News

Solas at Hillbank Evangelical Church

by Editor

It was a great privilege for Solas to spend two evenings doing evangelism-training with Dundee’s Hillbank Evangelical Church in the east of the city. Hillbank is a very friendly church, which is really committed to mission – and this was our first visit to them.

Matty Blakeman from Hillbank welcomed Andy Bannister and Gavin Matthews to the church- and Andy kicked the first session off with a new version of his talk on conversational evangelism entitled, “how to talk about Jesus without getting fired”. This explores helpful gospel conversations and the ways in which asking questions such as ‘why do you think that?’, or ‘have you ever wondered..?’ can move conversations forward. Jesus was of course, not just the master parable-teller and teacher; but also asked over 300 questions in the gospels to challenge, disturb, expose or explore his message and mission.

Hillbank Church graciously invited Andy and Gavin to tell them a little more about Solas’s work and so they gave the church a quick update on the evangelism and evangelism-training work Solas does, around the country, in-person and online. The evening concluded with a great time of Q&A. One of the great things about this session was that the questions submitted were clearly not just hypothetical ones such as ‘”If I ever meet someone who says……” but real life ones such as “how do I start a gospel conversation with my friend who is gay”, and “should we do our evangelism events in church, or out in the community in neutral venues?”

On the second week, Gavin Matthews returned to Dundee and introduced the people there to some of the stories from our Frontlines interview series. These short interviews are with people in all kinds of trades and professions who actively share their faith in Christ in their secular workplace. These include William, running Christianity Explored in the City of London finance sector, Stephen a Scottish science teacher, and Georgie a nurse – and many more, all sharing the gospel in different ways. The church then divided into discussion groups to talk about what might work in their context. Gavin brought the session to a close with some thoughts from Ephesians 2 on why the gospel of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ really is good news to share.

Church leader Matty Blakeman said: ‘What impressed me most about the evangelism training was the fact that both speakers, though obviously well read, spent very little time quoting authors or unpacking complex apologetic arguments. The emphasis was very much on how to help and encourage the ‘every day Christian’ wherever God has placed them, whether in the workplace or in a group of friends or neighbours. This made things so incredibly relatable for all who attended. Two excellent nights that we’d hope to replicate sometime in the future.’

From Solas’s perspective, we really enjoyed out visits to Hillbank, had a wonderful welcome, enjoyed real fellowship together and made new friends. We’d love to go back there again!

PEP Talk Podcast With Mitch & Amanda

by Solas

Today on PEP Talk we hear from an inspiring couple in evangelistic ministry together. Andy and Kristi cover all sorts of ground with them, from experiences in street evangelism, the gospel opportunities across Ireland,  to the joy of working together.

With Mitch and Amanda – PEP Talk

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
RSS Feed

Our Guests

Mitch and Amanda have been married for 22 years and together they lead Crown Jesus Ministries in Ireland. Their passion for evangelism drives the ministry to fulfil its vision; to see the people of Ireland Crown Jesus Lord of their lives. They have two teenagers, Noah (16) and Megan (13) and two border collies, Mollie and Max. Mitch loves eating curry, drinking coffee, cycling and supporting Chelsea FC while Amanda will either be found out for a long walk, watching a gripping crime series or cheering louder for Tottenham!

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.

Support the Podcast

Frontlines / Christians at Work : The Pensions Manager

by Editor

Brad McLaughlin works in the financial sector, for Aviva, the insurance giant. He spoke to Solas’s Gavin Matthews about the Christian Network Group in the company and how they have been inspired to move beyond just enjoying good fellowship and out into mission in their workplace.

Solas: Tell us a little about your job? What are your roles and responsibilities?

BMcL: I am a pensions proposition manager with Aviva, looking after a number of products that are no longer actively marketed. I make sure that they’re still the right thing for our customers. We conduct regular reviews of the products which requires technical knowledge. There are compliance issues that we need to get involved with too, I engage with our outsourced partners to make sure that they’re looking after our products appropriately. Then there are reports that need to be written. The field is constantly changing, and we are managing priorities within limited budgets.

On top of that, I’m really enthusiastic about extracurricular activity within the office. When some proposal is made to improve office life, I am the first one to raise my hand. For example, I cycle to work so I took on the role of ‘bike users rep’, improving things for everyone who commutes by bike. Then there is our site forum where we discuss how we can improve our overall office working environment and I dive in on that sort of thing.

