Confident Christianity in Dewsbury

The historical market town of Dewsbury lies between Huddersfield and Leeds in West Yorkshire, and our hosts for the Connected Conference there were Dewsbury Evangelical Church. They did a great job of welcoming the Solas team as well as guests from loads of different local churches around the area. On this occasion they combined their “Connected Conference” which takes place in Dewsbury  every year, with our “Confident Christianity conference” which tours the UK. The result was a day of equipping and training local Christians to share the gospel of Jesus with wisdom, clarity and confidence. Andy was joined on the speaking team by Dave Hutchings, and you can hear more from them about the day in the video above.

Solas’s Confident Christianity conference is a popular way of helping churches to stay focussed on evangelism and equip believers to more wisely share their faith. We’ve worked with churches from the furthest reaches of northern Scotland, to the Isle of Jersey; from Norfolk in the East to Cornwall in the West. Please do get in contact to find out how to bring an event like this to your church.

Why Did God Make Bad Things?

“If God is real, and He made good things like waterfalls and kittens, but also bad things like illness and war, how do you explain that?” In this Short Answers Live episode, Solas Associate Steve Osmond tackles this question put to him from a student at a Glasgow University Christian Union event. 

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Love, Death and Robots. Undercurrents in “No Country for Old Men”, “The Terminator” and “Drive”

Nobody knows how much screen time they’re going to get in this life. There’s a temptation to assume that we’re building up to a satisfying climax: two thirds of the way through our life we’ll learn the lessons we need in order to overcome the enemies, demons and difficulties in our story to secure that happy ending. We bank on walking off into the sunset – because we are the hero in our own story. Aren’t we?

The Coen brother’s No Country for Old Men (or How the West was Lost) smashes this ideal by having Josh Brolin’s hero killed off-screen before the final act. We had expected the hero to win; to vanquish the reaper of death personified by Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. The film portrays a dystopian future (it starts, not ends, with a sunset), but it’s not our future: it’s that of the classic Western, where the moral lines were clearly drawn and the good guys wearing white hats always won.

By contrast, we feel safe when we watch Shane or something from the John Wayne canon, because there’s a reassuring moral structure. But the hero in No Country is death itself – a fearless gunslinger who defeats all-comers. And the message for the viewer is that everyone will have to face this hero eventually. No matter how you lived, no matter what you risked, and regardless of whether you’re ready to ‘call it’, Death wins the gunfight every single time. As Woody Harrelson’s character says of Chigurh’s figurative black-hatted hunter, ‘You can’t make a deal with him’.

There’s a strong suggestion throughout No Country.. that human life is purely about self-preservation and survival, and that morality is simply a vehicle for prolonging that. No moral code can save you, though – it’s Brolin’s character’s two most moral choices that see him hunted and then killed. So is everything therefore meaningless? The Coen brothers certainly believe Ecclesiastes when the opening slide quotes that Old Testament book saying  ‘all is vanity and a chasing after the wind’; indeed, the film has no score  other than the sound of the wind blowing whither it wishes. Being good won’t save you. Having a moral code won’t save you. And that sounds a lot more like Paul’s New Testament writings. There’s a nice anti-moralism in No Country when Chigurh asks one of his victims, ‘If the rule you followed brought you to this [death, like everyone else], of what use was the rule?’

Against this bleak landscape, the Christian story is one that shines a bright light on the tragic scene. It’s the story of love personified coming to meet Death – a foe that has easily dispatched every hero who faced it face-to-face in battle – and beating it. The notion of Christian Hope is notable by its absence in No Country.., but – surprisingly – firmly foundational to James Cameron’s 1984 movie, The Terminator.

The message that you can’t make a deal with Death is also found in this cyborg masterpiece. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) tells a sceptical Sarah Connor, who is struggling (quite understandably) with the idea that a robot from the future is trying to murder her: ‘It cannot be bargained with. It cannot be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop – ever – until you are dead.’

If atheism is true and there is no God, then The Terminator is a true story using fictional characters. How would it be, then, if someone stepped between you and the inevitable stalking villain of Death, looked you in the eye and said, ‘Come with me if you want to live.’

If Die Hard is a Christmas movie, The Terminator is an Easter film.

