The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist (with Andy Bannister)

by Solas

In the mid 2010’s, New Atheism was busy producing best-selling books and plastering adverts on the sides of buses. Its loud scepticism is not as popular these days, but many of its arguments live on. What has changed and how can we respond a decade later? Andy Bannister explores this in his revised and expanded book, The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist, for a 10th anniversary edition. He speaks to Gavin Matthews and Simon Wenham about what’s new what’s interesting about the state of atheism today.

Get a free copy of the book when you sign up to support Solas for just £4 a month. https://solas-cpc.org/book-offer/

The Atheist Who Didn't Exist (with Andy Bannister) – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Andy Bannister is the Director of Solas, speaker, broadcaster and author of several books—the latest being the 10th anniversary edition of The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist (IVP). He travels regularly speaking at churches, Christian Union groups and festivals about evangelism. Andy holds a PhD in Islamic studies and has taught extensively at universities across Canada, the USA, the UK and further afield on both Islam and philosophy. Andy lives in Wiltshire with his wife, Astrid, and two young children.

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.

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The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist (10th Anniversary Edition)

by Solas

Does atheism really explain everything? Can reasonable people take Christianity seriously?

During the early twenty-first century, New Atheism was busy producing best-selling books and plastering adverts on the sides of buses. Its loud scepticism is not as popular these days, but many of its arguments live on.

Yet, what if some of its common claims like, “science has buried God” and “religion is the cause of most wars” are not just incorrect, but demonstrably wrong? What if Richard Dawkins and the other New Atheists were not merely barking up the wrong tree, but were in the wrong forest entirely?

Andy Bannister brings you this fully updated and revised book, with new chapters, new resources, discussion guides … and new comedy. The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist is designed for curious people to tug at the loose threads of atheism and see if it unravels.

What’s New?

The first edition of The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist was incredibly popular — its unique blend of argument and humour reaching places and people few Christian books ever do. This new 10th Anniversary edition has been entirely revised and updated throughout and includes:

  • A brand new foreword from comedian Andy Kind.
  • A new preface exploring the story of what happened to the New Atheism and why it failed.
  • A new final chapter, “The Voyage off the End of the World: (Or: why the Western world is rediscovering God”, which looks at the green shots of the recovery faith in the western world.
  • Discussion questions at the end of each chapter — ideal to use as a study guide, or in a book group, or for digging into the book’s themes with a friend in a cafe or pub!
  • New recommended resources at the end of each chapter to help you go further.
  • Masses of additional content woven throughout the book.
  • 14.7% funnier than the original (just remember that 18.2% of all statistics are just made up).

Now Available

The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist is released 17th July 2025 in the UK (later this summer in the USA/Canada/Australia) published by IVP. Available at major Christian booksellers including 10ofThose and as an e-book from Amazon. An audiobook is coming later this year.

Get a free copy when you sign up to support Solas from just £4 per month.

Endorsements

The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist is a unique and brilliant book, tackling questions that really matter but in a disarmingly funny and winsome way that will make you laugh out loud. It is honest, expertly argued and compelling. I thoroughly recommend this book!’
~ Sharon Dirckx, speaker, author and broadcaster

Like a fine wine, Andy Bannister’s writing ages remarkably well. This revised and updated edition of The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist is as intelligent, relevant and funny as it was the first time round. However, the arguments feel even more persuasive today. Atheism has been tried and found wanting and Andy is not alone in noticing a positive shift in attitudes towards faith. There has never been a better time to invite people to consider the case for Christianity, and Andy Bannister shows how to do it with wisdom, grace and plenty of humour too.
~ Justin Brierley, speaker, writer and broadcaster

Andy Bannister’s The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist is a blend of sharp reasoning and pointed humour, offering a critique of popular atheist arguments. With a storyteller’s flair, Bannister presents complex ideas in an engaging and accessible way, reflecting the author’s energetic and personable style. Beneath the light-hearted tone lies a thoughtful engagement with the claims of atheism and scepticism. Whether you agree or disagree, this book will entertain and provoke meaningful reflection.
~ Kristi Mair, lecturer at Oak Hill College, UK

This is not your typical book on atheism. With a combination of humour, knowledge and wit, Andy Bannister provides practical tools in engaging with common atheist discourses. As Bannister notes (via the poetry of Matthew Arnold) the sea of faith ebbs and flows. The irony of this illustration is, as Andy points out in his conclusion, tides have a funny habit of returning to where they started. We’re seeing the surprising return of spiritual thinking and faith for a reason… it is entirely reasonable.
~ Wesley Huff, Central Canada Director for Apologetics Canada

We all have an inner sceptic – a “watchful dragon”, as C. S. Lewis called it. And the best way for faith to steal past such watchful dragons is with a story. Step forward Andy Bannister, armed to the teeth with stories and illustrations that are always thoughtful and often laugh-out-loud funny. A delight to read, ponder and pass on.
~ Glen Scrivener, author, speaker and Director of Speak Life

Lab Notes from the Faithful: Dr. Elaine Howard Ecklund

by Editor

Steve Osmond: Professor Elaine Howard Ecklund, thank you so much for agreeing to join me for a discussion about faith and science, and especially the social sciences, which is your field of research.

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Thanks so much for having me. I just love doing this kind of thing. It’s really a privilege to be with you.

Steve Osmond: So, I’m here in Perth [Scotland] on a surprisingly sunny day! Where are you based currently?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Houston, Texas! (Laughing). I don’t know why I laugh when I say that, but I think people abroad have a kind of stereotype of the States and right away they always think of Texas. So, when I’m talking to someone who’s not from the US, I just laugh when I say Texas. But I really love living in Texas and I love working at Rice University, which is in Houston, Texas. We’re quite close to the U.S.-Mexico border – and it’s a privilege to work here.

Steve Osmond:  I have a few questions for you today about science and faith. It’s a big topic, and obviously there’s so much that could be said. One aspect that I want to chat about is the idea that there is a conflict between the two – the idea that they are mutually exclusive.  My background is in the sciences and when I was doing my post-grad studies, I had some friends who would ask me how I could be a Christian and a scientist? They thought these were in conflict. Over the years that has remained in the back of my mind as I’ve tried to make sense of things and communicate with others about this.  And, as I understand it, you have done that from the sociological side of things.

Will you explain what it is that you do at Rice University, and what do you love about your line of research?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Thanks for that question. That’s right, I am a sociologist, and we use empirical methods. We do scientific studies to try to understand the social world. Interestingly, I’m married to a physicist. My husband is a particle physicist, and he studies the natural world – the particles he studies don’t back talk to him. But I study the social world, and so I have the privilege of actually talking to people.

And as a social scientist, I’m able to move beyond anecdotes, not that people’s personal stories aren’t important, but what we are most interested in as social scientists is trying to figure out what groups of people think and how typical an individual story is of the group as a whole. A huge impact of our work, I think, is cutting down on stereotypes that people have of each other. So you think about scientists and for the past about 20 years – I can’t believe this is true, that I’m this old – but for about the past 20 years, I’ve been studying what scientists think about religion, as well as the scientific workplace and what  scientists are actually doing with religion in the workplace – looking at the question: does religion actually enter science? And I’ve also studied what religious people, (people of faith), think about science. And I’ve been particularly interested, as a Christian myself, in trying to figure out the kinds of stereotypes that Christians have of scientists.

