Council Estate Christianity

Good tips from John Piper on how to celebrate Christmas

2011-12-18T09:14:00.002Z

Should we celebrate Christmas?

How we see Christmas symbols

Our latest Street Essential Video 'ALONE'

2011-12-07T10:53:00.002Z

Shane's testimony

2011-06-24T12:10:00.005+01:00

New Life Church YouTube Channel

2011-06-15T14:41:00.001+01:00

We are now putting our sermons on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NewLifeLondon?feature=mhsn
Sermons will be uploaded each week here.

Just seen a good blog on living a wartime lifestyle

2011-06-03T18:41:00.002+01:00

Check out:
http://wartimelifestyle.blogspot.com/

New Video series: Street Essentials

2011-04-13T13:19:00.004+01:00

We've just started making a new video series called "Street Essentials."
Our old videos, "The Essentials" are basically systematic theology videos, and we've used them a lot on our estate.
Now, we've making some shorter versions called "Street Essentials"
Here's the first video, entitled, "The Struggle"

Are you good enuff?

2011-03-21T13:41:00.000Z

Q. What's the biblical way of complaining to God? A. Act Like a DJ

2011-03-14T11:42:00.003Z

Public School boys and the Cabinet

2011-02-19T11:16:00.001Z

Another interesting documentary from BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00y37gk/sign/Posh_and_Posher_Why_Public_School_Boys_Run_Britain/

Interesting documentary on social inequality

2011-02-13T21:13:00.003Z

I just watched this on the BBC iplayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yb5kv/Who_Gets_the_Best_Jobs/

It gets real interesting at 25 mins when one person claims there is an ability distribution across the classes - not something I agree with (I think the journalist does a good job of debunking this). The notion of some genetic lack of ability amongst the lower clasess is sadly a common thought that even affects how people do gospel work amongst those from deprived areas.

Evangelist's conference

2010-10-04T13:52:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow, I'm gonna be leading a seminar at the Evangelist's Conference at All Soul's Church, Langham Place, entitled 'Preaching Jesus in the inner city'
the details are here
http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/bookings/details?id=69
If there's anyone who follows this sporadic blog, and is going to the conference, please come and say hi.
Peace
D

Blessing blockers (Jonah chp. 2)

2010-08-06T14:11:00.000+01:00

Jonah2 Blessing Blockers from Jordan Olson on Vimeo.

'What have you done with your life?'

2010-07-27T11:46:00.003+01:00

Maybe like me, you often wonder if you're doing enough with your life. I hope that this video might help people to biblically measure what they're doing with their life.

'Wot have you done with your life?' Matt 25:14-30 from Shay Forbes on Vimeo.

Conference on reaching deprived areas this Saturday

2010-05-18T21:32:00.001+01:00

Hi,
There's a conference this saturday some of you might be interested in. By God's grace, I'm gonna be speaking there:

http://www.reachingtheunreached.org.uk/

Church website updated

2010-03-05T19:00:00.004Z

Our church website has been updated.
It now has all of our teaching videos online, including the Essentials, Victim Mentality, Father Heart of God, and Bibical theology series.
www.newlifelondon.com

God willing this site will be updated regularly from now on.

Friday Nite Bible School: Biblical Theology videos & mp3s

2010-02-14T16:03:00.002Z

Last Friday we started our Bible school.
The videos can be found on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/channels/newlifelondon

The individual video links are here:

Biblical Theology 1: The Basic Story

Biblical Theology 2: The Big Picture

Biblical Theology 3: Timeline of the Kingdom

Biblical Theology 4: More in-depth Bible Story

The mp3 of it can be downloaded here:
http://sermon.net/download.php?c=13907-count_audio_download-2344122

or listened to here:

The videos are better because they show the handouts.

My wiimote smartboard is up and running

2010-02-04T17:55:00.006Z

I've now got my wiimote smartbaord up and running. I'm using some software called iwiiboard which looks very nice, and can be found here: http://www.iwiiboard.com I've only been using it for a few hours, and at present only have an evaluation version, but I will write more about it later.

Making a smartboard with a wiimote!

2010-02-02T17:08:00.004Z

I've just found this amazing video last night, I'm trying to set this up myself so that I can use it for teaching the Bible.

Council Estate Christians 31: Three Elements of Council Estate Preaching

2010-01-19T14:34:00.005Z

It seems to me that there are 3 really important elements in good council estate preaching:

1) Being Christ centred,
pointing people to Jesus in our sermons. I based this on the assumptions that
a) All the Bible points to Jesus,
b) That he is our Lord and we are supposed to be glorifying him.
c) This approach avoids just teaching good morals.

2) Explaining the Text,
Breaking down the text into bite sized chunks, reading out these chunks, explaining these chunks. I base this on the following assumption:
a) In general there has not been a lot of Bible teaching on council estates.
b) By focusing more on the text, than on my own personal speeches, I am allowing (for want of a better term) more opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work through the words that he has already breathed out thousands of years ago.

3) Preaching to heart issues,
Bryan Chapell talks about the FCF (Fallen Condition Focus), the idea is that each passage in the Bible speaks to some aspect of our fallen human nature. If we know people well, then we can show how a particular bible passage speaks to a common problem that we face in life.

It seems to me that this approach could be taken by both indigenous (born and raised on an estate), and non-indigenous (middle class cross cultural missionaries) and be succesful. For example, if a posh city banker came to our church to preach, I expect that at first some people might wonder, "What can he tell me?" but if he did the above, then I think we would see the following results:

1) Someone thinking, "Wow! This bloke knows me, he's talking my own personal struggles I go through each day, I wanna hear more ..."

2) Someone thinking, "So that's what that verse means, that's interesting....."

3) Someone thinking, "Wow! Jesus is amazing, I really wanna know Jesus more....."

Council Estate Christians 30: The slum where my Mum grew up

2010-01-13T14:53:00.008Z

My Mum grew up in the slum housing of Southam Street, North Kensington. It was eventually deemed unfit for humanity and demolished.
Fortunately a photographer Rog er Mayne did an exhibition on the area, and so we can still see what it was like there today:
The photos are here.

Its interesting to see West Indians, English and Irish all together on the street in the 50's, especially bearing in mind the race riots there.

Its also interesting to see the Teddy boys, and people hanging out on the street - it seems history repeats itself. Its interesting that the photographer was afraid of this bunch of youths, just like many people today are.

Unfortunately there aren't any photos of inside the houses. When I was a kid, my mum used to draw pictures for me, explaining what life was like - very interesting, clearly poverty means different things today to back then.

Don Carson's "For the love of God" now free online

2010-01-09T14:23:00.002Z

This great devotional that goes with the Mcheyne reading plan is now free online!
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/loveofgod/

Council Estate Christians 29: What does the term "Christian" mean?

2010-01-07T12:59:00.008Z

Today I was reading Acts 11, and was interested by the story there about how the word "Christian" came about.
Jewish Christians had to leave Jerusalem cos they were getting persectuted. As they went their way, some of them shared the gospel with other Jews only (Acts 11:19). There was nothing strange about this, these were Jews (who saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Judaism) reaching out to other Jews. People who believed in Jesus in those days were Jews.

=> Its a bit like how today, certainly amongst the white community, people who believe in Jesus are very often middle class. These people mainly reach out to other middle class people.

But back in Acts 11, there were some of them who starting sharing the gospel with non-Jews (11:21). These non-Jews subsequently put their faith in Jesus Christ (11:21). But what do you now call these people? They're not Jews, they're nothing like Jews, but are they still Greeks? Their not like Greeks, cos they're no longer pagan, they now believe in Jesus.

=> we've had this problem ourselves when we've been on the street sharing the gospel with people, and someone looked us up and down and said, "You're not Christians!" It was cos the way we were dressed, and the way we spoke, I expect they were thinking, "You're not middle class!"

So back in Acts 11, what do you call these non-Jews who became disciples of Jesus? No-one had any vocabularly for them, no one had even a category for these people. So they came up with a new term, they called them "Christians" (Acts 11:26). This term Christian was new vocabularly to describe people who could be either Jews or non-Jews, but who followed Jesus.

The problem we have today is that the word "Christian" doesn't communicate a "disciple of Christ." Instead "Christian" communicates a whole bunch of other things, including - middle class. This is especially so in the white community, but although less noticeable, its also visable in the black community. Many pentecostals are aspiring middle class. For some, when you become a "Christian" you are supposed to give up using slang, and wearing street clothes. Some pastors even encourage the congregation to get jobs in finance.

It seems to me then that we need a new category. We need a new "Christian" category, Not one that makes people think, "middle class." But one that makes people think,
"This person has put their faith in Jesus Christ. They could be from any social background around, the key thing that distinguishes them is Jesus Christ."

1) I'm not talking about just inventing a new word (although that might be a good idea).

2) I'm talking about it being modelled: Christians from the lower classes who havn't taken up middle class culture.

3) Christians who communicate justification by faith in their evangelism and lifestyle.

Council Estate Christians 28: Does it matter where you come from?

2010-01-05T12:40:00.002Z

David Cameron thinks that where you’ve come from doesn’t matter.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8397650.stm

But that’s not true for us. Its important to have preachers who have come from the same backgrounds as the people they are trying to reach. A common attitude to preachers is,

“You don’t know me, you don’t know where I’ve come from, what I’ve done.”

It is therefore really helpful to have a preacher who does know, who has experienced the same things, and who has gone through those things with Jesus Christ, and can then testify how Jesus saved him.

So we need more council estate men raised up as preachers.

Does this mean that middle class guys can't come and preach on estates? I don't think so, but it has to be done very carefully, and I'll write about this more later.

Council Estate Christians 27: Skinnyman's Worldview

2009-12-29T14:22:00.002Z

I think the rapper Skinnyman did an excellent job showing a common council estate worldview in his tune "Council Estate of Mind" - check out his lyrics below:

Talkin' 'bout the science of social deprevation
From 'ere to whereever in the council estates the mans is strugglin'.
The poor lower working class.

Blud, you got to sleep round here and have nightmares,
Wake up and find the worst reality is right there.
The difference is, in my dream's I'm always runnin' scared,
But in reality, on road, I'm comin' prepared.
So now who's gonna wanna run up and become a gonner?
Everybody's gonna wanna get us, but they're on a longers.
I'm still out to get the same cats from last summer,
But man can't see them again,
It's like they've done a runner.
I'm still in the same mannor, on the same number
And everybody knows where I'm at and what I'm under,
I'm in the same slums, raisin' the funds.
In the city where the yute man are blazin' the guns.
Just look how this United Kingdom has come,
Within the council estates where man'll fight over crumbs,
We got young single parent mums,
Havin' the hardest time tryn'a survive for their daughters and their sons
Be comin' out their yutes, cause their yutes are left out there,
Raised on the ways of these streets without care.
Now we're havin' our fair share of gun warefare
And it's all gone nuts and that's just cause it's poor here.
People want more here,
We're all on the floor here,
It's raw here, can't even sleep and ignore here,
Cause life's kinda militant,
Stuck in the grime,
Nothin's equivillent to this council estate of mind.

We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,
Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.

I live amongst smashed syringes,
Squatters' doors hangin' off the hinges,
Hookers lookin' money for Bobby, shottin' their minges.
Leavin' used condoms out on the staircases,
Next to the broken pipes that's left by the Base Heads.
Local estate heads, have grown up to hate Feds,
Kids with no helmets drivin' round on some bait peds.
Abandoned cars are at the bottom of the block,
So when it's pissin' down,
Kids have got a place to plot,
To cotch and blaze pot,
And watch this whole spot,
Full up of lost souls with no goals who get left to rot.
And what, I don't expect you to ever comprehend is
Why (Wottal?) Atkin's so self defensive.
The neighbourhood shotters have all seen what it's comin' to.
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Local coppers on patrol are boppin' with a gun too.
So anyone could bun you,
Leave and desert you.
How long they gonna mourn you when somebody mercs you?
Tryin' not to get shift when shiftin' your work true
When you wanna shift there ain't nowhere to splurt to.
The stakes are high, still the best get placed.
Tryn'a find how sweet success might taste.
In a place where everybody is tryin' to flex.
Nobody's really gettin' anywhere,
So everybody's vexed,
Livin' life kinda militant,
Stuck in the grime,
Nothin's equivalent to this council estate of mind.

We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,
Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.

So these are lyrics for my people,
Livin' on the streets who,
Know they ain't got nuttin' else to retreat to.
If you gettin' food next man'll wanna eat you,
Pure, bad beefs just to get to delete you.
So many man nowadays are so see-through,
Beware of their deceitful ways when the greet you.
Those who feel it know it because they've been through,
Times when their friends wanna switch up to beat you.
I never used to see it but,
Now I got a clear view,
Don't let no bad minded heads try get near you.
If they're not on your level they'll never hear you
Ain't no time to be shaken or fearful.
If you've been through, some of this evil that we do,
A hundred Hail Mary's ain't enough to redeem you.
All of my long time friends are crack fiends,
Who have gone too far, but still say they didn't mean too.
Does alleviation through base and crack relieve you?
Everybody's losin' their mind
And even me too.
Step into my world if you wanna catch a preview,
But don't tell a soul, cause they just won't believe you.
The life's kinda militant,
Stuck in the grime,
Nothin's equivillent to this council estate of mind.
Life's kinda militant,
Stuck in the grime,
Nothin's equivillent to this council estate of mind.

