Down-under round-up: 9 March 2016

Issue of the Week

If Steve McAlpine means Christians should not engage in debates about shaping the public good in matters like marriage redefinition and gender ideology, or safe-school, anti-bullying strategies, then I am not totally convinced. But I rather think he is challenging at a more fundamental level how we do it, and what expectations we should have more broadly for our presence as exiles and strangers in the world.

Here in “Joyfully Getting Over Ourselves”, he pointedly uses Hebrews 10:32-35 to help us calibrate ourselves to the times more realistically.

Making disciples of Jesus

Aussie veteran of kids ministry, Sandy Galea, provides an excellent list of Ten Tips On Addressing Kids' Fears And Doubts. Some of her points could be adapted for helping those older with doubts too! On the other hand, a younger youth minister friend of mine added – and I think not without merit – that he’d like to see an eleventh point like “Research the issue of concern together” so that the child can learn to address doubt by pursuing truth, which is of course, implied in Sandy’s article, but sometimes does need to be a very deliberate part of a sensitive response.

My favourite Jerry Bridges’ book is The Discipline of Grace. But he wrote so many wonderfully scriptural, accessible and helpful books that you might have a different first choice. With news that he has died and gone to be with the Lord, I appreciated finding out more of his story and seeing the impact he’d had on others:

• Jerry Bridges (1929-2016) – an outline of his life and work by Justin Taylor
• My Too-Weak Tribute to Jerry Bridges – a personal tribute from Tim Challies, which encouraged me to follow Bridges’ good example

4 tips for Christians in churches on Loving families with additional needs from Bec Baines – someone who knows this personally from the inside. Her ideas could perhaps be extended beyond people living with disabilities to some single parents families, or those struggling with financial struggles straits from unemployment etc.

TGC Asked 20 church leaders to name 3 Books Every Church Planter Should Read. I think the resultant list is worth a skim for any evangelical pastor who wants to see churches grow and multiply, to see what grabs the attention to add to his own reading list.

From Matthias Media’s point of view, it was encouraging to see The Trellis and The Vine named in the top 3 almost as often as Tim Keller! Quite some years on, people are still (re-)reading and recommending it. Is there someone you can encourage to check it out?

I like the apologetic intersection of history and theology and enjoyed Three Things The Gospel Authors Would Have Never Invented About Jesus.

Image of the Week

Jerry Bridges (Image courtesy of the Challies’ tribute above)