Thomas Creedy

Book Review: The God of Intimacy and Action

2019-04-03T16:23:00.000+01:00

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If you've read my blog for the first time, or are a regular reader, then I'd love you to find and 'like' my Facebook page. You can read about that, and the recent name change in this post.

Suicide and the Sovereignty of God: Part 4

2018-05-15T11:33:00.000+01:00

Read this post over at my new blog!

Book Review: Thinking. Loving. Doing.

2018-02-21T16:22:00.000+00:00

Read this book review on my new blog!

Book Review: Integrity

2017-12-08T11:00:00.000+00:00

Read this review on my new blog!

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If you've read my blog for the first time, or are a regular reader, then I'd love you to find and 'like' my Facebook page. You can read about that, and the recent name change in this post.

Pray for PFS: Week 4

2016-11-21T16:07:00.000+00:00

As alluded to in a recent blog post, I've just become a Trustee of Pilgrims Friends Society. With that in mind, I'm keen to share the prayer points from our November Month of Prayer with my readers. I'm under no illusions (grand, deluded, or otherwise) about the quantity of my readers (there are about six of you, including my mother and wife) but I am reasonably confident of your quality in the praying department.

But I digress.

To recap, PFS is a wonderful charity, dating back a little longer than I've been alive (by a factor of at least a lot) which runs homes for elderly Christians, schemes in the community, and aims to be a voice for older people in church and society. If that piques your interest, you can find out more on the website. You can read the prayer points for Week 1, Week 2, and also Week 3, elsewhere on this blog.

Below follows this week's prayer points:

This is our penultimate bulletin – thank you for sticking with us in prayer!!

Please be encouraged by successful appointments in Tunbridge Wells, Wantage, Brighton and Chippenham and for the seven applications we received last week.

As we enter the fourth week of prayer please pray for:

- some of the managers and teams where we have vacancies that are not attracting any applicants: for a registered nurse at E and a senior care assistant at EH

- the Lord to direct people to our two care manager vacancies

- E and D from Action Planning whom have now started their work to help identify what we can do to boost recruitment and retention

This week please could you specifically pray for M & MW at E and J leading the nursing. Please pray for G and A at E. And also for M at Pilgrim Gardens. Please pray for strength and encouragement and for the finding and retaining of the right people.

Please do let me have news of encouragements or specific situations we can pray for next week.

Isaiah 41 v 10 is relevant;

“do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

We must reflect (at the appropriate time) whether we have got the balance between “praying and doing” as we have responded to our recruitment challenges. I think we have been right to focus more in both areas!

I hope these make for useful prayer points for you - an easy way to take part in this vital work.

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Guest Post: Bent Towards Justice

2016-11-18T15:44:00.003+00:00

Every one of us is involved in a myriad of minute conversations. Going past in the blink of an eye, caught up in the zeitgeist and rendered into nothing but the onrushing pace of the universe. Sometimes, thought, the spirit and words and phrasing of something that someone says catches the eye, provokes the heart, and deserves wider speaking. Today's blog post, originally a comment by my friend Doug Erickson in an irrelevant internet forum, sits in that category, even as it looks beyond, to the Kingdom of God.

Before you read this blog post, listen to the talk that Doug linked to:

The Fragrance of Justice

What does it mean to follow Jesus? What does it mean to be fully invested in the Kingdom of God? What does it mean to be a part of the church? What does it mean, in any sense, to be part of the Vineyard? I posted this in response to various comments by several posters in an internet forum that questioned the legitimacy and value of both the Vineyard Justice Network and the Race and Reconciliation Conference. Several posters were highly critical of these efforts, and questioned why they were supported in the Vineyard. While the conference was going on, btw.

Talk of Justice is loaded with different things. And it is something that echoes throughout everything, as Martin Luther King hinted at:

In response, I posted the Wimber talk from the Justice Conference in Winnipeg because all of the talks there are treasures- including those by Jackie Pullinger and David Ruis, but also to show that this emphasis on justice, caring for the poor, and racial reconciliation is not a "new thing" that certain Vineyard folk thought up in response to recent events. Justice, reconciliation, and serving the poor have been intrinsic to our DNA from the very beginning. As John Wimber states in his two talks, his entrance into faith came via a Quaker church, and the Society of Friends have long been associated with justice issues. John also spoke of his own journey in justice ministry at the Anaheim Vineyard from the early days.

This emphasis is reflected in the Vineyard Core Value of "Reconciling People with God and All Creation" which states:

"we are committed to becoming healing communities engaged in the work of reconciliation wherever sin and evil hold sway. We seek to be diverse communities of hope that realize the power of the cross to reconcile what has been separated by sin."

Now of course, you can argue, as some have in many ways and many places, whether it is right for this to be a core value of the Vineyard movement, but you cannot argue that this is a new thing invented by Marxists or leftists bitter about the election results. "Justice" the term, and the concept, are rooted in the First Testament, not in Marx and Engels.

I wrote in Living the Future:

"A Vineyard theology of justice would find its foundation in the Old Testament conception of the kingdom of the “Lord that loves justice” (Isa. 61:8), which looks forward to the final triumph of righteousness.

