Middle-aged with a Mission for Christ

Living the gospel

September 29, 2010

I read the following in the report from a beach mission:

The team was super; they worked incredibly hard, serving one another with joyful hearts. The fellowship experienced on team is a glimpse of heaven and the closest I have experienced to the early church of living the gospel. We met each day for devotions where we looked at God’s word for ourselves, we sang and prayed together before a short briefing for the day set everyone on their way into an action-packed mission day. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in evangelism | 4 Comments »

Many of our friends, family members and colleagues are headed for hell – and all that that means. Should this keep us awake at night? How can we get on with ordinary life in the light of this truth? Section 9 of this suggests answers.

Posted in evangelism, family, Hell | 5 Comments »

Following Christ whole-heartedly

July 3, 2010

I subscribe to a magazine that aims to persuade all Christians to “…abandon their lives to the honour and service of Christ is daily holiness and decision-making”. This month’s issue has two stories of people ‘giving up [their] lives’. Can you guess where I am going with this? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Paid Bible teaching, Work | Leave a Comment »

Doing great things nine-to-five

June 19, 2010

Once again, Mark Greene – director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity – gets it right. In a recent letter to supporters he recounts how a Christian teenager battled against a problem at his school. “Why am I telling you this story?”, Mr Greene asks rhetorically. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Prayer, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The Christian’s dual calling

May 2, 2010

The former president of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students was preaching, talking about the Christian’s dual calling: to apply Biblical truth to every area of society and to proclaim the Lorship of Christ everywhere. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized, Well-known Christian, Work | 1 Comment »

“A life time of discipleship”

April 13, 2010

I opened the latest newsletter from an organisation I support. The contents page included “NAME… looks back on a life-time of discipleship”. I turned to page 26.

Would I be greeted by the story of someone who had served God in a secular environment, been excellent in his job, produced something of worth and acted with integrity there; someone who had spoken fearlessly of Jesus “in season and out”; also perhaps someone whose marriage and family had brought glory to God? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Biographies | 5 Comments »

Firing through all of life…

April 10, 2010

… is the title of this book I read a couple of years ago. The linked page includes a review I wrote.

If you’re a midde-aged bloke who likes sex; can empathise with Bruce Springsteen songs; and suspects that the Old Testmanent book of Ecclesiastes is relevant – then you’ll like this.

Posted in Book Review | Leave a Comment »

Career and gospel

April 3, 2010

I have just re-read ‘Good News to the Poor’ and in chapter seven (‘Good News to the Rich’) the author, Tim Chester, says

Some people make life choices by deciding first on the lifestyle to be adopted, then they choose a job to fund that lifestyle, then a home nearby before finally choosing a local church… [an alternative is to] see ourselves first and foremost as gospel ministers and members of gospel communities

Tim Chester then goes on to say how our gifts and passions – in the context of needs - would shape our ministry (eg, sharing the gospel with elderly people, helping the homeless – “It could be any one of a hundred things”). We would then decide where we needed to live and how much we needed to earn to fund this ministry. Only then would we decided what job we were to do and where we were to live.

Is this practical? Is this Biblical? It flies in the face of most of what I have done for most of my life – but that does not mean it is wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in evangelism, Uncategorized, Work | 13 Comments »

John Stott: professional Christian (2)

March 12, 2010

I have completed this two-volume biography and I now see that John Stott is one of the giants on whose shoulders I have been standing – without having fully realised it. John Stott was having to think through so much himself with very little help and I must be careful not to over-decry professional Christian writers and teachers from whom I have benefited so much. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Book Review, Church of England, John Stott, Well-known Christian | Leave a Comment »

(More) bad theology about serving God

March 12, 2010

A feature of having this site hosted by WordPress [and this is not a commercial] is that you get all sorts of info about site visitors – and a recent web surfer found this site after entering “when to quit job to serve god full time” into a search engine.

That search term in itself sums up what this site is about.

[If you were that surfer don't feel too bad about it - it made for another post]

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »