Vol. 58 No. 1 | January 2024

£2.00

By Mike Judge, Editor

The government’s long-awaited transgender guidance for schools in England is likely to be a mixed bag of good and bad.

The government had promised to publish the guidance before Christmas, but it had not been made public before this edition of ET went to print in mid-December.

However, elements of the draft guidance were leaked to the press ahead of publication, giving some indication of the contents.

According to media reports, teachers who object in ‘good faith’ should not be compelled to use a pupil’s preferred gender pronoun.

If that is true, it will be welcomed by Christian teachers, although the details of the guidance are yet to fully scrutinised.

Head of the Association for Christian Teachers, Lizzie Harewood, told Premier Christian News, ‘This [pronouns

Transgender guidance

for schools likely to be

a confusing mixed bag

Lizzie Harewood, CEO of the Association for Christian Teachers (Source: ACT)

and gender identity] is one of the biggest issues that we get correspondence on from our members.

‘We get teachers who are concerned about being compelled to use preferred pronouns when they feel that that is a threat to their freedom of speech or their genuinely held religious convictions.

‘They believe, as I believe, that men and women are created, that sex is binary, and that God did not make mistakes when creating male and female.

‘And although this is a very sensitive topic, and young people need to be treated with great compassion and gentleness, actually affirming a child in a different gender is not going to be in their best interest.’

According to a report in The Guardian, the guidance is said to take ‘a presumption against’ children transitioning to a different gender at school.

But it is likely to allow them to change their preferred

names, pronouns, or uniforms. That would mark a climbdown from reports that some ministers were seeking to ban social transitioning within schools entirely.

It is thought they ruled out a ban on social transitioning after concluding it would require primary legislation to avoid conflicts with existing equality and discrimination law.

But the guidance may include a requirement that parents be informed if their children tell school staff they want to change their gender identity.

It is believed there are deep divisions within the government between those who are more pro-trans and those who are more trans-critical.

These internal government arguments are thought to have contributed the long delay, and they may also explain why the guidance isn’t as clear as either side would hope.

Comment, p.10

Top legal opinion slams private members bill to ban conversion practices

A leading lawyer says a private members bill to ban conversion practices would threaten fundamental freedoms.

In a legal opinion for The Christian Institute, Jason Coppel KC said Baroness Burt of Solihull’s bill is likely to intrude on key parental, religious, and free speech rights.

The bill seeks to impose unlimited fines for those deemed to offer ‘any practice’ that assumes ‘any sexual orientation or gender identity is inherently preferable to another’ and intends to ‘change’ or ‘suppress’ either.

Coppel’s opinion states, ‘It is very difficult to see how the wide-ranging

interference with fundamental rights contemplated by the Bill could be justified.

‘Put shortly, the Bill criminalises expressions of personal conviction even if they are made without expressions of hatred or intolerance, or improper purpose or coercion, or abuse of power.

‘Such an approach runs contrary to the consistent case law of the European Court of Human Rights.’

The full 19-page legal opinion is available from The Christian Institute’s website.

A similar private member’s bill to ban conversion therapy was introduced in the House of Commons.

2 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Revd Dr Bernard Randall (Credit: Christian Legal Centre)

National News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ofcom kids

porn block

Ofcom, the online safety regulator, has launched a public consultation on how to prevent children aged under 18 from accessing pornography online. The regulator is tasked with implementing age verification measures that were included in the recently ratified Online Safety Act. The Ofcom consultation runs until 5 March 2024.

UK trans

veto lawful

A court in Edinburgh has ruled that UK government ministers acted lawfully when they vetoed Scotland’s controversial transgender laws. The Scottish Parliament does not have the devolved authority to decide equality laws. Nevertheless, the Scottish government is likely to challenge the court’s decision by appealing to the UK Supreme Court.

Young adult

betting risk

New research has shown that nearly half of all gamblers aged between 18 and 24 have risked more than they can afford to lose. Of those who had gambled in the last 12 months, 42 per cent said they had taken financial risks, while 36 per cent said they had either borrowed money or sold possessions to fund their bet.

NHS gender

identity form

Hospital staff across England are asking patients if they plan to undergo ‘sex-swap’ surgery, following the introduction of a new computer system. London’s King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital have been using the system for several months, requiring medics to complete a ‘sexual orientation and gender identity form’ with patients.

A pair of pro-abortion MPs are pushing for the ‘decriminalisation’ of abortion by hijacking the Criminal Justice Bill.

Labour MPs Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy have tabled ‘extreme’ amendments to the bill that would remove abortion from criminal law altogether.

Currently, preborn babies have some protection under the criminal law, but these protections would be completely removed if abortions were ‘decriminalised’.

Johnson and Creasy claim their proposals would not legalise abortion up to birth.

However, if they got their way, it would mean that no woman could be prosecuted for using at-home abortion pills to kill her unborn baby even after the current ten-week limit.

The ‘decriminalisation’ of abortion would also repeal Section 60 of the Offences Against the Person Act, which deals with the crime of concealing

the body of a dead baby who dies before, during, or after birth.

In Britain, abortion is legal for most reasons up to 24 weeks. Temporary regulations from the coronavirus pandemic allowing women who are less than ten weeks pregnant to take abortion pills without medical supervision became permanent last year, following pressure from pro-abortion activists.

Pro-life groups have responded with dismay to the proposals for the complete ‘decriminalisation’ of all abortions.

Alithea Williams is the Public Policy Manager at the

Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). She said, ‘Pro-abortion MPs have taken the first opportunity to hijack this Government Bill with their extreme pro-abortion amendments.

‘Both Dame Johnson and Ms Creasy spoke about women being prosecuted for abortion, but made no mention that the increase in women facing trial is due to the dangerous pills-by-post abortion policy, which they and their allies in the abortion lobby championed.

‘Rather than admit their mistakes and call for the repeal of this policy, they want to repeal

the laws that provide some rudimentary protection for women and unborn babies.

‘Ms Creasy even wants to repeal the law on concealing the dead body of a baby. There are obvious public health risks attached to such a practice.

‘However, repealing section 60 is also a sign of the utter contempt with which the pro-abortion lobby views the pre-born child.

‘Those wanting to decriminalise abortion consider that unborn babies are so worthless, it does not matter if their dead bodies are dumped without trace.’

A statement from Christian charity CARE said, ‘The current law recognises that an abortion is not simply another medical procedure for either the mum or the preborn child.

‘In an abortion, there are two lives involved. At the moment, the current law does provide at least some legal protections. These would be at risk if either of these amendments became law.’

A Christian school chaplain is taking legal action against a ‘vindictive’ headteacher who reported him to the teaching regulator.

Revd Dr Bernard Randall, 51, claims headteacher Mr Bill Penty subjected him to victimisation, continued harassment, and discrimination on the grounds of his Christian beliefs.

It all started in 2019 when Randall preached a sermon about identity politics to pupils at Trent College in Derbyshire.

In the sermon, which came after a LGBT group had visited the school, Randall said it is okay for school pupils to question LGBT ideology. But he was later sacked by the school, even though it claimed to have a ‘Christian’ ethos.

Randall was also reported to the government’s anti-terrorist watchdog, Prevent, as well as the local authority’s safeguarding team. The Church of England has also blackballed him from preaching any further sermons.

Randall took his case to an employment tribunal but lost. He is appealing that ruling, but in the meantime, Randall was referred to the teaching regulator by the school’s headteacher, Bill Penty.

The Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA), which has the power to ban people from the teaching profession altogether, looked into the referral but decided there was no case to answer.

Randall claims that Penty’s decision to refer him was ‘maliciously’ motivated, and he is therefore suing for victimisation, continued harassment, and discrimination.

Randall said, ‘When I found out about the referral by the headteacher, it felt vindictive and malicious to say the least.

‘Once the college had the ruling from the tribunal they were not satisfied and wanted to seek to dismantle my life entirely and go for the jugular.

‘I am relieved that the TRA has decided to not bring a case against me, but I am horrified that it has got this far.’ He added, ‘I’d love to

move on with my life, but now have no choice but to continue to fight for justice.’

Randall is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre. CEO Andrea Williams said, ‘It should be of concern to everyone when a mild-mannered vicar ends up being reported as a safeguarding risk for saying you can believe marriage is between a man and a woman.

‘If Bernard Randall is deemed not fit to work with children by the Church of England and school authorities, then none of us are safe.

‘To throw him out of the vocation he loves, report him to the local authority for safeguarding and stop him working with children, is to wreck his life.’

‘Victimised’ school chaplain takes legal action against ‘vindictive and malicious’ headteacher

Two MPs table extreme amendments to widen

abortion law, calling for full decriminalisation

Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy (Credit: UK Parliament)

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 3

National News

Christian MSP and former leadership candidate for the Scottish National Party Kate Forbes has said she opposes plans to ban peaceful prayer outside abortion clinics.

The Scottish Parliament is currently considering proposals which would create ‘buffer zones’ around abortion centres, criminalising pro-life activity within such zones.

But Kate Forbes said that while it is right to ban any ‘harassment and anti-social behaviour’, it is important to ‘protect the freedom of those to pray in a peaceful way’.

Speaking to the Roman Catholic media outlet Sancta Familia Media, she said, ‘I do not think that you can ban prayer so I think that silent prayer is essential and that is an important freedom to uphold.’

She added, ‘I think this bill is going to have to work really, really hard, listening to a broad number of views in order to ensure that it is a product of a liberal society, not an illiberal society.’

A bill to ban pro-life activity near abortion clinics has been introduced to the Scottish Parliament by Green MSP Gillian Mackay.

The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill would create 200-metre censorship zones around hospitals and other centres where abortions take place.

Kate Forbes MSP (Credit: Scottish National Party)

Kate Forbes MSP defends the right to pray peacefully near abortion clinics, calling it an important freedom to uphold

The ban would even cover private property, including private residences and churches, situated within the zone that could be seen or heard by others within the zone.

That means churches in Scotland that publicly pray against abortion could be committing a crime if they are located within a designated ‘buffer zone’.

There have been a number of incidents where pro-lifers have been arrested on suspicion of praying near an abortion clinic.

In October 2023, pro-life campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was issued with a fine by police officers in Birmingham after they approached her for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.

It was the third time Vaughan-Spruce, Director of March for Life UK, had difficulties with West Midlands Police. She was first arrested in December 2022, and then also in the following March for praying while inside an abortion censorship zone.

In the first instance, she was arrested but was cleared by a magistrates’ court of wrongdoing. On the second occasion, the police dropped the investigation and she received an apology for her ordeal.

A theology lecturer who was sacked by a Methodist college for making social media comments defending the Bible’s teaching on sexual ethics has launched a legal action.

Lawyers representing Dr Aaron Edwards, 37, say his rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion were unlawfully restricted. They further claim that Dr Edwards has suffered discrimination, harassment, and unfair dismissal.

He was sacked for misconduct by Cliff College in Derbyshire for allegedly ‘bringing the college into disrepute’. This relates to a social media posting in which Dr Edwards said, ‘Homosexuality is invading the Church.

‘Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this b/c they’re busy apologising for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true.

In his tweet he added, ‘This *is* a “Gospel issue”, by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.’

Speaking as he launched his legal action, Dr Edwards said, ‘Anyone concerned about academic freedom, Christian freedoms and free speech should be deeply concerned by what has happened to me.

‘The reaction to my tweet and the unjust treatment I have experienced by Cliff College and the Methodist Church in Britain completely illustrates the problem my tweet addressed.

‘The tweet was not defamatory; it was not an attack on any colleague or individual; it was not abusive; and it was not an extremist religious view.

‘It was addressed to evangelicals as a point of doctrine, and it has been misunderstood by many who wish to cause personal and institutional trouble for those who express that view.’

Theologian launches legal action to protect free speech

Dr Aaron Edwards (Credit: Christian Legal Centre)

Christians living in London want to do more outreach and share the gospel, but are held back by fears of getting a negative reaction or coming across as intolerant, a poll shows.

According to a survey conducted for the London City Mission (LCM), most Christians want to reach out to friends, family, and colleagues, but are often held back by how they feel they might be perceived.

LCM has launched a resource hub for people wanting to commit to evangelism. Director of Ministries Jason Roach said, ‘Everyone needs the opportunity to hear the gospel during their lifetime in a way they can understand.

‘There are millions of people on our doorstep, disconnected from church, who may miss out. The problem is clear, the need to act obvious, but knowing exactly what to do in the heat of the moment can seem daunting and unfamiliar.’

The research was carried out by Savanta for the LCM. It asked over 1,000 practicing Christian adults to share their confidence levels for sharing their faith with others.

According to the survey, 89 per cent say it’s important to their own faith to share the gospel with others, but 26 per cent are worried about a negative reaction when sharing about their faith with others.

Almost one in five said they might hold back because they feel they should be ‘tolerant’ and let others have their own beliefs.

Efrem Buckle, deputy chief executive and director of training at LCM, said, ‘Half of all Londoners live in gospel poverty, which means they don’t know a Christian who can share their faith with them.’

One in four London-based Christians are nervous about sharing their faith

Jason Roach (Credit: FIEC)

4 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 5

By Leiston Baptist Church

Following a four-year interregnum, Dan Bryant, formerly of Abingdon, was inducted as pastor at Leiston Baptist Church, Suffolk, in late September last year.

The service was led by Malcolm MacGregor, who has had links with the church for many years.

Both Paul Pontin (elder) and Dan gave short summaries of how God had been working to bring both the church and Dan to this point.

This was followed by Jim Sayers (Didcot), preaching on Colossians 1:24-29. He reminded us that pastoral ministry is a struggle because it is part of the sufferings of Christ being worked out in us.

However, in this struggle we are able to keep going because the struggle is ours

Church News

By Ken Nelson

The December ET ‘Good News’ evangelistic supplement helped Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, reach out to its local community.

For the second year in a row, the congregation put together a gift pack for 1,000 local households which included the ET supplement, packets of biscuits, coffee, and tea sachets – along with a leaflet about the church with an invitation to visit it.

The congregation’s young people worked hard to put the gift packs together in a way which made it easy to put them through letterboxes.

A group of church members distributed the gift packs to local homes, which included new residents in the area who had moved into recently built homes.

The gift packs included a message: Please accept this free newspaper – with some goodies to enjoy while reading it! – as a gift from Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church. We believe there are many people in our area who are searching for something that will make life more meaningful. We hope this newspaper will help you on that journey as you read about how others’ lives have been changed.

The Trinity congregation has had positive feedback to the gift packs, which are part of its regular outreach activities.

Attractively produced with a blend of gospel articles and inspiring testimonies, the ET evangelistic supplement is used by a growing number of churches across the UK as a Christmas outreach.

Further information on the Trinity congregation is available at www.trinityrpc.com.

in Christ. We have the Saviour’s power and strength, and nothing can take that away from us, if we will depend upon him.

We were grateful to have been joined by almost 100 other friends and family, both in person and online, as we gave thanks to God for his kindness and provision.

Local friends came from other churches in the Association of Grace Baptist Churches (East Anglia). Less local friends made the long trip from Abbey Baptist in Abingdon, where Dan and Carol formerly worshipped, to support them in the new life which God has called them to.

Please pray for Dan, his wife Carol, and sons Micah and Nate. Pray also that God would grow the church both in maturity and number as we seek to be his faithful witnesses in Leiston.

By John Tredgett

Daylight Christian Prison Trust has refreshed its vision for 2024 following 20 years of ministry to the UK’s prison population.

The charity’s mission statement has been updated, as it seeks to ‘glorify God and enjoy him by prayerfully proclaiming the gospel of his grace in every UK prison and to ex-offenders and their families’.

Gaius Phillingham, recently appointed CEO of Daylight, said, ‘We have added the words “enjoy him” (from the Westminster Shorter Catechism) as Christ’s joy is wonderfully evident in the hearts and lives of those who serve both him and Daylight on the front line

of prison ministry. Enjoying God is also something we’re increasingly seeing in the lives of those we minister to.’

How else will Daylight be changing in 2024? ‘We are also shifting our focus to increase the number of Daylight Prison Chaplains, as we have the most influence for the gospel where we have a “Volunteer Chaplain” on the team in a prison,’ said Gaius.

‘We will continue with the other opportunities God has given: letter writing, Bible studies, Christianity Explored courses, written messages, and Sunday Services.

‘I felt led recently to visit and pray at Hanham Mount – a green space in a built-up area outside Bristol, where to this day it is remembered that Charles Wesley joined the field preachers.

‘I felt compelled to ask the Lord to give us the prisons and to use us in such a way that Daylight Prison Chaplains will be remembered as “the Prison Preachers.”’

Gaius has spoken of an uptick in those expressing the desire to serve in prison ministry, as well as opportunities opening up in the UK’s prisons.

‘Please pray that we might connect the right people to the right places; and that as we do, God will choose to lead some of these on to be “the Prison Preachers”.’

Those interested in more information can telephone Gaius at 01245 252735, or email office@daylightcpt.org.

Northern Ireland church

shares ET Christmas good

news along with gift packs

Dan Bryant is inducted in

Leiston church, Suffolk

Daylight Christian Prison

Trust refreshes its vision

to mark 20th anniversary

Gaius Phillingham

Assembling Christmas gift packs

6 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Church News

TBS finances

are ‘healthy’

The 192nd AGM of the Trinitarian Bible Society was held in London last September. It was reported that some 2.9 million Scriptures / Scripture items had been distributed over the previous 12 months. Recent publications included Chinese and French New Testaments, and a Spanish translation of the Bible. It was also noted that the financial situation remained ‘healthy’.

FIEC leaders’

conference

Church leaders from over 500 churches gathered last November in Blackpool for the FIEC Leaders’ Conference. The theme was the ‘Justice of God’. Sessions covered ‘Justice in God’, ‘Justice in God’s people’, and ‘Justice in God’s world’. Speakers included Ray Brown (East London Tabernacle Baptist Church), Colin Adams (Greenview Church, Glasgow), and Jason Roach (London City Mission).

Gary Brady

anniversary

In September, Gary Brady, the minister of Childs Hill Baptist Church in London, celebrated 40 years in the pastorate. A thanksgiving service was attended by about 100 people. Gary recounted a history of the church, which dates back to the 1860s. Robert Strivens (Bradford-on-Avon) preached before a meal was shared.

Manchester

mission week

In September, the Open-Air Mission held a week of outreach in Manchester’s city centre. OAM evangelist Allan Peel said, ‘It was a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with people from all walks of life. We met many searching people and gave away over 100 John’s Gospels to those who wanted to read God’s Word for themselves.’

NEWS IN BRIEF

By Viv Rees

John went to be with the Lord he loved and served last August. He was an ordinary, hard-working pastor, known for his love of books, cricket, music, and really awful puns! Most of all, he will be remembered for his faithful ministry.

John was raised in the Congregationalist tradition in Derbyshire. He was saved through the work of the Young Life ministry.

