News

PEP Talk with Ben Franks

by Solas

With a rich Christian heritage, but a bleak spiritual present, Wales is in desperate need of the Gospel right now. God is not unaware of the situation however, and is calling people to pray, share the Word and plant new churches right now. Andy and Gavin chat with a leader of 100 Cymru and hear about the vision for 100 new churches in the next 10 years!

Visit 100Cymru and sign up to pray for Wales!

With Ben Franks – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Ben Franks planted Hope Church Rhondda with his wife Lois in 2013. The church meets in a converted shop on Tonypandy’s high street and is hoping to launch two new congregations in the next 12 months. Alongside leading the team at Hope, Ben chairs the board of his family’s business while Lois runs a marketing company in Pontypridd.

About PEP Talk

The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, our hosts 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.

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Launch Pad 44: Get Creative!

by Editor

Made in the image of the Creator-God, humans are insatiably creative, as poets, singer-songwriters, painters, engravers, writers, filmmakers, and weavers, demonstrate. Some are professional, others are enthusiasts—and many people appreciate their work. Yet the power of the arts to communicate the gospel is often under-utilised.

Many Christian artists love to communicate their faith through their work. Creativity by Christians isn’t just for church, but can help bring bold Biblical themes into our cultural conversation. Sixties music icon turned radio presenter Paul Jones says that the ‘spirituality of the paintings of Caspar David Freidrich’ was instrumental in his conversion to Christianity: the transcendent power of beauty that first dented his staunch atheism. Whilst in the world of literature, C. S. Lewis communicated as much of the gospel through his fantasy and science fiction novels as he did through his apologetics books.

There are so many inspiring examples of people who’ve used their creativity for the gospel; such as

J.S. Bach, who composed all his works ‘To the glory of God alone’!

Andrew is a poet whose work is found both in print and read at literary festivals: his rich and wonderfully structured phrases draw on his deep Christian faith.  Jen, another poet said: ”Jesus can’t help coming into what I write, as he forms an integral part of my inner world, although I once saw a judge at a slam poetry competition grimace when I mentioned him!” Clive is a singer whose faith seeps out through his lyrics! Phil is a filmmaker whose stories encapsulate gospel themes. Christian artists express the gospel in all kinds of ways.

Atheist children’s author Philip Pullman notoriously said that his books were about “Killing God”. Have we surrendered creative spaces to the world, or infiltrated them for the gospel?  Where there is a local writers’ group, are Christian ideas being heard there, presenting a better story? Do Christians only sing in church, or also at the open mic night at the local pub? Is there a visual art space in your town, and do Christians ever contribute there?

So:

  1. What is your creative passion?
  2. Work hard to weave gospel themes into your work.
  3. Strive to get your work seen and discussed outside the church.

Pray: Lord, thank-you that you have made us creative. Help me to communicate you through all the gifts I have been given.

Previously: Launchpad #43 Offer to serve in your church Sunday school or youth work

Next: Launchpad #45 Run a Book Table

Steve at St Peter’s in Dundee

by Editor

Solas has got a good long history with St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee. In fact, if it wasn’t for St Pete’s there would be no Solas really! Since arriving in Dundee myself last year, it’s been great to get to know St Pete’s Associate Pastor, Will Lind a bit. The church’s continued support for Solas is hugely appreciated by us all here – especially their prayer support.

The first time I spoke at St Peter’s was when I was invited to go and share at their midweek prayer-meeting about the ministry of Solas. I got to give them an update on our work, as well as a few thoughts from myself about being the new speaker, and settling into life and ministry in Scotland. So was really nice to be able to share all of that with people who had been praying for Solas for some time, and for me before I had even met them. I love meeting with Solas supporters and to have the opportunity to pray with them too! After the meeting lots of people wanted to speak to me, there were some great conversations and it was a great encouragement to me.

That led in turn to me be invited to preach up at St Peter’s on a Sunday evening service. They have a fantastic congregation there, who seem really ‘solid’ – if that makes sense! The are a really informed group of people who continue to impress me with their commitment to prayer. Before the service I was able to join them for a prayer meeting, which I especially valued.