I could go on. I’m a professor, so you have to stop me if I start making speeches!

Steve Osmond: Haha! I’m sure you’ve had many great conversations over the years.

For many years a lot of my work was on fish – and they also don’t talk back. So, you’re guessing a lot of the time as to what’s going on, but at least your study group can tell you what they’re thinking.

You also mentioned that you’re a Christian. Before we dig into you research and professional work, tell me a bit more about that if you don’t mind. How did you become a Christian?  And what does that faith look like day to day?

Also, how did you first become interested in the relationship between science and faith?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Sure. I grew up in a Christian home, but it was not a deeply intellectual home. And I don’t want to in any way put down my upbringing or the folks who raised me – who were amazing people but it was not a home where I was raised with an intellectual faith. However I was one of those kinds of kids who you might imagine becoming a professor,  I preferred to read books and play the piano. I just read all the time. So, I suppose I was a candidate to get higher education and become a professor. And, you know, given the kind of studies I do now, I think I was also a candidate for someone who would leave their faith when she went to university and things got a little bit challenging.

I went to an elite school – Cornell University – which is an Ivy League university in the United States, and I found that I fell in with a group of quite intellectual Christians. Looking back at it, I feel like God really had his hand on me and really placed me with the right group of people. I became part of a group of Christians who really showed me that it was possible to ask the hardest questions of the faith, that it was possible to go into any kind of discipline and remain a Christian – even sociology, which I ended up then getting a PhD in. We often think of the social sciences as perhaps even a little bit anti-Christian in some corners, but I have not found that to be the case. I’ve also met and become very deep friends with Christians in the social sciences and even specifically in my field of sociology. And so, I feel that God provided me that kind of community.

What does it mean to me to be a Christian now in my everyday work? The academy is a very hard kind of place. It is a place where people are really judged on how much research they produce, and how much grant money they bring in. And I think the primary way I see being a Christian having an impact on my professional life is that deep sense that I am valuable for who I am as someone made in the image of God rather than what I do. It’s a simple Biblical theological concept that any good church would teach, right?  So in one sense, it’s not the headiest thing we have to offer in the Christian tradition, but it is so profound and has a deep impact on literally everything I do. It allows me the freedom to focus on others rather than myself and how I look.  And I spent a lot of time trying to sponsor and support the careers of junior scholars as I’ve grown in my professional life.

I think that’s very, very important: to know that we’re totally valuable outside of our work and the performance of our work. Another way that I’m really impacted as a sociologist is this sense that I have some kind of responsibility to reach Christian communities with my work too. Because of my own background and my current faith commitments, I feel this kind of special responsibility to reach out to churches and Christian people who are struggling and to try to share my research with them in a way that I think could be helpful and potentially life changing.

So those two kinds of commitments I see really informing my work as a sociologist and as a Christian sociologist in particular.

Steve Osmond: You touched on something there about the perception that people have, especially toward studying in the sociological sciences – a sense that this is something dangerous even.  I’m sure you’ve heard stories about how someone who has been raised in a Christian home may go off to university and enter the social sciences and end up turning their back on their faith. This usually happens if they haven’t been exposed to some basic philosophy, good theology, how to understand their faith properly (apologetics).

But I think the perspective that you’ve shared is very refreshing and quite encouraging.  It really highlights the way that your faith shapes the way that you carry out your work in a holistic way – which is something it should do. The Christian faith isn’t just some kind of concept that we hold on to. If it’s true, it works its way out into every aspect of our life.

How does your faith influence your intellectual journey as a scholar? Have there been any moments in your career where your faith and your work in sociology have intersected or maybe either challenged or deepened your understanding of either of them?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: That’s a good question. I started out as a sociologist really being interested in inequality and how the differences in levels of power between people groups and the differences that those levels of power, and levels of resources, make in individual life chances.

I came to that interest in part through my Christian faith. I was part of a group in college where we did a lot of thinking about issues of poverty and our responsibility as students at an elite school for the rest of the world and for alleviating poverty. And, you know, we were naive, but we were at least talking about the issues. And that really informed my sociological work. So, I had the chance to study inequality systematically through rigorous social science methods and to try to figure out what causes inequality. And in particular, I was interested in racial inequalities and in immigrant inequalities – gosh, so relevant to our globe today – and the ways in which Christians sometimes reify those inequalities, even unintentionally.

I turned my sociological lens on the Christian community itself, and some in my Christian community didn’t like that. Sometimes this happens when we study the social groups, we’re part of, and it gets a bit hard. And obviously I wouldn’t want to put too much weight on myself and my own views – but there’s sometimes a chance for academics to be a bit prophetic too, because we’re not just a part of one church, but we’re studying how religious organizations compare to one another, which gives a larger lens, and maybe will point the way towards some necessary changes.

Steve Osmond: What do you think is at the core of the suspicion that some Christian people might have about your commitment to research?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: As I mentioned, I was really honoured to be part of a college group that was very intellectual and very committed to the study of inequality.  As I’m sure your readers will be well aware, there are certainly corners of Christian communities which are really afraid of the intellect. And there’s so many reasons for that.  Often intellectuals have been extremely dismissive, inappropriately so, of faith and of religious people. And so, you don’t want to pay attention to a group of people that you think is dismissive of you and doesn’t like you. I’ve certainly experienced that over the years in my academic journey; that sometimes my intellectual peers can be dismissive of the kinds of things I’ve studied or even me as a person. But there are also ways in which Christians, as I’ve said, have been incredibly dismissive of the intellectual life. Both of those things are happening.

And so, one of my missions is to bring these communities together. Obviously, there are many Christian intellectuals like yourself and others, and we just need more of those kinds of places where we can really build common ground that the academy and the intellect broadly have so much to add to Christian faith. Our faith is so deeply intellectual, that we don’t have anything to fear.

Steve Osmond: Oh, absolutely. Many places in the Bible encourage us to use our minds. There is obviously the experiential aspect, but there is also the intellectual component. And I completely agree that in many instances, maybe we haven’t been on the front foot when it comes to the intellectual side of things. That is why we at Solas are doing these kinds of interviews to bring people like you on to help us better step into that space and understand things.

Focusing on science and religion then, what do you see as some shared values or common ground that exist between the sciences and faith despite this idea of conflict and opposition.

And are there any aspects of religious practice or even scientific inquiry that you think might complement each other?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: So, in the past 20 years or so, I have done about 11 different studies looking at scientists’ attitudes towards religion and religious people’s attitudes towards science, primarily in the U.S. and U.K., but I’ve looked at scientists in eight different nations. Some top-level findings from the whole body of that research are that scientists tend to be more religious than we might think.

There are often huge stereotypes among religious communities, but particularly Christian communities, about what scientists think about religion and people of faith.

