Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends from everyone on the team of The Good Book Company.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." (Psalm 107:1)

Wow.

This is a double-rainbow, where the rainbow in the sky reflects off the water to create another rainbow arc in the sky.

"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens." Psalm 8 v 1

The Moral Abyss: because there's no such thing as neutral

A prominent headteacher has described teenage culture as a “moral abyss”.

What’s interesting, and important, is that Dr Helen Wright didn’t describe the culture her girls are growing up in as a “moral vacuum” (a phrase we hear, inside and outside churches, fairly often). And so Dr Wright is, probably without realizing, touching on a crucial and often-forgotten aspect of the biblical doctrine of sin:

When we turn away from God as our moral authority, we always turn towards something else.

There’s no such thing as neutral—nature abhors a moral vacuum. Our morality is always directed and defined by something. That something should be God. If it isn’t, it must be something else—and the something else won’t work.

So Jeremiah talks about turning away from the “spring of living water” (God) and turning to try to drink from “cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2 v 13). In Romans 1 we find that the “turning to” is part of God’s judgment for “turning away” from Him (Romans 1 v 28).

We see this most starkly of all at Jesus’ trial. The crowd demand for Christ to be crucified, and ask for Barabbas, a murderer, to be released to them (Luke 23 v 18-25).

They don’t only not choose the Lord of life—in doing so, they do choose a bringer of death.

In the UK, we seem to be further from Christian morality than we have been for centuries.

And we haven’t replaced Christ’s authority with a vacuum, where we’re free to choose how to live, what morality to breathe. We find ourselves in an abyss, where we’re trapped by the consequences of what we longed for, damaged by the very culture that we chose.

So far, Dr Wright, I’m right with you. But how sad that your conclusion is that “only education could break the cycle”. Education can do many things. But it can’t save us from ourselves, our choices, our sinful society.

For that, Dr Wright, you need forgiveness for the “turning away”. You need to be “turned to” a God-directed morality and culture.

You need the Son to die and rise for you, you need the Spirit to dwell and work in you. You need the gospel.

Education is not the saviour from the moral abyss. God is.

Six steps to moving offices

So how exactly do you move 25 awesome team members and 50 tonnes of books from New Malden to Epsom? Roughly like this …

Repeat 350 times … with intermittent breaks for Chinese takeaways, cans of Coke and the occasional nap.

Next week… a glimpse of the new offices!

An Englishman in New York (and other US states)

I’m on my first trip to the US, and I’ve been spending lots of time with Christians here—pastors, elders and more “ordinary” believers. And it’s so interesting to observe how as brothers and sisters we are in many ways alike—in faith, in language, in (some) history. And yet we are in some ways so very different, too.

So, from my massively scientific research of eight days on this side of the Atlantic, taking in one small group, one pastors’ conference, two church services and a heap of meetings, I am not-so-confidently making these generalizations:

• US pastors are confident. They expect the gospel to work, so they plan for church growth.
• US Christians are positive. They say what they appreciate about something first, and are quick to see the good in a talk or a resource.
• US evangelism focuses on reaching church-goers. There is a huge job of "inreach" to do, because there are a lot of people in church on Sundays who think they’re Christians, but are probably not.
• Bible-teaching evangelicals are much more cautious with their forms of gathered worship.
• Evangelical reformed preaching is not always as clearly expositional as in the UK, working through a passage and getting hearers’ heads stuck into Scripture. But it is usually pretty passionate.
• US Christians seem very open about their Christian lives—quick to share their struggles and failures, and ask for prayer and help in their Christian lives.

With each of these observations, I want instinctively to follow with a value judgement: to say “US Christians are better than UK Christians for this reason”, or “British believers do this or that better than them”.

But I’ve been struck that actually it’s far more helpful to ask: How are the characteristics of this Christian culture likely to help their growth in godliness and bring glory to Christ, and how are they likely to hinder it?

We all have characteristics, national traits and different ways of doing things. But because we are sinful, they can be used in self-service, rather in serving the Lord.

You’ve probably seen a church which is great at getting doctrine clear (helpful), but the same impulse means it can be quite dry (hindering). Or a church which engages everyone emotionally (helpful), but which therefore struggles to be rigorous in its handling of Scripture (hindering).

So as I experience America, rather than a clear “This is great” or “This is not great” black-and-white view of what I am experiencing, the question I’m trying to ask of the churches I’m seeing and the Christian culture I’m observing is: how do their characteristics help them glorify Christ, and how might they hinder them in glorifying Christ?

And then comes the harder part for anyone: to look at each of the characteristics of our own Christian culture, our own church family, and ourselves, and say: What are we like? Are we prepared to let others tell us what we are like? How does what we’re like help us glorify our Lord? And how do we need to be watchful for the ways in which it might stop us glorifying Him?

