Evangelicals Now

The right to decide (book review)

Evangelicals Now — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:33 +0000

THE RIGHT TO DECIDE
Seeking justice for choices around unwanted same-sex attractions
By Michael R. Davidson
Core Issues Trust. 52 pages. £5.00
ISBN 978 0 957 373 907

This booklet is a collection of testimonies from those who have sought help with their unwanted same-sex attractions.

For most of the 13 stories, this preference comes from their Christian faith. Interestingly, though, the first account is from a non-Christian, which perhaps reflects the author’s desire to emphasise the case that the demand for therapy goes beyond the faith community.

The Preface and Introduction emphasise the agenda, along with the booklet’s title and cover (illustrating scales of justice), to fight back for the right of individuals to make their own choices and receive whatever form of therapy they want. This comes amid the current climate of professional counselling bodies (such as the UKCP and BACP) trying to label such therapies as unethical.

Some readers may agree with these introductory sections, but also find themselves uncomfortable with the emphasis on individual ‘rights’ (arguably not a biblical concept). I found myself wishing that the booklet had let the stories speak for themselves. The playing-down of the moral issues in the Preface (e.g. ‘some find homosexual practice morally wrong. In a sense, none of the reasons matters’) also suggests a secular target audience.

Testimonies have an astonishing power to persuade and even disarm those holding contrary views. In a way, no one can really argue against another person’s experiences, particularly in this postmodern age. Overall, then, these stories are powerful and persuasive. I would recommend this booklet to anyone with an interest in the subject.

Stuart Parker,
Associate Director of True Freedom Trust, a charity supporting those struggling with same-sex attractions (see http://www.truefreedomtrust.co.uk)

This article was first published in the January 2013 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.

www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057

Filed under: Book review

Disciple-making leaders

Evangelicals Now — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:35 +0000

John Risbridger talks to Marcus Honeysett of Living Leadership

JR: You speak around the country about the need to grow and disciple leaders within local churches. Briefly, how do you understand biblical leadership?

MH: Paul speaks in Philippians 1 and 2 Corinthians 1 about working with people for their progress and joy in God, so that they grow firm in their faith and have abundant joy in Christ. That’s a great, simple definition of spiritual leadership. You don’t have to think very hard to see why a church that is standing firm in their faith and full of godly joy is going to be a beacon for the gospel.

JR: That is quite a different understanding to running meetings or managing the organisation of the church.

MH: It’s possible for churches to drift into a wrong understanding of why they exist. What started off as a group that wanted to impact its area with the gospel can, after a period, mutate into one that merely meets for believers to get their own spiritual needs met. The kind of leaders the church looks for depends on their understanding of their DNA. The first will look for leaders who equip and release all the disciples to be a community of witnesses; the second will look for someone who serves the organisation and ministers to the perceived needs of the Christians.

JR: So a major priority for leaders in local churches is to be equippers and facilitators?

MH: I find it hard to read Ephesians 4 any other way. I recently asked a group of leaders to read this chapter of the Bible and complete the following sentence: ‘According to Ephesians 4 the goal of biblical leadership is…’ Someone instantly replied: ‘To equip and release disciples who make disciples’. That’s it in a nutshell. The work of leaders is not to do all the gospel work while everyone else supports and pays for them. It’s to enable the gospel ministry of every Christian and help the church grow a sense of being a team of disciples working together.

JR: That will be a significant mindset shift for some churches. Can you recommend any books to help a church think about it?

MH: There is some really good material being written at the moment to help churches think about this critical shift in their thinking. Neil Hudson from LICC (Imagine Church — Releasing Whole Life Disciples, IVP) has written helpfully on how the contract (actual or implicit) between congregation and leaders needs to shift from one of ‘pastoral care’ to ‘pastoral equipping’. Colin Marshall and Tony Payne address the same idea powerfully in their book, The Trellis and the Vine (The Good Book Company). You could do much worse than take one of these as your church book of the term.

JR: I’ve heard that Fruitful Leaders by Marcus Honeysett isn’t bad either! Why is it important, in your view, for leaders to train disciples to disciple others?

