News
Sin and Forgiveness in Pitlochry
It was an absolute joy for me to return to Pitlochry Baptist Church to speak at their Sunday morning service recently. I have had a relationship with Pitlochry Baptist that goes back way before Solas had even been thought of, and used to speak there regularly when they had a long pastoral vacancy many years ago. It’s been wonderful to renew fellowship with them over the last few years too, during which the David Barrie has been leading the fellowship.
Recently Solas has worked with Pitlochry Baptist Church on an outreach event, at the theatre in Pitlochry. David Barrie has also been a guest on our PEPtalk Podcast when he came on to talk about his work in sports chaplaincy which he does alongside his pastoral work. He’s the chaplain at St Johnstone FC in Perth, it’s well worth a listen!
I was invited up to Pitlochry because the Barrie family are away on holiday – and David gave me free reign to choose a text to preach from. My initial thinking had been to do something quite cheerful from Philippians, but much to my surprise as I prayed about the service I couldn’t settle comfortably on it at all. Rather, I thought I should go back to Psalm 51, which is a more sobering and serious text. It concerns the fall into sin of a great man (King David) who committed adultery with a woman called Bathsheba – and how he cried out to God for forgiveness and cleansing. The story doesn’t end on a gloomy note though, it is apparent that God answered David’s prayer and restored his life. The key text for us in Psalm 51 was:
Create [a]in me a clean heart, O God;
And renew a [right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence;
And take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
And uphold me with a willing spirit.
You can hear the whole sermon on the link below:
It was great to chat with people from all across highland Perthshire who are regulars at Pitlochry Baptist, as well as holiday makers from all over the world who were there for the week. Chatting to the leadership team there too revealed that they’d love to do some more events with Solas – so watch this space.
PEP Talk with Chris Sinkinson
We recently spotted some adverts on the London Underground asking “Who is this Jesus?” So we checked out the website tell-me-more.org to find a fantastic video series filmed by some of our friends. “Hey, come on PEP Talk and tell our listeners about this great evangelistic tool you’ve made!” we said. “Of course!” they said, and… here they are.
With Chris Sinkinson – PEP Talk
Our Guest
Chris Sinkinson serves as Associate Minister & Programme Director for the School for Discipleship at Lansdowne Church, Bournemouth. He has previously worked for UCCF and served as a pastor in three local churches. He taught theology for many years at Moorlands College and has a PhD in Theology from Bristol University. Chris has written extensively on archaeology, apologetics and philosophy. He presented the Discovering: Who is this Jesus? series, as well as Sifting the Evidence, explaining what archaeology tells us about the historical accuracy of the Bible.
About PEP Talk
The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, Andy Bannister (Solas) and Kristi Mair (Oak Hill College) chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.
Launch Pad 40: A ‘Light Party’ Halloween Alternative
A few parents were concerned about the way Halloween was being celebrated in their town. They weren’t only worried about safety as children played ‘trick or treat’ on a dark October evening. They also expressed their disquiet that all things ghoulish, ghostly, and sinister were being lauded and that dressing the kids up in costumes from the Hammer House of Horror, was just creepy – and they expressed this to the church.
So the church responded. Parents of kids in the church, together with the pastors, leaders of the children’s work and the hospitality team, threw a “Light Party”. This was a safe, fun, positive event which was a complete contrast to Halloween.
They did the following things:
• Decked the church premises out with an amazing home-made light show!
• Downloaded the Light Party pack from Scripture Union, with loads of ideas for crafts and games and ideas on how to run a ‘Light Party’.
• Provided crafts, games and loads of fun.
• Offered glow-in the dark face painting.
• Encouraged fun, bright, cheerful dressing up, so that the kids didn’t feel left out from the fancy dress element of Halloween.
• Served burgers, hot-dogs and enjoyable party food.
• Invited parents as well as children to come to the party.
• Gave a five-minute talk on “Jesus the light of the world”.
