Church Growth V Kingdom Growth

Picture taken from unsplash.com credit Stanislav Kondratiev

I have been having the same conversation recently with a lot of people it seems. The conversation goes something like this:

Q: How are you getting on?

A: Yeah not too bad thanks, we are seeing some growth and the church is numerically as strong as it has been for a little while.

OP: Wow that's great.

All that I said in answer to this question is true in Dumfries Free Church we seeing some growth, we are numerically stronger than we have been for a few years now. All of this is good but the thing that really nags away at me, the thing which frustrates me is that we are seeing congregational growth but are we seeing kingdom growth?

What do I mean by that? Our congregation is growing numerically but is the kingdom of God growing numerically? Are people being brought from darkness to light or are Christians coming to our church because they like it? Or more realistically are people coming to our church because they were dissatisfied somewhere else.

Before you get on to my theology I know the kingdom grows in more ways than just people coming to faith, I know that people can grow in their faith and I have no doubt that some of the people who come are growing. Sometimes however I fear that we hide behind this as an excuse for poor evangelism, or a poor mission strategy, we comfort ourselves with the thought, well the church is growing it just isn't growing numerically.

Yet what is the point in shuffling the deckchairs on a sinking Titanic? What is the point in shuffling the Christians around churches in Dumfries when 96% of the population don't go to a church of any stripe at all.

I love seeing our church grow, I love seeing people come in and find a home amongst us, I love seeing new people being integrated and serving within the fellowship, but what I long to see is people being made new with the gospel, is people being transformed by the grace of God and His son Jesus Christ.

I love seeing church growth but I also love seeing Kingdom growth, seeing the kingdom of darkness rolled back and the kingdom of light expanding. Lets strive for both because as the kingdom grows the church grows.

Why are you fighting sin?

If you are a Christian I am guessing that you are embroiled in a battle with sin. You wake up as I do most mornings with that resolution that today will be better, today I won't lose it with the kids, today I won't think those unkind thoughts about the people in the shop, today will be better than yesterday.

That is a good thing, we do well to remember the words of John Owen that we should be sure to be putting sin to death or else it will be putting us to death. My question isn't are you fighting sin so much as why? Why are you bothering?

Its a question I have been thinking about for a little while now and a passage I read in a book today really struck a chord with me. The book is entitled "Your future self will thank you" by Drew Dyck.

Dyck draws inspiration from two classic tails, firstly Homer's Iliad where Odysseus embarks on a journey home form the Trojan war. One of the gravest dangers he will meet on his journey are the sirens who sing sweet songs enticing sailors closer to the shore only eventually leading to the death of the sailors.

He knows the risks so in order to counter this risk he decides to lash himself to the mast of the ship and instructs his crew that no matter how strong his pleading he is not to be loosed from the mast. To protect the crew Odysseus puts beeswax in their ears. Sure enough they sail past the sirens and their song draws Odysseus in and he pleads with the crew to untie him. Odysseus sees the danger coming and prepares.

The second story comes from the Argonautica, in which the Argonauts must sail past the same sirens faced with the same dangers but they choose to escape with a very different method. They sail past they hear the singing but instead of self restraint they opt for the approach of having Orpheus on board, a legendary poet and musician. As they sail past the sirens he brings out his lyre and plays a sweeter song to them and they are saved.

If I am honest my approach to fighting sin all too often falls into the first category, my approach to fighting sin falls into the if I do this thing then God might get me, if I do this then God will be displeased with me. And of course this is a fine strategy for fighting sin.

However how much better to have our ears filled with the sweeter song, when confronted with sin to think not if I do this God will punish me but rather to think this thing has no lasting value, I am loved by the God of heaven in his son Jesus Christ, I am an adopted child of heaven.

Next time the siren song of sin fills your ears fill them with the sweeter song of Christ.

Five Reasons Church Plants should support Established Churches

This blog comes off the back of an excellent blog written by Ed Stetzer which can be found here. My point in writing this article is to no way detract from church planting, I have nothing but admiration and respect for my brothers in the Free Church who are planting churches across the nation of Scotland. They have faith and courage which I often find lacking in myself, my point in writing this is to merely highlight that what many perceive to be a one way street (established churches supporting church plants) should actually be a two way street of mutual support and encouragement.