So, someone like Richard Dawkins, for example, who wrote The God Delusion is incredibly popular even to this day, although I think that’s decreasing. But Christians in the US tend to think that he’s pretty typical of all scientists. They also think that someone like Francis Collins, who was the former head of the National Institutes of Health and is a fairly outspoken Christian, is pretty atypical. And I find from my research that neither Collins nor Dawkins are very typical of scientists. But I’ve found that many scientists, about 50%, are part of a religious tradition or incredibly open to spiritual inquiry outside of outside of science itself.

Steve Osmond: Yes. That’s hugely different to the general perception that gets communicated, especially in the popular media.

Elaine Howard Ecklund: So that’s especially the case in the U.S.A.  In other national contexts like Taiwan and Hong Kong, for example, scientists are a bit more like the general population in those nations, they’re a bit more religiously varied and a bit more religious.

You also asked about shared values. One of my missions as a Christian scholar is to do the top academic work. I think we really owe it to ourselves and to the church writ large to use our gifts towards excellent work.

I always write an academic book and several articles whenever I do a project. But lately I’ve been trying to also do some pieces for a specifically Christian audience. One of those is a book called ‘Why Science and Faith Need Each Other, Eight Shared Values That Move Us Beyond Fear’. In that book, I talk about the ways in which the scientific and faith communities actually have very compatible values. We start usually by looking at these two communities from a lens of difference. We’re trying to find out what is conflictual about these two communities. But when I looked at these communities the other way, I found, for example, that both share this deep sense of awe in the natural world, and there’s a lot of Christian teaching that is about awe! Awe in front of God, awe in front of the natural world. And, of course, scientific discovery leads to those feelings of awe too.

Another shared value is having a sense of humility, and humility in particular when confronted with evidence, which is a core piece of the scientific method. Christians who have a robust Christian theology also find much evidence for humility within our Christian theology, a sense of humility before God, a deep knowledge that we are not God.

And so going through that book, I show these very core values. It’s meant to be read in a fellowship group or a book group. And it’s a simple, short book, but very much based on my research, but then intertwining that with the kinds of things that Christians and everyday scientists actually talk about.

Steve Osmond: Yes, there is so much common ground – which is definitely something to focus on rather than immediately trying to focus on differences of opinion.

If I’m not mistaken, you’ve written nine books up to this point. What are some of the other things you’ve looked at?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Yeah, that’s right. Some of my more recent work is taking my scientific work and zooming out to look at workplaces broadly and compare those in different kinds of professions. I’ve spent a lot of time studying physicians and other medical workers who are related to science, but from a different perspective. I’ve also looked at the clergy themselves. I’ve looked at people in service occupations, people who are in the gig economy, who put together several different kinds of jobs often to make a living. And with my coauthors, Denise Daniels and Christopher Scheitle, have written a book called ‘Religion in a Changing Workplace’.

We found so many interesting things in that book about calling and about what workplace leaders can do to increase religious accommodation. That got us thinking that maybe this is another one of those situations where we have some kind of social responsibility to translate that work to Christians. And so, we’ve authored a different book with InterVarsity Press, which is coming out in August of 2025, called ‘Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work’.

Steve Osmond: Yes, I was going to ask about that project!  That’s exciting.

Elaine Howard Ecklund: That book is really intentional too. It’s short. It’s just a few pages per chapter with some discussion questions at the end. So, if I may make a shameless plug, that can be pre-ordered and will be great in a church discussion group setting.

Steve Osmomd: Haha, absolutely, plug away – it sounds like it will be a great conversation starter. After all these years and all these different projects that you’ve focused on, what have been some of the most surprising or maybe even unexpected findings related to how scientists view and integrate their faith, especially the Christian faith, into their work?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: The biggest finding for me is that scientists don’t have the kind of intellectual struggle with their faith and their scientific work that I thought they would have. I thought from everything that I’d been led to believe in my own church experiences, that scientists who are Christians would be struggling day in and day out to integrate, to figure out how to reconcile things like evolutionary theory with a more literal Biblical account of creation or something like that. But this is totally not where they are.  So by the time they become professional scientists at a university, they have figured those things out, pretty much.

But where Christian faith seems to make an enormous difference for scientists who are Christians, are what I would call the ‘human aspects’ of science. They are really thinking deeply about how to care for their students, how to lead laboratories, how to do research that makes a difference to the social world. It’s not just social scientists like me, but natural scientists are thinking about things like where to take funding from. Who am I responsible to do outreach with? Those kinds of things. Those human aspects of science are very much driven by faith.

The other kind of thing is that scientists, especially across national contexts, both committed Christians (and those committed to other faiths), do perceive themselves as facing discrimination in science. I, in some ways, thinking stereotypically before I started these studies, thought that the scientific community was above that, if that makes sense. And I did find perceptions of discrimination, especially toward Muslim scientists and Christian scientists. Muslims in the UK and committed Christians in the US both face discrimination in the scientific community. Our group has written quite a bit about that as well.  And then thirdly, religious communities, and again Christians and Muslims, really stand out as being unique. Religious communities feel like scientists do not like them. It’s not so much that there’s this knowledge deficit. A lot of the research has shown that religious people probably don’t know enough, and I think in certain corners, that’s probably true. But there is misinformation. Scientific misinformation. But more often, religious people have problems with science because they don’t trust scientists because they think scientists do not like them.

And, gosh, I feel like the scientific community can do a lot better, and Christians in science maybe have some very special responsibilities to reach out to folks that are in their community and really help them understand that there can be a very positive relationship between people of faith who are not scientists and the scientific community. And they, as I’ve called them in my work – the religious scientists – are a kind of boundary pioneer, because they have a foot in both worlds, and they can really pioneer positive relationships.

Steve Osmond: You did mention there this pressure that Christians in the scientific research world can face. What have you seen as some of the ways that they’ve been able to navigate those pressures in a healthy way?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Oh, that’s a really good question. I see three kinds of things.  They do talk about relying on their faith traditions to see the humanness of every person, even people who stereotypically might be against them. I think that’s especially important, that kind of human impact of one’s faith on the workplace broadly, but particularly in scientific work.

There is a sense where religious scientists, and these are people who attend often and who are very committed in communities, have what we call in our broader work, alternative communities. So, you may have a work community, which is not totally supportive of all of your personal identities, but through your church you can have an alternative community to your work community, which is also a great support. I think that’s very important for religious organizations to think about their capacities to support people in various kinds of jobs and to see those jobs as a mission.

I also find that a science is one place where calling is very much part of the currency of the realm – that people of faith often feel called to their work. That kind of calling allows one to withstand certain work difficulties. It also makes us less likely to address systemic workplace problems because we’re like, well, we’re called to our work, so we should just accept what happens here. I think, unfortunately, sometimes we do need to speak up and try to make changes.  And we shouldn’t use our faith as an excuse not to do that, but rather as a reason to speak on behalf of others and try to make changes in workplaces.

Steve Osmond: That’s really helpful, thank you. Over the last years of doing your research, how do you think the relationship between science and faith has evolved – maybe over the last two decades or so? And I suppose more importantly, where do you see it going in, say, the next 5, 10, 20 years?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: I’m thinking of two things as you ask that question.

So firstly, there are a lot more institutions and organizations that have cropped up over the past 20 years to address the science and faith interface. We have things like the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences’ Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion, which was led for many years by the astronomer Jennifer Weissman.

