Poached Egg and Smashed Expectations?

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but if you’re as big an avocado fan as I am (and since before they were cool, I might add), it’s hard not to feel drawn to Is This It?

Written by Rachel Jones, it’s described as “a personal journey through the challenges of adulting, revealing the difference Jesus makes.” And as well as a corker cover, the book is also an early contender for best subtitle of 2019 with “The Difference Jesus Makes to that ‘Where-is-my-life-going-I-hate-my-job-I-have-no-real-friends-Is-God-even-here-Will-I-end-up-alone-I-wish-I-was-back-at-school-Will- this-ever-feel-like-home-Am-I-failing-at-life’ Feeling”.

Did you get that?

“Nothing was really wrong, but none of it felt quite right.”

Pitched at those navigating their twenties and thirties, Is This It? picks up on the notion of the Quarter Life Crisis (QLC), “the dawning realization that you’ve reached the age by which you assumed you would have it all figured out, only to find that you don’t”. To an older reader all this talk of millennials having a supposed “crisis” may seem like an overreaction. But as Rachel says, “We might be. But don’t dismiss the phenomenon out of hand. At least, it tells you some helpful things about what the 20-somethings in your church are feeling, what discipleship challenges they’re facing, and how the church can help.”

Adulting Accompanied

In truth, Is This It? isn’t really one book. It’s more like a rich treasure-trove of twelve mini-books, with Rachel boldly taking on a dozen of the most pressing realities of life as a twenty-to-thirty-something living at the back end of the second decade of the twenty-first century. Sharing her own struggles and conversations with friends, she applies biblical truth to each one in turn.

There’s the issues you’d perhaps expect: dissatisfaction (“Has everyone else got it better than me?”), self-doubt (“What if I fail in front of everybody?”) and singleness (“Why is everyone else getting married?”), but she also astutely covers areas I’ve seen very little written on from a Christian perspective: decision paralysis (“What should I do with my life?”), loneliness (“Who are my friends anymore?”), and even nostalgia & regret (“Remember that time when…?”).

This means that the book covers a considerable variety of situations and feelings, and is thus jammed pack with gospel insight. In fact, once you begin to read through a few different chapters, you realise this is a cumulative feast of practical theology. I found the chapters on doubt, rootlessness and marriage particularly useful. Unashamed in bringing the Bible to bear on these issues – and unafraid to look below the surface of our hearts, Is This It? is both empathetic and unshrinking in the way it calls the reader to immerse themselves in the radical gospel of Jesus Christ.

Buzzfeed, Bridget and Bible?

Without meaning to be derogatory, the punchy and chatty chapters of Is This It? give it something of the feel of a series of Buzzfeed articles (not least because of its opening ’31 Reasons You Might Need This Book’ quiz). Rachel is witty and honest, often in a self-deprecating way, delightfully sprinkling her inner thoughts and anecdotes kind of like a millennial Bridget Jones (again, a compliment!). Combine this with bucketloads of gospel wisdom and an evidently perceptive pastoral heart, and you have a fairly unique Christian book that is eminently readable.

Oozing authenticity, warmth and insight, if you’re looking for something to accompany you in the millennial complexities of your third and fourth decades – or to recommend to someone who is – then, this is it.

Pick up a copy of Is This It? from the publisher here.

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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this resource from the publisher, but I hope this is still a free and fair review.

Imagine getting the opportunity to go for a coffee with a seasoned Christian apologist and hearing them share their wisdom from a lifetime of communicating the gospel. And then imagine that as you chatted with them you discovered that not only were they adept at defending and commending the good news in their public ministry, but that they also had countless stories of getting into everyday conversations with all sorts of people and warmly talking about the claims of the Christian faith.

Well, if that doesn’t seem a scenario likely to happen to you any time soon, fear not, because that’s pretty much the experience of reading John Lennox’s new bitesize little book from 10ofthose, Have No Fear. Aside from the coffee and literally hearing Lennox’s dulcet Armagh tones, you’re not really missing much from the real thing. And that makes this book a helpful little tonic to persuade normal everyday Christians to persevere with sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Genius and Normal Geezer

Though a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Oxford who has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles in his field, Lennox is perhaps best known for writing extensively on the relationship between science and religion and publicly debating prominent atheists such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Peter Singer and Michael Shermer. In recent years he has become an Adjunct Lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and is much in demand as a teacher and preacher on the subject of communicating the Christian faith and answering sceptics. Pretty impressive for seventy-five years old.

And yet as well as having all the intellectual and communicative capabilities that you’d expect from someone who can hold their own against the likes of Dawkins, Lennox also comes across as a delightfully engaging character, as winsome and affable as he is erudite.

That’s just as well, because I assume that most of us aren’t academy-level experts in mathematics or science. Sadly too often the language of apologetics puts most of us off, but the surprise with Lennox is that despite his academic credentials he comes across as a ‘normal person’ (no offence intended!), and so you know his advice and experience on ‘being salt and light even when it’s costly’ (as the subtitle of this book puts it) comes from a relatable perspective.

