It’s been a quality couple of days. Dinner with good friends yesterday evening: lemon chicken, white chocolate cheesecake, and truffles all came out of the archives to work their magic once again.

This morning a few of us took the short train journey up to Newcastle, and then the metro to Jesmond, to hear Chris Wright from Langham Partnership International, and Vijay Menon from St. Helen’s speak at Crossing Cultures, an event put on by Friends International. It was a great day, and a great chance to have my eyes opened to the massive plans God has for the whole world, and to see those plans being unravelled before my very eyes.

Chris’ work on reading the whole Bible in relation to Mission was really insightful, with the big point being actually mission is more than our ‘mission’ activity, for actually God’s committed to his mission. Interesting interlocking with my reading on Goldsworthy over the last few weeks: Wright says that the Bible points to Christ, for the Messiah is God’s ‘anointed agent’ to fulfil the mission of Israel, which was to bring God’s blessing to the nations. It helped me to see how Israel fits into God’s plan, as well as looking at Jesus’ role within that plan, and then our role as the church.

5 tips for reading the whole Bible for Mission:

Reading it in light of:
1. God’s purpose for the whole creation (guilty of rarely bringing this into focus)
2. God’s purpose for all human life (not really thought-through this before)
3. The election and role of Israel in God’s purposes for the nations (have barely considered this, apart from a glance at Romans 2-3)
4. The messianic identity of Jesus (often don’t see this so tangibly)
5. The mission of the church to the nations (very often don’t see the church like this)

Vijay spoke about Hinduism, which is something I’ve never encountered, and also reminded us of the importance of prayer (Mark 10.27) and the word of God (John 6.63) in witnessing to the nations. Why is it that golddust is so often disregarded and left in one’s pocket?

So there we were, at the Freshers’ Fair, jammed tight up against the stage at the Student’s Union with the latest Club Night being promoted through the medium of ‘officially-too-loud-unless-you-have-earphones’ dance anthems (according to the engineering students next door and their krazy sound measuring devices) and outrageously scantily-clad dancers on stilts.

I guess that’s what being a Christian Union is about – ok, so the music was very loud – but we were in the heart of the world. Lots of sign-ups is very encouraging, and hopefully over the next few days we’ll be able to encourage Freshers to stand up for Jesus.

Freshers are very young and their perceptions of what Christianity is are all over the shop. I suppose they’ve every right to be all over the shop, given what’s going on under the banner of ‘Christianity’ across the UK. I am excited about what the next year brings, and seeing disciples made.

As we were walking across town, we passed two old men in the marketplace who regularly give five-minute talks to the collection of people who are sitting on the benches for whatever particular reason. There really didn’t seem to be any engagement going on between the men and the message, and those to whom they thought they were speaking.

I’m thinking now of our plans for the CU this year – we want to hold out the word of life, knowing that it is folly to the perishing, but we want people to be able to engage with what we’re saying.

Where is that line? Do we change our vocabulary? Do we change our 20 minute address vehicle? Where does the apologetic distrust the power of the gospel to save?

Despite the mind-numbing connotations one may, justly, associate with a day full of revision, I actually enjoyed today. I read Chuck Colson’s book ‘Justice that Restores’ in prep for my ‘Theology & Ethics’ paper tomorrow morning, and it was a really encouraging read. Colson used to be an advisor in the White House, before facing a spell in prison after the Watergate scandal. Since then he’s been part of a ground-breaking ministry in prisons, as well as being an ambassador across the world for principles of restorative justice.

Restorative justice is basically a method of justice that focuses on repairing harm caused by crime and reducing the likelihood of future harm. His book is based on the understanding that only with a Biblical worldview can we produce true justice, and that truth is evidenced with a lifetime of examples. Only a biblical worldview:

i) holds individuals responsible for their actions…
ii) …under an objective rule of law (rooted in revelation)…
iii) …in the context of community
iv) …and with the chance of transformation of the individual…
v) …and healing of fractured relationshops and of the moral order.

Colson writes that when justice is not realized, then one of the above has been neglected or thrown out of balance. It’s not a dreamy utopianism, for crime and sin will never be eliminated on this earth, but we should work for true justice. He dismisses a whole host of theories that have been thrust about in justice legislation and theory. He calls for the church to be the church: a community of the redeemed, living and practising Christian teachings.

It was exciting to read of Colson’s experiences of the transforming power of the gospel in prisons across the world, but it was really powerful to benefit from his ability to see the world around him through gospel-goggles. Naturally, for the gospel always is, it was challenging too.

We must take the lead and present the gospel, transforming individuals and one-by-one reanimating the culture. We must bring Christian truth to bear in all aspects of our common lives. We must stress the importance of the family. We must encourages cultures that teach and expect virtue. We must teach responsibility for actions, and thus affirm human dignity. We must be real about who we are, and through Christ who we can be. We must love our neighbour with biblical love. We must trust what the Bible says about God, us, and God’s world.