We have Science for the Church, which is one of my favourite organizations led by Greg Cootsona and Drew Rick-Miller. And there are many others.

So as a sociologist, someone who studies groups and structures, it’s encouraging to me to see these amazing structures out there doing excellent work and providing spaces for people to have intelligent and creative discussions and to do research on these topics. I think that’s wonderful.

Secondly, where are we going? So, I think we’re going to move out of a defensive posture. As Christians we have been in what I would call a deeply defensive posture. A sort of defensive apologetics posture, which I don’t think is bad necessarily. I think there are people who needed to understand those arguments for how one can have a consistent faith, a faith that’s consistent with science. But I think we now need to move into an era where we’re thinking about what Christian faith can give to science. And in particular, we have many applied scientific technologies. I think we’re going to move from discussing science and religion in the abstract, to move to discussing the moral implications of new scientific technologies. When we think about AI, when we think about the host of human reproductive genetic technologies, when we think about the technologies that will be needed to solve climate change, Christian communities have a lot to say here.

And I think we’re going to move into a more active posture, hopefully a deeply intellectually robust posture, where our philosophers and theologians and historians are really coming to the table alongside social scientists and natural scientists to comment on the moral implications of these technologies and how we might really use these technologies for the common good.

Steve Osmond: And I think that’s exciting because as Christians we have so much to offer the sciences, especially, as you say, with some of these really big questions that we’re faced with. One last question: you mentioned the calling that you see a lot of Christian scientists feel. What advice would you offer to young scientists who are seeking to navigate their faith within that academic world of the sciences?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Proceed humbly and get the right community. We all need to approach the world, especially in these times, from a posture of learning. And even if you’re faced with someone who you think you radically disagree with, and there’s good reasons to agree with some kinds of things, and even to fight certain kinds of ideas. Even so, to have a posture of learning and humility and to understand that we’re all limited in our knowledge and we have something to learn from the other. I think that’s incredibly important right now, especially when thinking about the science and faith interface.

Also, as you approach thinking about a professional scientific career, I do think you need to have a supportive community of those who love and care for you just as you are – in all your intellectual foibles.

Steve Osmond: Elaine, thank you so much for sharing just some of your wisdom and some of the the fruit of your research over the last few years. I feel like we could keep going for ages – I have so many questions, but that’s all the time we have for today. I look forward to speaking to you again in the future.

Where can people go to keep up to date with your work and see the list of books you’ve written?

Elaine Howard Ecklund: Thanks so much, Steve. It’s been a real pleasure talking with you.

The best place to go is the website: https://www.elainehowardecklund.com/

—

Elaine Howard Ecklund is the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences, Professor of Sociology, and director of the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University. As a sociologist of religion, science, and work, she is particularly interested in social change and how institutions change, especially when individuals leverage aspects of their religious, race, and gender identities to change institutions. Over the past several years Elaine’s research has explored how scientists in different nations understand religion, ethics, and gender; religion at work; and the overlap between racial and religious discrimination in workplaces. Most recently Elaine is co-directing a $2.9 million grant to create a new subfield of sociological research examining how identities and beliefs around race and gender are related to attitudes about science and religion.

Elaine is the author of nine books, over 150 research articles, and numerous op-eds. She has received grants and awards from multiple organizations including the National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, Templeton World Charity Foundation, and Templeton Religion Trust. Her latest books include Religion in a Changing Workplace (OUP, 2024) and Varieties of Atheism in Science (OUP, 2021) as well as Why Science and Faith Need Each Other (Brazos, 2020).  (From Rice University Website)

 

Evangelism Training at Glasgow Grace

by Editor

I really enjoyed my recent visit to Glasow Grace, for a bit of a different Confident Christianity event. We took our usual Confident Christianity materials – which readers of this website will be familiar with, and divided it up into four fifteen-minute “Ted style “ talks, interspersed with discussion activities in groups with a decent coffee break in the middle of the programme, and a session of Q&A at the end. It’s a good format, as it keeps the event moving and keeps it lively. The folks there were seated around tables too – which works for short talks and frequent discussion breaks.

They were a good lively, engaged audience which is great for a speaker – and this format seemed to go down quite well with them. Glasgow Grace is a younger church, with most of their members being student age or thereabouts, many of whom I recognized from university missions with their CU’s in Glasgow. There were about 60 people there, at a guess.

The whole thing took place on a Sunday afternoon, and it followed lunch which in turn followed  the morning worship service, so it was a full day for the folks there, but they seemed to enjoy it!

The topics we did were:

  • The Power of a good question.
  • Sparking spiritual curiosity in your friends.
  • Have You Ever Wondered?
  • Bringing it back to Jesus

One of our core values at Solas is that we are ‘Church Focussed’ which means serving the local church on the ground. That means many things in practice, one of which is to make sure that we adapt the format of our event to suit the needs of different audiences.  It seemed to work well at Glasgow Grace!

One of the pastors at Glasgow Grace, Lewis Cameron, said”“We loved having Andy with us to train and encourage us in evangelism. His conversational and everyday approach takes the fear out of evangelism, and left us all feeling empowered and equipped to live on mission!”

Storytelling That Reflects Christ (with Brooke Kehl)

by Solas

Why do personal stories have the power to move us?

In this episode, Brooke Kehl, of Eastern European Mission, explores why testimonies can be such a compelling witness to others. Hear how God is transforming lives, and how you can play your part in reaching those around you. Could a focus on mirroring Christ be the first step to unlocking new and surprising opportunities to share your faith? How might our own stories inspire and impact others, as part of God’s grand plan to reach the lost?

Storytelling That Reflects Christ (with Brooke Kehl) – PEP Talk

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For more about how storytelling helps in personal evangelism, have a listen to this PEP Talk with Jason Lane.

Our Guest

Brook Kehl has been Marketing Director of Eastern European Missions (EEM) for seven years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in theological studies and a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health, providing her with a compassionate perspective on the emotional and spiritual needs of others. Outside of work, she enjoys birdwatching, group hikes, traveling, exploring new cultures, and serving with her local church.

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

Mind the Gap Revisited – The Friendship Gap

by Editor

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:29-32)

It was a wet autumn evening in Belfast as I sat in my car outside the home of my then girlfriend (now wife), waiting for her to return from spending the weekend with her parents in County Armagh. My phone ping’d as a text message came through: “Got delayed. I’ll be with you in 15mins,” it read. With nothing better to do, I decided to scroll through the contact list on my mobile. I’m one of those weird, obsessive individuals who is uncomfortable with digital clutter – the kind who struggle with anything but essential folders, symmetrically-arranged on my desktop, and who unashamedly remove themselves from Whatsapp groups the second they have served their purpose – so I thought the next quarter of an hour might offer me a welcome opportunity to refine my iPhone 4 of any contact fodder (i.e. “5-a-side Mark” who organised the weekly kickabout I stopped going to three years ago, or the U.K. number of a friend who had recently moved to Thailand). As I fastidiously scrolled through the list, an inconvenient truth struck me: Out of a contact directory of nearly two hundred names, all but a couple were Christian – and one of those was the New Century Chinese takeaway I frequent on Saturday evenings!