We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,
Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.
We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,
Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.

Council Estate Christians 26: Are posh areas any better than Council Estates?

2009-12-28T13:09:00.002Z

John Calvin wrote the following a long time ago - if its too hard to understand, just skip down to my bit below!

“For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if it were most pure just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white.” Institutes book 1, chapter 1.2

When people look at posh areas they often think these places seem more righteous than Council Estates – but this thinking has problems:

1) Compared to the enormous size of God’s righteousness, the differences of crime and morals between a council estate and posh area are very small. The whole country is tainted with sin. The whole country looks disgustingly sinful compared to God’s righteousness. When humans look at a council estate they may think that place is so much more sinful than another area, but in reality, both areas are sinful outposts of rebellion against God.

2) Different standards and grids are used to judge the sins of council estates to those of other areas. For example, someone who gets drunk on a council estate is seen as “legless”, whereas someone who gets drunk at a dinner party is seen as “jolly”. Someone from an estate who smokes crack is called a “crackhead”, whereas a politician’s child who does lines of coke “likes to party”. Someone who goes to the bookies each day on an estate is a gambler (who could never be a church leader). Yet someone who works in the city in stocks and shares is a respectable white collar worker (who could easily be a church leader). Council Estates (where everyone knows everyone) are called broken down communities, whereas posh areas (where few people know their neighbours) are seen up respectable communities.

So, are posh areas really any better? Really the question should be, “Are posh areas good enough?” Do they glorify God? Does anywhere in England glorify God? Yes, the true church does, which is why we need churches in council estates and posh areas.

Council Estate Christians 25: Indigenous Preaching

2009-12-23T18:22:00.004Z

In the 19th Century, David Livingstone went to Africa was an explorer missionary. He said this,

"When white men preach... Africans just think we are talking about our odd European ways and customs. But when their own people tell them about Jesus, they see the truth."
'Hero Tales' by Dave and Neta Jackson, p.59

The mission board didn't support Livingstone in raising up indigenous African teachers, so he had to do it himself.

It seems to me that today, there is a desperate need for indigenous council estate preaching in the UK (indigenous in the sense of born and raised on an estate). For me, I often hear British preaching and think, "he's just talking about his ways and customs." I long to hear more preaching from blokes on council estates about Jesus Christ, Lord of Council Estates, who speaks to our own culture.

Educational Raps

2009-12-15T13:21:00.004Z

Due to popular demand, we now have our educational raps as free downloads on our website:
http://www.newlifelondon.com/media.asp

We've got the following raps:
Church History
Old Testament: Solomon to 2nd Temple
Hebrew verbs: Qal Perfect
Hebrew verbs: Qal Imperfect
Greek verbs: Mounce's master verb chart

I hope these are useful,
D

My little exegesis centre

2009-11-21T13:42:00.003Z

Dayper took this photo one night cos he thought it was funny how many screens and book stands I have at my desk.
I actually have two more book stands, but they weren't being used that night.
I often have Bibleworks displayed on one screen, and word/Nota Bene or Logos on the other. The headphones are noise cancelling headphones, very important for where I live.
All of this fits nicely into the corner of my bedroom!

Excellent Teaching on temptation by Carson

2009-11-20T12:25:00.003Z

Based on Joseph's temptation.
Here's the mp3 link:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-audio/carson/temptation2_Gen_39_Joseph.mp3

Council Estate Christians 24: More on using class categories

2009-10-22T11:53:00.003+01:00

Earlier I wrote about the difficulties in using class categories.

Today I read this article in the news about stopping welfare benefits for middle class people.

It was interesting to me for two reasons:

1) Middle Class was defined as "[Reform' defines middle class as a household where the total income equates to £15,000 a year for each adult and £5,000 per child." Which for a 2 child family would be £40,000.

2) It is amazing to me that in the UK we give benefits to people on £40,000!

But I'm only writing about point 1 today, and I'm really thinking aloud here so don't shoot me!

In the article they've used the term 'middle class' in a very narrow way - in financial terms, and I see why. It makes a lot of sense in their context. When you are trying to work out where to draw the line on benefits - you're going to do it with regards to income - not your accent.

So this got me thinking that it may be helpful to deliberately use the terms 'middle class' or 'working class' in narrow ways depending on what we are talking about. For example:

If I am highlighting the cultural differences between middle class and working class Christians - then it may be helpful to use these terms, and also to explain that I am referring to culture. If on the other hand I am pointing out that wealthy churchs have a responsibility to help poor churches - then maybe its helpful to use the terms middle and working class - and again to define it in economic terms.

Council Estate Christians 23: Is the Church any further behind the rest of Society?

2009-10-21T11:53:00.005+01:00

Today I read the following article in the news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8317043.stm

It was a reminder to me how British society seems to be so far behind in looking at inner city problems. It seems to me that whenever we see a problem on the streets, it takes up to 5 years for the rest of society to see these problems and to respond to them.

The guidance of colleges on knife and gang crime is incredibly late. I used to work in an F.E college and had to deal with these issues - and the only guidance I ever received was "If in danger blow a loud whistle"!!!!????!

The police's response to youth gangs is also very late - do you remember a few years ago when the police denied that we had youth gangs?

So, I'm thinking today about two points:

1) The church in Britain is quite far behind in looking at these issues, but so is the rest of society. So we're not just dealing with a church problem, but a problem with British society that affects the church.

2) A lesson to be learned is to listen to inner city indigenous people. If they say there is a gang or knife problem, then it may be worth listening to them. It seems to me that in church planting, youth work, and social action, indigenous people (as in born and bred in inner city areas, not the way the BNP uses the term!) are ignored far too much, and out of date plans are made by people with good intentions but bad information.

Romans 8:31-39 'God is For You'

2009-10-02T22:46:00.001+01:00

Romans 8:31-39 'God is for You!' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 8:29-30 'Change your goal'

2009-09-04T15:58:00.001+01:00

Romans 8:29-30 'Change your goal!' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 8:26-29 'God works all things together for good'

2009-09-03T12:36:00.001+01:00

Romans 8:26-29 'God works all things together for good' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 8:18-25 'It's Nothing!'

2009-08-29T13:56:00.001+01:00

Romans 8:18-25 'Its nothing!' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 8:15-17 'Daddy!'

