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Witnessing On The Ward (with Kelvin Burke)

by Solas

Many Christians will be familiar with the practice of praying for and visiting those from their own church who might be sick in hospital. But the role of the hospital (or hospice) chaplain can allow for ministry to all kinds of people. What are the challenges, joys, and opportunities experienced in this unique role? This time on PEP Talk, we hear from a hospital chaplain who himself spent eight months in hospital after a car crash which left him permanently paraplegic.

Witnessing on the Ward (with Kelvin Burke) – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Kelvin Burke is an Anglican minister and Healthcare Chaplain. After his time as Priest-in-charge at St Andrew’s Wakefield Kelvin was called to Minister in Healthcare Chaplaincy, starting out as Honorary Chaplain at Wakefield Hospice and then Pinderfields Hospital where he had been an inpatient for nine months in 1979/80 following a Road Traffic Accident which left him paraplegic. He was appointed Chaplain at Leeds Teaching Hospital during which time he studied for and attained a Masters in Theology at Cardiff University. In 2010 he moved with his wife Jennie and three teenage daughters (Chloé, Katie and Ellie) to the Isle of Wight, and after a short time as Chaplain at Mountbatten Hospice and St Mary’s Hospital, he was appointed Senior Chaplain of Isle of Wight NHS Trust.

He is the author of “Lake of Tears”, a compelling book with a unique application of God’s partaking in the face of suffering.

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

Motivation for Mission #2: Fearing God we seek to persuade others

by Editor

Why do we do evangelism? The Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5, says these surprising words.

“Since then we know what it is  to fear the Lord, we seek to persuade others.” (v11)

We need to imitate his attitude because where people stand before God is a serious matter. Paul had his life turned around by the gospel, when he felt it’s full force on the Road to Damascus as he encountered Christ. And not only had he met Christ in all his grace and his forgiveness, he’d also seen something of God in all his glory. As a result he understood the sheer significance and importance of mission, because we stand before a God who is holy, and nothing actually matters more than our relationship with him.

There’s a sense in which Paul’s fear of God led him to simply obey Christ’s great commission to go into all the world with his message. Paul’s deep and reverent respect for God – and sense of His power and goodness meant that disobedience was never really an option for him.

However, I think there is more to it than that! If we fear God, if we respect Him and understand who he really is, we should be deeply concerned about those around us. That necessarily entails not merely walking in righteousness and faith and seeking forgiveness ourselves, but longing for other people to encounter his grace and his forgiveness too. Paul says, as we know what it is to fear the Lord, we seek to persuade others.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to revere you, and hold you in such awe that I seek to persuade others that being forgiven by you , and in a right relationship with you is the single most important thing in life. Amen

Motivation for Mission: #1 The Love of Christ

by Editor

Somebody commented recently on Solas’s ministry saying, “You’re always talking about how to share the gospel, but why should we share it?” The thought behind the question seemed to be that faith in Christ might be personally rewarding, but that it’s essentially a private thing. So why don’t we just keep it to ourselves?

The first answer to that excellent question comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, where Paul says,

14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again

The Apostle Paul was compelled by Christ’s love because he was overwhelmed with what Jesus had done for him, dying on the cross. When he wrote “one died for all” he was specifically referencing the cross of Jesus. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son in the defining act of love in all history.

And if Christ really has died for us, then we should be compelled, first of all, by love for him, to offer our lives back in mission and service because we love him. But secondly, that love should overflow through us to people that have not yet encountered it. Our motivation for mission, the reason we take the gospel out, should be this first of all: “it’s the love of Christ that compels us.”

If a church has no desire to share Christ with the world it raises serious questions about whether that church community loves Christ and has been transformed by the message of the cross. The same is true for us as individual Christians. Perhaps if our passion to reach the lost has grown a little cold of late, then the place for us to start is not with an evangelistic strategy, but to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with the love of Christ afresh.​ Meditating on the cross of Christ – until are hearts are stirred again by the love of Christ for this lost world – is the place where true mission begins.

Prayer: Lord, please make me so aware of Christ’s love – which took him to the cross for me – that sharing the gospel is never a duty, but an overwhelming compulsion to respond to his great love. Amen.

