insight volume 2 issue 4

Matt Adcock Insight Editor & Director ofCommunications

nerv (nerv.co.uk)Designers

Jeremy PerigoDirector of Music & Worship

Conrad GempfLecturer in New Testament

Cathy Wield Author of ‘Life after Darkness’ & ‘A Thorn in my Mind’

Dr. Bex LewisDirector of The BIGBible Project

Laura NairnChief Operating Officer, LST

Colin JohnsonEvangelist, Counties & Community Worker

Matt WalmsleyRising Theologian winner

Matthew KnellLecturer in Historial Theology & Church History

Marvin Oxenham Theology & Education Course Leader

James HydeLST Student - Theology

The world is changing faster than ever around us in so many ways. It is good to know that at the centre of it all is a solid rock, a sure and certain hope - our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

At the London School of Theology (LST) we give thanks for the secure foundation that God and His Word provide and are looking forward with a sense of expectation and excitement.

2014 will see LST launch a cutting edge new range of Masters qualifications under the title the ‘MA in Integrative Theology’. Integrating the Bible with real life with subject streams that include Social Justice, Public Leadership, Theology, Music & Arts along with Systematic

Theology and Old and New Testament studies. The MAiTh will take students beyond applied theology and will be able to be accessed and completed online worldwide or studied full-time on campus in London – whichever suits your lifestyle or needs better. Check www.lst.ac.uk/integrative for more details.

This issue of INSIGHT draws from a wide range of authors and asks ‘Where Next?’ I hope they will engage, challenge and inspire you!

Matt Adcock Editor

Special thanks to... Robert Willoughby, Lizzie Jakeman, Rob Brown, Mark Beaumont, Ruwani Gunawardene,

Sam Hargreaves and Adrian Semerene.

Email [email protected] Facebook /LondonSchoolOfTheologytwitter @LSTheologyWeb www.lst.ac.uk

CONTRIBUTORS

INTeRaCTLST INSIGHT - T H E W H E R E N E x T I S S u E4

contents6 - 9 f u t u r e w o r s h i p - i n c o r p o r a t i n g

b i b l i c a l d i v e r s i t y a n d m i x e d r e a l i t y

1 0 - 1 3 g e m p f o n p a u l

1 4 - 1 7 c h r i s t i a n s a n d m e n t a l h e a l t h i s s u e s

1 8 - 2 1 c h r i s t i a n i t y i n t h e d i g i t a l a g e

2 2 - 2 5 m i s s i o n w i t h a t h e o l o g i c a l h e a r t

2 6 - 2 8 t h e f u t u r e o f t h e c h r i s t i a n c h u r c h i n

t h e u k

2 9 - 3 1 t r u l y e v a n g e l i c a l o r n o t ?

3 2 - 3 5 t h e o l o g i c a l c u l t u r e s h o c k

3 6 - 3 9 w h a t ’ s n e x t i n h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n ?

4 0 - 4 3 f i n d i n g g o d i n s p a r t a

4 4 - 5 1 r e v i e w s

LST INSIGHT -T H E W H E R E N E x T I S S u E 5

LST INSIGHT - T H E W H E R E N E x T I S S u E6

When reflecting on the future of

Christian worship set against the

current cultural narrative of a

dystopian future, I often ponder what

the prayers of the future saints would

sound like after defeating all the

zombies in World War Z. And further,

after destroying all the machines

and breaking free from The Matrix,

would the remaining Christians still

use digital drums sets, computerized

guitar effects, and digital sound

systems? How would Katniss Everdeen

contextualize worship if she was

converted during The Hunger Games

and returned home to engage in

church planting in District 12?

Pondering the future of Christian worship alongside the vision of our contemporary storytellers can provoke an interesting and, at times, silly discussion among liturgists and sci-fi geeks, but a dystopian vision of the future of worship is quite far from the biblical vision. The biblical picture of the future of worship is full of hope and beauty.

The future of Christian worship is a multi-cultural vision where the leaders of the nations parade into Jerusalem surrendering their unique gifts to the Lord.

In John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, the kings of the earth “bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it” (Rev 21:26). The best gifts from the tribes and peoples of the earth are offered to the Lord as worship. As the gifts of the nations are brought into Jerusalem, the universal sovereignty of God and redemption of the nations by the Lamb is solidified (Rev 5:9-10). Only the purest gifts of the nations are brought before God in worship. Plantinga and Rozeboom hypothesize about the diverse possibilities, “So the French will bring their Bordeaux wines, the Scots their tweeds, the Maya their xocoatl (chocolate), the Chinese their Tang-dynasty vases, the Byzantine their mosaics, and the Liberians their woven bags. But, says John, nothing unclean will enter there (Rev. 21:27).” One can only imagine the cultural diversity and beauty of the purest, converted cultural gifts of the nations in this future act of worship.

As we continue to move toward the future, the artistic glory and wealth of each unique culture will begin to burst forth from the local church. No longer will churches attempt to replicate other church’s worship, but instead they will begin to amplify their own unique sounds of praise and prayer. Of future worship, John Witvliet surmises, “Attending choir rehearsals in the Holy City

FUTURe WORShIp

IncorporatIng BIBlIcal DIversIty anD MIxeD realIty


promises to be an unequalled multicultural musical feast.” Today, in churches across the earth, unique, original expression of music and the arts are being released. Churches that want to lead into the future should begin now to reflect the diversity of the different cultures and subgroups of their neighbourhoods in their worship gatherings. The vision of multi-cultural and diverse expression of worship is not simply about contextualization for church growth or even about diversity as an end in itself. Instead, the vision for cultural diversity in worship is the future picture of worship in the New Jerusalem that can be experienced now. The vision of the New Jerusalem reveals the multi-cultural worship at the end of the age that will surely include the unique songs of the nations alongside indigenous dance and other expressions of worship.

The financial demise of many large recording companies and the ability for independent songwriters to reach a global audience presents an exciting opportunity to local churches. Church leaders in unique cultural contexts are moving away from simply importing the most popular songs and hymns from a few record labels, but are beginning to now export their own original worship music that displays their unique context. The congregational song, prayer and preaching of the church of the future will be available to a global audience yet contextualized to the culture(s) within the church’s own post code.

Through the work of theologically informed pastors and worship leaders who can exegete both Scripture and culture, Christian worship of the future will be marked by localized diversity and global unity. The great multitude in John’s vision of the future was diverse in language

and culture yet unified in their cry of praise to the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb (Rev 7:9-10). Similarly, worshipers of the future will be diverse in their styles of worship localized to their unique context, yet they will be connected to one another via the Internet and emerging technologies. Though diverse and unique in their expressions, believers will be more unified with the global Church in the present moment yet also interact with believers from the past.

Today, in worship services, Christians who live worlds apart are brought together to worship in the same place at the same time. Through video conferencing, missionaries living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia share testimonies with and receive prayer from a church in West London. Instead of reading a newsletter or watching a video of these missionaries, the congregation is able to experience them as an integral part of the worship service as they are digitally transmitted across continents. As technology advances, the potential for unifying believers across the globe becomes limitless.

In future worship, Christians will not only sense a greater unity with Christians from diverse backgrounds through prayer and worship in the global village, but via advances in biotech, Christians will be better connected to believers of the past. No, I’m not referring to cloning Calvin or Luther, instead, I’m referring to the potential of Christian worship to become even more firmly rooted in the past via mixed reality. With the aid of integrated technology, a Presbyterian Church in Seoul, Korea could experience John Calvin preach a famous sermon on justification via a Calvin avatar with artificial intelligence.

“to Many, the future Is Bleak or scary, yet to others there are enDless opportunItIes. the church neeDs leaDers fIlleD wIth a BIBlIcal vIsIon of the unIfIeD anD DIverse worshIp of the future age, anD who are theologIcally

InforMeD to DIscern anD IMpleMent new technologIes.”

“wIth the aID of IntegrateD technology, a presByterIan church In seoul, korea coulD experIence John calvIn preach a faMous serMon on

JustIfIcatIon vIa a calvIn avatar wIth artIfIcIal IntellIgence.”


Mixed reality is already present in some churches as the congregation at a satellite location hears a sermon presented by a digital hologram of the preacher miles away. Could even more advanced technology be incorporated in worship, to actually transport important church leaders of the past into a live service? Alternatively, will technological advances allow an entire congregation to be transported to the Hagia Sophia in sixth-century Constantinople to hear a sung sermon by Romanus the Melodist or into eighteenth-century London to sing with Isaac Watts? Twenty years ago connecting with the saints of the past in this way would have only been possible with Dr. Emmet Brown and a Delorian Time Machine, yet through mixed reality Christian worshipers of the future may be able to seemingly travel back to the past.

To many, the future is bleak or scary, yet to others there are endless opportunities. The Church needs leaders filled with a biblical vision of the unified and diverse worship of the future age, and who are theologically informed to discern and implement new technologies. LST is positioning itself to raise up leaders who will engage with the future, today. In the Music & Worship Programmes, we are committed to train leaders who can create theologically informed songs, prayers and sermons that are contextualized to the cultures within their unique postal code. As we immerse ourselves in theological reflection and experiment with new indigenous styles and structures of worship, we also long for a deep experience and connection with the church of the past. Will it be possible to experience worship with Romanus, Watts, and Calvin avatars in a mixed reality? Only time will tell. Nonetheless, we do look forward to the hopeful future as the indigenous expressions of worship arise from communities across the earth and unite globally in their worship to the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

JereMy PerIGODirector of Music and Worship Programmes & Lecturer in Worship


LST INSIGHT - t h e w h e r e n e x t i s s u e10

LST INSIGHT -t h e w h e r e n e x t i s s u e 11

Saint Luke (LK): Dr. Gempf, it’s a pleasure to be talking with you about your new book, How to Like Paul Again. I know you’ve spent some time talking about my books; it’s nice to get my own back by discussing yours!

