Contents

FEATURES

I became a Christian during the Covid crisis, and I’m so glad the church was open

Don’t be authentic

Why were our Reformers burnt?

I believe in God

Think little

How to prepare for the metaverse

Resolutions are not enough: Habits of grace for a new year

COMMENT

GUEST COLUMN: The seed of the gospel

A SHRINK THINKS... False identities

THINKING IT THROUGH: Christian friendship: A gift from God

A WALK WITH MR O: What do I do about my doubts?

CRUNCH POINTS: I’ve started a new job and I’m struggling to find a church.

FAMILY MATTERS: Part 4 - Bringing up children

NEWS

News in brief

Over 2,200 pastors say they would be willing to break a ban on conversion therapy

Face coverings required in churches in England under Covid-19 rules

Church wins settlement after its venue booking was cancelled over its biblical belief in marriage

People are staying at home to watch ‘online church’ instead of attending in person, new report suggests

The Queen speaks of ‘supreme task’ of spreading the gospel

Whistleblower blasts ‘rigid’ gender rules at NHS clinic

Pro-life victory as MP’s extreme abortion proposals fail to pass

Ceremony marks Christian school’s new building

Brian Whittaker inducted to Swindon Evangelical Church

Grace Baptist Assembly panel to consider how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted the life of churches

‘Choose God over fear’, Edinburgh youth conference told

Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) gathers for 2021 School in Theology

From Russia to Radcliffe Road Baptist Church: Russell Phillips inducted to the pastorate in Bury

India: More states push anti-conversion law

US: Crucial Mississippi abortion case heard by Supreme Court

US: Megachurch haul of mega-bucks investigated by police

Canada: Bill to ban ‘conversion therapy’ is fast-tracked into law

Nepal: Pastor sentenced for evangelism

Nigeria: Northern churches threatened with attack unless they agree to close

OBITUARIES

Alec Taylor (1937–2021)

Melvin Tinker (1955–2021)

REVIEWS

The Child is Father of the Man: C. H. Spurgeon

Men and Women in the Church: A short, biblical, practical introduction

Sanctification: Transformed Life

‘Here are your gods!’ Faithful discipleship in idolatrous times

How to Live an ‘In Christ’ Life: 100 devotional readings on union with Christ

FEATURES

I became a Christian during the Covid crisis, and I’m so glad the church was open

I converted to Christianity in Autumn 2020, at the age of 50, after living my entire adult life as an atheist. Thus, the whole of my short Christian life has been lived during the Covid-19 pandemic and the legal restrictions imposed upon the church and society to combat the spread of the disease.

As a new Christian with fragile faith, unsettled theology, and no Christian friends whatsoever, I have been asked to write about how the church’s response to Covid-19 has helped, or hindered, my survival as a Christian.

I imagine that for mature Christians, a period of physical isolation from other Christians would not pose too great a threat. Your private devotional routines will be strongly established, your doctrine well-settled, your household full of believers, and several close Christian friends will be just a telephone or Zoom call away.

But a period of forced isolation from other Christians was very worrying for a novice believer like me. I had no idea what a private devotional life was, my theological knowledge barely existed, my household was staunchly atheistic, and I had no Christian friends to pick up the phone to.

There is an analogy that can be drawn from my professional life in the law. Professionally, I am not a novice – I am at the senior end of my career. A lockdown posed little threat to my work. I no longer need to be mentored, supervised, or trained by others, my client portfolio is well-established, my home office is properly kitted out, and so on.

But younger lawyers were exposed to far greater risks of doing harm to themselves and to others. Those of us who were able to had to do all that we could to help and support younger lawyers. How much more important that newly converted Christians are not left floundering in isolation and confusion?

I suspect that mature Christians’ memories sometimes play tricks upon them. Only the positive aspects of conversion – the new life, the forgiveness of sins, and the assurance of salvation – are remembered. But might I respectfully remind better Christians than myself that before we can live with Christ, we must first die with him, before we are forgiven, we must repent, and before we can save our life, we must first lose it.

A conversion to Christianity is a shattering, as well as a healing, experience. Perhaps the new convert who walks into your church – assuming your church doors are even open – needs you far more than you realise.

More experienced Christians may have also forgotten the doubt that bedevils the peace of new converts. Doubt came to me in many forms, including – and I hope this confession offends nobody – suspicion of other Christians. Are these people cranks? Are they charlatans? Can I trust them to tell me the truth? Am I going mad? What on earth am I even doing here?

In summary, when I first wandered into a Christian church, I was broken, clueless, and doubtful. I should add for the sake of balance that I was a Christian by that point. My conversion, though solitary, had been real and I knew it. Broken, clueless, and doubtful as I was, I also knew that I was ‘coming home’.

In building his church, our Lord has made a body that is perfectly designed to heal the broken, teach the clueless, and reassure the doubtful. The church that I walked into gave me the love, the teaching, and the honesty that I needed.

The church stayed open, the gospel was preached, communion was shared, communal prayer, Bible study, and worship were maintained, and good and wise people took the time to listen to me and to talk to me. To the maximum extent permitted by the law, and with reasonable precautionary measures in place, the men and women at my local church took proper Christian care of me.

To return to the analogy with my professional life, my church did what all good law firms did during the pandemic/lockdown. It made the effort necessary to make sure that I was properly supported. No doubt that involved certain people taking measured, but real, risks with their health by coming to church. I will always be grateful to them for doing so.

If they had stayed at home and asked me to watch online services instead, I cannot see how I could possibly have come through the last year with my faith intact. Perhaps God’s providence would have made alternative arrangements for me, but as it happened, he was pleased to use the faithful Christians at my local church to keep me in the faith.

I hope that those of us who are able to will continue to attend church in person as often as the law and our personal circumstances allow. Despite my novice status, I am certain that the body of believers through whom God chooses to heal the broken, the clueless, and the doubtful, ought not to decide to reduce itself to a YouTube channel. The work we are called to do is much too serious for that.

I have, perhaps a little selfishly, concentrated on the work of the church in nourishing the faith of new Christians like me, but that is only one aspect of the church’s ministry. The church must also proclaim Christ to those who have not yet become Christians.

A law firm which diligently provides online support for younger lawyers but forgets all about its clients will not last very long. Inward-looking organisations die. Is there not a danger that a local church which closes its doors and moves its services online is making the same mistake?

‘X and I don’t really miss church,’ one Christian woman said to me, ‘the online services are lovely.’ Their church ended its online services and reopened its doors many weeks ago. She and X have never yet been back. Inward-looking organisations die.

I will attempt to draw one more lesson from my local church / law firm analogy. Law firms do not exist primarily to care for their staff. Their main function is not even to look after their clients. Believe it or not, even making a profit is not the central purpose of a legal practice! Important as all these things are, legal practices have a higher purpose. They exist to provide access to the law – justice is their raison d’être.

I do not have the theological expertise to opine on the purpose for the existence of local churches, but I think I know enough to say that, in its simplest form, the raison d’être of a local church is to worship God and to remember the death of our Lord upon the cross during communion.

Worshiping God and remembering the endless love and measureless grace shown to us at Calvary; healing, teaching, and encouraging Christians; preaching the gospel and defending the faith to unbelievers: these seem to me to be the main duties of a local church.

They are vital, urgent, and serious duties. I hope and pray that no UK government ever again orders any Christian church to attempt to discharge them without human contact.

Chris Kirk-Blyth, an experienced lawyer and a recent convert who attends Chorlton Evangelical Church in Manchester.

Don’t be authentic

One of the great buzzwords of our times is ‘authenticity’ – we are to be ‘authentic’. We are meant to express ourselves authentically from ‘I’m just saying what I feel’ to ‘I just had to walk away from my wife and children – I had to be true to myself.’

Obviously I believe in being honest and genuine, but often ‘authenticity’ is less about being honest and more a justification for doing what we want despite the needs of others around us.

It is the great whitewash agent of the 21st century, used to excuse much.

Authenticity seems to be premised in the crazy idea that we are somehow innately good, and in being authentic we are somehow peeling back the layers to expose that innate goodness.

But the last thing society wants from me is for me to be authentic!

I have many natural impulses and instincts which need to be restrained and rooted out. Self-control needs to be exercised so that life is liveable for those around me.

We are flawed individuals, flawed from the day we were born. We have attitudes and appetites which in no way need expressing, but need restraining.

Oscar Wilde understood this, and in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray the portrait of Gray becomes uglier and uglier as Gray himself gives free rein to his expressiveness and his appetites.

In addition, to be authentic leaves us completely wrapped up in ourselves – doing what I want regardless of the impact upon others.

I have to be true to me – the rest of you can live with the consequences. Such authenticity is fundamentally selfish.

What is the alternative to authenticity? Is it hypocrisy? Pretending to be something we aren’t? Certainly not. The alternatives are self-control and others-centredness.

These forgotten traits are still greatly admired when we see them.

Long after the buzz of the latest celebrity being ‘authentic’ has been forgotten about, people around us who are gentle in their speech, genuine in their concern, and servant-hearted in their action continue to make an impression on us.

These qualities grow out of self-awareness and love for others. Life isn’t about me; it’s about me in connection with others. Love and community call us to consider our actions in light of the impact on those around us. And so we recognise that we are flawed and instead of giving vent to our flaws, thus reinforcing them, we restrain them.

But we need more than to restrain them. We all need transformation. We need to be rescued from ourselves. And it’s only once we’ve grasped that that we can ask Jesus to forgive us and transform us.

We are at our most authentic when we admit who we really are and, instead of expressing it, seek God’s help to make us into who we were designed to be.

You see, the true ‘me’ is not something buried deep inside needing to be exposed, but rather the ‘true me’ starts with God’s intervention – with a ‘new birth’ as Jesus puts it – and then is something which God is taking me towards. One day I will be the true, true me.

In the meantime, for the Christian, instead of being ‘true to myself’ we should aim at ‘being true to Christ’.

Don’t be ‘authentic’; seek the only one who was truly authentic – Jesus – and he will make you more authentic you than you could ever have imagined.

Mark Loughridge, pastor of New Life Fellowship and Milford Reformed Presbyterian Churches in Donegal.

Why were our Reformers burnt?

We live in days when many in the UK are seeking to silence those who hold to certain biblical truths. They wish to prevent preachers declaring that biological sex is fixed. They wish to silence the teaching that biological sex (determined by one’s genes) is the same as gender. They wish to prevent anyone declaring that homosexuality and lesbianism are sins.

These are the present attacks. We can easily foresee a day when attempts are made to prevent churches teaching that all are sinners, or that Jesus is the only way to God, or maybe other timeless truths of God.

It may be helpful to remember that, in a very real sense, we have been here before. In the days of the Reformation, under Mary Tudor, the issues were different, but the aim was the same.

Certain God-defying errors had become state policy to affirm. What had been taught as biblical truth was suddenly declared to be heretical, the affirmation of which illegal and to be punished and suppressed. This was particularly the case with regard to transubstantiation.

In Germany, Luther and his followers were persecuted for opposing the authority of the pope by asserting the authority of the Bible. In England, Christians were persecuted for opposing the authority of the queen by denying the transformation of the bread and wine at communion into the real body and blood of Jesus.

By God’s grace, the gospel had taken some hold under Edward VI. Many were now convinced that the Roman Catholic mass was an abomination, because they knew that the ever-living Jesus was bodily in heaven. They could not but reject transubstantiation. The tragic upshot of this faithful stand was that almost three hundred people were murdered by being burnt at the stake.

One example (from John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs) concerns Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London. He famously was burnt in Oxford along with Hugh Latimer on 16 October 1555. The articles for which he was condemned principally concerned the doctrine of the mass.

They included: ‘That thou, Nicholas Ridley... hast affirmed and openly defended and maintained, that the true and natural body of Christ, after the consecration of the priest, is not really present in the sacrament of the altar... thou hast... publicly affirmed and defended, that in the sacrament of the altar remaineth still the substance of bread and wine... thou hast openly affirmed, and obstinately maintained, that in the mass is no propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead.’

Ridley and Latimer could have saved themselves by recanting. By God’s grace, they stood firm. On trial for his life, Latimer boldly affirmed, ‘Christ made one oblation and sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and that a perfect sacrifice; neither needs there to be any other, neither can there be any other propitiatory sacrifice.’

As they approached the stake, Ridley said to Latimer, ‘Be of good cheer, brother, for God will either assuage the glory of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it.’

As the fire was kindled at Ridley’s feet, Latimer famously addressed him in turn, ‘Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out.’

We could say that they had the courage of their convictions. Certainly, convictions are essential for any person to be willing to endure avoidable persecution. No one will suffer for a mere ‘perhaps’.

Yet we must also say two things more. First, these Reformers were not suffering for their convictions of truth only, but for their Lord whom they knew and loved. Second, they had courage only because the Lord in his grace granted it at the time.

Thomas Bilney had been burnt under Henry VIII. He had put his hand into the candle, the night before his execution, to see whether he could stand the heat. He found that he could not. However, the next day, he suffered much, as the wind kept blowing the fire away from him, yet he continually testified, crying out, ‘Jesus, I believe.’

He had grace when he needed it, as his Lord had promised (Hebrews 4:16); as did Ridley, Latimer, and many others who did not love their lives more than their Lord.

In the grace of God, we can no longer be killed for holding such truths; or indeed, any truths.

However, the hatred for God, his Christ, and his Word is no less evident in our day than it was in theirs. Psalm 2:1-3 is very evidently being fulfilled. The prevalent desire is to throw off the ‘chains’ of God’s teaching concerning obedience to him in sexual matters, and indeed of who he has made each person to be – either male or female from birth.

As in the days of the Reformers, this is not just an attack on free speech. It is an attack on free thought.

In both cases, certain views are labelled ‘heretical’; those who hold them are told that they are wrong for holding – not just preaching – them. They need ‘re-educating’ – the phrase used by Communist China of non-Maoists, and now by the Australian state of Victoria of those who believe the Bible.

Those with implacable hatred are not yet in positions of ultimate authority. May it be that God is merciful to us, and they never gain such positions!

However, there is imminent danger of laws being passed which make the teaching of certain biblical truths punishable by fines and imprisonment. This is very real.

The government is at present seeking to pass legislation which could have this effect. As Christians we may one day soon be hauled into court and interrogated as to whether we have said certain things. The question then arises: will we have the courage to stand before judges and gladly affirm such truths?

We may confidently expect that God will help us. Yet how many of us will take such a stand? Before we get to such a point, we need to ask a further question. If such laws are passed, will preachers simply self-censor themselves so as not to fall foul of the law? Will sermons on matters such as gender, sexual sin, total depravity, or the uniqueness of Christ, become a thing of the past?

This temptation will be stronger for those who know that their sermons will be recorded and uploaded to the internet. Such need to be thinking already: should I cease to allow the uploading of such material so that enemies of Christ can hear it and use it against me?

Would this be wise, serpent-like prudence with the innocence of a dove? Indeed, would it be what Jesus commanded in Matthew 7:6, where he forbade giving pearls to pigs? Or would it be cowardice? The Lord will be ashamed at his return of those who are ashamed of him and his words (Mark 8:38).

Our Reformers lit the gospel candle. Will we allow it to be snuffed out?

John Palmer lives in Leigh.

I believe in God

Many people in Western Europe embrace secular humanism. They reject religion and believe in the freedom to set one’s own terms for living. Nature is all there is, and science is the key to understanding our world and ourselves.

They do not appeal to a supernatural creator because, they tell us, the universe came into being through chance rather than design. Our future, our hopes, our happiness are subject to the iron rule of ‘survival of the fittest’.

The consequences of this worldview are being painfully worked out in our society today.

Bertrand Russell, the renowned mathematician and philosopher who died in 1970 aged 97, embraced a secular humanist worldview and understood its melancholic implications.

He wrote, ‘The life of man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach and where none can tarry long.

‘One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death.

‘Brief and powerless is man’s life, on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls, pitiless and dark.

‘Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way.

‘For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gates of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that enable his little day.’

The Christian faith stands in stark contrast to secular humanism.

The Apostles’ Creed, a well-known summary of what Christians believe, says, ‘I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.

‘He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

‘I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.’

Those who believe these truths can face everything life throws at them. We all need such a hope in 2022.

Peter Milsom, an elder at St Mellons Baptist Church, Cardiff, and Chairman of Associating Evangelical Churches of Wales.

Think little

‘In 1970, the author Wendell Berry wrote an essay called ‘Think Little’. He argued that in order to sustain the Green Movement over the long-term, it couldn’t just be something we expected ‘Big Thinkers’ in government to fix.

It had to be dealt with by personal change in how we live. Berry writes, ‘For most of the history of this country [the USA] our motto, implied or spoken, has been Think Big. A better motto, and an essential one now, is Think Little.’

By ‘Think Little’ he means we need to stop hiding behind general, vague slogans and get specific. We need to build our marriages, care for a garden, and switch the lights off.

There’s nothing Christian about the essay. But I love the basic idea. ‘Don’t Think Big. Think Little.’ I wish Christians would adopt this mindset.

This doesn’t sound obvious at first, does it? As Christians, we have all kinds of reasons to Think Big. Our God is big, after all.

Isaiah tells us ‘the nations are like a drop from a bucket’ to him (Isaiah 40:15). The Great Commission is big; Jesus sends us out to ‘make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19). The consequences are big – people will spend an eternity in heaven or hell depending on how they respond to Jesus (John 3:16).

Therefore, having big ambitions for Christ’s kingdom seems only natural. Surely, we want the little mustard seed to grow big (Matthew 13:31-32)! Jesus is Saviour of the world (John 4:42).

But it’s precisely at this point that the danger of Thinking Big appears.

It gets very hard to disentangle our promotion of Christ from self-promotion. Every Christian ministry knows this, if they’re honest. It’s scary how building platforms and ‘brand’ have become part and parcel of our thinking. We feel the pull of the internet and the size and scale of the audience it offers (especially among the young), and we’d love to harness it for Jesus Christ.

But before we know it, our well-meant enthusiasm gets sucked into the hype of Big Thinking. Fads and bandwagons periodically roll through the Christian church. So-and-so becomes the Next Big Thing. The Think Big slogan doesn’t fit very well with the spirit of John the Baptist, who said, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ (John 3:30).

This is where the Think Little strategy kicks in. Thinking Little isn’t an attempt to shrink and narrow our horizons; it’s not a strategic withdrawal. Nor is it an attempt to glorify little churches or excuse ourselves when we play it safe and avoid risk. Rather, it’s a strategy for a certain kind of growth.

When we Think Little, we’re attempting to build something solid and real, rather than fake. It’s an attempt to build with gold, silver, and precious stones, rather than wood, hay, and stubble (1 Corinthians 3:12). It’s an attempt to build on rock (which is slow and hard), rather than sand (which is quick and easy) (Matthew 7:24, 26).

Thinking Little is what Jesus did when he spent his first thirty years in quiet obscurity, obeying his parents in Nazareth. It’s why he spent his three-year ministry training 12 disciples, and confined himself to a small area, in order to change the world.

Jesus consistently cared about the little things. He will reward a ‘cup of cold water’ (Matthew 10:42); he records ‘every careless word’ (Matthew 12:36). He makes a big deal of how you treat ‘these little ones’ (Matthew 18:6, 10).

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas has said, ‘Listening to the weakest member is the kind of church government that is at the very heart of the Gospel.’

Jesus gives eternal rewards to those who were ‘faithful over a little’ (Matthew 25:21). He says that it’s in as much as you did it to one of the ‘least of these [his] brothers’ that you did it to him (Matthew 25:40). For Jesus, it’s the little things that really count. As satirist P. J. O’Rourke said, ‘Everyone wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help mum do the dishes.’

That said, there is a kind of Little Thinking which we need to avoid. The Pharisees tithed their garden herbs while neglecting the bigger issues of the law (Matthew 23:23). There is a petty, narrow-minded form of thinking that squabbles over minutiae.

The Pharisees were nit-pickers who couldn’t see the Big Picture; Jesus the Messiah was standing right in front of them, but they were always lost in the detail. This isn’t a call for hyper-sensitivity.

But Jesus is clear that what we do with a little is very telling. ‘One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much’ (Luke 16:10).

Cutting corners is always a bad sign. Thinking Little means Christians thinking about where God has placed them and serving him faithfully there. Thinking Little means taking care in whom and how we appoint to positions of responsibility.

For example, we don’t let someone’s gifts allow them to leapfrog over the moral qualifications for eldership. ‘If someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?’ (1 Timothy 3:5).

It means every minister should be preparing for his exit – aware that he is serving an institution in which he is replaceable.

To Think Little is no cop-out. It’s not an excuse for churches to lack ambition for Jesus. Rather, it’s the strategy by which we will keep the cutting edge of Christ’s kingdom in contact with our church and nation.

Simon Arscott, pastor of All Nations Church, Ilford.

How to prepare for the metaverse

‘Henry Ford didn’t set out to create megachurches. But before the advent of the personal vehicle, most Christians seeking a church faced a simple denominational decision: do you attend the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or Catholic church around the corner?

With a vehicle, Christians could suddenly attend whichever church had the best children’s ministry programming, youth activities, and rock ’n’ roll Sunday morning worship – as long as it was within 10 to 30 minutes of driving.

We became consumers because we could be consumers. Indeed, churches appealed to our consumerism by offering a menu of ministries so expansive it could make a Cheesecake Factory server blush.

This wasn’t the first time (and won’t be the last time) that technology changed the church. But even as the pace of technological change has felt dizzying and exhausting for churches in recent years, we’ve only seen the tip of the digital iceberg.

The real change which will truly transform our mental, spiritual, and ecclesial landscapes is coming soon: the metaverse.

What is the metaverse?

For most people, ‘metaverse’ is a new word, and we’ve only heard it because of Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement that Facebook’s parent company is changing its name to Meta.

The new name is a nod to the future. Meta is positioning itself as the first mover of a new digital universe.

But what exactly is the metaverse? Matthew Ball – managing partner at a venture capital fund investing heavily in the metaverse – writes, ‘The metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.’

The metaverse is not a digital world. It’s a digital world of worlds through which people can travel seamlessly, retaining their appearance and digital possessions wherever they go.

These worlds do not merely exist in VR (virtual reality), but also layer onto physical reality through AR (augmented reality).

The metaverse is still a zygote, but a few early examples offer glimpses of the future. FOX’s television show Alter Ego features musical artists performing as digital avatars for the show’s judges. Contestants explain that physical appearance or social anxiety previously hindered them, but using an avatar allows them to be real. In the metaverse, people will have digital identities they may prioritise over their physical identity.

The game Pokémon Go allows players to use phone cameras to see AR Pokémon and capture them. In the future, people may use AR glasses to simulate offices and hangouts with friends.

Apple’s facial recognition software uses infrared to analyse 30,000 points on your face. This is what allows you to make animojis and memojis which accurately render your facial expressions in real time. In the metaverse, people’s digital avatars will seamlessly reflect their actual facial expressions, creating a simulacrum of authentic personal presence.

The Playstation 5’s controllers have revolutionary haptic technology, which enables game-makers to create eerily realistic physical sensations. In the future, haptic gloves will give you the ability to feel a digital handshake, hold a digital mug, or slap a digital high five.

Microsoft’s latest Flight Simulator contains over 2.5 million gigabytes of data, because Microsoft mapped the real world and built it into the game. It has 2 trillion unique trees, and 1.5 billion unique buildings. The simulator matches real-world activity, including weather.

This is called a ‘mirror world,’ and in the future people might use these digital assets to design buildings for real-world construction or digital use only. You could buy a hyper-realistic digital property in which you live, interact, or go on mini-vacations.

None of these examples by itself is the metaverse. But collectively they outline the future baby the metaverse might produce.

How Christians can prepare

What does the metaverse mean for the church and for Christians?

When Facebook debuted in 2004 and the iPhone was released in 2007, we didn’t know what the future held. Fourteen years later, we know. And the church is only now catching up.

We can’t catch up a decade after the metaverse reshapes culture. We must prepare disciples now, knowing the metaverse will only exacerbate the current problems created by a (believe it or not) less invasive internet.

Thankfully, the metaverse is still five to ten years away. We can anticipate coming changes and prepare disciples of Jesus to live as faithful witnesses in that future world. Here are three themes we should start emphasising today, so we can form resilient disciples of tomorrow.

1. Givenness of identity in a customised world

If you think society is struggling with questions of identity now, get ready.

Individuals will be able to express themselves however they want through fully customisable avatars in the metaverse. For example, in Mark Zuckerberg’s recent presentation, a friend appeared as a robot in a room up in space.

What happens when we identify more with a virtual version of ourselves than with our real selves? People may begin to conflate their God-given identity with the self-made identity they crafted in the metaverse.

The transhuman debate is on our doorstep. The imago Dei is about to encounter the imago meta.

We will live in a world where every aspect of our identity will be completely customisable. Therefore, affirming a received identity – given by God to be his human image-bearers, made with flesh and bone, male and female, for the cultivation of the world – will be radically counter-cultural.

But it will also be life-giving. The anxiety of self-creation is already crippling Gen Z and millennials.

The church may be the last place that accepts you as you’re made, not as you’re projected.

2. Goodness of creation in a disembodied world

We will begin to live more of our lives disembodied, either as avatars in VR spaces or holograms using AR technology.

The separation we feel – between our physical bodies and surroundings and our virtually expanded consciousness – will grow. It will be easy to begin to see the infinite possibilities of our virtual world and bodies as better and more real than the physical world.

Secularism disenchanted the world and stripped it of transcendent, sacramental meaning. The metaverse offers a transcendence knockoff when it fulfils, as one podcaster put it, ‘the very long-term human aspiration to be able to enter a completely imaginary world’.

As disciples of Jesus, we insist upon the goodness of our physical world and bodies. Adam’s first, most fundamental job was to cultivate a garden. Jesus calls his followers to care for the sick, visit the lonely, lift up the downtrodden, and steward the environment.

We know a virtual world created by publicly-traded companies will never be more real or important than the world God created and called ‘very good’.

Followers of Jesus must resist constant digital connection, but rather seek out communities where people intentionally disconnect from virtual reality to be present with others, looking them in the eye, giving them a hug, and simply being with them. This will be counter-cultural in the best way.

3. The grace of limits in a ‘limitless’ world

The metaverse will present us with the opportunity to experience glimpses of power that only God has.

The readiness of information will give us a glimpse of being omniscient. The ability to create worlds and identities will give us a glimpse of being omnipotent. The conquering of geographic boundaries will allow us to be wherever we want to be at any given time, approximating omnipresence.

The breaking down of space-time barriers as we’re able to travel back in time through VR experiences will give us a glimpse of eternity. Our futuristic tower of Babel is luring us in with promises of limitlessness.

Disciples of Jesus will need to resist by embracing God-given limits.

We can be a presence in our local communities, focus on the slow incremental growth of systems and structures that lead to people’s flourishing (both physical and virtual), and embrace the increasingly unfashionable phrase ‘I don’t know’.

Our lives can manifest the truth that we can’t be everywhere, and we can’t be everything, and that’s a gift from the God who is.

Faithfulness on a new frontier

While we can’t predict all the ways the metaverse will change us, we know that Christian witness is always counter-cultural.

The metaverse may promise godlike power and knowledge, but like all idols, it will take more than it gives. Despite its allure, the metaverse will ultimately point beyond itself to the transcendent king whose words made non-virtual reality a reality.

Like every technological innovation, the metaverse will bring both opportunities and threats. But if we begin the hard work of discipleship today, we might find resilient disciples of Jesus faithfully leading on the edge of a new frontier, working for the flourishing of everyone – physically and virtually – with confident humility in the face of monumental change.

A version of this first appeared at The Gospel Coalition. Reproduced with permission.

Ian Harber, a communications director working in Texas, and Patrick Miller, pastor at The Crossing Church in Missouri.

Resolutions are not enough: Habits of grace for a new year

New Year’s resolutions can be an important first step, but they are a far cry from real, lasting change.

The bringing in of a new year brings with it the possibility of a fresh start or an opportunity to begin maturing in a new direction.

But haven’t we all tried this enough times by now to know how futile mere resolves are if not accompanied by more?

Whether it’s eating and exercise or Bible-reading and prayer, the God-created mechanism we call ‘habit’ is vital for seeing our earnest resolutions become enjoyable realities.

If we really are resolved to see our hopes for 2022 become life-enriching habits, we will do well to keep several basic suggestions in mind at the outset of a new year.

1. Focus on a few, not many

Better than big, emotional resolves about the many things you want to ‘fix’ about your life is dialling in just one or two realistic resolves with a concrete plan and specific accountability.

The excitement of a new year, and the ease with which we can desire change, often leads us to bite off more than we can chew for a new year.

It’s much better to focus on just a couple new habits, even just one. Identify something important that will give your new habit particular focus.

Soul-strengthening ‘habits of grace’ are precisely this. Going deeper in God’s Word, prayer, or your local church will produce an invaluable harvest.

2. Make it specific

Bible intake, prayer, and Christian community likely are too broad in and of themselves.

Give it a more specific focus, like reading the whole Bible this year, or not just reading but daily meditating on a short passage or verse, or even just a word or phrase (in context).