2009-08-27T10:45:00.002+01:00

Romans 8:15-17 'Daddy!' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 8:14 'The Battle is a sign of sonship'

2009-08-23T01:04:00.000+01:00

Romans 8:14 'The Battle is a sign of Sonship' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 8:5-13 "The Solution Part 2"

2009-08-19T11:46:00.000+01:00

Romans 8:5-13 'The Solution 2' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 8:1-4 'The Solution 1'

2009-07-31T11:42:00.000+01:00

Romans 8:1-4 'The Solution 1' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Our first concert in Kosovo

2009-07-19T13:49:00.001+01:00

Highervibe concert in Kosova from Paul Dayper Hill on Vimeo.

Video summary of our trip to Kosova

2009-07-17T23:52:00.000+01:00

Highervibe trip to Kosova from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 7:8-25 The Human Condition

2009-07-08T01:24:00.001+01:00

Romans 7:8-25 'The Human Condition' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Outreach in Kosovo

2009-06-26T10:55:00.003+01:00

New Life Church and Higher Vibe is going to Kosovo soon.
We are very grateful for the invitation we have been given from Kosovo, and for the funding that New Life Church Roehampton has provided by God's grace.

Romans 7:5-7 How can we use the Law in Evangelism?

2009-06-26T10:51:00.000+01:00

Romans 7:5-7 'How can we use the Law in Evangelism?' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 7:1-4 You Belong to Christ not the Law

2009-06-20T10:57:00.001+01:00

Romans 7:1-4 'You belong to Christ not the Law' on Vimeo.

Council Estate Christians 22: Indigenous Leaders

2009-06-12T14:05:00.004+01:00

Rather than write from my perspective about the importance of raising up Council Estate Christians as leaders, I shall quote Harvie Conn here:

"Leaders who do emerge from an indigenous upbringing are extremely valuable assets to a long-term ministry in that part of the city. They will eventually become the contextualist walking in the community filled with the Spirit of God. They are able to contextualize the gospel and bring to the neighborhood [sic] a Messiah who speaks the language of the people and who understands their needs. We believe that this kind of urban leadership is living and surviving in those pockets of the city. Finding and developing indigenous leaders is the most important thing we can do to grow the church in our urban centres. Yet for various reasons indigenous leaders are often ignored by church planters and denominational missionary groups.

Denominations are having difficulty finding this kind of leadership. They wonder where they will find urban leaders. Denominations also are finding the city resistant to their outreach. This is because they are not contextualized into the urban multicultural reality and are working out of a culture that is repellent to many of our city leaders. They do not realize that institutions are not neutral. Institutions have been formed by culture and continue to reinforce that culture within their ranks. The relocated leaders may have been formed in that settings and, therefore, finds it difficult to make headway in the urban area designated to start a church. We believe that denominations would do well to take seriously and seek to develop indigenous leaders."

Harvie M. Conn & Manuel Ortiz "Urban Ministry" p.382

Twynholm Baptist Church in Fulham is a great example of this. They prayed for a family to be saved. A family on a nearby estate got saved, one of youth in that family was Dean Dryden. Dean grew up to be an elder in the church.
If anyone knows more stories like this, please contact me through www.newlifelondon.com

Don't Waste Your Life Music Vid

2009-06-11T15:39:00.003+01:00

Desiring God ministries and 1031 Sermon Jams have made this video:

Coucil Estate Christians 21: Indigenous Christians

2009-06-09T16:02:00.006+01:00

Something that I think has been overlooked a lot (in conferences and blogs) is that there are a good number of indigenous Christians living on Council Estates. By indigenous I mean those who were born and raised on council estates, and still live on them.

The reformed community in the UK is presently trying to work out how to cross culturally reach council estates. This is very good news for us.

However, these discussions rarely involve indigenous council estate Christians. I don't know why - we wouldn't have blogs and conferences of white people discussing black people. I don't mean to be rude, I'm sure the intention is good, perhaps people genuinely think that there aren't any indigenous Christians on estates.

In my mind, it seems that one of the best things the reformed churches can do in the UK is to make links with us (council estate Christians from all over the UK). This is something that both Co-mission and Cornhill have done with us (sorry for any others I've missed out). Its something that I hope more groups will do.

Here are some of the benefits of such an approach:

1. Forming symbiotic relationships. Where we recognise that we need each other, and we learn from each other. It doesn't become the mc helping the wc, or the wc helping the mc - instead we have both at the same time.

2. Indigenous theologising - I'll write more on this in a future post.

3. Indigenous leadership - I'll write more on this in a future post.

4. Avoids ethnocentric mission - I think that a lot of well meaning people can sometimes approach mission the wrong way because they are wrongly viewing the people they want to reach. It helps to have some inside people who can tell you, "I don't think that would work," or "that stereotype isn't really accurate."

5. It taps into a (much larger than imagined) number of people who are totally disconnected from the reformed community. For example, I didn't know there were reformed churches in London until Mark Dever did a one day conference in London Sept 2007. I knew there were Pentecostal churches, but didn't know of any reformed ones.

Romans 6:15-23 What kind of slavery do you want?

2009-06-09T15:39:00.001+01:00

Romans 6:15-23 'What kind of slavery do you want?' on Vimeo.

Council Estate Christians 20: Please make sure what you say about us is true

2009-06-02T18:28:00.005+01:00

I recently wrote as a comment on Tim Chester's blog, and thought I should also post it here. Its an appeal to all Christians, rather than being aimed at Tim.

'I grew up in the so called “underclass” although I didn’t know that until I read a Christian book on urban ministry. The first time I heard the word ‘chav’ out loud was from a Christian who had been to a ‘chav’ party who then described how she dressed up as a pregnant single mum. The first time I heard the idea that people in the benefit culture have disorderly lives and chaotic homes was today when someone pointed me to your blog [Tim Chester's blog]. No offence meant ;)

My experience of growing up in the ‘underclass’ seems so different to what I often hear Christians say about us. I think that a lot of ‘helpful generalisations’, are not generalisations at all, but merely minority cases that stand out and are then treated as the norm.

Here are my suggestions for how we can be cautious in this matter::

1) We can write and talk as if the people we are talking about are sitting in the same room, or at least they’re gonna read it later on the internet.

2) We can make sure our general statements are backed by reliable evidence.

3) We can seek more input from the people we are writing about, and see what they have to say.'

Our Estate on TV 'My Weapon is a Dog'

2009-05-22T14:39:00.003+01:00

The BBC did a documentary on dogs being used as weapons. Part of it was on my estate.
It can been seen on i-player here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kmtl9/My_Weapon_Is_a_Dog/

The bit in Roehampton starts at 32:53 mins.

I'll write more about some of the issues later.

