Proclamation Trust and the Holy Spirit – EMA 2010

March 10, 2010

in Conferences, Holy Spirit, Preaching

The Evangelical Ministry Assembly 2010 will focus on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the preacher, with John Piper as the headline speaker and Terry Virgo also involved.

Those of you who know British Church life, and particularly the history of the last few decades, will be amazed at this. To be clear, the leadership team behind the Proclamation Trust have not suddenly all become card-carrying tongues-speaking charismatics. Rather, as I read the information about this exciting conference, I think two things are behind what may seem like a digression from their previous event subjects.

Firstly, there is clearly a recognition of something I often bang on about here on the blog: that the experiential work of the Spirit is not something unique to the charismatics! Previous generations of Christians were very clear that they had a relationship with the living Jesus (something I explore fully in Raised With Christ).  Thus, no matter what your opinion on the gifts is, the Spirit should have a tangible effect in the life of every believer, and certainly in the life of the preacher.  This conference aims to explore more about what that place should be.

Secondly, there is no doubt that recent controversies within the broader evangelical tent have made people on both sides of the so-called “charismatic divide” realize that we have more in common with each other than we previously realized.  The line between the reformed and the reformed charismatic movements is less distinct now than ever before.

John Piper seems more comfortable than almost anyone else in bridging this so-called divide.  His response to a question about the Holy Spirit in the recent Desiring God Conference demonstrated just how comfortable he is. I suspect that he is relishing the prospect of this forthcoming conference.

An interesting feature of this conference will be that there is no attempt to sweep the real differences that remain under the carpet.  If we can truly understand what each of us thinks about these things, our respect will only increase. So, what they describe as a “public and honest conversation about the work of the Holy Spirit” will happen with a goal of learning “how to discuss secondary matters over which we do not always agree, always with a view to thinking through how our theology impacts church life.”

When? 23-25 June 2010, between 10.30 AM and 4.30 PM each day.

Venue? St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, London – in the heart of the square mile of the City of London, just a few minutes walk from Liverpool Street Station.

Cost? The assembly costs £30 per day to attend.

Full speaker list
* Christopher Ash
* Rupert Bentley-Taylor
* John Piper
* Vaughan Roberts

With
* John Coles
* Liam Goligher
* Wayne Grudem
* Marcus Honeysett
* Wanyeki Mahiaini
* Tim McMahon
* Mike Reeves
* Terry Virgo

More information at EMA 2010 » The Details.

Unfortunately, I have run out of Annual leave to take this year, so will not be able to attend the event, but I may be able to make it to an extra session being run on Thursday 24th at 5:30 PM with Wayne Grudem talking about how Christians should speak out on moral issues.

Mid-Atlantic English and a rare decision to go British

March 9, 2010

in Culture

Being a British blogger who has by God’s grace been given an audience, the majority of which lives in the USA,  I feel a bit like I’m floating in some kind of “mid-Atlantic” space.  What do I mean? Well, just as one example, I cannot easily speak about the vehicle I would call a lorry, HGV, or juggernaut. I would just get blank looks from my American friends.  Equally, though, I  find that I cannot use some of the American alternatives for that word with a straight face. I mean, a “tractor trailer” is a farm vehicle, there is nothing whatsoever “semi” about it, and as for an “eighteen wheeler,” who cares how many wheels it has? So, if I want to speak about such a vehicle, I have to find a “mid-Atlantic” alternative, a word that almost sounds acceptable in each culture. The best I have come up with is “a big truck” or just “truck.”

You would not believe the number of similar conversations I have had with my American blog editor, Annette. One unintended consequence of the recent redesign of this site has been endless discussions about the capitalization of titles. In the past the design simply turned all titles into “block capitals.” This was easy. But the designers told me it had to go. So we are back in the situation where I decide which words in a title are capitalized and which are not.

There are three options. Firstly, the most common practice in America is to capitalize most words in a title, but leave short words uncapitalized. The problem with this approach is it opens you up to many agonizing questions about precisely which words deserve that capital letter as the rulebook has a bunch of exceptions. As much as I enjoy being pedantic sometimes, I just don’t have time for that!

For a while I tried an almost unique “Warnock way” where I simply capitalized every letter of every word in the title. That was at least easy. But it looks ugly somehow.