Don’t keep it general at ‘prayer’. but make it more particular: private prayer each morning, bedtime prayer with your spouse or family, punctuating the whole day with ‘constant prayer’, or some new prayer initiative as a community group or church.

Perhaps as the old year has drawn to a close, you’ve realised how spotty your church commitment has been, and how thin your relationships are as a result.

You might resolve to deepen your commitment to not neglect meeting together ‘as is the habit of some’ (Hebrews 10:25), whether that’s making Sunday mornings more non-negotiable or prioritising your midweek involvement in the church Bible study or prayer meeting.

Resolve in 2022 not to let silly last-minute excuses keep you from faithfully gathering with the body of Christ, which will be a priceless, long-term means of God’s grace both to you and (through you) to others.

3. Craft a realistic plan

However earnest your resolution, you need a corresponding amount of realistic planning.

Let’s be honest, you don’t really want to enrich your prayer life if you’re not willing to give it even just a few minutes of creative thought about where, when, and how you will pray in 2022.

Map out clearly and concretely what it would take for a full month to cultivate the habit. Think long-term and make sure it’s realistic.

This also means accepting a measure of modesty in your goals. Don’t try going from no regular devotions to an hour every morning. Start with a focused fifteen minutes daily, but make it genuinely non-negotiable, and see what God does.

Grow your duration and depth as Scripture intake becomes a fixture in your schedule, and you learn to wake up each day even more hungry for the Bible than for breakfast.

4. Identify the reward

Runners will tell you that being heart-healthy in their old age is not their driving motivation. It’s a nice added benefit, of course, but a reward that is nondescript and a long way off won’t get you out of bed in the morning and into your running shoes for long.

Rather, what motivates most long-term runners is feeling great today, whether it’s the endorphins, or the sense of accomplishment or clear-headedness, or all the above.

Trying to draw on the same long-range motivation each morning to get out of bed and hear God’s voice in the Scriptures will soon run dry. And God doesn’t mean for us to be motivated merely by distant, future rewards, important as they are. God supplies bountiful motivations for today.

His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). He means for us to taste and see his goodness right now (Psalm 34:8). He can meaningfully satisfy our restless souls in real, life-transforming measure right now.

Over the years, I have found the most transformative reward in cultivating habits of grace to be, not being stronger and holier as a Christian long-term, but knowing and enjoying Jesus today.

Having my soul satisfied in him today. Making my heart merry in him this morning.

The point of daily spiritual discipline isn’t first and foremost being holy or obtaining growth, but knowing and enjoying Jesus and having our souls satisfied, imperfectly but powerfully, in him.

The final joy in any truly Christian habit or practice or rhythm of life is, in the words of the apostle, ‘the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’ (Philippians 3:8). ‘This is eternal life’ – and this is the goal of the means of grace – ‘that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’ (John 17:3).

Fly Hosea 6:3 as a banner over your 2022 spiritual resolutions: ‘Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.’

5. Enlist regular accountability

One of the flaws in so many resolutions is that they stay private. When we really mean it, we draw in real and regular accountability. We are sinners. Our heads are not always screwed on straight. We need others to speak into our lives and hold us accountable for who we’ve said we want to be and what we’ve said we want to do.

Perhaps talk through some of these principles for forming good habits and consider a monthly calendar reminder to check in with each other. It is a great means of God’s grace that he has not left us alone in forming spiritual habits.

6. Cover your efforts in prayer

At the end of the day, and the end of another, the Holy Spirit is decisive, not our spiritual habits, for producing any lasting spiritual fruit.

Cultivating wise habits is not our attempt to work for God’s acceptance, but to work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12-13).

In prayer, we re-consecrate ourselves again and again to pursue our resolves ‘by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 4:11).

We would be foolish to pour fresh, regular efforts into new spiritual habits without explicitly asking God to make it truly fruitful.

And so we pray – not just act, but ask – ‘that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfil every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power’ (2 Thessalonians 1:11).

Resolutions are not enough. But God has not just left us to resolutions.

David Mathis, executive editor for desiringGod.org.

COMMENT

Our duty to God must come first

Over 2,000 church leaders have signed a measured and sensible letter calling on the government not to criminalise the ordinary pastoral work of churches when it comes to matters of sexual ethics or gender identity. But as the letter so rightly says, if it effectively becomes a criminal offence to exercise orthodox Christian teaching on these subjects, we must ‘continue to do our duty to God’ even if that means breaking the law.

The government has long said it has no intention of criminalising the ordinary, non-abusive, non-coercive practices of churches. But then it says that pastoral guidance of LGBT people should be ‘entirely supportive’; that ‘intent to change someone’s views of their sexuality’ would amount to conversion therapy; and that pastors should offer ‘impartial’ support.

They have failed to realise that a minister of the gospel is not ‘impartial’. He is a servant of Christ, duty-bound to follow the teachings of the Bible. It is clear that the government simply doesn’t understand how churches really operate, and it is this secular-minded ignorance that makes the legislation so very dangerous.

Let church leaders serve with joy

Here we go again. Churches in England find themselves adjusting to more Covid-19 restrictions. Churches in other parts of the UK have lived with similar rules for some time. But now church leaders across England will be fielding a barrage of questions, comments, and strong opinions from church members.

The risk of division and disunity is great. The temptation to impose your opinion on the conscience of others is large. This is a time to show some patience and self-control. But it is church leaders who bear the greatest burden, ‘for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you’ (Hebrews 13:17).

GUEST COLUMN: The seed of the gospel

During the previous two articles in this column, we have examined Jesus’s parabolic teaching about seeds. But the word ‘seed’ in Scripture stands for more than plant propagation. It also applies to human beings and their descendants.

There is a key reference to human ‘seed’ in the ‘protoevangelium’ of Genesis 3:15, where, immediately after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, God announces to Satan: ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’

On reading these words, many Christian minds immediately home in on the first Christmas, with the birth of Jesus Christ of the virgin Mary and the subsequent incarnate ministry of the Son of God. That identification is sound since Christ is the grand subject of all the Scriptures (John 5:39; 1 Peter 1:10-11) and most definitely spoken of in this Genesis text.

But there is more that can be said. Just as, botanically, the same word ‘seed’ can be used to mean one or many, so in Scripture ‘seed’ can mean either an individual person or people in a collective sense.

The ‘seed of the woman’ certainly speaks of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 7:10-14), but in Revelation 12:13-17 it also describes the church of Jesus Christ. From this latter perspective it includes all those who, like Abraham, are justified by faith (Galatians 3:26-29; 4:4, 24-27).

Included in the collective ‘seed’ that is the church are humble, godly Mary, the mother of Jesus, and even Eve herself. For Eve too became a child of faith and (paradoxically) a member of the ‘seed of the woman’ the moment she believed the gospel promise of Genesis 3:15.

Eve and Adam were clothed with animal skins to cover their nakedness, symbolising the imputation of Jesus Christ’s righteousness to them by faith (Genesis 3:20-21). Together, as their naming of their babies in Genesis 3:20, 4:1, and 4:25 signalled, our first parents placed their earnest hope in the ‘seed of the woman’ yet to come.

What victory over Satan was reflected in the announcement of Genesis 3:15! In the same words, God both asserted the inevitability of Satan’s judgment and the certainty of grace for sinners. Adam and Eve believed what God said and were saved by it, but Satan learned of his inexorable doom so soon after savouring what seemed like a major victory.

His doom was to arise from the very creation he had tried to ruin. He used a tree to tempt Eve, but on a wooden cross the Saviour triumphed over him (Colossians 2:14-15). Sin, pain, sorrow, and thorns were now prevalent in the world, but ‘for us men and our salvation’ the woman’s seed would be crowned with thorns and become a man of sorrows.

The same heel at which Satan would strike with his fangs would crush his head. And all of this would come upon Satan through a seed of that weak woman who had proved such an easy target for his deception.

Eve was about to provide Satan with an early example of his defeat in the cosmic struggle between two seeds. The very first person to sin would, along with her husband, be the first to be saved from sin’s wretchedness.

She, like every sinner justified by faith, would henceforth live a life of humble sorrow for sin and of growth in grace. A fountain would be opened for her sin and uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1). For her, as for all other believers, ‘the God of peace will crush Satan under [her] feet shortly’ (Romans 16:20).

We can draw such encouragements from Genesis 3:15. First, it speaks of a God who is never blindsided by evil but always victorious over it. Let us trust in our conquering Lord! Second, it demonstrates that even the guiltiest sinners can find mercy through Christ.

Unbeliever, there is room for you too in the wounded side of the Saviour. Just as Eve did, come and embrace the promise of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world!

A SHRINK THINKS... False identities

Social media is something I’ve long tried to avoid for the same reason I’ve always avoided having a television. For while neither is intrinsically evil and both can be good (in the sense of useful and enjoyable), they are also the cause of much sin and can also be a source of great temptation, enticing us by potent and seductive images into sin.

Both TV and social media are vehicles through which many rude, blasphemous, and sexually-inappropriate images are propagated for entertainment and draw in their viewers by such pandering to the flesh. Christians can easily be drawn by them into a multitude of sins, sexual and avaricious lusts, envy and jealousy, and so on.

But beyond this, social media brings its own unique opportunities for evil and its own especially pernicious tendencies. This is because, unlike TV, it is interactive.

On social media, as the name indicates, people engage with others. Social media (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) are web-based platforms driven by content uploaded by users.

Unlike TV, which is purely passive, the various platforms are active – places where users share messages and images and videos with others. This capacity can be and is used for good, allowing family and friends to maintain a more frequent and meaningful contact than via traditional means of communication.

Undoubtedly the speed and ease of access of these platforms is a boon and they are cheap and easily available (at least for those who can manage the internet and computers!). The ability to ‘meet’ using video as well as audio is a blessing, too, taking these technologies beyond standard telephones for long-distance communication.

But there are also the dangers. There are the more obvious dangers which we hear and read about. Social media is exploited by paedophiles for grooming children for abuse. Here the easy anonymity provides such men (and rarely women) with great opportunities because they can easily adopt a false identity, posting fake pictures and inventing a biography to draw in vulnerable children.

In such devious ways they can befriend and seduce, drawing the weak and needy into abusive and damaging ‘relationships’. The anonymity of social media means such a paedophile could be the man next door or the nice guy sitting next to you in the office.

Then again there is trolling. Here the ability online to create a false identity for yourself enables cowards to propagate foul and vitriolic abuse of anyone they choose, knowing that their fake identity protects them from scrutiny. The online persona threatening J. K. Rowling with rape and torture could be a teacher you work with or your local doctor.

If you think my examples are fanciful, recall previous revelations about the respectability of football hooligans who were lawyers and financiers. Sin delights in hiding in the dark, and social media is a place of much darkness because of the anonymity possible with it.

But there are the less obvious dangers too, for the ability to create a false identify for yourself online provides other opportunities for harm and evil.

Mary is a young girl who is miserable at home and has no close friends at school. So she goes online and gives herself the new name of Kylie. Indeed, she does so in the full biblical sense of giving herself a new identity.

Here she can transform herself into the image of her dreams. She can use photo enhancement software, freely available and with amazing powers, to present beautiful pictures of herself which are unrecognisable by those who know her in the real world.

Similarly, Mary can claim to be a champion gymnast and captain of the school hockey team, claims which draw out a stream of ‘likes’ for her Kylie ID, positive responses which she very much enjoys, even though deep down she knows such claims are fiction.

She can borrow witty comments from other websites and create the impression of being a sharp, feisty, and confident girl. Her online self is popular; her real self is not. Her online self is attractive; her real self is ordinary. Her online self has many ‘friends’; her real self has none. Is it any wonder she spends more and more time in the fake online world posing in her false Kylie identity?

Then again there is the teenager Jack who is not a sportsman, not loud or confident, not comfortable with the other lads, and not one who enjoys rude jokes, sexual innuendo, or flirting with girls. Uncomfortable and uncertain in himself, like so many teenagers, he goes online as Jill. He creates a female identity, borrowing pictures and ideas and presenting himself, like Mary, as pretty and successful.

So of course, like her, his fake online identify is popular and he enjoys the affirming and encouraging relationships with girls online. Like Mary, he spends more and more time happily posing as Jill, becoming ever more comfortable with his online self. The contrast between his relaxed and happy times in his social media relationships and his grim experiences in his real-world relationships becomes increasingly difficult.

In the real world he struggles with his studies, is mocked for his uselessness at sports and is ridiculed as (Warning: unwoke words following) effeminate and girly. But under his social media identity of ‘Jill’ he is liked and praised, even admired.

Is it any wonder that boys like Jack can be drawn into changing into girls like Jill? Or that girls like Mary seek refuge online in their fake personae? Remember our children and these pressures, and pray for them and their parents who seek to help them.

Alan Thomas, Professor and Consultant in Psychiatry. Elder at Newcastle Reformed Evangelical Church.

THINKING IT THROUGH: Christian friendship: A gift from God

One of my dearest friends has departed from this world. You will read elsewhere in ET an appreciation of Alec Taylor. Alec was an older man than myself and we lived several hours’ drive apart. But over recent years, we chatted over the phone almost every week. I know that he prayed for me every day. I shall miss him sorely. He leaves a very large gap.

I think of other friends to whom I’m close in other ways. I would like to think that many members of the congregation here think of me not only as their pastor, but as a friend. I certainly lean on some of them very heavily. I know I can trust them to be there for me when I need them. Without their friendship, my work would be much harder, if not impossible.

I recently spent five days away from home with a circle of eleven other pastors. Every autumn for many years I’ve had the opportunity to do this. The official purpose of our gathering is to spend time together in intensive study, encouraging one another as preachers. But just as importantly, we meet as friends.

We feel free to share all sorts of things that we wouldn’t talk about in any and every gathering. We talk about things that are happening in our churches. We talk about our families. We talk about things that are happening on the wider scene. We talk about problem situations that we need to sort out.

And we feel free to talk about more personal things – our own doubts and fears and backslidings and inconsistencies. Often I’ll find myself, late into the night, listening to one of my friends talking about his personal dilemmas, or sharing my own. And our talking turns into prayer. We pray together about all the things we’re talking about together.

I should emphasise that we don’t just talk. We laugh. We tease one another. We go off for walks together. You’ll find two or three men doing a crossword together. Or a larger group kicking around a football together.

Am I equally close to all the men in that circle? No, of course not. I’ve known some of the men in the circle for many years. Others I know far less well. And inevitably, I relate more easily to some than to others. I have more in common with some than others in terms of background, personality, and interests. But I think of them all as friends.

And of course I have many good friends who aren’t either in the church here or in that particular group. Alec was one of them. But there are many others.