How had this happened? I was a staff member of a large church, I preached regularly in churches around the country, I knew Greek and Hebrew, and I considered myself to be someone who took evangelism seriously. After all, I had done evangelistic mission trips every summer for the past six years! I could stand behind a lectern and preach evangelistically to an audience for strangers, or even go onto the streets and “do evangelism” by giving out gospel literature, apprehending passers-by in spiritual conversation whether they wished to or not. Yet somehow my entire social network – the people I would go for coffee with, or shared a changing room with before and after a soccer game at the weekend – the people I had real relationship with had inconspicuously become monolithically Christian.

No matter what our knowledge, experience, gifting, or enthusiasm when it comes to sharing the Gospel may be, it is going to be almost impossible to do any kind of effective evangelism if, in reality, we simply don’t know or are not in significant relationships with people who do not share our worldview. The Lord, of course, can graciously use our sporadic missional efforts in things like open-air preaching or door-to-door literature distribution. Yet, if I am honest about my own experience, these types of momentary, “sacrificial” ventures where often more about appeasing my own evangelistic conscience than they were about a genuine love for lost people. Indeed, more often in the history of Christianity, the most effective strategy for Gospel witness has not been the charge of the Gospel light brigade in sporadic evangelistic “campaigns”, but the consistent and curious public witness of individual believers prepared to both display and discuss the Christian hope within them among friends, family members and colleagues whom they sought meaningful relationship with (cf. Matt 5:16; 1 Pt. 2:12; 3:15).

Of course, the antecedent to this type of evangelism is the expectation that each of us actually have meaningful relationships with non-Christians. Why not take a moment – either now or later today – to scroll through your mobile contacts, or make a list of your closest and most consistent relationships in order to appraise just how coherent our own lives are with this biblical expectation? This is not an exercise designed to guilt-trip, but simply a fresh, private opportunity to evaluate just what sort of relationships we really have with people who don’t know Jesus. If your honest assessment is anything like mine was that night in my car, you may be experiencing what we at Solas are calling the “Friendship Gap” in evangelism. Simply put, our evangelism is stalling because we aren’t invested enough in healthy relationships with those outside the Christian community.

Undoubtedly, there are many reasons motivating why we might be experiencing Friendship Gap, and we must personally consider what the influences might be for our own lives. Perhaps two of the most universal determinants, however, involve what we, first, might identify as a specious theology of Christian distinction and, second, the practical problem of a Christian-saturated social infrastructure which may or may not be a product of this fallacious theology. Let’s consider the theological challenge first.

The New Testament is very clear about the anti-Christian spirit or mindset at work within our fallen world (cf. 1 John 2:16; 5:19), as well as the importance of Christian believers remaining distinct in their thinking and morals from this spirit, both for their own flourishing and as a faithful witness to the world of the beauty and truth of God’s better story. The Old Testament account of the nation of Israel is a cautionary tale to the power of the world over God’s people. Israel was chosen to play the unique role in history as God’s instrument of “light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 49:6), illuminating the pagan nations they lived among to the truth and superiority of Yahweh via their ethics and practices. Yet, all too often, the tide of influence flowed in the opposite direction and the people of Israel, to their detriment, found themselves adopting the values and worldview of these nations. As sobering a warning as Israel is to the power of worldly influence, we should not conclude – as some Christians have mistakenly supposed – that there is, in reality, only danger, and nothing of heavenly value in healthy mutual relationship with non-Christians, and that the only surefire way to ensure the maintenance of our faith is to, in effect, socially distance ourselves from any meaningful non-Christian contexts. This erroneous theology of godly distinction was precisely the prism through which the Pharisees and theologians of Jesus’s day interpreted his investing time and interest in “tax collectors and sinners”. For them, godliness was about separation from such people. Consequently, they simply could not reconcile their self-aggrandising notions of holiness with Jesus’s genuine love for non-believers and concluded that the holiest human the world has ever known, God incarnate no less, must himself be a sinful fraud. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Far from Jesus’s active engagement with unbelievers being an evidence of spiritual compromise, it was, in fact, a tangible reflection of God’s incalculable love for those He longed to make His children. Contrary to the perceived need to guard oneself from being contaminated by the darkness a rebellious world, Jesus knew that the Light that he, and his followers after him, carried into that world and put on display, was a light that no darkness could overcome (John 1:5) – a light that, as the Gospel narratives bear witness, bore an unyielding power to positively contaminate any person’s heart with the very life and love of Almighty God. It is on this very basis, equipped with the same divine power, that Christ commands his followers to hold up that same light in today’s world through purposeful and consistent friendly engagement with unbelievers.

A second major contributing factor to the Friendship Gap in evangelism is the practical challenge of, often unconsciously, allowing our social lives and relationships to orbit almost exclusively within a Christian solar system. By this, I have in mind things like church-based exercise groups (5-a-side, badminton etc.), Christian book or movie clubs, or the proclivity to only invite believing friends round for dinner or coffee. Indeed, in our largest university in Belfast, we have not simply Christian, but denominationally-specific student halls of residence, each with their own active social, devotional and recreational activities, meaning that a Christian undergraduate can spend their entire degree bubbled together with their believing peers, running the risk of being practically inoculated from any need to spend meaningful time with coursemates who do not share their worldview.

Admittedly, these challenges are not always the product of the aforementioned fallacious theology of avoiding worldly influences (though for some Christian parents of students certainly they are!) Often, the Friendship Gap occurs unintentionally, simply as a result of our natural human propensity to prefer the comfort of socialising with people who share our values and thinking, or as an upshot of being so busy with “Christian” activities that we have no time or space for anything or anyone else (a particular problem for those in so-called “full time Christian ministry”!) Yet this is a far cry from the incarnational foundation of the Gospel: the story of the God who so loved the world that he actively laid down his rights and privileges and, at incalculable cost to himself, stepped meaningfully into the lives of those who did not believe, and would ultimately reject him. Jesus is all the precedent we will ever need to bridge the Friendship Gap!

So if, in all honesty, our personal evangelism is haemorrhaging momentum due to the basic problem of the Friendship Gap, what can be done about it? Let me conclude by offering some suggestions that might help in bridging this particular gap.

First, pray for tangible opportunities to build strong relationship with people who do not share your faith. The Lord delights to answer these kinds of prayers and it is amazing how many “coincidences” happen the more we pray. Ask God to bring people to your mind that you could (re)connect with, or to make you attentive to people in work or other contexts who might deeply value someone taking a genuine interest in them. Often in these areas we simply are hindered by a lack of imagination about who, or what, or where we could cultivate the Christian value of being a great friend, so invite God’s help in this.

Second, try to prioritise taking opportunities to build healthy relationships with non-believers. Prayer will certainly sensitise our hearts and minds to the importance of opportunities. But, more often than not, the Lord will not magically do all the work for us. He wants us to take the responsibility and risk of trying things that will connect us with others. This could mean making a phone call or sending a Facebook message to someone you’ve lost contact with. It might involve inviting a work colleague for a drink or to your home for dinner. It may even mean deliberately choosing not to join the church society for recreation, social activity, or community service and, instead, enjoy these opportunities within contexts where you will be mixing with non-Christians. If that seems intimidating, why not ask a Christian friend to join you and do it together? Simply remember that there are lots of fascinating people out there who have many of the same interests and experiences that you do. What they don’t have is Jesus. And who is to say that God may not have given you the interest and skillsets that you have precisely because it will connect you with similar people whom their heavenly Father is calling home? Try something.

