Article by Phil Duncalfe
I was listening to the Speak Life UK podcast recently as they discussed the life of John Stott on the anniversary of his death. Glenn Scrivener and Professor John Wyatt, a life time friend of Stott's, talked about Stott's ability to preach and how he was able to bring biblically faithful answers to the culture of his day and point anyone listening to the gospel. Simply put, John Stott was able to share why Christianity is good news and how it held good answers to the questions culture was asking and the issues the church was facing in response to the culture around it.
A decade on from John Stott's death, culture has shifted somewhat in the UK and while Christianity's truth has not changed, how we present it to society around us may well need some rethinking. This lead me to ask our Facebook group, UK Apologetics and Evangelism, the question - What are the top issues facing the UK church today that you would like to see more gospel responses to? The idea was that this blog would become a place where other Christian voices (not just mine and Dan's) can be heard as they write responses to the issues, possibly with different voices coming at the issue in different ways. Fortunately, some others thought this would be a good idea as well and have offered to write!
Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing articles as responses to these issues. Over time this series will expand and some issues may be tackled multiple times from different people who have different perspectives. I believe this is how Christians should learn, not just from one voice that directs everyone to one conclusion, but by listening to each other and learning from the varied experiences and expertise that can be found across multiple denominations.
We ask that our writers hold to the Nicene Creed, this means that the authors will have perspectives that you may not agree with but still fit within the historic beliefs of the universal Christian church body. These articles are not edited to fit my own (or any editor's) views. I have disagreed with some of the authors in several conversations in our Facebook group, but I am grateful that they are still happy to write for this blog series and I look forward to hearing them. The only edits made will be for formatting and spelling and so the voices are genuinely that of each author.
None of these articles will be definitive answers but they will be an answer and I hope they challenge you to think through the truth of Christianity and why it brings good news to the biggest questions of the culture around us.
About the author:
Phil Duncalfe is a Staff Worker for Friends International in Guildford. Prior to that he taught Computing and Maths in various secondary schools. He is the co-host of Critical Witness and an elder in a local church in Guildford. He also occasionally blogs at www.asimpleblog.online.
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