Aged 17, he went to study in London and, along with many other students at that time, benefitted greatly from the ministry of Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel.

While studying for degrees in English and then Theology, he served as president of the Christian Union at UCL. Soon after graduation, he was called to the pastorate of a group of churches in Swaledale.

For many years, John was simultaneously pastor of Reeth Congregational Church and the newly formed Northallerton Evangelical Church – this while holding down a full-time teaching job in a secondary school!

John used to take a 10.30 a.m. service in Northallerton, drive 30 miles to Reeth for a 1.30 p.m. service, then make it back for the evening service in Northallerton!

During this period, at the age of 33, he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Despite this, he continued to organise the monthly North Yorkshire Bible Rallies which were a great blessing to many people.

John wrote numerous books and articles. One of his earliest was The Church that Christ Built (originally published as Footsteps of God), an introduction to church history.

In 1986, John and Beryl moved to Shrewsbury to a church which itself showed great faith in calling him with only 11 members.

He continued his ministry, writing Just Looking for

By Tony Flanders

It was a delight to see members from each of the five churches of the Association of Confessional Baptist Churches (UK) gather at Christ Church, Loughborough, last September for our first Association Day.

The event aimed to foster fellowship between the churches, and it was a true blessing – over 100 people joined with one heart and mind.

The day commenced with ministry from our dear brother and former missionary to Kenya, Keith Underhill. He shared aspects of his work in light of Scriptural teaching.

We saw how the same principles of church planting in Kenya applied to us here in the UK. Herein lay the value of what Keith related to us.

We were challenged to see that church planting must strive

to fulfil the Great Commission. This is done through the centrality of preaching as well as private ministry in homes.

However, the work of church planting is not easy. There are times when we see few conversions. What do we do then? We must not simply ‘hide’ behind God’s sovereignty, but examine ourselves in terms of preaching and the ministry of the church, giving ourselves to prayer.

Furthermore, in all we seek to do in planting biblical churches, we must see the importance of the providence of God. He is in control and his plan will be worked out in all circumstances.

Keith left us with six principles for mission: go and make disciples of all nations; pray that this will be fulfilled; trust God’s providence; take opportunities God gives;

churches must send men to plant other churches; and we have a responsibility for the unreached.

We also heard reports from each church present at the conference. Some churches

Obituary: John David Legg (1936–2023)

evangelistic small group studies; children’s catechisms; and songs.

He took school assemblies, served on editorial boards for EP and ET, and worked towards his goal of knocking on every front door in what he considered his ‘parish’.

John ‘retired’ in 2001 and moved to Cardiff. He did slow down gradually, but remained busy for many years, supporting his local church, mentoring young preachers, and preaching at innumerable little fellowships throughout the South Wales valleys.

A series of mini-strokes finally prevented him from preaching and eventually took his speech from him, but he wrote one last book on a doctrine he felt is not given the pre-eminence it deserves by Christians today: The Trinity and Us.

He will be missed by his wife Beryl, their four children, and their families. We mourn his passing, tempered by the hope that he has at last heard, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ from his Lord.

Lessons on church planting from an African missionary shared at Loughborough conference

had experienced significant difficulties over recent months. Some had seen folk leaving, while others had seen baptisms and growth.

The afternoon was dedicated to the business of the Association. The messengers from the churches considered various matters which affected the churches and our associating together.

The biggest chunk of time was spent discussing how we can work together in terms of missions. Providentially, we were working out some principles relating to the ministry we had received in the morning.

We look forward to meeting together again as an Association. Any are welcome to join us at these meetings, even just to observe what we are doing. Our next planned meeting is Tuesday 7 May at Countesthorpe Baptist Church.

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 7

Church News

By Daniel Tribe

Last September witnessed the return of the Salisbury Conference, our first since 2019. We were very pleased to welcome many visitors from near and far.

We were pleased to welcome Revd Dafydd Morris to our pulpit. The theme for the weekend’s ministry was ‘Experiencing Christ’.

The conference began with an address on the life of William Gadsby. We were challenged but also encouraged by the compelling account of his life, which was helpfully applied to us today, with an emphasis upon heartfelt Christianity.

We also considered Genesis 18 where the Lord appears to Abraham. We saw, first, ‘The manifestation of Christ’. As the preincarnate Son of God appeared to Abraham, so the Lord Jesus manifests himself to his people by the Holy Spirit, giving them spiritual sight through the Word.

In the second address, ‘The entertainment of Christ’, attention was drawn to the way in which Abraham received the Lord with watchfulness, perception, a Christ-ward desire, and humble abasement.

The final address, ‘Our communion with Christ’, drew attention to the sacrifice of Christ which opened the

way for our communion with him. As Abraham sat with the Lord ‘under the tree’, so believers have communion with Christ in the shade of Calvary, trusting in the Lord’s substitutionary atonement.

Revd Malcolm Watts preached on the Lord’s day, and we also heard a word of personal testimony from Dafydd Morris. Recordings of the sessions can be found on Emmanuel Church Salisbury’s YouTube channel.

By Tim Wills

Christian Values in Education held its annual National Conference last September. Almost 300 people gathered.

Roger Kiska spoke on the topic of parents’ rights in education, reminding the Conference of the dictum, ‘law is downstream from culture’. He highlighted many areas of concern to Christian parents, illustrated by a number of legal cases handled by Christian Concern.

The heart of the matter was summarised by his observation that ‘age appropriateness has been lost’. Attendees were encouraged to learn that both the Education Act 1996 and the Human Rights Acts 1998 contain provisions that do not make the subversion of Christian values a fait accompli.

Roger closed his talk with advice to parents on how they may effectively raise their voice to challenge their school, with the emphasis being on a winsome and personal approach, and well-informed of their rights as parents.

The afternoon speaker, Steve Pearce, is employed in frontline app development, and was uniquely qualified to present his talk on the distractive dangers of digital technology.

Every mobile user knows that they can be overly ‘attached’ to their device – but did they realise that 200 phone ‘pickups’ per day are not only time- and attention-consuming, but they create muscle memory? Producers of these technologies are ‘creating habits to get you hooked’.

Many apps are geared to harvest data from the user, known as UGC (User Generated Content). Pearce warned that apps retain the information required to increase the attention of the user. The effect of this is to increase lazy-mindedness, where simple appeals and techniques designed to retain emotional engagement are deployed.

By Stephen Owen

Last September, the congregation of Scott Drive Church, Exmouth, and the friends and family of Jonathan Hughes came together to celebrate his induction as assistant pastor.

Jonathan was the first to apply for the position after it was advertised, and was initially interviewed online. He was a promising candidate from the outset, and in the course of time, Jonathan was invited to Exmouth for a face-to-face interview, and to preach to the congregation.

Everyone was delighted by Jonathan and charmed by his wife Katie and their three children. And so, after another visit and further preaching, a call was issued unanimously to Jonathan to come to serve in Exmouth at the close of his studies.

Jonathan spoke of his upbringing in Braintree, Essex, and his attendance at Cornerstone Church. After leaving school, he had worked at a Christian

‘Experiencing Christ’ is the

theme of the first Salisbury

Conference held since 2019

John Thackway (L) Dafydd Morris (R)

CViE National Conference

attracts 300 people to hear

about parents’ legal rights

Roger Kiska

‘Wear the apron and withstand the lion!’ Jonathan

Hughes inducted in Scott Drive Church, Exmouth

Outward Bound centre in Devon and acquired a love for the county.

Having come to Reformed convictions, he felt a call to the ministry and decided to study at London Seminary.

Seeing the post at Scott Drive advertised, he felt that the ethos of the church and its situation in Devon both suited him, and so he duly applied.

The induction was conducted by Paul Pomeroy, recently-appointed pastor at Grace Church, Yate, who had studied with Jonathan at London Seminary.

In his address, Paul spoke from 1 Peter 5:2-11, urging Jonathan to ‘wear the apron’ of humility (referring to John 13:3-5), serving the people of God and thereby rebuffing the roaring lion that is our adversary.

The whole service including Paul’s address is available on the church’s YouTube channel (/Scott Drive Church).

After the service, everyone enjoyed a splendid tea provided by church members and a time of joyful fellowship in the church’s sunny garden.

Jonathan Hughes (centre) Induction

8 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

International News

Convert is

set on fire

A woman in eastern Uganda has been hospitalised with serious burns after her Muslim husband discovered she had converted to Christianity and reportedly set her on fire. Hajara Namwase, a 32-year-old mother of three in Kenkebu village, Budaka town, needed hospital treatment, a friend of the victim told Morning Star News.

India probes

persecution

The Indian government’s Minorities Commission has launched an investigation into the alarming rise in attacks against Christians and other religious minorities in India. Meanwhile, a separate probe is being carried out by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Attacks against Christians are rising, thought to be fuelled by Hindu nationalism.

Man arrested

in Bangladesh

A Christian man went to the police in Bangladesh to file a complaint against the neighbours who had violently attacked his wife and his young children, including his daughter who is only four years old. Instead, he ended up in prison himself. The man and his family had converted to Christianity from Islam.

Treasure is

home at last

Treasure Ayuba has finally regained his freedom and returned home. He was the last of the 121 students being held by captors, kidnapped in 2021 from the Bethel Baptist School in Kaduna State, Nigeria. ‘Glory be to God! Glory be to God!! Glory be to God!!!’ wrote Revd Dr Israel Akanji, the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention.

Nigeria: Blasphemy prosecution of Christian

woman goes on despite international outcry

Barbados: Christian dance group disqualified because they oppose transgender ideology

NEWS IN BRIEF

A court in Nigeria has allowed the blasphemy prosecution of a Christian woman to proceed, despite international lawyers saying the case should be dismissed.

Rhoda Jatau is a Christian and mother of five who has been imprisoned since May 2022 for allegedly committing the offence of ‘blasphemy’.

She is accused of sharing a video on WhatsApp condemning the lynching of Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, a Nigerian university student.

Yakubu was murdered and set on fire by a mob of her classmates in May 2022 for sharing her Christian faith.

Lawyers for ADF International, a religious freedom advocacy group, say there are ‘serious evidentiary issues’ with the prosecution’s case against Jatau, and they petitioned to have it thrown out of court.

But a judge in Bauchi State, Nigeria, refused to dismiss prosecution’s case, and her trial was expected to resume on

December 19, after this edition of ET went to print. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.

United Nations experts have written to the Nigerian government highlighting the danger of blasphemy laws as a violation of international human rights, and calling attention to Yakubu and Jatau’s cases.

Sean Nelson, legal counsel for ADF International, said, ‘No one

should be prosecuted for peaceful expression or for their religion.

‘The continuing prosecution and detention of Rhoda Jatau is a travesty of justice. Time and time again, the prosecution has failed to present even the barest evidence against Rhoda.

‘While we are disappointed in the court’s ruling in a case that should never have been brought, we will continue to seek justice

and freedom for Rhoda and all who suffer persecution in Nigeria.’

Together with other religious minorities in Nigeria, the persecution of Christians in Nigeria is especially severe. Worldwide, over 5,500 Christians were killed for their faith last year. Of those, 90 per cent were Nigerian.

ADF International said, ‘In a country of more than 200 million, split nearly evenly between Christians and Muslims, blasphemy laws are a significant driver of societal tensions.

‘These laws punish the innocent for expressing their beliefs, silence people from sharing their faith, and perpetuate societal violence.

‘Blasphemy laws throughout Nigeria encourage brutal mob violence and inflict severe harm on minority Muslims, Christian converts, and others.’

ADF International also is supporting the legal defence of Nigerian musician Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a Sufi Muslim who was sentenced to death by hanging for sharing song lyrics on WhatsApp that were deemed ‘blasphemous’.

Rhoda Jatau (Credit: ADF International)

A Christian-based dance and theatrical group in Barbados has been disqualified from a national competition because their performance opposes transgender ideology.

According to reports, the Praise Academy of Dance Barbados had submitted a piece to the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) competition.

But the performance was rejected because it opposed progressive gender education and instead promoted the protection of parental rights and the freedom to bring children up in line with Christian beliefs.

The stage had banners with the verses from the book of Genesis, saying, ‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’

However, NIFCA alleged that the group had breached Section 9b of the rules by

exceeding the bounds of good taste, and making ‘defamatory claims’.

Following the disqualification, the group raised an official complaint with the arbiter for the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), but the arbiter, Senator Gregory Nicholls, upheld their disqualification.

The group argued that the decision of the NCF and NIFCA judging panel was illegal and unconstitutional. They said it

was unclear what exactly in the production had contravened the rules and what was ‘bad taste’.

Attorney Davida Maynard-Holligan, who is representing Praise Academy of Dance Barbados, said the group had been ‘Excluded in the name of inclusivity’ from the competition.

She said that the ruling from Senator Nicholls sent ‘a chilling message to Christians on the island, especially young students, who do not believe

in and refuse to conform to confusing and harmful gender identity ideology and extreme teaching’.

Maynard-Holligan said the message that had been sent was that you can no longer disagree with or criticise LGBT ideology without being cancelled, marginalised, and excluded.

She added, ‘The ruling issued publicly amounts to an LGBTQ takeover of our legal rights and freedoms in Barbados and cannot go unchallenged.

‘The disqualification by NCF/NIFCA of this piece on the grounds of discrimination therefore amounts to a ban of the expression of the Christian faith.

‘The decision to disqualify and the ruling issued discriminates against Christian beliefs on these issues and if left unchallenged, has serious ramifications for freedom of religion and expression in Barbados and across the Caribbean.’

Performers from the Praise Academy of Dance, Barbados

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 9

International News

Finland: Christian politician Päivi Räsänen wins the

latest round of her long-running Bible tweet defence

Christian Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen has been found not guilty of hate speech by the Helsinki Court of Appeal.

Prosecutors had charged her with committing a crime for posting her religious beliefs along with a verse from the Bible on social media.

But the appeal court unanimously dismissed all charges against the parliamentarian and her co-defendant, Bishop Juhana Pohjola.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal upheld the finding of the District Court, which said it is not for the court ‘to interpret biblical concepts’.

Prosecutors have until 15 January to decide whether to appeal for a final time to the Finnish Supreme Court.

The controversy began in 2019, when Räsänen put a picture of her Bible open at Romans 1:24-27 on social media.

She was responding to news that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland had decided to sponsor a local LGBT pride event.

In her tweet, she wrote, ‘How can the church’s doctrinal foundation, the Bible, be compatible with the lifting up of shame and sin as a subject of pride?’

Prosecutors later decided to charge her with ‘agitation against a minority group’, and to also charge Bishop Juhana Pohjola in relation to a 2004 pamphlet which defended the Bible’s teaching on marriage.

But the pair were found not guilty at the District Court, and now again at the Court of Appeal. The prosecution has

been ordered to pay legal costs for the two defendants.

Speaking after to the Court of Appeal’s decision, Räsänen said, ‘I am deeply relieved. The court has fully endorsed and upheld the decision of the district court, which recognised everyone’s right to free speech.

‘It isn’t a crime to tweet a Bible verse, or to engage in public discourse with a Christian perspective.

‘The attempts made to prosecute me for expressing my beliefs have resulted in an immensely trying four years, but my hope is that the result will stand as a key precedent to protect the human right to free speech.

‘I sincerely hope other innocent people will be spared the same ordeal for simply voicing their convictions.’

Päivi Räsänen

(Credit: ADF International)

Germany’s education authorities have forced the closure of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer International School.

The Christian hybrid school combines in-school and at-home learning for children, but the authorities claimed the school was ‘displacing’ state-mandated education.

In a letter to the school’s lawyer, the authorities said ‘the immediate enforcement of the prohibitions is ordered’, preventing students from attending the new school year.

The letter also said, ‘The prohibition … serves to protect the state’s educational mandate. In the now-closed school, the state’s educational mandate … would be completely displaced.’

Furthermore, the school has been ordered to give up its internet domain as this would constitute advertisement for the impermissible school.

The school also has been ordered to pay €600 (£514) in administrative fees to the government. An urgency lawsuit to reopen the school is still pending. The suit is assisted by ADF International.

Dr Felix Böllmann, director of European advocacy for ADF International, who filed the case regarding the accreditation at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), said, ‘Parents are the first authority for the education of their children.

‘And parents have the right, enshrined in international human rights law, to choose the kind of education that is best for their children, including by embracing innovative approaches like hybrid schooling.’

Earlier this year, Evangelical Times wrote of a Christian school provider in

Germany which filed a case with the ECHR after its accreditation was denied.

That provider is the Association for Decentralised Learning (ADL) – the same providers who operated the Dietrich Bonhoeffer International School for nine years as a supplementary school.

Jonathan Erz, head of the ADL and school principal, said, ‘Children have a right to a first-class education.

‘At our school, we were able to provide families with an education that meets their individual learning needs and allows students to flourish.

‘It saddens me deeply that our students and teachers had to leave our school community.’

Pro-lifers in Hungary are opposing a case at the European Court of Human Rights which could legalise assisted suicide in the eastern European nation.

Dániel Karsai, a Hungarian national suffering from a progressive neurodegenerative condition, has taken his case to Strasbourg seeking to overturn the laws against assisted suicide.

But pro-life advocacy groups say the laws must be upheld in line with the obligation under the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 2) to protect the right to life.

Pro-life lawyer Jean-Paul Van De Walle said, ‘While Mr Karsai’s condition demands our greatest compassion, we cannot abandon our essential human rights protections.

‘Hungary is bound under European and international human rights law to safeguard human life. The right to life is inviolable, underlying all other human rights. Conversely, there is no so-called “right to die”.’

He added, ‘Once we as a society open the doors to intentional killing, there is no logical stopping point.’

The Court, which granted this case priority, is expected to deliver its decision on an expedited timeline.

A former-doctor-turned-inventor has called on the Republic of Ireland to follow Switzerland’s so-called ‘rights-based’ model to allow people to carry out assisted suicide.

Philip Nitschke, dubbed ‘Dr Death’ by the media, has boasted that he performed the world’s first assisted suicide using lethal injection.

He told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying that it should permit any method of assisted suicide for anyone who has mental capacity.

He also suggested to the committee that Ireland should allow people to use his DIY ‘death pods’ for assisted suicide.

Nitschke’s pods reduce the oxygen level inside the capsule by flooding it with nitrogen gas until the occupant is dead.

Germany: Authorities close down a Christian school

Jonathan Erz (Credit: ADF International)

Republic of Ireland: ‘Dr Death’ calls for his DIY ‘death pods’ to

be allowed for assisted suicide

A death pod (Credit: Wikipedia)

Hungary: Pro-lifers object

to a case that may overturn

the law on assisted suicide

10 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Comment

Source: Dreamstime

Guest Column:

Luke 14 discipleship:

Radical living for darkening times

By Ian Hamilton

President of Westminster Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Newcastle, England.

