Sometimes it can seem futile preaching the Bible week in and week out. But, as Gary Koo discovers, it’s the most important thing God wants you to do as a pastor. (more…)
Archives: review
Resource Talk: The genius of training
Resource Talk, Sola Panel
Training multiplies ministry, but takes time.
It was 1985, and I was a fresh-faced recruit working as a ministry trainee on the campus of the University of New South Wales. It wasn’t called MTS in those days—I think ‘Santa’s Helpers’ was the closest we got to a label—but MTS is what it was. We were let loose to learn by doing—to lead Bible studies, chase up student contacts, evangelize, preach, stack chairs, and generally anything and everything else. It was an extraordinary and life-shaping experience.
Reaching out without selling out
Review
A young American pastor named Mark Driscoll is gaining a reputation for reaching the lost in new ways without compromising the old message in the process.
The Twilight of Atheism
Review
The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World
Alister McGrath
Rider Books, London, 2004, 306pp.
Did Christianity really decline?
Review
The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding secularization 1800–2000
Callum G. Brown
Routledge, London and New York, 2001, 256pp.
It’s an ironic title, is it not? After all, Britain is still, obviously, a place where a mainstream publisher will take on a book which is entirely about the social significance of Christianity and which argues against the assumptions of secularist theory. Moreover, the first chapter, which describes “the Christian churches in crisis”, quotes,
Depression in your church
Review
Is there any point being ‘evangelical’?
Review, Thought
Note to Briefing readers: If you have already read this article in the paper edition of Briefing #313, the ‘web extra’ component is the section under the heading ‘Looking forward’, which was cut from the printed version for space reasons. You might like to skip forward to this section.
Introducing God (the course) by Dominic Steele
Review
These days we are blessed with an abundance of evangelistic courses. Here, John Chapman reviews one of the latest on offer—a course that combines the sociology of Alpha with the theology of Two ways to live.
Drugs in the classroom
Review
“Genesis 1:12, sir. ‘God made every seed-bearing plant’.”
The adolescent theologian smirked in triumph. I had to admit he had a point. Didn’t God make all things, including drugs? Weren’t they to be received with thanksgiving? And yet, of course, the suffering caused by drugs is immense, both in terms of numbers of lives affected and within individuals and their families. As one student of mine wrote about the choice to take drugs:
Promises for future men
Review
Douglas and Nancy Wilson have written a challenging, humorous and vigorous defence of the covenantal approach to Christian family life. And, as Alan discovered, they are willing to be controversial.
There’s no place like home: the marvellous land of Christian parenting books
Review
Sandra had just become a mother. Though she had been a Christian for many years, she was completely shell-shocked by the continual demands of her new baby, and felt quite out of her depth. There was so much she didn’t know, and she felt like a failure, even though Kyle was only three weeks old. Other people’s babies were sleeping through already, but Kyle wasn’t. It was the following Sunday that one of the other mothers at church lent Sandra a book, which hinted that if she just followed The Program with Kyle, he would not only sleep through, but become a Christian when he grew up …
Do as I do
Review
Relational Leadership
Walter C. Wright
Paternoster Press, 2002, 230pp.
Walter Wright has collected a range of helpful leadership wisdom into this book on Christian leadership. The sources he draws upon include secular leadership material, his own experience (which includes over a decade as President of Regent College, Vancouver), and the Bible—in particular Jude, Philemon and Colossians.
The Boundaries series
Review
There are books; there are workbooks; there are audio and video tapes. If your head is above the sand in the world of Christian books, you will have heard of the Boundaries series, authored by Dr Henry Cloud and Dr John Townsend.
The Prayer of Jabez and other misuses of the Bible
Review
THE Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life
Bruce H. Wilkinson
Multnomah Publishers, 2000.Hardcover, 96pp.
It is a #1 bestseller in Christian bookstores. In fact, it was a #1 New York Times bestseller. It is a book that promises to revolutionize your life. It is called The Prayer of Jabez. (more…)
The Christianity of Costello
Review
The Reverend Tim Costello is famous. Not simply because he’s the brother of the Australian Treasurer, but for a ministry of social action which in its own right has had a wide influence and enjoys a good reputation. From legal practice and street ministry in St Kilda, to being the Mayor of that same city, to having an increasing national voice on social issues, and now as the President of Australian Baptists, Costello’s responsibilities and profile have grown. He is actively sought out by the Australian media for his opinion on a whole range of issues, religious and social. With this high profile, Costello is able to speak passionately and articulately about issues such as gambling, and so bring attention to the damage and injustice that are taking place in the name of ‘progress’. For this we must be thankful. (more…)