MH: I recently read somewhere that there are three fads that tend to come and go in churches: discipleship, mission and leadership training. I believe that we should combine all three and understand that we need to train leaders to make disciples who are actively participating in mission: disciples who know how to disciple other people. I agree with Steve Timmis when he says that, if we aren’t involved in some way in making disciples, then we aren’t disciples ourselves, because disciples make disciples.

That is the fundamental principle behind 2 Timothy 2.2, in which Paul tells Timothy to take what he has learned from him and pass it on to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. That’s four generations’ worth of believers and a vision for multiplication all in one verse!

JR: Don’t all church leaders train their churches to be involved in disciple-making?

MH: You would hope so. In reality, I think the number of churches which actually train every member to be involved in disciple-making is vanishingly small. The same is true for many leader-development programmes, which train people in theology and ministry skills but often don’t do much on how to make and multiply disciples.

And yet the fundamental call of God on every church is to go into the world and make disciples of Jesus: active followers, actively participating in Jesus’s mission, responding to his call to join his great cause. I’m constantly amazed at the number of people in local churches who haven’t grasped this core principle.

JR: How should the principle of making disciples shape the development of new leaders?

MH: It needs to shape leader-training programmes at all levels in churches and Bible colleges. Every element of training should aim to fulfil this goal. We need to train leaders to handle the Bible well, not just as an end in itself, but to make disciples who take the gospel to their neighbourhood and to the nations. We need to train people to pastor well, not as an end in itself, but so that those we pastor in turn counsel and nurture others. We need to train leaders who are certain that the local church is not just a chaplaincy for meeting the needs of Christians, but a mission team for impacting the world with the gospel. And we need to train leaders of churches, which haven’t got the disciple-making vision yet, to effect the difficult changes in church culture that will be needed and to handle the resistance they will encounter along the way.

JR: One new initiative you are involved in is the School of Missional Disciple-Making. Tell us a bit about it.

MH: The School is a joint initiative between Living Leadership and Above Bar Church in Southampton. Students and trainers come from a wide range of churches across Southampton and teaching input comes from people from several local churches, as well as the Navigators and Damaris. The curriculum is fully centred on the need to grow disciple-making leaders. It combines four tracks: (1) Bible handling, (2) spiritual formation of leaders, (3) principles of mission-focussed church and biblical leadership, and (4) how to disciple others and equip them, in turn, to disciple others. The School is both strongly biblical and deeply practical, encouraging the students to engage with non-Christians, one-to-one discipling and small group huddles with junior leaders, as well as identifying mission-focussed needs and opportunities in the city. It is great to see Above Bar and other churches establishing disciple-making as the core DNA of new leaders.

JR: So who is it for and is it really just a cheaper alternative to Bible College?

MH: No. Our focus is not on training a small number of people to be pastors (although for some we hope this may be a first step in that direction), but on training a large number of people at all levels to be disciple-making disciples!

JR: So how many students are involved and what are your plans for the future?

MH: During this pilot year we have 14 students. We are currently starting to recruit for next year’s intake, which we hope will be larger and draw people from a wider range of churches. Our vision for the coming years is to work with local churches to help develop training initiatives with the same ethos and content in other locations across the country.

John Risbridger is pastor of Above Bar Church, Southampton, and Marcus Honeysettis director of the organisation Living Leadership. If you would like to know more about the School of Missional Disciple-Making or Living Leadership, seehttp://www.missionaldisciplemaking.org.uk and http://www.livingleadership.org

(This article was first published in the February 2013 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.
http://www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057)

Filed under: Discipleship, Evangelism & Outreach, Interview, Practical advice for daily living

The Music Exchange from Richard Simpkin: Music and sunshine!

Evangelicals Now — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:00:19 +0000

Summer is just around the corner. I am very much looking forward to doing things with my family that I don’t get to do in term-time — wearing shorts, eating Coco Pops, doing roly-polies down hills, foisting our two boys on the in-laws. I think the word ‘foist’ must have been invented with in-laws in mind — it seems to fit perfectly the action of ‘encouraging good relations between grandchildren and grandparents’.

