and  spoke on “Finding hope in a world of chaos”. I always love doing that talk at these kind of dinners; everyone is very happy, the food has filled them up, the wine has flowed, they are all having a good time – and then I start to talk about chaos!

The church did an amazing job at inviting people too, all 60 seats were taken – with loads of folk from outside the church present. Mike, the organiser from the church had brought a whole load of work colleagues and pointed out round the room that several other folk from the church had done the same.

The “Finding hope in a world of chaos” topic always seems to gain a lot traction with people too – they really get it. Ukraine, The Middle East, political chaos both sides of the Atlantic – where does it stop? One of the most Googled questions in recent times has been ”Will everything work out OK?” The bottom line is that in this kind of world if there is no God, then there really is no basis for hope and chaos wins. The sun will expand, destroy the earth and then become extinct, the universe will end! However, if the Christian story is true, then there is something on which to build hope. Now that does not prove that Christianity is true, but  it does surely give you the impetus to look hard and see. In the same way, if you were lost in the Sahara desert and dying of thirst, not every mirage is water – but where there is a chance of survival it must be investigated. So that talk shakes people a little, shows them that it really matters if Christianity is true or not, and invites them to look into it for themselves.

We did a Q&A session at the end as usual. People often see that they need ‘something’ and then start asking ‘so why Christianity?’ To which I would want to say that the claims of Christ stand head and shoulders above all the competing claims. Islam, for example has a great lack of historical evidence for any of its claims. I’d used 1 Peter as my biblical basis for this talk, which talks about us having a true and living hope. That makes it quite easy to investigate, you can for example read a historical account of the resurrection of Jesus and see the remarkable array of evidence for that. And if that’s true everything else follows.

With Stephen Caldwell

by Solas

In many ways, the practice of sharing the gospel is the art of conversation. Though some of us may be more gifted than others, there are many simple ways to start and build great conversations. Today’s guest shares his experience starting conversations with strangers and the tools he’s developed to help us all gain traction in our evangelistic efforts.

With Stephen Caldwell – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Stephen Caldwell trains people to build and deepen relationships with others. In his program called Traction, he teaches people how to perceptively listen and ask probing questions during conversations that are spiritually or existentially focused. The book for Traction is titled Making Inroads: How to ask questions to better understand others. He has gained his experience by using the Socratic Method teaching English, serving as a chaplain during a year of clinical pastoral education, study of and participation in Ignatian spiritual direction, and both practicing and training others in consultative selling and non-directive coaching. He has developed, practiced, and led Traction since 2002.

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.

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Confident Christianity at Bishop’s Stortford

by Solas

Here are the presentation slides from our Confident Christianity event at Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church. The first two are from Andy Bannister’s talks and the second two are Sara Stevenson’s.

Andy-01-How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An IdiotDownload
Andy-02-Evangelism to the ApatheticDownload
Christian Morality in Secular Culture – Sara SDownload
Connecting with the international community – Sara SDownload

Launch Pad 30: Invite a Well-Known Christian to Give Their Testimony

by Editor

Love it or loathe it, we live in a culture in which famous people are idolised, often for reasons which remain far from obvious. Seven million Britons tuned in faithfully every Sunday night to watch the jungle-based antics of “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”.

While it might be tempting to lapse into cultural snobbery and write an article about turning off the TV and spending our evenings rejoicing in leather-bound tomes of classic literature, it might not only be unrealistic – but would be less productive than thinking about how we might actually leverage our culture for the gospel.

Some churches in Aberdeen did exactly this. They invited ex-Chelsea and Newcastle United footballer, TV pundit Gavin Peacock to come and give a talk about his faith. Older, retired players are often the most mature and helpful speakers. They held the event in the function suite at Pitoddrie (The Aberdeen Football Club stadium) to make it an easy-ask for non-Christian people. The churches covered the costs of the event and bought tickets by the table, to which they invited their friends. With BBC Scotland football commentator (and Christian) Kenny Crawford hosting the evening, it was a popular and well-attended event.

Gavin Peacock told lots of football-based anecdotes which the crowd enjoyed, but he skilfully wove stories of his faith throughout his presentation too, not least when he talked about the personal suffering his family has been through.

One pastor invited the chairman of Aberdeen FC to come to the event, which he did. One especially avid Aberdeen fan, who is an elder in one of the supporting churches, invited four of his football mates—who all came along. It was an event that was an ‘easy ask’ for this community. He has subsequently had two lesser-known footballers speak to the church’s annual soccer-school.

If you are prepared to do a little research, there are many interesting people in the worlds of sport, music, entertainment, science, the arts, business and politics who are open about their Christian faith. Why not consider doing what the Aberdeen churches did with Gavin Peacock, and use their social capital as a bridge to the gospel?

Pray: Father, thank you for public figures who are prepared to speak out for you. Please help me to bring their voice to my community.

Previously: Launch Pad #29 Question at The Pub

Next: Launch Pad #31 Give away a book!