Like most companies, we have a diversity and inclusion policy, and structures in place to guard various ‘protected characteristics’. Within Aviva, we have multiple communities looking after each of these characteristics, one of these is called “Origins”, which makes up black and ethnic minorities, social mobility and faith groups. So I joined the steering group for the Origins community. Most people on that group are there representing an ethnic group, and I’m there representing Christian faith – which is interesting!

Solas: What’s the best part of your job?

BMcL: I really enjoy my job and going to the office and seeing everyone. I especially enjoy creating connections between people and ideas within the company. Sometimes huge progress can be made by connecting different people working on similar projects in different parts of the company. I also enjoy the technical side of my work, as well as any opportunities for public speaking and picking up the pieces of work that no-one else wants to do! It’s a hugely varied role, and a very fulfilling job. There’s a lot of freedom for me in the role, in the way that I approach getting the job done.

Solas: What are some of the challenges that you face at work – and how does your faith in Christ help you to navigate those?

BMcL:That is a big question! My faith has given me probably a greater stability in life, while there are always uncertainties to manage in work. If you work in any large organization for a long enough time, you will know that there are always changes to organizational design, change or restructure. So actually having something that’s foundational outside of work gives me a greater sense of both stability and purpose. My Christian faith also gives me a drive and desire to actually make this office a better place. If I’ve been given this gift – it’s incumbent on me to try to do what I can to make where I work a better place to be, to bring more love, more connection, more humility, more opportunities for faith, and more conversations.

Solas: Do people you work with know that you are a Christian? How do they react to that?

BMcL:We are in a very secular culture that doesn’t tend to acknowledge or allow much space for faith. The idea of having open discussions around faith doesn’t usually provoke hostility so much as make people feel uncomfortable and want to step back.

The first time I wanted to run The Alpha Course within the company two people complained and said that I shouldn’t be doing this. But what was amazing was that because I’ve been so involved in the Origins diversity and inclusion work, which crossed over a number of boundaries – I was defended by people who aren’t Christians. They said, “We know Brad and that his intentions are good, and that this is OK”.

One of the other interesting things has been that in setting up the Christian network in the company, I’ve discovered that there are a whole lot of Christians, who didn’t feel free to  speak about their faith – or even to be known as a Christian in the workplace. I’m probably one of the extreme outliers in terms of how comfortable I am speaking about my faith. For many people there’s a deep worry that if they open about what they believe, they’ll be shunned and told, “You hold thoughts that are no longer acceptable in modern society.” But we’re trying to help develop a culture in which there is a genuine diversity of people and ideas, where we can have real discussion – and people with conflicting ideas can come together and really talk about them in a good way.

Solas: Have you ever had opportunities to share your faith with people you know through work? What things have helped you to have good conversations about faith? Did you deliberately set about to have these conversations, or did they occur naturally?

BMcL:I am part of the Christian network at work. We’d always been meeting together to pray and have fellowship and it was great! Then we had somebody from TransformWorkUK speak to us. We were challenged to do more than just meet together, with a feeling that God has a bigger purpose for our group. We were a bit stuck in one place so decided to do something more and planned to run Alpha at work.

So I got permission, put up the posters and we ran Alpha! We booked a room, organised the food and got about 30 people for the first session. We were six sessions into it when lockdown happened, so we had to complete the course using Teams, the company intranet system (like Zoom). That was interesting, because when we advertised it there, we got interest from people in other offices within the company. I work in the Bristol office – but I received messages from several other sites saying, “Wow, I didn’t realize that there was a Christian network here!” and they joined in too. And quite a few of those people were Christians already and were amazed that there was a Christian presence at work. Others came, not sure what they believed or why – and some left Alpha saying that they had definite Christian faith.

In the Origins inclusion group, I’ve also helped people of other faiths set up their groups too – which has been interesting. I have friends across many faith groups and those who are atheists too – but helping to set these up, in a non-discriminatory manner has actually opened the door for Alpha to run here. I’ve been able to say that our company is a good place for people of faith to work in; and that if anyone wants to explore the basics of Christianity they can come to Alpha. At interfaith week last year one of our senior executives gave a speech in which he spoke of his own curiosity about faith – but that he still didn’t know what he believed. That was very helpful, because it almost gave ‘permission’ to the wider company that it was OK to have conversations about faith and values, and those of us who are Christians have something we want to contribute to those discussions obviously! That created a lot of opportunities for me to talk about my faith in Jesus.