Summer can also feel slightly bitty, especially if holidays are mixed in with helping on a Christian camp, attending weddings or going to the Olympics (I failed in my application for family tickets to the second round of the women’s weight-lifting, so no Olympics for me this century then). All this summer activity means a lot of coming and going through July and August, which is tough for churches musically, as in my experience musicians do more going than coming.

Getting ahead

For this reason, it’s worth getting ahead with planning as much as possible so that we’re confident that there’ll be at least one musician to hold the fort at each church meeting.

Summer music planning doesn’t involve just the provision of music at our home churches. There are many opportunities to serve over the holidays and to get better at the skills we need back at home. For instance, we know how much Christian holiday parties help equip church members more effectively for service back at home. This is also very true for those who help with music. I learned some of the most important lessons about how to lead singing from the piano at the Christian summer holiday party I help on. I made some horrendous mistakes along the way, but making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn.

Have a go

So, if you’ve got any type of musical skill at all (however small), why not volunteer to help with the music at a Christian holiday party? Musicians are always needed, and in my experience are (nearly) always hugely appreciated! It may seem a bit daunting to just throw yourself into it, but I was very inexperienced when I first played on my holiday party, so I used to practise on my own for over an hour before each meeting (for just four or five songs). That’s one of the beauties of holiday parties — you’re on site, so can always carve out time to practise if necessary.

Just have a go! A few years ago I was short of a drummer on my holiday party. A girl volunteered who’d only played the drums once before. The first couple of meetings were pretty ropey, but by the end of the week she’d got so confident that she felt able to serve back at her local church. Even more happily for me, I was running the music at that same church so I’d inherited another drummer! The point is that Christian holiday parties are a safe place to get things wrong and we’re really not expected to do everything perfectly. Everyone’s on our side and there’s always a good level of encouragement, if only because the sun’s out, everyone’s doing roly-polies down hills and they’re all eating Coco Pops too.

Opportunity to train

If you are slightly more experienced and always run the music on your holiday party, why not use the opportunity to step back and train others up? Christian holiday parties help us musicians to be much less territorial with ‘our’ music. It was very good for me when I was asked not to oversee the music one year. That’s because we could then help others gain confidence by letting them learn from the same mistakes that I made (and still make!). I was put in charge of the minibuses instead, which has a lot to do with me being quite old.

Finally, if you are the over-all leader of a holiday party (and even if you are not in the least bit musical) do think about asking someone to lead the music who might not be the first choice. You’ll be equipping your own holiday party with musicians for the future, but also your training will be much more widely appreciated as musicians gain experience and confidence to lead music in their local church.

Richard Simpkin is Director of Music at St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London.

This article was first published in the May 2012 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.
http://www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057

Filed under: Music Exchange

Greater than all our worries… and some other great links

Evangelicals Now — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:55:31 +0000

Enjoy the following links!

Kevin DeYoung – Ain’t got no rhythm

The Proclaimer - Bruce Ware Love-in

Thabiti Anyabwile – Reforming a local church slowly

Unashamed Workmen – John MacArthur: Video lectures on expository preaching

Desiring God – Greater than all our worries

Filed under: Links worth a look

Dear Jack: a letter to an abusive husband

Evangelicals Now — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:17 +0000

Dear Jack,

I pray this letter finds you in good health, sound mind, and quiet heart.

I’m writing on behalf of your wife Jill, the elders, and all your brothers and sisters in the church family. We are all greatly concerned about your abuse and mistreatment of Jill. And I would like to take this opportunity to address you as a pastor, a man, and a father.

Zero tolerance

As a pastor, I want to lovingly communicate to you two messages. First, stop abusing Jill. As you know, our church family takes a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to marital abuse. Your hands were not made for battering your wife, but for beautifying her. It’s never permissible, under any circumstance, for you to raise your hand toward your wife in anger or abuse or in any way other than to caress her in love or help her in strength. Never. Under any circumstance. You must commit to no longer battering Jill, who is made in God’s image, who was purchased by Christ’s blood, and who is your sister in Christ. Continuing to sin against your wife in this way will result in further police involvement (I have already counselled Jill to file a police report) and the church pursuing corrective love. A better result would be a clear and tangible commitment on your part to stop abusing Jill.

