Please take a look at this video and pray for the ‘Valley Commandos’ church planting project. The vision is: “To deploy gospel warriors in every valley in South Wales to plant churches that will detonate an explosion of grace + salvation in Jesus’ name!”
The Ascension: Humanity in the Presence of God
The Ascension: Humanity in the Presence of Christ is out now in the UK. This is my latest book and is co-written with Jonny Woodrow, the European Director of the Porterbrook Network. It will be available in the US on 1 May and can be ordered now from amazon.com.
This is the first publication in a WEST Porterbrook imprint with Christian Focus which will focus on ‘theology for mission’.
Here’s the blurb …
Has Jesus left his church with an embarrassing problem? We claim he’s alive yet he’s nowhere to be seen. Wouldn’t it have been easier for us if he’s stayed on earth? Then we could talk with him as the disciples did during his earthly ministry and he could tour the world proving his claims. Does the ascension mean he’s now distant from us? This book shows how Jesus secures our salvation as our ascended Priest. Humanity is now in the presence of God. As our King, Jesus directs our mission from the throne of the universe. The ascension offers a message of great assurance and great challenge.
And here are some endorsements …
“Sceptics, young believers and longstanding Christians alike will be intrigued and challenged in turn as they come to realise the immense – and immensely practical – consequences of the Ascension. Glorious and unexpected truths are here constantly laid bare for our wonder and our joy.”
Jonathan Stephen, Principal Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST)
“The writers show us the Bible’s answers to these questions and many more. If you have ever wondered why the ascension is critical to being a disciple of Jesus or why it wasn’t just a bad strategy by God that removed the main evidence for Christianity, you will find plenty of help here.”
Marcus Honeysett, Director of Living Leadership and author of Finding Joy, Kent, England.
“Chester and Woodrow have given us a gift that will lift our eyes from this temporal horizon to the steppes of eternal joys of our High Priest in heaven.”
Eric C. Raymond ~ Executive Pastoral Assistant and Bible Professor in Residence New Canaan Baptist Church, Washington, DC Council Member, The Gospel Coalition.
“With the publication of Chester and Woodrow’s The Ascension: Humanity in the Presence of God, I’m grateful to be able to point others to an accessible and inspiring study of this central Christian doctrine. In reading this book, Christians will find their minds sharpened and hearts warmed. Delightfully, the book ends with an Ascension hymn. Theology leads to doxology.”
Robert L. Plummer – Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.
Gospel-centred
Tim Challies has posted an interesting article on the current fashion for books with ‘gospel-centred’ in the title. He welcomes the trend, but also warns that its popularity may lead to a certain weariness or a superficial use for marketing purposes. He then lists a host of books with the term in the title, including most of the titles in the Gospel-Centred Series we’ve published with The Good Book Company (though he misses Gospel-Centred Family). It’s a good point well made. We said something similar in the conclusion to Total Church. We wrote:
There is a lot of talk today of ‘gospel ministers’, ‘gospel work’, ‘gospel churches’ and so on. There are some good reasons for this use of the word ‘gospel’ since other definitions of identity are proving inadequate. But we need to be careful not to de-personalize our faith. In believing in the gospel we believe in Jesus Christ. To be gospel-centred is to be Jesus-centred. A gospel worker is a servant of Jesus Christ. We must not reduce Christianity to intellectual arguments or principles of ministry, however gospel-hyphenated they are. Our focus must be on the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
In our defence, as far as I can tell our first book, Gospel-Centred Church, predates the others in Challies’ list – though Amazon lists the publication date of the US edition (2007) which was five years after the UK publication date (2002) so something similar may be true of other titles in the list.
Here are the titles in our Gospel-Centred series:
Gospel-Centred Church – available from thinkivp and amazon.com
Gospel-Centred Life – available from thinkivp and amazon.com
Gospel-Centred Marriage – available from thinkivp and amazon.com
Gospel-Centred Family – available from thinkivp and amazon.com
Gospel-Centred Leadership – available from thinkivp and amazon.com
Gospel-Centred Work is out in May.
Trinitarian life day conference
Women battling with porn
I’ve posted a couple of posts recently on porn. As it happens, The Good Book Company have just posted a helpful article on women battling with porn.
It’s a subject that’s taboo. A reality that many find shocking. A fact that some would prefer to deny. But the truth is out there: women use porn too.
Special offer on Captured by a Better Vision eBook
Following my post with some recent porn statistics, thinkivp are offering the eBook version of my book on living porn free, Captured By A Better Vision, at a special price of just £3. Click here for more details.
This offer is only open until midnight Sunday and is not available in the US.
Porn statistics
Covenant Eyes have just released an alarming collection of porn statistics. If you don’t think porn is a significant problem, both in the wider culture and in the church, then please take time to look at these figures. Here’s a sample
- 340,000,000 plus searches for porn since the beginning of 2013
- 88 percent of scenes in porn movies contain acts of physical aggression
- 1 in 2 pastors say porn is strong temptation, but only 1 in 4 make themselves accountable for their internet use
- 1 in 2 Christian men and 1 in 5 Christian women admit to being addicted to porn
- 9 out of 10 boys and 6 out of 10 girls have been exposed to online porn before the age of 18
- 7 out of 10 teenagers hide their online activity from their parents
- 2 out of 3 young men and 1 in 2 young women say viewing porn is an acceptable way to express one’s sexuality
The most shocking figures in my mind were the following: 15% of boys have seen child pornography online, 32% have seen bestiality, 39% have seen sexual bondage, 83% of have seen group sex and 69% have seen same-sex intercourse and the figures for girls are not far behind. This is the sex education our children are receiving.