Then World Religion Day was marked in January and we used it to engage with people who believe differently to us, including the atheist network. When I set up the first Alpha course at work I approached the head of the ‘Atheist Network’ directly and asked him to come along and we’re good friends now. After Alpha he said he still didn’t believe but he had a much better understanding of what Christians believe and that it was a lot more nuanced than he had realised. He has spoken positively about Alpha – and that has made it easier for other sceptics to come along.

Solas: How do people react when you talk about your faith in Jesus? Interested? Angry? Apathetic? Do they ever raise objections…. What were they and how did you respond?

BMcL: It’s fairly easy to have a conversation with my atheist colleagues because actually there is already an engagement with the issues with them. On our “Yammer” (internal work place networks) groups anybody can post and you create questions. I have a Muslim colleague and there were some occasions where he used those groups to try and convert Christians – and persuade us that we are wrong! But when he posted his questions asking Christians for answers and evidence – that created an opportunity to share my faith that is not me rudely pushing my agenda but responding to other people’s questions. He’s asked about why we have so many Bible translations, and things like that.

The main thing that I think that I’m fighting against is apathy and indifference and trying to find ways to help people think about what is outside themselves. One thing that helped with this was a photography competition we hosted around the theme of ‘awe and wonder’. We ran the competition online, people shared their images and stories, and inevitably conversations began.

Solas: Why do you want to talk to colleagues and friends about Jesus?

BMcL: Firstly I desperately want other Christians to not feel alone. I’ve had many different people email me saying, “I thought I was the only Christian here, I didn’t know there were any others!”. So talking openly about Jesus at work has been massively helpful.

But Christians finding each other is just the start, because I believe fully that Jesus is the truth.  I’ve got what I would call classical liberal views about freedom of speech, and I think in the in the war of ideas we should “throw all the ideas in there and the true ones will win!”. So I don’t care how many other ideas you put in there; truth will triumph in the end! But that only works if there is real discussion and the truth is given an opportunity to shine.

Solas: What advice would you give a young Christian entering your field of work who wants to be faithful to Christ there?

BMcL: God will position you where you are needed. I’ve found myself in a position of far more influence than my grade in the company hierarchy would necessarily dictate. And I think that’s an encouraging thing for people to be able to reflect on. Being perhaps at an entry grade doesn’t preclude you from being able to take on greater responsibility from a Christian perspective and have a significant influence in the workplace.

So I am significantly bolder and more open than I’ve ever been in in my life in terms of being open about my Christian faith.

I would say really clearly be upfront about who you are right at the beginning. I often introduce myself by saying that I’m responsible for the faith network in the company, and that I am a Christian who loves discussion. I will often say to people, “What’s your faith background?” For many people in Britain that may be a weird question – but it gets really interesting responses. Because it’s an opportunity to say I want to understand you as a person.

I would say yeah, be really open up front and be willing to be far bolder than you may naturally comfortable with because actually the British are so polite you can get away far more than you think you can ?. I’m sure I abused the fact that I’m Canadian, and that people assume that I don’t know what’s considered polite here or not! But there are huge opportunities out there. I see some of the other communities and I think they’ve been 100 times bolder with an even smaller population than Christians have been. The Pride Network, has massively more influence than their numbers would suggest they might have. I respect the way that with a small but really committed group of people who are willing to be very open and upfront about who they are, they have gained a lot of influence. There’s nothing to stop a group of very committed Christians from doing the exact same thing, in a really very positive way.

So that would be my advice: be upfront, and open. Actually the other thing is don’t just do your job. Do more than your job. I wasn’t into running, but I helped set up the work running club as a way of connecting with people. Which leaves me horrified by how out of shape I am when it comes to running, but it also leads to connections with people, friendships and conversations about all of life – including my faith.  Find those opportunities that are beyond just your job.

Solas: Thanks Brad, that has been a really useful and inspiring conversation – thanks so much for your time!