So allow me to borrow from Mr Stetzer and highlight how his five points can be equally applied in both directions:

1. Established churches reach lost people.

As I look around my congregation on a Sunday morning and evening there are people that I know who are not Christians which is something I would say that would be common across most churches. Established churches can be more effective at reaching an older generation with the gospel because the established church comes with comfortable baggage and labels that many church plants are keen to avoid (on the balance of probability rightly so).

However it is a mistake to assume that only something new, something fresh will reach people with the gospel and will reach lost people with the gospel established churches are as capable of doing that as church plants.

2. Revitalising established churches follows a biblical pattern.

I will admit that I am perhaps on more of a loose footing with this point but it remains valid I think. As we consider the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, which I take to be written to a literal seven churches but with lessons that are applicable throughout the ages, what do we see?

We see churches that are in danger of falling away from their first love, we see churches that are in danger of having their lamp stand removed, in danger if you like of being de churched and the solution is never well just close the door.

The solution isn't shut down and start again the solution is to go back to our first love, the solution is to go back to doing the things that the Christians in these places did at first. If that was the solution that Jesus provided to the churches in Asia would it not seem wise to follow that solution today?

Often the solution today seems to be that we are happy to close this one place and plant somewhere else or else replant the church in the same location.

3. Church revitalisation is necessary for survival.

The figures quoted by Ed Stetzer in his article are that if a denomination wants to break even then churches have to be planted at a three per cent level. All well and good great if we are planting churches at a three per cent level.

Yet the question that leads to is what is the point of planting churches at a three per cent level if in the meantime we close churches at a five per cent level, if local churches which are struggling are closed to make way for new churches then we haven't actually gained any new churches at all, we could plant at a three or five per cent level and still end up worse off than when we started.

4. Church revitalisation benefits the planted church.

When the planted church is full of new Christians who have all been reached with the gospel what greater benefit could there be to that church than to go and help a church along the way which is struggling?

What a benefit to the church that is needing revitalised to have a group of people come from a church and sacrifice their comfort to help a body of believers better reach out to the community around them. Not by insisting that everything is done the way the church plant does it but by supporting the leadership of the local church through this change.

5. Church Revitalisation is necessary to reach Scotland.

Stetzer uses North America as his example but for me it has to be Scotland, the land of dying decaying churches, the land where church buildings have been turned into nightclubs, into Indian restraunts, into anything you can imagine really.

Imagine if instead of letting those churches wither on the vine we revitalised them, imagine if instead of being allowed to drift to 15, 10, 5 people we said lets work hard and makes these churches hubs of the community again.

Scotland will never be reached without planting more churches, we should give thanks to God for men like Tom Muir, Neil MacMillan, Ali Sewell, Jonathon DeGroot, Andy Robertson, Chris Davidson, Iain Macaskill and all of our other church planters who are stepping out in faith and planting churches throughout our land.

However lets also give thanks for men who are stepping out in faith and revitalising what was dying, seeking to fulfil the great commission in different ways. Church revitalisation and established churches are as nessecary to the churches mission, to reaching the land of Scotland as church plants are.  Lets give thanks and celebrate both, lets work together not against one another to see in the grace of God what the LORDs plans are for Scotland.

The most foolish sage in Christendom

The following words form the Apostle Paul have been on my mind in recent times and they come from 1st Corinthians:

 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written:


“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,  so that no one may boast before him.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

There have been no shortage of people in recent days, highly intelligent people lining up to tell us what Jesus would say about this or that topic. Sadly however much of it disagrees with what Jesus himself tells us in the Bible.

The very danger is that we buy into the world's view of wisdom, the world lauds us for our intelligence, our understanding and our progressive outlook. When we are tempted by this it is good to come back to the words of Paul.

The message of the cross will never be acceptable to the intellectual elite, it is after all the message of murdered saviour, the wise things in the world have been shamed by the things that are not. This is not to say that Christianity is a religion that will not bear scrutiny and test. However it is not a religion that will be proved by our own understanding alone.

I am happy to be considered an intellectual Pygmy and to preach the message of the cross which I do because I know that in preaching that message truly I am standing on the shoulders of giants. 

One Year On

Tomorrow marks the day when I will have been ordained into the position of minister of Dumfries Free Church of Scotland. I have had cause to reflect over the past weeks about the past year and some of the things that I have learned:

i) I am a great sinner who needs the grace of Jesus Christ every day. People assume that the ministers have it together and sometimes we do however most of the time we dont. Most of the time we are sinners who are doing their best to minister to other sinners. I still get it wrong I still have those wrong thoughts and still get angry and still...fill in every sin that is in your life because it probably is in mine as well.