The cross is the thing that killed Jesus, but it’s the stop sign for everything that would seek to kill you. Post-resurrection, Death no longer has the stalking power it thought it had. It is not the main character in the story; it is lying off-screen, beaten, and not before time. So then, Death, where is your sting? You’re terminated.

It’s true that it rains on the righteous and unrighteous, and you don’t know when production is going to shut down on the screening of your life – you don’t get to ‘call it’. But meaning isn’t linked to longevity. Life isn’t found in self-preservation – it’s found in self-sacrifice. It’s about the fullness we get from knowing the ultimate white hat – the guy who laid down his life front and centre so that we don’t have to worry about losing it all on a coin toss.

This brings us onto our third film, Drive: the film that single-handedly reinvigorated the leather driving glove market, and the Grand Theft Auto film that Rockstar Games will never make.

Drive is an unbelievable film that merges elements of romance, crime and thriller genres to make something rightly described as Art. It’s essentially a neo Western – the story of a mysterious and nameless high plains drifter who appears to save the local population from bandits, and then drives off into the sunset, blood-soaked and vindicated. How the West was Won Back, perhaps?

Many people find the violence in Nicholas Winding Refn’s film excessive and stomach-churning. How can you possibly anything good or redemptive here?? Two things. Firstly, while the violence is indeed difficult to watch, I would argue that it’s never gratuitous. The shocking moment where a man’s head is crushed by Ryan Gosling’s boot happens within the same scene and setting as the passionately intimate kiss he plants on Irene (Cary Mulligan). The juxtaposition of the two elements acts as a wonderful elevator pitch for Refn’s skill as a director, showing how two seemingly conflicting themes can intermingle.  Just as when Isaac Watts pictured the crucifixion in 1707, in “When I survey the Wondrous Cross”, and penned the lyrics ‘ sorrow and love flow mingled down.’

What’s key here, though, is the lengths the Driver will go to in order to protect Irene’s life. The end of the 2nd Act sees the Driver’s proposition of a life together receive a literal slap in the face. Irene has rejected him, which is what makes the lift kiss so poignant – it’s a goodbye from a man who knows he’s not welcome. Nevertheless, the Driver spends the 3rd Act taking on the forces that would seek to steal Irene’s life and that of her son. He would lay down his life for someone he loves, but who has rejected’ him – someone who doesn’t even know his name.

The Bible further describes the crucifixion like this: ‘Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.’ (Colossians 2:15) The final showdown of Drive is indeed a public spectacle where Albert Brooks, the major antagonistic power, is left dead in a carpark for all to see. The final moments of the film show a seemingly lifeless driver suddenly revive (or resurrect) and drive off, bleeding profusely, but knowing that his actions have given Irene and her son freedom. ‘By his wounds, they are healed’ as Isaiah would have it.

The big difference of course is that Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t require anybody’s else’s blood to be spilled. The Driver is a complex being, a sacrificial monster, but in the Gospels we read of someone both truly divine and truly human, who was fully innocent and yet willingly died for people who, not knowing his identity, he knew would reject him.

A real human being, and a real hero.

So, Love, Death and Robots. The interesting thing about Love is that it’s always noticeable by its absence as much as its presence. In No Country for Old Men, Death wins because Love is absent, it’s missed its cue. In The Terminator, Love wins by redemptive violence. In Drive, Love beats Death by surrendering its life and bleeding out…only to be refilled with Hope. All three of these movies stage cage matches between the two greatest powers in the universe, with varying outcomes. The real world also has that battle raging before us. When the curtain falls and the screen fades to black, I know which ending I want to have watched.

We all want Love to win. Nobody wants Death to have the final say. The good news is that there is a real story out there where the script has been finalised and the scene is set. Not only the three films mentioned, but perhaps all films, all stories, and the yearnings of every human heart, are trailers for that grand narrative.

A Ministry Weekend at Mow Cop

It was great to partner with Mow Cop Community Church on the Cheshire/Staffordshire border for a weekend of really useful ministry.

On the Friday night, we did an event in their local village pub. The church booked a function-room there and Christians were encouraged to invite non-Christian friends, family-members or colleagues along. They invited me to join them and speak to the people there about the question of suffering, That’s such an important question, which we get asked all time at Solas. One of the ways it is often framed is, ‘If there is a good God, why is there suffering?’ So we used that as our title.