Conrad Gempf (CG): (chuckling) Thank you, Dr. Luke, I...

LK: Please just call me Luke; everyone since Cadbury has.

CG: Uh, OK, Luke. You can call me Conrad. I was saying that it’s really an honour to be speaking with you. Your works have been, well, foundational to me ... and to all our work at LST.

LK: (eyes narrowing) Yesss...... well... maybe we’ll have a chance to come back and discuss that further another time... Let’s talk about your book for the moment. What made you decide to write a book about Paul?

CG: Well, Luke, other than yourself, he wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else, so obviously he’s a pretty central figure for any NT specialist to write about. But in addition he is one of the most controversial and, I think, misunderstood, writers in the New Testament.

LK: Let me just stop you there, because you’ve said lots of time in the book that you think Paul is an excellent writer/communicator - that he’s able to “read” an audience and write in a style that really connects with that audience and that he also knows how to choose arguments and examples that his readers will find compelling and convincing. But then you say that he’s very misread and misunderstood? Doesn’t that mean he’s been proved to be a bad, unsuccessful communicator?

CG: Excellent! This is really the heart of my book! I think that people today misunderstand Paul precisely because he was so very good at communicating with his audience

- but his works are letters, written to address particular communities with particular questions. We today easily forget that his initial audience wasn’t us!

LK: Wait. “Not us”? You wouldn’t say that the Bible was written for people today?? Paul may not have realised that his letters were intended for our benefit, but surely the Holy Spirit did. Don’t you believe that a book like Galatians was written for people of all centuries?

CG: Oh, I most certainly do believe that all Scripture, including Galatians, was written for our benefit. But Galatians the letter must not be read as if it’s about us or to us even if we believe it was written for us.

LK: That sounds confusing, what does it mean in practice?

CG: It means that I think the Paul intended the first-century Galatians to learn by reading the content of his letter, but that the Holy Spirit intends us to learn by understanding the interaction between Paul and the Galatians - by understanding what they were thinking and how Paul corrected them.

LK: ... because those words were written to help people with those exact problems, and the problems in your church might be slightly different.

CG: Exactly. It’s like the difference between on the one hand, reading and memorising the answer sheet from someone else’s multiple choice test (ABACABBDCA), and, on the other hand, reading the questions and the answers and coming to an understanding of the subject matter that you can then use to answer a different question set.

LK: That’s a remarkably clear illustration. Why didn’t you use that in the book?

geMpf on paulConrad Gempf, Lecturer in New Testament here at LST has recently published a

popular-level introduction to Paul’s epistles called: How To Like Paul Again.

Insight is pleased to be able to present an edited version of a conversation

between Conrad and Saint Luke, who also wrote a book about Paul back in the

60s. Coincidently, both men had also previously written books about Jesus, so

they found much to talk about.


CG: (laughing) Because, unfortunately, I didn’t think of it till just now.

LK: (also laughing) I know just how you feel, there’s this story I wish I’d put into the Gospel of the time that Jesus picked up a cat and.... But... no... I’ll tell you later — back to your book: your title is all about “liking” Paul… and “liking him again” as if you think people used to like him and now don’t. Does all this “liking” and “not liking” stuff really matter to people in your century? Those of us from other centuries find this a little baffling.

CG: Oh, goodness, yes, Luke - it matters very much. And that’s a good thing! Christianity isn’t about intellectual assent, but really about relationship and...

LK: Well, duh: Koinonia and love. But love is about decision and commitment and responsibility not about “liking” and feelings!

CG: Yes, and there you have identified a problem in our century. We do, too often, make allegiances dependent upon feelings, and, worse, we determine how we feel about someone by their usefulness to us and agreement with us rather than by whether the person’s values and motives align with ours and with Christianity.

LK: That reminds me of the time Paul put an end to some free publicity in Philippi - what was being said about us was true and useful, but it was coming from a source and a motive that we could not trust or endorse (Acts 16:14-18). But how does this play out with Christians “not liking” Paul?

CG: Well, in our era, we sometimes determine whether we like someone or not on the basis of whether they agree with our preconceived ideas or not. For instance, many people perceive that Paul regards women as inferior and...

LK: Wait: They think that Paul…? But he…! That’s just...

CG: I know, I know, but it’s how he’s perceived sometimes; and the first point isn’t whether that’s a right or wrong perception, the point is that people who think women are inferior in some ways … those people like Paul because he agrees (they think). And the people who think that about Paul but who regard women as total equals who

have been repressed for centuries, those people can easily dislike a Paul who holds such views.

LK: But that’s confusing “agreeing with a person” with “liking a person.”

CG: Yes. And that’s one of my points in the book: that whatever we decide Paul’s views on this or that topic might be, we can still appreciate him, even like him.

LK: Your book never tells us what you think Paul thinks about the gender issue! Why is that?

CG: Precisely because I think that “agreeing” is not the same as “liking.” Also because I’m writing about Paul and the questions that he actually addressed in his letters. That’s what I do best. The readers can try to decide how Paul might answer 21st-century questions that he was never asked. That’s an important task, but it isn’t what I’m best at.

LK: I’m still trying to get my head around “liking Paul again”… You expect your readers to have agreed with him in the past, and therefore liked him, but now …

CG: OK, not exactly. One of the most wonderful responses I’ve received to my Jesus books was this: “I’ve always known I was supposed to love Jesus; it’s so nice to have reasons to like him.” I think a lot of my readers and a lot of my students know that they’re supposed to like Paul, but when they read him, they find him so alien that they don’t, really.

LK: You point out in your first chapter that this is nothing new, even people in the first century, even his closest friends, had some issues with him.

CG: Yes! And I’ve always wanted to ask you how Paul felt about you including that story where he preached for so long that the guy fell out of the window fast asleep and….

LK: Back to your book. You picked three letters as if they represented the whole of Paul! How could you possibly include Philemon and leave out Romans!?

CG: Hey! You should talk! You left all his letters out of your book! I shamelessly cherry-picked ones I thought would

to unDerstanD the whole truth of (paul’s) relatIonshIp wIth peter Involves coMparIng scrIpture wIth scrIpture

anD unDerstanDIng the nature of letter-wrItIng.


best illustrate my points about letters being aimed at situations, about the situations being different, and about the danger of Christians regarding the letters as a new Law.

LK: And Romans isn’t like that?

CG: I think Romans is like that, but it’s the one letter where Paul is pretty much a stranger to the community to which he’s writing. It is therefore atypical of the genre (though not of his theology). My points are much easier to see in the letters I’ve chosen.

LK: You emphasise that the inclusion of Philemon in the canon of Scripture really proves your point about God wanting us to see letters as letters.

CG: Yes, that’s really important for what I’m doing in this book. The book of Philemon, so clearly aimed at one particular problem - what to do with a Christian slave who has run away - is not going to apply directly to many Christians down through the ages. If it’s not just random, it must be that God means for us to learn from the interaction rather than just from the contents.

LK: You’ve pointed out places where you think the focus on interaction rather than just content changes how we view the meaning. One of those places that’s striking is Paul’s attitude toward Peter.

CG: You could probably comment on this better than I could but…

LK: (holds up his hands in surrender) I am not saying a word! The trouble I could get myself in with those two…! I’ll leave it for you to talk about.

CG: (laughs) OK… Most of the 20th-century view of the Peter-Paul relationship comes from Galatians where Paul talks about a time when he forcefully and publicly confronted Peter about an error in judgment.

LK: (nods, with a far-away look in his eyes…)

CG: But if we had just 1 Corinthians and not Galatians, well… our view of their relationship would be different.

Paul is deferential to Peter again and again, on the matter of the divisions in the church, on the matter of his practice of bringing his wife with him and accepting support, and on the matter of resurrection appearances. Paul in 1 Corinthians appears to go out of his way to affirm Peter, just as much as Paul in Galatians went out of his way to slam him.

LK: Which is, you argue, entirely due to the attitudes of the two respective audiences?

CG: Pretty much. The Galatians tend to hero-worship Peter, and their new teachers questioned the authority of Paul. To people who hero-worshipped Peter, he knocks their image of him down a bit. But at least some of the Corinthians are tempted to hero-worship Paul - “I follow Paul” - and will, no doubt, be looking for Paul’s letter to provide ammunition in their on-going battle with those who claim “I follow Peter”. Paul gives them no such ammunition, but rather the opposite. It isn’t just that Paul’s attitudes toward people could change…

LK: (nods vigorously)

CG: …but that the bits of the larger relationship he chose to write about in any given letter had a great deal to do with the challenges in the community. To understand the whole truth of his relationship with Peter involves comparing Scripture with Scripture and understanding the nature of letter-writing.

LK: Well, thank you so much for talking with us, Conrad. I’ll be recommending your book to all my first-century friends. We could all use a laugh.

CG: Thank you, Luke. You know I already recommend yours to all of mine.

Conrad’s book ‘How to Like Paul Again’, is published by Authentic. you can find out more at his website www.gempf.com. Luke does not yet have his own website but his books, Luke and Acts are published as part of a larger collection called The Bible, which also contains some material by Paul. Both authors’ books are available from the LST bookshop.