BMcL: No Problem – it’s been good speaking with you.

 

Did Jesus Actually Exist?

by Solas

Have you ever wondered whether the New Testament Gospels, those four biographies of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, are trustworthy? Andy Bannister dives into archaeology and eyewitness testimony to show why so many historians and scholars consider that the Gospels have “the ring of truth” and at the very least, need to be given the benefit of the doubt and an open-minded read.

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 “Digital Media Fund” under the Campaign/Appeal button.

Have You Ever Wondered Why We Long For Justice?

by Editor

They say that between Christmas and New Year, time ceases to be measured in discrete 24 hours. Instead, it becomes one long day of duvet days, devouring festive leftovers and binge-watching the latest shows. During this disorienting season, I watched Don’t Look Up! a Netflix satire, which points an irreverent, accusatory finger at celebrity culture, big tech, government, social media trends, conspiracy theories and anything else supposedly wrong with the world.

At the end of the film, one of the more villainous characters meets an absurd and violent end. (Don’t worry, no spoilers!) And yet, as I watched the character’s farcical fate, I was strangely pleased. Although the means of their demise was, quite frankly, bizarre, it didn’t mean that it was undeserved. The narcissistic character finally got their comeuppance and, as I sat in the sofa seat of judgement garbed in my onesie, my wrath was appeased.

But life is not a movie. The injustices we experience are far weightier matters than the plot of a film. There’s no pause or fast forward button to get to the best bits and, no matter how angry we are about some of the ways we’ve been treated, there is no rewind button for a do over. Our inability to control what happens to us, makes our longing of justice for us even more profound.

Have you ever wondered why we long for justice? If our existence is the outworking of impersonal cosmic forces, and if we are nothing more than biochemical machines, why do we petition, picket and protest for justice? Is our activism pre-determined by the whims of a mindless universe? Is our longing for justice just an illusion, an evolutionary instinct for the survival of our tribe? Are we simply virtue-signaling because we want to be seen as do-gooders?

I think these conclusions are just too cynical. Many of us genuinely care about the suffering of others. We make an autonomous choice to speak up and out for marginalized voices. When the whole world was struggling to breathe and came face to face with its own mortality due to the coronavirus, many of us were deeply moved by horrific, ironic scenes of George Floyd as he cried out, “I can’t breathe!” But why did seeing this spark global protests?

Unlike the cold, silent absence of a vacant universe which cannot bestow value upon any of us, the Christian worldview posits the presence of a God. A God who has given us inestimable worth because we are made in his image. Thus, injustices perpetuated against us are an affront to God himself. In her book, Where is God in all the Suffering?, Amy Orr-Ewing writes:

“Whether we believe in God or not, whoever we are, we are  creatures of dignity. If that is true, the essential part of you that makes you you has a transcendent source. Your value is not imagined or invented – it is real, and its grounding is God’s image in you.”

So, when we say, “That’s not fair!” or “They shouldn’t be able to get away with that!” we are appealing to an objective standard of morality because we believe that others should agree with us. They should see that our cry for justice is legitimate. But if nothing is at the root of human existence, where does our sense of something – our belief that we have value and worth – come from? We soon sense that longings for justice point us toward God, rather than away from him. This does not mean that Christians have a monopoly on justice. My faults and shortcomings, even as a professing Christian, attest to this reality.

And what do we do when we’re so vocal about what others deserve, until the accusatory finger of justice is pointing at us? Suddenly we desire the benefit of the doubt. A second chance. Mercy. If we’re honest, perhaps we wouldn’t survive our own standards of justice. We are ready to lower the gavel of our own metric of morality upon others, but not when we ourselves are in the dock.

The words of poetry from the Hebrew Bible make our predicament clear:

“Justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
Like the blind we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.”
(Isaiah 59:9 & 10)

Our longing for justice is good, a legitimate desire. And yet it indicts us even as we grope for it in the dark. We can’t attain the very standard we seek. The good news of Christianity is that the one who is wholly just has come near to us. He has reached out to us. He has brought light and sight. Unlike our fleeting, subjective standards of justice, Christianity points us to a person within whom all justice resides – God. Justice demands the judgement of a person, not empty premises and propositions: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” (Psalm 89:14)

Our longings for justice are not imagined. They lead us to the compelling prospect of a God who cares deeply.