The church Community Pastor Gordy said that the reaction from the wider community was really positive. Firstly, lots of people came, responding to personal invitations and flyers at the parents and toddlers groups, and online. Over 100 people packed the church hall, many of whom had never been to the church before. This was especially true of several of the dads. Many people from church were able to meet with people from the community for the first time, in a safe, happy, hospitable environment in which something of the message of Jesus was shared. One child said, “I never thought that Halloween could be so much fun!”
Behind the fun of course, is something deeply profound. In [Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4). A light party is a great way to share that!
Pray: Lord, thankyou that Jesus has overcome the darkness. Please help us to shine the light of Christ into our communities.
Previously: LaunchPad # 39
Next: LaunchPad #41 Will be published soon!
Confident Christianity with the Surrey Gospel Partnership
Earlier this year Solas joined with Surrey Gospel Partnership
If you would like to explore bringing Confident Christianity to your area, we would love to hear from you! Just fill out the form on this page and our events team Tim and Catherine will get back to you. You might consider partnering with other local churches – like Surrey Gospel Partnership did – and putting on an event together.Confident Christianity events generally come in three formats:
– a two-hour event with space for two talks and Q&A – great for a mid-week evening!
– a half-day event with four talks and Q&A
– a full-day conference with six talks and Q&A
Tim and Catherine love liaising with churches and other Christian ministries to make these formats work for you and your context – helping you choose topics and speakers that best fit your local needs, and liaising with you throughout the event planning process. The topics we offer are wide-ranging, from the more conceptual (e.g. arguments for the existence of God) to the very practical (e.g. using digital media in evangelism). A common thread across all Confident Christianity events is the opening talk. We like to begin every event with a very practical session on what it really looks like to have good conversations about faith with the people we know and meet. Our hope is that by starting events this way attendees keep that as the framework for whatever content comes after. We don’t want people to go away only with information – as good as that is – but with the encouragement, tools and mindset for translating it well into their everyday interactions.
Thinking Confident Christianity is for you? You can find more information here on our website, or drop us a note here!
St. John’s Walmley
Below are the presentation slides for Andy Bannister’s talks from the St. John’s Walmley church weekend of 20-22 September 2024.
Doesn’t the Bible promote slavery?
You may have heard someone say that the Bible supports slavery. And, if that’s the case, we should reject it! But is that accusation true? Does it really support slavery, and what do we mean by the word “slavery”? In this Short Answers video, Steve Osmond explores this question and shows that slavery – as we understand it today – is actually outlawed in the Bible. Instead, we find a message of true freedom for everyone.
Share
Please share this video widely with friends or family and for more Short Answers videos, visit solas-cpc.org/shortanswers/, subscribe to our YouTube channel or visit us on Twitter Instagram or Facebook.
Support
Short Answers is a viewer-supported video series: if you enjoy them, please help us continue to make them by donating to Solas. Visit our Donate page and choose a free book as a thank-you gift!
Launch Pad 39: Organise a Café Event
“Right, what’ll it be, love?” asked the server behind the counter. I went with my regular – a cappuccino, with chocolate. Always with the chocolate. Just ahead of me there had been a young lady with bright pink hair who ordered some exotic concoction I’d never thought of trying. Next in line stood an elderly lady – from her accent I assumed she was Nigerian. I was passed my drink and as I spun round to make my way to the train I almost collided with a chap in a fine business suit – his shining brown brogues carried him out of my path with surprising skill. I paused before making my way out the door, and looking around I was struck by not only the number of people at this glorious little oasis that is the humble café, but also by the diversity of people passing through. It reminded me of looking on at the variety of creatures that descend on a watering hole in the African savannah on a hot day – a neutral venue where everyone gets along for a little while (well, almost everyone).
One of the most difficult things for someone who is not a Christian to do is to walk into a church for some event they’ve been invited to. As Christian we can often forget this simple but important fact because we’re so comfortable there. But for many, the idea of going into a church could fill them with trepidation, and can legitimately be something that puts them off attending an event. For that simple reason alone, holding an evangelistic event at a café can be a great way to get around the apprehension.