0 to 60 in No Time At All

Seven brief chapters take us from a general overview of the times we live in and the New Testament’s expectation that Christians will be ready to share something of the hope we have, through to some of the practicalities of how we might seek to do that in our secular, post-Christendom age. For me it was the second and third chapters on ‘Making a Defence’ and ‘Conversing about Jesus’ that were particularly helpful, despite their brevity still full of wisdom and perceptive insight on practically having conversations that ‘acknowledge’ Jesus. Another chapter focuses in on reading the Bible with people in a one-to-one context, with Lennox advocating The Word One-to-One resource, as developed by William Taylor and Richard Borgonon. Another addresses the importance of our lifestyle backing up the message we speak, whilst the final two chapters see Lennox share how he often explains the difference between Christianity and other religions, i.e. between grace and works.

It’s pretty impressive how much ‘essentials’ Lennox manages to cover in so little space. This makes it a very useful resource, particularly for people who don’t read many Christian books. And all the way through, Have No Fear is littered with stories and examples from encounters Lennox has had. Crucially, rather than portray Lennox as some evangelistic-superman, they exude an infectious desire to speak of Christ.

Inspired & Enthused

To be honest, there’s not much to lose with a book like this. Coming in 10ofthose’s little pocket-size range, Have No Fear will only take you a couple of hours to read, and yet I’d put good money on you coming out the other side with a fresh desire to want to share the gospel. Lennox’s own aim is that the book would:

“…demonstrate that you – yes, you – can actually be a faithful witness to Jesus. Furthermore, this is not some grim task that you do because you feel guilty. Instead, it will bring you a great sense of joy and strengthen your Christian life and experience immeasurably.”

Even if all of Lennox’s advice and tips aren’t news to you, then at least you’ll be encouraged by his enthusiasm and intentional perspective on talking about Jesus, not to mention the infectious example of all the conversations Lennox recounts. The man evidently lives with a conscious trust in the providential hand of God and seeks to be available and open to using everyday moments to help others discover something of the Christian faith. That is stirring in itself.

Looking for a punchy and brief book to spark off someone to begin thinking about sharing their faith, or to encourage someone who has the desire but feels clueless (most of us?). Look no further…

You can pick up a copy of Have No Fear from the publisher here for just £2.99, with reductions available for bulk buys. Order 100 and they’ll cost just £1 each.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, but I hope this is still a fair and honest review.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said that, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” As we work towards growing missional church communities that flourish in our secular age, then it’s evident that making discipleship normative will be critical.

Enter stage-left the second edition of Discipleship Explored, from Christianity Explored Ministries…

Back to Discipleship

I count myself a long-term fan of Christianity Explored Ministries. I realised when writing this that I’ve been involved in leading Christianity Explored (CE) courses for nearly ten years (CE was first developed in the late 1990’s, but is now on its third edition). Indeed, I’ll happily give you 10 reasons why I love it. Off the back of the popularity of CE, and seeing a need for a ‘next step’, CE Ministries launched the first edition of Discipleship Explored back in 2008. The teaching films and Bible-studies focused on Philippians and gave people a grounding in what it meant to go on as a (new) Christian. Completing the ‘Explored Trilogy’, Life Explored came into being in 2016 (and my review is here). It wasn’t so much a replacement or a prequel/sequel to the other two, but more sought to engage people with the gospel who might not be in a place where they’d consider CE, and yet its idolatry lens had a powerful knack of challenging existing believers too. Together the three DVD-based resources have become a main player in the ‘outreach course’ market over the last few years.

So when I heard that Christianity Explored Ministries was re-designing Discipleship Explored, I was keen to explore the new material. Presenter and co-writer Barry Cooper kindly took the time to answer some questions a few months ago about the new-look DE. Of course, at one level video-based resources will inevitably date quickly, so there will always be a pressure to keep ‘re-freshening’ such resources. However, ‘DE 2.0’ has more than just a facelift: all the material has been completely re-written, as well as being re-shot, whilst still retaining its focus on Philippians. Old-timers will recognise many of the same session titles, even if the content is different.

Real World Stories

If you’re familiar with the recent Life Explored, then Discipleship Explored comes with a similar quality of film production. The teaching films are beautifully and professionally shot, with Barry Cooper visiting a different location for each episode. Rwanda, Jordan, Serbia, India, Greece, Peru and the USA each provide the context for eight documentary-style films, giving DE aninherently international feel to it – as well as being visually engaging.

One of the other obvious differences is that the teaching films now include snippets of interviews with Christians from these different locations. Each session’s theme is therefore grounded in the reality of lived experience. Whereas Life Explored introduced a series of thought-provoking but fictional visual stories, intentionally taking the viewer into a ‘different world’, Discipleship Explored now introduces us to ‘real life’ stories capturing the richness, variety and earthiness of Christian faith in the ‘real world’.