Council Estate Christians 19: Eric Mason as a good example of preaching

2009-05-18T20:28:00.006+01:00

At our church, probably John Piper, Don Carson and Paul Washer are the favourite preachers. But Efrem Buckle (from Calvary Chapel South London)told me I had to start listening to Eric Mason, I did, and I'm very glad I did.
Eric Mason preaches at Epiphany Fellowship in Philly. You can listen to his sermons here:
http://www.epiphanyfellowship.org

Here's what i like about Eric:

1) His many cultural references in applications and illustrations.
In Eric's illustrations he will mention things like L.L. Cool J's "Around the way Girl" These are the kind of things that put me at ease. I feel like, I used to have that record - this dude knows me!
I love it when preachers use illustrations from everyday life: Waiting for the bus, in the supermarket line, etc. These things help us to identify with the preacher.
Often in Britain, sermon illustrations will ruin something like this: "the Guardian newspaper had an article the other day that said ......"
- now that probably works well for a lot of people, so I don't wanna knock that. But some of us Council estate Christians, we're longing to hear preachers that have the same experiences as us. We wanna hear about preacher's who are applying the Bible when there's trouble on the streets, or their car gets nicked, or their neighbours are disturbing them, or they get robbed, or when they're just working hard trying to provide for their family, or trying to get educated.
So I like what Eric's doing.

2) His exegesis:
Eric clearly spends time on his exegesis of the text. Every church deserves a good preacher. Even if its on a council estate, it deserves to have someone who can rightly handle the word of God.

3) He shows his exegesis:
This doesn't seem to be fashionable these days, but Eric does it, and I respect him for this. Not only does it work as a good memory aid when he does things like say the Greek word in the original, and spends time explaining his reasoning, But also it helps us to see if he's really getting his points from the text or not. Sadly the Prosperity Gospel has affected Council Estates in London more than Jesus' Gospel. But thanks be to God, sometimes when people see a legit preacher show his exegesis, they realise that the prosperity gospel stuff is wrong, and they start listening to the good stuff instead.

4) He tackles the idols of street culture
I might write more about this in another post in the future.

5) He's glorifying Jesus
Nuff said.

Thank God for Eric Mason.

Romans 6:1-14 'You don't play for that team anymore'

2009-05-14T16:15:00.001+01:00

Romans 6:1-14 'You don't play for that team anymore!' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Romans 5:12-21 'In Adam or in Christ?'

2009-05-14T16:12:00.000+01:00

What Piper means by preaching

2009-05-13T14:19:00.002+01:00

This link will take you to the video and text of the intro of Piper's sermon last week when he explained what he means by preaching. I think he makes some excellent points:

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1792_What_I_Mean_by_Preaching/

Romans 5:1-11 It get's even better than justification!

2009-05-09T15:05:00.001+01:00

Romans 5:1-11 'It gets even better than Justification!' from New Life Roehampton on Vimeo.

Council Estate Christians 18: Good vs Bad Expository Preaching

2009-04-28T23:42:00.003+01:00

I previously wrote a defense for expository preaching.

I would however like to clarify that this expository preaching does still need to be good.

I don't agree with people who think expository preaching is no good for council estates - BUT I do think that some expository preaching needs to be better, and I wonder if some people who are down on expository preaching, have heard bad examples?

Particular areas in which I feel expository preaching could improve for council estates is:

1. More verse by verse teaching
2. More anchoring in the text (showing points directly from the Bible text itself)
3. More down to earth, real life applications
4. Less waffling

The 1st 2 are mainly methodological, and can easily be adopted.
The last 2 depend on how much time a pastor has to prepare. I know that the less time I have to work on a sermon, the worse I do with these points.

So lets pray that we'd be better preachers, and see better preachers.

Romans 4:18-25 "What sort of faith should I have?"

2009-04-20T03:17:00.001+01:00

Romans 4:5-8 'God Justifies the Ungodly'

2009-04-10T21:51:00.000+01:00

Council Estate Christians 17: Reading books 2

2009-04-04T13:42:00.005+01:00

I wrote a while back about reading books here.

Today on Al Mohler's blog I read an interesting post on the stress relieving effect of reading. You can find it here. The info is from the University of Sussex, but I know that Al Mohler is one of the most prolific readers around (N.B BLATANT NAME DROP HERE! Me and Dayper went to his personal library last year and can testify to this!).

My question is this:
If Christians keep on assuming that council estate Christians cannot read, and if they never encourage council estate Christians to read - then will we end up living more stressful lives than we would if people encouraged us to read?

Jonah Comic Book in Hebrew with audio

2009-03-31T12:52:00.002+01:00

For all you Hebrew students,

MVGH has just posted a link to a great Hebrew resource.

Finally a comic book that reads out the Bible in Hebrew!

You can go directly to the comic here.

Enjoy,
D

Old Testament Rap: 'Solomon to 2nd Temple'

2009-03-19T15:48:00.002Z

I wrote this for all those trying to get a better understanding of the Old Testament History from Solomon to the 2nd Temple.
Enjoy
D

Philippians 1:22-26 'What's better for them?'

2009-03-16T21:40:00.001Z

Council Estate Christians 16: Physical violence

2009-03-11T13:04:00.005Z

One of the issues we face on our estate is the threat of physical violence. Sometimes this can be totally unprovoked (as 2 of our church members found a week ago).

Because of this, I think Psalm 7:1-2 is a very useful prayer, and I especially like Brenton's translation of the LXX (Septuagint) on this:

Psalm 7:1 O Lord my God, in thee have I trusted: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me. 2 Lest at any time the enemy seize my soul as a lion, while there is none to ransom, nor to save.

I like this for three reasons:

1) The Street talk in v.1 “from all them” (we would say "dem").

2) The translation “lest at any time” in v.2 which implies that this prayer is prayed in advance, just in case at any time someone might attack him.

3) The image of there being no-one around to save him (v.2) is a familiar idea on a council estate. One minute you can be walking in safety with a bunch of people, the next minute you’re on your own and walk into a dodgy situation. It's good to pray that God would protect us in these situations.

We don't know when the next time is that one of us will be in a dodgy situation, but we can pray this prayer each day, and walk around trusting in God.