In my experience, no two friendships are the same. I look to one friend for one thing. I look to another for something different. I open up to one about some issues. I talk to another about other concerns. But every friendship is precious. Every one is a gift from God.

The importance of friendship

The Lord Jesus had friends. He said to his disciples, ‘You are my friends... No longer do I call you servants...but I have called you friends’ (John 15:14-15). Among all the disciples there were three to whom he was especially close (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33).

And among the three there was one whom he loved most of all. John was simply known as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ and Jesus could say things to John that he would say to no one else (John 13:23-26). Were the other disciples jealous? It seems not. They accepted that if Jesus was going to tell anyone the name of the betrayer, it would be John to whom he would whisper the secret.

There were others, outside the circle of the twelve, who were also special friends to the Lord Jesus. Lazarus and his two sisters Martha and Mary were clearly among the closest (John 11:5). The friendship Jesus had with them was different from the friendship he had with the twelve. He looked to them for different things. He wasn’t able to spend as much time with them as he did with the apostles. It was a different type of friendship but just as vital for the Lord Jesus.

Followers of the Lord Jesus have a duty to love all their fellow human beings. We are to care about them all and seek their good. In that sense we are to love even our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Beyond that, we are commanded to love all our fellow-believers in a special way, starting with those who belong to the same church. ‘Let love be genuine... Love one another with brotherly affection’ (Romans 12:9-10). We look on all our fellow church members as our brothers, we give thanks for them all, we value them all, we share our lives with them all. But we cannot be equally close to them all.

It is one of the Lord’s kindest gifts to us when he gives us some folk to be our special friends. He gives to us and them a mutual affection. We trust them in a special way. We share with them things which it would not be wise to share with all. That’s the way it was for the Lord Jesus himself.

Of course, for those of us who are married – and especially if our marriage partner is a believer – he or she should have a place that no one else can share, a unique friendship. We may have a special closeness too to other members of our natural family: brothers, cousins, grandparents. It seems likely that John the beloved disciple was Jesus’s cousin; Jesus’s mother Mary appears to have been sister to John’s mother Salome (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25).

But the Bible testifies to the value of having friends beyond the circle of the family. David was closer to Jonathan than to any of his own brothers – and David found a depth of comradeship in Jonathan that he never found in his wives. ‘I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women’ (2 Samuel 1:26).

The writer of Proverbs commented, ‘Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbour who is near than a brother who is far away...’ (Proverbs 27:10).

What are the qualities we look for in a friend? Let me pick four which the book of Proverbs tells us are especially important:

1. We look for friends who will be faithful.

The Bible warns us against choosing unstable people as our friends – people who are prone to short-lived enthusiasms, unreliable people. Such people are likely to prove fickle friends, with us in fair weather, nowhere to be found when times get hard. ‘All a poor man’s brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him!’ (Proverbs 19:7).

Before I trust someone, I need to know something about his track-record. Is he reliable, steady, consistent in other areas of his life? Is he faithful to his responsibilities in the church, in his family, at work? If he’s not the sort of man who can be trusted elsewhere, he’s unlikely to be a trustworthy friend.

If someone seems keen for my friendship, I need to ask myself why. Is it because he pities me? Some people will always latch on to folk whom they think of as lame ducks. They are busybodies, keen to befriend ‘needy’ people or people with problems, so that they can patronise them and manage them.

On the other side, some people only want as friends folk whom they think of as success stories, people who have an aura of popularity or money or power. We should be wary of both types. The Bible counsels us to seek friends who will be our friends equally in times of trouble and in times when all is going well. ‘A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity’ (Proverbs 17:17).

One friend who remains faithful come what may is worth a thousand come-today-gone-tomorrow friends. ‘A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother’ (Proverbs 18:24).

I thank God for friends who have been faithful since we were at university together more than forty years ago. I thank God for my friends in the church here today. Some have been caring for me, praying for me, encouraging me since the work here began in the early eighties. I thank God for friends who once lived here in the Manchester area, now live in places far-off, but have never stopped writing, phoning, visiting, encouraging, and simply being friends. Distance erodes most friendships, but not theirs.

2. We look for good tempered friends.

‘Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor to a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare’ (Proverbs 22:24-25). Some folk are given to anger. They are always liable to lose their temper. They take offence where none is intended. They take every disagreement personally. They finish up quarrelling and falling out with everyone who crosses their path.

Solomon warns that if we make friends of these people, we’ll ‘learn their ways’. Does he mean that we’ll pick up their bad habits? Possibly. But I think it’s more likely that he’s telling us that we’ll learn the ways of such folk from sad experience. The bad tempered man’s ways won’t change and at some point he’ll fall out with you as he has with others.

It’s easy to persuade ourselves that it will be different this time round. Bulldog Bill may have bitten lots of his handlers before – but we can tame him! The wise writer of Proverbs warns us not to believe it. Choose a bad-tempered man as a friend, and you will almost certainly regret it.

3. We look for friends who will give us wise advice.

‘Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel’ (Proverbs 27:9). We need friends to whom we can turn for advice. But it must be the right sort of advice – it must be earnest counsel. Some people are only too ready to give advice. They have an opinion on everything and they’re ready to share it at the drop of a hat. Their advice is casual, cheap, often worthless.

But another person gives earnest advice. He realises that to give advice to someone else is a great responsibility. He won’t do it lightly. He’ll think deeply before he speaks. He’ll pray for God to give him wisdom. He’ll search the Scriptures to make sure that his advice is grounded in biblical principles. And then he’ll speak lovingly, tenderly, carefully – and he’ll be willing to take responsibility for the advice he has given.

That’s the sort of person I need as a friend. And that’s the sort of person I need to be if I’m to be a true friend to others. I need to be the sort of person they can turn to when they need wisdom, knowing that what I say will be grounded in God’s Word and spoken with earnest wisdom.

4. We look for friends who will be willing to challenge us.

‘Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy’ (Proverbs 27:6). I need friends who are willing to be straight with me even if they know I’ll feel hurt by it. The wounds they inflict are ‘faithful’ wounds, inflicted by true friendship.

Someone may lavish ‘kisses’ on you – tell you you’re wonderful, agree with all you say, support all your actions. The writer of Proverbs calls that person an enemy. Even if (s)he does it with the best will in the world, such a false friend is actually harming you.

A true friend will rebuke me, tell me when I’m wrong, point out my faults – and then help me sort out the problems that he’s seen. Such friends are rare – and very precious.

Richard Baxter’s checklist

So we have four key things to look for in a friend. But of course they’re not the only things. If we were to search the whole Bible, we might draw up a much longer list. Let me quote to you the 17th century Puritan Richard Baxter. Here is his list of the qualities that make a true friend:

He must be ‘not addicted to a hiding, fraudulent, or reserved carriage... of a suitable temper and disposition...humble, not contentious, thoroughly godly (else he will not be useful to the ends of friendship); not a heretic; not ignorant of the great truths of religion, but rather one that excelleth you in solid understanding, and true judgement, and a discerning head; that can teach you somewhat that you know not; not schismatical, else he will be no longer true than the interest of his party will allow him... prudent in business; one who can keep secrets; not addicted to levity and change, else you can expect no stability in his friendship; must not much differ from you in quality in the world...not very covetous; he must not be impatient, so that he can bear with your infirmities, and bear much from others for your sake; he must have a good esteem of your person; he must be public-spirited and acquainted with your calling, that he may be fit to censure your work, and amend it, and direct you in it, and confer about it; and finally there must be a suitableness in age and sex.’

Strip out Baxter’s archaic language, and there’s much good biblical common sense to take to heart! Baxter really believed that every believer needs one or two close friends who are willing to act as his – or her – spiritual encouragers and guardians. And, of course, that wasn’t just his peculiar view. Many of the Christians of his generation took the need for true friendship very seriously.

Bunyan’s Pilgrim fell ‘and could not rise again until Faithful came up to help him. Then I saw in my dream, they went very lovingly on together, and had sweet discourse of all things that had happened to them in their pilgrimage...’And when Faithful was martyred at Vanity Fair, the Lord raised up Hopeful to take his place as Christian’s fellow-pilgrim and friend. Like Baxter, Bunyan believed that we need special friends to help us on our way to the Celestial City.

Pray and Work

But what am I supposed to do? I’d love to have close Christian friends. But you can’t just make it happen...

No, you can’t. Some Christians are put by God in situations where it’s very difficult to find friends suitable in age, sex, temperament, circumstances, and, above all, godliness. But you can pray. Pray that God will help you to find those friends. And seek his help to be the sort of person whom he can trust with friendships.

Would it be fair if the Lord were to give you as a friend to one of his children, only for that believer to discover that you were unfaithful, bad-tempered, rash in your advice, or a flatterer? If you want friends, you must be the sort of person who will enrich those who become your friends.

Christian young people should take special care in choosing friends, and in praying that God will give them the right friends. The friends you make as a teenager or in your twenties, God willing, will still be your friends fifty years later. They will be there for you all through your life, supporting you, encouraging you, growing with you in grace.

If you are single, then you may well be praying for the special friend who will become your marriage partner. But pray that God will also give you other friends of your own sex who will push you forward in your walk with God.

And when God gives you friends, be prepared to work at your friendships. As we get older, friends are often lost, not through quarrels, but simply through busyness and carelessness. These days, it is rare for folk to stay in one place for more than a few years.

As friends move away, you will lose touch with them unless you write, phone, visit, share news, pray for one another, meet up from time to time. Real friendships of the sort we’ve been commending are so rare that they’re worth working to maintain.

So if you’ve not seen that old friend from university since you got married, write today. It may be too late to rebuild the closeness you had then. But equally you may find that the bonds are still there and still precious.

May God grant to us the best friends, and may the church to which you belong be a church where every friendship is a preparation for the world where friendships are sinless and go on for ever.

Bible quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers © 2001

This article first appeared in the monthly bulletin of Grace Baptist Church, Stockport.

Stephen Rees is pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Stockport

A WALK WITH MR O: What do I do about my doubts?

Mr O, last time we met, you helped me with a spiritual problem. Can we now talk about another one?

Of course. Tell me about it as clearly as you can.

Well, almost everybody around me is an unbeliever. Is it really likely that they are all wrong and that I am one of a select few who are right? Sometimes I think that Christianity might just be a massive con trick which I have been deceived into believing.

Will it be any comfort to you to know that I sometimes have the same thought? This has been true of me throughout my Christian life.

I didn’t expect to hear that, Mr O! I never knew that preachers like you had any doubts. You all speak with such authority. You come across as people who are completely sure.

There is no contradiction between being sure and having doubts. We are made sure of the truth of the gospel by the Holy Spirit’s secret work within our souls – he has enlightened our intellectual faculties and re-directed our wills. Our doubts are caused by the devil’s attack on that work of the Spirit. But, as you will have noticed, Satan’s attacks come and go. Our convictions, although sometimes seriously unsettled, remain. We keep coming back to them. We can’t give them up.

Yes, all right, but shouldn’t we have convincing answers to the intellectual objections to the Christian faith that are so often presented to us?

Let me tell you about the experiences of two men that I know. The first one, a young minister, was so troubled by doubts that he took time out to address them. He felt that he needed an answer to every argument that unbelievers put before him, so he dropped everything and sat down to read Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell and Does God Believe in Atheists? by John Blanchard – two modern books that reveal the complete intellectual integrity of the Christian faith.

I’ve read both those books and I think that they are wonderful. They show that being a Christian doesn’t mean committing intellectual suicide. But, Mr O, they haven’t stopped me having doubts.

And I wouldn’t expect them to! There is nothing irrational about being a Christian. The Christian faith is plainly defensible intellectually. But doubt is not primarily an intellectual problem. It goes deeper than that. It is an attack by ‘the father of lies’ on what is going on in the depths of the soul.

My young minister friend didn’t recognise that, and because he saw some flaws in the authors’ arguments, he walked out on the Christian faith and has never returned to it. It appears that he had built his initial faith on human arguments, and therefore, of course, he was at the mercy of apparently stronger human arguments.

Tell me then, Mr O, about your other friend. Did he have a better experience?

My second friend, now retired, is an internationally respected scientist who, for as long as I have known him, has lived a Bible-believing, Christ-loving, cross-proclaiming life. But he went through a serious attack of doubt when he was a student. Let me quote what he wrote to me recently:

‘When I first came to university in 1966 I was hit in the very first term by a module on Evolution, and the lecturer was a very ardent evolutionist. This caused me to ask many questions relating to the seeming “facts” of evolution (as being taught) and the conflict with what I had been taught and understood of the biblical record. Quite honestly I floundered with doubts about the veracity of Scripture for several months and struggled to get answers.

‘A well-known minister came to the university to conduct a CU mission and I spoke with him after a meeting. In his extremely wise way he simply said, “Go away and read John’s Gospel. When you come to 20:31 (‘These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God’) ask yourself, ‘Do I believe?’”

‘I did that, and my doubts on that issue were settled by seeing the person of the Lord Jesus. The lesson I hope that I have learned over these many years is “Look to Jesus”.’

Thanks, Mr O. There’s nothing more to say, is there?

Stuart Olyott, is an actively retired minister and conference speaker. He preaches most Sunday mornings at Caergwrle Evangelical Church.

CRUNCH POINTS: I’ve started a new job and I’m struggling to find a church.

We all value biblical advice from our elders, the first ones to whom we turn for counsel. Jeremy Walker outlines the kind of answer he might give to a question received at the chapel door.

In this answer, I presume that the questioner is not a church member; perhaps they are visiting and asking if we might be the church for them!

I wish you had asked me that question before you started your new job. If we are wise Christians, we ought to put first things first. In most contexts – moving home, finding a new job, going to university – that means that the first thing is the care of your soul in a faithful local church.

I appreciate that that’s not always easy, but in some cases, if you can’t find a good church, it might suggest that you shouldn’t take the new job. But that’s like asking for direction and someone saying, ‘I wouldn’t start from here!’ So let’s accept that this is where you are, and start.

Being part of Christ’s church is not just a matter of dropping in on Sunday. All the imagery of our Bibles shows us as one part of an integrated whole, with Christ uniting us all. If you think about the New Testament commandments to God’s people in communion, we cannot ‘one another’ one another without having one another… if you are following me! That means something for the effort that we make and the engagement we pursue.

Under normal circumstances, you are going to struggle to be part of a church whose members you see in passing once or twice a week. That’s why you really want to be in the same community as the other church members, ideally located near and around whatever meeting place you might have.

Even with all the modern communication tools at our disposal, nothing substitutes for face-to-face and heart-to-heart engagement in one another’s lives, in love and with prayer. And how do you invite an unconverted friend to come with you to church an hour away?

