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Homosexuality is perhaps the biggest area of conflict between Bible-believing Christians and the world at the moment. It is a subject close to my heart as I have many close Christian friends who have wrestled with this over the years. In any sizeable church there are likely to be a significant number present for whom same-sex attraction is an issue in some way.
Part of the difficulty these brothers and sisters face is the need for secrecy. It is only relatively recently that “the love that dare not speak its name” has become normalised in society as a whole. Sam Allberry articulates the problem compassionately in his book Is God Anti-Gay?, there are still many believers who feel unable to share the nature of their particular temptation for fear of being judged, rejected or misunderstood by others in their fellowship.... continue reading
One of the projects at the top of the Christianity Explored translation list is to make the 3rd edition course materials available in French. The guys at CE have been working closely with us, here at the Good Book Company, to make it happen and things are progressing well ...
If you are involved in ministry to French-speaking people (whatever country that might be in), the Christianity Explored team would be interested in hearing from you. Getting in touch will give them a sense of how the planned translation could be used and it will enable them to keep you up to date with how things are going.
Please click HERE to complete their contact form.
And even if you are not actively involved in this kind of area, please do be praying for those who are reaching out the 110 million French-speakers across the globe - that God would be opening eyes and unchaining hearts.
Merci!
A new baby is a wonderful gift from the Lord, bringing joy and thankfulness. But he or she comes with a lot of extras – sleepless nights, constant nappy changing, feeding routines, oodles of laundry, and suddenly it takes at least half an hour to get ready to leave the house.
In the middle of all of this, normal routines can go out the window. Even a daily shower begins to feel like a luxury.
So how does this affect Christian mums? It can be very difficult to get to church; then when you do, you’re often in a back room trying to feed or change your baby, and then settle them back to sleep. At the end of a service you’re so tired you just want to get home. All of which makes it difficult to get regular teaching or Christian fellowship.... continue reading
Last year Ed Drew offered some helpful reflections on Halloween - we thought it was worth reminding ourselves of them this year, and why not check back tomorrow for an updated video from Ed...
Ed Drew, the children’s worker at Dundonald Church in south-west London, has written the following very helpful piece about how we can respond to Halloween.
Halloween is on the way, on 31st October. In all likelihood, all of us will either have children coming to our doors or have our own children invited to Halloween parties.... continue reading
Are you half wondering about asking someone to read the Bible with you? Are you wondering what one-to-one Bible reading is all a out? Then take a moment to watch this video from 10ofthose:
And check out some of our great resources:
One2One: 24 studies for Bible Reading Partnerships
One2One: Book 2
One2One: Just Looking
One-to-One Bible Reading
One-to-One: A Discipleship Handbook
The Heart of Singleness is a book for women about singleness—but it’s not like all the others in that category! Andrea Trevenna takes readers to their own hearts, to their own feelings and hopes and dreams—and then shows how those hopes and dreams are truly satisfied. Here’s an extract from chapter 3, where Andrea discusses what is often going on when we follow our hearts.
Follow your heart?
What’s wrong with following your heart? Nothing—if our hearts always get it right. But they don’t. In fact, our hearts deceive us a lot of the time. “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17 v 9). We can probably see that in our own past, in decisions we’ve made and then regretted. We can probably see that in others, in directions they take that we wish they wouldn’t. It’s harder to see it in our own heart at the moment that it’s happening. But it does happen. Our hearts tell us to run from the person our own hearts most desire—Jesus. That’s what it means to be self-deceived.... continue reading
Do you know any teenage girls? You only have to walk through any town on a Saturday night to know some of the pressures these girls face. Or flick through their magazines, listen to their music, check out their Facebook pages… Every day they are bombarded with the world's messages – the right makeup, clothes, boyfriend, music, parties. The desire to be special; but the need to fit in.
It's tough being a teenager, and potentially even more so if you're a Christian. What does it mean to live for Christ in a world that ignores him? How can a girl be godly, and what does that look like anyway? Where are the role models to help them see what a "real Woman" – a woman of God – looks like?
Our new resource, Real Women, written by Sarah Bradley, is designed to help teenage girls who are caught up in this situation. It's a great tool to help Christian women meet up with teenage girls to explore together what living as a woman of God looks like.... continue reading
It's always a thrilling moment when a new book arrives in the office from the printer. Thrilling but tense. After a huge amount of effort has been put into editing, crafting, shaping and designing, the book gets passed around the office. What happens next is an interesting exercise in testing our professionalism as a publisher.
As a book get's passed round people who have not been part of the process they react to it in the same way that anyone does when they pick up a book in a bookshop. They ask the following questions:
And of course...
When it is a product I have overseen, I usually finish this process by taking a "selfie" with the book, and sending it to the author.
Then the whole process starts again...
We picked up the rights to publish and promote Tim Chester's excellent book, Ordinary Hero, in the US, which will be launching in a few weeks' time - have a look at the UK version HERE - it's terrific!
Last week I watched two mums exploring the Bible with their sons. They were fulfilling their biblical responsibility for the spiritual education of their children – and it was great fun!
Bekah and Susie have two children each. They knew they wanted to read the Bible with their children from a young age, and also to help them grasp the big picture of the Bible storyline. But they couldn’t find anything to help them do this. So they wrote it themselves. The result is Bake through the Bible – a 20-story Bible overview for toddlers, supported by cooking activities.
The idea is simple, but also brilliant. There’s a retelling of the Bible story – carefully written at the right level for pre-schoolers, while also staying biblically accurate – followed by a prayer. Then there’s a fun (often messy!) baking activity to do together. While you bake, there are some simple discussion questions to reinforce the meaning of the story. And when it’s time to eat, there’s one final question to pull it all together.
Susie and Bekah made Creation Cookies with their sons Joshua and Simeon. Watching the boys with their hands in the bowl mixing the dough was brilliant – they obviously loved it – then rolling the dough, pressing in the cutters and decorating the final cookies. And quite a lot of eating of the dough. All the way through they chatted about the wonderful things God made, as they cut out trees, stars, ducks, people, cows…
We filmed them doing all of this, with Joshua and Simeon turning out to be natural film stars. It was so great that I kept wanting to join in rather than stay behind the camera.
So was it just fun? Or did it help these young boys grasp something of the wonder of the creation account? I’ll leave the last word to Joshua (aged 2):
Susie: “What must God be like if He made all these wonderful things?”
Joshua: “Amazing”
Job done.
Judges for You is flying off the shelves and it has been exciting to hear how Christians across the globe are using it to get to know God better.
Today, on the Gospel Coalition website, there's a great interview with author, Tim Keller. Click HERE to read more.
And to buy a copy, click HERE.