Evangelical Times (Charity)

Editorial Team: Mike Judge (editor), Simoney Kyriakou (news editor), John Tredgett (production editor), Paul Smith (reviews)

Directors: Roger Fay, Paul Garner, Mike Judge,

Philip Metcalfe, Ken Nelson, Paul Smith, Jonathan Stobbs.

Published by Evangelical Times Limited (Charity), 3, Trinity Court, Faverdale North, Darlington, DL3 0PH. Tel: (01325) 380232

Website: http://www.evangelical-times.org

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Unless otherwise stated, everything contained in this publication is © Evangelical Times and must not be photocopied or otherwise reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

How did the early Christians turn the world upside down? They had no planned strategies to do so. Or did they? They understood that engaging with the world in its multi-faceted fallenness is not rocket science. Gospel impact did not depend first on finely crafted arguments; it depended on grace-transformed lives that gave power to gospel proclamation. With that in mind, consider and reflect on Jesus’s teaching on authentic discipleship.

Much of the Bible’s teaching on being a follower of Jesus is unsettling and very uncomfortable to read. Jesus’s words at the close of his Sermon on the Mount are intended to provoke, unsettle, and disturb would-be disciples: ‘Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’ (Matthew 7:21-23).

Luke tells us that ‘great crowds’ were following Jesus. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if great crowds began coming to your church? And then Jesus spoke to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.’

Try and imagine how the ‘great crowds’ who were following

Jesus would have heard these words. They sound so radical, so off-putting, so impossible, designed to turn people away, not draw them in. Jesus wanted the crowds who followed him to know what following him, belonging to him, living under his lordship would mean for them.

Jesus uses a well-known figure of speech that his hearers would understand. He is using exaggeration for the sake of effect. He is making a point in a way that would be memorable. Think of other exaggerated examples: ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ ‘If your eye offends you, pluck it out.’ Jesus is telling the great crowd that an authentic disciple gives him the place of absolute, unconditional preeminence in their lives.

The two illustrations or parables in vv. 28–32 of Luke 14 challenge the crowd of would-be disciples to ‘count the cost’ before they make the decision

to follow him: ‘If I do not have the first place in your life and the first claim on your time, talents, obedience, and love, you cannot be my disciple.’

Jesus’s encounter with the rich young ruler in Luke 18 illustrates this. How much did this young man want eternal life? How much value did he place on belonging to and following Jesus? Was he willing to renounce all he possessed to possess eternal life? He showed great promise, but when Jesus summoned him to sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and to follow him, the young man was unmasked. Jesus loved him, but let him go.

The tailpiece in vv. 34–35 of Luke 14 concludes Jesus’s searching exposition of authentic discipleship. Authentic followers of Jesus live lives that show whose they are and whom they serve. What we read in these verses is deeply unsettling. This is not where discipleship is to be after five, ten, or twenty years of service. Unconditional allegiance to the Saviour is where discipleship begins.

Why? Because he is worth it. First, because of who he is: God the Son who became flesh for us (John 1:14). Second, because of what he has done for us: ‘The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20). Third, because of what he is now doing for us: ‘he always lives to make intercession’ for his believing people. Fourth, because of what he will one day do for us: he ‘will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself’ (Philippians 3:21). He is worth your all.

Transgender guidance for

schools may be clear as mud

At the time of writing this editorial, the government has still not yet published its long-awaited guidance for the handling of transgender issues in schools in England. If the press leaks are to be believed, it seems that Christian teachers will not be compelled to use a pupil’s preferred gender pronouns if the teacher has a ‘good faith’ objection. It also looks likely that schools will be encouraged to inform parents if their child starts identifying as a different gender from his or her birth sex. If true, these guidelines are to be welcomed.

However, press reports also indicate that government ministers cannot agree among themselves whether new laws are needed to ban gender transitions in schools. Therefore, it seems that schools will not receive guidance telling them to stop children changing their preferred names or pronouns or uniforms. Indeed, we know some schools will positively relish the opportunity to encourage such things, because they have been swept along by the trans agenda.

Lizzie Harewood, the CEO of the Association for Christian Teachers, speaks for many when she says these issues need sensitive handling, but it simply cannot be in a child’s best interests to affirm gender confusion. She is absolutely right when she says that God does not make mistakes, biological sex is binary, people are made male and female.

How sad it is to hear Lizzie say that many teachers in her association are terrified of voicing these straightforward realities. Teachers feel compelled to go along with the transgender agenda, or risk losing their careers. And they’re right to be concerned given what happened to school chaplain Revd Dr Bernard Randall (see p.2). Not only was he fired, but he was referred to the teaching regulator and threated with being banned, simply because he told children they were allowed to question the LGBT agenda.

So Christian teachers need our prayers, our love, and our support. As do Christian parents, and Christian pupils. All Christians who are in and around the state school system are under tremendous pressure to keep their heads down and compromise their faith. May they be like the Old Testament prophet Daniel, showing both wisdom and courage in equal measure. And may we stand with them.

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 11

Letters to the Editor

Est. 1967

E

T

Please email your letters to letters@evangelical-times.org Please include your name and address

Letters to the Editor

Words in season

SIR – I regularly visit a dear lady who had spent years in India, marrying a Hindu gentleman and raising their children there. She returned to Britain, with her husband and children, to live next door to her father.

My contact with her was then to help her grasp the pseudo-Christian nature of a cult she had been attracted to. Then she came to faith in Christ, we became friends, and we would have breakfast in my garden or kitchen once a week before she went to work.

But along came covid. She caught it, and while isolating had a stroke. For two years she has been unable to speak words and is paralysed down one side. I now visit her to pray, read Scripture, and read an encouraging story.

Recently I read to her two of the testimonies in the Christmas edition of Evangelical Times – the one by Felicia Johnston being significant for her. She identified with having to go to church as a child and how it didn’t mean much at the time. Her father had told me that his parents paid for a ‘family pew’ and how he had to go with their large family.

My friend (paralysed from a stroke, you recall) wanted to let me know something about that, so she started drawing on paper a traditional church with a house next to it. From its top windows, she conveyed how she could see the church as a child.

Like Felicia, she wandered from that upbringing but the Lord brought her back. And like Felicia, her faith has been tested, yet also strengthened, with testimonies like Felicia’s proving to be of help.

There are many isolated people, hardly able to get to church (as with my friend), and this is where printed articles and testimonies play an important role. Visiting them to read Scripture and such written accounts, and of course to pray, is the least we can do. So thank you to ET for providing much good material, especially testimonies of coming to faith.

Anne Sanderson

Larbert

Courage and wisdom

SIR – Thanks so much for December’s editorial, ‘Let’s not lose heart and do the activists’ work for them’. The temptation to avoid persecution by sinful conformity is real. Even Peter the apostle stumbled at this.

ET’s many warnings about such persecution will have frightened some believers, as you suggest – but you have applied the encouragement to stand firm; to use the civil and religious liberties we have to resist the

persecution, as Paul did in avoiding being handed over to the Jewish authoritie; and to still stand even if it costs.

This is not to condone self-martyrdom, where foolish Christians seek fame or significance by being punished for standing for Christian principles. They orchestrate confrontations with the authorities, rather than using lawful means where these are available and leaving law-breaking for unavoidable confrontations. Let’s emulate their courage, but not their wisdom.

Ian Major

Lurgan, Co. Armagh

God, with or without passions?

SIR – Your December letters page prompted me to offer the following points. The argument for impassibility is not based on Greek philosophy but on Scripture.

Paul Smith’s excellent article (October issue) made that clear. The issue is not what kind of metaphors we use (conceptual or otherwise) because, as Colin Hamer points out, all our language about God is metaphorical – an accommodation by God to our limitations. The real point is how we are to understand that language.

Herman Bavinck, for example, can affirm both that ‘Every human emotion, furthermore, is also present in God’

(Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2:100) and also the doctrine of immutability – he is ‘unchangeable in his existence and being’ (ibid, p.153).

Peter Sanlon comments that the issue is not what words we use – whether feeling, emotion, or affection – ‘but that we do so in combination with careful systematic theology’ (Sanlon, Simply God).

Such theology will insist with Bavinck that ‘Implied in creation is both God’s transcendence and his immanence, the essential difference as well as the close kinship between God and his creatures,’ and that in theology (summarising Bavinck) all our knowledge of God is from and through God, grounded in his revelation.

In order to convey knowledge of himself to his creatures, God has to come down to our level and accommodate himself to our level of comprehension.

Our knowledge of God is only ‘analogical’ in character – that is, shaped by analogy to what can be discerned of God in his creatures, knowing not God in himself but as he is in his revelation and relation to us.

Our knowledge of God is nonetheless true, pure, and trustworthy because it has for its foundation God’s self-revelation of himself.

God’s being impassible is essential to his being properly immanent. He is ‘the Holy One in our midst’ (Hosea

11:9), and if he were not the Holy One, his being in our midst would not have the significance it does.

He is the high and holy one who yet dwells with the contrite in spirit (Isaiah 57:15). ‘All things can be said of God, but nothing can be said worthily of him’ (Augustine).

Our forebears believed humbly and passionately in the love and personhood of God, and the doctrine of divine impassibility preserves those truths.

Mostyn Roberts

Welwyn

Christmas myths?

SIR – In the December ET, Michael Kruger wrote of five popular misconceptions about the Christmas story.

The first one was about the ‘star the night Jesus was born’. Kruger writes, ‘The problem is there’s no indication the star hovered over the manger on the night Jesus was born.’

But compare the words of Matthew 2:9, ‘After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.’

It may not have been the exact night when Jesus was born, but the star did move and indicate where the baby was.

Elaine Harper

Kent

12 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

By Stephen Rees

Pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Stockport.

Ready for your funeral?

The wisdom of planning ahead

Thinking it through:

Thinking it through

On a bleak Thursday afternoon last week I stood with a circle of friends around an open grave. We had gathered to lay to rest the body of a dear Christian friend. I had known Jack for more than forty years. And now the time had come to say farewell for a time.

We read Scripture, great words of promise and hope. Then in a few sentences I explained the purpose for which we had gathered. I used words I had used many times before: ‘Now we are going to commit the body of our dear brother to the care of Almighty God until the day of resurrection and judgment. I say we commit his body to the care of God. We do not commit his soul to God. We have no need to do that. He committed his own soul to God many years ago. And now his soul is in the presence of God. But today we lay his body to rest until the Lord Jesus raises it up in glory.’

As the bearers lowered the coffin into the grave, I spoke familiar words, ‘We commit the body of Jack Jones to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

And then I turned to the silent listeners: ‘The Bible tells us that dust we are and to dust we shall return. The Bible tells us also that there is to be a day of resurrection. The multitudes who sleep in the dust of the ground shall awake – some to

everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens.

‘Jesus said, “The time is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. And God has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”’

Funerals: an inescapable duty

Every pastor must expect to take many funerals in the course of his ministry. Some pastors make it their policy never to refuse when asked to take a funeral. They see each one as an opportunity to preach the gospel, often to people who will never enter a church building on any other occasion. I honour them for that single-mindedness. For my part, the only funerals I conduct are those of people whom I’ve known personally – usually members of our own congregation, or their

immediate relatives. So the majority of the folk whose funerals I’ve taken have been believers; only occasionally has it fallen to me to take the funeral of someone who has never shown any sign of repentance and faith.

Those are the hardest funerals. What comfort or reassurances can we give when we have no reason to hope that the body we are laying in the ground will be raised to everlasting life? Or that the soul is safe with Christ? Yes, we can use the occasion to preach the gospel and to urge others to be prepared. And perhaps it’s good for me to have the responsibility of taking such a funeral from time to time. Each one forces me to ask myself whether I am doing everything I can to make Christ known to neighbours, friends, relatives while they are in this world. But still, my heart sinks when I know that once again I have the grim duty of presiding over a comfortless ceremony.

But, thank God, this was not such an occasion. No funeral is easy. But in many ways, this was less demanding than most.

A pastor’s dilemmas

Let me share with you some of the dilemmas that I – or any pastor – must face when I prepare for a funeral, even the funeral of a believer. I’ll mention four.

First, I have to decide what I’m aiming for. Is it my first responsibility to offer words of comfort to believing relatives? Or to stir them to consider the brevity of life and to use for the Lord’s glory every moment he grants them? Or to preach the gospel to unbelieving attenders?

Second, if I’m taking the funeral for a believer whom I knew well, I have to ask myself how frank I should be about their character and life. If I speak only of the fine qualities of the deceased and cover over their obvious faults and struggles, will attenders go away thinking that I’ve been dishonest? (Sometimes I’ve attended a funeral, listened to a glowing tribute to the departed, and wondered whether the speaker was talking about the same person I knew.) But I’m conscious that if I paint a warts-and-all picture, family members may be hurt and offended. I may add to their pain on an already distressing occasion.

Third, I have to decide how the time should be apportioned. Very often there’s a church service before the committal. Perhaps I’m told that it should be no more than 50 minutes long. (Crematorium services are usually much shorter.) What proportion of that time should be given to Bible readings? To prayers? To tributes? To preaching? What are the attenders expecting? If there are folk present who do not regularly attend church, a ten minute sermon may seem excessive to them. How far should I conform to their expectations?

And fourth, it’s hard to know what to say when relatives want things included which I think inappropriate for a Christian

Source: Adobe Stock

‘ Make sure that you leave clear instructions about what should happen at your funeral. And don’t leave it until you know you’re on the last lap. None of us knows when we may be called unexpectedly from this world.’

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 13

Thinking it through

Continued on page 14

service. Family members may want to read out (or they may want me to read out for them) poems or messages which set out heretical or nonsensical ideas. They may want me to include prayers for their departed loved one which they’ve written. They may want some inappropriate song to be played before, during, or after the service (Frank Sinatra’s I Did it My Way is a regular choice; Tina Turner’s Simply the Best is another). Do I have the right to say, ‘No, you can’t do it your way if I’m conducting this service’?

It’s not only family members who may pressure me to fit in with their preferences. I’ve encountered some funeral directors who have been very determined that I should follow their instructions, not the other way round. I remember one who told me that we couldn’t sing the hymn ‘There is a Green Hill’ as written. He objected to the words, ‘He died that we might be forgiven / He died to make us good / That we might go at last to heaven / Saved by his precious blood.’ He wanted the last word of that verse changed to ‘love’. He got quite stroppy when I said no. Another told me that I must walk ahead of the coffin into the church building, intoning set verses from the Bible with organ music in the background. Again, I told him that I wasn’t prepared to read the Bible with a musical accompaniment. He told me I must. As far as he was concerned, he was in charge.

Prepared for the day

Happily, I didn’t have to face any of those dilemmas in preparing for and conducting Jack’s funeral. Why not? Because I had his own detailed instructions about the funeral and how it should be conducted.

Back in 2019, Jack asked me to meet him with the explicit purpose of planning his funeral service. He told me first that, whatever else was to be included in the service, he wanted me to give priority to preaching the Bible. More than that, he told me I must preach the gospel directly and clearly so that every unsaved person there would hear the message of salvation. He told me which Bible passages I must read, and what hymns we should include. He went through his own life story with me, and shared with me the things that he would particularly want included if I were to say anything about him.

And the picture he painted of himself was very much a warts-and-all picture. There were to be no cover-ups.

We talked, I listened. I was more than happy with what Jack told me he wanted. And I promised him that when the time came, if I possibly could, I would conduct the service, and yes, I would follow his instructions.

So when the time came, Jack’s foresight took the pressure off me in all the big decisions. I had no doubts about what the priority should be. I must preach the gospel. I could be sure just what tone Jack wanted me to adopt in what I said about him. All the main elements in the service were already laid down for me. So when I talked with the family, all I had to say at any point was ‘this was what Jack wanted’. And I knew that if the undertakers didn’t like what was planned, I had the right to insist.

If only every believer were as foresighted as Jack! Life would be less stressful for gospel ministers. There would be fewer arguments within families about how the funeral should be conducted. And most importantly, there would be fewer cases where a funeral is conducted in a way completely at odds with all that the departed believer would have wanted.

I’ve seen it happen again and again. Let’s imagine Sidney, an elderly widower, living in a nursing-home. He made the arrangements for his wife’s funeral, and what a God-honouring occasion it was! But now Sidney’s alone, the only believer in his family.

When the Lord calls him from this world, his relatives are left to make arrangements for the funeral. They ask the funeral director to recommend a minister. He suggests a local vicar (often a woman) who never knew Sidney but is willing to take any funeral for a fee. When the day comes, the vicar reads a few formal prayers; assures the attenders that ‘death is nothing at all’... Sidney has ‘only slipped away into the next room’; explains that God is Love, and everyone troops out to the sound of Bette Midler singing Wind Beneath my Wings.

Sidney’s soul is surely safe with the Lord. But how sad that his funeral service is a denial of all that he believed and held precious. Don’t make that mistake. Make sure that you leave clear instructions about what should happen at your funeral. And don’t leave it until you know you’re on the last lap. None of us knows when we may be called unexpectedly from this world. So make sure that arrangements are in place for your home-call whenever it may come.

Thinking practically

Decide first whom you would want to conduct your funeral and where it should be held. For most of you that will be the pastor of the church where you’re a member. But there may be particular reasons why you would prefer someone else. And in any case it would be wise to specify a second name, in case your first choice is unavailable when the time comes. Then, talk with whomever you’ve chosen. Ask whether he’s willing to take that responsibility. Then let him know anything that’s important to you. Go through it all with him.

You want a service in a church building? Tell him so and tell him how long, approximately, you would want the service to last. What role do you want family members to take? Would you want relatives to carry the coffin to the grave? Would you want one of them to pass on any last words? Hymns? Bible readings? A sermon addressed chiefly to believers? Or to unbelievers? Make sure it’s all agreed.

When that’s all agreed with the person you’ve asked to conduct the funeral, contact anyone else involved. If the person you’ve been talking with isn’t the pastor of the church where you want the funeral to be held, you’ll need to make sure that that church is willing for its building to be used. If

you’re expecting a relative to talk about your life, make sure they’re willing to play that role.

And then, when everything’s settled, commit it all to paper. The details of the funeral, and anything else that is important to you – for example, any wording that you would want on your gravestone. Make at least two copies. Give one to the person you’re expecting to conduct the funeral. Give one to your next of kin or to the executor of your will.

At least then, when you are called from this world, there will be no question about what your wishes were.

Of course you’ll need to review your preparations from time to time, just as you would your pension arrangements or your will. Circumstances change. It may be that the person you had in mind to conduct the funeral falls ill himself or emigrates. You’ll need then to ask someone else. You may move to another part of the country, making it necessary to rethink the location of the service. You may discover a hymn which you never knew before but which you would love to have sung at your funeral. Changes in the law may make something you’ve asked for impossible to implement.

And of course there’s no absolute guarantee that your wishes will be respected however carefully you’ve stated them. Unless you actually write your wishes into your will, the executors have no legal responsibility to make sure they’re followed. And relatives may simply refuse to co-operate. But I don’t think that’s likely to happen very often. It takes a very stubborn relative to say, ‘I don’t care what Sidney wanted.’

