We hope you've enjoyed the different blog pieces we've done this week on how to best use the Christianity Explored website. We hope it's encouraged you to think about how you can use it, and other resources like it, to spread the gospel.
If you'd like to run the Christianity Explored course, for our blog viewers only, we're offering 20% off all the course materials. That includes:
To make the most of this offer simply use the code ce20 at the checkout. The code works on both the UK and US websites. Offer expires on 23/03/2012.
We live in an age of information with news at the click of a button. But sometimes stories about Christians and Christianity can get buried under the mountain of articles that flash across our screens each day. So here are a few stories that we thought might be interesting to share. We don't necessarily agree with what the authors are suggesting but we do wonder if their words might help fuel our thinking, our praying and maybe even some letter-writing...
Rowan Williams to step down as Archbishop
Church powerless to stop same-sex marriage even if hundreds of thousands object
One rule for Jesus, another for Muhammed?
Films with faith basis make more money
Church of England condemned as "the last refuge of prejudice"
Bus driver faces disciplinary action over marriage petition
Red Bull drops Jesus advert after South African bishops complain
For many, the path to knowing Jesus is a series of steps. They get to know a Christian… they meet some of that Christian's friends… they go to a church-run event… they begin to be interested in what lies at the heart of the church… they come to an evangelistic talk… they start going to church meetings regularly, or go on a course… they put their faith in Christ.
Of course, that journey is different for all of us. Some stages get jumped over, swapped around, or taken a long time over.
But it's easy, having been Christians for a while, to forget that each of those steps doesn't seem very small when it's the next one. And so it's worth thinking: what's an easy, short next step for my tentatively-enquiring friend—and how can I help them make that step?... continue reading
ChristianityExplored.org exists to tell people about Christ—who He is, why He came, and what it means for us today. It's not an advert for the Christianity Explored course—and your church doesn't need to run the course to use the website as an evangelistic resource.
But that said, there is an area of the site which tells people what a CE course is, and what it's like, and what "type" of people go (ie: all types!).
And if your church does run CE, it's well worth pointing people who might be interested to "The CE course" area on the site. Turning up for CE can be a pretty intimidating prospect—What will happen? Who'll be there? Will they be asked to pray or sing? Will they be put under pressure, or brainwashed?
There's a great short video at www.christianityexplored.org/course which aims to help people feel comfortable and confident about signing up. It's voiced by a real CE group leader, and features a wide range of CE courses from big church halls through living rooms to coffee shops.
If you're advertising a CE course at your church over Easter, why not show this two-minute video at evangelistic services and events? It's what it's made for, (literally!). Let people see that CE really is relaxed, informal and friendly, and they'll be far more likely to show up!
I’ve just cycled home with my wheel on fire. Well, almost. I have a pair of bright red lights attached to my spokes which, when turning at speed, make a truly impressive circle of fire. They’re seriously cool – and seriously safe too, as I battle the city traffic. But I know they’re only this bright because I put new batteries in yesterday. In a couple of weeks they’ll start to fade back to an anaemic pink.
But above my head this evening was an even cooler pair of lights. It’s a busy time for the planets this week, with Venus and Jupiter meeting up for a chat. Two bright lights, hanging in the sky, beckoning me onwards. I get really excited when I recognise planets – seeing things that are such a l-o-ng way away. But like my spoke lights, these will soon fade – they’re only going to be paired up like this for a few more days.
But planets always remind me of my favourite throwaway line in the Bible. It’s from Genesis 1 v 16: “He also made the stars.” God is the perfect Creator the stars point to. His power never runs out. His radiance never fades. And we know that, if we have put our trust in His Son, then we will see Him – not just for a few fleeting days like Jupiter and Venus – but for eternity in His perfect new creation – where it “does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp“ (Revelation 21 v 23).
That’s the coolest pair of lights of all!
We've just finished this season's round of Growing Young Disciples training events with a day in Rugby. It was a great day, filled with biblical insight (thank you Andrew Sach), wisdom (thank you everyone who led seminars and workshops) and encouragement (thank you Jonty Allcock). But what struck me most was how many hands went up when I asked if this was the first formal training they had done for the ministry they are involved in.
Over half the room of 230 or so put their hands up.
One of Andrew Sach's illustrations from his opening talk springs to mind. He tells the story of Ray the plumber from Peckham, who came to fix a dripping tap and a lavatory that wouldn't stop flushing. Of course, Ray turned out to be a bit of a cowboy, and 5 minutes after collecting his cash, the tap was still dripping, and the loo wouldn't flush at all.