Cafés are places that most of us are not only familiar with, but also very comfortable in – a great neutral venue – a modern watering hole. So why not consider arranging a speaker and hosting an evangelistic event in a neutral venue like a café? Doing this will remove what may be an unnecessary stumbling block for those we are trying to share the gospel with, and also provide a great setting for an event. Read more about how to do this here, and more practically, here.
Prayer: ‘Lord, please help me identify a good location for an evangelistic event, and grant me favour in being able to connect with them and secure the venue”.
Previously: Launch Pad #38 Use Local Media
The Cairngorms Convention
The Cairngorms Convention, is one of the Keswick family of Christian conferences which take place around the world. Solas was invited to lead the Confident Christianity track at this years convention from which Andy Bannister and Gavin Matthews reported back.
The Cairngorms Convention itself is run by Mike Causey and a small team of volunteers (not all of whom are in his family!) Mike described the weekend in these words:
“What a weekend! For the first time we hosted it at Lagganlia, Feshiebridge, and notwithstanding the very changeable (and mostly wet) weather, it had the feel of a large church house party.
Over 25 different churches were represented across the conventioners, with about 120 people across the weekend. The convention’s intention is to serve, equip and encourage the local church, and with many families present it was joyful to do that across all ages.
With the theme of PURPOSE, with Psalm 117 as the text, Charles Price preached three times over the weekend, using that is the shortest Psalm to extend our understanding of divine purpose, means, and mission. He drew us with passion and wisdom to the law and the promises of God, through a Psalm whose hearers are the ‘gentiles’, not Israel, and to whom he cries out “Praise the LORD”!
Alongside Charles, Solas came to equip us for evangelism, an apt partnership for the Charles’ messages. Over 4 sessions they exhorted us with a reminder of the gospel, and cast a light on the very accessible ways in which we can ask questions, enquire curiously, and be confident about the good news. Solas provide a key act of service to the local church, and our hope is that many of the churches represented further pursue what they offer.
We finished with the young children reciting Psalm 117 from memory, an activity they’d been undertaking both mornings. Try it! It’s two verses packed full of truth, and providing words to bring to mind when given an opportunity to speak truth about our LORD.”
PEP Talk with Ted Turnau
It’s movie night! Why not invite some friends round to watch a great film together? Did you know it can be a great time to start gospel conversations? Films are one of the biggest pieces of shared popular culture we have, and the good ones tap into themes and passions that we all care about – redemption, good and evil, purpose, justice. Today’s guest shares his Movie Night Kit so you can explore them with your friends.
Find the Movie Night Kit and more resources at tedturnau.com
With Chris Sinkinson – PEP Talk
Our Guest
Ted Turnau is Chair of Arts, Culture, and Literature at Anglo-American University, Prague, Czech Republic, where he teaches classes in culture, media, and religion. He is also an author and speaker on Christian cultural engagement. His books include Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Worldview, The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage their World for Christ (with Stephen Burnett and Jared Moore), and most recently, Oasis of Imagination: Engaging Our World through a Better Creativity and Imagination Manifesto (with Ruth Naomi Floyd).
About PEP Talk
The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, Andy Bannister (Solas) and Kristi Mair (Oak Hill College) chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.
Launch Pad 38: Use Local Media
Local media outlets in your area are hungry for content and often welcome contributions from all kinds of people and community groups, including Christians and churches.
This potential for taking the gospel outside the walls of the church often remains untapped, but Christians across the world are finding it an amazing way of communicating. Furthermore, the proliferation of town, community, and neighbourhood social media groups means that there are many more opportunities to get something published than when the local newspaper was the only game in town.
There are three main areas to consider contributing to.
1.Information
The most basic thing to communicate are the simple facts about what’s happening. “People will be gathering to sing Christmas carols in the town centre on Saturday”*, “Songs and stories with local musicians – free event at the Baptist Church”** all make great copy. Local social media groups love this stuff and many newspapers have a community noticeboard section. But they can’t print what they haven’t been sent!
Local newspapers often prefer news reports (with photos) to adverts for upcoming events, so tell good stories about church: “Hope Church Opens New Building”, “Local youth group raises £5K for Africa” and so on.