Carols at the Rec

by Editor

It was really, really exciting and a huge privilege to speak at the 4th ever “Carols at the Rec” event at Bath Rugby ground.

The idea for the event comes from Widcombe Baptist Church, (where our friend Tom Heaseman is the pastor) and Grace Church Bath, which is an Anglican church plant in the city, lead by Michael Farrier. Rather than have a little carol service for the usual congregation within their usual premises they hired the rugby ground and invited the town!

Organiser, Sam Eaton said, “We advertised through flyers and posters distributed by our church families, social content, and local print media. We hoped that through this and the genuine excitement from our own congregations that a large crowd would appear, and wonderfully with God’s provision they did! The vision is simply to be sharing the Good News at Christmas. We know that increasingly Christ is being lost at Christmas and we want to take the opportunity to publicly show, in quite an unusual setting of a rugby stadium, what this time of year really means. In terms of non-Christians attending, we don’t collect that information, but have anecdotally heard encouraging stories of friends, family, colleagues being invited along and loving the event.”

The stand was full, with 2,000 people coming to sing carols, see the dancers, and hear the local primary school perform “Away in a Manger” too. I also had the opportunity to address the crowd in two five-minute segments either side of the carol ‘Silent Night’.

Thankfully – and in answer to prayer! – it wasn’t raining. The stage area was uncovered, so it was great that nobody talking part got soaked. It was cold though, and I took my coat off to speak in my Christmas jumper and tried not to shiver too much!

I spoke about the great subject of “peace”: why we long for it, and why the world struggles to find it. I told the story of the Christmas truce in World War One, which although inspiring was not transformative – as they went back to killing each other two days later. In the second half I explained that we need to be transformed from the inside out, in order to know peace ourselves, and not just peace with one another but ultimately peace with God. That’s what Christmas is all about. You can read my talk here.

Sam Eaton wrote, “Andy did nail it with the two 5 minute talks, hitting both his time and the tone of the event really well.” So that was encouraging! Helped by 10ofThose funding, they gave a copy of Colin Webster’s book, “Special Delivery” to everyone who attended and I encouraged people to read it, and go to church this Christmas to hear more. Folks were also given information about the Christmas services as well as follow-up courses in both churches.

It was a wonderful opportunity to present something of Christ to a large group of people -which was incredibly exciting. It was also a massive logistical effort on the part of the churches who did a mammoth job organising and staffing the event. Just as good is that they are keen to do it all again next year!

2026 – Hope or Despair?

by Editor

In December 1939, people across Europe looked towards the new year with a sense of foreboding. As Christmas approached everyone knew that ‘a state of war existed between Britain and Germany’. Bombs were not yet raining down on British cities, but the country was aware that the ‘phoney war’ would soon give way to all-out conflict. It was a mere twenty-one years since the end of the First World War and the trauma of conflict shaped the national consciousness. As King George VI went to record his Christmas broadcast to the nation that Advent, the Russians were mobilising in the east, and had already taken much of Poland, Finland and Norway; while Germany had overrun western Poland, Czecholslovakia, and Moravia – and France and the Low Countries were soon to fall.

That Christmas George VI famously quoted the poem “The Gate of the Year”, written by Minnie Louise Haskins in 1908, and it’s most well-known lines:

“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'” 

The question is, was Haskins right? And was the King right to quote those lines in the context that so much of the world from Glasgow to Paris, Algeria to Athens, Tokyo to Stalingrad, Rome to Nagasaki, Amsterdam to Auschwitz would soon be plunged into the horror of killing, in gas-chambers, aircraft, trenches, in tanks, in cities, in the countryside and on the high seas?

Some might think that these are nice lines to cite as we don’t have a light to see the future, and don’t have a ‘known way’ – the future is a mystery, and so to offer some sort of hope is at least to offer a crumb of comfort in the midst of catastrophe. “If the world descends into mayhem, then at least offer people ‘the hand of God’ to guide them through it” might seem a reasonable response. Holding on to some kind of optimism might be a better option than despair, or even panic.