In the service itself I took them to 1 Peter 3:15, which is a foundational text for Solas’s work. I used it as an exhortation to evangelism, which the folks there responded to enthusiastically. I really enjoy the conversations I have with people after services, especially with warm, friendly congregations like St Peter’s who want to talk and chat about the message for ages after the end of the formal part of the ‘service’.

They get a good-sized congregation for their Sunday evening service – of people of all ages, including a good number of students. They are situated right next to the university and my guess is that about a third of the congregation were students, or student age. The pastor at St Peter’s is away at the moment, so I was also glad to serve the church in his absence and enable him to have a well-earned break.

Solas has a special relationship with St Peter’s so it was really good to be able to share in that. We do love serving churches all over the country. Please get in touch with us, if you’d like us to come and talk about evangelism at one of your services.

Launch Pad 43: Offer to serve in your church Sunday school or youth work

by Editor

Often when we think about sharing our faith, we look primarily outside the church. I think that’s generally just the logical thing to do – one might be forgiven for drawing the conclusion that on a Sunday the church will primarily be filled with Christians. But, that’s not the whole story.

I’ve recently spent some time with the youth group at my church and I’ve been struck by how much more willing they are than the adults to invite their friends to come along.  The result is that at any given meeting, there can be people present from atheist, Muslim, or other backgrounds. This opens up a great opportunity to not only serve younger people within in the church, but it also means there will be great opportunities to introduce people to Jesus and the Christian faith – and the door’s already open, they’ve happily come along to see what church is all about. Serving in Sunday school or youth ministry is a great way to learn how to answer questions from inquisitive minds, but also offers a great opportunity to share your faith with those who are not Christians.

Another thing to consider is that just because a young person is part of a church-going family it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have understood the Gospel and put their faith in Jesus themselves! When I was growing up I was sometimes taken to church even though I wasn’t myself a Christian. And, although I’d been to Sunday school a few times, and even gone to the youth group occasionally, I wouldn’t have been able to explain what the Gospel is, much less made any personal response to Jesus. We can’t assume that just because someone is at church, that they are a Christian.

Why not consider serving in your church Sunday school or youth group and pray that the Lord would help you to find people to share the Good News with? Help the group to develop a culture of invitation, and host events they are confident to invite people to. (Solas can help with these).

Prayer: “Lord, please use the Sunday school and youth groups at my church to bring those who don’t know you into the church”.

Previously: Launch Pad #42 Evangelism Shouldn’t Be A Drama, But Then Again, It Could Be!

Next: Launch Pad #44 Get Creative

 

Reason for Hope at Glasgow Grace!

by Editor

It was great to be able to speak at Glasgow Grace. It’s a church I love, and I especially appreciate the leadership there because they have such a heart for reaching the people around them outside the church. They are involved in the life of the community, are planning a church plant and are constantly praying and thinking about ways that they can reach the people around them in Glasgow.

I had previously spoken at one of the church’s outreach events in a pub in the city; and they invited me to preach on a Sunday following on from that. They invited me to tell the church a bit about Solas, explaining what we are about and the work we do in evangelism, evangelism-training and producing resources. I pointed them to some of the website articles, Short Answers videos and PEPtalk podcasts. I took a couple of books along, such as “How to talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot” and “Have You Ever Wondered?” too. I gave a few of those away and had some great conversations with folk as a result too. I must have been there for an hour and a half chatting to folk after the service!

It was awesome being there, it is such a vibrant, energetic church who responded really well to my sermon which was on 1 Peter 3:15, “ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

There were lots of students there on Sunday morning which was encouraging too. Some of them said the had never really thought this through before and were struck by the way in which the scripture exhorts to use our minds and reason; but that’s not where it ends – because reason and faith work together. Being a Christian does not mean you switch your brain off!

So, it was a privilege to be at Glasgow Grace again and I hope to work with them again in the near future!

With John Kirkby

by Solas

Taking an entrepreneur’s approach, one man has been challenged by God to start sharing Jesus in his own life, and then expand it to the whole church. Can he do it? He’s done it before with poverty, so we are audaciously believing it can happen with evangelism!