Learning to love

Second, get help in learning to love Jill. As a church, we are committed to fighting for every marriage in our congregation. We are prepared to do whatever it takes to help the two of you enjoy a reconciled and fully loving marriage, as Christ intends. We’re prepared to do that over the long haul. With Jill, we have taken steps to make a safe place available for her to live. Her safety is our first priority, but it’s not our only priority. We hope also to support you both in experiencing the healing and wholeness Christ provides.

So, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to meet with me, any elder, or any one of the trained counsellors in the church who have from time to time helped others through this pattern of sin, anger, and control. If we need additional resources beyond the local church, we’re prepared to locate and provide them. We’ll put everything the church has behind you and Jill, if you’ll commit to getting some help. If you’re abusing your wife, brother, you’re not well. You need to locate the root of the difficulty in your own heart and learn to live in the grace and power that God provides. We want to help you do that. Will you allow us?

A father’s anger

Can I also say just a couple words as a father of two beautiful daughters? If Jill were my daughter, I’m afraid I’d be writing this letter from my prison to your hospital room. I know: pastors aren’t supposed to say stuff like that. But I can’t think of a better way to communicate how horrible and dark your treatment of Jill has been, and how sudden and violent God’s judgment would be as he looks on Jill, his daughter, and considers your abuse of her. I know my anger would be a pale and sinful picture of God’s. But that’s what’s most frightening: God’s anger would be perfect, just and omnipotent. I fear that for you, just as I fear for the welfare of someone who would harm my girls. My girls are 14 and 12. They’re bright, energetic, funny, quick to serve, curious and outgoing. I imagine those are some of the things you’ve admired in Jill.

As a father, I want my girls to be with a man who multiplies and nourishes those qualities in them. To do otherwise would be to slowly tread these beautiful creatures under foot, it would be to kill them slowly. The husband who does that is a gardener who tramples his rose bed with heavy work boots. I wouldn’t want such a husband for my daughters, and God doesn’t want that for his.

Finally, I also want to speak to you as a fellow man, a brother in the Lord and fellow traveller in this journey called ‘manhood’. I find being a man just about the most difficult and high-pressured thing in life. I feel like I’m often one step behind or one wrong decision from completely ruining everything. It seems to me that a lot of us live with a seething undercurrent of fear and anger. I don’t know if you feel the same way, but no temptation has befallen you that isn’t common to others of us. You’re not a monster, and you’re not alone.

But feelings of anger, control, and frustration express themselves in a number of ways: from abdicating responsibility to fleeing the relationship to abusing others. People often take out their frustrations and fears on those closest at hand — for husbands that can be the wife. We have to find a way to be sober, self-controlled, temperate and respectable. That’s really at the heart of what it means for us to be men.

Misrepresenting Jesus

Let me say something to you that you may fear hearing: as a fellow man, while I can identify with some of the pressure, anger, and frustration you may be feeling, I do not respect your abuse of your wife. The abuse misrepresents Jesus, misrepresents husbands, and misrepresents marriage. In saying I don’t respect your abuse as a man, I’m not trying to discourage you further. I’m trying to bring to light what you must surely be feeling about yourself. How can you respect yourself as a man if you’re resorting to beating the woman who loves you? Surely you can’t. And it’s pretending that you do respect yourself or demanding that others should respect you that will keep you locked in the entangling sins of anger and abuse. The pretending is a heavy blanket of self-deception. So, as a fellow man, I’m offering you a way to admit your struggles to one who shares some of them and to be free from the pretending that keeps us trapped. There’s nothing worse than pretending to be a man that has it all together while feeling inside everything is coming apart. One man to another: here’s a way out. Take it.

Hope in God

Know, Jack, that we stand ready to help you and Jill. We will stand with Jill to keep her safe, connected to the church family, and full of hope for her future with you. We will stand with you to live as the man of God he calls you to be, to repair your marriage, and to be free of the things that have led to this painful time. We serve a God for whom nothing is too hard. Let us walk by faith, obeying his word, and expecting his grace. Please do be in touch right away.