PEP Talk Podcast With Lee McDade

by Solas

Top Tip: If you want to start a conversation, give yourself an unusual ministry job title that gets people intrigued! Today’s guest tells us about the fantastic opportunities his unique position affords him in the armed services. What is it like sharing the gospel amongst service personnel?

With Lee McDade – PEP Talk

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
RSS Feed

Our Guest

Lee McDade has worked with SASRA (Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association) for 13 years, based at Wattisham Flying Station near Colchester. His official title is “Army Scripture Reader”, an archaic phrase which he tells me goes back to the Napoleonic Wars, when the readers literally read the Bible to the illiterate soldiers in the lines. Having served in the military himself, including deployment to Bosnia, Lee became a Christian after leaving the Army in 1999. 

Read another interview with Lee from 2021 here.

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.

Support the Podcast

Have You Ever Wondered What Love Is?

by Editor

This is the time of year when many of us are encouraged to invest in either finding love or finding creative and expensive ways of expressing the love we already share with another person. This is no bad thing – provided, of course, that this time of year isn’t the only time we display our love! But have you ever wondered what love actually is?

If we are honest, thinking about what love means can be elusive. Yet the profound reality of our human capacity to love and be loved is perhaps the universal human value. Its presence transcends every boundary of time and culture. Love has been both the inspiration for, and the constituent theme of, almost all of the greatest works of literature, music and visual art that the world has ever produced. It’s core to many religious and ethical movements. The Beatles famously told us that it was ultimately all we need. And the personal experience of knowing love is such an ubiquitous human desire, that the promise of match-making industries is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

But the question remains: Have you ever wondered what love actually is? It’s a much harder question than our familiarity with the subject might suggest. Modern tautologies like “love is love” don’t help us much either because its attempt to remove any boundaries to the meaning of love ends up collapsing the concept itself into meaninglessness.

Were we to ask a neuroscientist, perhaps we might be told that love is simply neurochemistry; merely the result of the behaviour of the vast assembly of nerve cells and associated molecules impacting our hormone levels, as Francis Crick once assert. But is love the illusory product of our biochemistry? Or is the chemistry we so evidently experience a product of a love which transcends mere atoms and quarks?

Such a reductionist conception of love won’t work for romantics. After all, when was the last time you bought a Valentine’s Day card for your beloved and inserted the inscription: “When I think of you my brain causes a disturbance in my gastrointestinal region!” Instead, love is to be understood in the powerful attractions, ethereal emotions and self-fulfilment one experiences when you are one party in a pair of star-crossed lovers. The danger with this sentimental deification of love, however, is that when such emotions fail, so too does love with have conflated it with. As Margaret Attwood lamented in The Handmaid’s Tale: “God is love, they once said, but we reversed that, and love, like heaven, was always just around the corner… We were waiting, always, for the incarnation. That word, made flesh.”

Like Attwood many of us recognise that if love means anything, it has to be more than mere words or an abstract concept: it has to be made flesh. The interesting thing is that many of the most profound and enduring words about love we have, come from individuals who believed that God is love and that love has been personified in Jesus Christ.

So this Valentine’s season, if we are really interested in what love truly is, why not investigate the one who claimed to be love itself: Jesus of Nazareth.

To investigate further, click here: What does it mean that God is Love?

Why Do the Best Stories Involve Good and Evil?

by Solas

Have you ever wondered why we’re so fascinating by stories? Furthermore, from “The Lord of the Rings” to Harry Potter, why is it that the most popular, the most loved, the most lasting stories always involve good and evil? Andy Bannister dives into the question of where our love of stories comes from—and considers the much bigger question of why it so profoundly matters which story you’re living in.

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 “Digital Media Fund” under the Campaign/Appeal button.

Gareth and the Wise Men!

by Editor

A few short weeks ago Gareth Black spoke at the Glenabbey Church Christmas celebration – an exciting day during which he spoke to over 700 people across three services including many visitors who are not part of the church. The church put on a really guest-friendly service, with great music and a friendly welcome, which helped to draw in a good number of people from the surrounding communities. Gareth was invited to speak on Matthew ch 2 as part of the church’s Christmas teaching series.

