So this week I’ve been at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly (EMA) at St. Helens in London. Was a good time to meet some friends, do some networking, and hear wise old men expound the scriptures and give their thoughts on evangelical ministry today.

Tim Keller – What is an Evangelical?

1. High view of scripture – full, final, and supreme authority of the Bible
2. Trust in the ‘old’ gospel – salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in the substitutionary work of Christ alone
3. Repentant (Luther – “all of life is repentance”)

Tim was very good. He graciously challenged UK evangelicals, particularly on being too middle class and not being engaging beyond that – hard to hear at a ProcTrust conference! He talked about the challenges we face both within and outside of the church… while our doctrine is right, some of our methods may rightly be criticised.

He concluded by looking at what an evangelical ministry would look like:

1. Reflects the balance of love and wrath in the cross – grace vs. truth, law vs. licence
2. Reflects the balance of the incarnation in contextualising the gospel
3. Ministry based on grace not gifts

Dick Lucas – Philippians

I found Dick hard work. He wasn’t doing straight, sequential expositions from the book, but rather took what seemed to me a series of random thoughts from the book about the church and Paul. I decided I could forgive him for this, after all he is 82. But anyway he was talking a lot about persecution and being prepared to stand and suffer for Christ – Philippians 1:29

Vaughan Roberts – Daniel

This was really good I thought. Two 45-minute sessions and Vaughan gave a clear overview of Daniel 1-6 and then 7-12. The latter was particularly good, an overview allows you to see the big picture, the key themes and how it points to Christ and God’s people. So Daniel 7-12, which once was a no go area of weird and wonderful dreams, now, having taken a step back looks almost comprehendable!

Richard Cunningham – Persuasive Preaching

Something I’d thought and discussed with others in the past is whether we need to be persuasive in the way we present the gospel… Do we simply faithfully preach the gospel and trust the Spirit will work? Or do we need to adapt to our audience? Present rational arguments? Is there a role for apologetics?? Richard showed us, mainly from Paul’s ministry in Acts (17 especially) for the need to adapt, to contextualise and to present rational, persuasive arguments.

There were a few other sessions, David Jackman spoke about training (advertised 9:38 and Cornhill), there were some seminars – I went to one by Jason Clarke on the Emerging Church, and a Q&A session with TK, VR and RC.

Just watched (now several days ago) Cromwell on Channel 4 – better than the usual daytime TV. Don’t know how accurate it is historically, but I do like it, generally because I like those classics, historical, war based films, also because it’s very interesting politically, thinking about the establishment of our political system, and in the past debating with my housemate whether Cromwell was right in doing what he did. On top of this we have the Puritan element, the hope a nation under God, Cromwell coming to prayer, seeking to do God’s will.

Interestingly at the end of the film it shows Cromwell’s coffin with the epitaph “Christ, not man, is King”. This quote of his got me thinking about a few things studied recently…

Two weeks ago at CU we were joined by Elliott from Gloucester Place Church in Brighton. The focus of his talk was Acts 5:29 – The Apostles under persecution say “We must obey God rather than men”…

Colossians 1 (we’re doing the book on camp this year), Jesus is king over everything! He created all things and all things were created for him. He is the image of God. He was before all things. The fullness of God was in Him. He reconciles us to God.

I did a talk at Global Cafe this week, Mark 8: 27-29… Peter says “You are the Christ”. You are God’s chosen king – wow! This guy Jesus is chosen by the Father to be his eternal king, king over all things.

Hmm… Piper again…

I just started reading the PFOT book, that’s right after two weeks I’ve made it through the endorsements pages! It’s slow going as ever with me (hopefully will speed up now exams have finished) but it’s been great to read about Exodus 12 and Leviticus 16, how they gloriously reveal something of what atonement is all about. John Piper’s foreword is worth a read on it’s own! Check him out on youtube on this subject…

Some more posts coming soon that were delayed due to exams. Last week in Brighton for a bit, then maybe a few blogs on the EMA.

God is Sovereign - Acts 17:24-27

What does this tell us about God’s sovereignty?

Why did God create? What does this mean for us and our evangelism?

Our work vs God’s work - 2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Who is involved in the work of Evangelism?

What does God do? What has God done for me? Parallels to Ephesians 2?

What do/don’t we do?

3 G’s (from Rico Tice)

GRACE - We’re justified by grace alone!

GEHENNA - Those who don’t know God go to hell!

GODLINESS - Being like God means being an evangelist!

Challenges of Sovereignty?

Acts 13:48

John 6

Romans 9

Atonement? - to cover, to reconcile

Leviticus 5 - The lamb and the Ram

Isaiah 53 - Prophecy about the coming Lamb and the Ram

Hebrews 9 - A perfect sacrifice