It wasn’t a huge meeting, but of the fifteen or sixteen people who joined us to listen and discuss that topic – about a third were not Christians, which weas great. And the non-Christian people were really, really interested. One person who was a student came to speak to me at the end for ages, with loads of very profound questions, who had come after hearing about the event from a friend. He spoke to me for half an hour, and was interested in joining the follow-up discussion group. The church has wisely arranged the discussion group to be in the same pub the following week, to make it easier for people to come to.

Then, two of the people who joined us were tourists, who just happened to be in the pub that night having a meal, and asked if they could stay for our meeting. It was really lovely to be able to chat with them a little. Another guy, who was an atheist came in, after seeing the event being advertised on a community web page. He was really interested in it all, and talked for so long that Matt the pastor, had to offer him a lift home!

I think it was really encouraging for the church to see that when you step outside the confines of your church building into a neutral space, there are many people who are genuinely interested in the Christian faith. That’s why we love invitations to café’s, pubs, restaurants etc because that’s where we so often meet non-Christian people who are spiritually searching and have real questions.

Then on the Saturday morning,  we did a Confident Christianity half-day conference. What was really exciting about that was that people from six different churches came. Mow Cop is a relatively small, rural place – but about 75 people came which was really encouraging. The Community Church there is quite small, but they really made an effort to invite loads of other Christians. They set our fifty chairs, but had to put extra rows of chairs out!

I spoke on “How to share your faith without looking stupid or foolish” and then on “Is Christianity Intolerant” – which is a question which we are often asked by sceptical friends and audiences. There was really good engagement, and really excellent Q&A too. It was wonderful to be able to help Christians to grow in their confidence in their faith. We really can talk to our friends and neighbours about Jesus, and there are ways of doing that naturally. There are also helpful, good answers to the kinds of tough questions which people at Mow Cop were raising too.

One pastor, visiting Mow Cop from another church on the edge of Stoke wanted to know if Solas would come to his church and do some of this kind of training. Of course, we’d love to, so we’ll talk further to him about how we can make that happen.

Altogether, it was a really exciting weekend of ministry, combining so many of the things we love doing, at Solas. Evangelism, evangelism-training and being a resource to the local-church in a more rural part of the country where some larger ministries perhaps wouldn’t go. But Solas refreshes the parts other don’t reach ! So it was great to partner with our friends at Mow Cop Community Church, including Solas’s friend Georgie Coster.

Pastor Matt Coster said, “As a small semi-rural church we really appreciated Andy visiting us for a Friday night evangelistic talk in our local pub and a Saturday morning Confident Christianity Conference. The talks on Saturday were helpful and accessible. We were pleased to be joined by members of six other local churches too!”

PEP Talk with Stephen McQuoid

Looking at the state of the church in the UK today, it can be quite discouraging. Although there are areas of growth and dynamism, there can be quite challenging situations in rural areas or even cities with disconnected communities. What are some effective strategies for sharing the gospel and developing healthy churches in these “spiritual deserts”?

With Stephen McQuoid PEP Talk

Our Guest

Stephen McQuoid spent the first twelve years of his life in Ethiopia where his parents were missionaries.  He then lived in Ireland where he qualified as a nurse before going on to study theology.  He was the Principal of Tilsley College for ten years, and is currently the General Director of GLO Europe where he has overall responsibility for the running of the organisation.  Stephen is married to Debbie and they have three children.  Stephen has a preaching ministry that takes him throughout the UK and abroad and is the author of several books.  He has a passion for evangelism and mission and helping churches to reach out relevantly to their community. 

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.

Does Science Disprove God?

Has science disproved God? That’s a common claim that is often heard — but does it stand up? Solas Associate Steve Osmond (himself a scientist!) takes a look and suggests that far from disproving God, could it in fact be that case that science points *to* God?

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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.

Four Lessons for Sharing Jesus in A Culture of Confusion

Our culture presents all kinds of challenges for us in sharing our faith – in the UK today we clearly do not live in a society which understands or embraces a biblical worldview generally, or personal faith in Christ specifically. The context in which we now work looks more and more like the places in which the first apostles worked in Acts. In this talk, from Lisburn Cathedral, Andy Bannister turned to the New Testament to see how the first Christians negotiated challenges which are remarkably similar to those we encounter today.