My own contribution to the discussion, Captured by a Better Vision (UK version) or Closing the Window (US version), focuses on showing how Christians can live porn free through faith.
A theology of food
Here’s an interview with me conducted by Mike Reeves some time ago for TheologyNetwork.org on a theology of food.
It’s linked to my book A Meal with Jesus which is available here from amazon.com and thinkivp.
Children’s work
My favourite chapter in Creature of the Word by Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson and Eric Geiger is the chapter on children’s work.
Creature of the Word is available here from amazon.com and thinkivp.
My father once said that he spent his life as a pastor trying to un-teach what people had learnt in Sunday school. By this he meant that in Sunday school children are typically taught moralism. He then had to un-teach that moralism and replace it with the gospel. This is a theme powerfully expounded in Creature of the Word:
“Sadly, even in churches where the gospel is heralded as the essential message of the Christian faith form the pulpit, children and students are often pummelled with curriculum designed for behavioural modification rather than gospel transformation. It is foolish to feast on the life-giving gospel in one area of the church while using a placebo in another.” (138)
“If the gospel is taught from the platform to adults, but ‘character building’ is the theme of the kids’ ministry, what are parents to discuss with their children?”
“The gospel is only for children. According to Jesus, only those who receive the kingdom of heaven with the faith of a child with even enter (Matthew 18:3).” (139)
“Perhaps many churches fail to teach the gospel to children because law is more attractive. Law provides children’s ministry leaders and parents with the false assurance that we are doing the right things, that we can check boxes off a spiritual checklist. Some would rather children walk away with lessons on being a better child to Mommy and Daddy. After all, the hand-out about being a better kid appeals to the mother who desperately wants someone else to tell her child to behave. But that hand-out – unless it’s connected to faith in Jesus – reveals our lack of confidence in both the gospel to transform and the sufficiency of Scripture to accomplish what it is says it will accomplish.” (140)
“Every single thing the church does teaches. Cultural is continually being reinforced as leaders are always teaching and people are always learning … If the implicit message communicated via the programs contradicts the explicit message communicate on the teaching environments, then people are left confused and frustrated. For example, if a pastor preaches about investing in the lives of neighbours and co-workers, all while announcing a dozen events on the church calendar this week – things that everyone feels at least a little pressure to attend – the people in the church will have a difficult time applying the message. Which message are the people more likely to believe?” (188)
Linking theology and practice
Some key quotes and ideas from Creature of the Word by Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson and Eric Geiger.
Available here from amazon.com and thinkivp.
In Creature of the Word the authors stress that practice arises out a ministry philosophy which arises out of theology.
“Theology is your church’s ‘thinking about God’. It is the beliefs to which you church holds doctrinally, what your church believes. Ministry philosophy is your church’s ‘thinking about ministry,’ the commitments that undergird all your church does. Practice, of course, is what your church actually does.” (106-107)
Your theology should not be unique. This is what you share with other churches. Your philosophy should flow from your theology, but be specific to your context.
“Bottom line: while practice is important, it is not the starting point. Yet sadly, when ministry leaders connect with each others, practice is typically where the discussion begins. Leaders from Church A, for example, hear about the work of the Lord in Church B. So they start observing Church B from a distance, eventually arranging to meet with some of their staff. Immediately they jump to ‘practice’ questions … but rarely at any point during such a meeting does anyone ask the deeper questions: What do you believe about ‘mission’ that causes you to set these priorities? Why is ______ so important here? Why have you designed your groups this way? The deeper church cultural question is the synergy between theology, philosophy, and practice. When these three come together, formed in the gospel, the impact is tremendous.” (112)
The encapsulates our repeated experience in The Crowded House. We want to talk about theology, but people always ask about practice. I always think (and sometime say), ‘Why are you asking me about practice? Our practice is nothing special. I’m sure you could work out better ways of doing this. And, besides, how we do it is not how you should do it as your context is different from ours. Let’s talk about theology and ministry philosophy.’ But people seem obsessed with the details of practice as if we have some kind of blueprint. We don’t!
The following questions from Creature of the Word may help think through your current practice.
“Christ’s great love frees us from needing validation or approval through programming. When we live in freedom, we can honestly look at every programme and ask the hard questions, like:
• What are we implicitly teaching through the giving of resources to this program?
• Is this programme furthering the gospel in the hearts and minds of our people and the community?
• Could the time we are asking of people be better utilized for the sake of the gospel in a different way than this?
• Would the removal of this programme serve to diminish or rather increase the capacity of our people to love and treasure Jesus and make him known?
• If we were starting from scratch with only the foundation of the gospel, would we do this programme in this manner?
• Why do we do this?” (188-189)