Burial or cremation?

One issue that arises very often these days is the question of burial or cremation. Many believers feel instinctively that burial is the appropriate way for a believer’s body to be returned to the dust. But if no clear instructions have been given and pre-arrangements made, relatives may opt for cremation.

You can see why. There may be practical reasons why cremation seems preferable, not least the relative costs. In a mobile society, where the nearest relatives may live many miles away, the question arises, ‘Who will tend the grave?’

Source: Dreamstime

14 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Thinking it through

eternal life.’ Burial is a gentle, tender act, a sign of our affection and care. We’re simply carrying our sleeping brother or sister to their bed and saying goodnight.

I was moved when I read an email from a Christian woman heartbroken by the death of her mum. The thought of mum’s funeral filled her with dismay. Yet when the day came she found a peace beyond all expectation. She wrote, ‘The dread of seeing the spot I’d imagined was waiting to “swallow” Mum just dissolved. It was such a great comfort to draw on the idea...that we had prepared a room and a bed for her, and that we had the privilege of laying her there in dignity – and saying good night.’

Cremation, by contrast, is an act of wilful destruction. In Bible times, it was reserved for criminals, outcasts, people who had forfeited any right to respect. Josiah burned the bones of the priests of Baal. It was the sign of his total rejection of them (2 Kings 23:16-20). Amos says that the Moabites’ ultimate crime was that they ‘burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime’ (Amos 2:1). In other words, they carried on making war against him even after he had died.

How different from the reverence given to the bodies

And if we want to look beyond the New Testament to witness the reverence with which the Christians of the early centuries viewed their dead, we need look no further than the Catacombs, the vast burial grounds they tunnelled out under the city of Rome. Hundreds of thousands of believers were lovingly laid to rest there.

The Heidelberg Catechism assures me that ‘I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ’. Not just my soul but my body, not only in life but in death, belongs not to me but to Christ. My body, even in death, is sacred unto the Lord and should be treated as such.

So, burial or cremation? I at least know what I would choose. Indeed, I have my earthly resting-place reserved, a place in a graveyard surrounding a country chapel where the gospel is preached from week to week. I’m hoping that the Lord Jesus will return in my lifetime. But if not, that’s where I’m expecting my body to sleep when my soul is taken to be with Christ, and until he comes.

The end of the matter...

The ‘Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem’ urges us to prepare for the day when ‘the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it’ (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7).

Arranging a funeral, planning a burial, is not the most important part of that preparation. For us, preparing for death means living each day in fellowship with the God who created us, redeemed us, and claims us as his own. But for many of us, doing the one can become a vital reminder of how important it is to do the second. ‘Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom’ (Psalm 90:12).

Unless otherwise stated, all Bible quotations in this article are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers © 2001.

This article is based on material first published in the monthly bulletin of Grace Baptist Church, Stockport.

Source: Dreamstime

And there may be emotional reasons too. For some, the idea of scattering the ashes in a place special to their loved one has a sentimental appeal. I see and understand all of that.

Yet I’m never at ease conducting a cremation service. I have done so in the past and I imagine I will do so again. But it’s something I never get used to.

I can’t say cremation is wrong in itself or prohibited by God. God has not given us a law forbidding us to cremate our loved ones. And it will certainly make no difference on the Day of Resurrection. The Lord Jesus is just as able to raise up a body that’s been consumed by fire as one that’s decomposed in the ground. If you have arranged for one of your loved ones to be cremated, you can be assured you have not sinned. And you have not caused any grief or harm to the one you loved.

Yet the Bible does assume that burial, not cremation, is the most appropriate way to say farewell to those we have loved. Burial is a picture of sleep. I quoted at Jack’s graveside Daniel’s words about those ‘who sleep in the dust of the ground’ (Daniel 12:2). When we lay a believer in the ground, it is as if we are saying to them, ‘Sleep, beloved, now, until the day Jesus wakes you again to

of the saints in Old Testament Israel! A whole chapter of Genesis is devoted to Abraham’s purchase of a field and cave to bury his wife Sarah (Genesis 23). He never bought a plot of land to build himself a house or to plant a farm. He was willing to live his life as a perpetual traveller. But there had to be a place on earth where Sarah’s body would be laid to rest, a place that would be kept sacred for generations to come.

In due time Abraham’s body would be laid alongside Sarah’s. ‘Abraham… was gathered to his people, Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah… the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife’ (Genesis 25:8-10).

Isaac, Jacob, Joseph were all to be laid to rest in the same tomb. Jacob died in Egypt but before he died, he gathered his sons and ‘commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah…” When Jacob had finished commanding his

sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last.’ (Genesis 49:29-33).

Joseph too died in Egypt. But he insisted that when finally the Israelites left Egypt, they must carry up his bones to be buried in the family burial place (Genesis 50:26).

What of the New Testament? We see there the same reverential care. When Stephen had been stoned to death, the disciples picked up the poor body that had been so cruelly used. Did they then burn it? No. ‘Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation for him...’ (Acts 8:2, AV).

Of course, the supreme example is the honour given to the body of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had never served Jesus openly in his life. But they wanted to honour him in his death. The bodies of criminals were routinely thrown into the Valley of Gehinnom where they were eaten by beasts or burned. But for those who loved Jesus, it was unthinkable that his body should be treated in that way. So Joseph and Nicodemus lovingly carried Jesus’s body to Joseph’s own tomb, and there they laid him to rest, wrapping the body in linen cloths and anointing it with myrrh and aloes.

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 15

Features

church still affects the personal and social lives of Belgians, especially senior citizens.

Since the 1960s, many foreign labourers have come to work in the heavy industries and coal mines. Many have come from Turkey and North Africa, making Islam Belgium’s second largest official religion.

The recent influx of immigrants from the former Belgian Congo has increased the number of Christians in Belgium, but, even so, the total number of evangelical Christians is still no more than about one per cent.

Belgians are now less dependent on the Roman Catholic Church and most people regard faith and convictions as purely personal matters. Spirituality as an experience is seen as more important than its content, and evangelicals have been affected by this mindset.

Spiritual darkness

Yet Belgium’s religious history could have turned out so differently. About 500 years ago, the country was impacted briefly by the teachings of the Reformation, and the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone was recovered.

This is reflected in the Belgic Confession of 1561. This statement of faith, largely the work of a Belgian preacher called Guido De Bres, was

meant to provide a clear and comprehensive defence of the Reformed faith at the time of the Spanish Inquisition.

However, King Philip II of Spain (Belgium was under Spanish rule in those days) was determined to root out all Protestant factions under his jurisdiction.

Many Belgians, including the valiant De Bres, paid with their lives, while most other Protestants fled north to the Netherlands. Those events of long ago still explain why the Netherlands is mainly Protestant and Belgium is Roman Catholic.

A spiritual darkness settled over Belgium and even today not much light has broken through.

Modern movements

Over the past 100 years, a number of foreign evangelical groupings have tried their hand at working in Belgium. Most of them have been Arminian in their doctrine and practice, but very few of them have met with any lasting success.

Some indigenous Christians (notably from the Brethren movement) have enjoyed a little more success in terms of the number of churches planted, but that numerical growth has diminished since the 1990s. Reformed theology in Belgium remains largely peripheral and, in some cases, unknown.

Source: Dreamstime

‘ Spirituality as an experience is seen as more important than its content, and evangelicals have been affected by this mindset.’

Just 45 miles off the southeast coast of England lies a land of material wealth and spiritual poverty. Belgium, like the rest of Europe, ranks among the world’s needy mission fields.

Only about 4 per cent of the eleven million population have any kind of Protestant connection, and true evangelical believers number around one per cent.

Traditionally, Roman Catholicism has been the main religion in Belgium, but a survey by Ipsos in 2023 suggests that half of Belgians have no real religious affiliation. Mr and Ms Average do not see organised religion as relevant to daily life.

This is true for both the Dutch-speaking Flemings in the north and French-speaking Walloons in the south. This country straddles the cultural, geographical, and linguistic divide between the Germanic north and the Latin south.

History

The modern Kingdom of Belgium dates back to 1830, but its territorial history goes back much further to the first century and the days of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica.

The gospel certainly reached these parts during the first and second centuries, but its influence waned as Roman Catholicism began to dominate. Today, Belgium is still officially 75 per cent Roman Catholic, but very few people attend mass regularly.

Nonetheless, the traditional influence of the Roman Catholic

I have been working with EMF (European Mission Fellowship) in Belgium since 1995. I did also have a short-term stint of gospel work in Belgium between 1987 and 1989, not realising that I would be returning here later for the long haul.

Since 2012, I have been working (with the help of my wife, Ariëtte) as part-time pastor of De Panne Evangelical Church (I also work as a freelance translator since the funds are not available for a full-time ministry).

De Panne lies on the Belgian coast and is also on the border with France. The regular population is 11,000, but that figure can rise up to 40,000 in a busy summer, since the town lives partially from tourism.

The church has been in existence for about 60 years (I am its fifth pastor) and has about 40 members. Since two thirds of our members are aged over 50, it is essential for us to reach a younger generation with the gospel, while also caring for our senior citizens.

It is not easy to reach outsiders. Quite apart from the theological consideration that people without the Lord are dead in trespasses and sins, it takes a lot of time to win trust and forge openings even to talk about spiritual matters in general (religion and politics are two taboo subjects among many Belgians).

As regards evangelism, we do occasionally organise ‘special’ activities (praise evenings, stalls on street markets, shoe box campaigns, etc.), but we focus mainly on a regular programme of outreach.

Literature distribution and door-to-door evangelism have been a regular feature, as have women’s meetings, children’s meetings, and youth work. A few young people have been converted and baptised, and, of course, we long for many more.

It is also our hope and prayer that over time some of those young people will take on more responsibility in the church in the future.

The work remains slow and difficult, but we look to the Lord to build his church. Your prayers for this work are greatly appreciated and necessary.

Material wealth, spiritual poverty:

Evangelicalism in Belgium

By Michael Robinson

EMF missionary in Belgium and minister at De Panne Evangelical Church.

16 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

H4V / GIC

Hope for the Valleys / Gobaith i’r Cymoedd

Reaching children and young people with the gospel.

www.hopeforthevalleys.co.uk

Hope for the Valleys was established in 2019 to reach children and young people with the gospel through schools’ work and church-based activities. We want to reach out to the 95% of children and young people that don’t regularly go to church.

We are seeking to place a worker into the South-East Wales Heads of the Valleys region.

Salary £20,674 - £25,482 depending on experience

For more information and application form, please contact:

Trystan Hallam, Melrose, 6 Gelli Road, Tredegar, NP22 3RD

trysakat@gmail.com

01495 446748

Application deadline: 31st January 2024

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 17

By Alan Thomas

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

A shrink thinks…

The virtual elite

A shrink thinks...

‘Tolerance now means that a viewpoint which deviates from the virtual elites’ can only be held in private and never allowed into the public domain.’

Where does power lie in our society? Historically in almost all societies, power has been concentrated in the hands of tiny groups, such as the aristocracies which dominated Western countries through the medieval and modern periods. While it is obvious such days are long gone in the UK, who rules now?

The answer many would give is that we are now ruled by a technocratic elite, a group sometimes called ‘the Virtuals’, the laptop class of people whose work and lives are dominated by online activities. Such people work in banking, technology, the media, academia, and education.

One consequence of this shift is that it entails a shift away from localism and nationalism to internationalism. The geographical location of Virtuals doesn’t matter. They can do the same work anywhere since it is all online. A banker or academic in California can move to Singapore or Paris or London at the drop of a hat and carry on seamlessly, even working as he travels.

The result is that Virtuals are a global elite, who daily interact more frequently with people in New York or Berlin than with the people living next door.

Perhaps you might think that I as an academic could be classed as a Virtual? Except that the values of this virtual elite are woke and usually contrary to Scripture. They are not only teaching anti-Christian views, but creating an anti-Christian atmosphere.

The values of the Virtuals are shaped by their engagement with the online world, a world of Zoom meetings, social media engagements, of avatars and

virtual reality. It is a world of ideas – but not in a Platonic sense of a well-formed philosophy. Rather, the ideas emerge mysteriously and then are rapidly propagated around the world. The dominant positions of the Virtuals enable them to force their ideas on everyone else.

So suddenly it was transphobic to state that a woman is a woman, or in 2020 you were ostracised if you suggested COVID-19 would be better treated like other viral illnesses. Such woke values suddenly appear across the interconnected Virtuals, endorsed at the same time in Sydney and San Francisco and Sussex. Living in an online world, the Virtuals inhabit a world detached from the physical. They don’t value empirical measurements of real things and actual scientific experiments. As we saw during COVID-19, they prefer computer models.

So how do you decide what a woman is? Those of us basing our lives on and forming our views from the physical world point to biology. A woman has two X chromosomes, she has a characteristic sex hormone profile, a bone structure, and a whole physiology which is different from a man.

Wrong, say the Virtuals. In the virtual world where you decide who you are to be, your ideas about yourself are what matter. You present yourself on your Facebook page as you want to be seen and known, you reveal your personality as you would like people to think of you by ‘liking’ the correct pages. In this

virtual world of make-believe, any person can be whatever gender they want to be (please don’t use that nasty biological word ‘sex’). Gender self-identification seems entirely obvious to those locked into a virtual mindset.

The pernicious impact of the virtual world is much broader than such ‘single issues’, important though they are. For the wokery of the virtual elite includes an Orwellian re-interpretation of ‘tolerance’. Tolerance no longer means accepting that other people have different points of view and we all have to rub along together. Tolerance now means that a viewpoint which deviates from the virtual elites’ can only be held in private and never allowed into the public domain. The woke ‘tolerate’ us only if we keep our mouths shut.

In practice this means we can talk among ourselves, but not challenge the hegemony of the woke in the political and public spaces of power. No evangelical Christians get columns in secular papers anymore, nor do radio or TV programmes feature distinctively Christian viewpoints. In the media, Christians are non-persons. We never feature in films and TV (except to be parodied). No websites and online media outlets of the BBC or Sky or other woke powerbrokers allow the Christian voice to be heard. This is how the virtual elite ‘tolerates’ us, though as their arrogance increases this may soon change.

But the malign influence of this virtual world extends further, bringing greater threats. This

censoring of Christian (and any other) anti-woke arguments means those living in the online world no longer encounter such alternative views. The Virtuals disseminate their doctrine online to an increasing majority of people in our societies whose lives are dominated by online activity. And as is well known, this group is strongly age-biased towards younger people.

Younger people, who most need to learn of the Christian worldview, are the least exposed to it while they are constantly brainwashed into the opposite woke views. The result is surveys repeatedly showing the intolerance of younger adults to orthodox Christian teaching. Even worse, the sheltering of such people from alternative arguments, due to woke ‘tolerance’, means they are easily upset and shocked when they do encounter them. Hence the deplatforming phenomenon at universities.

In the past we would be forced at work, college, and university to meet and mix with all kinds of people. This naturally exposed us to alternative views and disagreements and arguments. And we knew each other. We actually met physically those we debated with. So when they heard our views on marriage and sexuality or creation and evolution, they may have been surprised and even angry. But they knew us. They knew we were not bigoted or nasty. They knew we were good colleagues, kind and helpful friends who worked humbly and gently alongside them.

But ‘working from home’ and online teaching and learning has destroyed such exposure, meaning our ‘shocking’ alternative views are too easily painted as bigotry. We are slandered as transphobes, homophobes, or loony creationists (though the adjective is usually implied). It makes it too easy to ostracise us. But we plod on, engaging as human beings and seeking by our lives to demonstrate the kind of people we really are, confident that the Lord will use our poor efforts in spite of our increasingly difficult situation.

In the next edition of ET I will, God willing, discuss how this issue has affected churches and our Christian lives.

Source: Shutterstock

18 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Features

By Roger Fay

Elder at Zion Evangelical Baptist Church, Ripon, North Yorkshire, and former editor of ET.

The life and hymns of

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley was born on 18 December 1707 at Epworth in Lincolnshire. Born after Samuel (Jr) and John, he was the third son of Revd Samuel Wesley, Rector of Epworth, and Susannah (née Annesley). The brothers had seven surviving sisters.

Charles’s earliest education with his siblings was undertaken by his inimitable mother and was pious, rigorous, and of a high standard for his day. In 1716 he entered Westminster School and in 1727 Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated BA in 1730.

He graduated MA in March 1733. His education, as usual in those days, majored in the Classics, although his mother taught him the Bible and Christian truth.

Methodist

Charles was sociable and vivacious, and it wasn’t long – once he was relatively free of family restraints – before he began to explore the dubious pleasures of his day.

He narrowly escaped the clutches of a London actress called Molly Buchanan, who was appearing in The Virgin Queen at the Theatre Royal. Responding to John’s attempt to restrain his behaviour, Charles objected, ‘What? would you have me to be a saint at once?’

But by January 1729 he was ready to change. In a letter of 1785, he wrote: ‘My first year in college I lost in diversion. The next I set myself to study. Diligence led me into serious thinking. I went to the weekly

sacrament and persuaded two or three young scholars to accompany me and to resume the method of study prescribed by the statutes of the university. This gained me the harmless nickname of Methodist.’

In fact, Charles Wesley was more or less the originator of the ‘Holy Club’, as the Oxford Methodists were soon rather scornfully named by their fellow-students.

They gathered privately to study the Greek New Testament and other religious works. They were later joined by brother John, who became the natural leader of the group.

The Wesley brothers, along with some Oxford Methodists and friends of a similar status and age met regularly, at this time, in the Cotswolds for relaxation and cultivated conversation.

The central venue for this social circle was the Rectory at Stanton in Oxfordshire, home of the family of the Revd Lionel Kirkham. John was at this point especially friendly with Sarah Kirkham, one of Mr Kirkham’s daughters. Sarah’s brother Robert was a member of the Holy Club.

Charles was ordained into the ministry of the Church of England in October 1735. At this point he ‘only thought of spending all my days in Oxford. But my brother, who always had the ascendant over me, persuaded me to accompany him and Mr Oglethorpe to Georgia’, a recently planted American colony. Though both brothers were ordained, neither were yet converted.

Conversion

John was set on ministering to both the colonists and native Americans of Georgia, while, during early 1736, Charles served as secretary to Georgia’s first governor, Colonel James Oglethorpe.

But the time in Georgia proved difficult and humbling for the Wesleys. It culminated in illness and depression for Charles, who offered his resignation to Oglethorpe in July of 1736.

Oglethorpe responded generously. Instead of accepting his resignation, which would no

doubt have damaged Charles’s reputation, he persuaded Charles to return to England as the colony’s courier.

He also perceptively advised him that, being ‘of a social temper’, he would find ‘in a married state the difficulties of working out your salvation exceedingly lessened, and your helps as much increased’.

Charles landed back in England in December 1736. When he had first travelled out to Georgia, and later while residing in the colony, he had witnessed the impressive evangelical testimony of the Moravians.