Others might think these are profoundly mistaken sentiments, offering false hope, and ‘pie-in-the-sky’ platitudes to those who might have better invested their energies and hopes in the war effort. If God isn’t actually there, then Christmas 1939 would have been better spent digging for victory than sowing seeds of faith. But yet, we humans are rarely satisfied with the hopes that our finest schemes and aspirations present. We seem hard-wired to desire the kinds of hope that make little sense in a world made only of physical stuff, in which there is no soul, no heaven, no God, no right, wrong just (to coin the phrase) blind pitiless indifference.

Of course if God is there; then Haskins poetic wisdom isn’t either a distracting delusion or cheerful wishful thinking; but might actually be about the person who can help us navigate an uncertain future. This was certainly one of Jesus Christ’s many startling claims. When he told his disciples that God was preparing a place in heaven for them in the future, his disciple Thomas asked for directions for getting there (John 14: 1-6). Jesus declined to offer a roadmap for the future, but instead told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except through me.‘ Often that verse is so taken up with the exclusivity of Christ’s claim that we miss the other aspect of it – which is the type of hope he offers us. He didn’t give them a chart of the end-times, he didn’t prophecy about the future direction of their lives; rather he said that ‘he’ was the way. He might as well have said with Minnie Lou Haskins “put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So what does this mean for us as we approach Christmas and the start of another year? We don’t know what 2026 will bring. We hope and we pray for peace; but we cannot be certain that the European war in Ukraine will not escalate, or that the Israel-Gaza conflict will not reignite into utter carnage.

It means this. That we can trust the unknown future to a known God, whose knowledge is complete. We cannot claim that trusting in God and following Christ will produce instant solutions to world problems today anymore than in did in 1939. But we can lean into the promise that if we are in a right relationship with God, that we can take his hand and that He will bring us through whatever joys or sorrows we face – in our personal or national experience. In that most well-loved Psalm (Ps23) David writes:  “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”. This is the promise of God’s presence and promises to us holding true, in the midst of a fallen world. He also writes, “and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” – the promise of eternal life when evils and traumas are no more.

However – just because such hope exists, it does not mean that we necessarily either own it, or experience it. (And to truly experience it we must first own it.)

To own this hope, each of us needs to be fully reconcilled to God. While by nature we are alienated from Him, and often feel far from Him; Jesus came to bring us back to God. When we put our faith in Jesus, and turn from our sin and begin to follow Him; God achieves reconcilliation with us. When that happens we have a strong basis for hope. Jesus’ audacious claim, ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’ means that if as you face the future, you want to do so with ‘your hand in the hand of God’ then according to Jesus, you can do so by entrusting yourself to Him. Anything less than that will do little more than appease the conscience before the next conflagration.

To experience this hope, each of us needs to consciously seek to put our hand in the hand of God. Too often we pay lip service to the ‘hope of Christmas’ and of ‘light coming into the world’ but don’t lean into this so that we actually experience the hope that Christ offers. If the words of the carol-service haven’t faded away, before your mind and heart shifts its expectations to mince pies. Christmas movies and Boxing Day football fixtures; then the hope we find will be similarly transient and insubstantial. When Jesus also promised to baptise his people with the Holy Spirit, he intended us not to believe in reconcilliation with God as mere neat abstract theology; but to encounter Him in our lived experience.

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'” is simply not an optimistic, ‘chin-up, hope for the best” message of ecapist goodwill. It is rather that when we are ‘in Christ’ we have access to the Father, and when the Holy Spirit fills us we experience what it means to take the next step into an unknown future with Him. “And surely I will be with you, even to the end of the age” Jesus says. (Acts1)

I do not know what 2026 will bring for me or my family. I do not know whether we will experience peace or war in our time. But this I do know: Christ died for me and reconciled me to God. Christ rose again and sent the Holy Spirit in whom I encounter God. This God promises not to abandon me but to bring me to eternal life. He offers me His hand as I step anxiously forward.

I do not know what 2026 will bring for you or those you love. I do not know whether you will know peace or war in your times, in this nation or in your home. But this I do know. Christ died for you and offers you reconcilliation with God. Christ rose again and sends the Holy Spirit in whom you might encounter God. This God, promises never to abandon those who turn to Him, and to bring you through to eternal life. Christ offers you the hand of God as you step anxiously forward.

Take His hand by faith this Christmas / New Year.