This is designed to constantly throw me back on the grace of Jesus Christ because without him I can do nothing, without the working of the Holy Spirit we will achieve nothing. The day that I forget this the day when I think I have it all together is probably the day when it is time when I am in greatest danger.

ii) Not every sermon will change the world. If we are honest when we are at college we imagine preaching sermons that will change the world, that will draw thousands in, the sermons that in 50 years time people will still be listening to.

The reality is that few of us will ever reach those heights, few of us are called to exercise such an influential and far reaching ministry. However we are all called to be faithful in our station to preach to the best of our ability week by week and we leave the rest to the LORD.

iii) Not every sermon is useless, see above. The most discouraging thing in ministry is to think that the word is doing no work, that your sermons are nothing but 30 minute epilogs which have no effect. Yet in reality sometimes the word is working in people's lives in ways we cannot see or appreciate. People who are becoming slowly but surely changed from one degree of glory to the next.

iv) Ministry is hard work we are constantly giving of ourselves, giving of our time and our energy to serve the people of God and of course that is what we are called to do. However many people assume that what they see on Sunday is the result of five minutes work on Saturday night when the reality is that it is the result of study during the week coupled with concern for Mrs. Jones who is in hospital, Mr. Brown who has just been bereaved and a worry about so many things that happen in the church during the week.

I say this not to have some kind of pity party but until you have been there in the coal face of the ministry it is impossible to imagine the emotional burden and weight that your pastor carries round, the stress and anxiety that he is under.

v) Sunday night tea is a terrible idea...by Sunday night I am exhausted I have poured myself into preaching twice emotionally and physically I am drained, you get to the end of the service and people want to talk to you about their bunions. If I have seemed grumpy on a Sunday night this is why not because I dont care but because at that point I have no energy left.

Ministry is a great privilege, it is great to be allowed into people's lives to speak the word of God to them but what we remember above all is that we are all sinners saved by grace until Christ returns none of our churches will be perfect but until he does we strive to love one another better and to live lives worthy of the calling we have received.

Everyday ethics: Exposing The Divide

At the gym this morning I was listening to a BBC Radio Ulster programme entitled "Everyday Ethics" a weekly programme discussing as it suggests the ethics of the modern day world. Last weeks edition focused largely on the decision of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to ban from membership all of those who did not have a credible profession of faith.


I have to say that I largely enjoyed the programme and the back and forth nature of the debate but it did expose some of the divisions that exist within the P.C.I and to be fair any broad church and that divide focuses on scripture and God's revelation of himself.


One of the contributors Rev. David Latimer made the following statement "that the great commandment of the Christian faith is that we love our neighbour as ourself." This is of course quoting the very words of Jesus himself I mean what could be wrong with that? Well that is the whole problem isn't it? The words of Jesus just quoted above are divorced from their original context.

A teacher of the law has just asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the law and Jesus answers you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

Focusing on the second commandment that Jesus gives here removes the focus from the first our love for our neighbour is an expression of our love for God. By nature we are creatures who seek our own good we are selfish the only way this can be changed is when we love God who reached out to us in His son Jesus Christ.

Rev. Latimer also makes the astonishing claim that the bible did not know anything about homosexuality which is just a staggering claim. The law makes clear that the bible knows about homosexuality:

Leviticus 18:22 states "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination." Now there are several things to say about this firstly this command comes amidst a long list of sexual sins all of which are condemned. Sometimes as evangelicals we can be focused on same sex marriage and ignore perhaps our own sexual sin or the sexual sin of others.

It should also be stated that this is an Old Testament text and some will say that the New Testament has nothing to say about same sex relationships yet again that is just basically not true. We see Paul is Romans 1:27-27:

"For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their woman exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."


Whatever we want to say about this we can say that basically same sex attraction is condemned here it is a symbol of God's judgement, it is a symbol of God giving them over to their passions, it is a symbol of God's judgement on their suppression of truth.


Again we quote Paul in 1st Corinthians 6:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

What does Paul say here? That some in the immoral city of Corinth were men who practiced homosexuality and yet they were washed, they were cleansed in Jesus Christ. Notice Paul doesn't say to them keep on doing what you are doing, keep on living in this sinful lifestyle. Rather he says no now that you have been washed and cleansed now you must live a different life.