“whatever we DecIDe paul’s vIews on thIs or that topIc MIght Be, we can stIll apprecIate hIM, even lIke hIM.”

So what do Christians think when

it comes to mental health issues?

This is a difficult question to answer

as there are so many views, some

helpful and others very unhelpful

to the many of us who will suffer

with mental health problems in our

life time. That’s 1 in 4 and it doesn’t

change just because we are people

of faith.

We are whole people, not divided into mind, body and soul but integrated; therefore when we suffer with a mental health issue, not surprisingly it means every part of us will be affected. However a mental health problem is not the same as a spiritual health problem. In Jesus’ day, the division we see between mind and body in today’s society, did not exist. Jesus himself was totally holistic. When he is described as healing in Matthew 4:24 the people brought to him “all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures and the paralysed; and he healed them.” “All who were ill” – mental and physical. It is interesting how mental illness has been equated with demon possession during periods of church history and is the view held by some today. Why? We have no evidence that demon possession manifests as mental illness, any more commonly than back pain! The Gadarene demoniacs are often quoted, yet the description of their behaviour is not equivalent to any modern mental illness.

However in the Psalms and in various other books in the bible, we see clear symptoms of depression. I like many others have suffered with depression, but mine was of a very severe nature. I have been hospitalised, given ECT, taken many different medications, have had years of psychotherapy and even brain surgery to get better. God has stepped in and healed me instantaneously and then

5 years later, I suffered again and this time my recovery was prolonged, but recover I did. How do I see the future?I am not afraid of relapsing, even though my diagnosis is ‘recurrent depressive disorder’ though I will do all I can to prevent it. I take medication, manage stress and try and live a healthy lifestyle. I rejoice at God’s goodness that I am well, and even when circumstances aren’t great, I have a deep knowledge of God as Father, Jesus as my Lord and saviour, the Holy Spirit as my helper and the giver of gifts. But in the end, I believe that my sufferings have brought me closer to God, have matured me and that God through his grace, is able to use me to help bring an end to stigma surrounding mental health issues, both in the church and the wider world.

So how should the modern church be relating to those who have mental health issues. Firstly it is not catching! We can get close; in fact being a friend is a good idea – we all need friends and who more than those who are ill. We can be bringers of hope, of encouragement, of cards and small gifts. We can be those who are faithful, who stick with it through thick and thin, through ups and downs, never sitting in judgement, always accepting, even though boundaries may need to be set and stuck with. Being ill is exhausting, but we also know that being a friend, spouse or family can also be exhausting. Those who care need to protect themselves by not promising the world and being unable to deliver, but by pacing themselves for the long haul. Those living with mental health conditions need good communication; there is a need to explain what you are doing, do it with them and not ‘for’ them.

More often than not people express the fact that ‘they don’t know what to say’. Just being there is what is important, listening is vital. You do not have to be the answer or provide answers. Too often, the misunderstanding Christian will suggest spiritual solutions – pray more, read the bible more or may even have the attitude that the affected person can ‘snap out of it’ or ‘pull themselves together’. If I could have done, I would have done and it would not have been a mental illness!


Do not worry about prescribed medication – it does not change the personality – only the illness does that; antidepressants are not addictive. They need to be taken on a regular basis for at least 6 weeks to see whether they are working or not and may need to be taken on a longer term basis to prevent relapse occurring, up to 6 months or a year. I have had 2 very long and serious bouts of depression and so I am on medication for life. I would rather I wasn’t but the risk of a relapse means it is not worth coming off it. There are often side effects, but the balance has to be made between the illness and the drugs – side effects often lessen with continued treatment, especially in the case of nausea. If your friend is on medication, encourage him/her to take it and to see the doctor if they want to stop.

Talking therapies can be as helpful as medication and if you cannot get an NHS appointment or you wish to find someone yourself, do use the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) or Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) to find a practitioner. Your doctor will probably advocate CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) for depression and a number of other disorders. It is very useful and often ‘works’, but if you do not have access to this or have particular issues which relate to the past then alternative therapies are also valuable. In particular, your relationship with the therapist has a lot of influence on the outcome – it is worth being fully yourself and honest with them.

I have met numbers of Christians who feel uncomfortable at the thought of being so open to therapists or psychiatrists who are not themselves Christians. In my experience, it has made little difference and I have had encounters with quite a few different individuals. I have found the vast majority of psychiatrists I have seen to

be really superb and not one of them was a Christian; a professional will not be concerned at your Christian beliefs if you want to express them. Hearing God can be easily distinguished from hallucinatory ‘voices’. In fact even if you are seeing a Christian therapist, it is wise to seek pastoral help if you want to pray over issues. I saw a wonderful therapist when I was living in Scotland and my husband Phil used to pray with me over things, such as forgiving people who had hurt me in the past. Though forgiveness, so important, is often an ongoing process and you may need an independent pastor/leader to pray with you.

Prayer for the person living with a mental health disorder can be a contentious issue. What I have come up against are Christians who want to pray in a ‘sticking plaster’ fashion. To explain this, I mean the person who uses prayer as the answer to all the problems and a prayer is often said in haste as a cure all, with the attitude ‘all will be well now I’ve prayed’. It is true that prayer is required but this can just as well be done at home in private or in groups, for the inflicted person. Towards the end of the 7 years of my first episode of depression, I dreaded prayer. I had been prayed for innumerable times and had taken every opportunity to receive prayer for healing, but I felt as if I was letting the person praying down, as I could not get better however hard they prayed and however much I tried. In the end a group of people who did not even know me got together specifically to pray for my healing along with my husband – he did not tell me at the time. After the brain surgery, it was expected that I would take 9 months to a year to recover, if I was to be in the 50% who responded to the operation. In fact on day 8, I can describe an experience where a light switched on in my head and even though I didn’t realise it at first, that was when my depression lifted and I was healed. It was only


“More often than not people express the fact that ‘they Don’t know what to say’. Just BeIng there Is what Is IMportant, lIstenIng Is vItal.

you Do not have to Be the answer or provIDe answers.”

afterwards that I found out about this prayer group and realised what God had done!

So only pray with the sick person with their permission and don’t be offended or think that they are a ‘bad’ Christian, lacking in faith if they say no. It is wise to be ready to tell the Christian sufferer that their illness is not their fault, because it isn’t. No one chooses to get ill but for the Christian, guilt is a common factor. I felt as if I was a bad Christian, unspiritual, that I had brought the depression on myself, that I lacked faith, that I had not done enough in my Christian life... that’s typical ‘depression speak’. I remembered everything I had done wrong and very little of what I had done right in my life. I was plagued by dark thoughts and thought I was useless as a parent, as a wife and in my work as a doctor – though I didn’t work throughout the depression. I felt terrible, I was so low, I was dejected, I was helpless and hopeless. I didn’t think I deserved to live and my only way out seemed to be death. I attempted suicide on a number of occasions and self harmed dreadfully. I almost lost my life, but God preserved me thankfully. In the end I was kept in the Intensive Care Unit of the Psychiatric hospital I was sectioned to, until I had my surgery. Most people with mental illness do not get it so severely, but even in milder cases, it can be devastating and destroy self esteem, social and working lives, and church life. We do not want this, it is not our fault and we need constant reassurance that we are not to blame.

Sometimes our spiritual lives are really good, but faith in God can falter if the illness is long and unyielding. It may be difficult to read the bible because concentration is so poor and recordings of literature, (not just of the bible or spiritual books) or talks may be helpful. Good, fun activities

are a must. Getting us out of our situations for coffee or walks or meals or to see a film should be as frequent as possible. ‘Pleasurable activities’ as these are called are part of the treatment for depression and to be distracted is a good thing. Laughter is healing for anyone and if a depressed person laughs, you may need to reassure them that you will not think that they are not depressed, just because they laughed! (A common misconception.)

There are some illnesses which can be ‘life long’ but there is always hope of improvement, always hope of recovery and always hope that God is good, a kind, loving Father and cares very much for each one of us individually.

In summary, Christians and non-Christians live with mental illness. It is helpful to befriend, listen and support sufferers with an ongoing, non-judgemental attitude. It is great to pray for them, but not to make superficial, ‘fix it’ prayers. It is good to be encouraging and sensitive and reassure them that they are not to blame. Talking therapies, medication and admission to hospital or involvement of a community mental health team can all be helpful. Talking about it reduces stigma.

CATHy WIeLD

If you want to know more I have written 2 books both

available on Amazon: ‘Life After Darkness’, 2006, radcliffe

and ‘A Thorn In My Mind’, 2012, Instant Apostle

Phil, my husband studied at London School of Theology

and is now a counsellor. Together we run seminars ‘Talking

about Depression’. If you or your church/ organisation

are interested, please get in touch. Further information is

available on our website: http://www.cathywield.com/


“I haD Been prayeD for InnuMeraBle tIMes anD haD taken every opportunIty to receIve prayer for healIng, But I felt as If I was

lettIng the person prayIng Down, as I coulD not get Better however harD they prayeD anD however Much I trIeD.”

These are all questions that CODEC: Centre for Christian Communication in the Digital Age, based at St John’s College, Durham University, seeks to engage with. Having partnered wit LST over the last year, CODEC wants to see how the contemporary world interacts with the world of Christian faith around the core question: How do we communicate an ancient faith in a digital world without distorting the message? How can we communicate the Gospel in meaningful and relevant ways to a post modern society? How can we be heard in a noisy world? Why would people want to listen in a world that offers so many distractions?