The Vineyard retelling of the Exodus story is that it is the first major revelation of the kingdom of God; thus it is clear that the working of justice and release from oppression lie deep within the story of the Hebrew people. The demands of justice within Hebrew society and most specifically, on its kings, religious rulers, and persons of wealth are brought to the front in the major and minor Hebrew prophets; but these protests are grounded in a picture of the eschatological kingdom of justice that acted as a standard to which the current rulers could be held."

Have a great day everyone. Let Justice and Mercy reign in your workplaces, families, and churches today.

Why not pray that old prayer, 'Come, Holy Spirit', and see what the God of Justice (Isaiah 30:18, etc.) will do...

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Book Review: The Unquenchable Flame (Refo 500 Edition)

2016-11-16T16:08:00.000+00:00

This book review is largely due to the fact that I work in digital marketing for IVP/SPCK, who recently re-published The Unquenchable Flame with a new cover and a new foreword by Mark Dever. This review is republished thusly, with a new note on the new foreword.

Having previously reviewed and enjoyed this great little book by Mike Reeves, I was both professionally and personally delighted that IVP has re-released it for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. What follows is an updated, expanded and hopefully more comprehensive review.

Read this review over at my new blog!

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Charismatic Clarity: On Meat and Bones

2016-11-16T09:32:00.000+00:00

In the bits of the Church that I spend time in, there are many phrases and truisms, some good and some bad, which roll around from time to time. Today I want to focus on briefly on one which is particularly pertinent when talking about the merits or otherwise of a theology, book or position, or the merits or otherwise of a teacher or leader. I'm wary about tying what someone believes directly to what we might think about them - though certainly that is appropriate in some cases, I think - but want to focus on this phrase, this concept, of separating the meat from the bones. I often hear phrases like 'we are called to eat the meat and spit out the bones'. By this, people tend to mean the practice of discerning things, but in my experience it is often used to stop criticism of some ideas, or to avoid thinking too hard about the uncomfortable elements of a theological position.

Read the post at my new blog

Jesus: The Theology of Justin Welby

2016-11-15T14:33:00.000+00:00

This post was originally written for SPCK, my employer, but I've tweaked and extended it for my personal blog. Bear it in mind - and that links to books will take you to the SPCK site, so you may like to ignore them. The original can be found here.

Justin Welby, as most people will know, is a wonderfully humble, eloquent and gifted leader who presently serves the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. As a part of the Church in England, but not a member of the Church of England, I'm always interested in what he has to say, and have been listening to him before he was even enthroned. The first time I heard him speak, live, at the Church we were part of in Nottingham, instilled in me a deep sense that this was a man who was very much consumed with a passion for Jesus and an emphasis on proclaiming Christ. I wrote about that, back in 2013, and some of my thoughts made the front page of a Christian newspaper.

Welby is someone who was not particularly well-known, even in church or 'theology' circles, before his translation to Canterbury. Since then, he has tried to tread a nuanced path, on issues around sexuality, and managed to say intelligent things about faith and prayer, even being quoted in the Daily Mail. One thing he hasn't done - probably because is incredibly busy - is, in a written, traditional way, start articulating his theology in a technical sense. I don't personally think this is a problem - he is, after all, the leader of a denomination that has been writing things down for a rather long time - but some people do.

It is with that in mind that I reproduce, in slightly edited form, something I wrote for work. I work in Digital Marketing for SPCK, the UK's oldest Christian Publisher. What follows was first 'published' there on the 11th of November 2016, and is used with permission. I hope it can be seen as a sustained, if short, reflection on the shape of the theology of Justin Welby, a theology shaped by. and looking a lot like, Jesus.

Recently, a fascinating conversation has been taking place between the Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and Dr Adrian Hilton, editor of the blog 'Archbishop Cranmer'. One of the central points of disagreement seems to be in the way that Justin Welby 'does' theology, with an emphasis on 'interesting' things he has said about God.

While there are many ways to measure what someone is doing, as a 'theologian' or not, publishing books of substantive and original content, or contributing chapters to books, is an important part of that. I enjoy working for SPCK, which is the publisher of choice for both the current and former Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby was effusive in the praise of his predecessor Rowan Williams' Being Disciples, calling it "Quite the most beautiful writing on discipleship I know". At the risk of over-interpreting an endorsement, perhaps Justin is being profoundly influenced by his predecessor, aware of the challenges and opportunities his role affords. It is also worth noting that among the endorsements of that book are Nicky Gumbel of HTB, and Eleanor Mumford of the Vineyard movement, two people/movements that have impacted the present Archbishop of Canterbury in tangible ways, and are (despite their faults) very focused on Jesus, and the urgency of evangelism. I'll probably need to read and review Being Disciples at some point, to see what the fuss is all about.

Previously, in On Rock or Sand? Firm Foundations for Britain's Future, edited by the Archbishop of York John Sentamu, Justin offered some reflections on 'Building the Common Good', drawing on the Christian challenge that we humans are made in the Image of God, and reflecting influences as diverse as Papal Encyclicals by Benedict XVI, Online Business articles, William Temple, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and the parable of the vineyard in Matthew 20:6-7. In the close of his contribution, Justin writes:

"the parable calls us to recognise that the solidarity springs from the Lord of the Vineyard, God, and is experienced and tangible in the person of Jesus Christ, who breaks all barriers between human beings."