So there in England, in early 1738, as a result of long conversations with the Moravian missionary Peter Böhler, both he and John were finally persuaded of the need to be personally justified by faith and that justification by faith was an instantaneous event.

After much soul-struggle, and after reading Martin Luther’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, Charles found peace with God. This was on Whitsuntide, 21 May 1738, only three days before John experienced a warm assurance of faith in Christ at a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street.

Charles wrote, ‘I found myself converted, I knew not how nor when,’ and ‘found myself at peace with God and rejoiced in hope of loving Christ’. His conversion hymn was probably the one that begins:

Where shall my wondering soul begin,

How shall I all to heaven aspire?

A slave redeemed from death and sin,

A brand plucked from eternal fire.

How shall I equal triumphs raise,

Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?

The hymn ‘And can it be’ is often associated with his conversion, but was probably written later.

Preacher

Charles, now a new man in Christ, testified zealously to all. In July 1738 he began speaking to condemned prisoners at Newgate prison and achieved startling results despite his earlier doubts about the validity of a deathbed repentance.

From then until August 1739, he effectively acted as an

unlicensed curate to George Stonehouse in Islington, before being forced out of that church by the bishop and churchwardens because of his emphasis on the new birth and justification by faith.

He began to preach without notes, which gave him greater freedom and made a greater impact upon his hearers, and, on 29 May 1739, followed George Whitefield and John Wesley into the then novel practice of open-air preaching.

The 18th-century Evangelical Revival in England was already underway, with George Whitefield preaching the gospel to large crowds in the open-air. Charles was to exercise a fruitful preaching ministry, frequently to large crowds.

In 1740 the Wesley brothers broke with the Moravians over Moravian ‘stillness teaching’ and its antinomian tendencies. In 1741 they broke with the Calvinistic Methodist followers of George Whitefield over the doctrines of election and predestination.

Charles’s insistence on a universal gospel offer was always a central theme in his ministry and was prominent in many of his hymns, not a few of which are explicitly and shockingly polemical against predestination.

Thankfully, because it is indeed authentically biblical to offer the gospel universally while still believing in election, and to invite ‘all’ without exception to come to Christ, biblical Calvinists can sing many of Charles’s polemical lines with a good conscience — but filtering them through a different theological grid!

Typical are Wesley’s lines, ‘For all my Lord was crucified, for all, for all, my Saviour died.’ They remain close enough to the overall thrust of the gospel and yet to God’s electing purposes to draw from all Christians a hearty ‘Amen!’.

At first the Wesleys’ ministry was conducted in London and Bristol. From 1740 it expanded to Wales, and then northern England, Cornwall, and Ireland. Finally, in 1751, it reached Scotland, though Methodism had a cool reception there.

Source: Shutterstock

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 19

A walk with Mr O

By Stuart Olyott

Retired but active, Stuart Olyott preaches widely, but especially at Caergwrle Evangelical Church.

Source: unsplash

Mr O, since we last met I’ve been haunted by Ephesians 5:16, the verse which tells us that we Christians are to be ‘redeeming the time, because the days are evil’. In 2024 I’m going to make sure that every minute counts for the Lord.

Every minute?

Yes, every minute – because I read somewhere that if we look after the minutes, the hours will look after themselves.

And yet the Bible makes no mention of minutes. It talks of years, months, weeks, days, hours, watches (periods of several hours), but never breathes a word about minutes. As far as the Word of God is concerned, minutes are an unknown concept.

But today we think about them all the time, as well as seconds. And in sport, of course, we even talk about hundredths of seconds.

God’s Word has a much more relaxed view of time than we have. God’s will is that we should use our hours well, but not get all uptight about how we are using each minute. He knows us better than we know ourselves. People who go around constantly thinking about minutes and seconds nearly all always end up hurried, tense, dissatisfied, judgmental, and impatient. The world would be a happier place if we removed the minutes and seconds from all our phones and clocks.

Come on, Mr O! How could this modern digital world function if we did that?

I get your point. But let’s take our eyes off the world for a moment and think about Jesus. His life was perfect. Often he was so busy that he had no time to eat. But he was never in a hurry. Not ever. He knew that every hour of his life had been planned by his Father, and that there was enough time in 24 hours to do the whole will of God. Even interruptions did not disturb his peace, because he knew that they too were part of the divine plan. Christlike people walk through life. They do it steadily and purposefully. They don’t run.

You’re not saying, are you, that God has planned each of our lives as meticulously as he planned the life of his Son?

What do the Scriptures say? They make it plain that God has decided the exact amount of time that we shall spend on this earth, and that we Christians ‘are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them’

(Ephesians 2:10). On our path every day there are God-given opportunities to do good. Our life’s work is to spot those opportunities and to do as much good as possible. That’s exactly how Jesus lived.

It looks as if I’ll have to start thinking about 2024 in a different way.

Yes, the world is constantly bullying us to keep our eyes on the clock. The result is that many Christians go through life asking the wrong questions. Instead of asking, ‘What’s the time? How shall I use the next few minutes?’, they should be saying to themselves, ‘Here, right now, what good can I do?’ In 2024 , don’t keep looking at the time. But do keep looking for opportunities to do good!

But surely that’s a recipe for constant exhaustion!

No! We’ll be fit for nothing if we don’t have a good night’s sleep. We shall need to spend one third of 2024 in bed! There will be enough time left in the other two thirds to do the whole will of God, and to do it without hurry or worry. And even then we won’t be ‘on the go’ the whole time. Scripture reveals that the Lord expects us to punctuate each week with a Sabbath day, and each weekday with moments of leisure. And there’s something else. None of us can do everything. If one hundred people are drowning in the sea, but my lifeboat has room for only 50, what am I to do? I am to save 50. That’s all. The moment I try to save 51 I put at risk the 50 I’ve already saved. That’s a hard, but essential, lesson to learn.

In the early days, the Methodists experienced opposition from the clergy of the Established Church and the frequent prospect of mob violence as well. Sometimes this was incited by the clergy, yet both brothers displayed great courage.

In the mid-1740s they were even suspected of being Jacobites. Charles, for example, was summoned before the magistrates at Wakefield in March 1744 for praying ‘that the Lord would call home his [spiritually] banished’. It was assumed he was praying for the return of ‘The Young Pretender’, Bonnie Prince Charlie!

Brother and father

On 8 April 1749 Charles married Sarah Gwynne at Llanllywenfel parish church, Brecknockshire. It was to prove a very happy marriage, although Sally later contracted smallpox, from which she recovered but remained scarred.

In that same year John Wesley’s confused and unsuccessful attempt to marry Grace Murray took place. This was followed the next year by his disastrous marriage to the widow Mrs Mary (Molly) Vazeille.

Charles had more than a hand in interfering with and preventing John’s marriage to Grace, though from sincere motives. This, more than anything else, ushered in the remaining years of strained relationship with John, although it never led to a complete breakdown of fellowship and loss of brotherly love.

Another factor that loosened their ties to each other was Charles’s growing suspicion that John was open to taking the burgeoning Methodist movement outside the Church of England.

He particularly disagreed with John’s uncanonical use of a growing band of Methodist lay preachers. To be fair to Charles, some of the lay preachers proved very hard to handle and difficult to lead apart from John’s authority.

Charles was only partly reassured of John’s intentions towards Anglicanism when his brother stated in the 1755 Methodist conference that, whether or not separation from the Church of England was ‘lawful’, it wasn’t ‘expedient’.

A walk with Mr O

We all have time

Charles’s uncompromising feelings for his mother church are exemplified in his comment in 1760 to the independently minded Methodist preacher John Nelson: ‘John, I love thee from my heart: yet rather than see thee a dissenting minister, I wish to see thee smiling in thy coffin.’

Charles had no ambition to lead the Methodist movement himself. Between September and November 1756, he made his last preaching tour of the Midlands and the north of England and then ceased to itinerate.

He oversaw the Methodist work in Bristol for 15 years and in 1771 moved to London, where he continued faithfully in settled ministry among local Methodists.

His London move was also with the intention of furthering the musical careers of his two sons, Charles (1757–1834) and Samuel (1766–1837), both of whom were musical prodigies.

He held concerts in his home, hoping thereby to cushion his sons from the even more worldly cultural environment outside. This move brought his family among some of the great people of the land but brought considerable Methodist disapproval.

Charles was an affectionate husband and father, anxious to imbue his sons and his daughter Sarah with his evangelical faith. But there is no evidence that they were ever born again. Samuel, late in his life, became a Roman Catholic.

Despite his differences with John, Charles could write in 1785 about their relationship: ‘Thus our partnership here is ended but not our friendship. I have taken him for better for worse till death do us part — or rather re-unite in love inseparable.’

In 1788 Charles’s health deteriorated, and he died at home aged 80, on 29 March. Loyal to the Church of England to the last, he was buried at St Mary’s, Marylebone.

A fortnight later, John was ministering at Bolton. As he gave out his brother’s hymn ‘Wrestling Jacob’ and read its lines, ‘My company before is gone, And I am left alone with Thee’, he burst into tears and sat down in the pulpit with his face buried in his hands. The whole congregation wept in sympathy.

God willing, part two of this article will be published in the next edition.

20 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Book Reviews

Leslie Land: His Life and Ministry

2000 Years of Christ’s Power,

Volume 5: The Age of Enlightenment and Awakening

Nick Needham

Christian Focus

664 pages; £21.99

Judging only by the series’ shamelessly unacademic title – ‘2000 years of Christ’s power’ – some may suspect Nick Needham’s latest volume to be another case of bad, ‘popular’ church history; trite, mawkish, and unreliable. This suspicion, however, would be entirely mistaken. While it is an easy read – clear, concise, and assuming little prior knowledge – it sacrifices nothing

in accuracy or nuance. Needham leads us through 18th century church history in a way that satisfies both the layman and the scholar.

The opening chapter, ‘The Enlightenment’, is a case in point. Where some might be tempted to caricature, Needham explains complex philosophy without befuddling the reader or offering the false comfort of gross simplification. Where some might cherry-pick, Needham supplies a 15-page section of primary source material.

While Needham’s subject is the bride of Christ, he maintains that his ‘moral task... is to record all the facts, even those

which may set our heroes in a bad light’. Thus, whether it be Whitefield’s ownership of slaves, Watts’s scepticism about revival, Toplady’s vicious polemics, Methodism’s women preachers, Lady Maxwell’s mysticism, or the vision that converted James Gardiner, Needham avoids anxious meddling or qualification. By the same token, his accounts of lively Lutheran piety, signs of a true theology of justification in Eastern Orthodoxy, pockets of life in Roman Catholicism, and of the colossal evangelical revival that swept through Britain and America, offer much to uplift us.

This book – which I strongly recommend – will draw you to two glorious conclusions. First, that confessing an historical, universal church means admitting a large, diverse, and colourful number into her ranks. Second, that by Christ’s power, even through periods of apparent historical darkness and death, light and life have prevailed.

Michael Taylor

Newcastle upon Tyne

Mary K. Mohler

Christian Focus Publications

159 pages; £15.99

I picked up this book having read another biography about Mrs Spurgeon fairly recently. However, this book brought a number of different things to the table!

Mary Mohler writes as a wife of an eminent Christian minister and so can sympathise more particularly with some of the situations in which Susannah found herself. This allows her to write in quite insightful ways about Susannah, helping us to feel some of the sacrifices she would have made.

Mohler’s aim is to write about what women – ‘primarily women married to men in ministry, but also to Christian women in general – can learn from the remarkable life of Susannah Thompson Spurgeon’. She writes clearly, giving biblical and anecdotal evidence for her statements and finishing each chapter with searching questions designed to help the reader deepen their learning.

Each chapter is titled with a small quotation from Susannah’s own writings. At the end of the book she gives

Ian Shaw

Joshua Press

227 pages; £14.99

This book is about the formative influences on Leslie Land leading to his outstanding ministry at Melbourne Hall, Leicester.

These influences take up the first quarter of the book, with his ministry and examples of his preaching in the rest.

His parents were faithful in taking their children to a live local church where Land trusted in Christ. He went

to Cambridge and thence to Seaford College where he became the Head of the school in his early thirties. It was as the Head and arranging chapel service speakers that he met and made friends with Martyn Lloyd-Jones, with whom he shared his sense of call to ministry. Through Lloyd-Jones’s friendship and encouragement Land trained for ministry and was called to Melbourne Hall 1947–1961.

Shaw gives a flavour of Land’s ministry in the weekly preaching: the sermons notes,

which were mainly heavily underlined headings and appropriate quotes, show the drive and energy of his preaching. Shaw describes how Land was very committed to teaching young people. He sums up Land’s ministry at Melbourne Hall in eight headings, from God’s purposes, to unflinching faithfulness, which are helpful in grasping Land’s significance and the aim in his preaching.

The weekly Bible School, which Land taught, is especially remembered for

the awe inspired by Land’s teaching of the Bible.

The book ends with examples of his sermons, showing the simplicity of his style and his ability to deal carefully and fairly with difficult issues. I appreciated the sermons and their power to speak even now.

Shaw loves and respects Land, which is evident in the book. An excellent read which I much appreciated.

Patrick Buckley

Truro

extended quotations from Susannah’s devotionals where we are encouraged by her instruction, exhortation, and prayers. In giving such a large space for us to hear Susannah’s voice, Mohler again makes her book stand out from other biographies.

Mohler clearly esteems Susannah highly and has great affection for her. However, she does not see her as above criticism.

Mohler points out how the Spurgeons followed Victorian practice in having their children largely cared for by staff, and states that she is ‘glad’ to have had the ‘privilege’ of raising her children herself.

This book was warm, encouraging, and challenging. It spurred me to throw myself more at Christ’s feet, to learn from him, and to use my time on earth wisely.

Bethan Pfeiffer

Cheltenham

Susannah Spurgeon: Lessons for a Life of Joyful Eagerness in Christ

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 21

Book Reviews

The Surprising Genius of Jesus: What the Gospels Reveal about the Greatest Teacher

Marsh Moyle

IVP 2023

257 pages; £15.99 hardback

Try reading the Ten Commandments and ask, ‘How would I use these for an

evangelistic discussion group, or for a series of apologetic messages?’ This

book gives some handy hints.

The author takes you to a café ‘somewhere in Central Europe’ where

customers discuss the qualities of a ‘better country’. Stimulus is offered

by a sculpture that represents the Decalogue. Soon, discussion in earnest

begins at ten tables where values and concepts represented by the Ten Words

are debated. Two chapters open up fundamental values such as trust,

goodness, power and freedom before a substantial chapter is devoted to each

commandment.

The commandments are discussed by Moyle with God in the background, ever present but not intrusive, like a gold thread emerging here and there in a fabric. They are examined in terms of what they mean psychologically,

sociologically, even economically or politically, but also spiritually.

The First Commandment is an invitation to draw near the Triune and Creator God and find there our true humanity. The Second considers the uses and abuses of imagination and finds the true Image in Jesus Christ. The Fifth examines the breakdown of relationships between generations; the Eighth, the benefits of trust – no locks, keys, PINs, or passwords!

The Tenth looks at covetousness

as a kind of envy. A concluding chapter draws us more directly to the gospel, ‘the way of love’. But each chapter relates our very human needs and sinfulness to the existence of a transcendent God.

This book is not an easy read. Moyle advises readers, ‘Speed reading is not

recommended.’ I understood his introductory chapters better on re-reading, having completed the book. But it is a rewarding read. If you want to think again about these wonderful words written by the finger of God, try this book.

Mostyn Roberts

Welwyn

Jason Roach & Jessamin Birdsall

The Good Book Company

176 pages; £8.99

Formulating a biblical response to the sin of racism (partiality) has become a very pressing issue among evangelical Christians. Jason Roach and Jessamin Birdsall seek to offer a vision for ‘racial unity and justice’. Their approach receives strong praise in the book’s commendations, and Roach has been invited to speak at the 2023 FIEC Leaders’ Conference entitled ‘Ministry of Justice’.

This book contains good advice on how to approach discussions on this topic, such as seeking to listen carefully, being open to questioning personal assumptions, and not jumping to conclusions based on stereotypes. However, because the authors accept some aspects of debated secular frameworks, such as critical race theory, their approach leads to unbiblical conclusions.

Roach and Birdsall do critique these frameworks, but they conclude that they contain both truth and error. What they fail to identify is that the errors are in the foundational concepts used to build these frameworks. For that reason, the whole systems are problematic.

One of the clearest examples of this is how the authors accept and use the concepts of systemic or institutional sin. The Bible speaks of sin as a personal offence. We are not judicially guilty of the sins of others because we share a characteristic with them – such as our skin pigmentation, ethnicity, or gender. Institutions can be evil because they

can encourage sinful behaviour and can magnify the sins of individuals. But being part of a group or institution does not create a shared moral guilt before God unless we participate in a particular sin personally.

If sin is something that can be shared through group identity, then the perfection of Christ would be threatened. Jesus is a member of some groups that some claim were guilty of shared sin, since he is a male and a member of a majority ethnic group. The authors do acknowledge that critical race theory denies a universal sinful nature, but they accept the premise of shared sin and guilt, which is a fundamental flaw in the framework.

In their desire to ‘drain the bathwater while keeping a firm hold of the baby’, the authors set evangelicals on the wrong path in seeking to engage with these important issues. This book is a missed opportunity, because racism is a present and past reality in our world and Christians should be opposed to it from a fully biblical framework.

The approach taken by some evangelicals to these subjects mirrors the early responses to Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species. Some Christians showed initial warmth towards several of Darwin’s ideas, but over time clearer reflection demonstrated how dangerous his framework was to biblical Christianity. We face a similar challenge over critical race theory in the 21st century and we should pray that we might not make the same mistakes again.

Matthew Seymour

Warwick

Peter J. Williams

Crossway

144 pages; £10.99

Given Tim Keller’s excellent evangelistic book The Prodigal God, you might be wondering whether there is need for another book-length treatment of Jesus’s story of the ‘Prodigal Son’. Well there is! Peter Williams’s short book deftly shows the brilliance of Jesus’s parable: both the artistry of the story and its many ‘riffs’ on the book of Genesis.

If you’ve read his earlier book, Can We Trust

the Gospels, you’ll know how skilfully Dr Williams combines scholarly rigour with readability – a sadly rare combination. This ability is very much on display in his new book: I would dare any pastor or mature Christian to read it and say they haven’t learned something new (I certainly did).

But the book is primarily aimed at the educated unbeliever who might be sceptical as to whether we can even trace the parable back to Jesus himself. With gentle irony, Dr Williams asks ‘Was Jesus an ordinary teacher

with brilliant students who selflessly credited him with their great ideas?’

The various connections with Jacob and Esau, Joseph, Judah, Abraham, and even Cain and Abel, are an excellent introduction to, or refresher course in, Genesis. This is state-of-the-art biblical scholarship leveraged to commend the Jesus of Scripture: fresh, fascinating and (on the whole) convincing.