You can watch the talk from the 36minutes here: https://youtu.be/CebmAdOOEyM

In his address, what Gareth emphasised was that Jesus is the long-hoped for Messiah King that God had promised and how the circumstances of his birth affirm that.

Matthew introduces readers of his gospel to the “Magi”  who were not just wise-men, but also the “King-makers” of the ancient world. Gareth explained the profound significance that these men travelled to Palestine to worship this baby, and present their gifts which he described as the ‘only coronation Jesus had’. Gareth went on to compare the wise-men’s response to Jesus to that of King Herod who saw Jesus only as a threat. The contrasts between Jesus and Herod could not be more great – Jesus gives life, Herod took it; Jesus stirs worship in people’s hearts whereas Herod ruled by force and threat. Herod exploited people to build his treasure-chest whereas Jesus is the greatest treasure himself!

After unpacking the significance of the events in Matthew’s account, Gareth brought the message right up to date for his contemporary hearers, saying “If Jesus is God’s King then that really is a threat to the idea that we should rule our own lives. Herod is an extreme picture of how all of us can go wrong, living our own lives and rejecting the authority of Christ!  Jesus might threaten our independence but in surrendering to Him we find life and hope and truth and so actually our lives are not lost but found when we surrender to Jesus.”

Gareth said, “I’ve had loads of great feedback from people who have never heard the wise-men explained in this way and really connected with it. Others said they appreciated the fresh helpful reminder at Christmas to live with Jesus as King over our lives. It was exhausting doing that three-times in the day but a really good opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with many people. The church leadership will be having lots of follow-up conversations with people who came and expressed an interest there. I have a great relationship with Glenabbey Church and am looking forward to working with them again soon”

PEP Talk Podcast With Pete Nicholas

by Solas

Pete Nicholas joins us today to speak about sharing Jesus in a diverse part of London. What are the questions cropping up and challenges to be had when sharing the gospel?

With Pete Nicholas – PEP Talk

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
RSS Feed

Our Guest

Pete Nicholas is Senior Minister at Inspire Saint James Clerkenwell in London and Chair of Trustees of City to City UK. After working for Christians in Sport, Pete co-led the church plant ‘Inspire London’ which started back in 2013 and when Inspire combined with Saint James Clerkenwell as a revitalisation the two churches became ‘Inspire Saint James Clerkenwell’. Pete speaks around the UK and has authored three books, ‘Virtually Human: flourishing in a digital age’, ‘Five Things to Pray for your City’, and most recently ‘A Place for God?‘

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.

Support the Podcast

Frontlines / Christians at Work : The Firefighter

by Editor

In an exciting addition to the Frontlines series, Matt Chapman spoke to Gavin Matthews about how he shares his Christiian faith at work in the Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue services and the role of the Christian Network Group there.

Solas: Tell us a little about your job? What are your roles and responsibilities?

MC: I’m the Group Manager in charge of Training and Development for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Services, and as part of that role I sit on the Diversity and Inclusion Group. I run four departments, The Training Centre, Driving Centre, Incident Command and Training Support.

Solas: What’s the best part of your job?

MC: Being able to support a great team of people who save other people’s lives is a really rewarding thing. Hearing stories of how lives have been saved and knowing that I have I been part of that process, and helped to make that happen is wonderful. Also, I never expected that my faith would ever be part of my job – but I love running the Christian Network group here too!

Solas: What are some of the challenges that you face at work – and how does your faith in Christ help you to navigate those?

MC: In Fire and Rescue work, the number one question we face is “Why do bad things happen to good people”, and my faith helps me to give some kind of answer to that question.

Solas: Do people you work with know that you are a Christian? How do they react to that?

MC:  For much of my career I kept a fairly low-profile as a Christian. That was until I became a watch-manager and was sent to work in Yorkshire, which was hard enough being Southern! When I introduced myself to my new team I was sent to manage, I said to them “There are three things you need to know about me, I’m 28 years old, I’m from Cambridge and I’m a Christian!” That led to some really great – and really challenging conversations.

Solas: Have you ever had opportunities to share your faith with people you know through work? What things have helped you to have good conversations about faith? Did you deliberately set about to have these conversations, or did they occur naturally?