“goD never tolD the worlD to go to church; But goD DID tell the church

to go to the worlD.”For many, church-going is no longer the ‘cultural norm’. People don’t actively ignore the church - they just don’t think about it. The British church has experienced a dramatic decline in its command of the public spaces, thus pushing the church to the edge of the minds of many. Thus, as we seek to ‘make disciples’ (Matthew 28:19), proclaim the gospel and to be ‘salt and light in the world’ (Matthew 5:13-16), we must find new and more creative

ways to be seen and heard. The digital world may just be such a space. With billions of people using these networks, the digital space is now the ‘front door’ into many worlds, including the church.

As Sara Batts’ research has shown us, many churches are finally starting to grasp that the online landscape is important, but they still need convincing that something more radical is needed than a new website.

Technology, whether it be the steam engine, electricity or the internet, has always been a catalyst for change; for new worlds and new possibilities. In recent years the church has often felt several steps behind this rapidly shifting world, communicating as we once did rather than how we soon will. It has adopted a model of passive, presentation-piece services reflective of a broadcast mode of media that we all got used to with the TV and the radio.

Increasingly, however, society has pushed back against such methods; our societies have grown resistant to being ‘preached to.’ We value self-discovery not dictation; dialogue not monologue. We live in a world of “pull” rather than “push” media (show me why I will be interested, rather than tell me I should be interested), but as Elizabeth Drescher says:

IN THE DIGITAL AGECHRISTIANITY What does it mean to ‘do theology’

in a digital age, to preach, to engage

with your Bible, or to be a disciple

in a post-modern world?


“We are not selling something to the world that will make more people like us, believe in our story, join our churches. We are trying to be something in the world that invites connection and compassion, encourages comfort and healing for those in need, and challenges those in power to use that power in the service of justice and love“(Drescher, 127).

For many in contemporary culture then, church, with its preaching, doctrinal statements and authoritative voices, is not a familiar space. We are used to more organic spaces of shared dialogue, open thinking and mutuality. As such, even within the church, movements such as the emerging church have arisen in response to the ‘norms’ of western church.

As the world around us shifts, social media offers new opportunities within our methodology that extend far beyond ‘stand and deliver.’ There is much more space for questioning and dialogue; for sharing and debating. For the contemporary congregations then, there is now the possibility to actively engage with sermons through tweeting along (or even questioning the preacher), checking something on their online Bibles or Google, sharing photos of church activities, or being encouraged to continue discussions throughout the week through a Facebook group with the possibility of sharing ‘secret’ prayer requests.

Over the past couple of years, people have grown used to the sight of me with a mobile in my hand during most sermons, checking in on Foursquare, sharing an image on Instagram, reading the Bible with the free Bible app @YouVersion, tweeting elements of the sermon, checking aspects of it on Google, and sharing a few thoughts on Facebook. As a result of which friends have come to ask me about church and whether they can come with me sometime. For churches where there’s no experience of having an active digital user in the church this can be confusing and distracting, so it’s worth taking the time as a church to encourage people to use their digital devices,

whilst ensuring that others understand the positive benefits, of which there are many.

Most essentially, social media is in its very nature, a social enterprise: it exists to enable connections and communication; to foster relationships. It gives us a new voice and a new pulpit. A new public platform and a new interactive classroom. If we embrace this medium and its creative potential, we can develop new ways of building meaningful connections, both with our congregations and with the world beyond. This relational focus has always been at the centre of Church. Its core has always been God and neighbour: vertical and horizontal relationship. It has never been about ‘bums on seats’. It is about encountering the other and encouraging ever person to live well as a disciple in the community of faith.

The church’s community ethos should fit the pattern of the social media world - that of participation and creativity rather than a broadcast hierarchical structure. We are no longer limited to our geographical or ‘Sunday’ lives: our whole-life community has the potential to be much wider than ever before. We thus have the opportunity to actively engage with what is going on in the world, to listen and to respond to the world we are connected to in ways that are meaningful to those who are listening to us.

how codec is responding?

CODEC is, first and foremost, a research centre. It emerged through a piece of research in 2009: The National Biblical Literacy Survey in which more than 900 people, from faith and non-faith backgrounds from across England and Wales, were surveyed about their knowledge of the Bible. People were clearly prepared to talk about these topics, but the results highlighted that knowledge of the Bible is declining (both within and beyond the church) with fewer than one in 20 people able to name all Ten Commandments. The survey also showed that despite the success of the

“as the worlD arounD us shIfts, socIal MeDIa offers new opportunItIes wIthIn our MethoDology that

extenD far BeyonD ‘stanD anD DelIver’.”


musical ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’, 57% knew nothing about Joseph and his brothers. One respondent said David and Goliath was the name of a ship while another thought Daniel – who survived being thrown into the lions’ den – was “The Lion King”. Researchers said their findings show that the Church can no longer make assumptions about people’s knowledge of the Bible. Half of under-45s could not give accurate information about Samson and Delilah compared to a quarter of over-45s. Similarly 33 per cent of under-45s couldn’t name anything about the feeding of the 5,000 compared to 12 per cent of over-45s. Younger interviewees told the researchers that the Bible was “old fashioned” and “irrelevant.” With initiatives such as Biblefresh that ran at London School of Theology and nation-wide created in response to this, our intention is to repeat the research in 2014 to see if the situation has changed!

Also in 2009, CODEC undertook research into preaching in the contemporary church on behalf of the College of Preachers, which identified a surprisingly strong desire for full traditional sermons. Rev Dr. Pete Phillips likened this research to investigative surgery, which is minimal, noninvasive, and temporary but which shows whether much more work is needed in the future. He wondered if preaching is receiving a boost in popularity as a counter-cultural response to a sound-bite culture, in which people are keen to be encouraged, challenged, motivated and educated: “All positive words in a society in which self-improvement and education are so important.” Further research needs to be done, however, as although encouraging for preachers who can know that their congregation is willing them on, there are huge questions about the lack of transformative application in people’s lives.

As social media has grown, preachers also need to grapple with what it means to preach in the digital age – what adjustments might you need to make knowing that your preaching may leave the room and reach an audience reading a friend’s tweets or Facebook posts?

a sharing culture

Through ‘the impact agenda’, CODEC seeks to share its work and to encourage the church to change its practices based upon our research findings. We acknowledged excellence through our fourth ‘Christian New Media

Awards and Conference’ with Premier Christian Media, on the theme of ‘Re-imagining Church’. Furthermore, CODEC is embarking upon the fifth year of ‘MediaLit’, an intensive week-long summer course open to those engaged in Christian ministry in its widest sense who are keen to understand and engage with communications, online and offline.

the bigbible project

Inspired by ‘The Big Read 2010’, the BIGBible Project is founded upon the idea that not only could people share face-to-face in regular housegroups, but that people could significantly contribute some of the thoughts from reading those books in the digital space, contributing to ‘bigger Bible conversations’. We continue to develop this space to ensure maximum impact for engaged communities which included an online / offline monthly cohort at LST to help encourage a wider audience to become involved in this sharing space. We worked with Tom Wright for two years, Rowan Williams last year, and for Lent 2014, we’re looking forward to working through Stephen Cherry’s new book Barefoot Prayers, designed to help people be inspired on their discipleship journey through poetry, creativity and input from a range of voices over Lent. The most exciting part of The BIGBible Project has to be the large number of people who contribute to the debate, known as ‘digital disciples’. A ‘digital disciple’, or, as we are calling it, a #digidisciple is someone who seeks to live out their Biblically-informed Christian faith in the digital space, and think about what that means, whether they are dipping a toe in, or are fully immersed in the digital worlds. Our #digidisciple(s) have written on a huge range of topics, including tweeting in church, taking digital time out, demonstrating graceful communication, thinking before tweeting, the importance of listening, so come and read some of what has been said on: www.bigbible.org.uk, comment, and consider becoming a #digidisciple yourself.

As we continue to work through the questions of what does it mean to ‘do theology’ in a digital age, to preach, to engage with your Bible, or to be a disciple in a digital age, we encourage you to think about these areas, whether you are in the pew, the pulpit or in the academy.

Dr. BeX LeWIS Director of The BIGBible Project


LST INSIGHT - t h e w h e r e n e x t i s s u e22 LST INSIGHT - T H E W H E R E N E x T I S S u E22


I can still remember when God used the words of Isaiah 61 to call me to do and to be something more. I had been studying Theology, and had spent some considerable time praying about my future. Then I really felt God speak to me, calling me to Haiti. I had long felt called to overseas mission, and I believed that now was the time. I had a real affinity for Haiti in particular, being a very poor French-speaking nation (and me being a fluent French-speaker) and believed that I had gifts and abilities that could make a difference. I could be part of changing people’s lives. Now I would start to fulfil God’s mission for my life. This was where God would use me… Well, I spent the next 3 years in Bradford, working on a deprived housing estate, pastoring a Church and running a Community Centre for the young and elderly. Sometimes I even had to cook lunch for them!

Hindsight being a wonderful thing, I can look back and see just how God was able to use me in Bradford, but I wonder whether I almost missed God-given opportunities because I I thought I ‘knew’ where God had called me to be, and I was impatient to get there. Jesus commanded the disciples to “Go and make disciples or all nations,” but I wonder if sometimes we read The Great Commission, and then try to fit it into our own understanding, trying to work out exactly where it is we are meant to go. Yes, it is quite literally a command to go, and as James Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission (which later became OMF) put it, “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.” Mission is an imperative. It is at the centre of God’s purpose for the human race, not something peripheral or an add-on. However, I believe it has to be understood in the context

of The Great Commandments to love God and to love our neighbours as ourselves, if we really want to see mission with a theological heart.

Firstly, Mission must be relational. David J Bosch said: “mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God.” The Great Commandments are all about relationship: relationship with God and relationship with one another, and mission must be seen within this context. When I was in Bradford I met a teenager who was being physically and sexually abused at home. She couldn’t maintain eye-contact, nor did she speak much initially. She could be aggressive, used drugs and alcohol, and self-harmed. It was a long road and sometimes I despaired of ever being able to help her, because she didn’t want to help herself. This was what she had been born to, and so this was what she thought she deserved. But eventually, through perseverance, she learned that not everyone was like her parents, and there was the possibility of a different life and different relationships. But relationships of any kind are not easy, and especially when it means loving our neighbour as ourselves – even the ones that think they are unloveable.

Mission also needs to be integral. Again we cannot separate The Great Commission from The Great Commandments. If we believe we can make disciples without also seeing it in the context of loving our neighbour as ourselves, then we are kind of missing the point. And love demands action – not just warm fuzzy feelings towards people, but a love that compels us to act! As William Booth once said, “Nobody gets a blessing if they have cold feet and nobody ever got saved while they had toothache!”

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and

release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah 61 v 1


Evangelism and social action are not mutually exclusive. In Bradford, a man who was an alcoholic used to come to the Centre for a food parcel now and again. He was homeless, had lost his family and job, people used to steal his benefits, and he was pretty much as low as it was possible to get. I used to speak to him about the help I could get for him, but he always said he hadn’t reached rock bottom yet… So instead I spent time speaking to him and building a relationship with him. But his first need was food and a place to sleep, and that was where he needed to be met. Not by someone telling him how Jesus could change his life, but by someone actually being used by Jesus to do exactly that.

Mission also needs to be transformatonal, though often what is being transformed is, in fact, ourselves. When we walk with God in whatever we do, there is always opportunity to learn, and that is how it often is. What do you think of when you imagine overseas mission? Mother Theresa? Red Cross workers? Building a Church or a School? People often imagine mission, particularly overseas mission, as literally feeding and clothing hungry children. We see images of starving children in Africa and we are naturally moved to want to help. How can we not be? And in the past missionaries did go to do those exact things, and often suffered great loss and hardship themselves in order to do that. But the reality now can be so very different. Before I first went to Haiti, my manager at the time said to me very directly, “You do know you won’t actually be handing food out to children, don’t you?” I did, but apparently others had not.

Actually my “mission” in Haiti was to run projects. I did visit them of course, travelling all over the country in what I thought at the time were some incredibly hard conditions. But most of my time was spent in a compound where I worked in an office, and the majority of the time was I most frustrated by the lack of electricity and the proliferation of mosquitos, though admittedly I did have to also live with rats… But the point is that although I was where I felt God had called me to, in fact my role was less “front-line” than it had been in Bradford. I spent a lot of time writing reports for donors, creating policies, and keeping track of the finances. Yes, it changed people’s

lives by ensuring there were schools, for children to go to, and offering micro-finance loans so people could start businesses. But the real front-line work was done by local people: the running of schools and hospitals, caring for those with HIV/Aids, building houses, running children’s homes, where in fact most of the children were not orphans or without family, it was just that their families could not afford to care for them. But who was most transformed by all of this? It was me, as I learned that God’s calling was never about where I was, nor even whether I was doing so-called front-line ministry, but about my being open to fulfilling His purposes all the time in whatever place I found myself. That was where the real opportunities for mission came if I would only see them, by my fitting into God’s plans and allowing Him to use me, not the other way around.

Mission is not about waiting for God to call you to go somewhere or do something, it is about getting on with it in the here and now. Calling is not about geography or even necessarily what you do, it is being open to be used where you are, in whatever way, reaching out to those around you that are hurting and enabling others to do the same. A little like Vivian Greene said: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass... It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

We can read a load of books, and let’s face it there are many, about how to find, discern or hear God’s calling, purpose or mission for our lives. And we do need to consider how God can use us and be ready to respond to that call. We may be leaders or teachers or cleaners. But now is the time when we walk with God and fulfil His mission. It is here and it is now: who we are, where we are.

Another quote from James Hudson Taylor, who spent 51 years in China: “I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize the Lord is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me.”

LAurA NAIrNChief Operating Officer, LST

“In BraDforD... a hoMeless Man useD to coMe to the centre. hIs fIrst neeD was fooD anD a place to sleep, anD that was where he neeDeD to Be Met.

not By soMeone tellIng hIM how Jesus coulD change hIs lIfe, But By soMeone actually BeIng useD By Jesus to Do exactly that.”


“MIssIon Is not aBout waItIng for goD to call you to go soMewhere or Do soMethIng, It Is aBout gettIng on wIth It In the here anD now. ”


the wInnIng entry froM the rIsIng theologIan essay coMpetItIon


We stand at the greatest moment of opportunity for the church since the Second World War. However, recent church PR hasn’t been good. The Church of England’s high profile deliberations over the issues of women bishops and homosexual ministers, whatever our personal convictions on the matters), are not what any of us wish the church to be known for. What’s next for the body of Christ in the UK?

We’re in what some commentators call Post-Christendom. In the past, our great-grandparents went to church, knew the Christmas story, and could recall a good number of the Ten Commandments. Most British people were confessedly religious, if not necessarily personally born again.

Today, if you interview ten people you’ll hear eleven spiritualities. It’s a pseudo-God marketplace, like Caesarea Philippi all over again. Meanwhile, many people perceive Christianity to be boring, irrelevant and untrue . This is actually an unprecedented opportunity, because the incoming generation of adults regards most things to be ultimately boring, irrelevant and untrue. There are so many options, so many facets of choice, that it’s difficult to choose a cereal let alone come to a worldview. Meanwhile, the traditional idols of materialism, health, and prosperity have fallen yet again, which is of course nothing new under the sun.

The church, often still beholden to an enlightenment understanding of both the world and it’s own role, is a little disorientated. The decade of evangelism, the 90s,

saw us lose a million people. More recently, an EA study of Christian beliefs found that 57% of those surveyed felt ‘I can share the Gospel well enough without needing to use words’. (One wonders whether the expression of this comparatively simple sentiment was uttered in non-verbal irony by even a single respondent).

Many have to come believe that the Gospel as a message cannot merely be demonstrated but fully communicated non-verbally. The very thing we need to do most right now, though, is that deeply unfashionable thing, talk. Us Brits are a reserved people, often going to extraneous lengths simply to avoid conflict; it’s why we queue. From the pulpit, we are generally taught that listening is always preferential to speaking. Besides, even a foolish man is thought to be wise if he doesn’t say anything .

The future of the church is dependent, however, on our speaking .

Our culture perceives Christian thinking as outdated moralism. It might not be what we are saying, but it is certainly what a lot of people are hearing. Although inadvertently, we tend to sound like the ‘older brother’ of Luke 15 .

In Gospel communication, we are guilty of detaching an often (thankfully) accurate understanding of substitutionary atonement so utterly from the everyday vernacular and experience of normal people that it is rendered abstractly if not verbally incomprehensible.

“our culture perceIves chrIstIan thInkIng as outDateD MoralIsM. It MIght not Be what we are sayIng, But It Is certaInly what a a lot of people are hearIng.”


Many in the UK today, therefore, likely hold a number of assumptions which can only be dispelled by hearing the Gospel in ways that it might be understood. Of course, people need to be loved, included, cared for, tolerated, and listened to. But someone also needs to speak.

We have an unparalleled opportunity to bring the Gospel to bear on the things people are already talking about, not the things we think they should be talking about. In the past, the difference between the Gospel and licentiousness was made unavoidably clear. People know full well, perhaps too well, that Christians regularly take certain moral stances on a number of high-profile issues. Today, we need to drive an enormous wedge between the Gospel and moralism. In the perceptions of our nation, they are so close as to be often indistinguishable.

Contemporary Brits want to be healthy, wealthy, happy, secure, popular, and employed . The Gospel has all manner of things to say to these desires, because Jesus is the fulfilment of all the things we want, even if we don’t realise so. He is the greater exponent or only exemplar of all the things our culture truly values or aspires to. He stands up to the hypocrites, cares for the poor and sick, challenges the rich, pokes fun at religiosity, makes weekends fun, ploughs through 100 tonnes of bacon, and dies for a righteous cause. He is the person we wish we were.

Imagine, then, if we became so enamoured with the Gospel, so excited to communicate it, that our ability to bring it to bear on the contentions of our day, flourished. Imagine if we were so conversant, so understanding, of the

dreams and aspirations of our society that our aptitude in connecting them with Jesus was a matter of course. Imagine if, rather then pursuing the tempting self-satisfied posture of doctrinal or ethical precision, we were able, with tears and smiles as necessary, to engage with the hot-button questions in a way that made people actually want to hear more. Just like Jesus did. The religious and the irreligious alike clamoured round him, compelled both intellectually and personally to hear and dialogue around the third way. It’s fully possible.

Salt-seasoned, compelling, Christ-centric conversation even around the hot topics can happen. Frankly, this needs to happen. The Gospel is always relevant, but sometimes we aren’t. The solution isn’t better music, cooler preachers, selective mutism, or sitting cross-legged around a scented candle, it’s bringing the implications of the cross and the resurrection to bear on the problems of our time.

The UK has a rich theological history. We’re great at talking about what the New Testament authors thought. We now also need to get doing what they did. The future of the British church could be glorious. The Olympics were great, but we were once the greatest missionary sending nation in the world. It could happen again. If Old Testament history teaches anything, it is that nations can and do change their orientation to God in a generation . In either direction. Let’s get talking.