This is a profound theological statement about God in Christ. With my personal theological hat on, this is a wonderful expression of the Kingdom of God, a future where barriers are broken by King Jesus. The theology of the Kingdom of God is a hallmark of the Vineyard movement - but has real expression and influence beyond it, including in the Church of England. Naturally, the influence flows two ways.

Founded as a Mission agency of the Church of England, SPCK is rooted in Anglicanism, and a healthy respect for Scripture and tradition should continue to be a key part of that. Two of the newest books, both publishing later this month, contain contributions by Justin Welby. Both of these, in different ways, offer a theological hint as to the motivation and mission of the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. Those who read my post back in 2013, or my piece for Evangelicals Now, will know that this is a man who is focused on Jesus, not in some abstract way, but in a way that calls the Church outwards and onwards.

In A Good Year, edited by Mark Oakley, Canon of St Pauls Cathedral, Justin contributes a chapter 'on a good Lent'. Here, starting from a personal experience of 'ashing' in a war zone; where the air was thick with "ash without hope, ash without change, ash rising in clouds to call all who saw it to acknowledge human evil but not to promise anything better...", Welby goes on to reflect on the core of the Pastoral Rule of Gregory the Great. This chapter on Lent is deeply Christological, personally spiritual, and focused on an active faith that moves out of reflection and into action. As Justin puts it so well;

"A good Lent starts within us... It comes into the Church and it must be so generously experienced that it overflows into society. We will not really have a good Lent until that chain is complete, and for that we pray, 'may your kingdom come'"

Justin draws together scripture and Spirit, contemplation and action, in a tightly argued and beautifully written chapter. The location of 'a good Lent' amongst the wider contributions of A Good Year is fascinating - and those of us aware of Justin's other passions will note the subtle (or not so subtle!) nod towards the Kingdom Come Prayer initiative that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are spearheading.

The second piece of writing that Justin has contributed to an SPCK book can be found in Wrestling with the Word: Preaching Tricky Texts, edited by Kate Bruce and Jamie Harrison. In an edited version of a sermon preached by Welby on Ascension Day in 2015, we read a brief homily, again ending with a stirring invitation, that is also a clear theological statement:

"Jesus brought us God - but not as we know it. Our challenge is not to make Jesus fit the God we know, but to realize that God is the Jesus we see"

This is a complex statement - but also a timely articulation of the Incarnation. This is central to the present Archbishop of Canterbury's task, the proclamation and presentation of Jesus, not as we might pretend to know God, but to realize and be obedient to the truth of who Jesus is.

From these three pieces of writing, in different seasons and with different emphases, readers can start to appreciate something of the theology of Justin Welby. The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England make much of the person of Christ, and it is clear to this observer that in Justin Welby we have an Archbishop of Canterbury committed to Article II:

"THE Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took Man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men."

As someone with a deep respect for historic, orthodox Anglicanism, it is deeply encouraging to see Justin standing up for this understanding of Jesus. It is good to see, too, as I will explore briefly in closing, that this is not unrelated to the wider themes of Christian theology, and in particular the ongoing need for that theology to be articulated and moved from word into deed.

In On Rock or Sand, Justin's theological understanding of the Common Good is rooted in Jesus, the perfect image of the invisible God. In A Good Year, focused on Lent and shaped by experience and ashing, Justin's understanding of Christ is shaped in line with the articles, a theological conviction that "Each of us, in Christ, is slaved from slavery to sin and the condemnation that goes with it". Finally, in Wrestling with the Word, through a brief homily on the Ascension (which, as a snapshot of theological practice, is a wonderfully Anglican, tradition-shaped and Scripturally-informed vignette) we see the triumph of the Gospel writ large in an unexpected way.

Justin Welby is gradually articulating an outward-looking, Jesus-focused, prayer-filled theological vision. And he is not doing it alone, but in the company of the wider church, a unity expressed across streams within and without the Church of England, and with the saints who have gone before.

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Pray for PFS - Week 3

2016-11-14T19:31:00.001+00:00

As alluded to in a recent last blog post, I've just become a Trustee of Pilgrims Friends Society. With that in mind, I'm keen to share the prayer points from our November Month of Prayer with my readers. I'm under no illusions (grand, deluded, or otherwise) about the quantity of my readers (there are about six of you, including my mother and wife) but I am reasonably confident of your quality in the praying department.

But I digress.

To recap, PFS is a wonderful charity, dating back a little longer than I've been alive (by a factor of at least a lot) which runs homes for elderly Christians, schemes in the community, and aims to be a voice for older people in church and society. If that piques your interest, you can find out more on the website. You can read the prayer points for Week 1, and also Week 2, elsewhere on this blog.

Below follows this week's prayer points:

Today in a staff prayer time, M shared with us from 2 Corinthians 1:9;

“we were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure”

and then 12:9

“My grace is sufficient for you”.