These can be used to communicate something of the Christian message to a wider audience. They do sometimes get published, even if they are clearly Christian. But perhaps bear the following in mind:
- Pray first!
- Look for a local issue on which the Christian faith has something to say.
- Use the issue to lead towards the gospel.
- Keep it short, 200 words, and make one clear point.
- Don’t use Christian jargon, write well, and get a friend to proof-read.
- Be persuasive not aggressive, never ridicule or mock.
- Commend as well as critique others. Strike a positive tone where possible, don’t become known just for what you oppose!
- Persist! Most letters don’t get published, but if you keep going and the editor gets to know your name, the chances increase.
One pastor offered his local paper a weekly ‘thought for the day’ – and sent in a few samples of his writing. For many years, his 400-500 word pieces were printed.
Pray: Lord, help us to unlock the potential of local media channels to share something of your truth with those outside the church.
Previously: Launch Pad #37 Organise a youth group reunion
Next: Launch Pad #39 Will be published soon!
In Glenshee with Riverside Church
Working for Solas is such a privilege!
This came home to me recently when I was invited to join Riverside Church, Ayr for their church weekend in Glenshee. They were providing great company, worship services, prayer times and good coffee, while the Compass Christian Centre provided good food, comfortable beds and loads of outdoor activities. I had the joy of bringing some Bible teaching to the three main meetings for the adults – while the church also provided an exciting programme for the children. All this took place in Glenshee, most famous for its extensive ski resort. It is not the most dramatic part of the Scottish landscape – but it is stunningly beautiful, with mountains, rivers, and wide-open vistas from every window of the centre!
I was invited by Riverside Church to do three sessions based around their church vision statement. So on the Friday night we looked at an aspect of our personal growth in Christ. In particular how a sense of assurance of salvation, which comes when really are gripped by the gospel of Christ and His Spirit – liberates us to live for Him even when it seems costly or risky. In session two we looked at our growth together in Christ and the way in which we need to live in fellowship, what disturbs fellowship and how we can recover a biblical vision for it. The final session was on growing the body of Christ by adding new believers. We thought together about some of the things that hold us back form sharing our faith, and some useful ways of breaking out of those traps. We drew extensively on Solas’s Mind the Gap articles about overcoming obstacles to our witness and our current Launch Pad series on practical tips for sharing faith. We also delved into the Frontlines series for some examples of people who are doing this at work.
Alongside some Bible teaching and sung worship, we had times of discussion and prayer allowing everyone to dig into the topics and reflect on how they relate to their own experience.
Outside of the main meeting room, fellowship was enjoyed around the campfire, the table tennis table, the kayaking loch, the tree-climbing course, the high ropes course and the pool table. The meal-times were a big highlight too, with lots of laughter, serious conversation and of course food too.
I always enjoy working in partnership with Riverside, they are a lot of fun alongside their profound commitment to Christ. We’re in the process of planning a Confident Christianity conference with them, later in the year. Details of that will be posted on the Solas website as soon as they are available and can be accessed through the “Events” tab at the top of this page. If you are in that area, please come along and see us there – and say Hi to us at the Solas stand!
Launch Pad 37: Organise a youth group reunion
Many, many years ago I attended a high school reunion. At first, I wasn’t really keen on going, but then a friend twisted my arm and convinced me it would be a good idea. I thought it would be fun to see everyone all grown up and hear what they were up to in the big wide world. What I wasn’t expecting, however, is that it would lead to some really good conversations about spiritual things and the big questions of life.
When the usual ‘so, what do you do?’ question came along, I said I’d recently stepped away from the sciences to work at my church. That was all it took for the questions started flowing and I had great chats where I had the opportunity to share my faith.
Obviously, not everyone has that as a way into conversation, but most of us probably went to a church Sunday school, youth or young adults group, and are still in contact on social media with people from those groups, even if we’ve not seen them for many years. Once you’ve found five or so people, then if each of them know a few others, very soon a whole group can be invited!
