The Confident Christianity evening in Perth was overshadowed by a tragedy which struck the Baptist Church earlier that day. Many of the people gathering that night were in shock at the tragic accident which had claimed the life of a much-loved prominent member of the church. Her family were insistent that the event go ahead, but given the situation we re-arranged the programme. Steve Osmond stepped in to take some of the pressure from me, as it was a friend of mine who had died that day, and I was somewhat in shock.
Gordy from Perth Baptist opened the event with a welcome and explained the situation to the visitors from other churches who might have wondered what was going on, prayed for the family and offered pastoral support to anyone struggling. He also had received messages from the family urging us to press ahead which he shared with the folks there.
Steve Osmond got things underway with his ‘art of conversation’ talk. It delivers a similar message to Andy’s How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot session, on conversations that lead to Jesus. I then interviewed Andy about some of the latest news from Solas, before a coffee break.
In our Have You Ever Wondered? session, I explained the basis for the use of Have You Ever Wondered? questions, and why they really are a tool for our times. I then talked through Andy Steiger’s chapter Have You Ever Wondered Why The Environment Matters? To show how the approach works in practice. Andy then talked us through two more examples, Have You Ever Wondered What Love Really Is? and Have You Ever Wondered Why We Love Happy Endings? Andy passed back to me for a quick session on ways in which people are using the Have You Ever Wondered? book. That included, using it themselves to learn, giving it away, placing it in café’s and libraries, in churches and CU’s and on using it prayerfully.
The Q&A that followed was handled by Andy and Steve – and they faced some good questions from hell and judgement, to vegetarianism, to apathy, anger and the uniqueness of Jesus.
Despite the circumstances, it was good to be together with people from many churches and to chat about sharing the good news of Jesus with the people that we love. The tragic events of that day in some ways focussed our minds on the fact that eternity is at hand, we are fragile and mortal and need to be ready to meet with God. For us individually that first means turning from our sins and putting our faith in Christ, who reconciles us to God. It then means sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and the eternal life he offers to as many people as we can , while we can.
There were an unusually large number of Solas supporters and supporting churches there that night too, so it als gave us a chance to thank them for their love, encouragement, gifts and prayers, which keep our ministry going.