Check out the Isaiah 61 Movement website and search for “i61” for your mobile app store.

With John Kirkby – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Dr John Kirkby CBE (prefers ‘Johnny Boy’) is the founder of Isaiah 61 Movement (i61m) and Christians Against Poverty (CAP). John had a tough life after his father died. His marriage ended, with huge debt, he had lost everything. Now with a doctorate & CBE, John was healed and transformed because his friend shared life with him, shared faith with him, then shared Jesus. 30 years on, John has founded i61m to to see every Christian confidently doing the same for their friends, and build Jesus-sharing culture with churches everywhere.

About PEP Talk

The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, our hosts 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.

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Launch Pad 42: Evangelism Shouldn’t be a Drama, But Then Again, It Could Be!

by Editor

When we think about evangelism, we often think about things like preaching, or Alpha, or Christianity Explored—content and programmes based on reason, discussion, or conversation. But how do we reach people who are closed to this?

C.S. Lewis, well-known for books like Mere Christianity, then turned to writing stories, like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Cosmic Trilogy. Lewis explained that he felt the front doors of people’s minds were often guarded by watchful dragons that made it hard for people to even allow the claims of Christianity across the threshold. But Lewis had an inkling that with stories, maybe one could “steal past those watchful dragons” and smuggle in truth through the side door.[1]

An amazing ministry that helps churches use story and the arts in evangelism is The Mark Drama. They send a trained theatre director to your church who over six weeks works with volunteers to put on a performance of Mark’s Gospel. Every incident and most of the words of Jesus are covered in a way that is profoundly engaging. The result is not the cheesy “tea towels on the head” naff Christian drama, but a contemporary and powerful retelling of Jesus’s story.

Callom Harkrader, now Young Adults Pastor at Above Bar Church in Southampton, once worked for The Mark Drama. He explained that churches and Christian Unions that have used it have found that friends or family who might say “no” to an invite to a service or an outreach event respond quite differently when you say “I’m taking part in a play, would you come and watch?” Callom himself has a theatre background and said: “The Mark Drama sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does! And it’s powerful, because it’s Jesus’s words. It’s the gospel.”

If you can’t get The Mark Drama to your church, what about making use of The Chosen, the modern retelling of the Jesus story designed for the Netflix generation. A friend of Andy’s recently became a Christian after being persuaded to watch the series. She found herself moved to tears at the presentation of Jesus in the show and soon after, became a Christian. Because The Chosen is so widely available (both for free, or on various streaming services) it’s easy to point friends to it.

Pray: Father, thank you for giving us creative Christians in the Church. Help us to use their gifts in evangelism. Amen!

Previously: Launch Pad #41 Join a Book Group

Next: Launch Pad #43 Offer to serve in your church Sunday school or youth work

[1]       The illustration can be found in C. S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1994 [1966]) 37.

Courageous Christianity

by Editor

One of the great joys of working at Solas are the many opportunities I get to work with churches all around the country. One church we have worked with for many years is Culduthel Christian Centre in Inverness. We have many connections with Culduthel. Andy Bannister, our Director studied theology alongside their pastor Alasdair Macleod several years ago. Our former Ops Director Jeff Howarth was a member of Culduthel as well as a member of the Solas team – and is greatly missed by us all. We have also run evangelism-training events at Culduthel as well as worked in partnershhip with them in outreach events in and around Inverness.

Recently I was invited North to speak at their Sunday morning service. They iinvited me up for a couple of reasons. The first is was give their pastor Alasdair Macleod a break! He’s gone on a sabbatical and is doing a deep study into the book of Isaiah. The other was to keep the church in touch with Solas’s ministry. We have some really faithful supporters in Culduthel, who give to and pray for our work. So it was aproviliege for me to share an update into Solas’s work.