As Dr Williams himself concedes, some people will be more convinced by some of his connections and

Rumours of a Better Country: Searching for trust and community in a time of moral outrage

Healing that divides: How every Christian can advance God’s vision for racial unity and justice

allusions than by others, but the overall cumulative case is very strong.

The final chapter felt a little hurried – I’m not sure if the commendable desire to fill out other elements of the gospel was entirely successful – but that is a minor criticism of an excellent book.

Buy it, read it, enjoy it, marvel at Jesus’s genius, then pass it on to an interested sceptic and see what happens!

Phil Heaps

Highbury, North London

22 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Interview

JT: Jim, tell us about your background and how you became a JW?

JF: Hull has been my home since my birth 72 years ago. When I was five, my parents embraced Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs, leading me to adopt their strict lifestyle. I dedicated my life to following the principles and practices of this faith – every twist and turn. I became part of a bunch of lovely albeit misled sheep.

My school years were affected by a sense of being different. I couldn’t participate in birthday celebrations; I couldn’t make Father’s or Mother’s Day cards; I couldn’t stand up or sing when the national anthem was played.

I was often exercised thinking up plausible-sounding excuses for not attending any parties, after-school clubs, and so on – especially on meeting nights. JWs view these activities as ‘worldly’ or ‘unnecessary association with the world’.

JT: How else was your life characterised as a JW?

JF: In my mid-teens (during the 1960s), I was baptised as a JW. Back then it was the norm for all JW school-leavers to start ‘pioneering’ – that is, qualifying to become an unpaid preacher, devoting some 1,200 hours per year (23 hours per week) to house-to-house proselytising.

I adhered to a hyper-busy pioneer schedule for the next 30 years, woven around my

low-income, part-time, self-employed work. I married a wonderful JW girl, and shortly thereafter in 1974 (aged 23), I was appointed as an elder. I served in this role for the next 42 years.

I held various responsibilities during that time. I supervised local preaching work; organised ship-visiting at the Port of Hull for two decades; led a Chinese group and congregation; spoke at some large conventions; and served on several three-man judicial committees (convened when JWs violate the rules).

Given this busy ‘theocratic routine’, I had limited personal time to thoroughly explore the Scriptures within their proper context.

JT: What led you to leave the religion?

JF: Certain issues nagged at me over the years, not least the draconian policy of extreme shunning. This involves friends and family completely ignoring, as if dead, anyone who has been disfellowshipped (expelled) from a JW congregation.

Every member of a congregation is duty-bound to report to the elders anyone who expresses criticism of the Watchtower organisation (which oversees all matters of JW belief and practice), or who departs from its behavioural policies.

Other issues that concerned me included the Watchtower’s refusal to disclose databases containing thousands of names of men accused of child sexual abuse; the distorted translations used in the New World Translation of the Bible; the numerous failed predictions concerning the

date of Armageddon; and the counsel to avoid higher education at university.

Another concerning feature of JW theology is their teaching that only 144,000 JWs had the hope of reaching heaven, while all other JWs, as ‘friends of God’, must anticipate working obediently for over 1000 years towards their salvation on a paradise Earth in order to qualify as children of God.

The Watchtower also continues to advocate rigid abstention from blood transfusions (albeit abstrusely allowing blood fractions to be transfused).

All these issues, along with constant flip-flops in teaching, I shelved in a state of ‘cognitive immunisation’, thinking that they must surely be cases of the ‘light getting brighter’ for the righteous as time goes by (Proverbs 4:18). In other words, official JW teaching has been understood to evolve and become more ‘enlightened’ only as time goes by.

But in 2012, everything changed for me. On my bookshelf, I had a collection of various Bible translations that I occasionally referred to for comparison.

One day I decided to read Romans 1–8. I was startled to grasp the reality of God’s grace in Christ – how it was shown to sinners who could become the children of God through no merit of their own, but rather through faith alone. I also read the epistle of 1 John. The implications of chapter 4:15-17 took my breath away.

A short time later, on a grey autumn day, I was praying as I walked alone down an almost-deserted side street near my home, when Christ made his awesome presence known to me. Walking down that street, I was struck by the words of John 19:30 like never before – as if they had been written specially for me: It is finished. It is finished, Jim.

With tears of repentance and joy streaming down my face, I turned to Jesus Christ and surrendered my life to the Lord. I knew Jesus loved me unconditionally and had saved me!

I came to this realisation not by investigating the errors of the Watchtower organisation through different websites and ex-JW material – helpful though they are – but by understanding who Christ is, and by finding a new identity in him.

As a JW, I had known about God as a sovereign Creator, but I never knew him as my beloved Abba Father. I had known Jesus as a role model, but not as my personal Saviour. And as for the Holy Spirit

‘I was a Jehovah’s Witness for 60 years,

but gave it up for Christ’

An interview with Jim Fielder

– JWs never discuss or preach about him indwelling believers, but now I knew it myself; I experienced it myself.

JT: What challenges are involved in leaving the JWs?

JF: Leaving certainly requires courage. It is not like a member of, say, a Roman Catholic church transferring to a Methodist congregation. JWs see themselves as following the only true and biblical organisation; ‘God’s channel’, or as they express it, to be a JW is to be ‘in the Truth’. In their eyes, leaving the organisation is tantamount to denying Jehovah God and rejecting any chance of everlasting life.

The Governing Body (which oversees the world’s 8 million JWs) is currently comprised of nine men in New York. JWs consider them to be the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ of Matthew 24:45 – a role Jesus appointed them to in the year 1919 (or so they claim).

Given this centralised, ‘divinely mandated’ authority structure, independent or critical thinking among lay JWs is discouraged. Reading religious material outside of approved JW publications is off-limits.

Watchtower literature (such as the magazines you see displayed on the town centre carts) often asserts that all other religions are controlled by Satan as part of ‘Babylon the Great’, spoken of in Revelation 17. This information control creates an ‘ignorance bubble’ among JWs.

Anyone suspected of deviation from official teachings can expect to be contacted by the elders for questioning, usually followed by the convening of a judicial committee. The typical result is an announcement to the entire congregation that the named individual is ‘no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses’.

After this announcement, everyone within the organisation, including family members, is expected to shun the person as having died. They are not to be spoken to, even via text message. This can lead to profound feelings of isolation, guilt, loss of identity, a spiritual

By John Tredgett

John is an elder at Grace Evangelical Church in Carlisle. He is also the production Editor for Evangelical Times.

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 23

Interview

void, lack of secular skills, financial challenges, and even suicide.

Each individual’s experience is unique, and not all ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses will encounter all of these challenges. However, JWs having second thoughts would be well advised to make a start by building a circle of new friends who can support them after they leave.

JT: How is a Christian church meeting different from a Kingdom Hall meeting?

JF: Every Kingdom Hall around the world follows the same scheme of Watchtower-published teaching material at their lengthy, twice-weekly meetings. Meetings are often repetitive and shallow; they are scripted echo chambers of the Governing Body’s approved program of information and film clips.

Bible education (primarily through the New World Translation) is emphasised, but it is always presented with a focus on indoctrination according to the Watchtower’s perspective. One must conform to the prevailing doctrinal beliefs and unity of thought, commonly referred to as ‘present light’. JWs have a unity by conformity.

Although the phrases ‘relationship with Jehovah’ and ‘imitate Jesus’ were often mentioned in a clichéd manner at their meetings, it was very rare to hear anyone refer to a ‘relationship with our Lord Jesus’, even in prayers.

The major themes set for each meeting revolved around loyalty to the organisation’s Governing Body through faithful attendance at all meetings, zealous preaching, and financial support of the movement.

For a former JW, attending a Christian church service can be a significant challenge. However, I have found Christian church meetings to be far more worshipful, with greater emphasis on singing and prayer.

Church services typically include regular communion, which contrasts with the JW Memorial Supper. This only takes place once a year, and only 0.1 per cent of all JWs partake of the bread and wine.

Christian churches also recognise and tolerate that there may be variations in secondary theological issues, but still come together to worship the Lord while adhering to essential beliefs: they have a unity within diversity.

JT: How have JWs changed over the decades? How are they faring in the UK in 2024?

JF: Here are a few examples of changes: in the late 19th century, the ‘Bible Students’ (later renamed ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’) under Charles Taze Russell, thought that Christ’s ‘presence’ (parousia) had begun in 1874.

Moreover, according to ‘calculations’ contrived from the books of Daniel and Revelation, along with their study of the dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Giza, they predicted that 1914 would be the end of the world through Armageddon.

For example, in The Time is at Hand (published in 1889), Russell wrote that, ‘all present governments will be overthrown and dissolved… the full establishment of the Kingdom of God will be accomplished by the end of AD 1914.’ Over time, Russell and his successors posited other dates which supposedly marked the end of the age, including 1918, 1925, and 1975.

Nowadays, JWs buy time with the speculative concept of an ‘overlapping generation’ that supposedly began in 1914, and which consists of two overlapping groups of ‘anointed ones’. These time frames impose an inflated sense of urgency upon JWs to preach (although with notably diminishing zeal in recent times).

In the 1950s JWs stated that Jesus was no longer to be worshipped. Their current stance is that he is Michael the archangel – a creation of Jehovah rather than God himself. In the 1990s, greater emphasis than ever was placed

on unwavering loyalty to the Governing Body. The elders were repeatedly warned to be on alert for rebellious tendencies.

Nowadays, you are more likely to see Witnesses standing silently at their literature carts than on your front doorstep with iPads or flyers to offer. The loyal core still attends their meetings and engages in preaching, but their numbers have decreased.

To seemingly conceal the decline in many countries, JW ministers no longer require members to report their individual hours and literature distribution each month, except for those who are full-time preachers, known as pioneers. Any reforms are skilfully crafted to create the illusion of a more compassionate image to the public.

JT: Why do you think people are still drawn to become JWs?

JF: Jehovah’s Witnesses offer a clear and structured belief system. By highlighting specific Bible texts (often taken out of context), they appear to provide ready answers to the big questions people ask. JWs are also generally kind and honest people with a strong commitment to their own community.

Some people are attracted by their unique blend of doctrines which keeps them ‘pure’ (i.e. distinct) from all other mainstream religions. However, despite efforts to adapt to the modern era by reducing their printing output and developing digital media, they are attracting increasingly fewer people.

Their heyday was in the 1970s to the 1990s. Since 1995, the rate at which Jehovah’s

Witnesses were growing started to decline. In 2022, worldwide, JWs spent 1.5 billion hours preaching, yet the result was that membership declined by 0.7 per cent relative to the general population.

Given the rise of the internet, to what extent are JWs now aware of doctrinal U-turns and failed prophecies in their organisation’s history? How do they make sense of them?

We need to understand that JWs essentially hold to progressive revelation, believing that Proverbs 4:18 teaches that the righteous receive ‘new light’ as time goes by. Their logic is this: God’s servants improve over time, therefore in the past it’s natural and forgivable for there to have been mistakes, errors, and what Watchtower publications have called ‘misplaced zeal’ among JW teachers and literature. What’s more, the towering fear of disfellowshipping and losing family members simply outweighs concerns over doctrinal matters and changes.

JT: What should evangelicals talk about with JWs?

JF: It is essential to approach any discussion with a spirit of love and respect rather than aiming at confrontation or humiliation. For example, you might ask, ‘How long have you been associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses? What attracted you personally to the organisation?’ Their response can provide an opportunity for you to better understand their beliefs and personality.

Additionally, you might enquire, ‘Are you willing to explain your views on salvation

from the Scriptures?’ One or two may respond by referring to Matthew 24:13 (‘he who endures to the end will be saved’). Be prepared to explain why this verse does not teach that we are saved because of our own endurance!

You might ask if they could comment on the words of John 5:24: ‘Most truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes the One who sent me has everlasting life, and he does not come into judgment but has passed over from death to life.’ Don’t forget to relate your own testimony of coming to Christ. This can have a deep impact on a sincere JW.

JT: Is there anything that Christians can learn from JWs?

JF: There is certainly much that can impress us about JWs. They often form tight-knit communities that emphasise the importance of supporting one another. They also insist on advocating for high moral standards. For example, avoiding activities such as smoking, gambling, premarital sex, and drug abuse.

Most noteworthy is their strong commitment to spreading their faith. Sadly, in the course of my JW preaching over six decades, only a handful of Christians I met on doorsteps ever tried to give a clear explanation of the true gospel. It has been said that JW proselytisers do more for a lie than Christians do for the truth!

JT: Jim, you turned your back on 60 years as a JW to enter a relationship with Christ. Has it been worth it?

JF: I do look back and wonder, were all those years wasted years? In one sense, yes, but in another sense, it has been a positive journey – from darkness to the brilliant light of Christ for all eternity.

Like the apostle Paul, I could speak of advancing in my former religion beyond many of my peers, but on balance it is nothing compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, and sharing with others the true gospel concerning him.

Every day I have the opportunity and joy to ‘keep on growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 3:18). I continue to humbly learn many lessons, actively yielding to Christ’s leading. Now I enjoy my freedom in him!

Source: Shutterstock

24 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

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Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 25

Features

Many have deep concerns regarding the relevance or appropriateness of open-air preaching or ‘street evangelism’ in our day. This can be clearly seen in the way that open-air outreach is conspicuous by its absence as a subject in most ministry conferences and seminary training programmes.

I am someone who is convinced of the primacy of preaching outside as well as inside church buildings, and am fully persuaded of its effectiveness. However, I do understand why reservations exist.

We all have witnessed poor, insensitive, and even aggressive examples of street preaching and outreach. Being so public makes it doubly inexcusable. Sincere and earnest though they may be, the approach and manner of some preachers can be lacking the essential grace, winsomeness, and empathy that are so needful.

But should we so easily jettison such a time-honoured and potentially fruitful means of reaching outsiders with the gospel? Are we satisfied as churches that we are doing all in our power to reach the masses who are living and dying without Christ, therefore without hope? Could it be that open-air outreach today is the evangelistic elephant in the room?

How shall they hear?

While being only too aware of the necessity of bridge-building and befriending, the apostle

Paul challenges us, ‘How shall they hear without someone preaching to them?’ (Romans 10:14).

As one who has been engaged in open-air work for over 40 years, I believe I have made enough mistakes to be of use to any who desire to make Christ known to an increasingly spiritually ignorant and desperately needy generation through open-air preaching.

This appeal comes with my heartfelt prayer that it may change the thinking of those who remain to be persuaded. Let us start by considering the benefits of this ministry.

Pros of open-air evangelism

It reaches all types and classes of people. It reaches people of all ages. It reaches across nationalities and cultures. It reaches those who would never go to church. It reaches those unable to go to a church because of religious or cultural barriers. It reaches those who have no Christian family, friends, colleagues, or contacts.

Open-air evangelism helps awaken or activate those in whom spiritual desires are stirring. It makes known the requirements of God and the salvation of God. It keeps believers in touch with how the ‘man in the street’ thinks (especially helpful for pastors/preachers).

Open-air evangelism drives us to prayer and to study the Scriptures more urgently. It is a means of unifying believers on

the essentials for the gospel’s sake. It is a great training ground for young preachers/gospel workers. And it has a reviving effect upon our own souls!

Team work

This work is certainly not just about someone preaching, and is always most effective when there is a mixed team of believers working in joyful harmony. It is in itself a great witness to an unbelieving world when men and women of mixed age, ethnicity, and culture join together as one in such a public way.

We are on a rescue mission! Secondary doctrinal issues and differences are thus laid to one side as we link arms and join together in a warfare which is more deadly and has consequences far greater than any mortal conflict.

Team members are not to be considered ‘supporting actors’ in the work! Personal work is vitally important. This is not to diminish the priority and function of the preaching of the word in any way. But it is in one-to-one conversations you get to hear just where a person is and can share and apply the gospel more personally.

Ideally, each church would have their own open-air team engaging on a regular basis in their locality – providing the location is appropriate for street outreach (much wisdom is needed here). Help is at hand in training and encouragement from a number of good

organisations who hold a high view of the local church and are only too willing to assist and partner.

In the market place

What a thrilling snapshot we have of Paul in Athens in Acts 17. Despite being alone and waiting for the arrival of colleagues, his heart is so ‘greatly distressed’ by the multitudes hopelessly lost in their idolatry we find him in the synagogue and then in the market place each day earnestly reasoning ‘with those who happened to be there’ (Acts 17:17).

We too are called to engage and share the gospel with those who are gripped by pagan idolatry and yet are willing to listen. Like Paul, we must attempt to bridge gaps – sometimes chasms – in culture and lifestyle.

Of course, every Christian is ‘in the marketplace’. Every believer is ‘on the front line’ where by our lives – and when possible by our lips – we seek to explain what and why we believe what we do. There is also the online ‘marketplace’ where much defence of the faith can take place and unbelievers can be reached with gospel truth.

We greatly rejoice in all this. But it is not a case of ‘either/or’ but ‘both/and’. My appeal is simply for us not to neglect the effectiveness of ‘old school’ evangelism, i.e., being literally present in the market place where we can lovingly and

sensitively grapple in an eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart, direct way with those who ‘happen to be there’ and are willing to engage.

Overflow

It has been a personal encouragement to notice a resurgence of interest in open-air work in recent years, especially among the younger generation. But it has also been disappointing to observe that there appears so little in the way of encouragement and training within many churches or from theological colleges.

So I plead for local church ministers to set apart men and women for such a work as this. What’s needed is simply warm, Spirit-filled men and women who overflow with love, grace, compassion, and humility, and who would be willing to venture out into those pedestrian town centres where vast numbers of people pass by each day.

A book table can be laid out nearby with a wide variety of attractive literature so people may browse in a relaxed manner. Warm, winsome open-air preaching will go hand in hand with this beautifully.

One-to-one conversations are often ignited through a simple leaflet offered with a warm smile. Yes, there is a cost involved in standing for Christ publicly, but also a Holy Spirit-empowered joy.

I am convinced that being involved in this sort of outreach work has a personal reviving effect. And what could be more thrilling than seeing groups of warm-hearted gospel people on our streets, overflowing with love and compassion and showing by their humble boldness that there is real hope in this increasingly dark world? That there really is a God who cares and that Jesus is alive and willing to save!

For further help or information regarding training:

The Open Air Mission

oamission.com

Open-Air Campaigners

oacgb.org.uk

UBM/Christian Answer

ubm.org.uk/christian-answer

K180

k180.org.

Open-air outreach:

The elephant in the evangelical room?

Mike Mellor

Church elder, preacher, author, and committee member of the Open-Air Mission.

26 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Features

There is nothing new under the sun.’

The advent of mass media on the internet seems to have increased humanity’s tendency towards alarmism. Aside from climate change and possible nuclear war, it is technology itself that is giving rise to fevered speculation about how computers could potentially reshape our world via Artificial Intelligence (AI).