With hope and with Christ, Pastor T

‘Dear Jack: A Letter to an Abusive Husband’ is a post from Thabiti Anyabwile’s blog, Pure Church (http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/), and is used with permission.

(This article was first published in the March 2013 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.
http://www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057)

Filed under: Discipleship, Practical advice for daily living

St. Helen’s Bishopsgate Preaching Matters: Andrew Sach ‘Persecution in 1 Peter’

Evangelicals Now — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:55 +0000

Here is the newest instalment of the video series from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate designed specifically to ‘equip, encourage and inspire those who teach God’s word.’

‘In this month’s Preaching Matters Andrew Sach shares his thoughts on the kind of persecution facing Christians in 1 Peter.

How has this helped you as you teach God’s word?

Filed under: Discipleship, Evangelism & Outreach, Mission, Word ministry

When helping hurts (book review)

Evangelicals Now — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:28:38 +0000

WHEN HELPING HURTS
How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor … and yourself
By Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert
Moody. 274 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 0 802 457 066

The renewed emphasis in evangelicalism on social involvement has led to more involvement by Christians and churches in ‘mercy ministries’, helping those in need at home and abroad. Christians are giving their money, time, efforts and skills to such work. In itself, this is admirable, but it raises essential questions about how best to provide help and who it is, precisely, who needs that help and why.

The authors of this book (first published in 2009 but now re-issued in an expanded edition) are both professors at Covenant College in the US. They are profoundly critical of many well-meaning attempts by Christians in the West to ‘help’ the poor and deprived. They recount numerous stories where such help has done more harm than good to the individuals or communities at which it is aimed: expensive equipment donated by Western churches but abandoned by the recipients and never used again after the donor team had left; a single mother on benefits, on the receiving end of financial help from a generous church, but left firmly in the poverty trap from which she desperately wished to escape; short-term mission trips that built homes which the local people felt ashamed to live in, due to cultural misunderstandings. Corbett and Fikkert urge a radical re-think of Western churches’ approaches to helping the needy, based firmly in a biblical understanding of the real nature of human need after the Fall.

Paternalism?

A truly biblical approach to the problem, they argue, highlights the universal brokenness of humanity in our relations with God, with one another and with creation. This undermines the paternalism and ‘the West knows best’ attitude which permeates so much well-meaning effort to provide help. It also focuses on the true solution, which is the restoration of broken relationships, supremely with God, through Jesus Christ alone. Material help without the gospel is, ultimately, of little long-term use.

At the same time, the authors do not allow us any excuse for failing to engage in practical help. They want us to re-think our approach and analyse more closely and realistically what the needs are and how best to help. They advocate approaches which are long-term and far more radically integrated in an understanding of the particular situation where help is needed, working with the community rather than simply aiming aid at them.

Common sense

Much of the advice and principles in this book are common sense, once pointed out. An approach which truly loves those whom we seek to help seems to be the key — treating them as competent fellow humans, with their own resources, skills and abilities which need to be put to use, rather than simply regarding them as the targets of our goodwill. The book is written from a North American perspective, but provides some very down-to-earth, biblical thinking in this difficult area. Anyone engaged in, or concerned about, how Christians can best help others in need would benefit from reflecting seriously on the approach advocated in this book.

Robert Strivens,
Principal, London Theological Seminary

This article was first published in the January 2013 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.

www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057

Filed under: Book review

Journey home

Evangelicals Now — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:47 +0000

Vijay Menon tells of becoming a Christian from a Hindu background.

Kerala is the smallest, most beautiful state in India, yet, in area, it is bigger than Britain.

I was born there in a very devout Hindu family. As far as I can remember, I always loved God, believed in God and was willing to serve him in whatever capacity. I always prayed to him and asked his guidance before any major decision in my life.

Christianity’s triple offence

If anyone had come to me then and said that I would be reading the Bible and following Jesus, I would have panicked and given any contribution to a Hindu temple to stop me from becoming an untouchable and to rescue me from becoming a Christian, such was my ignorance about Jesus.