People love seeing those they were at school with and with those they knew when they were young, so why not reconnect with people you know from youth group too?
The beauty of doing this is that there is already the common ground of having been at church together, and so it’s comparatively easy to bring faith and spirituality into the conversation in a non- threatening way: ‘Hey Bob, did you ever find a church when you moved to Bury?’; ‘Hey Jill, I know you stopped coming to the group, have you ever thought about coming back to church?’.
Many people leave the church during the years after school or in their early working life as they get busy or distracted, or just go off to figure things out – and a youth group reunion is a great way to help them back and show them again the truth of the Gospel.
Prayer: ‘Lord, help me think about the people in my past whom you would have me reach out to, especially those from my younger years in the church. Help me to find a way to connect with them and share your love with them once more. Amen’
Previously: Launch Pad #36 Host a Film and Discussion Evening
Confident Christianity in Perth
The Confident Christianity evening in Perth was overshadowed by a tragedy which struck the Baptist Church earlier that day. Many of the people gathering that night were in shock at the tragic accident which had claimed the life of a much-loved prominent member of the church. Her family were insistent that the event go ahead, but given the situation we re-arranged the programme. Steve Osmond stepped in to take some of the pressure from me, as it was a friend of mine who had died that day, and I was somewhat in shock.
Gordy from Perth Baptist opened the event with a welcome and explained the situation to the visitors from other churches who might have wondered what was going on, prayed for the family and offered pastoral support to anyone struggling. He also had received messages from the family urging us to press ahead which he shared with the folks there.
Steve Osmond got things underway with his ‘art of conversation’ talk. It delivers a similar message to Andy’s How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot session, on conversations that lead to Jesus. I then interviewed Andy about some of the latest news from Solas, before a coffee break.
In our Have You Ever Wondered? session, I explained the basis for the use of Have You Ever Wondered? questions, and why they really are a tool for our times. I then talked through Andy Steiger’s chapter Have You Ever Wondered Why The Environment Matters? To show how the approach works in practice. Andy then talked us through two more examples, Have You Ever Wondered What Love Really Is? and Have You Ever Wondered Why We Love Happy Endings? Andy passed back to me for a quick session on ways in which people are using the Have You Ever Wondered? book. That included, using it themselves to learn, giving it away, placing it in café’s and libraries, in churches and CU’s and on using it prayerfully.
The Q&A that followed was handled by Andy and Steve – and they faced some good questions from hell and judgement, to vegetarianism, to apathy, anger and the uniqueness of Jesus.
Despite the circumstances, it was good to be together with people from many churches and to chat about sharing the good news of Jesus with the people that we love. The tragic events of that day in some ways focussed our minds on the fact that eternity is at hand, we are fragile and mortal and need to be ready to meet with God. For us individually that first means turning from our sins and putting our faith in Christ, who reconciles us to God. It then means sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and the eternal life he offers to as many people as we can , while we can.
There were an unusually large number of Solas supporters and supporting churches there that night too, so it als gave us a chance to thank them for their love, encouragement, gifts and prayers, which keep our ministry going.
Whitby Bible School
Presentation slides from Steve Osmond’s talks at Whitby Bible School on 31 August 2024.
With David Lochhead
We can sometimes think that evangelism is all about getting someone through the front door of the church. But what about those who end up leaving out the back door? Through the busyness of life, personal disappointments, or the disruption of the pandemic, there are many people who need encouragement to re-engage with their faith. On the podcast today, we hear about using the power of video and stories to re-evangelise this group on social media.
With David Lochhead – PEP Talk
Our Guest
Originally from Scotland, David Lochhead consulted for large blue chip companies such as Accenture, Barclays & Sky TV before setting up FINLAY eyewear in 2012. FINLAY has become a prominent independent eyewear brand, with two flagship stores in London and a roster of clients from Prince William to Rihanna. In 2022 David launched Streams Studio: a social media platform designed to encourage believers in their faith – on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook @streams.studio
About PEP Talk
The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, Andy Bannister (Solas) and Kristi Mair (Oak Hill College) chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.