However, it might come as a surprise to some readers to discover that AI and the threat of conscious machines is a concept going back many decades. Colossus: The Forbin Project was a chilling cinema release way back in 1970. Advanced super-computers from the USA and the USSR conspired together to hold mankind to ransom by controlling each country’s nuclear weapons. Alarmist indeed!

As the 1970s progressed into the 1980s, there was a popular culture buzz around how computers and robots could put humans out of work due to increased mechanisation. Some pondered what humanity would do with all the leisure time ahead of us! While robotic production lines are very much a reality today, humans are still working, with some people seemingly working harder than ever as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.

Will there be any jobs left?

Similar questions to those considered in previous decades are being asked in 2023. Is AI is going to lead to job losses? A 2021 report by

PricewaterhouseCoopers for the UK government suggested that AI would not lead to mass unemployment, but would lead to some job losses, and the potential for income inequality, especially among those without higher education qualifications.

Christians should be aware of how AI might affect fairness in our society and among members of our churches, where potentially some believers could be better off due to their qualifications and subsequent career choices, while others will still have to work hard in less-fulfilling employment with longer hours, just to make ends meet.

And what about how we study for these all-important qualifications? Developments in AI, such as ChatGPT, mean that the bulk of school or college assignments can be automatically generated simply by inputting a few key words and phrases. For example, entering ‘history of the Reformation’ into Microsoft’s Bing AI generated a detailed 150-word summary of the Reformation, with helpful prompt questions to explore the topic further.

I would argue this approach is more advanced than simply ‘Googling’ because the AI prompts the user with further questions, which a Google search alone does not do. In light of this, it is possible that educationalists will need new ways of assessing students or (ironically) developing AI plagiarism tools to detect assignments that

were not created by the student themselves.

Can AI become more intelligent than humanity?

Alan Turing, the legendary British pioneer of computer science in the 1940s, invented the Turing Test (or imitation game). This test would pit the wits of a human operator against a computer. If the human could not detect that they were interacting with a computer, then computer had reached the same level of intelligence as a human being. In essence, the Turing Test is a measure of artificial intelligence, and it still has much validity today.

In popular culture, a science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick was adapted into the 1982 movie Blade Runner, the central component of which is humans trying to detect human-like androids. As with Colossus: The Forbin Project, this was another artistic endeavour that was ahead of its time in posing Turing’s question: can a human being detect if another person is a human or an android? Was the film’s main android-hunting protagonist an android himself? And if he was, how would he know?

There is a danger that this AI ‘imitation game’ could lead to a popular misconception that humans are not as special as we really are (Genesis 1:26). If some non-Christians believe that an AI could become more advanced in its thinking and reasoning than

a human, Christians will need to emphasise that humanity itself is the crown of God’s creation, not the machines that we have created.

Christians must be equipped to speak against any unhelpful speculation surrounding AI. To cut through the noise of popular culture, we need to ask fundamental questions. For example, based on Christian beliefs about God’s attributes and those of man, how can it be possible for mankind to create something more aware and more intelligent than ourselves?

Although created a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5), there is no suggestion in Scripture that mankind’s God-like attribute of creativity is capable of creating new life greater than ourselves. Mankind cannot create angels, let alone become like God himself (Isaiah 45:5-6). The lesser cannot create a greater, and there is none greater than the Lord God.

The Tower of Babel syndrome

Many advances in science suffer from hubris. Back in the book of Genesis, the Tower of Babel was touted as a marvel of the ancient world, but it was struck down by God, and humanity suffered a huge reverse as they now spoke different languages and collaboration between the races became very difficult (Genesis 11:1-9).

We should also understand why there can be hubris surrounding AI and other

How should Christians view the new world of Artificial Intelligence?

By Paul Jackson

Member of Bradley Stoke Evangelical Church and university lecturer in Computer Science.

technological breakthroughs. Often, the professional profile and research funding of university academics depend upon their ability to generate interest in their research. It would be going too far to say their jobs depend on it, but it certainly may not harm their career prospects if they are seen to be heading-up an internationally recognised AI project. Similarly, journalists can get carried away by writing sensationalist articles about AI.

We would do well to remember that proponents of AI are human, and they are sinners. We are all tempted to exaggerate our own efforts at times. Without any theological boundaries, we should not be surprised when scientists make big claims about the power of AI, claims that are contrary to Scripture. If some non-Christians are content to see themselves as evolved apes, or the product of blind chance, then perhaps it is not such a leap for them to imagine a computer more intelligent than themselves?

Conclusion

While the media seem to be fixated on the idea that AI is the ‘next big thing’, we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ know that ultimately there is nothing new under the sun. Mankind’s sin will ensure that trouble and suffering will continue in this world, and AI will not be able to solve this fundamental issue.

While we rejoice that AI has the potential to aid our understanding of medicine, science, and the environment, Christians should ensure that all people can benefit from the dignity of fulfilling work and computers should only be deployed when they are proven to be far superior to human effort in tackling particular problems or tasks.

Christians should be confident that our theology sets down clear boundaries of what is possible and not possible with AI. Let’s not be distracted by the headlines of computers taking over the world or putting everyone out of a job. AI may help solve some of the problems facing humans in the 21st century – but only the Lord God can solve our deepest need: making a sinful human being become a friend of God by taking away their sins and forgiving them.

Source: Shutterstock

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 27

Crunch Points

Crunch Points

By Jeremy Walker

Pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley.

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.

The cost of weddings

I’ve married dozens of Christian couples. All begin with great promise; not all continue with promise.

Unfortunately, some of these marriages will not survive.

The great sin that tends to drive Christian marriages to dissolution is not what many assume. Seldom is adultery, addiction, or abuse the underlying cause of Christians pursuing divorce. And when they are, often they result from a much more subtle sin that took root beforehand – marital apathy.

A husband comes home from work, changes his clothes, sits on the couch, and spends the evening watching sports. He forgets or simply doesn’t care to love his wife ‘as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’ (Ephesians 5:25). It requires too much.

A wife expends herself in the daily grind of dishes, nappies, and dirty clothes. Her marriage becomes an afterthought, another obligation. Escape is found on social media. She wants nothing more to do with honouring and submitting to her husband ‘as the church submits to Christ’ (Ephesians 5:24). It requires too much.

They both settle in. Marital apathy descends. How does this happen? Often, it begins with lost perspective.

This life is not the end. Heaven sits just over the horizon. The Christian couple forgets that they were united by the Lord for the Lord. He sovereignly placed them together to help

each other as fellow pilgrims through this world to the glory of Christ. But their eyes have fixed on the immediate, the urgent, and the temporal. They need reorientation to what lasts for eternity.

Second, they often forget to tend to their own respective souls. No Christian husband serves his wife’s soul if he is not tending to his own – and likewise for the wife.

As a pastor, if I do not readily seek holiness and delight in Christ, I have little to offer those I serve. It proves the same for the Christian husband or wife. We cannot give what we do not have. If we would see our spouse more readily pursue Christ, we must pursue Christ. If we desire our spouse to become more holy, we must become more holy. If we want to see more love in our spouse, we must become more loving.

Third, apathy often descends when disillusionment takes hold. When we married, we wed a fallen human being. Expect the fruit of it. If we married a blind person, we wouldn’t burn in anger when he couldn’t watch the sunset with us. If we married a handicapped person, we wouldn’t be filled with disdain because she couldn’t go on jogs with us.

You knew what to expect. Every Christian husband or wife married a weak vessel. Expect the fruit of weakness. There are daily failings, faults, and sins. As it is true for you, so it is with your spouse. Look past much and forgive even more.

Finally, apathy makes a miscalculation. None of us undertakes something arduous unless we are convinced that the thing we seek is worth the effort. Christian marriage is worth it. Every effort you make plants a seed for eternity. It is never wasted, and the rewards are sweet and good.

Don’t settle into marital apathy. If you are already there, it is time to repent and recommit. It is worth it.

This article was first published in Tabletalk, the Bible study magazine of Ligonier Ministries. Find out more at TabletalkMagazine.co.uk or try it free for three months today at TryTabletalk.co.uk.

Commonly tolerated sins:

Marital apathy

By Revd Jason Helopoulos

Senior pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan.

Our wedding costs are spiralling. Should we put off our marriage for another few years until we can afford it?

I saw an article recently which claimed that the average cost of a British wedding is now nearly twenty thousand pounds! Even if you plan sensibly and responsibly, anything like that is a big hit.

You face the social pressure to have a ‘fairy-tale wedding’ (often fuelled by outlandish celebrity extravagance), the cultural drift toward cohabiting because you need years to save for a ‘proper wedding’, and a wedding industry with a vested interest in selling a certain kind (and cost) of wedding.

Different cultures may also have different attitudes and expectations, some of which will reflect and some of which may counteract a more restrained or indulgent approach. You are going to have to work hard to get your thinking straight.

I tell most of those to whom I give some kind of pre-marital counsel that while the wedding usually lasts less than a day, the marriage (under God) will last for a lifetime. That should immediately indicate something of how you plan and prepare, and direct you to invest in what’s going to really last, not what will rapidly pass away.

I am not saying that this should not be a special day for you both. I am certainly not wanting to underplay the significance of the wedding itself (in connection with the marriage

as a whole) in our increasingly godless and faithless society.

In the Scriptures, weddings are clearly days of joyful celebration (John 2) into which our Lord himself happily entered. They involve preparation and investment (Matthew 22:1-14). As Christians, we spend our whole lives anticipating the wedding supper of the Lamb, a feast which will be happy and lavish on the scale of divine resource (Revelation 19:7-9)!

However, for us in the here and now, what is more important? A lavish wedding (patterned after the world, loaded with stress, leaving you or your parents bordering on bankrupt) or a sweet and stable marriage?

Putting off a marriage to which you are both committed introduces pressures and temptations which may be very unhelpful to you. It pushes back some of the delights and expectations of married life. In addition, financial challenges are one of the major stressors even in Christian marriages.

Even if we think very pragmatically, that twenty thousand pounds could be a house deposit or mortgage payments, a family car, the difference between a wife having to work or not, the difference between being able to provide for children or not, and so on.

So, if you will allow me to be blunt, may I suggest you prioritise the marriage and economise on the wedding? The wedding itself can be stripped down to the bare essentials: you need each other, the officiant, the witnesses (with the legal and administrative paperwork provided for).

Do you need a fancy dress? Do you need a great feast? Do you need a vast guest list? A gorgeous old church building? An expensive photographer? A flock of bridesmaids? A herd of groomsmen? Are these things needful or necessary?

How about a recycled dress? How about a small ceremony? How about a close circle of family and friends?

A simple coffee and cake reception? A competent friend with a decent camera?

You don’t need to put marriage off, and you don’t need to start married life in a financial pit. You need not compete with celebrities (or even friends), kowtow to cultural pressures (even church ones), or capitulate to the demands and expectations of fake ‘perfection’.

Remember that you are a steward in all this: of your life as a whole, certainly of your money and your time.

How will you use them best for God’s glory?

So do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2).

Think about what really matters to God, and what really matters to you. Focus on a godly and happy marriage, and make the wedding a means to that end.

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

Source: Shutterstock

28 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Events Diary

Events Diary

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Peter Cresswell (Yatton). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk

GORNAL, W. Midlands. Gornal Bible Fellowship, Lake Street Church, Lake St, Gornal, DY3 2AU. Meeting, 7.15pm. Preacher: Tom Millward. Contact: (01902) 673150.

DARLINGTON. Geneva Road Evangelical Baptist Church, Geneva Road, Darlington, DL1 4HS. North Yorkshire Bible Rally, 7.45pm. Preacher: Mick Lockwood (Haworth). www.nybr.co.uk.

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Geoff Thomas (Aberystwyth). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk.

LONDON. Protestant Truth Society Bookshop, 184 Fleet St, London EC4A 2HJ. PTS Bite-size School of Theology, every Tues lunchtime from 1.10–1.45pm. Subject: ‘Perseverance of the saints’. All welcome; tea & coffee provided.

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Chris Buss (Melksham). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk.

DEVIZES, Wiltshire. Market Lavington Community Hall, St Mary’s Rd, Market Lavington, near Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 4DG. Trinitarian Bible Society Wessex Auxiliary AGM, Business Meeting & Children’s talk, followed by Worship Service. 2:30pm. Preacher: Pastor (ret’d) J. Saunders, Providence Chapel, Chichester. Tea to be served afterwards. All friends are most welcome.

LONDON. Protestant Truth Society Bookshop, 184 Fleet St, London EC4A 2HJ. PTS Bite-size School of Theology, every Tues lunchtime from 1.10–1.45pm. Subject: ‘The Ark of the Covenant (Pt 1): its structure’. All welcome; tea & coffee provided.

HACKNEY: Hackney Evangelical Reformed Church, 112-116 Lauriston Road, London, E9 7LH. Christian Institute meeting 7:30pm. Subject: ‘Defending family, faith and freedom’. Speakers: Christian Institute staff. Contact: Church office 020 8533 1383

MORDEN: Emmanuel Church, Dudley Drive, Morden, Surrey, SM4 4RJ. Christian Institute meeting 8:00pm. Subject: ‘Defending family, faith and freedom’. Speakers: Christian Institute

staff. Contact: Revd David Ruddick 020 8330 6566

HARROW: Rayners Lane Baptist Church, 139 Imperial Drive, Rayners Lane, Harrow, HA2 7HW. Christian Institute meeting 8:00pm. Subject: ‘Defending family, faith and freedom’. Speakers: Christian Institute staff. Contact: Church office 020 886 86772

LONDON, NW6. New Life Bible Presbyterian Church, 44 Salusbury Rd, London, NW6 6NN. Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony meeting. Theme: ‘Romans 9-11’; ‘Paul’s desire for Israel’ (Philip Knowles), 7.00pm.

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Andrew Stone (Westbury). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk.

PRESTON: All Saints Church, Elizabeth Street, Preston, PR1 2RX. Christian Institute meeting 7:30pm. Subject: ‘War of the Worldviews’. Speakers: Dr Sharon James and Mr Ciarán Kelly. Contact Debs Macaulay 07969 532663

THIS SPACE IS FOR YOU — send us details of your forthcoming special meetings, which we will endeavour to fit in, as space allows. Alternatively you can submit an event using the website: http://www.evangelical-times.org/events/submit.php

All items for the Events Diary must be received before the 1st of the month preceding the month of publication. They will be displayed in both the newspaper and ET website.

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CHURCHES ENGLAND

BRISTOL

BRISTOL. Buckingham Chapel, Queen’s Road, Clifton, BS8 1LQ. Sunday 11.00am & 6.00pm, Wednesday 7.30pm. Contact: Pastor Oliver Gross, tel: 0117 3368711. www.buckinghamchapel.org.uk

BRISTOL. Zetland Evangelical Church, 4/6 North Road, BS6 5AE. Sunday 11.00am & 6.30pm. Contact: Eddie O’Brien. Tel: 0117 9629868. www.zetlandchurch.org.uk

YATE. Grace Church, 250 Station Road, Yate, BS37 4AF. Sunday 11.00am & 6.00pm. Wednesday 7.30pm. Contact: The Elders, tel: 07783 300862. www.gracechurchyate.org

CAMBRIDGESHIRE

CHATTERIS. Community Church, The King Edward Centre, King Edward Road, PE16 6NG. Sunday 10.30am. For Sunday evening and midweek meetings please phone Pastor Robert Read. Tel: 01354 694393.

CORNWALL

FALMOUTH. Carrick Free Baptist Church, Bosvale Community Centre, off Hillside Road, TR11 4HQ. Sunday 10.45am & 6.30pm. Tel: 01209 862920. E-mail: carrickfbc@gmail.com www.carrickfbc.org.uk

GORRAN HAVEN. Haven Church (off Church Street), PL26 6JN. Sunday 10.00am (Breaking of Bread) & 4.00pm. Wednesdays 7.30pm. Enquiries: 01726 842873. Website: www.havenchurch.info

ST AUSTELL. A warm welcome to Grace Church, 2nd Scout Hall, Polmarth Close, PL25 3TW. Sundays 11.00am. Tel: 01726 457802. www.gracechurchstaustell.org.uk

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DERBY. Castlefields Church. Sunday 10.00am & 4.30pm @ Derby Conference Centre, London Road, DE24 8UX. Wednesday 7.30pm @ Traffic Street, DE1 2NL. www.castlefieldschurch.org.uk, 01332 550879.

STANTON LEES CHAPEL (off A6 nr Darley Dale). Sunday: 8.00am prayer meeting; 2.30pm & 6.30pm services. Pastor Jonathan Bayes. Wednesday 7.30pm. Tel: 0771 2080257. www.stantonleeschapel.org.uk

DEVON

EXETER. Independent Evangelical Church, Fore Street, Heavitree, Exeter, EX1 2RR. Sunday 11.00am & 6.30pm. Thursday 7.00pm Bible study & prayer. Tel: Pastor Jonathan Munday 01647 270067 or Tom Cook 01392 811204.

GALMPTON, nr Paignton. Galmpton Independent Evangelical Church, Stoke Gabriel Road, TQ5 0NQ. Sunday mornings, 10.30am, evenings Flavel Hall, TQ5 0NJ, 6.30pm at the Roundings. Walford Catling, 01803 925583, or John Young, 07779 169750. All warmly welcome. E-mail: walfordandelaine@hotmail.com www: flavelchapel.com

HONITON. Evangelical Congregational Church, High Street. Sunday services 10.30am & 6.00pm. Tuesday 7.30pm. Contact: Secretary Karl Upchurch, 01404 41245. www.honitonecc.org

PLYMOUTH. Beacon Park Baptist Church, 11 Peverell Park Road, Plymouth, PL3 4LR. Lord’s Day services 10.30am & 6.30pm. Wednesday Bible study 7.30pm. A warm welcome awaits you. Pastor Richard Clarke, tel: 01752 227009.

SMEATHARPE nr Honiton. Newhouse Baptist Church. Sunday 11.00am & 6.00pm. Tuesday 7.00pm. Details: Pastor John Woollam, tel: 01404 861313. www.newhouse-baptist.org.uk

DORSET

CHRISTCHURCH. Carmel Evangelical Church (non-ecumenical) meeting at Homelands Hall, King’s Avenue, Christchurch, BH23 1NP. Sunday services 11.00am & 6.00pm. Thursday Bible study 7.30pm. Tel: Robin Lewis, 01202 475650 or Oliver Rowe, 01202 873952.