Whatever we say it is simply erroneous to say that the bible doesn't mention homosexuality both the New Testament and the Old Testament are clear that homosexuality is something that God condemns. Which brings us to the central problem here.

Is the Bible the word of God or not? Is the Bible the revelation of God or not? If it is then we are bound to live by it however society says the church should respond. If it is then it doesn't really matter what we think it matters what God thinks. If the bible isn't the word of God then we can live any way we want.

However if the bible isn't the word of God then we have no hope of right relationship with God, the bible stands or falls as a whole we cannot say that we want the bits of the bible that talk about Jesus and talk about love of God but not the bits that call us to to repentance. 

Book Review: A Preachers Catechism

I am grateful to netgalley.com and Crossway for an advance review copy of this book. This is a great little book covering some 200 odd pages and sets out for preachers the questions which they ought to be asking themselves week by week as they preach.

This book follows the traditional style of catechism with a question and answer. The questions themselves are largely taken from the Westminster Shorter Catechism with the answers and sometimes the questions slightly altered to reflect that this book is primarily written for preachers.

There are 43 questions in the book split into four sections and each chapter would take maybe five minutes to read but those five minutes do pack quite a punch. I have been preaching now for around 10 years and each of the questions spoke to me and challenged me. Who am I preaching for? Who do I want people to see? Me or God? Do I sometimes use the pulpit? Do I sometimes abuse the pulpit?

The most helpful thing in all of this book was for me the emphasis first and foremost the preacher himself must know God and must remember that he is loved by God regardless of the sermon that he has just preached. He must remember that the sermons he preaches however good or bad make him no less or no more loved in the eyes of God than if he weren't a preacher at all.

One slight issue I did have with the book came towards the end of the book when the author talked about the supper and how often we come to the LORD's table at the end of the service when people are full of the word. Whilst I can see the point that he is making my understanding would be that we come to the sacrament through the word, the sacrament without the word has no meaning and would just be an empty symbol. That however is nit picking in an otherwise excellent book.

Who would benefit from reading this book? Young ministers who are perhaps setting out on the journey to give them a realistic expectation of what ministry will be like. Slightly older ministers who have been preaching for a while and are perhaps becoming weighed down by the day to day of sermon prep. Even ordinary church members in the pew week by week will get something out of reading this book.

Whilst I read this book over one or two sittings I think the book would be better enjoyed perhaps once a week with time to mull over and think about the things the author says.

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

So said Mark Twain allegedly quoting Benjamin Disraeli of the three kinds of lies there are, or perhaps if you are less well educated you may prefer the Simpsons version that you can make statistics say anything you want...83% of people know that.

Sunday 13th May was the annual day of Free Church congregational statistics collection and on the surface of it our results look quite encouraging. Our biggest age profile of members is under 35 which given the bigger picture of ageing congregations is quite remarkable. When we consider where the congregation was a few years ago this is all the more remarkable.

How can we explain this rise? What things have we done differently in the past while that we haven't done before? Quite simply nothing we have preached the word, tried to get to know people in the community and share Jesus as best we can.

At the deacons court meeting last night we read this passage and it was such an encouragement to us:

"Our help is in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:8 ESV) Truly as we look back over the past year we can say the LORD is our help and he has richly provided for us as a congregation.

We have had seven baptisms in the past year which has been another tremendous blessing to us as a congregation and we value each of the six children baptised and the one adult. Whilst this has been a great blessing it does present some challenges as household which were formerly D.I.N.K.Y.'s (double income no kids yet) have been reduced to one salary and therefore understandably their ability to contribute to the church has gone down. As a congregation we face significant financial pressures in the year ahead.


Our next biggest age category is the over 70'  of whom we have 8 it is great to have these faithful saints with us but again looking forward this reliance on older believers is not sustainable. The category of member we are missing are those from 35-60 who perhaps are empty Nester, who have more disposable time and income they could share with us.

On the surface of things our statistics are not impressive, we are a small fellowship in a small denomination but given where we were truly we can say the LORD has been good to us. But are we happy to rest on our laurels? I hope not we haven't begun to scratch the surface yet we are 30/40 people in a town of 30,000 we live in the council area with the joint lowest church attendance in Scotland. So quite simply we cannot afford to rest on our laurels, quite simply we need to keep multiplying and making more disciples.