Andy’s talk starts at the 49 minute mark.

Confident Christianity in Spelthorne

Several local churches in the Spelthorne area (the least posh bit of Surrey) have enjoyed several years of gospel partnership and so it was a great joy to have over 100 people from 10 different local churches descend on Ashford Congregational Church at the end of Nov 2023 for a half day Confident Christianity conference.

After a short devotional on John 3:16 and a rousing singing of Crown Him with Many Crowns, we settled in for some tremendously stimulating and challenging stuff. Andy Bannister spoke first on ‘How to share your faith without getting fired or cancelled’ and then Sharon Dirckx spoke on ‘Am I just my brain?’ Then after a decent coffee break, lots of inter-church mingling and encouragement, and brisk trade done at the book table run by Canaan Ministries, we settled in for the second half. Sharon spoke on ‘Why would God allow suffering?’ and then took questions from the attendees. The questions were handled graciously and wisely by Sharon and folk were heartened by what they heard.

Then Andy spoke again, this time on ‘Understanding and Answering our Atheist Friends’ and he too followed this with a question time. Once again, the questions were of a high quality and sensitively dealt with and extremely helpful. We wrapped up by singing ‘Facing a Task Unfinished’ and giving thanks to God for our time together.

As local churches we agreed to underwrite the cost of the event and therefore it was free for all to attend. As a church pastor, I was massively encouraged that so many people gave up their Saturday mornings in order to become better equipped in evangelism and encouraged to give the reason for the hope that we have in Christ. More than a couple of people asked me at the end, if this could become a regular event. Happy shoppers indeed!! As local churches, we have to keep evangelism on the front burner, and one of the ways of doing this, is to regularly provide our folk with help and encouragement in evangelism. The Confident Christianity conference is an extremely useful tool in accomplishing this and I wholeheartedly recommend it to others. Keep up the good work at Solas!!

Keith Wilson (Pastor, Ashford Congregational Church)

PEP Talk with Tom Heasman

In today’s PEP Talk, Andy chats with a church pastor with a passion for evangelism through the local church. What are the challenges for developing a culture of evangelism, whether your church is rooted locally or a “commuter” congregation? What is pre-evangelism? And how can pastors “lower the bar” on evangelism so that everyone feels confident to do it?

With Tom Heasman PEP Talk

Our Guest

Tom Heasman currently serves as Co-Pastor at Widcombe Baptist Church, in Bath, having moved there recently from a church in SW London. His biggest passions in life are telling people about Jesus, making nice coffee, and spending as much time outdoors as possible with his wife, Josie, and three young children. For an idea of the various evangelism tools Tom has worked on, visit somethingbetter.org.uk

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.

The God Who Is Still Near

Solas was honoured to be invited to participate in this year’s GLO Mini Bible School. In his introduction to the event, GLO-Europe Director Stephen McQuoid wrote about the depressing statistics of the decline of Christian faith in ‘the West’. He also noted that Scotland is the most atheistic and ‘non-religious’ part of the UK. However, the aim of the GLO Mini Bible School was not to dwell in negativity, but to become informed and inspired – and to join in the fightback.

Held over two nights at The Tilsley Auditorium in Motherwell,  the format invited participants from across the churches to come together to think through the the challenges and opportunities of the present time – in perhaps a little more depth than is usually possible in a Sunday service. Equally these sessions were not pitched only at the theologically educated church leader, but at all Christians who are concerned about the spiritual state of our nation.

Stephen McQuoid kicked the event off with a session based on Paul’s address to the Aereopagus in Acts 17. Emphasising Paul’s assertion that “God is not far from any one of us”, Stephen looked at the Apostolic method of engaging pagan people with the claims of Jesus. The people are not our enemies, we go in love to serve them, actively looking for bridges between their world and the gospel.