The Gospel, a curry, and life-giving converesations in Marlborough

by Editor

A well-attended outreach event was held Monday night in Marlborough, hosted by Emmanuel Church. The congregation, which recently moved into the town’s former Methodist church building, has a strong focus on mission, and the central location allowed them to welcome a large number of guests.

The evening began with a curry dinner, which proved a major draw. Around 40 people attended, many bringing friends from outside the church community. Among the guests was a woman who had discovered the event through Facebook. She had been exploring questions about Islam and,  was surprised to find herself seated opposite me, with my expertise in the subject. Their conversation centred on the differences between Islam and Christianity, helped along by a Chinese Christian guest who joined the discussion.

After dinner, attendees gathered for a talk titled “Have You Ever Wondered? The Clues to a Bigger Story Hidden in Plain Sight.” The speaker explored four themes—human curiosity, morality and justice, natural beauty, and the power of stories—asking whether these clues point toward an atheistic worldview or a Christian one. The talk drew on examples from classic detective fiction and concluded with a reference to The Lord of the Rings, using Gandalf’s advice to “follow your nose” as a metaphor for discerning which worldview offers a more life-giving explanation of reality.

The Q&A that followed prompted further conversations. Several church members reported meaningful discussions with friends they’d brought along. One woman expressed interest in returning to church after many years away. A young man who had recently become a Christian said the talk helped him deepen his understanding as he continues exploring the faith. Another guest told a church member he is increasingly persuaded that God exists, though still hesitant about what a personal response might involve.

Organisers described the evening as encouraging, with signs of genuine interest and ongoing spiritual curiosity among visitors. Further follow-up is planned with those who attended. It was great to be in Marlborough with Emmanuel Church!

What’s So Happy About Christmas?

by Solas

Happy Christmas everyone! Steve Osmond, in a festive mood, looks at what makes Christmas a truly joyful occasion.

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John Lennox Speaks To Solas

by Simon Wenham
  • Does science point us to God?
  • How do we know Christianity is true?
  • How do I respond to objections to my faith?
  • What’s the best argument for God?
  • Should Christians do apologetics?
  • How can I live out my faith?
  • What has Christianity got to offer me?
  • How do I know what to say to non-Christian friends?

John Lennox sat down with Solas to discuss some of these big questions of life. We’ll be featuring this new material on this page over the next few weeks, as well as showing some of his earlier resources.

Jesus’ Last Comment: Why Christians Can’t Stay Silent

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Confidence in Genesis

(NB: The first two minutes of his talk have an echo, but the sound is then corrected)

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Genesis, Artificial Intelligence and the Meaning of Humanity

Genesis, Artificial Intelligence and the Meaning of Humanity

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What Does It Mean To Be Human?

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John Lennox Busts A Myth About Religion, Faith and Science

John Lennox Busts a Myth About Religion, Faith and Science

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A Weekend in Wick

by Editor

Friday Evening – Outreach Meal at Mackay’s Hotel, 6:30 – 9:30pm
Gavin and Steve’s first event of the weekend was an outreach meal at Mackay’s Hotel on the
Friday evening. We enjoyed a great meal in a very attractive setting and Steve spoke on the
question of “Is there any hope for the future?” Approximately 60% of the audience would
have been “seekers”. It was great to see lots of heads around the room nodding in affirmation
as Steve gave a very clear presentation of the Biblical case for hope. After the talk, Steve
gave an opportunity for questions. One person pushed back quite strongly against Steve’s
statement that there is no basis for morality without reference to God. This gave Steve an
opportunity to address the question and reaffirm the fallenness of human nature. While the
questioner remained unconvinced, my sense was that the majority of the audience recognised
the reasonableness of Steve’s explanation. More than one “seeker” said “That was brilliant!”
to me at the end of the evening. We gave away about ten copies of Have you ever wondered
and Steve had a couple of good one-to-one conversations with people responding to his talk. I
was delighted with how the evening went.

Saturday morning – Confident Christianity Conference at Wick Baptist Church,
9:30am – 1:30pm
Christians gathered from at least five congregations around Caithness on Saturday morning for the Conference. Gavin and Steve led four teaching sessions between them and held a
Q&A session at the end. It was great to see people engaging with the teaching. The feedback from the Wick Baptist congregation has been overwhelmingly positive, with one lady telling me that it was incredibly helpful and just what she was hoping for.