That is where you come in...how can you help us? 3 ways:

i) Pray intercede on our behalf before the God of the universe the God to whom the cattle on a thousand hills belong. Ask that resources would be found, ask for blessing our work and witness within the town itself. You may not be able to give you may not be able to go but you can certainly pray.

ii) Give as was mentioned our congregational income v expenditure remains a challenge however given the age profile of our congregation I think there is reason to be hopeful for the future. If you feel led then you can give money to our Stewardship account which would be a tremendous encouragement to us.

iii) Come I know its a big ask to move to a new town but don't underestimate the encouragement that one family could be to the congregation, don't underestimate the difference that one or two people in the age category we are missing could make to the life and witness of the congregation. The gospel as we are told in Acts turns the world upside down and our desire is to see Dumfries turned upside down with the gospel, could you consider serving by moving here? By coming and sharing what God is doing with us.

If you would like any more information please don't hesitate to contact me on trevordkane@gmail.com .

Save The 8th

Last week saw the historic vote in Ireland to repeal the 8th Amendment which guaranteed both the live of the mother and the unborn baby that she was carrying. Part of the argument for the repealing of the 8th Amendment was that it would create a more fair, more equal society. A society where women have freedom over their own bodies, a society where the Catholic church doesn't hold sway.

I mention this in passing only to set the context, yesterday's Times newspaper in Scotland carried the headline figures on abortion 12,212 abortions carried out in Scotland last year, 12,212 babies who never had the chance of life, 12,212 boys and girls with untold potential to bring joy and happiness who never got to take their first breath.

The most shocking statistic for me was the rise of mothers who already have children who have decided not to have any more children who become pregnant and then decide to have an abortion. This was the most heartbreaking paragraph I think I have ever read:

"In Scotland, as in England and Wales, we see that the women choosing to access services are increasingly those who already have children, who tend to be slightly older and who may feel that they have already completed their family. This is not a story of irresponsibility or failure to understand what having a child would mean; this is about women who are making a grown up decisions about the shape and size of their family." (Times Wednesday 30th May 2018)

Here it is in all its reality this is not about creating a more liberal, more tolerant society this is about using abortion as a contraceptive, this is about people who decide that they dont want another baby. To me this breaks my heart, when we move away from God we become not a more caring society we become less caring.

We become a society wherein it is ok to abort an unborn baby because we dont want her, by all means have abortion on tap if you want but lets call it what it is, lets call it a convenience, lets call it a contraceptive but please dont dress it up as a liberalisation, dont dress it up as helping the weak and the vulnerable in society..because it plainly isn't and the BPAS comments above show that the mask is slipping.

Understanding The Times

I took this photo of the River Nith which flows through Dumfries town centre a few months ago at the height of "The Beast From The East". I love walking along by the river bank through the town firstly because it is a beautiful walk and secondly because you never know who you might meet.


On any given day you could meet one of the local people who is struggling with addiction problems, you could meet a young professional who is on her lunch break, you could meet a retired man who has sat on that same bench at the same time for the past 5 years, you could meet the tourist who was pulled up in their motorhome beside the river, you just never know.

Why am I telling you all this? What does it have to do with anything? I was reading a book recently and in the book it contained the story of Henry Frost who was involved in the setting up on the North American component of the China Inland Mission (C.I.M). The book makes this observation about Frost "Despite Frost's long-continued passion for mission to China and to the Chinese, there is not a single sharply focused picture of an individual Chinese in all his memoirs, nor any passage showing critical understanding or culturally sensitive sympathy with Chinese practices and customs." (The Message Of Mission pg.135)

Whilst Frost was deeply concerned with the mission to the Chinese people he didn't take time to get to know a Chinese person they were always at arms length, a project. Whilst Frost was deeply concerned with the mission to the Chinese people he didn't take time to understand or sympathise with what made the nation tick what their preconceived ideas where. The people were just a mass of people waiting to be converted.

How often do we apply the same principle to ourselves? We preach in Dumfries but if you read my diary how many individual people would come accross? How much time am I spending understanding the culture of Dumfries and what makes the people tick? How often are we happy to see the people as a mass needing converting rather than individual people with individual problems.

It is possible to do all this while still having a burning vision and passion for the people, Frost's passion for the Chinese was undeniable, he longed to see them come to Christ but that perhaps didn't come across in the way he went about his work.