This echoes what some of you have shared with me about recruitment and staffing this month. Let us keep on praying for strength and grace for our managers and their teams.

This week we can thank God for some successful recruitments (e.g. Brighton activities co-ordinator shared with us today!) but we also need to remember in prayer people whose hope from last week was apparently disappointed as people left to work elsewhere for very understandable reasons (B and L shared these experiences with me last week).

As we enter out third week of prayer please:

- Pray for E and D whom we have asked to help identify what we can do to boost recruitment and retention at two homes where we often get low numbers of applicants per advert placed (Wantage and Shottermill). Please pray that the Lord will give them wisdom and insight from Him.

- Pray this week specifically for B and team at Wantage; P and team at Shottermill; and L, S and their team at Luff House.

- Continue to pray that God will direct the people of his choosing to us.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever."

(Ephesians 3:20).

I hope these make for useful prayer points for you - an easy way to take part in this vital work.

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5 Things to Pray after the US Presidential Election

2016-11-09T10:11:00.002+00:00

Well, there you have it. Now we know (barring any legal cases, deaths, Armageddons, or other unexpected events) who the 45th President of the United States will be.

And, as a Christian who doesn't live in America but does occupy the same planet, I've got one response.

Prayer.

It is the spark for how Christians should approach politics.

And so, in lieu of a more thought-through post, here are 5 things I'm praying, and a prayer anyone can pray, in the light of the US Presidential Election:

5 things to pray after the US Presidential Election

Thank God for an election that was *relatively* peaceful - and

pray for any and all anger to be expressed constructively.

For minorities, Muslims and immigrants in particular, pray

for safety and the love that casts out fear.

Thank God for the legacy and Presidency of Obama - and pray

for listening across disagreement.

Pray for the President-Elect, Donald Trump. For sobering

wisdom, wise advisors, and for no gloating from him or his

supporters, that the words of his victory speech about healing

and conversation might yet ring true.

Pray for Hillary, for her supporters, for grace in defeat and

constructive contributions to the future of their country.

Pray for the world to know the king of kings, for peace to triumph,

for the love that has already won to break in amongst injustice

and division, anger and violence, that the world might see the

throne of heaven.

A friend who works in Politics, and I, who doesn't, wrote a prayer in

the light of the recent UK 2015 Elections. You might like to adapt it

for today, for this year.

Ultimately, though, there is one prayer anyone can pray. And even

if you are not a regular praying person, you can give it a go:

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

Prayer is how Christians can start to respond, and point the world

towards a better way...

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Pray for PFS - Week 2

2016-11-09T09:29:00.000+00:00

Following on from a brief blog on a new role, I've been sharing a weekly prayer bulletin this month (The first was last week).

Here are this weeks prayer points from Pilgrims Friends Society:

We can praise God that we recruited half a dozen or so staff – including an administrator at Bethany; some much needed night staff at Wantage; and Great Finborough where we are down to one last domestic vacancy to fill (plus bank staff).

Please keep on praying for all of our management teams, for strength, energy and wisdom as they both recruit, oversee the induction and training of new staff and also continue to juggle rotas. Without forgetting the others, perhaps this week we could focus on praying for G and J (Leonora, Chippenham) and Great Finborough (R and C).

The “focus group” that P and M convened had a good second meeting and I praise God that a range of doable initiatives were identified to boost retention and recruitment as well as a number that are going to be more difficult to afford. Please pray for wisdom as we prioritise and plan how to take these forward.

The other matters for prayer remain

- ask God to send us the remaining 30 plus people of His choosing

- ask God to direct the right people to the advertisements that are in November’s Christian magazines for the job vacancies for managers at Shottermill and Evington

- praise God for the people we recruited last week – and ask that they are made to feel welcome and want to stay and settle in quickly.

I hope these make for useful prayer points for you - an easy way to take part in this vital work.

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Pray for PFS - Week 1

2016-11-01T20:44:00.000+00:00

This blog is not a continuation of my Tuesday Prayer series, but I hope it is in the Spirit of it, and will be a useful prompt to prayer for those who come across it.

As alluded to in my last blog post, I've just become a Trustee of Pilgrims Friends Society. With that in mind, I'm keen to share the prayer points from our November Month of Prayer with my readers. I'm under no illusions (Grand, deluded, or otherwise) about the quanitity of my readers (there are about six of you, including my mother and wife) but I am reasonably confident of your quality in the praying department.

But I digress.

To recap, PFS is a wonderful charity, dating back a little longer than I've been alive (by a factor of at least a lot) which runs homes for elderly Christians, schemes in the community, and aims to be a voice for older people in church and society. You can find out more on the website.

The Board launched the month of prayer last week and this is the first of the promised weekly prayer bulletins that we will carry on through November.

As I write we are looking for over 40 vacancies to be filled (10% of our workforce). So perhaps as you pray this week you could:

- praise God for the handful of people we recruited last week – and ask that they are made to feel welcome and want to stay and settle in quickly.

- ask God to send us over 40 people of His choosing

- specifically ask God to direct the right people to the advertisements that are in November’s Christian magazines for the job vacancies for managers at Shottermill and Evington.