Third, appreciate that you are going to need to be sacrificial and generous with your time, patience and interest with people. I once had someone I worked with in a charity tell me how delighted they were that I had joined as a volunteer because I was a Christian, and the last partner they had occasionally used foul/blasphemous language and only ever talked about Gaelic football and the parties that they attended at the weekends. If we’re really going to bridge the Friendship Gap, we are going to have transcend our personal interests, political persuasions or worldview and value others as image-bearers of God, not on the basis of what we get out of the relationship. This means that we invest in people not as some evangelistic project (which they will sense almost immediately!) but on the basis of their inestimable value as an individual willed into existence by God; that even if their interests or how they might think or choose to live differs significantly from our own, we do not relate to them on this basis but, rather, enter into what they care about because we value them. This is not always easy to do, but there is every precedent for it in how God relates to us. So ask for the Lord’s help and, for the Lord’s sake, be the best possible friend you can be.

Finally, don’t give up! Remember that so much of the dynamics good friendship evangelism depend upon the qualities and art of any good friendship. Invest consistently and sacrificially in truly getting to know the other person; ask good questions that express genuine interest and move the relationship beyond the superficial; be trustworthy with information; forgive generously; and let your light shine before them, always being ready when the opportunity arises to give reasons for the hope within you.

C.S. Lewis in his autobiography Surprised by Joy (2015:122) wrote: “Many thousands of people have had the experience of finding the first friend, and it is none less a wonder; as great a wonder… as first love, or even greater.” What a privilege to be that friend in the life of another person. And how that wonder must be magnified infinitesimally when, in the dynamics of blossoming friendship, we have the divine privilege of introducing that person to the Friend who sticks closer than any brother.

This article was one of a series of pieces from a variety of authors called “Mind the Gap”. Each article looked at a common barrier Christians face in sharing their faith today, and how we might overcome it. See more from this penetrating series here.

Learning from Peter’s Failure – Finding Hope

by Editor

Hillbank Church in Dundee have been great friends and partners in ministry for many years and it was good to be with them again recently. They invited me to do two things, the first (which is not on the YouTube link) was to give the church an update on Solas’s work. We have quite a few supporters there, so it is good to be able to keep them in touch with a few things going on in our work as well as invite others to become ministry partners.. Then I was asked to preach on the famous story of Peter’s denial of Christ – as part of their Easter series. We looked together at Peter as an example of the human condition; why his story is just like our story, and where we can find hope.

It was a delight to be back at Hillbank, to catch up with many old friends (not least our Solas chaplain, Jim Crooks), and make new friends too. The sermon is available above – and we hope to see Hillbank folks again soon..

Is Christianity Just a Scam?

by Solas

The Smiths famously sang ‘And the church, all they want is your money’ – but is it true? When you look at Christianity in the news or popular culture, it can sometimes be hard to see past the scandal-hit preachers in flashy cars, the gold-plated altars in vast cathedrals or even the local parish church passing a collection plate to unsuspecting visitors. Yes, the church has a long tradition of taking donations, but for Jesus himself, his early followers and the vast majority of Christians throughout history, its aim was to help the poor and marginalised. Steve Osmond invites you to look beyond the anomalies and distortions to see Christ’s message of self-sacrifice, not worldly gain.

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Is God ‘Beautiful’?

by Editor

Is God Beautiful?
The first time I heard God described as beautiful was probably in the lyrics of a Keith Green song. I have to admit, my initial reaction was to cringe slightly. I was used to describing God as perfect, holy, glorious, majestic and various exalted adjectives with the prefix ‘omni’. Yet, I initially recoiled thinking that the aforementioned Mr Green was being too emotional, sidelining solid doctrine in favour of gushing sentimentality. 

‘He had no beauty to attract us’
My reaction was perhaps the result of a combination of the exalted nature of God and his ‘otherness’ that I gleaned from my home church, coupled with a good dose of British reserve with regards to expression of emotion! And I also felt it was biblical, after all in that most poignant of all the Old Testament prophecies about Christ, Isaiah wrote:

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
(Is  53:2)

So, Jesus Christ – who the New Testament describes as being “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Heb 1:2) seems to specifically exclude  descriptions of ‘beauty’. In fact, at the cross Jesus was not adored but mocked, and viewed as repellent and not attractive in any way. (Ps 22:7, Matt 27:39)

My youthful recoiling from talking about the beauty of God seemed, not merely a cultural prejudice, but a biblically informed one. I want to tell you why I have completely changed my mind on that, why I want to speak often and well about the beauty of God – and why it is a driver for us in evangelism!

The beautiful shepherd
At a large Christian conference last November the teaching was based around the idea that Christ presents himself to us as ‘The Good Shepherd’. One of the speakers, explained that the word ‘good’ was a nuanced and complex word which gets a little flattened in English. He said that the original also means beautiful.  It’s a conclusion strongly affirmed by the study app the Blue Letter Bible which tells us the following about that word.

Beautful indeed!

You too?
Tim Keller describes what he calls ‘Spiritual Friendship’ like this. He pictured two people and suggested that only if they were in the first flushes of infatuated love would they be staring directly at one another. Most relationships are fuelled by the friends looking away from themselves and together experiencing something in which they both mutually delight. He pictures two art-lovers standing together appreciating the same painting and being moved by the shared experience. We might equally imagine attending a brilliant concert with someone.

After all, as Keller points out, there’s something delightful when you meet someone who shares the same interest as you – especially if it is niche! Chess fans, trainspotters, jazz-enthusiasts, beer-brewers, gardeners, cyclists, and Munro-baggers when they discover each other smile and say “Oh, you too!” (As Keller notes)

Beyond the niche
These niche interests are subjective and no-one would expect everyone to embrace them. There is no world in which everyone will like jazz, or football, or computer gaming, water-polo, the 1970s albums of Barclay James Harvest, or the writings of Kurt Vonnegut.  But devotees of all such things do seem to long for others to see what they have seen; to be moved by what has so moved them. I know a chap who is such an avid fan of the late Irish guitarist Gary Moore that he drops his name into conversation everytime he meets someone new, looking for that “oh, you as well!” meeting of minds!

The biblical claim is however that God is not one god amongst gods, not one beautiful aesthetic choice amongst many, not something which seen in all is fullness could leave any heart unmoved. Rather he is the one true, living God, the good shepherd, the one source of all light, love, warmth, truth and beauty – and the one to whom all earthy beauty points.

Oh that the world might know!
There is something about the desire to share the gospel which goes beyond the desire for the other person to agree with you, and affirm what you value. In and of itself, such a desire could be self-orientated, and evangelism could be seen as some form of self-validation. Evangelism on this basis could be little more than wanting others to see the world like we do, so that we can feel vindicated in our personal choices and loves..

But that wouldn’t really capture the essence of New Testament evangelism. Our claim is not merely that we have found God to be personally satisfyingly beautiful, but that He is beauty itself.