Good to Go

The main components of each DE session are fairly straight-forward and, again, there’s no surprises if you’ve used the other Explored resources. Simply put, it’s a case of watching the film (15 mins), before spending a longer chunk of time time (DE recommends 45 mins) going deeper into the week’s passage from Philippians by working through some provided discussion questions. Over the eight sessions participants will read through the whole of Philippians, and each film picks up on a theme from that session’s passage (e.g. Living in Christ, from Philippians 1:1-11, or Righteous in Christ, from Philippians 3:1-9). Hosts are encouraged to introduce the film with a ‘question to keep in mind’, which tees up the issues about to be addressed. The corresponding discussion after the film is effectively a Bible-study on that session’s passage.

As part of the resource package, a Leader’s Handbook provides extensive resources on Philippians, running DE, following-up pastoral issues, as well as a rough ‘script’ to lead each session, e.g. prayers to close the session and introductory sentences. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be tempted to decide you already know what you’re doing and just crack on with running DE before having read the Leader’s Handbook. However, it’s worth pausing and having a gander at the suggestions provided to reap the wisdom ‘in the box’. It’s also recommended that DE participants each have their own Member’s Handbook (one of these is included in the DE kit, and extras can be purchased separately – they work out as just over £2 each, depending on how you buy in bulk). These also provide ‘Follow Up’ daily readings and questions for the following week, picking up on a particular theme from the session (e.g. assurance, the Holy Spirit, meeting with other Christians, contentment) and then taking the participants through various Bible passages to complement what has been discussed in the session. This is commendable because it gently helps someone establish a simple pattern of daily Bible reading, prayer, and, particularly admirably, Scripture memorisation too.

Turning Up the Music

Again, if you’re familiar with the other Explored resources, you’ll know what you’re getting in terms of teaching content. DE doesn’t disappoint. Presenter Barry Cooper (who wrote & presented on the original DE and has worked for CE Ministries for the last 20 years) is engaging, clear, and provides a compelling vision of Christian discipleship that is both solid and fresh; re-assuring and yet unashamed in its call to follow Christ. The metaphor he uses is that we can often think about discipleship as like teaching someone to dance by simply explaining a series of moves. But that’s no use without someone hearing the music. Cooper hopes that the apostle Paul’s vision of Christ and His love would be like turning up the music in our discipleship. And our experience of DE was that even for people who have been Christians for decades there was much that was invigorating and tellingly put.

Occasionally it felt like the teaching was covering so many ‘discipleship’ issues that we were slightly gorged out by the time the film finished. All good stuff and sparklingly illustrated. But as a result, what I felt I needed next was some time and questions to help me process some of the issues raised by the film, rather than a seven-question Bible-study. I wonder if this was because some of the teaching films felt more thematic, interspersed with related snippets of interview, rather than being particularly tied to the passage. Again, nothing wrong with that, but the subsequent Bible-study then felt like ‘something more’, rather than just ‘going deeper’. I’d love to hear how others have found making – or managing – this connection, because I’d want to re-look at this next time we use DE.

A few practical observations:

Perhaps it’s worth noting that one of the inevitable consequences of the new DE ‘global’ feel is the practical reality of accents! Depending on whether participants are used to hearing a range of accents in everyday life, some viewers may struggle slightly with following along. We ended up putting on subtitles for most episodes, which helped us better appreciate these interviews with Christians from around the world. (On that, it’s worth being aware that subtitles are presently only available if you’re playing the DVD, whereas the downloadable files (to which you get an access code within the box) don’t contain subtitle options.)

Most of the episodes also begin with a short, unintroduced burst of these interviews, but we found for some people beginning like this took a bit of getting used to – just a line of explanation to know who this person was and why we were hearing from them would help set the scene. As the weeks went on we ended up supplying this ourselves as part of the introduction (“we’re going to begin the film by hearing from X, who will be sharing about…”).

Those practicalities aside, these interviews undoubtedly strengthen the versatility of the DE package. Whether or not your own context is particularly ‘international’, it’s hugely encouraging to see that all over the world the gospel is indeed bearing fruit, growing disciples, and making sense of life. 

Strictly Come Discipleship

The second edition of DE is a strong resource; professional and pleasing in its format, and trust-worthy and compelling in its content. Its evidently suitable for a variety of settings: one-to-one viewing, the traditional group format, or even a summer teaching series. Likewise, I’d say it’s global flavour makes it more deployable, even across the spectrum of culture and class within the UK. So, thank you Barry Cooper, not least for all you’ve given to these three Explored resources. All in all, it’s hard to see how there wouldn’t be some forum within most churches where DE was a welcome and beneficial addition.

You can pick up Discipleship Explored resources from the publisher here, or visit the DE site page here.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Discipleship Explored for free from the publisher, but I hope this is a fair and honest review!