- ask for strength and encouragement for the managers and team leaders who have had a long period of juggling rotas and working extra shifts

Over the next weeks I will mentioned all of the homes where we have vacancies, but this week could you specifically pray for S and her team at Brighton and R and her team at Milward House where we presently have recently had the highest numbers of adverts out.

I hope these make for useful prayer points for you - an easy way to take part in this vital work.

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To Be a Pilgrim...

2016-10-31T15:19:00.003+00:00

Read this post on my new blog here!

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Picking Fruit

2016-10-26T10:17:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago, whilst walking painfully back from my weekly parkrun, I picked some blackberries, put a couple of saucers in the freezer, and made some jam.

I only needed one saucer.

The following weekend I picked a couple more blackberries, made a cake, and topped it with blackberries and carefully put had jam inside. I'm reliably informed by my colleagues that the cake was edible, but I'm trying to be modest so won't be showing any of the endorsements my foray into baked goods recieved. I won't be entering any competitions, though.

Don't worry, this isn't a lifestyle blog.

A month or so ago the blackberries were virtually falling off the brambles - easy to pick and so I came home with a kilo or so, easily. The last time I picked them, on the cusp of my cake-making, there were only a few left - the sweetest few - but they were delicious. They were also more hidden, harder to reach. But without them my cake would have been a sponge with jam, it wouldn't have *quite* been complete.

This still isn't a post about my new lifestyle.

This is actually a post about mission and evangelism.

Jesus once said 'the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few'. That, of course, still stands. There is such a great harvest, a gathering of fruit, that the work of mission and evangelism is vital and ongoing. We need more workers, in my opinion, both those committed full time in a paid sense to do the work of the Gospel, and the rest of us committed full time as slaves dedicated to the building and proclamation of the Kingdom of God.

But what if it was the other way around? What if the harvest was few and the workers plentiful?

What if you had big teams, lavish launches, beautiful resources, superb cakes - and only a few people turned up?

What if the harvest was small?

I think Jesus spoke about that too.

It is easy to pick low hanging fruit. That doesn't mean we shouldn't - because just as every blackberry from my first batch became an integral part of the jam, so too does every adopted son and daughter matter to God, every toe and hair that makes up the body of Christ, his Church. It's easy to celebrate massive 'revivals', huge numbers, radical stories and new people coming in big numbers.

It's harder to wait and reach deeper and pick the past few blackberries.

To show up regularly, even when there isn't any fruit to pick.

While I believe Jesus had even this blog post in mind when he spoke scripture 2000 years ago (I'm not saying this is a particularly good blog post, rather that God excercises what theologian Bruce Ware calls 'meticulous sovereignty', and this can be summed up in the notion that God is Good), what Jesus said about this doesn't use a fruity analogy. Rather, it's about sheep.

One sheep.

The last sheep.

The lost sheep.

You can find this story in Luke 15:3-7, nestled amongst several other beautiful parables, but I reproduce it here:

Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, 'rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

Maybe the sweetest sheep? The one that meant the most because it was as needed and valuable and desired and beautiful as the 99 the shepherd already had? The shepherd already had the 99 - they were righteous. And thus the effort expended in the pursuit and embrace of that lost sheep is immensely important. Worth rejoicing over.

This isn't a blog post about blackberries and cake. This blog isn't becoming a Pinterest in words.

This post was provoked by blackberry picking - but I hope it might help to motivate those of us involved in mission and evangelism to keep picking the low hanging abundant fruit - because making jam is great - but also to keep going, to gather in the last few, the difficult few.

Who knows, they could be the sweetest.

And after the end of autumn, when there are no blackberries left to pick, comes Advent.

And that, as they say, is a whole other story.

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Book Review: Virtually Human

2016-10-24T17:36:00.000+01:00

**MASSIVE DISCLAIMER - I work in Digital Marketing for IVP, and have recommended this book as a key resource for my talk at the Premier Digital Conference in November 2016. This review should thus be taken with a pinch of salt**

"Social media allows us to be ourselves in a way that is remarkably free from constraints"

Read this review over at my new blog!

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God is Good.

2016-10-21T19:30:00.000+01:00

On the goodness of God.

I agree with Bill Johnson.

God is Good!

Photo is a snapshot from the Bethel Church Facebook page.

I've been seeing a variation on the ad above on my Facebook

newsfeed fairly regularly for a few weeks now. It is advertising

a new course and book, as far as I can ascertain without

clicking on the link, which focuses on Gods Goodness.

I believe that the Goodness of God is one of the most

important truths that the church should be seeking to

communicate to the world.

I also suffer from mental health problems,

in particular depression.

I hold the two statements - that God is Good and His

Goodness is good news - in tension every day. Earlier this

week, a friend on Facebook shared this song/spoken word

piece about pain and suffering and the glory of God:

The video is a powerful example of a worship song that

takes lament and reality seriously - which is sometimes so

valuable. The goodness of God doesn't depend on our

experience of reality, or our understanding. That point is well

made by John Piper in the sermon snippeted in that YouTube

video - a sermon I needed to hear and I believe many people

need to hear and chew over.

God is Good.