In Session Two Dr Mark Stirling used the book of Revelation as a framework for examining the social and cultural crisis we face today. The backdrop is that behind the sin and rebellion (and devastation which flows form it), Christ is Lord and will bring history to its conclusion. Mark examined current emphasis of the inner authentic self, and the way in which this latest idolatry places a weight upon people they cannot bear. Likewise, he spoke powerfully about the alternative of genuine discipleship – in which we find our lives by losing them for Christ!

In my first session I looked at Paul’s statement in Romans 1, that he was “unashamed of the gospel”. We looked at why the gospel was seen as potentially shameful in the First Century and why it might be today. We then through together about some ways we might overcome our reluctance to share our faith. The gospel remains the power of God for salvation!

In the final session, I contrasted the way in which Paul spoke to believers and the way that both he and The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to unbelievers. Paul before Agrippa used his testimony, highlighting the importance of narrative; while Jesus used stories/parables, images and questions to open up the most profound questions about God with the people he ministered to. We closed with a brief reminder that the gospel is firstly good news for us, and that God’s grace utterly transforms how we do evangelism.

At Solas we were delighted to be involved with the GLO Mini Bible School. The event is scheduled to run every year, and the details will all be published on their website here as soon as they are available.

Don’t We Just Believe The Things That We Want To?

An atheist friend once said: “You Christians only believe what you believe because you only ever read or watch things that agree with you!” There’s a name for that—“confirmation bias”—and whilst Christians can be guilty of it, so can atheists! How can we really be sure that what we believe (or don’t believe is true)? How can we avoid being gullible Christians or lazy sceptics? Andy Bannister offers some practical suggestions about how to put our beliefs to the test.

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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.

Kirkintilloch – Confident Christianity

It was a great joy to take the “Confident Christianity conference” to the town of Kirkintilloch Baptist Church (KBC), in East Dunbartonshire, North of Glasgow. The church did a great job in promoting the event to bring a good crowd together, making everyone welcome, and providing refreshments and a great lunch for everyone too. As ever the focus of these events was to encourage and equip Christians to share their faith more confidently and joyfully.

The day began with a devotional message from KBC’s Pastor Mark Fyfe, and some sung worship. Then progressed with a mixture of practical sessions on conversational evangelism from Andy Bannister, a look at a “Biblical Approach to Apologetics” from me and an overview of how to respond to the objection to Christianity raised by suffering. Andy was suffering from a throat infection and so this talk was handed to Steve Osmond – an experienced apologist visiting Solas from South Africa that week. That was a great relief for Andy, which enabled him to also deliver a final talk on ‘Can life have meaning without God?” Before ending the day with worship and prayer, conference organiser Chris Morrison had invited the audience to submit their questions to the speakers online or via the roving microphone! The Q&A was really thoughtful, with many of the questions picking up on the themes of the talks, others probing into issues as diverse as, talking to Jehovah’s Witnesses, the place of prayer and experience in evangelism, the reliability of texts and language, and handling emotive topics like sexuality with grace, truth and compassion.

Conference organiser Chris Morrison wrote:

“We had an excellent Confident Christianity Conference at Kirkintilloch Baptist Church. Gavin, Andy, and Steve brought a level of energy, expertise, and passion to the conference that engaged everyone in attendance. The feedback has been universally positive, everyone I have spoken to found the talks encouraging, informative, and helpful in their mission to reach their friends, family, and colleagues with the hope found in Christ. The speakers did an excellent job of addressing common challenges and providing practical tips and strategies for sharing one’s faith. The Q&A session was a particular highlight, as it allowed attendees to ask questions and receive advice from experts on the topic. As a church we are grateful to have been able to partner with Solas to run this event and I would highly recommend the Confident Christianity Conference to other churches looking to equip their members to be more confident in sharing their faith with others.”

Pastor Mark Fyfe added, “I echo what Chris has already said, it was a fantastic conference and hugely helpful with equipping us to confidently share our faith. A Huge thanks to the Solas team for all your input”.

From Solas’s perspective, we were hugely grateful for the welcome at KBC, the engaged, enthusiastic and supportive congregation as well as the opportunity to serve and encourage the church in its mission to take the gospel to the world.

We have had the joy of taking the Confident Christianity conference to many parts of the UK now, from huge cities to remote villages. If holding an event like this might be of use to your church community, please  do get in touch by clicking here.   We’d love to hear from you.