Seven up…

1) Faith in Kids: Struggling in Lockdown – I think every Christian parent would be encouraged by listening to this. What are Jesus’ expectations of you each day? That you come to him in need. Boom.

2) The True Sexual Revolution – Living Out have just refreshed and relaunched their website, and this is a stand-out article from Andrew Wilson which reframes the whole sexuality discussion.

3) Five Things We Learnt in 2020 – Ed Drew pulls out 5 key observations from the last twelve months and how we might take them on board going forward.

4) Pocket Rest – In a season when days just blend into each other, and normal rhythms and routines are out of reach, maybe we need to seek ‘pocket rest’, or micro-sabbaths. Thanks Sarah Dargue!

5) How I Take Sermon Notes to Focus Better, Learn More, And Grow Spiritually – Ah, sermon notes. Some people love to take sermon notes and expect everyone else to too, whereas others see it as a form of disengagement. You may think this is overkill, but this guy takes a look at taking notes in a way that “will help you interact with God’s Word at a deeper level, make church more fun, and over time have life-changing effects”.

6) How Penal Substitution is the antithesis of Spiritual Abuse – Really helpful post speaking into evangelical culture, and some top exegesis of a much-neglected Bible book, Philemon.

7) See the Beauty & Diversity of World Christianity in 100 People – For something only a little bit different, a few years ago the World as 100 People graphic went viral, and now it’s been replicated with data on global Christianity. There are estimated to be 2.5 billion Christians in the world – that’s a big number – but 100 is different, we can imagine being in a room with 100 people: ‘So what if those 100 people represented all the beauty and diversity of World Christianity?’

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‘Wasting Time’ with God…

REDEEMING TIME:
Apple/Android
Free

What do you do with the little moments?

How often do you reach for your smartphone during the ‘little moments’ of the day. Making the tea? Stuck in a queue? In the bathroom?! I recently noticed how I’d even begun to instinctively look at my phone as I went up and down the stairs!

And more often than not, what are we doing during that time? Checking email? Glancing through Facebook? Browsing BBC News on the off chance there’s a new story added since we last checked. Of course, all this time adds up! 2019 figures suggested the average user spent 2 hours 22 minutes on social media each day. Just think what else you could do with that time!

Don’t waste your time

A few years ago Crossway published this Infographic showing how long it would take you to read each book of the Bible, based on average reading speeds. It’s a compelling image, because it inevitably highlights that the small amounts of time we whittle away on other things are an opportunity to get through a lot of the Bible. Twelve minutes a day and we’d read the whole Bible in a year!

And this is the premise behind Redeeming Time. James Doc, a Christian web developer, and Andy Geers, founder of PrayerMate, have created a delightfully simple app that really has one goal: to show you how you can ‘redeem’ small amounts of time to read the Bible, rather than squander it on other things.

How long have you got?

The app has a simple welcome screen that invites you to select how much time you have available. Whether it’s two minutes or an hour, the app will then present you with a list of which Bible books you could read during that time.

For example, enter five minutes and you’ll get invited to read Obadiah, Jude or Philemon. Twenty-five minutes and it’ll suggest you try the likes of Amos, Lamentations, or Galatians. After making your choice, the app opens up the chosen Scripture from Bible Gateway. As you begin to scroll and read, it logs where you’re up to so that you can return later part-way through. Everytime you complete a Bible book, it presents you with some helpful reflection questions. 

If you expect a full-blown Bible-reading app with bells and whistles, you’ll be disappointed. Redeeming Time doesn’t aim to take on responsibility for the extent of your personal Bible reading programme. But it does make a simple point, with a practical call to action: read the word and redeem that time!

More info on Redeeming Time here.

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A version of this article was first published here in the February 2021 Issue of Evangelicals Now and is shared here with permission. EN is a monthly newspaper published in print and online, offering a biblical perspective on current issues and insight on what’s happening with God’s people worldwide. Online subscription is just £10 p/a with print & online combined for just £18. Order a free sample or subscribe here.

Seven up…

1) Every Moment Holy II – Very excited about the launch of the second EMH, providing delightful prayers for all manner of ‘everyday’ situations. You can see Kristyn Getty pray one of them, A Liturgy for Seasons of Uncertainty.

2) Are you underestimating your ordinary days? – Parenting is full of the mundane and monotonous, perhaps especially so in lockdown! We really appreciated how this piece celebrates the small things, and the Julie A.F. Carney poem that Liz Wann quotes is a gem!

3) We Have A New President — A Christian Response – After the Inauguration of Joe Biden in the States this week, I appreciated this from Scott Sauls, who always seems to have a timely and gracious word.

4) How to Speak about the Value of Life – Recently Lord Jonathan Sumption sparked controversy on the BBC1 programme, The Big Questions, by saying that not all lives are equally valuable. But when Piers Morgan tried to call out Sumption he then seemed to get into trickier waters himself. Glen Scrivener seeks to untangle the mess and reflects on how we speak of the value of life — both before God and in the face of difficult social choices.

5) Shame on the ‘four lads’ meme snobs – This is an interesting take on ‘classism’ in the UK.

6) ‘On Good Preaching’ – I don’t whether it’s because it’s January and maybe every minister is re-evaluating their preaching, but it felt like a whole bunch of articles and opinions came across my desk on preaching this week. For starters, Ian Paul asks, ‘What does good preaching actually look like?’ and then there was this on why preaching must be more than mere explanation. Not dissimilarly, Liam Goligher gave a stimulating Twitter thread on how preaching is different to teaching. And then there was this on why good preachers need to learn to cook an omelette.

7) ‘I only know one god – and that’s me’: non-believers on the meaning of life – For something a bit different, this is a fascinating piece in The Guardian, as reported by Harriet Sherwood.

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