Saturday evening – Youth Event at Wick Baptist Church, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Sixteen young people turned out for the youth evening on Saturday evening. Twelve were
from our youth group, but four have very little connection to the church. After some games
and pizza, Steve gave a talk on the question of whether science and God can co-exist. The
young people listened carefully throughout. Steve had a brief conversation afterwards with
three young lads who aren’t part of the church. Not knowing their background, Steve asked
them if they came to Wick BC, to which one of them responded. “No, we’re not
Christians…yet.” We’ll keep praying for these three young guys who we have regular contact
with through one of our youth ministries.

Sunday morning – Church service at Wick Baptist Church, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Gavin preached a challenging message from Paul’s visit to Athens (Ac. 17:16-34) at our
service on Sunday morning. One of the biggest encouragements for me was that a lady who
had come to the outreach meal on Friday evening as a “seeker” turned up for church on
Sunday morning and brought her son to the Sunday school! They both had a great time and
are looking forward to coming back.

Embracing the Marginalised (with Kaeli Murphy)

by Solas

What happens when Christians truly embrace reaching out to the ‘least of these’ right here in the UK? Those marginalised even by mainstream society – sex workers on the streets of our cities. While we don’t think of it as ‘evangelism,’ surely being ‘the hands and feet of Jesus’ is a concrete way of sharing the gospel? It’s certainly a challenging one!

Find out about how Embrace is ministering to those selling sex on the streets of Birmingham and Coventry.

Embracing the Marginalised (with Kaeli Murphy) – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Kaeli Murphy is the Project Manager for Embrace in Birmingham and began in post in June 2023 as the services were expanded from Coventry. She has been volunteering and working with Embrace for 6 years alongside working for a community centre as a Youth Worker, and has a Masters in Youth Work and Community Development. Kaeli lives in Birmingham with her husband and leads the youth work at her church. She loves spending time with people, hosting, music and DIY (or anything creative!)

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

‘Tis the Season to be…. invitational!

by Editor

When Paul charged Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season, he wasn’t referring to the calendar or the climate. Rather, that we experience times of openness to the Bible’s message, as well as periods of stubborn resistance. Timothy was to press on, in both ‘seasons’.

The Christmas ‘season’ annually generates gospel opportunities that we would be foolish to miss though. The church is like a striker facing an open goalmouth, on the six-yard line, with the goalie nowhere in sight! In every church or CU I have ever been part of, in England or Scotland, people from outside the fellowship have accepted invitations to Christmas events, like carol or watchnight services. Christmas does seem to be ‘in season’ – every year .

Observers of our culture are also suggesting that we are living in a changing season and there is much discussion about the so-called ‘Quiet Revival’. Whether you are convinced by its more enthusiastic proponents or are more circumspect, everyone agrees that there seems to be more openness to considering Jesus than we have seen in a long time. One of the most striking things in the Bible Society’s recent research were the answers to the question, “Apart from weddings, baptisms/christenings, and funerals, would you attend a church service if you were invited by a friend?”   31% of people said ‘yes’. So, if our churches mobilise invitationally this December, we will meet many people who are willing to come and hear the gospel and experience a worshipping community of believers in action.

Each housegroup in my church is allocated a ‘patch’ and we deliver hundreds of leaflets around the town every December. Another fellowship set up a free Christmas present wrapping service in their city centre, as a way of meeting and inviting people to services, and chatting about the gospel. Others use carol-singing as a way of connecting and welcoming people in. What might work in your town?

What seems to be critical – along with proactively going out and inviting people, is knowing what to do when they come! Some things are obvious such as having a Christ-centred, gospel-focussed message which assumes no prior knowledge of the Bible or Christian language, at every event.  Other things are also important such as having open homes for hospitality after services, as well as something to give to everyone who shows up. (A gift-wrapped gospel of Luke with some chocolates and a Christmas card from the church, is a winner).

The thing that sometimes gets missed though is giving the newcomer an obvious and inviting way of taking the next step towards Christ. What if, at the end of a carol service a visitor sitting in the pew is thinking to themselves, “I am dissatisfied with myself and with my life, and I think there might be something to this Jesus message I’ve just heard”. Then, it’s important to let them know what to do next.