MC: Yes – and it all started for me when I was working on the Inclusion Group and listening to what the LGBTQ+ group were doing as well as the BAME group and the Dawn Group and thought ‘why aren’t Christians doing anything?’ Like many Christians I’d always associated the word “mission” with going overseas, and then I met a remarkable lady called Cora Greenwood in Warwickshire. There had been some discussions at the Inclusion Group about setting up a ‘multi-faith group’ at work, and I met Cora an hour before the Inclusion Group were going to discuss this. Cora was involved with a Christian workplace group which met and prayed and had seen God move. So I realised that my problem was that I was just not being brave enough. Cora prayed for me and I went to the Inclusion Group and said to them, “I don’t want to run a multi-faith group, because I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. I will support other faiths setting up a group, but I want to run a Christian group! To support other Christians, to let other people know what Christianity is about and to serve the organisation. The only thing I can give, is that we can pray for the organisation. So if anyone wants anything to be prayed for, we will pray about it – and other than that, I don’t really know what I’m doing!”

Then, in the meeting, the deputy chief said, “Matt – were you serious about offering to pray for people?” I said I was, and he replied, “There are two people I want you to pray for right now!” To which I replied, “What? NOW?” So I did! So in terms of getting that kind of stamp of approval, that was a really good start. The only condition they had was they said they wanted me to go to the Rainbow Lounge – which is the LBBTQ+ group, and speak to them about how they set up their group.

I did that, and it was a ‘challenging atmosphere’. Someone said, “Matt, can I ask an honest question… how are you going to practice all this love stuff if you think that people like me are an abomination?” I told them, that I’m not here to condemn anybody and I don’t think Jesus was either, and that a lot of what Christians are for is forgotten about and people only know what we’re against. The Christian Network Group only want to focus on five things. One: we believe God made the world. Two: we believe people have sinned, and if you want me to say that you are a sinner – then yes, I think that’s true. But that’s not about your sexuality that’s because the first command is ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength’. I haven’t kept that command, and correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think you have either! (and we both agreed that on that definition we are both sinners). Three: the solution to that problem is Jesus, who came to die for us. The Fourth thing is that anyone can come to Jesus, but when you do he may ask you to live in a different way; and that’s the challenging point – which is between you and Jesus. I’m not here to tell you what Jesus is going to tell you to do with your life. I can show you the Bible, and my thoughts on it – but until you come to Jesus you aren’t going to know what he wants you to do with your life. Then the last thing is that we believe that there is heaven and hell. Now very little of all of that has to do with your sexuality, and if that has kept you away from Jesus then I believe that God loves you and that He has something for your life and it’s a choice whether you follow him or not. My role isn’t to condemn anybody, my role is to point to Jesus and introduce people to him.

The result was that the Rainbow Lounge were supportive of us setting up the Christian Network group! So we set up the group with the aims of supporting Christians in the workplace, allowing anyone to find out about Jesus, and to make a safe and inclusive place to discuss, debate and disagree in matters of spiritual wellbeing.

We do a thing called “Doughnuts and Disagreement” in which we take a big box of expensive Krispy Kreme doughnuts, good quality coffee and say to folks, “this is what I believe about Jesus – what do you disagree with?” We’ve found that people are really up for conversations about spiritual wellbeing. So – when physical and mental wellbeing are exhausted there is a conversation to be had about spiritual wellbeing. The last “Doughnuts and Disagreement” event we did was with a crew who had just come in from an incident in which someone they pulled from a fire did not survive. People want to talk, and we give them that opportunity – and we have endless opportunities to share our faith in Jesus. Physically and mentally strong people still crumble; but where they land depends on what they truly believe in. Being able to talk about beliefs in that context, while loving and supporting people is fantastic.

Solas: How do people react when you talk about your faith in Jesus? Interested? Angry? Apathetic? Do they ever raise objections….?

MC: Well, I told my senior management team, that if we Christians are wrong about our core beliefs, then OK – we’re a little bit deluded; but you’ve got a group of people you are supporting who will naturally adhere to, and naturally advocate for your core values as an organisation. But if we are right, then we are going to bring the God of the universe with us and He is going to bless your organisation! I told them it was a win-win situation for them!