Tim Keller: do we see God as beautiful or just useful?

Keller again, in one of his most well known quotes said this:

I think that this drives us to the very heart of what the Christian gospel is; which both brings us face to face with who God is, and compels us to share the message and experience with others.

If ‘religion’ wants God to be ‘useful’, it is because religious systems seek to bargain with their god; offering the deity in question whatever services or sacrifices are required in order to obtain certain goods. These goods might be a place in heaven, a good life, or health and healing.  The point is that the goods are the ends, the god is the means; and we are the decisive actors in the drama.

In the gospel none of the above apply. This is because the Christian gospel says that God is the decisive driver of the action, and that He has in Christ fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law; and in Christ taken our place in death on the cross; to liberate us from the law of sin and death. The consequences of that are enormous, and not just because we are no longer trying to negotiate with God though good works; but beacuse we are also not trying to use God to gain goods. Rather we respond to the overwhelming love of God for us and long to see Him and spend eternity with Him. God is not the means-to-an-end; rather knowing Him is the great end! Everything else is a surpassing loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus as Lord! And this is compelling and overwhelmingly beautiful.

God is our ends, not means!

That thought is expressed in the great doxology of Romans:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[i] knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counsellor?”[j]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”[k]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Evangelism transformed
When we encounter this God, through this gospel, evangelism cannot be a legalistic drudgery which we must do. Likewise, it is not the mere selfish quest for the validation of our own views. Instead, in Christ we have seen the greatest possible beauty, and we ache for the world to see it too. We have found the purpose (logos) of life and long for wanderers to find that. We have found the source of all love, and long for the sick, the sad, and the broken to be enfolded within it. We have found the one who substitutes himself for our sins, so we go free – and long for others to experience the weight of guilt lifted from their necks. In this fallen world where everything we encounter is in some way, to some degree, twisted and tainted; here is undiluted love, grace and self-emptying goodness. To the eye which has only ever beheld the corrupt, the cross of Christ is quite unlike anything we have ever encountered. Beautiful.

The cross – beautiful scars
The cross of Christ is not visually beautiful, of course. The man hanging there breathing his last is broken, tormented, scarred, humiliated and bloody. Such executions were designed not just to be good ways of killing, but slow, de-humanising and public. Rome displayed its crucified to public shame to dissuade other would-be rebels or messiahs from challenging their Imperial writ. Indeed one of the criminals crucified along with Christ hurled abuse at him, he clearly thought the sight was appalling.

The other thief, on the other side of the cross – also dying a criminals death that day – was rather differently disposed to the situation. He sought Christ’s blessing on him, as they both hung dry and dying in the heat of the desert. Behind the ugliness of death, the sadism of execution, the betrayal of friends and the writhing agony of nail piercing; this second thief saw the beauty of the gospel which underlies it. He somehow saw that Christ was dying for others, in order to save them, “the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God” as the New Testament would have it; is the very essence of moral perfection – and is the most beautiful thing ever done in the history of humanity. Perfection stoops to serve the imperfect, the powerful bends to rescue the weak, and the wise steps in to rescue the fool. And this is not primarily to gain anything for himself in the first instance – but to give; because in the moral perfection of His character He is a giver. He is then glorified as the whole universe admires His self-giving love and cries “Beautiful Saviour!”

It is here at the ugliness of calvary, with is appalling sounds; it’s sickening sights, its’ revolting smells; where the son of God has no physical beauty with which to attract us – that we meet the God who can only be described as morally, and personally and generously beautiful. And when you have glimpsed him, your whole being will ache for the whole cosmos to see Him too.

As songwriter Stuart Townend would put it:

Beautiful Saviour, Wonderful Counsellor,
Clothed in majesty, Lord of history,
You’re the Way, the Truth, the Life.
Star of the Morning, glorious in holiness,
You’re the Risen One, heaven’s Champion
And You reign, You reign over all.

I long to be where the praise is never-ending,
Yearn to dwell where the glory never fades;
Where countless worshippers will share one song,
And cries of ‘worthy’ will honour the Lamb!

Andy at the Southampton University Christian Union

by Editor

I recently had the opportunity to return to the University of Southampton Christian Union (CU) and participate in their Friday night session, running an evening of training for them. The topic they asked me to address was “How to talk about Jesus with your Muslim friends.” It was a very practical session focused on fostering positive spiritual conversations with Muslims. We explored how to initiate these discussions, tackled common questions Muslims often have about Christianity, and discussed effective ways to respond. The session concluded with a Q&A segment, which was engaging and insightful.

A personal highlight was meeting six or seven students from the CU who were particularly passionate about sharing Jesus with their Muslim friends. After the session, they approached me with numerous questions, and we had a wonderful conversation for over half an hour. It was encouraging to see their enthusiasm and understanding grow. This is especially significant because Southampton has a large Muslim student population, and these CU members are keen to reach out and serve them.

The Southampton CU is a vibrant and sizable community, sometimes gathering over 100 students for their Friday night sessions. Although attendance was lower this time, it was for a good reason—the CU is preparing for The Mark Drama, an excellent initiative that many members were involved in organising for campus performances. Having worked with this CU multiple times over the years, including during their events week a few years ago, it was great to reconnect and support them in their mission to share the Gospel in Southampton.

Faith on the Front Foot: Connecting With Contemporary Culture

by Solas

“Many [Christians] know what they believe, but they just think ‘I can’t share that in the workplace. I can’t share that in a friendship. I don’t want to get into a fight… But if you listen to people talking on the street, or in the workplace, most people aren’t afraid to share their opinions.”

In a world that often feels fragmented and uncertain, many are searching for purpose and meaning. At the same time, Christians often feel that they are on the ‘back foot’, when it comes to how the church is viewed by wider society. In this episode of PEP Talk, Dr Paul Coulter calls us to step forward with confidence, offering a transforming vision of an identity rooted in Christ. By engaging with contemporary culture, he shares how we can meet the challenges of today with a bold faith that provides meaning, identity and hope – and how we can share that message with those around us.

Faith on the Front Foot: Connecting with contemporary culture – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Paul Coulter‘s day job is as Head of Ministry Operations for Living Leadership, which seeks to support Christian leaders and their families to live in Christ joyfully and serve Him faithfully. Paul has worked as a medical doctor, a cross-cultural pastor and a lecturer in practical theology. He continues to teach ethics and other subjects in theological colleges.  Paul holds primary degrees in medical genetics and medicine, an MA and PhD in theology, and a post-graduate certificate in higher education teaching. Paul lives in Lisburn with his wife, Gar-Ling, and their two children.  In his spare time he enjoys cycling, walking and reading historical novels. 

Centre for Christianity in Society: www.christianityinsociety.org

Personal website: www.paulcoulter.net

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

Spotlight on Overcoming Barriers to Evangelism

by Simon Wenham

 

Why Are So Many Christians Afraid Of Sharing Their Faith?

“I was afraid of looking stupid. I was afraid of making God look bad. I was afraid of being asked a question I couldn’t answer.” 

In this Spotlight, we look at the barriers that stop us from sharing our faith and how we can overcome those ‘gaps’. Andy Bannister talks about why we might be fearful.  