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WICKFORD. Reformed Baptist Church. Sunday 10.30am & 6.30pm. Thursday 7.30pm. Details from secretary, tel: 01268 735127. www.WickfordReformedBaptistChurch.org.uk

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

GLOUCESTER. Trinity Baptist Church (Free Evangelical), Finlay Road. Sunday 10.30am & 6.00pm. Bible study & prayer, Thursday 7.30pm. Pastor Matt Gamston, Contact: 07835 417188. E-mail: matt@tbcgloucester.org www.tbcgloucester.org

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30 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

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ANDOVER. Koinonia Evangelical Church warmly invites you to join us in worship and fellowship. We meet at Endeavour Primary School, Kirk Campus, Dairy Road, Andover, SP11 6YG on Sunday at 10.30am & 6.30pm. Telephone Bas Jacobs on 07799 141526. www.koinonia-andover.com

PORTSMOUTH. Grace Baptist Church, PO3 5AH. Sunday 11.00am & 6.30pm. Contact: Evan Richards, 07922 179274. Web: www.graceportsmouth.com

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HERTFORDSHIRE

BALDOCK. Reformed Baptist Church at Community Centre, (1689 BCOF). Sunday school 9.15am. Morning service 11.00am; Evangelistic service

6.00pm. Wednesday 7.15pm. You are warmly welcome. Contact: J. E. Northern, 01462 834464. www.baldockbaptistchurch.org.uk

BOREHAMWOOD. Cowley Hill Free Church (Baptist). Sunday 11.00am & 6.30pm; Wednesday 7.30pm. Contact: Philip Hambridge, 0208 9531867.

HATFIELD. Evangelical Baptist Church, now at Eden House, School Lane, Hatfield, AL10 8AX. Sunday 11.00am. S/school 9.45am. Wednesday 7.30pm. Pastor Murray Gifkins, 01707 884534. See www.hope4hatfield.org

Isle of Wight

SANDOWN. Avenue Road Evangelical Church, PO36 8BN. Sunday 11.00am & 6.00pm. Tuesday 10.30am, prayer & Bible study (NKJV; CH). Contact tel: 01983 403725.

KENT

CHATHAM. Enon Baptist Church, Skinner Street, ME4 5RF. Sunday 11.15am and 6.30pm. Wednesday

7.30pm. Pastor: Paul Relf, tel: 01634 301499. www.enonbaptistchatham.org.uk

WHITSTABLE. Hamilton Road Evangelical Church, CT5 1JX. Sunday: 11.00am & 6.00pm; SS 11.00am; PM/BS Wednesday 7.30pm. For more details please contact our pastor Adam Laughton, e-mail: info@hamiltonroad.org.uk or tel: 01227 263614. A warm welcome to all.

LANCASHIRE

BLACKBURN Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Fecitt Brow, BB1 2AZ. Sabbath services 11.00am & 6.30pm. Minister: Revd Norman Green. Tel: 01254 260388.

LEICESTER CITY

LEICESTER. Melbourne Hall Evangelical Free Church, St Peters Road. Sunday 10.45am & 6.00pm. Wednesday 7.30pm Bible study/prayer meeting. A warm welcome to everyone. Pastor: Peter Mackenzie, tel: 0116 288 8156. www.melbournehall.org

LEICESTERSHIRE

HINCKLEY. Grace Baptist Church (Independent – KJV Bible used), 216 Coventry Road, LE10 0NG. Revd Christopher Salmon. Visitors always welcome. Sunday services 10.30am & 6.00pm. Wednesday prayer & Bible study 7.00pm. All enquiries please phone 01455 612377 or church 01455 617857.

LINCOLNSHIRE

BILLINGHAY. Baptist Chapel, Church Street. Sunday 10.30am & 6.00pm. Tuesday 7.00pm. Pastor Richard Hilliard, tel: 07717 392628. www.billinghaybaptistchapel.co.uk

LINCOLN. Evangelical Church, Uffington Close, off Skellingthorpe Road, LN6 0AE. Sunday 11.00am & 6.00pm. Thursday 7.45pm. Pastor Andrew Thomson, 07999 250789. E-mail: a1thomson@aol.com

LOUTH. Evangelical Church, Monksdyke Road. Sunday 10.45am & 5.00pm. Wednesday 10.30am. Elder: C. Sharp, tel: 01507 339714 (01507 605353).

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

NEWCASTLE. Reformed Evangelical Church, Hoylake Avenue, Longbenton, NE7 7UN. Sunday 10.30am & 6.00pm. Wednesday Bible study, 7.30pm. Minister: Revd Dan Peters. For further details see www.nrechurch.co.uk or tel: 0191 2662422 or 0191 2859757.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

SLAPTON & WAPPENHAM Independent Evangelical Church (near Towcester). Sunday 10.30am and 5.00pm. Sunday school 10.30am, at Wappenham. Tuesday Bible Study 7.30pm. Contact Pastor Trevor Thomas for details, 07950 434258. www.towcesterevangelicalchurch.uk

NORTHUMBERLAND

LONGHORSLEY. Mission Free

Church (FIEC). Sunday morning service 11.00am with creche; 5.30pm Prayer meeting; 6.00pm Evening service/Bible study. Contact: 01670 518202 or 01661 822546. www.longhorsleymission.org.uk

OXFORDSHIRE

BANBURY. Evangelical Free Church. Sundays 10.30am and 6.30pm; Wednesdays at 7.30pm. Phone: 01295 252607 or 01295 251169 or see www.befc.org.uk for venue details.

SHROPSHIRE

TELFORD. Grace Church Wellington. Sunday 11.00am in the Wellington Library at the Wellington Leisure Centre, TF1 1LX. Visitors welcome. Website: www.gcwellington.com

SUFFOLK

OTLEY. Otley Baptist Chapel, Chapel Road, Suffolk, IP6 9NU. 1st Sunday of each month, 3.00pm. Contact: Trevor Bugg. E-mail: trevor-michaelbugg@outlook.com

WALSHAM-LE-WILLOWS. Walsham-le-Willows Evangelical Congregational Church, The Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP31 3AZ. Sunday 11.00am & 6.30pm. PM/BS Thursday 7.15pm. Contact: Mr J. Landymore, 01359 258986. E-mail: j.landymore@btinternet.com  www.walsham-le-willows.org/explore/amenities/congregational-church

WORCESTERSHIRE

DROITWICH. Witton Chapel, Tagwell Road. Evangelical Reformed ministry in Worcestershire. Sunday 10.30am & 6.30pm. Thursday 7.30pm Bible study and prayer meeting. Details: (01905) 794271 or (01684) 567969. www.wittonchapel.org.uk

YORK

YORK. Evangelical Church, Millthorpe School Hall, off Philadelphia Terrace, YO23 1DH. Sunday 10.30am & 6.00pm. E-mail: info@yec.org.uk Tel: 01904 375875. www.yec.org.uk

YORKSHIRE: EAST

HULL. East Hull Presbyterian Church (Evangelical), R/O 336 Holderness Road, Hull, HU9 3DQ. Sunday 10.30am & 5.30pm. Wednesday 10.30am PM/BS. Contact: Chris Lawson, 07527 319617. E-mail: christophermlawson@hotmail.com

HULL. Kingston Evangelical Church, Park Grove off Princes Avenue, HU5 2UR. Sunday services 10.30am & 6.30pm. Wednesday 7.30pm. Bible study and prayer meeting. Enquiries, tel: 01482 844579.

CHURCHES WALES

CARDIFF. Emmanuel Baptist Church, Gabalfa Avenue, Gabalfa, CF14 2SH. Sunday 11.00am and 6.00pm. Wednesday 7.30pm. Contact: Andrew Lansdown, secretary@emmanuelcardiff.org Tel: 07969 009310. www.emmanuelcardiff.org

Evangelical Times, January 2024 | 31

DARLINGTON. Geneva Road Evangelical Baptist Church, Geneva Road, Darlington, DL1 4HS. North Yorkshire Bible Rally, 7.45pm. Preacher: Chris Hand. www.nybr.co.uk.

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Robert Strivens (Bradford-on-Avon). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk.

LONDON. Protestant Truth Society Bookshop, 184 Fleet St, London EC4A 2HJ. PTS Bite-size School of Theology, every Tues lunchtime from 1.10–1.45pm. Subject: ‘The need for Bible Meditation’. All welcome; tea & coffee provided.

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Derek Cleave (Long Ashton). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk.

LONDON. Protestant Truth Society Bookshop, 184 Fleet St, London EC4A 2HJ. PTS Bite-size School of Theology, every Tues lunchtime from 1.10–1.45pm. Subject: ‘Practical Puritans: J Bunyan – Lessons from Pilgrim’s Progress (Pt 2)’. All welcome; tea & coffee provided.

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Alwyn Barry (Cheltenham). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk.

LONDON NW6. New Life Bible Presbyterian Church, 44 Salusbury Rd, London, NW6 6NN. Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony meeting. Theme: ‘Romans 9-11’; ‘Israel’s inalienable possessions’ (Martin Humphrey), 7.00pm.

Advertising

HAVERFORDWEST, Pembrokeshire. Hill Park Baptist Church (Ind), SA61 2ET. Sundays 11.00am & 6.00pm. Sunday school 10.15-10.45am. Prayer meeting Wednesday 7.00pm. Contact: Revd Ian Middlemist, misty_923@hotmail.com www.hillpark.net

LAMPETER. Evangelical Church, New Church, 16 College Street. Sunday services: English 10.30am, Welsh (with translation) 5.00pm. Wednesday 7.30pm. Contact G. Jones, tel: 01570 423368. www.lampeterevangelicalchurch.org

LLANGOLLEN. Glanrafon Evangelical Church, Princess Street, LL20 8RD. Sunday 11.00am and 6.00pm. Wednesday prayer meeting 7.30pm. Church Secretary: glanrafonevangelicalchurch@gmail.com www.glanrafon.org

SWANSEA. Ebenezer Baptist Church, near High Street station. Sunday 11.00am & 6.00pm. Wednesday 7.30pm. Minister: Revd Graham John, tel: 07541 400559. www.ebenezer.org.uk

HOLIDAYS ENGLAND

CORNWALL

PADSTOW. Chalet, sleeps 6. Sea glimpses. Beaches nearby. £200-£450 weekly (including heating). Missionary discounts. Tel: 01202 253879/382598.

E-mail: paulandruthbromley@gmail.com www.atlanticbaysholidaypark.co.uk

County Durham

STAINDROP, County Durham. Two bedroom cottage, sleeps 3. From £295 week. Discounts for Christian workers. Sorry no pets or children under 10. Brochure available. E-mail: shiloahlad@gmail.com 07913 058520.

DEVON

TOPSHAM. Two-bedroom cottage overlooking Exe estuary and hills. Shops, inns, restaurants close. Coast, moors, Exeter nearby. Tel: 02920 759314. E-mail: dee.jones@virgin.net

SUSSEX: EAST

HAILSHAM. S/c 1 bedroom stable conversion. Quiet country location. www.thestablehailsham.co.uk Tel: 01323 841227. E-mail: longleysfarmcottage@gmail.com

HOLIDAYS SCOTLAND

CULLEN, Scotland. Three bedroom fisherman’s cottage, ensuite bedroom downstairs. Yards from sandy beach. www.dellwoodcottage.co.uk Contact: Estelle, 07580 545109.

HOLIDAYS OVERSEAS

GERMANY. Haus Barnabas in Black Forest. Holidays all year round. B&B or halfboard. Basel airport or railway pickups. Brochure: rosemaryedwards2009@talktalk.net Tel: 01227 363857. www.haus-barnabas-christianholidays.info

SPAIN. Altea (Costa Blanca). Two-bedroom/bathroom apartment. Pool, garden, tennis. Shops, restaurants, beach close. Warm winters. Airport transfers. Tel: 02920 759314. E-mail: dee.jones@virgin.net

Books

Second-hand Christian books available. For details contact The Evangelical Library 020-8362 0868 elenquire@gmail.com

Accommodation Wanted

Christian gentleman, retired, requires large/double room to rent in shared house in London. Preferably long term. Email Julian Smithe at jmsmithe@hotmail.com

Trainee Pastor

Hayes Lane Baptist Church is a busy Grace Baptist Church of around 100 members based in Bromley.

We are looking to appoint a trainee pastor to serve and gain experience in a variety of activities.

This role would provide good local church experience for a recent Seminary Graduate or for an individual looking to explore a call to ministry.

For details or to apply, contact dan.jarvis@hlbc.co.uk before 31/1/2024.

ZION EVANGELICAL

BAPTIST CHURCH

Blossomgate, Ripon,

N. Yorks HG4 2AJ

Lord’s Day: 10.30am & 6.30pm

Prayer/Bible study:

Wednesday 7.30pm.

E-mail:jonathanandjo@hotmail.co.uk

www.zionripon.org.uk

(sermons on website)

Heath Evangelical Church

Whitchurch Road Cardiff CF14 3LZ

T: 029 2061 7738

E: office@heath-church.org

W: www.heath-church.org

Pastor: Revd Wyn Hughes

Asst. Pastor: Revd Andy Christofides

Sunday Services: 10.45am & 6.00pm

Bible Study/Prayer Meeting:

Wed 7.30pm

one2two

Bookshop & Coffee Shop

Adjoining the church. Bookshop stocks

Reformed & Evangelical books, including

second hand. Also cards, gifts, DVDs & CDs.

Open weekdays 10.00am to 5.00pm.

Coffee Shop serves quality drinks, meals

and homemade cakes.

Open weekdays from 9.00am to 3.30pm.

Tel: 029 2062 1798

E-mail: sales@heathchristianbookshop.org

www.heathchristianbookshop.com for on-line sales

Events Diary

CARLISLE: Elim Community Church, St Paul’s Church, St Paul’s Square, Carlisle, CA1 1AE Christian Institute meeting 7:30pm. Subject: ‘Defending family, faith and freedom’. Speakers: Christian Institute staff. Contact: Church office 01228 523991

LONDON. Protestant Truth Society Bookshop, 184 Fleet St, London EC4A 2HJ. PTS Bite-size School of Theology, every Tues lunchtime from 1.10–1.45pm. Subject: ‘Practical Puritans: J Bunyan – Lessons from Pilgrim’s Progress (Pt 1)’. All welcome; tea & coffee provided.

WORKINGTON: Grace Baptist Church, Gray Street, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 2NT. Christian Institute meeting 7:00pm. Subject: ‘Defending family, faith and freedom’. Speakers: Christian Institute staff. Contact: Dale McAlpine 01900 601428

CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire. Ladyfield Church, Hungerdown Ln, SN14 0BA. Corsham & Chippenham Central Bible Study, 7.30pm. Speaker: Jonathan Munday (Exeter). Contact (01225) 708643. www.cccbs.org.uk 3 February:

BIRMINGHAM, Rowley Regis. First opening of the year of Christian Heritage Centre at Providence Chapel, Bell End, B65 9LU. 11am - 3pm. All most welcome. Further details: tel. 01384 637314 / www.christianheritagecentre.org.uk.

GORNAL, W. Midlands. Gornal Bible Fellowship, Lake Street Church, Lake St, Gornal, DY3 2AU. Meeting, 7.15pm. Preacher: Colin Robinson. Contact: (01902) 673150.

LONDON. Protestant Truth Society Bookshop, 184 Fleet St, London EC4A 2HJ. PTS Bite-size School of Theology, every Tues lunchtime from 1.10–1.45pm. Subject: ‘Christians do not make haste’. All welcome; tea & coffee provided.

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•

•

Coming to Southampton?

You are welcome to join us in Sholing at:

Spring Road Evangelical Church

Reformed Evangelistic

Non-ecumenical Non-charismatic

• Expository Ministry

Sunday services: 11.00am and 6.30pm

Pastor: Mark Stocker (023) 80432850

www.springroad.org.uk

•

•

32 | Evangelical Times, January 2024

Features

‘Seen rightly, flipping the calendar isn’t a mere exercise in futility but an opportunity to take stock of our lives in light of the great constants in this life and the life to come.’

In recent years, I’ve felt the gnawing dread that all the norms in life – all the things I’ve come to expect over the course of my life – could be overturned and reversed in an instant.

In the new year, will I be able to get a car loan? Is the buying power of my money going to erode further? Will the challenges with my kids get better or grow worse? Will I gain a new friendship, or will one of my friends stab me in the back? Will the political season stir deeper division in the church?

There’s much I don’t know about the new year. But as I turn to the Word of God, there’s much I can know. The Bible – and Psalm 90 in particular – gives a set of constants on the horizon as the calendar flips from December to January.

God will still be my refuge

‘Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God’ (Psalm 90:1-2).

The great constant in my life, year after year, is the unending fact of the presence of God. He has been there, and he will be there. No matter where I find myself this year, God will be there. No matter how strong the storms hit this year, God will always be there for me.

I love how Moses prays this ancient psalm not just to the abstract God who is ‘out there’ somewhere but to the God who is our dwelling place – the

God at the centre of my life, to whom I can run when my life is threatened.

This year – and all my life – will slip through my fingers

‘You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers’ (Psalm 90:3-6).

The next great constant in life is bad news. The reason I need a safe place to dwell is because this life isn’t safe. Before we know it, December will be here again, and we’ll be back in the holiday rush all over once more.

2024 will bring a host of missed opportunities, unproductive weeks, and frustrated plans. In 2024 people will die, far away and close to home. Just as the eternality of God is constant, so also is the mortality of humanity and the temporality of our efforts.

Sorrow and suffering will wreak havoc because of sin

‘For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?’ (Psalm 90:7-11).

Another ‘bad news constant’ is that 2024 won’t just move me one year closer to the end but it’ll also contain a measure of evil – pain and persecution, sickness and sorrow. I’ll sense the dust of Adam’s death on my body. It’ll be another year when I’ll feel the sting of the curse in my life, home, and workplace. I’ll send up the ‘sigh’ of disappointment as creation offers its groans (Romans 8:22-23). This year, I’ll see my own sin ever more clearly and see the wrath it deserves as all the greater.

God’s covenant mercies will satisfy me

‘So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on

your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil’ (Psalm 90:12-15).

The next constant is a ray of hope in the darkness of life. Into the dissatisfaction of this life, God will bring satisfaction. Into sorrow, rejoicing. Into the depths of pain, gladness. And in spite of lost years, eons of restoration.

Seen rightly, flipping the calendar isn’t a mere exercise in futility but an opportunity to take stock of our lives in light of the great constants in this life and the life to come.

The new year ought to drive me deeper into the arms of God – enjoying his embrace and longing for his return. Another year, a more all-encompassing longing for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God will always smile on my efforts

‘Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!’ (Psalm 90:16-17).

This final constant moves beyond encouraging my discouraged heart to strengthening my feeble hands. Those of us who know the favour of the Lord – the happiness of God with us because of the righteousness of Jesus – approach the tasks of the new year in our homes and businesses and churches with renewed energy as the power of God reaches into our lives.

We work under the sun of God’s grace, so 2024’s coming toils and troubles, sufferings and setbacks aren’t cause for dismay. Instead, because Jesus has forever ensured God’s smile on my life, I can be certain that God will advance his constant work through my inconstant fingers in this new year.

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

Five constants for the new year

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By Phil Thompson

Teaching pastor at Christ Fellowship Eastside, South Carolina.

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Source: Shutterstock