If you are prioritising finding a local church, you might want to start with looking for those that know what a church is, one whose faith and life reflects the truth of Scripture. You will never find a perfect church, but it may be that you will have to accept one which does not entirely align with your own convictions and preferences, but where the Word of God is faithfully preached, the ordinances are faithfully observed, and church discipline is faithfully practised. Perhaps you will be able to do good and receive it there. But don’t compromise if your soul’s health is at stake.

If there’s no local option, perhaps someone needs to think about trying to plant a church. If that’s not possible right now, and you choose to travel to find a church, there’s no formula for how far. You need to be a part of the body life of the church, and – if you live at a distance – that’s going to require a significant investment of time and energy for you, and it’s going to require a special effort from the members, too, to embrace you and draw you in.

Can you get to the Lord’s day services and the prayer meeting? Can you extend and receive hospitality, engage in evangelism? If not, you should consider moving closer, or finding another job. After all, what would it profit if you gained the whole world, and lost your own soul?

If you would like an answer to a crunch question, please email crunchpoints@evangelical-times.org. We cannot guarantee an answer to every question.

Jeremy Walker, pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley.

FAMILY MATTERS: Part 4 - Bringing up children

In this four-part series, Pastor Alan Hill considers what the Bible has to say about family life.

All in a panic, the two of you left home a few days earlier, but now three of you arrive back home. Wrapped up in a bundle is something amazing. Another miniature human, created from your own living cells. The big blue or brown eyes, the soft pink flesh, and above all those tiny perfect fingers!

What a responsibility! What a joy! But after a few weeks the thoughts become, What sleepless nights! What have we let ourselves in for?

Parenting is an awesome responsibility. No one feels prepared for it, yet we all cope. Why? Because God designed us to bear and raise children. It is in our genes.

Even those who don’t have children of their own usually have some contact with youngsters. It may be nieces, nephews, younger siblings, or even those in the church creche or Sunday school. We all need help in how to care for children. Thankfully, through the Bible God has left us an instruction manual providing the key elements of child rearing.

The foundations of child rearing

1. Your child is a gift

‘For you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them’ (Psalm 139:13-16).

Your child is a loving gift to you from God himself. God gives life, and from the moment of conception, an independent being created in the image of God has come into existence.

One implication of this is that parents do not own their children.

Some parents seem to think of their child like a trophy they have won. They proudly display their little Johnny to their friends. Baby development can become competitive among parents: the first giggle, the first crawl, the first step, the first word.

But there is a great danger here. Your child is not some prize exhibit, but a unique individual.

Beware of the child becoming the centre of the home. Some families have become so child-centred that the child is at the centre! Such a child would discover on the first day of school that the universe does not revolve around them.

This is difficult, especially for new parents. The baby and its paraphernalia take over the house, with pushchairs, nappies, wipes, and baby clothes taking over every corner of space.

The baby must be taught that life does not revolve around them. Having routines helps: time for sleep, time for food, time for play.

This lesson is vital for another reason.

What is the most important human relationship in your home? Mother and child? No, mother and father. A child needs a strong marriage bond to both exist and be manifested by its parents.

Have you heard of ‘empty nest’ syndrome? Parents can become depressed when the children have grown up and moved out. Why? It is because the parents gave so much to the children that they had little to give each other.

2. Your child is a sinner

‘Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me’ (Psalm 51:5).

It is true that babies have a beautiful innocence about them. Yet, as parents, we soon learn a sobering truth. They have an in-built bias towards deceit and rebellion.

Did you ever have to teach your child how to do wrong? How to answer back? How to be selfish with toys? How to be demanding? How to hide something they’ve broken?

No. This bias is something that we have inherited from Adam and Eve.

Parents must be realistic. Even well-brought-up children can do the most awful things. We’re not surprised when we see a young fresh-faced teenager develop spots. We also shouldn’t be surprised if the spots of sin break out on children who have had even the godliest of upbringings.

3. Your child is special to God

‘Then little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven”’ (Matthew 19:13-14).

Parents may love their children, but God loves them more. He loves to see them cherished and cared for. He loves how they trust their parents. In fact, God wants us to have a childlike trust in him.

Because your child is precious to God, you must understand that you will answer to God for how you have brought up your child.

Jesus warns of severe consequences if we cause our children to fall into sin by our actions. ‘Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea’ (Matthew 18:5-6).

What we teach our children about God, about living, about how to treat others, matters. We will answer to God for what we have said.

How we live in front of our children matters, and we generally teach more by example than by words. The parent who uses bad language should not be surprised if their child starts to swear. The parent who smokes should not be surprised if their child smokes.

We can show that we know our child is special to God by bringing him or her up using the principles of child rearing that God has given.

The principles of child rearing

1. Train

‘Train up a child in the way he should go’ (Proverbs 22:6).

Our aim as parents is to help turn a helpless baby into a responsible adult, able to look after himself and be an upstanding member of society. How does this happen? Automatically by some kind of osmosis? No. It is by parents teaching the child.

As well as the practicalities of life (feeding, washing, dressing), we need to teach our children right from wrong, godliness from sinfulness. A good place to start is the ten commandments. Do your children know them?

Notice that eight of the ten are put in the negative ‘You shall not…’ Parents, don’t be afraid to follow suit and use that oh-so-special word no when instructing children.

Teach children the importance of the Lord’s day as a day of worship and of gathering with other Christians. Take your baby to church with you. As they grow, encourage them to take part by singing the hymns and following the Bible readings. When they’re old enough, why not help them follow the sermon by taking notes with them? They might start by underlining key points you’ve written using some coloured pencils.

2. Discipline

For many years, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has campaigned for corporal punishment to be banned. They have done this for the best of motives. Physical abuse of some children by their parents is a tragic fact of life.

But not all corporal punishment is abusive and wrong. Look at what the Word of God says: ‘Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell’ (Proverbs 23:13-14).

The Bible tells us again and again that discipline correctly applied is good for the child. In fact, the cruelty lies in the omission of discipline. Imagine just looking on while your child plays by railway lines.

Why are so many children badly behaved? Why are schools struggling to cope? Because proper discipline is not administered in the home.

Parents must bear in mind the purpose of discipline. It is not an outlet for your anger or frustration. It is to help train a child in the way he should go. Discipline is for the child’s benefit.

Picture a young toddler that has to learn they must not pull off the leaves of the plants. You tell the child ‘No!’ with a firm voice.

The child looks at you and understands, but still disobeys. What is the best course of action? A small smack on the hand. The child is brought up short. The child cries. You explain, ‘When I say no, it means no! Do not touch the plant!’ The child learns a lesson. On you go to the next one!

Parents, know that the Bible authorises you to administer a smack. Smacking is not the only form of discipline, but it is certainly one of the most effective.

You can discipline in other ways: denying the child a treat or imposing some activity as a punishment such as clearing up the mess they have made. But parents throughout history will testify that a short, sharp smack works.

3. Communicate

‘These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up’ (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

We have seen that good communication is a theme running right through our series on the family. Good communication leads to a happy home and a long-lasting marriage. Good communication is also essential to child rearing.

Setting the rules and disciplining is not enough. In the musical The Sound of Music, the von Trapp children are drilled firmly by their father, but behind his back they are rebels! There’s an old saying that says, ‘Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.’

We need to cultivate and develop warm relationships with our children. We should aim that by the time they are eighteen years old, you are the best of friends rather than sworn enemies!

Tragically, the teenage years can become a battle ground for parents. Why? It is usually down to poor communication.

How can you improve communication? There are four ways:

i. Explain the rules

You must be clear in what the rules are. You cannot punish a toddler for breaking your lovely glass vase if you haven’t explained ‘Do not touch’ to the child.

How can you be cross with your teenager who buys a most inappropriate short skirt if you have not sat down and explained about modesty in dress and agreed some ground rules?

ii. Be consistent

This is so important and yet so hard. If you say you cannot have sweets as you go round the supermarket, then do not change your mind and give in, however strong the temptation.

The child must learn that, with you, yes means yes and no means no. Give in once and the child will constantly try to make you give in again.

We used to have a cat. Sometimes I gave the cat a tidbit of leftover food, much to the annoyance of other family members (our cat had a propensity to be sick soon afterwards). Now it might go for days without being given any food, yet after every meal it would follow me to the bin ‘just in case’.

Children do the same. They will pester you ‘just in case’ you will change your mind! Don’t give in and reveal inconsistency (unless you were genuinely mistaken first time round).

Ephesians 6:4 instructs fathers not to provoke their children to wrath. One of the main ways we do that is by being inconsistent. Children have a strong black and white sense of right and wrong. Nothing winds up a teenager more than inconsistent parenting.

If you make a mistake, own up to your child. How will they learn to say sorry to you and God if they never hear you say sorry to them and God when you wrong them?

iii. Talk and listen

Real communication is about speaking, listening, and then speaking having already listened.

You must teach this to children. Perhaps so many children struggle to pay attention these days partly because of too much television (which does not require a response) and not enough good old-fashioned talking and listening?

Start and encourage conversations. Tell them stories, play listening games, give even the youngest children tasks to do around the home.

Be ready at any time and in any place to communicate. That awkward question in the car on the way to school is important. When they come into the kitchen and ask what you are cooking, when they come into a room and ask what you are reading, take time to stop and explain.

iv. Spend time with them

It is a great mistake to think that what matters is quality time. What matters is quantity time. Time when perhaps very little happens.

Make mealtimes family times – not round the TV but round a table. Jesus did much of his talking around a dinner table, and so should we. Get them involved in cooking and clearing up afterwards.

Play hide and seek with your children; talk to them about their toys; build towers out of Lego; turn bath time into game time. As they grow up, play board games with them. Take them for bike rides. Or just sit around in the garden with them on a summer afternoon. Be creative!

Our children still remember the games we invented, all of which bonded us together as a family. I can still fondly recall playing Tenners, Cannies, and Sack of Coals. (Sorry, but these only mean anything to four readers!)

We have considered three foundations of child-rearing and three principles of child-rearing. We finish with the one great aim of child-rearing.

As said earlier, children are born sinners. The saddest thing that can happen to them is if they die a sinner, because then they will face God in judgment. Wonderfully, God has provided for sinners whereby they may be changed and forgiven. God has provided a way for us to escape hell and go to heaven.

It involved God becoming a child, growing up and living a normal life. That child was the Lord Jesus Christ. It involved that child becoming a man and giving his life unselfishly for others.

Consider the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’

I’m not suggesting that we can ‘instruct’ children into the kingdom, but as a parent you must above all teach your child the way to be saved. Teach them that they must say sorry to God and trust in the Lord Jesus to be forgiven.

How awful if you brought up your child to be a fine upstanding member of society who then, after death, spent eternity paying for their sins!

God loves children, but above all he loves children to be saved. Do you?

Alan Hill, Pastor of Lausanne Free Church, Switzerland.

NEWS

News in brief

Five missionaries released in Haiti

Five of the 16 Canadian and American missionaries held hostage in Haiti have been released. The group, which includes an eight-month-old baby, has been held in captivity since October. Two hostages were released first, followed by a second release of three hostages. Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said, ‘We are thankful to God’ for their safe return.

Prayer needed for Myanmar

Christian group Open Doors has called for people to pray for the believers in Myanmar. The group says unrest between government and armed resistance forces is endangering the lives of Christians. Spokesman David Landrum says, ‘The church has been praying for many years for Myanmar, and I think we need to intensify that prayer now.’

Iranian believers could be set free

Nine men imprisoned for attending a house church in Iran could have their sentences overturned following a landmark judgment. The Iranian Supreme Court has ruled that going to church does not make Christians ‘enemies of the state’. The decision states explicitly that the men’s involvement in house churches should not be deemed a threat to national security.

Columbian star wins legal case

A YouTube star in Columbia has won her case against being cancelled because she expressed her support for traditional marriage. A lower court had forced Kika Nieto to remove a YouTube video in which she shared her beliefs. But now the Constitutional Court of Colombia has ruled in favour of the star, who has more than eight million followers.

Carlisle Banner Border conference

The annual two-day conference organised by Banner of Truth met in Carlisle last November. ‘The glorious body of Christ’ was the theme, and speakers included Spencer Cunnah (Kensit Church, London) and George Curry (Elswick Parish, Newcastle). A well-stocked book stall was also available, enabling attendees to return home with a good supply of excellent, God-honouring volumes.

Plaque for Essex martyr

In Harwich, Essex, a plaque has been erected to the memory of William Bamford. Bamford was a Protestant martyr burned at the stake on 15 June 1555 during the reign of ‘Bloody’ Queen Mary. The Essex Protestant Council campaigned for the plaque to be made. It is located on the wall of the New Bell Inn.

YouTube ministry interviews return

‘Before they leave the stage’ was a popular YouTube series hosted by Heath Evangelical Church, Cardiff. It featured interviews with 17 retired evangelical ministers, including Stuart Olyott, Geoff Thomas, Ian Hamilton, and others. A follow-up series called ‘Stories to tell’ is under way. The interview line-up includes Gavin Peacock, Derek Thomas, Joel Beeke, Tim Farron, and others.

Mayflower voyage anniversary talks

Scott Drive Church, Exmouth, recently hosted lectures marking 401 years since the voyage of the Mayflower. Steve Owen and Dr Ian Margeson both spoke. They drew parallels between the state persecution faced by the Mayflower Puritans prior to their departure for the New World and the increasingly restrictive situation faced by committed Christians today.

Welby sorry for ‘Nazi’ comment

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has made a public apology for suggesting that failure to act at the COP26 summit might be worse than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 1930s. He made the comments in a BBC interview and apologised ‘unequivocally’ for using the comparison.

Most searched Bible phrases

The words ‘sorceries’ and ‘sorcery’ were among the most searched words on the website Biblegateway.com last year. The increase is thought to be related to a heightened interest in the Greek word pharmakeia, found in Galatians 5:20. Other search terms, such as ‘pestilence’, ‘plague’, and ‘disease’, decreased compared to the previous year.

UK intolerance of Christianity

The United Kingdom has been ranked in the top five European nations for violations against the religious freedom of Christians. Data from the Observatory of Intolerance Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) found this to be prevalent at both a government level – through legislation and political discourse – and through social exclusion.

Christmas church attendance poll

Young people were more likely to attend church over Christmas than older folk. That’s according to a poll by Savanta ComRes, commissioned by Samaritan’s Purse. It found 33 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 had planned to attend a place of worship during December compared to 17 per cent of those over 55.

Over 2,200 pastors say they would be willing to break a ban on conversion therapy

A letter signed by over 2,200 church leaders has been sent to the government, saying pastors are willing to break the law if a ban on ‘conversion therapy’ stops them from preaching biblical truth.