If we want to see the gospel spread lets get to know people, lets talk to them as human beings, lets see what makes them tick, understand their presuppositions and then we can answer life's big questions that they will have with the gospel.

If people in years to come were to read our memoirs (or our tweets) what would they find? A passion for the lost? I hope so but more than that men and women who spoke and prayed and laughed and loved individual people.

Walk along the river stop and chat to the people who are there because you never know just who they might be.

Moderator...Ready

So begins every session of the General Assembly of the Free Church Of Scotland...well not quite but it would certainly be entertaining if it did. As a first time commissioner of the General Assembly I thought that I would offer my reflections on the week that has just been.

Firstly what a joy it was, I can honestly say that, to come together with some of the other ministers and elders from the denomination, to sing praise, to pray together and discuss the future of the church together was a real pleasure for me. It was so encouraging to see everyone pulling in the same direction and to have conversations about gospel growth throughout Scotland.

It was good to catch up with some old friends and hear of their encouragements within the work and their problems, to meet new men and find out about places that I had never heard of before such as Plockton, im still not sure where it is but it was a delight to meet their minister Roddie Rankin.

Secondly I learned the importance of speaking when you think something is important, in a strange way I learned this from not saying anything. One of the reports I read I thought about an amendment to it for ages but I lacked the courage to actually propose the amendment only for it to come out that many people had the same idea but didn't propose an amendment.

Thirdly I learned the importance of disagreeing well, over the course of the week there were some disagreements but in all of that time I don't feel that the tone ever turned nasty, the toned never wandered into vindictiveness. This is so important in church gatherings we can disagree but we must disagree well, we must debate well with respect and honesty. I am glad for the wisdom and guidance of our moderator Angus Macrae and I am grateful also for the men with whom I personally disagree. I am not always right and it is good to have those other voices there as a corrective.

Fourthly I learned the depth of feeling there is within the church, when as an assembly we had to deal with difficult circumstances I can honestly say that I felt the sadness of the whole assembly, there was no joy only deep deep sadness which again speaks of a denomination that cares for one another.

The general assembly doesn't always get the best press but I can say with my whole heart I had a great week that I am thankful to God for the assembly and I am thankful to God for the Free Church of Scotland.

A Cause Worth Dying For

I have recently been doing some reading on mission, in particular The Message Of Mission in the BST series by Howard Peskett and Vinoth Ramachandra which is an excellent book. The book is really a series of expository thoughts on key passages in the bible about mission.

One of the chapters contained a quote from John Hick's A Rainbow Of Faiths "Absolutism in religion, preaching the superiority of ones own tradition over against others, continues to motivate young men to be willing to kill and be killed for what they regard as a sacred cause." (pg. 61 of The Message Of Mission.)

That fits in well with todays message doesn't it? If only Islamic extremism wasn't so...well extreme. If only evangelicals weren't so dogmatic, if only everyone could recognise that every religion has elements of truth in them and blend the religions together then the world would be a much happier, much less violent place.

The only problem with that is that none of the world religions leave that option open to us, all of the major world religions make some ultimate truth claim or other. For example Muslims quote that Allah is one he neither begets nor is he begotten. (Qur'an 112)

Straight away this puts Muslims at odds with Christians who teach that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, logically God cannot both not beget and be the Father of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself teaches that "I am the way, the truth and the life and that no man comes to the father but through Him." (John 14:6)

Blending all of the religions together is not simply an option that the religions themselves leave open to us. Yet what about this statement that it is religious dogma that motivates young men to kill and be killed? As we look through history we see religious wars being fought, the crusades of Christian church and the advance of Islam in Europe.

Christianity is at its heart a message of peace, peace with God and peace with one another. We see that as he was being betrayed Peter drew his sword and cut off a servants ear. Jesus response was to calm Peter and his revolutionary spirit and to heal the servant.

At times the church has lost sight of this truth and has used millitary might to advance the kingdom of God yet that was not what Jesus has in mind for the church. Rather we are always to be resident aliens in a strange land.

The gospel is a message of peace but it is also a message of self denial and even willing death. Jesus as the crowds where coming to him said "If anyone wants to come after me let him take up his cross and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

The call to carry a cross is not some insignificant travail that we have to endure in this life, the call to carry a cross is a call to come and die. Young men and women have gladly laid down their lives from the earliest days of the church right through to today? Why precisely because they believe the truth of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ as the only way to God are worth laying down their lives for.