MATT WALMSLeyrising Theologian Winner and new fully funded MA Theology student at LST

Rising Theologian was a major competition to raise awareness of theology in the UK. Run as a partnership between the Evangelical Alliance, Christianity Magazine and London School of Theology (LST), entrants were required to write an essay entitled ‘The Future of the Christian Church in the UK’. The prize was a fully funded BA or MA in Theology at LST. The top 13 essays are available in a new book published by LST - for more information or to purchase a copy, visit www.lst.ac.uk/risingtheologian



“your knock on the Door changeD My lIfe” JulIan

I remember my years at LST fondly. I left with a stronger commitment to the

Bible as God’s word, a belief in the centrality of mission and the importance of

contextualising the Gospel for today’s generation.

truly evangelIcalor not?This has led me in the intervening twenty years since, to struggle with questions about outreach strategy in our local churches and the gap that so often exists between church and its local community. There has been so much societal change to which the church is trying to adapt. Where once big rallies, tent missions, street work and door visiting were mainstream, now we have seeker groups (Alpha, Christianity Explored etc), social action and an emphasis on friendship evangelism and missionaries in the workplace.

Alpha and CE are excellent of course and I often use them, but have they become in effect the only outreach strategy for a lot of local churches? I have no argument with social action either and see that as an essential part of our calling as Christians. However, social action without words

is not an effective transmitter of the Gospel message and I am fearful that direct evangelism is being moved to the back seat. Friendship evangelism again is something I support and practice but I would like to draw a distinction between friendship evangelism of friends, work colleagues and family and friendship evangelism of strangers (I see Jesus doing this a lot).

For the purposes of this article I want to ask what is the local church missing by neglecting community visiting as part of a holistic outreach programme? Can we be described as truly evangelical if we rely today on invitational evangelism, a ‘come’ rather than a ‘go’ Great Commission? In this article I will focus on door-to-door work and why community visiting can be an integral addition to our local church outreach programmes.


Whenever I mention door to door to Christians I meet with resistance. Why is this? Community visiting appears to be the unglamorous poor relation of other types of outreach. Other methods have marketing and exposure. There is no promotion from well-known names or large concerns, only small and impoverished organisations that in the early and mid 20th century were once well supported financially. I have rarely seen teaching or practical tips on how to do community visiting on our big conference programmes. The problem is that visiting door-to-door is hard work; it is a drudge at times and does not bring instant results. It takes perseverance and it is a spiritual work, sowing often without reaping. It is not just community visiting that is suffering a low profile nowadays; the same can be said for street work and open air preaching.

I am challenged when I read the Great Commission (Matthew 28) to go out to those beyond our friendship and family networks (our safe zones) and to engage with strangers! Community visiting has a unique role as it reaches those other outreach methods are unlikely to reach. For example, those who will not come into our churches or meet us at work or in the social groups we attend, the elderly and infirm, carers and those who are unsociable and would never come to an Alpha meal! How else can we reach these precious souls apart from through community visiting? We need to grasp the opportunity while it lasts, while we still have the freedom in this country to go out and call on doors. Don’t worry the no cold calling notices that abound are aimed at commercial callers not us!

I was speaking to a Jehovah’s Witness yesterday on their market stall in Dunstable. Yes a market stall. I was surprised to see them there, but a Witness called Gavin spent a long time explaining to me how effective it was for them. So many he said are frustrated, fearful and unhappy with the world as it is and the JWs knock and offer them the peace and hope that the Bible brings. Gavin himself said his Jehovah is a different god to ours, yet for so many the only contact they have with someone they think is a Christian is a Jehovah’s Witness explaining what they call the Christian way and introducing a god that is not Christ,

with no saving power. Where is the Christian market stall? Where are the teams of Christian community visitors? Our society today is time poor and many feel alienated and rejected, working long hours and struggling with issues of debt, abuse and relationship breakdown, all at the mercy of the cults and false messages of salvation. Christians can offer what people really need, loving community, a wonderful God of Grace, true hope and salvation. It is not enough just to rely on inviting people to come in to our churches as it once was 50 years ago. I so wish churches would open up their walls and go out to the strangers in their neighbourhoods making new relationships. A cold call is not second best evangelism. People are surprised when I tell them that on the doorsteps people sometimes share things with me as a stranger that they do not or cannot with even close friends or family.

How can we change and encourage Christians to go out visiting and talk to strangers? Doesn’t it start with centres of learning like LST, the example of church leaders (pastors please add community visiting to your job description) and finding the evangelists in local congregations? Why don’t more churches have evangelists on staff that are able to train and demonstrate skills in personal evangelism, listening skills and relationship building? Ephesians 4 describes evangelist as one of the gifts that Christ gave to equip the church. Is the lack of evangelists in our congregations and on the leadership teams of our churches because we do not look for them or we don’t welcome them?

I spent a long time working in business in corporate sales and it would have been inconceivable for a business like BT or Yellow Pages (I worked for both) to run their business without the workers who go out into the world and talk about their values and mission. Yet most churches are running without a fully functional ‘customer facing’ section. We have welcome teams but does that effectively extend beyond the walls into the local neighbourhood? I know of a woman terminally ill living round the corner from a big church who was lonely and isolated and died without receiving a visit. How sad. My home church has been grappling with ways to engage and extend

“My approach In vIsItIng Is to set Myself as far apart froM the cults as I can possIBly Do. I vIsIt on the BasIs of a gooD neIghBour, speakIng aBout the coMMunIty anD tryIng to fInD out what are the concerns anD MotIvatIons.”

31LST INSIGHT -T H E W H E R E N E x T I S S u E

outwards from the church, and have set up Share Jesus teams. These teams are working to cover areas including, communicating with the wider community, community relationships, local mission and gospel events, schools and children, service and witness at work and everyday lives. We hope Share Jesus teams will equip new leaders and find and release those who are passionate for outreach and gifted to do it.

Community visiting has a good biblical basis. Jesus visits people’s homes, sometimes being invited to do so and other times when he invites himself (Zacchaeus - Luke 19 v 5, 6). In Acts, Paul in Ephesus preaches ‘from house to house’ (Acts 20:20). There is also encouragement to think of imaginative ways to share the gospel - as Paul commented ‘use all means to save some’ (1 Corinthians 9 v 19 - 23). Often churches are very good at inviting people to come to things but to ‘go’ as Jesus instructed is more problematic. To ‘go’ to the streets and markets, to homes and everywhere people are is, I believe, what Jesus meant by his command and this is lived out in the early church in Acts.

One passage that stands out for me is Luke 10 where Jesus sends out the 72. There is so much in these verses to encourage us in personal evangelism to our neighbours. We could see a collection of homes representing villages in the Bible sense, each area is often its own little enclave and community. In my hometown we have several large new housing developments and they have a character of their own, each with their own local needs and issues.

Luke 10 is also significant to me as here I read that Jesus indicates that we should be looking for the ‘man of peace’. In my weekly visiting I can be sure that in any street the Lord has gone before me and my task is to find the person ‘of peace’ in that road. It is very rare that I do not find them. Last Saturday I was greatly encouraged when I was asked to go out with a church locally. This church has a real passion to reach out to the local community and cross-cultural barriers. We went out in seven teams of two by two for an hour only and in that short time we found 8 contacts that want an ongoing relationship with the church. I myself had three good conversations and was invited to go back and visit a gentleman soon.

My approach in visiting is to set myself as far apart from the cults as I can possibly do. I visit on the basis of a good

neighbour, speaking about the community and trying to find out what are the concerns and motivations. As I am led I give my testimony and ask if they want to keep in touch. This can be with the Good News evangelistic newspaper or information on an event or activity. In Dunstable I now deliver 120 Good News each month. When I called on Julian* (above quote) he was a full-time carer and isolated. He came out with the church-walking group and soon attended regular Sunday services and an Alpha course. There are other examples but none has touched me more than that of Bill. Bill was in his late 70s when I first called on his door. He said “I am an atheist” and I was not to preach at him. As time went on I found he was the one who did the preaching! Over the years we became friends and he even made me lunch on occasions. After years of hearing my arguments and testimony I began to despair, as he was still an avowed atheist. He died suddenly but I was so pleased to hear at his funeral that before his death Bill had commented that he liked these Christians and now believed there was a God! What if the UK church rediscovered community visiting as a mainstream approach to outreach and became excited about the possibilities? Imagine how this would increase the average church fringe. When there is a guest service or other event the number of potential visitors could increase a hundredfold! What needs to happen? How about a 21st century re-launch? A tailored new approach depending on community type and need.

The Lord is working in our neighbourhoods, in streets and homes. We will never find out where unless we call and seek the person of “peace”. Let’s not look for the one off visiting projects but the regular commitment. Let’s look not for the glamorous events, the instant results, but for faithful and persistent commitment to our neighbourhoods.

I hope in this short article that I’ve convinced you that door to door visiting is still relevant for today. Why not give it a go? I’d love to hear how you get on and if I can help please get in touch. If becoming an evangelist or getting support from a network of evangelists interests you please contact Counties www.countiesuk.org

COLIN JOHNSONevangelist, Counties & Community Worker, Hockliffe Street Baptist Church, Leighton Buzzard [email protected]

THEOLOgicaL cuLTurE sHOck


As I reflect on much of what I talked about with these people, I see reflections in the lives of theology students as they experience academic theology for the first time, and then as they seek to apply, sometimes simply adapt, their new theological outlook in the churches to which they return. In this article, I will seek to draw out comparisons between the two experiences in order to suggest how theological students can be helped to overcome what I call ‘theological culture shock’.