Wesley thinks you should be learning Greek and Hebrew at Seminary

2009-03-06T18:05:00.005Z

Biblical languages are becoming less popular, and often not compulsory for Theology degrees.
I saw this quote from Wesley on Ray Ortlund's blog and thought it was relevant considering conversations and thoughts I have been having lately about getting your money's worth from Seminary:

"Do I understand Greek and Hebrew? Otherwise, how can I undertake, as every Minister does, not only to explain books which are written therein but to defend them against all opponents? Am I not at the mercy of everyone who does understand, or even pretends to understand, the original? For which way can I confute his pretense? Do I understand the language of the Old Testament? critically? at all? Can I read into English one of David's Psalms, or even the first chapter of Genesis? Do I understand the language of the New Testament? Am I a critical master of it? Have I enough of it even to read into English the first chapter of St. Luke? If not, how many years did I spend at school? How many at the University? And what was I doing all those years? Ought not shame to cover my face?"

John Wesley, "An Address to the Clergy," in Works X:491.

A book I would recommend for last year's Greek class, and anyone else studying Theology

2009-03-05T14:56:00.004Z

This is a great book, that gives very useful advice on how to study Theology in a godly way, and how to go back to your church having studied Theology.

A Little Exercise for Young Theologians

Enjoy,
Duncan

Philippians 1:21 'Life is all about Christ'

2009-03-03T19:28:00.000Z

Council Estate Christians 15: Culture trumps jargon

2009-02-25T12:35:00.004Z

For years its been common for Christian to try to drop the jargon they use in evangelism and preaching. This is done for good reasons - to not create unnecessary barriers or confusion.

However in the context of council estates, it can also be.
1) Patronizing
2) Ineffective

1) Patronizing:
I say this because I believe that everyone is well used to jargon. Both Pop music and computer games contain a lot of jargon. Then there's jobs - every job has its own jargon. I would argue that people are well used to picking up jargon. Furthermore, it is the way we learn, by hearing something, and guessing what it means, and then having our understanding clarified or corrected by the context and further information. But this first point is really a minor point.

2) Ineffective:
More important than the above point, is that I believe it is ineffective, and this is for 2 reasons:

a) Culture trumps jargon:
You can avoid all of the standard Christian jargon, but if you are not sensitive to the culture, your words will easily fall on deaf ears. If your sermon applications are always about your stocks and shares - then you will have difficulty communicating to the unemployed. If your evangelism is about how God got you through your second degree, then you will have difficulty bringing hope to the single mum.
One the other hand, if you understand the culture you are trying to reach, then you can use jargon, but still reach the people - because you show how God speaks to their situation - and this trumps jargon.

b) Jargon is biblical and effective
The NT contains its fair share of jargon. And this jargon is an effective way of communicating truth. The first time, I tell someone about propitiation - I explain what it means (which takes a few seconds), then I am free to use it in conversation as much as I want. Now, they can be reading the NT at home and know what "propitiation" means when they see it, and now when I witness to them, I can say, "Yeah, remember Christ's death was a propitiation, and so .....".
Unfortunately, during the last few years when we have sought to drop jargon, we have also lost understanding of the words we thought were in the way. For example, many Christians today do not know what "justification" means, or "propitiation".
It seems to me then, that it is more effective to use the jargon the Holy Spirit gave us, and to explain it to people, rather than avoid using it.
Of course not all jargon that we use comes directly from NT words (for example "Salvation history"), but many of the above points still apply.

Why sinning is not our main problem, Rom 5:12-21

2009-02-15T22:35:00.002Z

Our Chuch website updated!

2009-02-09T21:41:00.001Z

Our site has now been updated, and contains almost all the sermons over the last 3 years, including our "How to not fall away" series through Hebrews, and our present Philippians series.
www.newlifelondon.com

Enjoy
D

Philippians 1:20 'I won't be the slightest bit ashamed'

2009-02-01T21:05:00.000Z

Council Estate Christians 14: Illiteracy

2009-01-29T01:00:00.005Z

The BBC news today was highlighting the problem with illiteracy in this country.

Some people think this greatly affects how churches should do things, but it is my belief that illiteracy does not affect the church anywhere near as much as many people think it does.

You do not have to be able to read and write to listen to a sermon, or to listen to the Bible read.

In the days of the Puritans there was higher illiteracy than today but they gave expository sermons, and read the Bible out loud in households so that even those who could not read, could daily listen to the Bible.

There was also high illiteracy in Bible times, but again the Bible was read and preached out loud.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything about illiteracy. My daughter has been supporting a charity in India that teaches illiterate Indian women to read the Bible, and I think this is a great idea.
But my point is that illiteracy is never an excuse to stop expository preaching or being a word based church.

The first ever gangster rap was in the Bible

2009-01-26T19:48:00.008Z

Some people think that gangster rap is a modern invention, but you can see it clearly in Genesis 4:23-24.

"Lamech said to his wives,
"Adah and Zillah! Listen to me!
You wives of Lamech, hear my words!
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for hurting me.
24 If Cain is to be avenged seven times as much,
then Lamech seventy-seven times!"" NET

It doesn't rhyme in English, but in Hebrew, a lot of the words end in the same vowel.

Lamech makes some bars about killing a man, and then claims that he is justified in doing this, because Cain (who killed an innocent man) was protected 7 times over, so Lamech (who killed someone who murked him) must therefore be avenged 77 times over. Lamech has made his own law, and his own sense of justice, just as gangster rap does.

Its interesting as well to see the difference between Lamech's bars and Adam's lyrics made before the fall,

Gen 2:23
"Then the man said,
"This one at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."" NET

Both Adam and Lamech produced culture. We humans always produce culture. We can blame the gangster rappers of the 90's for the culture they promoted, or we can recognise that what they did has been going on since Genesis 4. We all create culture. The question is, do we produce culture in line with God's word, or in line with our own twisted way of looking at the world.

Philippians 1:18b-19 'This will turn out for my deliverance'

2009-01-19T16:26:00.000Z

Council Estate Christians 13: Race Issues

2009-01-13T18:29:00.006Z

My last post in this series was on the problems with class categories. There are also problems with race categories.
I can do no better here, than to refer you to the talk Thabiti gave at Together For the Gospel 2008 (where me and Dayper went).

The mp3 can be found here:

Whilst its downloading you might want to read this, from the ESV study Bible article on race:

Recent genetic studies from the Human Genome Project give interesting confirmation to the very large degree of genetic similarity shared by all human beings and the extremely small degree of genetic dissimilarity distinguishing one people group from another. The best of contemporary science shows that the human genome sequence is almost exactly the same (99.9%) in all people. In fact,

DNA studies do not indicate that separate classifiable subspecies (races) exist within modern humans. While different genes for physical traits such as skin and hair color can be identified between individuals,

no consistent patterns of genes across the human genome exist to distinguish one race from another.

There also is

no genetic basis for divisions of human ethnicity.

People who have lived in the same geographic region for many generations may have some alleles [possible forms in which a gene for a specific trait can occur] in common, but no allele will be found in all members of one population and in no members of any other.