Far from being something to be avoided we should seek to arrive at the truth because it is the truth that shall set you free.

Book Review: Made For His Pleasure by Alistair Begg

I loved this book...could not put it down. The book has a fairly basic premise but one that we would all agree with that in our lives we are made to enjoy the pleasure of God.

In 10 chapters the author highlights various ways we can enjoy the good things that God has made for us and how we can glorify God in all of the good gifts that he gives to us. These chapters cover a surprising array of topics such as sports, prayer, relationships vocation and suffering.

One of the great things about this book is that it need not be read sequentially if you want to do that (and I did) then thats great but at the same time its easy to dip into a chapter about sport leave the book and come back and pick up at perhaps chapter 10.

The whole book ties together but each chapter also stands on its own. I loved the stories that the author intertwined throughout the chapters reflecting his own experiences and also of people whom he knew this really helped show how the chapters and topics might apply to your life.

I would recommend this book to all Christians, the author also states that he hopes some non Christians would enjoy reading it and whilst I think they would in our day which lacks peace and pleasure, or often seeks them in the wrong places. I don't think too many of them would read this book. But get this book read it you won't regret it and hopefully by the end of it you will truly see what it is to live to God's pleasure and to take every thought and activity captive to God.

I am grateful to Moody Publishers and net galley.com for generously making this book available to me for review.

Free Books...Well Kind Of

I only discovered this resource recently but it is brilliant. It is a website called netgalley which provides advance copies of books for review by professional readers. When I read this I was a bit skeptical as I dont consider myself a professional reader but registered none the less and was pleasantly surprised when I was approved.

Sounds too good to be true right? Thats what I thought but it really is as simple as that. Maybe the question in your mind now though is what books can I get? Well to be perfectly honest there are plenty of books on there.

This year I have read for free:

Steve Lawson- The Moment Of Truth
Jonny Bairstow- A Clear Blue Sky
Mark Dever- The Affectionate Theology Of Richard Sibbes
John Macarthur- Good News.

My advice would be the register on net galley.com as opposed to net galley.co.uk as publishers such as Crossway and P & R publish on the .com website but not on the .co.uk website. If like me you love reading then this resource is for you, books you would read anyway but at a fraction of the cost.

Book Review: The Minister And The Murderer by Stuart Kelly

I have been intrigued by this book for a long time before I actually stumped up the cold hard £12 to buy an electronic version of it. This book covers an interesting part of the Church Of Scotland's history telling the story of James Nelson a murderer who was seeking ordination as a minister of the church.

The author had clearly done his research in terms of church polity and whilst not everyone's cup of tea chapters on things such as the Barrier Act did make interesting reading for me. As an ordained minister who sits on a presbytery now this book did challenge me as to what I/We would do in a similar situation. Some in the church felt this his crime was beyond the pale whilst others felt that forgiveness was the heart of the gospel and that forgiveness should be extended to all.

I have to say that throughout I felt myself siding with Nelson that as Oscar Wilde said "every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Not all in the church saw it that way and for many that attitude still exists even today. A parishioner often tells me "the LORD may forgive you for what you have done but the church won't." This book is a good introduction to many things, Scottish Ecclesiastical History, Church Polity and it does make one question the nature of forgiveness.

However there were some drawbacks to the book, firstly the book did come across as someone setting out to prove how intelligent they were and how well read they were. This came across with the authors constant harking back to how murder was perceived and portrayed in various ancient texts which the ordinary reader (me most of all) are unfamiliar with.

Secondly I found the authors constant looking to attribute various things to Nelson as infuriating. I wonder the author often quotes if this was on Nelson's mind as he did a deed or said a thing. Whilst this may be interesting it is ultimately futile as we will never know what was on Nelson's mind.

Thirdly whilst the author is clearly well read in theology and able to engage in discussion one of the most disheartening things was a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He states that Nelson's Christianity had not made him a better person, whilst this may be true that is not the nature of the gospel or the nature of our redemption.

Christ did not come to make us better people, Christ came to bring us to God, Christ came not because we were people of great potential but precisely because we had no hope. Nelson's Christianity may not have made him a better person but it did if his faith was truly in Jesus Christ change his standing before God.

Read this book for its interesting subject matter it is not an easy read but it is a fascinating read.