There is a wonderful verse, about God and His Goodness,

in Psalm 100. I reproduce the whole Psalm here because

context is important, and the way the Psalm builds to a

crescendo of goodness is wonderful:

A Psalm. For giving grateful praise.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness; come before

him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us,

and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness contineus through all generations.

In our small group this week instead of doing 'sung worship'

like we normally do, a good friend led us in a prayerful

expression of thankfulness. This was incredibly powerful -

focusing our prayers and minds on thanking God, rather than

the usual list of things we ask for. And the reason that

thankfulness is so powerful is well expressed in this Psalm -

For the LORD is Good.

This is a truth to cling to, even when it hurts.

This is a truth to cling to, even in the worst of the storms of life.

This is a truth to cling to, because God's love endures forever,

unlike the fickle love of humans.

This is a truth to cling to, because God's faithfulness continues

through all generations, even until the end of what we call 'time'.

This is a truth to cling to, because God is Good.

God is Good.

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Prayers on the Move Comes to Birmingham!

2016-10-05T16:55:00.004+01:00

This post is linked to my work for SPCK, a Christian Publisher and Anglican Mission Agency.

The coming months provide exciting opportunities for many Christian organisations in Birmingham and prayer is the focus of the agenda, as SPCK’s Prayers on the Move project begins to be embedded into the city.

Recently, the team spoke to the Birmingham Church Leaders’ Breakfast about the idea and generated a lot of excitement around the vision of the ordinary people of Birmingham being confronted by a reminder to pray on their daily commute!

Now, we need your help to make it real! To bring Prayers on the Move to Birmingham we need about £25,000. But great news - with £7,750 already pledged from local church leaders and charitable trusts, we’re already 30% of the way there!

This week sees the launch of our crowdfunding campaign alongside an amazing campaign video which features a huge range of Birmingham Christians, including the Anglican bishop and Methodist District chair, telling us why they think Prayers on the Move will be a blessing on all the people of the city.

Can you help us spread the word?

Connect with Prayers on the Move on Facebook and Twitter, or visit the YouTube Channel or Website for more....

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Book Reviews - Doing More

2016-09-27T14:20:00.000+01:00

Read this post on my new blog!

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An Unsung Hero...

2016-09-21T15:15:00.000+01:00

Unsung heroes

Or, in which tube drivers remind me of the Old Testament.

The London Underground is amazing. Seriously. Having got a fair way into my second year of being a London commuter, I'm well aware that I'm meant to hate it, and the two free papers so nimbly distributed on week days do a great job of persuading me and my fellow human sardines that it is all some monumental incompetent Scam.

But that just isn't fair.

The London Underground, affectionately and more accurately called the tube (because not all of it is underground, or really in London, but all the trains are tubular to some secret) is actually rather brilliant. And it is brilliant because of its unsung heroes.

Staff.

Drivers.

Planners.

Builders.

Architects.

Hilarious station announcement announcers.

Whimsical kiosk attendants and those whose livelihood is predicated on obscure stations being open.

I rather like the tube.

I think the reason I like it is because of this plethora of unsung heroes.

On my journey home today my appreciation of the tube reminded me of a recent bible study I was part of. It wasn't late, sweaty, or accessed via contactless. But it was given by, and all about, an unsung hero.

Around a table we opened up Jeremiah 38.

And, probably for the first time, we looked at the story of an unsung hero of the Old Testament. A minor player in the most important story ever lived, whose 'small' actions had repercussions long beyond his life or the scrap of scripture that records his life. It reminded me a bit of the woman who saved Christmas.

Ebed-Melek was a cushite, an official in the house of the king. His story takes center stage for a brief episode in the bigger chapter of salvation history recorded in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is thrown, by men with evil intent, into a cistern to be left to die. And, it seems, Ebed-Melek is the only person to protest.

Sometimes there is something of vital importance in being the only person to notice something. Sometimes a whole palace, a whole culture, even a whole church can be so caught up in noise that it forgets what is good and struggles to listen to the still small voice. Ebed-Melek, who is unlikely to be in many people's top ten bible character or baby name lists, is an unsung hero. And in this, he is gracious and kind. He doesn't just question what has happened - he gathers a group and prepare to put it right. He doesn't just prepare to rescue Jeremiah - he does it carefully and thoughtful, grabbing clothes to soften the impact of rough ropes on the prophets damaged body.

There is much that we can learn from Ebed-Melek - just as I am challenged on a weekly basis by the kindness, politeness, professionalism and patience of staff on the tube. What does it mean to point out a wrong? What does it mean to do something about it? What does it mean to make sure that in doing something, you prepare for a better future for those you help?

I've been challenged in remembering that bible study around a table. Challenged not to be a hero it to be unsung, not to make noise in the streets but follow in the footsteps of service with a servant king.

How could I remember some spare clothes to put under rough ropes as I go about trying to do good?

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Four Hard Books...

2016-09-12T18:59:00.000+01:00

One of the perks of having studied theology and working at a publisher is that free books occasionally pop up, and because I can be quite nerdy, the ones I want are often the ones that my colleagues are less interested in. Regular readers will know that one of my primary theological interests is what it means to be human - to which end I've written and spoken academically, as well as blogging sporadically. I was delighted, then, to acquire a few copies of books which consider those questions, from different angles and perspectives, and which I hope to read over the next few months.