Why then do people with different racial characteristics originate from different regions of the world? The human race, starting with Adam and Eve, has always included not only genetic variations of eye color, height, and facial appearance, but also of skin and hair color now associated with different racial groups. At some early point when people began migrating to various parts of the earth, some variations within the one human gene pool became geographically isolated from other variations, so that people living in what is now northern Europe came to look more like each other and different from people living in what is now Africa, or Asia, or North America.

Another interesting implication of this has to do with genetic inheritance of skin color. Modern genetic studies show that when a lighter-skin person has a child with a darker-skin person, none of their children will have skin darker than that of the darkest parent. This means that if the hereditary transfer of skin color has operated in the same way from the beginning of human history, then the genetic variety in skin color (which is a very tiny difference from the standpoint of human genetics) must have existed from the very beginning. This suggests that Adam and Eve's children (see Gen. 5:4) would have likely had different skin colors, and that Adam and Eve would have likely had different skin colors as well.

Philippians 1:15-18a 'I want Christ preached'

2009-01-10T14:01:00.001Z

Church History Rap

2009-01-09T15:51:00.005Z

I'm studying for a Church History Exam at the moment, and the only way I can learn the dates is to rap them.
So here's the rap I've done, and I hope it will help other Church History students, especially Oak Hill students doing CH 1.1.
It can also be downloaded as an mp3 at www.newlifelondon.com/media.asp

There is a lot of poetic licence used, so don't take all the lyrics literally.There may also be mistakes - if you find any please let me know!

Enjoy,
D

Council Estate Christians 12: The problems with using class categories

2009-01-08T22:26:00.009Z

I said in Council Estate Christians 10 that I would later talk about the problems with using the categories of upper/middle/working class.

Here's the problem:
The categories of upper/middle/working class don't really work, because:

1) We are inconsistent in how we use them.

2) There is no proper way to measure class

Sometimes people use class categories to speak of
education background,
sometimes occupation,
sometimes wealth,
sometimes culture,
sometimes an accent,
sometimes ancestry,
sometimes clothing,
sometimes housing,
sometimes values.

But these categories overlap too much to be useful:

For example:
Someone can have a posh accent, but have a low income job.
Someone can dress posh, but live in a council flat.
Someone can come from 'good stock' but be a drug dealer.
- these categories simply don't work to measure class:

My own story:

For example: I was brought up in a council estate in a single parent family, with a thick London accent - all these things supposedly make me working class.

But I then went to a Boarding school, and received a good education, including GCSE's, A-level's, an Honours Degree, an HNC, a DipHE, a Cert TESOL, and a DTLLS. Does this make me middle class? No one has ever said so.

I also adopted a public school boy accent at school to stop people taking the mickey out of my London accent. But in the holidays on the estate I used my normal accent. What class does that make me?

I've worked in factories wearing overalls, but I've also worked in offices wearing suits.

I've earned a good salary, and I've also earned a low wage.

I've DJ-ed, and mc-ed, and produced street music, but I've also gone shooting on rifle ranges.

I've been in street fights, but also been to posh dinners.

I don't pronounce my th's, and I use street talk, but I've also learned French, Latin, Greek, Albanian, and presently Hebrew.

Now, everyone who knows me says I'm working class. When I wanted to be an Army officer, I was warned of not relating too closely with the squaddies, and when I went to University the first time I was told by one of my lecturers, "You really are the epitome [or sterotype?] of urban youth." But at the same time, I've surely fulfilled a lot of the criteria for being middle class - haven't I?

So how do we measure what class I'm in? or what class anyone is in?
I don't think we can.

So why bother writing this post?

Because of the gospel issue that is at stake here:

Because people in Britain are always incorrectly thinking in terms of class. People are labeling one another, without sufficient grounds to do so. The result that concerns me the most is that people say,
"Well working class people can't really understand the Bible, so we need a different approach"
or
"Working class people are very hard to the gospel"
or
"Well, I just couldn't reach the working class with the gospel"

What's the solution?

I think part of the solution is:

1) To acknowledge the limitations of the so-called class categories.

2) To recognize that these categories are part of our British World View. We have presuppositions about class, we have a whole metanarrative about class, and this will effect the way we respond to people.

3) To seek a more biblical world view:
...a) To see that we are all from the race of Adam. That anyone we meet is another human from Adam (rather than a middle class or working class person). To see that this person's greatest need is to be in Christ.
...b) To see that when we become Christians we are in Christ, and our identity should be in Christ, as well as how we view other Christians.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female– for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (NET)

4) To think more about this. I'm not saying we should never use the terms working/middle/upper class, but I'm also not saying we should use the terms. I think we need to think about this carefully.

Philippians 1:12-14 'All I care about is the Gospel'

2009-01-08T03:17:00.001Z

My soon-coming Bibleworks 8 posts

2009-01-06T19:24:00.003Z

I had realized this Christmas that I wouldn't be able to purchase the upgrade to Bibleworks 8, but then the good people at Bibleworks sent me a copy to review.

As soon as it arrives I will start posting about it, so watch this space!

Peace
D

Philippians 10b-11 'How to be ready for Christ's return'

2009-01-03T15:24:00.000Z

Philippians 1:9-10a 'Growing In Love'

2008-12-29T20:26:00.000Z

Philippians 1:3-8 'Gospel Partners'

2008-12-23T13:21:00.000Z

Council Estate Christians 11: Why don't Muslims have this problem?

2008-12-20T19:44:00.004Z

My last post on council estate Christians was about how the perception is often that Christians are middle class. For some reason this is not a problem for Muslims in London.

I often meet Muslims from council estates, but I don't often meet Christians from council estates. At a recent Debate between a Christian and a Muslim apologist – I couldn’t help but notice that most of the Christians were wearing suits or chinos and blazers – whilst most of the Muslims were dressed in street gear.

This is fascinating to me, because if you look at both the doctrines and the history of Christianity – it shouldn’t be this way.

So, if I grow up on a council estate today – what might I think? That if you’re from the streets – you can be a Muslim, but not a Christian.

Why do we have this problem?

Philippians 1:2 'Grace and Peace'

2008-12-17T14:51:00.000Z

Al Mohler's tips on how to use a study Bible

2008-12-15T22:06:00.001Z

I thought Al has some really good advice here.

Peace,
D

Philippians 1:1b 'Saints'

2008-12-12T18:17:00.001Z

Council Estate Christians 10: Christians are middle class

2008-12-09T19:59:00.004Z

By the way, I think there are major problems in using the categories middle\upper\working class - but I'll write about that another day.