The government is considering a ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’, which could criminalise anyone who preaches, prays, or pastors in line with orthodox Christian beliefs on sexual ethics and gender identity.

The pastors’ letter says, ‘We have no desire to become criminals, and place a high value on submitting to and supporting our government.

‘Yet we think it important you are aware that if it were to come about that the loving, compassionate exercise of orthodox Christian ministry, including the teaching of the Christian understanding of sex and marriage, is effectively made a criminal offence, we would with deep sadness continue to do our duty to God in this matter.’

Signatories include Graham Nicholls (pictured), Minister of Christ Church Haywards Heath and Director of Affinity, and John Stevens, National Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.

An official public consultation on a proposed ban has been extended until 4 February. It was previously due to close on 10 December last year.

The government has been accused of sending out mixed signals on this issue. On the one hand, it says it has no desire to interfere with free speech or limit the ordinary practices of churches.

But on the other hand, Mike Freer MP, speaking on behalf of the Government Equalities Office, told a Parliamentary committee that pastoral care should be ‘entirely supportive’ of LGBT people.

He also said that ‘intent to change someone’s views of their sexuality’ would amount to conversion therapy and therefore be a criminal offence.

The ‘Let Us Pray’ campaign has been set up to defend religious liberty. A spokesman said, ‘Getting the conversion therapy ban wrong could result in the most religiously repressive law this country has seen in centuries.

‘Nearly two thousand church ministers have signed a letter expressing concern about being criminalised. Women’s groups warn the ban could affect the rights of women, parents, and children.’

See also Comment

Mike Judge, Editor

Face coverings required in churches in England under Covid-19 rules

People attending places of worship in England will have to wear a face covering under new Covid-19 laws introduced in December.

The move brings England into line with some other parts of the UK, where similar rules have been in place for some time.

But worshippers in England are allowed to remove their face covering for congregational singing. That was the latest situation when this edition of ET went to print, although the regulations may have changed since.

The government at Westminster has also introduced vaccine passports for large venues in England. While this may not affect most churches, there are concerns that it may set a troubling precedent for the future.

Some church leaders have already expressed their clear opposition to any form of vaccine passports being imposed on churches.

In a letter written last year, church leaders said vaccine passports are illogical, socially unacceptable, morally wrong, and theologically impossible.

The letter says, ‘We risk creating a two-tier society, a medical apartheid in which an underclass of people who decline vaccination are excluded from significant areas of public life.’

It adds, ‘As Christian leaders we wish to state that we envisage no circumstances in which we could close our doors to those who do not have a vaccine passport, negative test certificate, or any other “proof of health”.’

Church wins settlement after its venue booking was cancelled over its biblical belief in marriage

A church that was thrown out of its hired venue because of its beliefs about marriage has won an important legal settlement.

The outcome has been welcomed by Stirling Free Church, its minister (Iain Macaskill, pictured) saying, ‘finally justice has been done.’

For its Sunday services the church had hired a venue owned by the Robertson Trust, Scotland’s largest grant-making trust.

But when the Trust’s chairperson, Shonaig Macpherson, found out about the church’s views in favour of biblical marriage, the booking was cancelled.

The Trust also cancelled an event booking taken out by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

But now the Trust accepts it broke the law by discriminating against these two Christian groups.

It has apologised to both groups and says it will pay a substantial contribution towards the legal costs.

The hearing of the claim started in the Sheriff Court at Glasgow in April last year and was due to resume in December, but the settlement now brings the case to a close.

The settlement follows an employment tribunal ruling in July last year that the Trust’s former CEO, Kenneth Ferguson, was also the victim of religious discrimination.

The tribunal ruled that he was unfairly dismissed by the Trust and its chair, Shonaig Macpherson, when he was sacked in 2020.

Macpherson was angry when she learned that Stirling Free Church, where Kenneth is an elder, was hiring trust premises for its Sunday meetings.

Records shown to the employment tribunal revealed her hostility to the church’s belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

The Employment Tribunal is yet to decide the level of damages in Mr Ferguson’s employment claim.

Responding to the settlement of the cancelled-venue case, Stirling Free Church minister Iain Macaskill said, ‘It has been a long time coming but finally justice has been done.

‘Our legal action was never about financial compensation. It was about the principle.’

He added, ‘Christians have the same legal rights as everyone else and the outcome of this case affirms that.’

The case was backed by The Christian Institute’s Legal Defence Fund.

Spokesman Simon Calvert said, ‘This settlement will go a long way towards reassuring religious organisations that they can expect to be able to use The Robertson Trust’s facilities without discrimination.

‘They’ve admitted they got this wrong, they’ve apologised, and they’ve made a substantial contribution towards legal costs. I think everyone can welcome that.

‘This settlement is another important reminder that if you discriminate against Christians for their beliefs, whether you do so in the workplace or the marketplace, you are probably breaking the law.

‘Equality and human rights law firmly protects the ability of Christians to hold and express their beliefs, whether on sexual ethics or anything else.’

People are staying at home to watch ‘online church’ instead of attending in person, new report suggests

Church attendance fell in the year 2021 with more people watching worship services online following the Covid-19 lockdown.

That’s the finding of a troubling new report titled Changing Church, published by the Evangelical Alliance (EA).

The report reveals that the vast majority of churches are back to in-person services following the Covid-19 lockdown.

But the average in-person attendance at church services has dropped by 32 per cent, with the report’s authors stating this may be partly due to a rise in people watching online.

The survey, carried out by Stewardship and Eido Research, garnered responses from 552 evangelical church leaders and 1,676 evangelical church members.

The EA says that the survey was open between 14 and 24 October and people self-selected to take part. Therefore, the results cannot be assumed to be representative of the UK church.

‘However,’ the EA said, ‘the large number of respondents, the even spread of responses from throughout the UK and across different denominations, and the quality and variety of answers to the open questions, allow us to trust that this data is a valuable source of information on the state of the UK evangelical church at this time.’

The research found nearly 60 per cent of church leaders have perceived a decrease in volunteering and a reduction in congregational giving.

But the report also found that most church leaders and members felt their emotional wellbeing was either good or very good.

The EA said, ‘We were surprised with this finding as it doesn’t match up with stories we are hearing from church leaders and individuals we know.’

In a statement, the EA said the survey painted one version of the picture of what is happening across the UK church.

It said, ‘It’s not definitive but the EA hopes something of what is here resonates with people’s experiences and that it provides people with insight to be able to plan for the future.’

Commenting on the latest survey, Richard Powney (pictured), lead theology researcher at the Evangelical Alliance, said the church continued to face a ‘changing, and at times challenging, landscape’.

He commented, ‘This is an opportunity to reflect and reset, to ask strategic conversations and hold formative conversations as we learn some lessons from lockdown.

‘As we do this, let’s pray that we all remain committed to making Jesus known through our words and actions.’

The Queen speaks of ‘supreme task’ of spreading the gospel

Her Majesty the Queen has encouraged the Church of England to preach the gospel and spread it across the UK.

In her speech to the Opening Session of the 11th General Synod, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II urged the church to continue in its ‘supreme task’, which is ‘to bring the people of this country to the knowledge and the love of God’.

The speech, which was delivered in her absence by the Earl of Wessex at Church House in Westminster, said the church must focus on the unchanging Gospel of Christ.

In the speech, the Queen said, ‘It is hard to believe that it has been more than 50 years since Prince Philip and I attended the very first meeting of the General Synod.

‘None of us can slow the passage of time; and while we often focus on all that has changed in the intervening years, much remains unchanged, including the Gospel of Christ and his teachings.’

She listed the tasks that faced that first synod and acknowledged that many of these are still very familiar more than 50 years on, including Christian education and Christian unity.

But she added, ‘One task stands out supreme: to bring the people of this country to the knowledge and the love of God.’

In 2016, the Bible Society and others produced a book called The Servant Queen and the King She Serves, with a foreword written by Her Majesty herself, in which she spoke of her faith.

Whistleblower blasts ‘rigid’ gender rules at NHS clinic

Children are being rushed into transgender treatments just because they don’t conform to ‘rigid’ gender stereotypes, says a whistleblowing doctor.

Dr David Bell (pictured) says the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust is too quick to conclude that a child is gender confused if, as a girl, she doesn’t like ‘pink ribbons and dollies’.

The consultant psychiatrist has branded the trust’s Gender Identity Development Service as ‘not fit for purpose’.

Dr Bell, who has been called a whistleblower, claimed the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust has a ‘rigid, binary construction of gender’.

He told a recent conference that the service’s ‘only acceptable explanation’ for children who are ‘unwilling or unable to conform to gender stereotypes’ is that they are transgender.

Dr Bell, who resigned from the trust in 2021, had published an internal report in 2019 which claimed at the time that the service was not fit for purpose.

In 2019, he concluded that ‘children’s needs are being met in a woeful, inadequate manner and some will live on with the damaging consequences’.

But as nothing had changed, Dr Bell resigned and has publicly blasted the Tavistock and Portman trust.

In his talk to the conference, Dr Bell summarised the service’s ‘construction of gender’ as ‘if you don’t like pink ribbons and dollies, you are not really a girl’.

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust has a long history of controversy when it comes to treating children’s gender identity.

Last year, lead safeguarding officer Sonia Appleby said staff at the Trust’s Gender Identity Development Service were discouraged from speaking to her after she reported concerns over the use of puberty blockers.

Pro-life victory as MP’s extreme abortion proposals fail to pass

Pro-life campaigners have welcomed a recent failure to pass an ‘extreme abortion’ proposal through the UK Parliament.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and others called the failure of Diana Johnson (pictured) MP’s amendment to go to a vote a ‘significant pro-life victory’.

The amendment would have changed the Offences Against the Person Act so that the current medical and legal safeguards that prevent a woman from performing her own abortion without the involvement of a registered abortion provider would have been removed through to 28 weeks.

Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right to Life UK, called the defeat ‘a significant victory for the unborn child and women facing unplanned pregnancies’.

There was also strong support for the three pro-life amendments to abortion legislation that were tabled to the bill.

These proposed a reduction to the abortion time limit, a ban on sex-selective abortion, and an end to abortion up to birth for disabilities including Down’s syndrome, cleft lip, and club foot.

These amendments were probing amendments, not taken to a vote, but MPs across different parties showed their support for these amendments by signing them.

Carla Lockhart MP, one of the cross-party group of MPs who tabled the amendments, said, ‘The public support for Heidi Crowter’s court case seeking to end abortion up to birth for disabilities such as Down’s syndrome, cleft lip, and club foot has shown that abortion legislation needs to be urgently updated in this area.’

Meanwhile, information from 85 NHS Trusts has revealed that one in 17 women have ended up in hospital recently following abortion complications.

The data, published by Percuity, assessed more than 10,000 cases of post-abortive women needing treatment for retained products of conception since the government’s Pills-by-Post service began in March 2020.

The data also revealed that 2.3 per cent of women having an induced medical abortion are subsequently treated at an NHS hospital for haemorrhage.

The Care for Women coalition has urged the Department of Health to carry out a full examination of how it gathers data about complications following DIY medical abortions, and to bring a swift end to the dangerous service.

Ceremony marks Christian school’s new building

There is much debate over the various influences upon the lives of children as they grow up.

Parents, teachers, school governors, and many concerned Christians are in a quandary about exactly how schooling should impact children’s lives. What effect is technology having, for example, upon children’s social lives?

A group of parents in Fulham, London, believe that the historic Christian faith makes a vital and beneficial contribution to the education of any child. After meetings, discussions, and planning, the Fulham Boys School came into being in 2014.

A group of staff, children, and parents were there at the commencement of the school. It was an enormous challenge entailing years of hard work with lots of ups and downs.

Seven years on, the school is in a healthy state. It is now oversubscribed, had a cracking set of GCSE results in 2021, and boasts a cabinet full of sports trophies.

The school recently moved into a magnificent modern building on one of London’s major thoroughfares. Opening day was 9 September last year, and witnessed the boys’ brass band playing and one of the teachers singing.

BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards was present at the ceremony and clearly got along well with fellow Welshman Alun Ebenezer, the brilliant choice for the school’s first headteacher.

Other entertainment on offer included the eight-man singing group from Wales called Only Men Aloud.

They were terrific and sang a dozen songs, including ‘Amazing Grace’, the Welsh hymn ‘Calon Lan’, and a selection of Tom Jones’s hits, including ‘Delilah’, which we were invited to join in with.

Three videos were also shown to those assembled. Featuring interviews with staff and students, including Christians and Muslims, the videos gave an insight into how the school works and its Christian approach to education.

The whole ethos of Christianity was sensitively presented to the almost 1,000 people who were gathered. It was very effective.

Geoff Thomas

Brian Whittaker inducted to Swindon Evangelical Church

It was with much thankfulness that we formally inducted Brian Whittaker as associate pastor at Swindon Evangelical Church last September.

Brian trained for ministry at Oakhill Theological College. He then moved to Cwmbran, becoming assistant pastor at Pontrhydyrun Baptist Church.

Jonny Raine (pastor of Pontrhydyrun) was in attendance and preached helpfully from 2 Timothy 1:6-14.

Brian’s call to ministry at SEC was an answer to prayer. I had pastored the church for 25 years and had plans to retire. We advertised for a new pastor and Brian was among the men who responded.

In the course of time, the elders felt led to extend a call to Brian as associate pastor, intentionally to overlap with my tenure.

Brian has been working for the church since February 2021, largely remotely due to the pandemic. However, the Lord has already begun to knit pastor and people together, and Brian and Becca have received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from the church family.

SEC has been encouraged by several conversions and baptisms during the last 18 months – a reminder that God is never in ‘lockdown’!

SEC will celebrate its 100th anniversary in January 2023, followed by an evangelistic mission as part of a series of meetings to thank the Lord for his great faithfulness in maintaining a clear gospel witness in Old Town, Swindon, for a century.

Paul Williams

Grace Baptist Assembly panel to consider how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted the life of churches

A panel of four speakers will answer questions at this year’s Grace Baptist Assembly about how the Covid-19 crisis has affected churches.

Although at recent Assemblies one speaker has addressed the main topic, a return to a panel discussion was chosen this time round to give varying perspectives based on biblical insight and practical experience.

As the publicity says, ‘We need to talk. It’s been a difficult time, hard to cope with. Things have changed since we last met. We need to take stock. We need to think about the future.’

The panel will be: Chris Hand, Pastor of Crich Baptist Church, Derbyshire; James Mildred, Elder of Trinity Road Chapel, Tooting, London; Robert Strivens, Pastor of Bradford on Avon Baptist Church; and Mike Judge, Pastor of Chorlton Evangelical Church, Manchester.