The first of these is the one I am most likely to be vaguely qualified to read - though barely - Gordon McConville's 'Being Human in God's World: An Old Testament Theology of Humanity'. This looks like being a classic Old Testament study, and thus far I've appreciated the author's humility and awareness within the huge topic of what it means to be human. I'm particularly interested by the chapters on being made in the Image of God, and what it means to be 'constituted' and 'situated' as a human being. My hunch is that these are both very important questions - often forgotten in contemporary dialogue.

Secondly, and moving into the trio of books that I think it is very unlikely I'll be able to do full justice to, is 'A Time to Keep: Theology, Mortality, and the Shape of A Human Life'. Radner writes, "The miracle of birth and the mystery of death mark human life. Mortality, like a dark specter, looms over all that lies in between. Human character, behavior, aims and community are all inescapably shaped by this certainty of human ends". This book considers mortality in the light of God's sovereignty and human limitations. I think it should dovetail nicely with the McConville book, and I'm particularly looking forward to the chapter entitled 'The Vocation of Singleness'.

Thirdly, and definitely out of my regular reading comfort zone, is a book engaging with the philosophy of Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope and then Saint John Paul II in the Roman Catholic Church. 'Karol Wojtyla's Personalist Philosophy: Understanding Person and Act' is an intrudction to the thought of Wojtyla, focusing on the anthropology he outlines in 'Person and Act'. Apparently building on the philosophical anthropology of Thomas Aquinas, this book looks like it will be hard work but well worth it, throwing some Roman Catholic Philosophy onto the questions surrounding being a human person.

Finally and fourthly, by Stephen M. Fields, is 'Analogies of Transcendence: An Essay on Nature, Grace & Modernity'. This rather terrifying looking book draws together a range of things that, as I've explored theologically around the question of being human, I've had to engage with a bit. This book focuses on the tension between Nature and Grace, roaming around and throughout Church history, with a particular emphasis on recent Roman Catholic theologians such as Rahner and von Balthasar. Like the book on Wojtyla, I forsee this being a tough but rewarding read.

So there you go - something of a temporary agenda for the next chunk of reading for me on theological anthropology, and its philosophical cousins. I'd hope to review each one, and maybe write something about crossovers between the four, either in pairs, a trio, or together. It is, of course, entirely possible that I won't understand a word of any of them, and this blog post will be a healthy reminder of my own hubris.

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Book Review: Visual Theology

2016-09-07T13:10:00.000+01:00

I've shamelessly copied the above graphic, from Tim Challies blog, as it accurately sums up one of the key themes of this review: this is an actually attractive, visual theology book, that could actually be useful for normal people, with coffee tables, rather than 'extreme Christians' (I'm not sure who they are, but I bet they wouldn't put coffee on their personal altars, etc.)

This book quite literally brings something new to the table.

I am a big reader. I really like reading! I think it is a brilliant spiritual discipline that can help us become more like Jesus, and equip us for mission and mercy in the world today. I've blogged about that before, and I also read a lot of books and review quite a few of them.

But not everyone is a reader, it seems.

For those who can read, but don't like to, this book could be a brilliant tool.

This is a difficult book to review - in that it covers the whole scope of Christian thoelogy, whilst applying it to Christian living - so I'll give three reasons why you should have a copy of this book, or possibly a couple - lying around your library. Or even on your coffee table.

1) It is beautifully produced

We live in a visual culture. We are created beings who are creative, with eyes to see, noses to smell, and ears to hear. So often, our discipleship, evangelism and Christian living denies this simple fact. This book is nicely produced, doesn't look as bad as many Christian books (I can say this, I work for a Christian publisher), and is thoughtfully laid out. This book won't put people off for being poorly printed, drab, or univiting.

2) It contains beautiful truth

Lots of 'Christian' books these days are light on something. Light on the Gospel, or so heavy on something else that Christian content is squeezed out. This book is one drenched in, shaped by, and motivated through the beautiful truth of the Gospel for each and every person. This is a book that points towards the faith once delivered to all the saints - and is fundamentally about Jesus. This is a book that could be a useful building block in a discipleship course, or a confirmation class, or in helping people think things through theologically as they prepare for leadership or church planting. This isn't, however, 'The Gospel for Dummies' - it is a beautiful doorway into a library, an invitation to a lifetime of getting to know Jesus better, and living and speaking for him.

3) It points towards beautiful life

Many books, Christian or not, purport to improve our life. They take ideas, scriptural or from other sources, and try to apply them to life. Other books - and I enjoy reading some of these immensely - are rather less lively. The delve deep into the mechanics of people and places, drawing nuggets of gold out from historical depths, or meditating and musing on the finer points of ancient grammar. These books are important - but not for everyone. This book is clearly informed by both - and other - kinds of books. It is full of beautiful truth - but always in the service of a beautiful life becoming more like Jesus.