There is a common perception on council estates that Christians are middle class. This results in many people thinking:

1) They will never be accepted by Christians because of their background
2) Christians will never understand them.
3) They could never be a Christian - unless they changed their culture.
4) They need to change their fashion, venacular, and sense of humour in order to be more Christian.

I think there are a number of factors for this problem:

1) The majority of Christians in England are middle class.
2) The majority of Christians dress in a middle class manner. Some churches even have dress codes for the preachers that involve a shirt and tie (which is often perceived as a class marker).
3) The majority of Christians talk in a middle class manner.
4) The majority of Christian leaders are middle class - hence both their example, and their sermons come across as very middle class.
5) The majority of Christian authors are middle class.
6) The majority of Christians do not look into council estate issues, but rather focus on middle class issues e.g., How to evangelise post-modern university students.
7) Many Christians actually confuse middle class values with biblical values. Of course some mc values may well be biblical, but some, such as self-reliance are clearly unbiblical.

So, if you grow up on a council estate, you are not gonna see many Christian role models. And if you do see any, they might well be portraying the middle class lifestyle more loudly than the Christian lifestyle.

Some will want to become middle class, and will love the idea of wearing a suit to church, and getting a job in finance. But others, like myself, will want to know, what does a council estate Christian look like? What is council estate Christianity? What does the Bible say about protecting my family in an area where the Police don't seem to care? What does a regenerate christian from a council estate look like - surely its not a bloke who wears a tie to church?

I believe this is a major hindrance to the gospel in council estates. I hope that more Christians will be aware of this, and consider if there are things they can do to counter this problem.

Philippians 1:1a 'Slaves of Christ;

2008-12-07T20:41:00.001Z

New Bibleworks 8 Context feature

2008-12-03T22:49:00.004Z

The Bibleworks blog has been doing a great job of writing about some of the new features in Bibleworks 8. Its not out yet, but from what I can see on the blog, it looks like a good upgrade.

My favourite new feature is the context one - here's why:

I sometimes use Bibleworks in group bible studies, and always use it when JW's come round. I love being able to locate a verse immediately, and to be able to see various English translations and the Greek all at once on one page. However, the limitation in Bibleworks 7, was that you could not see those verses in context, unless you toggled the view. Now, if I'm understanding this rightly, you can look up those verses, and then in the right hand column, see those verses in their context.

How to not fall away 9: Hebrews 12:1-3 'Fix your eyes on Jesus'

2008-12-02T19:25:00.001Z

How to not fall away 8: Hebrews 10:34 'Know you have Something Better'

2008-11-27T23:04:00.001Z

Council Estate Christians 9: Not being told the Gospel

2008-11-25T17:30:00.005Z

In my last post on Council Estate Christians, I said that there are so few of us because of a lack of people going to council estates to plant churches, and preach the gospel. I also said I would later explain the relevance of my previous posts on council estate Christians.

Today, I want to talk about what happens when people try to plant churches on estates with the misconceptions I have been trying to address. This made up story is not about any particular person - but is a made up composite of what I have seen around different council estates:

The story sort of goes like this:
Tom is from a decent area, and he has recently been thinking that he would like to bring the gospel to people on council estates. He has been told that council estate people don't read much, and that they can't handle bible studies or expository sermons very well. So he starts trying to find ways that he can reach these people who will find the Bible too difficult to grasp. He decides in the end that the best thing to do is acts of service in the community, but not to worry about telling them the gospel - in the end they will work it out by just seeing his good example in the community.

The people on the Estate get to know Tom as a good bloke and a Christian. They used to think that Christians were stuffy middle class people, but now they can see that Christians are good people. In fact they would probably like to be a Christian themselves - except that they know they would never be good enough - they could never be like Tom.

The problem is:
Tom never told them what a Christian was. He thought that 'Justification by faith' would be too difficult a concept for them to grasp. In his efforts to show them what a Christian is without preaching the word - he inadvertently gave them a false view of what a Christian is.

It is commendable that he did such good to the people on the estate, and that he demonstrated that Christians are good people - but you cannot properly convey biblical truth without using the Bible. C. S. Lewis talked about this once - how different types of information need to be communicated through different mediums. For example, you don't give knee surgery instructions through a mime! Unfortunately Tom was doing a similar thing.

A second problem with this approach:
This approach not only results in people thinking they could never be good enough to be a christian themselves, but also in anesthetizing people to the true gospel. For example, sometimes I talk to young people from council estates, and I try to tell them the gospel, and they act like they already know the gospel. They don't wanna hear what I've got to say, because they've heard it all before - and it doesn't scratch where they're itching. Sadly many of them have not heard it before - they've just seen a mime of the Gospel - one that didn't properly communicate Christ's work on the cross to save sinners from judgment.

A 3rd Problem:
Some youths I talk to say they are Christians, but what they mean is that they are doing good work in the community like Tom. They are not trusting in Jesus, sadly they are looking to their good deeds rather than Christ's sacrifice.

All of this comes from misconceptions of Council Estate Christians, which is why my previous posts were so important.

How to not fall away 7: Hebrews 10:26-31 'Know the Consequences'

2008-11-24T20:01:00.000Z

Old footage of Dayper and Duncan rapping

2008-11-21T21:12:00.006Z

I found this old footage today by accident. Its from 4 years ago, when Me and Dayper used to spend a lot of time in my living room either studying the Bible, or rapping.

Peace
D

Bibleworks 8 has just been announced!

2008-11-21T00:50:00.000Z

I am very excited to report that Bibleworks 8 will be out in a few weeks:

http://www.bibleworks.com/content/new.html

D

How to not fall away 6: Hebrews 10:24-25 'Contemplate one another'

2008-11-19T14:53:00.000Z

Council Estate Christians 8: Why so few of us?

2008-11-17T13:40:00.003Z

Recently, people have been asking the question, why so few evangelical churches on Council Estate? I hope that my previous posts on Council Estate Christians have helped to show that the reason is not because of learning styles, or a lack of book culture, or a postcode-dependent inability to understand texts. Instead I think there is a very simple reason that the Bible gives us:

Romans 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news." (NET Bible)

This text tells us that for people to believe in Jesus, they need to hear someone preaching to them. But for this to happen, they need someone to be sent to them.

In my humble opinion this is the main reason why there are so few churches on council estates. Very few people are sent out to preach the gospel on council estates.

I shall be exploring this further in the next few posts on this topic, and explaining how this links to me previous posts.

How to not fall away 5: Hebrews 'Christ's priestly work'

2008-11-16T01:05:00.001Z

How to not fall away 4: Hebrews 5:11- 6:12 'Seek Teaching on Christ's priestly work'

2008-11-13T16:16:00.001Z