Here I stand...

Well, it appears that Westminster is going to be confronted with a shocking revelation thanks to the British Humanist Association - apparently "There's probably no God." The BHA have been busy raising funds to emblazon this statement on the sides of bendy-buses in London. Unsurprisingly, the fundamentalist atheist, Richard Dawkins has popped up to support this initiative, he had pledged to match any donations given to a total value of £5,500. The BHA have now collected a total of £20,300, not including Prof. Dawkins' generous donation. (As an aside, I don't quite understand Prof. Dawkins involvement in this project. With its agnostic message, it falls far short of the extreme atheistic ideal that he so aggressively preaches!) Now, I somehow doubt that such a flimsy statement is going to allay many fears as to the existence, or non-existence, of God. In fact I think it exposes the very shaky foundations of atheism. I can't help but feel that 'probably...

On Wednesday evening I had the privilege of leading the Christianity Explored group. Despite my initial apprehension and nerves, I say privilege because of the reaction of some of the group members to encountering the real Jesus in the pages of Mark's gospel account. It's so exciting to hear how one particular member has already invited one of their friends to the next course, and how every time they sit down to read the gospel at home they end up turning to their spouse and saying "Wow, listen to this...!" When people respond like that you know that they've caught a glimpse of the real Jesus! I had the privilege of listen to John Chapman on Thursday afternoon - the author of 'Know and Tell the Gospel". He echoed something Becky Manley Pippert said at the IFES European Evangelism Conference earlier this year. "Jesus is irresistible, when we introduce people to Him through the gospel accounts they can't help but be amazed by Him as He...

(I'm aware that it's been a while since I last posted, and I did promise that my notes from the LTS conference would be posted next, but last night I went to a meeting where we discussed the importance of Church membership and I wanted to share my thoughts here.) We live in a society that is inherently individualistic and isolationist. Personal happiness and fulfillment have become the criteria by which everything is judged and prioritised This mentality has managed to creep into our understanding of what a Christian is, so we find 'christians' who are happy to ask how a Church will serve them, but can't be seen for dust if they're asked to serve the Church. The ultimate outworking of this attitude is found in 'christians' who will enthusiastically inform you that their beliefs are a personal conviction and that they don't do church. I use the term 'christians' because I don't see any non-serving, solo-pursuit Christians in the ...

(As promised, these are my edited notes from Dr. John Currid's paper at the LTS conference I recently attended) Dr. Currid read a section from an article published in the Times, Sept 13th, 2008, titled "Anglicans back Darwin over 'noisy' creationists" - click here to read this article online. One of the defining features of the reformation was a commitment to the original text. Take meaning from the text, do not infer meaning on the text. What genre? The key thing to interpreting Genesis 1 is defining the genre. So what is the genre? What was the author intending? Does Genesis 1 fit the Hebrew Poetic pattern? Line Parallelism "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" Psalm 19:1 The second line repeats and adds to the first. - Genesis 1 lacks line parallelism. Figures of Speech "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God" Psalm 42:1 The imagery reinforces the thought the writ...

Well, I'm back in Shotton, in body at least! My mind is still whirring from my first journey on a 'Pendolino train' (They are quick!) and what I learned on Monday and Tuesday at the London Theological Seminaries' conference on 'Creation, The Bible and Science'. It was an intellectually stimulating conference, with all delegates leaving with a lot to chew over. We had seven papers presented to us each bringing their own perspective on this discussion. Monday 15th Sept: Interpreting Genesis 1 & 2 - Dr. John Currid   Genesis 1 & 2 - Post Copernican History of Interpretation - Dr. Robert Letham Genesis 1 & 2 - A Scientist's Perspective - Prof. Stuart Burgess The Gospel & Creation - the Significance of a Theology of Creation for Preaching - Rev. Philip Eveson Tuesday 16th Sept: The New Testament and Creation - Dr. Stephen Lloyd Design Arguments - Stepping Stones, Stumbling Blocks or Sleepi...

Two posts in as many days - I'm doing well! Today has been an odd day, I haven't got all that I wanted to do done, and yet I've done far more than I'd planned to do! I booked my train ticket to London this morning - ouch! I can't quite see how extortionate prices are meant to encourage us to travel by train - unless we're meant to enjoy paying over the odds prices for a sub-standard service! Anyway, having had my bank account drained, I then headed to church, where I was meeting with Martin for my weekly supervision. This morning we discussed the first two chapters of "Preaching Pure and Simple" by Stuart Olyott. Just these two chapters had me trawling through memories of sermons I've preached in the past, and swiftly repenting for my many failings - it's a sobering thing to consider the responsibility of opening God's Word and preaching it to His covenant people! I spent this afternoon preparing for the young peoples ...

Well, once again I've left it far too long since my last post - its just been one thing after another! (There'll hopefully be a video blog following this post where I'll share a little more about what's been happening over the last few weeks!) Last week I was stewarding at Forum, UCCF's annual conference for the CU leaders from all over the UK. Travelling from as far afield as Aberystwyth, Edinburgh and Oxford, over 700 students descended upon The Quinta centre, and the quiet rural village of Weston Rhyn in Shropshire. I've been to Forum three times now, but the sight of so many students coming together to hear from God, and to be enthused and equipped to live and speak for Christ on their campuses still thrills me. On Monday evening we received excellent teaching from Richard Cunningham, who took Jonathan's "...Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf..." from 1 Sam 14:6 and challenged us to be more adventurous in our Gospel proclamatio...