This is a great book. It is a good book for new Christians, or for older Christians bored of black and white pages and needing motivation to go deep again. Inspired by the infographics of our age, it points past surface design or meaningless statistics to encourage us again to consider the glories of the Gospel and the goodness of God. It isn't the last word on everything - but it would be a great first few words for many people.

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Look Beyond.

2016-09-02T14:35:00.001+01:00

Really interesting talk on social media and marketing. Given that I'm someone who works in that space, selling and promoting that oldest of products - Christian books - it is worth listening to.

Some rude language.

Lots of great points.

Kudos to my Father-in-Law for directing me to it!

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Book Review: Stepping into the Impossible

2016-08-29T15:56:00.001+01:00

image from River Publishing

Since encountering and embracing the Charismatic side of the Church at university, I've often kept an eye out for books about it. For books that seek to explain to friends in and outside the Church just what on earth we think we are doing in and outside the Church. One of the ministries that has tried to do this over many years, and is continuing to grow in influence and effect, is 'Healing on the Streets'. Birthed out of the Causeway Coast Vineyard Church in Northern Island, and ostensibly founded by Mark Marx, this is an approach to evangelism that combines Gospel proclamation with Kingdom demonstration, inviting people to be prayed for.

This book, 'Stepping into the Impossible', is the story of Healing on the Streets (henceforth 'HOTS'). And this is my review of it.

First off, this book is incredibly easy to read and very hard to put down. I read it in one sitting - which is rare for me at the moment - and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is an encouraging book as much as an inspiring book. Of course, for some people, reading this book will inspire them to grab some chairs and run out onto the the streets to pray for people. I'm not those people. This book was encouraging because of Mark's humility and honesty, coupled with beautiful stories of God moving in different places for different people in a host of different and difficult circumstances.

Having said the above, it is worth noting that this is isn't the theological book I would necessarily have hoped it to be - though I might still give it to sceptical friends to start a conversation. This is very much a book focused on the story of Mark Marx, the story of HOTS, and how those little stories interact with the bigger story of what God is doing in the world.

This is a delightfully unfinished book. Not in the sense that pages are missing - but that it is shot through with infectious hope and the faith of the author for more. There is a real honesty throughout - wrestling with kingdom tensions like being healed or not, having faith or not - that makes me want to get a beer with Mark (After being on the streets, I expect, the man being contagious in his enthusiasm!) and then see what God will do with this ministry next. This book is one that is well aware of pitfalls but is grounded in the Gospel and the conviction that God will do what God will do.

Simon Ponsonby is an author and theologian I deeply respect, and I think his endorsement on the back of the book is a great encouragement:

"I can think of few Christians in this generation who have done more to equip the saints than Mark Marx. Stepping into the Impossible shows what one man can achieve for the King and his Kingdom when filled with the Holy Spirit and taking God at his Word"

If you are sceptical about HOTS, you should read this book. It may not totally convince you, but it should demonstrate to you the kingdom-heart and Gospel-focus of the work. If you are thinking about starting HOTS, this book will likely inspire you! If you are someone who loves to be encouraged by God's work in and through his servants, like me when I read it one summers evening recently, then this is a fascinating, encouraging and contagiously beautiful book.

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#PREMDAC16 - Out on A Limb

2016-08-16T16:16:00.002+01:00

Way back in 2014, when we'd just moved to London, I was privileged to be nominated for a couple of awards (neither of which I won) and invited to speak at the Premier Christian New Media Awards and Conference. I blogged about that, and I'd encourage you to read my rather strange paper/presentation, which looked at how we might decide who to follow, and not follow, on social media; and what listening to them as authoritative voices might mean.

I'm delighted to be back in the mix for 2016. This year, with the theme 'Reach', the Premier Digital Awards and Conference is focusing on some fascinating stuff.

Working as I do in the Digital chunk of the Christian publishing industry, and as a continued-ly avid reader (if not, as much as I'd like, writer) of theology, I was delighted to have my proposal for a talk accepted.

In the theology stream, run in partnership with CODEC, I'm delighted to be speaking on human and church identities online. My paper is rather grandly titled 'Out on A Limb: the body of Christ and individual bodies online', and I reproduce the abstract below:

This paper explores the complexity of human and ecclesial identity, within New Testament language of the Body of Christ. Arguing that online presence, or identity, is a digital ﬁngerprint rather than complete self, this paper suggests that healthy usage of social media by Christians is an outworking of their faith, rather than an identity.

Building New Testament Scholarship and Systematic Theology from a range of traditions, this paper argues that the individuality of present-day culture is challenged by concerted and social Christian digital activity. Moving on to ethics and Digital Theology, 'Out On A Limb' is suggested as a healthy way of getting a handle on ones-self, to reach others.

I'm enjoying writing this medley of topics, and can't wait to put my ideas out in the open and get some feedback! I had a whale of a time disagreeing and dialoguing with people last time, and am looking forward to doing so again this year. For a feel of where I'm getting some of my ideas from, you might enjoy my review of 'Body' by Paula Gooder, or browsing some of my recent-and-not-so-recent conference papers.

If you are interested, you can book on via Premier's website - which I'd encourage you to do based on some of the other speakers.

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