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The Confidence Gap

If you lack confidence, isn’t it best to keep quiet? Gavin Matthews shares his thoughts.

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The Bad Theology Gap

If God is sovereign why bother with evangelism? Andy urges us to reach out to others.

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The Harm Gap

What if someone thinks the church is harmful? Stephen McAlpine gives some advice.

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Identify Your Fear…

What fear is stopping you doing more evangelism? Andy encourages us to examine ourselves, so we can see what is holding us back. 

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…And Then Manage It

“The key is helping people to feel comfortable that the call of God might feel uncomfortable.”  

Michael Harvey speaks to the Solas PEP Talk podcast about managing the fears that might prevent us from talking to others about Jesus. 

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The Risk Gap

Why risk sharing our faith with someone else? Gareth Black explains why it is worth it. 

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The Jesus Gap

Is evangelism just like being a salesperson for Jesus? David Nixon unpacks the Bible for us.

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Other Gaps

See the whole series for help in overcoming other obstacles that might hold you back. 

Find Out More

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Sharing Your Faith Without Looking Like an Idiot

Hot off the press! Want more on helping you overcome your barriers to evangelism? Watch Andy Bannister’s latest talk on how to share your faith without looking like an idiot.

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Will You Help Produce More Resources to Help Christians Defend Their Faith?

Will you stand with Solas as we seek to help empower Christians to be able share the good news of Jesus persuasively?  We speak at evangelistic events, as well as helping to train Christians to share their faith more effectively.

Yes, I’ll Support More Resources

 

Seven reasons why Christians should keep reading evangelistic books!

by Editor

Christian people face many vital issues to grapple with as part of their discipleship; medical and sexual ethics, political engagement; the great themes of biblical theology, family life, church growth, world mission, social concern, poverty, illiteracy, work and more. Why in the middle of all that should Christians still read the occasional evangelistic book?

I suggest there are seven good reasons to keep reading books intended to share Christ with non-Christian readers. (And none of them have anything to do with selling our books!!)

  1. We underestimate the danger of compromising the gospel itself as we wrestle with complicated matters of ethics, policy and theology. Reading a gospel book every year brings us back to the foundations of our faith and provokes us to reaffirm our faith in Christ our saviour. It can stop us becoming like those ‘foolish Galatians’ who ended up embracing a distorted gospel. It would be tragedy to become wise in complex matters but lose the heart of the gospel.
  2. Reading a gospel book helps to prevent us from drifting in our emphasis. This is especially the case if the works prepared in advance for us to do, are not primarily evangelistic. If you are called to be a plumber or politician, or if your Christian service involves debt counselling or fundraising – then the centre-of-gravity of your Christian life can move from the cross to these outworkings of it. A gospel book can help to keep us orientated around what matters most by redeclaring the gospel itself.
  3. Reading an evangelistic book is helpful to keep faithful Christians from being corroded by that most deadly of all acids to the soul: pride. If after years of hard work in the kingdom we even for a moment begin to rest on our own merits rather than those of Christ, we will sink! A helpful remedy is to go back to the gospel, the tragedy of our sin and the grace of God in Christ.
  4. Reading an evangelistic book can equally be just what we need to read when we feel that our Christian lives are going rather badly! “When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there, who made an end to all my sin”. What brings help to my soul when I sin, is not thinking “other people are worse”, or “I’ll try harder” or “I must do more”, or “On balance, I’m not so bad really”. Such nonsense makes things worse. What I need is to know, believe and feel the gospel again. An evangelistic book is great way I do this.
  5. Christians can gain a lot from reading good, new evangelistic literature too. Much as I love J.C. Ryle, I also love Glen Scrivener; a lively, contemporary writer who brings the gospel to bear on issues and trends that Ryle could never have imagined. The challenge to keep expressing the gospel in ways our peers can understand, and which confronts the sins and idols of today is great. Gifted evangelists are called to do exactly this and in their evangelistic books share that with us.
  6. Brilliant evangelistic writing helps to keep our appreciation of the gospel alive too. Every evangelistic book is slightly different, and drives towards the cross from different starting points, over varying terrain. A great writer can re-spark our imagination with the beauty of the gospel.
  7. Finally, a regular gospel-refresher keeps us on our toes Let’s be honest- life is stressful and tiring and it’s easy to let gospel proclamation drop down our priority list to the point where it barely happens; unless we are deliberate and intentional about it. Reading an evangelistic book can be one way of giving the gospel of Christ the place it deserves in the architecture of our daily thoughts.

I hope I have persuaded you.

The Free Church Youth Conference

by Editor

The Scripture Union Centre at Lendrick Muir played host to the Free Church of Scotland Youth Conference earlier this year. Once again, Solas had the privilege of taking part in the seminar streams which formed part of the Saturday programme. Around 180 young people, from late teens, students and folks in the early twenties came from the length and breadth of the country for an encouraging weekend of worship, fellowship, and teaching.

Our friend Andy Pearson the minister of St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee led the main teaching sessions, taking the young people through an engaging and thorough whistle-stop tour of the biblical Covenants which was great. The sung worship at the Free Church always inspires me – because in my church we regularly read the Psalms; but don’t sing them enough! Years ago when I did a degree course on the Psalms with the wonderful scholar Geoffrey Grogan, he insisted that we begin each class by singing a Psalm; ‘remember friends, these are lyrics’ he would say – before we set about analysing them. Hearing almost two hundred young people singing them with intense devotion and soaring harmonies was both beautiful and moving.

The young people had a choice of seminars to attend during the day and my one was entitled, “Sovereign God; Human Responsibility?” One of the dilemmas that we often face (have been asked about in Q&A’s and have written about on our website here) is that people sometimes think that God’s sovereignty means that we are in some way excused from the task of evangelism. In his great little book “Evangelism and Sovereignty of God”, J. I Packer tells the story of a young William Carey sharing his vision for taking the gospel to India and being rebuked by an older minister who said, “Sit down young man, God will save the heathen when he wants to, without your help or mine!” This is clearly a gross distortion of the biblical mandate for mission.

So, we looked together at how we should handle this issue more faithfully. In groups we studied scriptures which related to God’s sovereignty and to human responsibility – and summarised what we found. We then looked at some extreme ways people have sought to reconcile these, by undercutting one set of biblical truths or the other! And then at the way that Paul in the New Testament outworked it. In short, he gives us much of our New Testament theology of God’s sovereignty, but was radically, and self-sacrificially missional. If our lives don’t look like his, maybe we haven’t grasped his doctrine! Obviously as a Solas seminar, we focussed on evangelism – but the same principles apply to our prayer lives, our walk with The Lord, sanctification and building the church.

My hope and prayer is that the young people who came to this seminar will have left with a strong sense that it is the sovereignty of God which compels us, and empowers us to go forward in mission; confident that the ultimate victory is His and that He gives us real, meaningful and significant to work to do here – as He outworks His purposes.   

Does Christianity Uniquely Answer The Big Questions?

by Solas

Where do we come from? What’s gone wrong with the world? How do we fix it? Three huge questions that many religions and philosophies attempt to answer. So does Christianity offer anything different? Steve Osmond from Solas explains how the Christian story offers unique and satisfying answers to these questions (and more!)

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