I also got to preach from their text for the day which was Acts 23:11. That is an explosive little verse in the middle of the narrative about the Apostle Paul’s time in Jerusalem. Paul is almost ripped limb from limb by the angry crowd (v10). In verse 12 one group of about 40 men take an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed Paul! yet in between these menacing threats, The Lord met Paul:

11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

Paul was emboldened in the barracks by three things:

1) The presence of The Lord. He stood near him
2) The command of The Lord. He commanded Him
3) The Promise of The Lord. He would get to Rome and not die that day

So we thought together about the problem of cowardice and how The Lord might embolden us with same three things! You can hear the whole thing here:

If you are a Facebook user you can see the video here, at 37minutes.

It was such a privilege to be back at Culduthel, to catch up with many old friends and supporters – and to share a message from God’s word. Our partnerships with churches in gospel work are very important to us. If you would like us to work with you in mission, evangelism, training or telling your church about our work and preaching for you – please do get in touch!

What Does God Think of You?

by Solas

Social media allows us to show our life to our friends, family—anyone! And with every like or comment we start to learn what people think of us. But whether we are revelling in a thousand heart emojis or wallowing in self-loathing, do we stop to consider what God thinks of us? Drawing on a story from Jesus’ life, Steve Osmond explains that how God thinks of you—or me—isn’t based on our performance, but on a spiritual transformation only He can give.

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 41: Start or Join a Book Group

by Editor

Two friends of mine moved to a new city. Keen to both make friends in their neighbourhood, but also eager to create some natural opportunities for evangelism, Daniel and Julia hit upon the idea of starting a book group. It was an obvious idea: they both loved reading and Julia had met a neighbour in the local bookstore and had a long conversation about an author they both enjoyed.

So Daniel and Julia made up some flyers and posted them through all the doors on their street. They put up posters in the local library and also made an announcement on the Facebook group for their community—advertising the first event in a local cafe.

Amazingly 20 people turned up for the initial meeting, so Daniel and Julia suggested that the group meet once per month, with people taking it in turns to suggest a book for people to read and discuss at the next meeting.

When it was their turn to suggest a book, Daniel and Julia prayed and thought carefully about the best book for their purpose. They chose C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, a brilliant study of the nature of evil and a very entertaining read (the audiobook narrated by actor Joss Ackland is superbly well done). They found that it started all manner of questions about God, faith, and human nature and people enjoyed it so much that many asked “Has C. S. Lewis written anything else?”

If you love reading then why not either join a local reading group (if one exists) or if not, pray about starting one! People are increasingly looking for community and so book groups are popular. So give it a try:

  • Find a local venue—e.g. a cafe; the local library (ask if they’d make a room available for you). A local bookstores could be a good option, as it’s free marketing for them!
  • Design some flyers and poster (ask for help if you’re not artistic!), spread the word among friends and neighbours.
  • See who shows up!
  • Take it in turns to suggest books—and pray for wisdom as to what book you pick. (Maybe Have You Ever Wondered? could be a good choice).

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of literature! Help me think about ways to use my love of reading to reach my neighbours. Amen.

Previously: Launch Pad #40 Host a Light Party Halloween Alternative

Next: Launch Pad #42 Evangelism Shouldn’t be a Drama, But Then Again, It Could Be!

Sin and Forgiveness in Pitlochry

by Editor

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

by Solas

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

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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, our hosts 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.

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Launch Pad 40: A ‘Light Party’ Halloween Alternative

by Editor

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 Organise A Cafe Event

Next: LaunchPad #41 Start or Join a Book Group

Confident Christianity with the Surrey Gospel Partnership

by Editor
Earlier this year Solas joined with Surrey Gospel Partnership to run a Confident Christianity evening in Woking. The event was attended by around 200 people from a number of churches and featured two talks and two Q&A segments. Andy Bannister’s opening talk was on How to talk about Jesus without looking like an idiot – practical conversational evangelism training – followed by a talk on A Better Story of Happiness. This explored how as Christians we might think and talk about the ultimate hope offered by the gospel to a culture that points to career, money, academic success or performance as the sources of ultimate happiness.
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!

Catherine and Andy with a distinguished Solas supporter!

Doesn’t the Bible promote slavery?

by Solas

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!