Some churches launch their evangelistic courses in January, to make a good place for Christmas guests to come next. After carol services, many students in CU’s are offering to read through the “Uncover Luke” presentation of the gospel with those who come. The critical thing is that we don’t just use our Christmas events to arouse people’s spiritual hunger but also make real spiritual food easily accessible for them too.

“’Tis the season to be…  if not jolly, then at least invitational!”. If a third of people really would be willing to accept an invitation to come to church, then that suggests that not only is Christmas a good season, but that our country is currently “in season” with many people who are spiritually searching. 75 years ago CS Lewis pictured the world in darkness as being “always winter, but never Christmas”. If Aslan really is on the move, the ice is melting, and Christmas is coming; we need to be ready to invite and welcome people and commend Christ to them.

_____
This article was first published in the Evangelicals Now newspaper, and is published with their permission.

Back at Loch Leven Church

by Editor

It’s always good to go Loch Leven Church in Kinross. The church there has been going formally for about six years, having emerged from a loose gathering of Christians in a home there- and a desire to do something new in the towns of Kinross and Milnathort. These towns are expanding with new housing springing up everywhere, and there is an appetite amongst Christians there for a new church to serve them. As well as speaking there for Solas, I have the honour of being an external trustee for LLC, seeking to work with them as they steer their path into become a mature church – with all the joys, setbacks, triumphs and challenges which that inevitablhy entails.

One one recent Sunday I was there, and gave the church a prayer update for the work of Solas. There are lots of faithful people at LLC who pray for our work – so it was great to encourage them with a few snapshots from the frontline of our work.

I then had the opportunity to preach for them, from Matthew 4. They are using the book, “Fly Through The BIble” and doing an overview of key texts in the Old and New Testaments.  The section we had on Sunday was ‘The Temptation of Jesus’. It’s true that in this text Jesus shows us how to resist temptation, and he sets us a perfect exmaple to emulate in terms of using scripture as a weapon and resisting the devil. All true. However, if we only preach that text as a ‘how to’ and a ‘you must’ text then we fall substatially short of the New Testament’s emphasis.

Hebrews 4 says:

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

So we looked at three things together. Firstly Christ is our example to emulate in resisting sin. Secondly he is our caring, symapthetic high priest when we are in the midst of the battle with sin. Thirdly though, he resisted temptation, and was therefore completley pure and able to save us from sins we have already committed. Unlike him, we have often fallen for temptation, so (in Old Testament imagery) need a pure and spotless, unblemished ‘lamb’ to die in our place to atone for our sins. In other words – because Jesus resisted tempation there is hope for all of us who haven’t! Our sins might be open rebellion against God, or they might be pride and religious hypocrisy. Either way, Christ can set us free – because he alone wasn’t guilty of either.

So, it was lovely to renew fellowship with all the good folks at LLC, and to share in worship, fellowship and partnership in the gospel with them all. LLC are good friends of Solas and we do enjoy working with them!

Solas Prayer Channel

by Solas

Here at Solas, we believe prayer is essential to everything we do. Through prayer, we align ourselves with God’s will, we express our compassion for the lost, and we recognise the limitations of our own strength. We also join with other believers who pray, partnering the Solas team with others (like you!) in the body of Christ.

If you’d like to join us in prayer, please subscribe to our monthly Insight email newsletter, which contains event listings and other items for prayer.

If you’d like more in-depth and timely updates, you can also follow the Solas Prayer Channel on WhatsApp. This is where our speaking team post prayer requests and ministry updates as we seek to share the good news of Jesus persuasively and equip Christians for evangelism practically.

The Channel settings allow for one-way communication from the Solas team, whilst followers can react to messages but not reply. If you would like to get in touch with us directly, please don’t hesitate to contact Simon – who oversees our communications & operations – at simon@solas-cpc.org. You can also interact with us on Facebook, Instagram or X.

If I Become a Christian, Do I Have To Take the Bible Literally?

by Solas

The Bible is often a very misunderstood book – well, 66 books, actually. But, are we supposed to read it ‘literally’? This is really a question we could ask of any book. The answer, for any text we’re considering,  lies in understanding a few key things. In this Short Answers video Steve will walk through how considerations like the genre and the original author’s intent help understand how we are to read the Bible.

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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!