Christianity was offensive to me because of Christians, the cross and the cost, in that order.

First, I was ignorant of the fact that children of Christians are not automatically Christians and that they have to make up their own minds to follow Jesus and be added into the family of God, by God himself, before they become real Christians. So I was looking at nominal Christians and saying to myself, ‘In no way am I going to be one of them!’

Second, I looked at the large, tall statue of the crucifix outside the Catholic College at the university in Kerala and I felt sorry for the poor bloke hanging up there. I had the revelation of someone being crucified, but no one interpreted to me that he died for me, in my place, so that God could forgive me, even me, a bad Hindu, and still be the just God. If someone had explained to me that he suffered all that in order to take the punishment I deserve, I would have immediately bowed down to him, worshipped him and been willing to do whatever he wanted me to do. My question was: How is a mere man hanging dead on a cross going to solve the problems of the world? To me that was ignorant idolatry — worse than Hindus.

The third offensive thing about Christianity was the cost. For a Hindu to become an untouchable, it was unthinkable. Not only me, but the whole family would be down-graded unless they threw me out of my home and refused to let me come back.

I did my engineering studies in India and worked my way to England to be better qualified, to then go back to India for a better job. I was ten years at sea, rising from Junior to Chief Engineer and then I got married. So I had to leave the sea to gain my extra first class engineer’s qualification at Newcastle to take up the prime job of Senior Engineer Surveyor with Lloyds Register in London at their head office in 1961. I became a member of the British Nuclear Energy Society and the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, a Chartered Engineer, and also a fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers. I have worked in London ever since.

Following the crowd

It was in March 1965, when I was doing a spot of shopping in my lunch break, that I happened to walk along Bishopsgate at 1.00 pm, right in the centre of the City of London. To my surprise I saw hundreds of city gents in their pinstripe suits, bowler hats (you don’t see a bowler hat in London now!) and ‘stiff upper lips’ all rushing through a cubby hole at Great St. Helen’s. I followed them out of curiosity and landed up in a big packed hall with hundreds of men, some even sitting on the concrete steps. They ushered me in and all I could see in the corner was a big table with sandwiches, fruits, cakes and delicious food. So I sat down, wedged between the city gents, wondering ‘what next?’ Then I realised that I was in a church and I panicked! You wouldn’t have seen me dead in a church; but I couldn’t get out and had to sit down and suffer for half an hour! Can you imagine over 500 people coming to a church in five minutes, managing directors, brokers, underwriters, bank managers, solicitors, accountants, clerks, engineers and others. Men and women listening to a 20-minute talk from the Bible and then lunch.

Jesus died for me

I sat down and heard for the first time that Jesus died for me, the Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, those who go to church and those who don’t, so that I may know God today and all I had to do was to come to him and receive it as a free gift. It is not what I can do for God that is important, but what God has done for me.

I knew, if I had died on that night as a Hindu, I would have to face God as my judge, ending in reincarnation. A chink of light gave me the hope that I could avoid all that. I didn’t have to sit for a final exam with God (I hated exams and have nightmares about them sometimes). I can get a pass mark now and avoid my final! So I prayed then and there, ‘I will have a try’ — I didn’t know any Christian prayers.

Sitting behind me

So I went back to my office and asked my Australian colleague how I can get one of his religious books to know all about Jesus. To my surprise I found out that he went to St. Helen’s Church every Tuesday. He had been sitting behind me at work and praying for me for two years and he didn’t have the guts enough to ask me to go with him. I am glad he didn’t ask me, because if he had asked me that would have been the end of the story, because Hindus don’t go to church. He gave me a Bible with a bookmark in John’s Gospel, advising me to read it from there. I am glad he did, because if I had started from the beginning I would have soon given up.

100% convinced

It took me a long time to fully understand the gospel, but, as an engineer, I was curious, so what I understood I accepted, but what I didn’t I waited for an explanation and prayed. After 42 years I am still learning, but I am following Jesus today because real Christianity is true, and Jesus has never let me down once, even though I have had to go through some tough times, including suspected cancer of my spine.