Encouraging job-seekers

The statistics are a depressing read. Yet again unemployment is on the rise with many young people affected especially badly.

Not being able to get a job strikes a blow at the core of what it is to be human. And the negative effects of unemployment can be many: financial difficulties, an increase in stress-levels and a decrease in our zest for life to name but 3. We are designed to be workers in God’s world (Genesis 2:15) and not being able to fulfil that call can hurt beyond measure.

So what can the church do to help?

Teaching that inspires
The Bible is clear that work is important and good (even though it has been tainted by the fall). But it’s all too easy for us to see work as more than important – if we’re not careful we see it as the thing that gives us significance and brings our security (Ecclesiastes 2:4-11). And that’s just not true. As Christians we are children of the living God – equally chosen and cherished whether we are a senior executive or signing-on. Equally secure through the blood of Christ and the unswerving sovereignty and providence of God whether our annual income is in 6 figures or 3. Pastors have an important opportunity to help congregations think through the place of work in our lives.

Training that equips
But thinking biblically wont suddenly make a job appear. And that’s where good old fashioned training helps. It’s been great to hear of some churches offering mentoring schemes where experienced men and women guide those looking for work through the process of writing an effective CV, penning suitable covering letters or even the intricacies of setting up their own business. Christians who own their own business can sometimes offer ‘work experience’ to the unemployed to help them maintain existing skills or develop new ones. Others with financial skills offer training on money management / budget control. Still others have sponsored Christians to undertake distance-learning courses that help develop their spiritual gifts – using the ‘down time’ that lack of work brings to increase Bible-knowledge and promote mission in ways that are great for the Kingdom of God.

Support that nurtures
And finally, churches have a fantastic opportunity to show love to those in need. Inviting people round for meals; anonymously offering people financial gifts; being a listening ear in times of frustration; organizing social days that don’t involve huge expenditure (picnics / rambles in the country / meeting to watch the game on the box) can all be a helpful expression of God’s love in times of difficulty. And, of course, praying for those who struggle to find work always brings great encouragement and change…

A new home for The Good Book Company

After 13 years in their current premises, The Good Book Company (TGBC) is moving on to larger, more flexible accommodation in Epsom, with plenty of room to continue expanding.

“Elm House has been great for us, as we grew from a small three-man band to our current staff of over 25, but the time has come to move on,” said publisher Tim Thornborough.

“We are convinced that we need to stay innovative and creative in our thinking on how to serve local churches in their work for the Lord. This move comes at a time when we are developing new initiatives in digital media, and video production. The new GBC HQ will give us the space we need to do that,” he said.

TGBC is now a thriving Christian publishing, conference and training organisation, with offices in Australia and the US. It publishes Christianity Explored, a wide range of daily Bible reading aids, the Good Book Guide home-group Bible studies series, and a wide range of teaching material for children and young people.

Commercial Director James Burstow added: “Our rapid growth in overseas markets, such as the USA and Australia, as well as our charitable work in the developing world, means we need a more flexible distribution operation. The purpose-built warehouse in Epsom will help us to ensure that we can get great gospel resources into the hands of the people who need them.

From 14th November The Good Book Company will be open for business at:
Unit B1
Blenheim House
Longmead Business Park
Epsom
Surrey
KT19 9AP
Telephone contacts remain the same:
0333-123-0880 (low-call from anywhere in the UK and from mobiles)

Birthday Boy: Martin Bucer (11 November 1491)

When you think of great Reformers, Bucer is unlikely to be the first name that springs to mind. But, despite inevitable imperfections, a great reformer he was! On this his birthday, it’s worth reflecting on his contributions. His 4 profound passions still inspire today:

1. Passion for the Bible

The systematic teaching of Scripture was the bedrock of Bucer’s ministry. He held a deep conviction that every word of the Bible was relevant and, being utterly convinced that all people (even women!) should be given the opportunity to develop their understanding of God, he made it his mission to preach through great swathes of Scripture in ways that were unswervingly accessible.

2. Passion for the Church

His theology stressed that people were created for others not for themselves. His desire was to see authentic Christian community where love leads to service, liturgy leads to obedience and unity leads to Gospel witness.

3. Passion for Justice

When confronted with widespread injustice, Bucer was unable to stand idly by. Scripture compelled him to pursue poor-relief, provision of public education and even the conquest of idleness!

4. Passion for Mentoring

Despite having terrible writing, Bucer was a prolific letter-writer helping to mould and mentor the next generation of reformers, even Calvin noting with thankfulness the influence that Bucer had on his life and ministry.

Not a bad legacy to leave the church! And one that might help encourage us afresh if we let this birthday boy motivate us today ...