Our strategy as Christians has been to ask nothing from, but to consistently give to the organisation. For instance, we’ve distributed cake-parcels and biscuits and chocolates – really good quality stuff too! We want to show God’s love to people which has got to come with a bit of sacrifice from us as well. So a department get a really nice present from the Christian Network Group with a note that says, “We love you, we’re really grateful for all your work over the last year, you might not ever agree with us that there is a God who loves you – but there are people here in this organisation who think that you are great!” Numbers in the group increased, non-Christians started coming and it grew into the wider County Council offices too – to my complete surprise.

So now we meet twice a month. On one meeting we have a big question, a big debate issue which we will advertise everywhere in the organisation. Our other meeting is just a catch up and good fellowship. We actively get out into the work force as Christians, and actively give people the opportunity to disagree with us. We did the ‘National Day of Prayer for the Emergency Services” – and invited people across the organisation to send in their prayer requests, for work, home… anything. I was hesitant before sending out the invite to 130 people, but within minutes we had about 30 responses. They ranged from firefighters having bad dreams after attending traumatic incidents, prayer requests for unwell parents, to ‘please help me win the lottery’!! I am so blessed that the Fire and Rescue Service don’t just talk about inclusivity – they do actually include us. The chief offered me a slot on his monthly ‘broadcast’ to the whole service. So I went on there and had the opportunity to share the gospel with everyone! I began by telling them that they were not here by accident, but that they had been made by a God who cares!

Responses have varied – we’ve certainly had some “strong discussions”! In one group I went to speak to last week, before I had even finished my introduction I was interrupted by a passionate diatribe about the evils of religion. And there are people who are really hurting – and it was important that I listened to that person because their experiences were very damaging. But personally I’ve had not had too much push-back. If you guard your reputation well, and act with integrity, that really helps. It’s so important not to act in such a way as to give Jesus a bad reputation.

Solas: Why do you want to talk to colleagues and friends about Jesus?

MC: I run the children’s wok at my church, and on Sunday I told them about being in a sinking ship and finding the life-raft is like finding Jesus. But I don’t want to get to heaven and hear Jesus say to me, “what about all the empty seats in the life-raft? Why didn’t you warn anyone, why didn’t you bring anyone?” Also, if you think that being a Christian is the best way to live your life, and I genuinely care about the people I work with, why would I not, at the very least, give them an opportunity to say ‘No’? Also, people are very public today about what makes them, “them”. And this is at the very core of what makes me, “me”! It’s not that I have to go out of my way to share it… it just is me! I would actively have to go out of my way to hide it! I really believe this stuff, that’s why in the morning I pray and read the Bible and I believe that Jesus lives in me. I don’t have to create anything… it’s there!

Solas: What advice would you give a young Christian entering your field of work who wants to be faithful to Christ there?

MC: What a great question! And the first thing I’d say is “you’ve chosen a great career” – what could be better than literally “snatching people from the fire” There is no nobler career that you can choose than to want to give your life to save someone else’s. So not only is it possible to be a Christian firefighter, actually it fits really well with the idea of giving up your life for something better. “Firefighters for Christ” is an international organisation of thousands and thousands of Christians facing the same difficult questions such as “why did that happen?” So connect with them!

I remember a day which was the best and worst day of my life. At a housefire I climbed in through a window in breathing apparatus and there was an unconscious child in bed, who I picked up ran downstairs, kicked open the front door and handed to the paramedics. I ran back in and got his brother and his dog out too! It was amazing! Then six hours later at another housefire, a ceiling collapsed on me, and the two people I pulled from the place both passed away. Six hours apart – sitting in the back of the fire engine asking ‘why?’ And what this job allows you to decide whether to believe in God whether good things happen or not.

I realised that before I was a Firefighter I believed in Jesus because of what he did for me. But now I believe in Jesus because he is God – whether He does what I want or not. My wife had brain surgery three weeks ago, our eldest son has auto-immune disease, and they are not healed and you ask “why?” But actually knowing the answer to “why?” doesn’t help. When I call out to God, the answer to the question I need to know is, “Are you still there?” Being in the Fire Service you will face that regularly, and you come to realise that, Yes  – He is still there. You have bad days and good days – and on both you pray and He’s there.

So – if you are joining the Fire Service it is a great career choice which will really challenge you. But it also gives you the chance to go very, very deep in your faith.

Solas: Thanks Matt – that was so encouraging!