If I was not 100% convinced that Jesus lived, died, rose again from the dead and that he is fully God and will one day come again to destroy all evil and establish his Kingdom, I would have given up Christianity a long time ago. Everyone is free to find out. If it is true we can accept it, if not, we must reject it. But, for me, to be threatened with death is to be threatened with heaven. As a Hindu I knew about God, but, as I now follow Jesus, I know God personally. You may fool everybody else, but you cannot fool yourself. I know God as my Saviour, Friend and Master.

This article first appeared in Men of this age, produced by Christian Vision for Men, and is used with permission of the author.

Vijay Menon

(This article was first published in the January 2013 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.
http://www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057)

Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach, Testimony

Unapologetic Christianity from Chris Sinkinson: A day at the museum

Evangelicals Now — Sat, 11 May 2013 13:00:04 +0000

For our UK readers or those passing through the capital, London offers a priceless resource for studying the background to the Bible.

The British Museum first opened in 1759 and since that time has been acquiring a wide range of artefacts from the ancient world. Many originate from the lands connected with the Bible — Egypt, Canaan, Greece, Assyria and Babylon — often as a result of Britain’s formidable influence during the Victorian era. This collection includes many exhibits that are of great value in the study of apologetics.

There are now a number of useful books to guide anyone making a passing visit. Brian Edwards’s and Clive Anderson’s Through the British Museum with the Bible (Day One) is particularly useful, and the British Museum publish their own guide to the Bible by T.C. Mitchell.

Planning a trip

It is worth planning a trip to the museum by identifying a few exhibits that you really want to see and then allowing extra time to make a few unexpected discoveries of your own. For anyone interested in apologetics I can suggest a few essentials.

Firstly, the black obelisk of Shalmaneser III is displayed on the ground floor in the Ancient Near East section. It is a victory monument from ancient Assyria recording the tributes brought by surrounding nations. Among them is King Jehu and the Israelites bringing various treasures as tribute. Dating to 841 BC, the detailed images provide the earliest clear pictures of what the Israelites looked like and what they wore.

Missing information

Secondly, in a nearby gallery is the stunning display of the siege of Lachish. The Assyrian King Sennacherib captured this town in Judah in 701 BC (2 Kings 18-19) before marching on Jerusalem. This event is recorded in astonishing detail. The weapons of the Assyrians, the siege ramp, the fruit on the trees, captured Israelites and plight of women and children are all recorded. From here, Sennacherib moved on to besiege Jerusalem, though he failed to take the city. The nearby Taylor Prism includes a cuneiform reference to King Hezekiah trapped in the city and recounts the Assyrian withdrawal from Jerusalem. No reason is given for the failure of the Assyrians to repeat the successful conquest so proudly recorded from Lachish. For that missing piece of information one must turn to the Bible (2 Kings 19).

Upstairs in the museum are a number of displays from the region we call Canaan. Among them an apologist should take note of the Jericho tomb burial, the Amarna letters and some of the small but significant jar handles and pottery shards bearing Israelite inscriptions. These objects bring to life the stories, people and places of the Bible and endorse its historical value. Beyond this gallery one comes to the priceless, ancient artefacts recovered from the region of Ur, Abraham’s hometown. These help to confirm the sophisticated civilisation from which Abram came as God called him to settle in the more primitive landscape of Canaan.

Great resource

To see such important finds from modern day Iraq, Israel, Turkey and also from Egypt, Greece and Iran might have required a wealth of air miles and a lifetime of travel. Instead, a few hours spent in our nation’s capital can provide a solid boost to our understanding of the historicity of the Bible. And, did I mention entry is free? Of course, I don’t recommend being locked in overnight. But the British Museum is a resource every Christian should have some interest in!

Chris Sinkinson is pastor of Alderholt Chapel and lectures at Moorlands College. His book on apologetics, Confident Christianity, has recently been released by IVP.

This article was first published in the July 2012 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.

http://www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057

Filed under: Unapologetic Christianity

Little jumps in studios… and some other great links

Evangelicals Now — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:09 +0000