Questions will be set for the panel so they can respond and interact over them, along with contributions from the floor. The aim is ‘to return home thinking more clearly about church life in our changed world’.

Also speaking at the Assembly will be Phil Arthur, from North Preston Evangelical Church, who will look back in history to consider Baptists who had to live and worship in a time of upheaval and revolution: what have they to teach us?

Phil Heaps, Pastor of Highbury Baptist Church, will preach in the evening sessions. The Assembly will be opened by Colin Grimwood, Pastor of Grundisburgh Baptist Church, and closed by Ole Kristian Hunt, full time elder at Grace Baptist Church, Ulverston.

More information at the Grace Baptist Assembly website.

‘Choose God over fear’, Edinburgh youth conference told

People from all over Scotland recently gathered at Grace Baptist Church, Edinburgh, for the first post-lockdown SALT youth conference of 2021.

The conference theme was, ‘After a year of zero choice, now what?’ Speakers included Oliver Allmand-Smith, pictured (Trinity Grace Church, Ramsbottom) and Ali McLachlan (Grace Baptist Edinburgh).

Ali began by exploring the question, ‘After a year of being told how to live, what should we choose now?’

Referring to Jesus’s healing of two blind men in Matthew 20, Ali emphasised that we should know for ourselves what we want (with Christ desired above all), and that we should be wary of others on social media telling us what we ought to want.

Oliver then challenged us to follow Christ through all of life’s hardships, just as the blind men did who followed Jesus after they were healed.

‘How do I respond to a world changed by fear?’ was the topic of the next talk.

Using Isaiah 54, Oliver challenged us to choose God over fear, for if we fear him then there remains nothing else to fear – Covid included!

Following lunch, Oliver addressed the next big question: ‘What does the choice to follow Christ really look like?’

Drawing from 2 Chronicles 15, Oliver presented seven characteristics of someone wholeheartedly devoted to God.

The final session of the conference was again taken up by Ali when he provided an answer to the question, ‘Is it right to want an excellent life?’ with Philippians 1:9-14 as his text.

He explained that to live a life focused on glorifying God and serving him in his church is itself an excellent life.

In fact, it is not possible to have an excellent life without God; with Christ in our hearts our life is complete!

William Frizelle

Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) gathers for 2021 School in Theology

The 68th School in Theology recently gathered in Carronvale House, Larbert, after the hiatus of the previous year.

The chief aim of the School is a combination of instruction and fellowship. Theological reflection upon a range of topics is provided over three and a half days.

This year the School opened with a paper on the controversy between Whitefield and the Seceders, the latter of whom have been unfairly portrayed as short-sighted, narrow-minded, and extremist.

On day two, Revd Aaron Lewis spoke on Revitalising the Diaconal Ministry, showing its necessity and usefulness to others. The Branch passages in Zechariah were ably tackled by Revd William Macleod.

The missionary slot was via Zoom with Revd Shanmugam Partheepan in Sri Lanka. He updated the School on current events regarding Covid and lockdown, ministerial challenges, congregational needs, and future plans.

The day ended with a thrilling examination of the Presence of God by Revd Malcolm Watts (Salisbury).

On day three, Revd Murdo Angus Macleod gave a challenging paper on preaching to the conscience. After defining ‘conscience’, he proceeded to demonstrate from biblical examples the effectiveness of application.

How often application to the soul is absent! With judicious analysis of Scripture, we saw how and why application was essential.

Revd Iain Smith treated us to a stimulating paper on the New Heavens and New Earth as used in Isaiah, Peter, and Revelation.

The School ended with Revd David Fraser exhorting us not to lose heart. From scriptural, personal, and historic examples he showed the source of losing heart (pride), the response to losing heart, and directives to sustain hope.

E. Trevor Kirkland

From Russia to Radcliffe Road Baptist Church: Russell Phillips inducted to the pastorate in Bury

Saturday 18 September last year was a significant day in the life of Radcliffe Road Baptist Church, Bury. Many gathered to recognise Russell Phillips (pictured) as the new minister.

While studying Russian at Cambridge, Russell travelled to Novosibirsk, Russia, with IFES and was involved in student ministry and outreach.

There he met his future wife Oxana, and they eventually married in Scotland in 1999.

Shortly thereafter, Russell began training at the Free Church of Scotland College, Edinburgh.

In 2004, the family were commissioned to return to Novosibirsk for ministry with local Russian Baptist Churches.

Russell spent the next fifteen years in student outreach, church ministry, and seminary teaching among the Russian Baptists.

After initially serving alongside a Russian pastor (Andrey Melnikov), Russell planted and pastored a church in Novosibirsk.

In 2020, the church in Bury was able to pursue its search for a minister despite the pandemic, and has been able to recognise God’s providential hand in the outworking of many details in answer to our prayers.

Both the church and the Phillips family rejoice in God’s kindness and leading. Russell, Oxana, and their three daughters moved to Bury in June.

Derek Lamont, senior minister of St Columba’s Free Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, preached at the recognition service. His text was Proverbs 4:23: ‘Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.’

With both encouragement and challenge, Derek reminded us that true Christian religion is always of the heart: ‘It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus’ (R. M. M’Cheyne).

Clive Bullock

India: More states push anti-conversion law

Karnataka has become the 10th Indian state to criminalise forced conversions, and Christians are concerned that this rule will sweep up ordinary conversions in its long tail.

Last September, Basavaraj Bommai (pictured), the chief minister of Karnataka, India, announced that the state government intends to introduce an anti-conversion law.

But in October, the state authorities launched an investigation into all Christian activity within the jurisdiction.

The Christian community, which, according to the 2011 census, comprises just under 2 per cent of the state’s population, strongly opposed the action, staging a demonstration on 25 October in Hubballi.

But later in October, Hindu extremists forcibly entered Bairidevarkoppa Church, Hubballi.

Police then questioned Pastor Somu Avaradhi after an individual complained of being taken to the church to be converted, an accusation he strenuously denied.

Then, on Sunday 7 November, extremists forced their way into a prayer hall in Belagavi district, claiming Pastor Lema Cherian was conducting illegal conversions.

They locked some 30 Christians in the room until the police arrived. Police made no arrests.

Elsewhere, Christians have also come under scrutiny. Indian Christians have been targeted consistently and increasingly.

Release International reports that a number of pastors in Uttar Pradesh state have been arrested and detained without bail under the state’s anti-conversion law during the past few months.

Police arrested Pastor Nandu Nathaniel and his wife Savita Singh in October last year while he was leading the Sunday church service. Both have been sent to Azamgarh district jail. Bail has twice been denied.

Meanwhile, pastors in Madhya Pradesh, one of the states with anti-conversion laws, have started to document the names of Christians attending church services in order to protect themselves against false allegations of illegal religious conversions.

According to Barnabas Fund, this move has been made necessary after several instances of uninvited visitors infiltrating meetings claiming to have been victims of forced conversion.

Christians are not the only religious group to come under threat in India. In Madhya Pradesh, for example, the Jain community, which has a strong foothold in the state, has also experienced persecution.

Barnabas Fund and Release have urged Christians around the world to pray for Christians in India. In a newsletter, Barnabas Fund said, ‘Lift up Christians in Karnataka to the Lord.

‘Pray that any investigation conducted into Christians’ activities will bring the beauty of Christ’s life-transforming power to sharp focus (Colossians 1:21-22).

‘Pray for an end to the violent attacks on Christian worship services. Ask that Christians in Madhya Pradesh will know Divine wisdom in protecting themselves against false accusations.’

US: Crucial Mississippi abortion case heard by Supreme Court

A case has been heard by the US Supreme Court which lays a direct challenge to Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling which legalised abortion across America.

The new case, from Mississippi, is called Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisaton and stems from a 2018 law which bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

When the law came into force in Mississippi, many lower courts blocked its enforcement, as it went far beyond Roe v Wade, which allows a woman to abort within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

It has been argued by pro-abortion groups that the new law, limiting abortion to just 15 weeks, violates the 1973 ruling.

While the outcome of the hearings in the US Supreme Court will not be known until summer 2022, protesters on both sides have held vigil outside the courtroom.

And, with a largely conservative membership among the justices, news reports have suggested the US Supreme Court will uphold the 2018 law.

This could set a precedent that ends up overturning the nearly 50-year-old Roe v Wade ruling and could have an impact around the world.

Elyssa Koren (pictured), director of UN advocacy for ADF International, called the case ‘an opportunity for the Court to uphold Mississippi’s law protecting unborn children and their mothers, affirm that life is a human right, and overturn the harmful precedent set in 1973 by Roe v. Wade’.

The US is joined by only seven other countries, including the UK, China, and North Korea, in allowing abortion on demand after 20 weeks gestational age.

In England, Scotland, and Wales, you can legally have an abortion up to 23 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy, in line with the Abortion Act 1967.

Koren added, ‘Mississippi, on the other hand, exercised its rightful prerogative to protect life after 15 weeks, which is still a later gestational limit than most of Europe.

‘At this stage, a child has a heartbeat, can move and kick, and can taste the food that her mother eats.

‘This law also promotes the well-being of women, recognising that women deserve better than abortion, and rather should receive meaningful help and support.

‘The outcome of this case will have a significant impact in the US and across the world.

‘Domestically, the case casts doubt on the legitimacy of American abortion jurisprudence. Abroad, it is a reminder the US has far from settled its internal abortion debate.’

US: Megachurch haul of mega-bucks investigated by police

Police have begun an investigation after a plumber found large amounts of cash and cheques stashed in a bathroom wall at America’s Lakewood megachurch.

The church is led by Pastor Joel Osteen (pictured). The church had reported a burglary in March 2014, with undisclosed amounts of money apparently going missing.

However, late last year (2021), a plumber doing repair work at the church found hundreds of envelopes stowed away.

According to CNN, police have confirmed the missing loot is connected to a massive 2014 theft at the Houston megachurch, when approximately $600,000 worth of cheques, money orders, and cash went missing from a safe.

In a statement from the police, burglary and theft officers inventoried and documented the recovered money and left it in the custody of the church, because it was property found on its premises.

The plumber who found the money told a local radio station that he had been removing a tile behind a loose toilet during a renovation, pulled some insulation out of the way, and found about ‘500 envelopes’.

He reported it immediately and has been given $20,000 of the original $25,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers of Houston back in 2014 when the theft was first noted.

A Crime Stoppers Houston official told the New York Times that the $20,000 had been donated by Lakewood Church.

Crime Stoppers still has a $5,000 reward in place for the case, but only for information that leads to an arrest.

A spokesperson for the church, which has about 52,000 attendees throughout the week for various services, made a statement to the press.

The statement read, ‘Recently, while repair work was being done at Lakewood Church, an undisclosed amount of cash and checks were found. Lakewood immediately notified the Houston Police Department and is assisting them with their investigation.’

Canada: Bill to ban ‘conversion therapy’ is fast-tracked into law

Canada has become the latest nation to ban ‘conversion therapy’ after a bill was passed by the Commons and the Senate.

The new law makes it illegal for anyone to ‘repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour’.

Critics say the law – which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years – could interfere with freedom of speech and religious liberty.

Some politicians have said it could criminalise private conversations about sexuality or gender identity between children and teachers, religious leaders, or mental health professionals.

But Federal Justice Minister David Lametti claims that those objections are unfounded.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals proposed the measure, but its passage was supported by politicians on both sides of the aisle.

The Conservatives decided to expedite the bill without changes, much to the surprise of the Liberals.

The Conservatives had been told they would be given a free vote and, as previously, around half were expected to vote against.

However, in a surprise move, Conservative MP Rob Moore introduced a motion to progress the bill rapidly through all three stages.

This allowed the bill to bypass committee stages and any other scrutiny. No opposition was declared to the motion.

So the bill also avoided a division and immediately progressed to the Senate where it was easily passed.

The move to fast-track the bill came as a surprise because 62 Conservative MPs had previously raised concerns over the bill and voted against implementing the ban in the last Parliament.

It is believed that the leader of the Conservatives, Erin O’Toole (pictured), wants to frame himself as a more progressive leader.

However, during the 2021 election campaign, the party’s platform included a commitment to seek amendments to clarify that ‘the ban does not criminalize non-coercive conversations’.

A ban on ‘conversion therapy’ in England and Wales is currently being considered by the government in London, but no detailed legislation has yet been proposed.

A similar law in the Australian state of Victoria has led to pastors being told not to call homosexual practices sinful.

Nepal: Pastor sentenced for evangelism

Pastor Keshab Raj Acharya (pictured with his wife), 32, has been sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 20,000 Nepali rupees for ‘outraging religious feelings’ and ‘proselytising’ in Nepal.

According to reports from advocacy group ADF International, Pastor Keshab received a call on 23 March 2021 from a man requesting prayer for his sick wife.

In response, Pastor Keshab invited the man to come to his house for prayer. When the knock at the door came later, four police officers were there to arrest him.

The pastor was released on 8 April only to be re-arrested moments later because he had been distributing gospel tracts.

The Dolpa District Attorney’s office filed charges on 21 May under Nepal’s Criminal Code which prohibits converting anyone from one religion to another.

Nigeria: Northern churches threatened with attack unless they agree to close

Christian churches in Zamfara State, northern Nigeria, have been threatened with attack unless they close down and stop meeting for worship.

According to church leaders in the area, the threats, which were sent in a letter to Nigerian police and security services, are believed to have come from Islamist militants.

As a result, the Christian Association of Nigeria’s Zamfara branch has directed churches not to hold meetings after dark (5.00 p.m.) for the next three months.

Police in the state have also advised Christians to intensify their security in all places of worship, pastors’ houses, and other Christian buildings.

An unnamed church leader in the area told Barnabas Fund partners, ‘Let’s pray for Christians in northern Nigeria, especially in Zamfara State, as we are issued an ultimatum to close all churches in the state.’

According to Barnabas Fund reports, Detective Superintendent Mohammed Shehu, spokesperson for Zamfara police, confirmed the letter had been sent threatening churches ‘to stop worship and to close’.

It is understood the police have been taking the threats seriously enough to create a special squad to patrol and protect worshippers, especially on Sundays.

OBITUARIES

Alec Taylor (1937–2021)

Many ET readers will feel a sense of loss as we report the home-call of Alec Taylor. Alec was widely known and loved as a pastor, preacher, writer, counsellor, and friend.

Born in Birmingham, he came to Christ at the age of thirteen through the witness of Pentecostal believers. He began to attend the local Pentecostal church, where he preached his first sermon at the age of fifteen (the text was Job 37:14).

After serving in the RAF, he began training for Christian service at the WEC college in Glasgow. There he was exposed to Reformed doctrine through such men as Eric Alexander and Matthew Francis and through such writers as Charles Hodge and A. W. Pink.