By now I am sure that most of my readers will have died of boredom. But in a rare blow struck in favor of British usage (I long ago gave up British spellings, for example!) I am going to follow the BBC and switch to “sentence case” for titles.  Thus, a title will just look like a normal sentence in terms of its capitalization. I think it looks neater, and while it may take a while to get used to, at least I don’t have to have endless debates. Incidentally, the Chicago Manual of Style even notes this as a valid alternative, and I have seen it creeping into a few US websites, including  The Washington Post.

When Kindness is Rewarded with Accusation

March 8, 2010

Sometimes those we love turn on us. This is never more true than in any form of church leadership. It never ceases to amaze me how some members of Christ’s flock are quick to accuse their pastors. I do not work for a church, but I have an immense amount of respect for those [...]

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Lost Jewish Tribe Found in Zimbabwe

March 6, 2010

This might sound too fabulous to be true, but genetics seems to have confirmed that a tribe made up from the descendants of Jewish priests are living in southern Africa:
Their oral traditions claim that their ancestors were Jews who fled the Holy Land about 2,500 years ago. It may sound like another myth of a lost tribe [...]

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Is John’s Gospel the Best Book to Give a Non-Christian?

March 5, 2010

How It Works « The Light Project is a unique service for a local church. For $1 per house they will distribute free copies of John’s gospel on your behalf with the church’s contact information included on the gospel. At the moment this is a USA-only service. It looks like an interesting idea. I have [...]

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Are You Sinning by Not Rejoicing?

March 3, 2010

“I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to “rejoice” as much as by anything else.”  C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.
Very many Christians give the impression that God orders us to be miserable for him. Some even imply that the more miserable we are, the more holy we are.  This [...]

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“Mum, I Like God”

March 2, 2010

So said George to my wife just recently. She asked him, “Why?” and he replied, “Because he loves me!”  Talk about out of the mouths of babes and infants. He will be three in a few days’ time.

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Wayne Grudem’s Thoughts on Bible Translation

March 2, 2010

This is a classic quote from Grudem about why he prefers essentially literal translations (sometimes called word-for-word)  over the so-called dynamic equivalent (sometimes called idea for idea) For more about Bible translation see my interview with the ESV Bible translators:
“I cannot teach theology or ethics from a dynamic equivalent Bible. I tried the NIV for [...]

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When it is Great to be Wrong!

March 1, 2010

I received another email (see the first), which I have permission to share anonymously. It shows that I was not entirely right. I still believe, however, that for most people leading our evangelism with creationism is not the best way. I think that stories like this tell us that we must treat every [...]

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The Chief Rule of Prayer

February 28, 2010

Justin Taylor shared the following quote from R. C. Sproul:
“If I can summarize Calvin’s teaching on prayer succinctly, I would say this:
The chief rule of prayer is to remember who God is and to remember who you are.
If we remember those two things, our prayers will always and ever be marked by adoration and confession.”
via [...]

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Is it Really Possible to Believe in a Form of Evolution and Still be a Christian?

February 27, 2010

I received the following email, and with the writer’s consent, thought it would be good to publish it here. Remember that the discussion I intended is not about what I personally believe on this issue, nor about what it is best for a Bible-loving believer to believe. Rather, it’s about whether arguing about evolution is [...]

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Darwin and the Christian – A Tour by Christian Evolutionists

February 26, 2010

UPDATE – To avoid confusion, please note that this post should not be interpreted as as reflecting my personal views on the subject of creation and evolution. I was simply noting that people who believe in God have different opinions on this matter, and that in a number of cases, to focus on [...]

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How Pain Helps Us Understand the Real God

February 25, 2010

Nancy Guthrie lost two of her three children. No wonder she is not easily satisfied with platitudes about God.  She has put together Be Still My Soul: Embracing God’s Purpose and Provision in Suffering, a collection of writings from old and new authors designed to help us come to terms with pain as believers.
I plan [...]

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How to Sell 100 Books in 10 Minutes

February 24, 2010

Raised With Christ was launched at Jubilee Church this past Sunday. The people were incredibly gracious in their response, and much to my surprise we sold all 100 available copies in just 10 minutes. I am sure some of that was due to the love of this wonderful family of God for me as [...]

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