Seven up…

1) What Can We Learn from the Jordan Peterson Phenomenon? – This interview with Alistair Roberts is well worth listening to in order to understand the rise of Peterson. His answer to the last question (from 18:12) is particularly useful for thinking about what lessons pastors in particular can take from the JP phenomenon.

2) The Rolling Stones Will Stop – Death is never far away from any of us. This week in Barrow we’ve felt that especially. I appreciated this moving and sobering reflection on death up close from one of my former tutors at Oak Hill, Dan Strange.

3) Faithfulness and Meekness – Is our concern for faithfulness matched by our concern for meekness? Tim Keller puts his finger on the pulse of the culture of our churches.

4) The Keswick Lectures ’18 – Is Everything Mission? – This is a helpful, nuanced and perceptive talk from Tim Chester at this summer’s Keswick festival, as Chester responds to the trends he sees in the Western Church.

5) 90 Second Leadership Strategy – A simple video that articulates some useful tools to help you reflect upon your church’s strategy.

6) Vicky Beeching: Undivided – As Peter Ould observes, since coming out four years ago Beeching has become an advocate for a revisionist position on sexual activity in the evangelical world. Ould reflects here on what those holding to an orthodox position might learn from Beeching’s book, whilst Peter Lynas (Evangelical Alliance) and David Robertson offer more extensive reviews.

7) Poetry RX – For something a bit different, The Paris Review has a regular column in which its readers write in with a specific emotion and their resident poets—Sarah Kay, Kaveh Akbar, and Claire Schwartz—take turns prescribing the perfect poems to match. In this edition they take on being a hopeful fool; living with dying; and seeking courage…

On the Blog this Week:

How Was Results Day For You? (Christian Comment 25/8/18)

Well, it’s been a while, dear reader! Due to the site experiencing some technical issues in July, and then summer holidays, this will be the first post since late June. I guess you survived.

Anyway, here’s this week’s refill…

1) Jamie Jones‑Buchanan: ‘Rugby league and faith is an incredible journey’ – It was a joy to have the Leeds Rhinos veteran share his story in Barrow last September. Particularly interesting seeing the impact JJB’s trust in God makes as he nears the end of his playing career.

2) Class Diversity, Trophies Of Grace & The God Channel – Mez McConnell & Ian Williamson – 20schemes, which seeks to plant churches in Scotland’s ‘schemes’ (urban council estates), has just launched its own podcast. You can watch this refreshingly candid episode in video form, with Co-Director Mez speaking to Ian Williamson, a pastor in Middlesborough, on the gospel and the middle class/working class distinction.

3) Pastoring in a post-Hybels world – Frost makes some good points about our ‘ministry culture’ after the recent events at Willow Creek. I wonder if he’s slightly reductionistic in his conclusions, but there’s something powerful in the Nouwen quotes.

4) Identity in Christ Conference – Interviews & Talks – Living Out have just uploaded the talks from their June conference on Identity in Christ. Tim & Kathy Keller are the main contributors. If you’re unfamiliar with Living Out, they exist to help the Christian Church understand how they can better help those who experience same-sex attraction to flourish, and to help the wider world hear and understand that there is more than just one viable script for those who are same-sex attracted.

5) Why I read Proverbs every day – I found this inspiring, especially Whitney’s examples of reading portions of Proverbs daily with his children.

6) Escaping the Seduction of Your Smartphone – Ok, so such articles are increasingly common. But there’s a reason for that, right?! This one from Harper’s Bazaar has some striking examples and alarming statistics that make for a personal reality-check.

7) A deadly hunt for Hidden Treasure spawns an online mystery – For something a bit different, this is fascinating…

Seven up…

1) What To Do Instead of Freaking Out – Emma Scrivener with some earthed wisdom.

2) Free eBook: ‘Not Yet Married’ – This weekend only you can download Marshall Segal’s new book free of charge. As the commendations put it, “For years, I’ve longed for a book I could recommend without hesitation to single men and women. My wait is over. This is a book not just about waiting well or about preparing for marriage. This is a book about God and his glory, before it is a field guide for the not yet married. That will be its sticking power.”

3) GAFCON 2018 – This past week saw the largest gathering of Anglicans for 50 years, the third Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON), held in Jerusalem. If anything, the gathering has demonstrated that those participating see the network as much more than a mere one-issue “ginger group,” as it was infamously described in General Synod in February. The week concluded with a fairly extensive closing statement, a Letter to the Churches, which you can read here. Headlines include urging the Archbishop of Canterbury to invite to the 2020 Lambeth Conference the Anglican Church in North America and the Anglican Church in Brazil, as well as the formation of nine strategic international networks focused on different areas of ministry. Some of the English delegation (which included only 2 current English bishops, out of the 333 international bishops present) share their thoughts on the positivity of the statement in this short video here. Another notable development for Brits was Rico Tice’s explanation of why he’s resigned from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Evangelism Task Force.

4) Actor Chris Pratt talks about God at MTV Awards and gets 30 million views – Pratt’s speech as he picked-up MTV’s Generation Award this week saw him unashamedly share his Christian faith through 9 Jordan Peterson-style ‘tips for life’, ranging from the goofy to the quite stunningly sublime. The link above includes some thoughts on how to engage with Pratt’s speech at youth groups, etc.

5) Tim Keller in Parliament – In an address to the National Prayer Breakfast in Parliament, attended by Prime Minister Theresa May, pastor and write Tim Keller spoke to 140 MPs about the importance of Christians standing apart from culture – and being legally protected to be able to do so.

6) Diversity in the Local Church – Adrian Reynolds reports back from this week’s City to City Conference which addressed the topical issue of church diversity, especially in the spheres of ethnicity and class.

7) Do You Have A Favourite Poem? For something a bit different, spend half an hour trawling through the most delightful comments section you’ll ever see.