He went home to Birmingham convinced of the doctrines of grace and began to attend Selly Park Baptist Church, where he benefited greatly from Keith Mawdsley’s preaching.

In 1973, Alec and a number of friends began church-planting in the area of Chelmsley Wood. The work began with eight people meeting in a community hall, and they saw rapid growth.

In 1975, Alec was recognised as pastor, though he continued to support himself by his work as a Shop Controller for Lucas, one of Birmingham’s most prominent manufacturing companies.

Ken Matrunola preached at his recognition service; a young lady called Beverley from Mr Matrunola’s church was in the congregation on that occasion.

Alec and Beverley were married in September of the following year. Their son Alastair was born in 1978, Philip in 1980.

From 1985, Alec laboured full-time in the pastorate. In 1988, he began writing his Pilgrim Bible notes, initially to help one lady who struggled to make sense of the book of Job.

He continued writing and revising his notes right up to his last days in this world; they have been distributed in countries across the world and translated into many languages. Some have been republished in book form and widely used.

Alec stepped down from his full-time ministry in 2002, but continued part-time as pastor at Chelmsley Wood. He finally retired from the pastorate in 2005, but continued as an elder until he and Beverley moved to Trowbridge late in 2010.

His experiences in Pentecostalism left him wary of departures from historic evangelical and Reformed Christianity. He was concerned to warn believers and churches against error, but did so in the kindest and most constructive way.

In recent years he benefited from and much appreciated Robert Strivens’s ministry at Bradford on Avon Baptist Church. Our sympathies and prayers are with Beverley, Alastair, Phil, and the wider family.

Alec’s Pilgrim Bible Notes are available for free download from ggoj.org.uk.

Stephen Rees

Melvin Tinker (1955–2021)

What were the providential gifts by which God enabled Revd Melvin Tinker to grow one of the biggest churches in northern England, author nearly 20 books, and befriend so many Christians from all walks of life?

Part of his character was formed by his straight-talking grandfather, a Royal Marine who served in World War 1.

Some of the warm humour and determination came from his father, a Nottingham miner.

A comprehensive school introduced Melvin not only to books but a Methodist preacher’s family, who befriended him and introduced him to Jesus.

‘I wanted to argue, but they had genuine faith. I am so thankful to God for their witness,’ recalled Melvin.

Having been trained at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Melvin served as chaplain to Keele University and vicar to All Hallows Cheadle.

What led Melvin to sense a call to Hull – a city with real deprivation and the lowest church attendance of any English city?

It was partly through his marriage to Heather Halls. They met at Hull University CU, where in his first year Melvin offered to be a speaker (and rejoiced to see a person saved!).

For years Heather and Melvin had prayed for Hull. Melvin said, ‘I wanted to see the reality of what Lloyd Jones saw – the gospel warming hearts of folk from all backgrounds. Jesus is not just for the educated or middle class – he is for all.’

So it came to be that Melvin and Heather embarked on 26 years’ ministry at St John’s, Newland. The church grew to see some 500 attending each Sunday.

In his final year before retirement, Melvin led his church out of the Church of England, convinced that only in so doing could it be secure.

With a desire to help people live out their faith in a culturally aware way, Melvin wrote books addressing issues such as euthanasia and cultural Marxism.

International speaking engagements were taken in the USA, Cameroon, and Australia. Melvin had a special concern for Africa and often visited George Whitefield College, South Africa.

Principal Mark Dickson said, ‘I have been greatly encouraged by Melvin’s outspoken stand for the gospel and his courage in the face of strong criticism.

‘I remember his urgent appeal to ministers of the gospel to stand firm and not give in to compromise. His book tour in 2016 was a highlight for so many of God’s people.’

Late last November, Melvin died of cancer, aged 66. He is survived by his wife Heather and three sons Christopher, Michael, and Philip.

Peter Sanlon

REVIEWS

The Child is Father of the Man: C. H. Spurgeon

Tom Nettles

Christian Focus Publications

224 pages; £9.99

ISBN:978-1-52710-648-2

BUY

I wonder of how many preachers it can sadly be said, ‘He’s not the man that he was,’ and it’s not because he’s gone grey, put on weight, or lost ground physically or mentally. It’s because his convictions have changed – and not for the better. Or it’s because he’s not the godly man that he was in his earlier days.

The subject of this title is the great English Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. In all the things that matter in a Christian minister, Spurgeon was the opposite of the one just described. He continued to be the man that he was; his early convictions he retained to the end. And through all his successes and sufferings – and both were always great – he remained a faithful, humble, zealous servant of Christ and his people.

It is this beautiful constancy that is Tom Nettles’s theme. The Child is the Father of the Man is not a biography of Spurgeon (Nettles has already written a major one, Living by Revealed Truth). In this book – as he puts it himself – his aim is to trace out ‘ten key convictions that appeared before or immediately after Spurgeon’s conversion, matured in power and clarity throughout his ministry, and consistently disciplined him for an “All-Round Ministry” as an all-round preacher’ (p.14).

So what are the ten? The first was his life-long commitment to historic Calvinism. At the age of 21 Spurgeon could say, ‘I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines which are called by nickname, Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus.’ That love never waned.

Other chapters deal with his commitment to believers’ baptism, his convictions about preaching, his passion for soul-winning, his determination to contend for the faith, his readiness to endure men’s hostility, and his unwavering belief in an inspired Bible. There is also a very moving chapter on his experience of depression and how throughout his ministry his personal sufferings enabled him to be a comfort to others.

One of the great strengths – indeed delights – of the book is the way in which it allows Spurgeon to speak for himself. Every chapter is copiously illustrated by things Spurgeon said, especially from his sermons.

Like everything good that has been written about Spurgeon, this book will be helpful to preachers. No serious-minded Christian, however, will fail to profit from it.

David Campbell

Preston

Men and Women in the Church: A short, biblical, practical introduction

Kevin DeYoung

Crossway Books

176 pages; £14.99

ISBN:978-1-43356-653-0

BUY

In his introduction, Kevin DeYoung says, ‘I have often wished for a book… that explained the Bible’s teaching about men and women in the church in a way that the interested layperson could understand, that is a size that he or she could read in a few hours.’ This book is the result and it meets the author’s wish admirably.

As a complementarian, DeYoung argues that although men and women were both created in the image of God and are of equal worth and dignity, God has given them different primary vocations. Beginning in Genesis, he shows that the man’s primary vocation is ‘naming, taming, dividing, and ruling’, whereas the woman’s involves ‘filling, glorifying, generating, establishing communion and bringing forth new life’ (p.33).

Moving through the Old Testament, the author brings out the pattern that only men exercise official leadership, providing for and protecting their households. From the New Testament, he shows how Jesus affirmed women’s worth and gladly benefitted from their ministry; yet Old Testament principles were confirmed as Jesus chose only men for positions of authority. A whole chapter is spent in 1 Corinthians, considering the matters of hair length, head coverings, and women being silent in the church.

DeYoung argues convincingly from Scripture that, as women should not teach or exercise authority over men, they should not hold positions of leadership or preach in the church. He addresses the more common objections to this viewpoint, and the appendix is devoted to a more thorough argument against women preaching.

As a woman reading this book, I was encouraged to see DeYoung affirming throughout the book the importance of a woman’s role in the family, the church, and in society in general. He is at pains to point out that submission in no way suggests inferiority (as shown in the Holy Trinity as the Son submits to the will of the Father).

He directly addresses those who have been hurt by the misuse of complementarian teaching as an excuse to mistreat others. ‘The truest form of biblical complementarity calls on men to protect women, honor women, speak kindly and thoughtfully to women, and to find every appropriate way to learn from them and include them in life and ministry – in the home and in the church’ (p.17).

Throughout the book, the author emphasises the valuable roles which women can play in the church. He notes that many spiritually-minded women have ventured into areas of teaching and authority because men have relinquished their God-given mandate to lead, protect, and provide. So rather than his message being ‘Women, sit down’, it is ‘Men, stand up’.

A well-balanced book which encourages both men and women to consider and live out their God-given calling.

Jan Rhys

South Wales

Sanctification: Transformed Life

David Campbell

Banner of Truth

120 pages; £5.00

ISBN:978-1-84871-826-5

BUY

Is it possible to adequately cover the enormous doctrine of sanctification in just over 100 pages? Having read this slim volume I must reply unequivocally, ‘Yes.’

The book begins with a most helpful brief introduction explaining the book’s subtitle, Transformed Life. The opening chapter sets out the Bible’s teaching on sanctification as it connects with other major theological truths. The remaining 12 chapters act as a guided tour of the life of sanctification as it works out practically in the believer.

The book is highly commended, especially for young believers, as it deals with every aspect of holiness and how believers are to pursue it. In 13 brief chapters we are given nearly 240 Bible references on which the writer bases his teaching, showing how pervasive this theme of holiness is. The author helpfully addresses some divergent views of sanctification in a lucid, convincing, and winsome way.

This is my first acquaintance with the Banner of Truth ‘mini guides’, which aim to encourage Christians who read little to read more. Probably the strength of this book is that it says what needs to be said but encourages further reading. This is done on the last two pages, which give 4 titles under each of the categories of ‘Where to start’, ‘In more detail’, and ‘The bigger picture’.

This book is both searching and encouraging. It is a model of how to communicate the truth of God’s Word, a ‘must-read’ for believers, young and old alike, and it deserves a very wide readership.

Andrew Swanson

Cyprus

‘Here are your gods!’ Faithful discipleship in idolatrous times

Christopher J. H. Wright

IVP

176 pages; £9.99

ISBN:978-1-78974-231-2

BUY

‘Here are your gods!’ was written in the aftermath of three events that left Chris Wright angry and depressed: the Brexit vote and the elections of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.

Part One explores perceptively the subject of idolatry. Wright elucidates from Scripture (especially the Old Testament) the nature of idolatry and exposes some of the similar idols of our own times. He believes that Paul was more direct in confronting idolatry in the church than in the world.

Part Two deals with ‘Political idolatry then and now’. The author mentions colonialism, genocide, poverty and inequality, populism and nationalism, sexual confusion and family breakdown, ecological devastation, and ‘the war on truth’. Referencing The Guardian, he points out that you could fill a minibus with the men whose wealth equals that of the poorest half of the world. Because the judgment of God operates in history, he believes that these evils will lead to national collapse.

Part Three concerns how Christians are to live in an idolatrous world, and suggests that prayers for those in authority should include lament, protest, and a longing for justice. However, the present reviewer feels that, by defining the church’s mission broadly enough to include compassion, justice, and creation care alongside evangelism and teaching, the author is confusing the callings of Christians personally with the task of the church. He sees that the idea of Christendom is a mistake, and also the politicisation of evangelicals in the US – but the state church in the UK is curiously passed over.

Not everyone will concur with Wright that social and economic evils are more serious biblically than sexual misconduct, and there is little concern about the size and reach of the modern state or government debt.

But much is on target. The book will be of most benefit to those who hold a different political position to the author.

Mark Richards

Chesham, Buckinghamshires

How to Live an ‘In Christ’ Life: 100 devotional readings on union with Christ

Kenneth Berding

Christian Focus Publications

256 pages; £10.99

ISBN:978-1-5270-559-1

BUY

This book is a spiritual tonic! If your spiritual life has become dry, and you have lost sight of the wonder of being ‘in Christ’, this is the book for you.

The author begins by addressing the question of what it means to be ‘in’ someone else (his answer: ‘It means that you are so connected to the other that your life is no longer defined by you’, p.17). Each chapter that follows is just two pages long and focuses on one or more phrases from the Apostle Paul in which he uses the phrase ‘in Christ’ (or some variant of it).

This is no academic treatise. Typically, each chapter begins with an illustration or anecdote from the author’s own experience, before helpfully opening up the topic in hand.

The book is divided into three sections: ‘Position and Identity in Christ’, ‘Daily Life in Christ’, and ‘Community and Mission in Christ’. Taken together, the chapters bring out very clearly how all of God’s blessings flow to us from our union with Christ, and how every aspect of our lives is impacted when we reflect on the privilege of being in him.

Though the book could be read as a daily devotional for a little over three months, you may well find yourself gorging on multiple chapters at a sitting! It is a book suitable for both the new and the mature Christian. While perhaps best suited for reading as part of one’s personal devotions, there is also a section of questions at the back for use in small group discussions, which could be useful.

Altogether, this book is highly recommended.

David Cooke

Banbury

Table of Contents

FEATURES

I became a Christian during the Covid crisis, and I’m so glad the church was open

Don’t be authentic

Why were our Reformers burnt?

I believe in God

Think little

How to prepare for the metaverse

Resolutions are not enough: Habits of grace for a new year

COMMENT

GUEST COLUMN: The seed of the gospel

A SHRINK THINKS... False identities

THINKING IT THROUGH: Christian friendship: A gift from God

A WALK WITH MR O: What do I do about my doubts?

CRUNCH POINTS: I’ve started a new job and I’m struggling to find a church.

FAMILY MATTERS: Part 4 - Bringing up children

NEWS

News in brief

Over 2,200 pastors say they would be willing to break a ban on conversion therapy

Face coverings required in churches in England under Covid-19 rules

Church wins settlement after its venue booking was cancelled over its biblical belief in marriage

People are staying at home to watch ‘online church’ instead of attending in person, new report suggests

The Queen speaks of ‘supreme task’ of spreading the gospel

Whistleblower blasts ‘rigid’ gender rules at NHS clinic

Pro-life victory as MP’s extreme abortion proposals fail to pass

Ceremony marks Christian school’s new building

Brian Whittaker inducted to Swindon Evangelical Church

Grace Baptist Assembly panel to consider how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted the life of churches

‘Choose God over fear’, Edinburgh youth conference told

Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) gathers for 2021 School in Theology

From Russia to Radcliffe Road Baptist Church: Russell Phillips inducted to the pastorate in Bury

India: More states push anti-conversion law

US: Crucial Mississippi abortion case heard by Supreme Court

US: Megachurch haul of mega-bucks investigated by police

Canada: Bill to ban ‘conversion therapy’ is fast-tracked into law

Nepal: Pastor sentenced for evangelism

Nigeria: Northern churches threatened with attack unless they agree to close

OBITUARIES

Alec Taylor (1937–2021)

Melvin Tinker (1955–2021)

REVIEWS

The Child is Father of the Man: C. H. Spurgeon

Men and Women in the Church: A short, biblical, practical introduction

Sanctification: Transformed Life

‘Here are your gods!’ Faithful discipleship in idolatrous times

How to Live an ‘In Christ’ Life: 100 devotional readings on union with Christ