WHaT is cuLTurE sHOck?My apologies if I seem to go off-piste for a bit here - I need to elucidate the causes and results of culture shock in order to draw comparisons with the experiences of many theology students. There are two separate areas of culture shock that I wish to relate to the study of theology: the first is the initial culture shock, which affects people when they move into a new culture; and the second is re-entry shock, which people experience on returning to their home culture.

Both forms have certain common causes, of which I will outline four of the most important. Firstly, there are physiological differences. This impacts in areas such as the weather and food, and can cause shock not only through unfamiliarity, but also more serious health issues. Classically, people coming to the UK go through a period of listlessness around February / March due mainly to the fact that they haven’t seen the sun for six months. Secondly, and the most important for me, is the absence of cultural cues. At home, one doesn’t have to think about how to live - everything comes automatically. In a new setting, every engagement with that culture involves the use of mental and emotional energy, often subconsciously: crossing a road, shopping for food, speaking a language, interpreting body language, calculating currency. This often leads people to feel mentally tired for no reason apparent to them. Thirdly, people lack a support system in a new environment until they make friends, which

can take a long time. Their previous support is available, especially now with the internet, Skype, Facebook, etc., but because these people are not in the new culture, they generally cannot offer helpful feedback or advice. Finally, there can be a lack of escape opportunities as previous hobbies may not be available in the new context.

Taken together, these factors can result in people feeling homesick and depressed, and can prevent people from engaging quickly with the new culture. Re-entry shock (experienced on returning to the home culture) differs primarily from culture shock in that a person does not expect to feel a shock in a culture they have previously lived in. However, not only are the previous factors at work in providing reverse culture shock, there are additional issues one faces when going home. Fundamentally, these are based around changes we experience in new cultures and a broadening of our perspective on how life can be lived. We change and those back home do not see those changes taking place (and often don’t want us to change), with the results that they treat us the same as they always did and are reticent to accept us as different or to listen to why we have changed. On the flip side, those back home will have changed little, but our view of them will change. The previous conversations in which we would have taken their view may now seem narrow-minded and shallow, with the result that we (subconsciously at least) look down on friends and family - a horrible but automatic reaction. Ultimately, it is always difficult to go home, and all too easy to be critical from our new-found viewpoints. As Frodo said on coming back to the Shire:

There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same, for I shall not be the same (Lord of the Rings, Book 6, Chapter 7).

THEOLOgicaL cuLTurE sHOckNow to relate all of this back into the life of a theological student, starting with equivalences of physiological

BEforE I joInED THE LST fACuLTy, I SpEnT A fEW yEArS WorKInG AS

A CuLTurAL ConSuLTAnT, MEETInG WITH InDIvIDuALS AnD fAMILIES MovInG

To or froM THE uK. A KEy pArT of THESE SESSIonS WAS HELpInG pEopLE

unDErSTAnD THE ExTEnT of THE CHALLEnGES THAT ArE InvoLvED In rELoCATInG To

AnoTHEr CuLTurE, EvEn onE THAT MAy AppEAr SIMILAr SuCH AS uK-uS. In orDEr To

HELp ME WITH THIS, I DrEW on My oWn ExpErIEnCES of LIvInG ovErSEAS In BELAruS

AnD AuSTrIA AS WELL AS My DAy-To-DAy fAMILy LIfE WITH A LITHuAnIAn WIfE.


shock. It is likely that the food will be different from what students are used to at home, but hopefully this won’t create any health issues. What will change is the theological environment around them, with the assumptions about the conditions of thought no longer taken for granted.

Given the denominational nature of the church and the fact that these denominations have generally grown up defining themselves against each other (often with negative stresses as much as positive ones), Christians will generally find themselves acclimatised to a certain brand of Christianity. There will often be a dominant Scriptural voice (in evangelical Christianity, normally Paul), a wariness about other Christian denominations or experiences, even an accustomed demographic with whom one engages in Christian activities.

When one begins theological studies with a group of other Christians, changes in all of these can be challenging. Suddenly, one is surrounded by unfamiliar people with different experiences and views of God, different styles of worship and prayer - and that is before the theological teaching actually starts. This brings a whole new raft of issues: interpretations of Scripture, understanding anthropology, strengths of supposedly questionable denominations, weaknesses becoming apparent in one’s own tradition, a greyness in what one thought was black and white, a search for certainty. At the basis of this, students realise that God is far bigger than anything they had previously imagined, and the box-like paradigms which had encompassed God in their previous experience are blown apart by the variety of ways in which he engages with people. The theological environment is not what a student is used to, and there is a need for support as they slowly adapt to the new conditions.

Linked into these, there is a change in the theological culture cues: one is no longer certain what will come next or how one should react. There is a language shift necessary (beyond learning Greek and Hebrew) as church

jargon is broken down and theological terminology is learnt. Simple statements about God and one’s Christian life are not understood by those around as would have been the case in the home church; previous certainties about areas of belief or sections of the church are lost as valid, Biblical alternatives are presented and considered. All of these factors leave a student’s mind buzzing with questions about what they can be sure of, why the church had not made them aware of the richness (or at least diversity) of viewpoints held by Christians, with the result that many can feel exhausted simply by their new state of life, even without all those lectures to attend with more new information.

This existence highlights the importance of the next two mirrors of culture shock: a support system and an escape mechanism. As with someone moving cross-culturally, a theological student’s previous support system is generally inadequate in the new setting. As part of their previous church family, the student was enclosed in that same theological bubble; now that the bubble has been burst and the vastness of theology is opening before them, the previous support can now seen narrow or irrelevant in the advice they give (unless the student knows others who have been through the same experience). There is a need for a new support system in the theological college, where people going through the same issues can relate to and help each other. This highlights the importance of true community in a theological college: many will naturally make new friends and find sympathetic hearts to share their struggles; a few may not, and there has to be a conscious attempt to find such people and provide the support they require.

The escape system also shows the importance of community in a theological college, particularly a residential college, as much of the discussion outside the classroom will involve the thoughts crowding into students’ heads. There is thus a need for a community that provides downtime, opportunities to socialise and

“goIng Back to people who you know well, wIth whoM you shareD conversatIons aBout anD experIences of goD, wIth a new-founD apprecIatIon

for the DIversIty of chrIstIan BelIef anD experIence Is DIffIcult.”


play together away from the business of theology, in order that students can find a healthy balance in their lifestyles.

THEOLOgicaL rE-EnTry sHOckOnce a student gets through the initial theological culture shock, the experience for the rest of the degree can be remarkable. When the fear of meeting a challenging thought is overcome, students can revel in the richness and glory of God’s ability to reach and relate to such diverse communities throughout history and around the world, the variety of experience of God in Scripture, in churches, in theological and spiritual heritages. The magnitude of God is removed from cultural or denominational limitations, and the results are often eye-opening and exciting.

However, through this process, a new challenge looms before the theological student: re-integration into the church community. For the majority of students (those who are not continuing with their theological studies), the prospect arises of fitting back into some kind of denominational setting with certain preconceptions and assumptions about how one should talk about God, how one should and should not worship, what one is allowed to believe in certain areas of the faith.

The hardest experience, as for those who move into a different culture, is to go home. Going back to people who you know well, with whom you shared conversations about and experiences of God, with a new-found appreciation for the diversity of Christian belief and experience is difficult. The same conversations in which you would have engaged can now seem narrow, restrictive, even judgemental of others. The new insights that a student has developed over years of study and transformation are often not welcomed, even treated with suspicion. The subconscious reaction can all-too-easily be to look down on people as being narrow-minded and simplistic - never a pleasant experience. Moving into a new church eliminates this last element of theological re-entry shock, but the basic issue of a wide perspective of interpretation and experience fitting back into a more narrow church setting remains.

Therefore it is incumbent on theological schools to address the issue of post-theological stress, to provide care for

theologians in the community. Theological graduates need to settle into church communities, providing helpful insights where possible and biting their tongues when they feel frustrated over theological simplification and narrowness of thought, but they also need outlets to engage with others who have a similarly wide-ranging views on God, on the church, on spirituality and theology. While graduating students should be sent out from the college, they should also be made aware that they remain part of that college, and are not left alone to wander in search of continuing theological fulfilment.

cOncLusiOnThis article has sought to find echoes between the experiences of a person moving cross-culturally and those of a student entering into theological education. There are many similarities in the impact of the changes involved: a sense of disorientation, a challenge to remove oneself from a comfortable bubble of how life or Christianity should be experienced, a sense of homesickness in losing the support systems a person has previously relied on, the difficulty of going back to a previous situation with a new, wider, more rich sense of how life can be lived, how God can be thought of, experienced and worshipped.

This can help students make sense of the feelings that they experience on entering and leaving college; it should also challenge theological colleges to find ways of helping students process these changes by providing particular care in the first weeks of study and through their first experiences back in the world. Finally, the churches that receive theological students, both during their training and on completion of their degree, need to be aware that their learning is not intended to distance them from the church, but to help them to benefit the church. They should be welcomed for the insights they can provide, and treated with sympathy as they seek to readjust to their new situations. These are not theological automatons now immune to the struggles of faith, but remain children of God in need of the church’s care and support.

MATTHeW KNeLLLecturer in Historical Theologyand Church History


THE cLaim THaT WEsTErn HigHEr EducaTiOn is facing TimEs Of cHangE is nOTHing nEW. EvEryOnE can sEE THaT. BuT WHaT is LEss apparEnT arE THE ansWErs TO WHy THis

cHangE is HappEning and WHaT iT is prOducing...