Andrew shared his recurrent nightmare that he's in hospital for some major heart surgery, and just as he slips under from the anasthaetic, he looks up at the surgeon and sees the beaming face of Ray with a scalpel in his hand.
And the point is that Christian ministry, and especially Youth and Children's ministry, is far more dangerous and deadly than physical heart surgery. A botched op from an untrained surgeon may leave me crippled or dead. But a botch job of Bible teaching and ministry over the years we have children and young people in our groups may end up with people who are spiritually crippled, or lost for eternity.
Of course the great news is that the job is not ours alone. When the Bible is opened, and we do even our humble untrained best, God loves to use that. His Holy Spirit will work in their lives despite our weakness and ineptitude.
But it has renewed my passion for the training we are involved in at this level. How vital it is for us to convince those who may often feel they are just "minding the children" that they are doing a vital task in growing children to maturity in Christ. How important to help them to see how the foundations they are laying at age 2 and 3 is something that can shape the spiritual outlook of someone for their whole lives. What a privilege to help leaders and teachers understand how they can make the gospel of grace shine through the legalism which is the instinctive position of the human heart.
So we're planning the next round of training days, and the Youthwork residential next year, not with a heavy heart but with renewed enthusiasm that the task is both vital and needed. Bring it on!
And if, in the mean time, you are keen to stimulate your thinking in this area, the Open Bible Institute offers a distance-learning package on Youth and Children's work as well as lots of other training opportunities.
It's always great to hear about how God has worked in people's lives to bring them to faith in His Son. It encourages us to praise God; and reminds us that no-one (including our own non-believing friends and family) are beyond His reach.
And real-life stories of conversion also show those investigating Christianity that real people really do follow the Lord Jesus—that He makes a difference to people's lives.
As Tim Keller, Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, says: "Testimony shows how comprehensive Christian fulfilment is. Christ not only appeals to our minds, he fills our hearts. Testimony enables more experientially oriented cultures and temperaments to see the attractiveness of Christianity."
Below are two amazingly moving testimonies, introduced by Carl Laferton, one of the creators of www.christianityexplored.org.
Deb Stein
"Deb's story needs very little introduction—it's best just to let it speak for itself. But I do remember filming her. She did a couple of trial runs and then we switched the camera on. She told her story in a single take. When she finished, we were absolutely silent. I was on the verge of tears."
Rob Prendergast
"Rob is one of the nicest guys I've met. His is a great story of being saved out of both nominal Christianity and then a lifestyle that left him a long way from Christ. When we finished filming his story, Rob mentioned he does some rapping—and he just started rapping to camera, without any prep. It was fantastic, and so we put one of his raps on the end of his story as a bonus feature… to reward people who watched to the end of his story!"
How could you use these testimonies?
You'll find all the real-life stories at www.christianityexplored.org/real-life-stories. There's also a page of people sharing their experiences of going on a Christianity Explored course at www.christianityexplored.org/course/who.
Found something that you think should make it on to the On to a Good Thing weekly round-up? Send it to: ontoagoodthing@thegoodbook.co.uk
One of the ways the CE website helps personal evangelism is by giving answers to tough questions Christians are often asked (and sometimes ask ourselves, too!)
Carl Laferton, one of the creators of the site, explains the thinking behind these video answers:
"We wanted the answers to come across as warm, conversational, and real. Often videos like these can come across as: 'Let me show you why you're wrong, and a bit stupid.' Or they can try to say absolutely everything about a particular topic or use words that are only heard in church. Our goal was for every answer to meet people where they are at, to recognise the validity of their question, and to point people to Jesus in non-jargony language, encouraging them to keep thinking about the issue.
"So we stripped down the setting and lighting so that it didn't look staged or stylised, and went for a simple edit style. We didn't use an autocue, so that the answers would sound real, not scripted (which meant multiple, painful takes at times!) And we used a wide variety of people—some hugely experienced pastors and evangelists like Vaughan Roberts, Kevin DeYoung, Lizzy Smallwood, and others who have secular jobs and are at the coalface of relational evangelism each day, such as Dawn Evans and Abi Styles.
"Of course, while our main aim was to help non-Christians think through their questions and point them to Jesus, the great thing about these answers is how much Christians can learn from them, about how to go about answering their friends. I learned loads from filming and listening to these guys!"
Below are two of the answers: Dawn Evans, a schoolteacher in the midlands, on suffering; and Jon Cawsey, who works for a church on an Essex council estate, on whether decent people deserve to go to heaven. You'll find all of them at: www.christianityexplored.co.uk/tough-questions.