...Concerning the why, it has been suggested that change is due to a variety of historical factors that have impacted education including globalization, the massification of education, the exponential growth of knowledge and increasing specialization of tertiary education, the fragmentation of the disciplines and the commodification of knowledge. The invention of the Internet that offers abundant, updated and free knowledge and the proliferation of mobile devices that allow us to instantly search and download that knowledge have also deeply impacted the university.

Deeper forces leading to liquid educationThere are however deeper forces at work that can be identified in the philosophical and sociological revolutions that have followed modernity. Here we find that a set of key concepts in higher education, such as authority, culture, reason and structure have seen a radical metamorphosis. If one should compare education today to its Greek and Roman roots or to the University of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, the contrast is stark to say the least. If the ‘traditional’ view of higher education (forgive the generalization) can be fairly summarized as a group of teachers and students that pursued higher learning in a given structure, with a shared purpose, common virtues and values and under the authority of text, tradition, and reason, what is ‘next’ is quite distinct. Here is the definition of what I have called ‘liquid education’.

‘Liquid education is the educational philosophy of liquid modernity that dismantles previous higher learning (meta destruction) and pursues temporary, tentative and unarranged bits of knowledge (micro creation) and helpful competences (survival). It is the un-authoritative activity of learners that, lacking cultural purpose and rational framework, operates outside the bounds of structure in the service of the market’ (Oxenham, 2013: 40).

Let me unpack this definition to illustrate what I think is next – and to a great extent is already here - in higher education.

THE nExT THInGFirst, higher education is no longer seen as the accumulation of knowledge where each generation of students stands on the shoulders of the giants to contribute an increasingly elaborate construction of human scientia. This notion is dissipating and what is next is the idea that ‘old knowledge’ is toxic, useless and irrelevant and should be disposed. Some have suggested that one of the main purposes of the university today is to serve as a giant incinerator of old knowledge.

Second, higher education is moving to pursue a different species of knowledge that is fresh, small, fast, un-scaffolded and, most of all, useful. If the traditional model can be compared to a solid, permanent and elaborate cathedral, the next model is more akin to a small tent on an iceberg. It can be easily set up and taken down to adapt with change. It is light. It is portable. It helps us survive in the sea of change around us. If change is postulated as the ontological framework on which society stands, the small tent is the way to go! Education must be just in time, served crisp, with a short shelf-life and fashioned around learning outcomes that generate the skills and competences that are needed to meet the changes of the moment.

Third, higher education removes the authority of the teacher, the text and the tradition and replaces it with the authority of the single learner. Based on the belief that the individual knows best, the next brand of education is student-centred. Teachers refrain from being directive and shift into a ‘guide on the side’ mode, providing inspiration and technical expertise but allowing the individual to flourish on their own. Students are the ones who choose learning activities, self-assess, direct their own research and select their options and escape the rigours of the curriculum. I’m not (yet) evaluating whether this is good or bad, I’m simply saying it is what is next.

Fourth, fifth and sixth, whatever the next thing in higher education looks like it features a revised relationship with culture, reason and structure. Culture was the first great educational venture of Western culture and can be summarized by the Greek notion of Paideia, a feature that


“BaseD on the BelIef that the InDIvIDual knows Best, the next BranD of eDucatIon Is stuDent-centreD.”

survived the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment and well into the modern university prototype of Von Humboldt in Berlin. But today to claim that higher education exists to create higher culture, smacks of snobbery at the best. What about reason? I won’t go down the well trodden path of the history of thought and all the changing relations with reason, but suffice it to generalize the claim that today there is less ease with rationality, less Cartesian confidence in its potential and less pretence to be able to wrap our minds around reality and more desire to focus on mere competences. For the university enterprise this is a major shift. And structure? Much could be said about what is next in terms of higher educational structures, as we are already seeing heavy weight curricula losing out in favour of modular, the notion of benchmarks becoming weary, andragogy in a sort of creative free fall, the disposal of buildings and libraries in favour of MOOCs, and even the announcement about the demise of traditional degrees which employers now frown at - BAs, MAs and PhDs - who show instead greater interest in portfolios, badges and lifelong learning.

Finally, the last trend (which is already unmistakably here) is the shackling of education to the service of the market. Education is quickly becoming a commodity. It is shifting from the production of culture to the production of capital. The Latin Otium is being replaced by Negotium as the cultivation of human flourishing is replaced by professional prospering. The Greek schole (this is the origin of our word ‘school’ meaning ‘free time’ to nourish human growth) is losing the game to aschole aimed at training slaves and merchants. Education is less and less about Bildung (culture), and more and more about GDP. The term “knowledge economy” is quickly transforming from an oxymoron and a blasphemy to public policy. Neo-liberal policies have their foot in the door, and universities are less and less in the hands of academics and more and more in the hands of business managers.

Did I mention lifelong learning? Yes I did. It is a prime example of all that I’ve listed above as what is next.

Lifelong learning is fresh, bite-sized and unarranged. It is student centeed and un-authoritative. It is competence oriented. It declines any pretence to mastery. It is flexible and adapts to change, quick to dispose of itself and re-invent the next thing. It has no structure, no curricula and no credentials. It makes money, and increases the productivity of a nation. If this kind of education prevails, the university as we know it will be no more.

Where will the next thing lead?Our second question concerned what these changes in higher education are producing. There is a lot of good in what is next in higher education. Different is not bad. There is a level of appropriate response to the excesses of pre-modern and modernistic education. We can only applaud the correction of authoritarian abuse that turns education into a tool of power and totalitarian indoctrination. We endorse the melting of the excessive confidence in reason, the one-size-fits all cultural formulas and the presumed supremacy of scientific metanarratives. We agree with the necessity to move beyond the shattered utopias of modernity to adapt to a multi-cultural, globalized world which embraces difference and to create renewed spaces in which excellence can espouse modesty and stony science can warm to individual human experience. All and all, we cannot but rally – at least in part - to the call to abandon the haunting irrelevancy of self-serving ivory towers to train competent citizens to survive in a changing world and to help a changing world to survive.And yet, there is also an inferno in what is next. There is no room to expand on these, but I will mention at least four infernos:

‘The first is a spectre of emaciated education, as in liquid education value judgements become unsustainable, motivation is drained, skills are powerless, undesirable identities are fostered and the risk arises of fostering educated idiots. The second is a set of evils that is associated

“as we consIDer what Is next In hIgher eDucatIon It Is clear that we fInD ourselves In a rather DauntIng context for theologIcal eDucatIon.

Just as DanIel founD hIMself In a cultural captIvIty, so theologIcal eDucatIon Is challengeD By the context of these changes.”


with an empty agora, including both the emptying out of the internal communities of learning and the external silencing of the voice of the university in the public sphere. The third are the infernos of the commercialization of education. The fourth, and perhaps the most felt of these critiques, is the phenomenon of educational anxiety that comes from the pressures to stay ahead, the short life span of knowledge, the compulsory nature of freedom, the constancy of motion, the isolation of the present, the information overload, the indeterminacy of happiness and the hurriedness of culture’ (Oxenham, 2013: 146).

Whatever the redemptive features are of what is next in higher education, even the mention of these infernos overshadows the future with uncertainty and concern.

Where does this leave theological education?As we consider what is next in higher education it is clear that we find ourselves in a rather daunting context for theological education. Just as Daniel found himself in a cultural captivity, so theological education is challenged by the context of these changes.

Several of these changes are in tension with theological education. Take the first point above on the dismantling of previous learning and the distrust in accumulated knowledge. This is in stark contrast with theological education that values tradition, studies a historical text and glories in its libraries. Theological education values the authority of teacher, the hermeneutic of the text and the weight of tradition for theological reasons. Our theological lens leads us, yes to consider our students in their imago dei and thus legitimately owning their education, but we also consider them in their fallen nature and needy of the scaffolding of truth, virtue, admonition and instruction.

Consider the second point endorsing light, portable and useful knowledge. This is also troubling, for while

theological education aims at relevance and ministry preparation it also pursues amor sciendi and the knowledge of God as an end to itself and not only as an end to produce useful outcomes.

We likewise challenge the demise of culture, reason and structure, for we are theologically convinced that the truth will set individuals, nations and cultures free. We are convinced that reason is not a simple language game that foregoes any attempt to frame metanarratives, but a God-given and God-redeemed capacity whereby we can know, albeit through a glass darkly and only as far as the periphery of mystery. And yes, we still do hold on to structure to a degree. Not because we are followers of Aristotle or heirs of modernity, but because we believe in a God who in addition to being ‘other’, un-tame and unpredictably creative is also a God of order, unity and progress.

And yes, we also struggle to consider theological education in the service of the market. The temptation to transform learning communities of disciples into well lubricated businesses that produce a healthy profit and to grow according to carefully designed plans must be guarded against. We should beware lest we treat those who should have come to nourish their souls, submit to discipleship and develop their character, mainly as customers that need to be served and kept happy.

So as theological educators we struggle like Daniel. We accept that there is an appropriate level of conformity and contextualization and we are ready to applaud change. But we also stand for diversity, for a dynamic tension and critical dialogue with the cultural bends of education and for the necessity at times to refuse dainties and to dream dreams that no one else is dreaming.

MArvIN OXeNHAMPHD, Theology and education Course Leader and Lecturer in Philosophy, education and Applied Theology

reference: Oxenham, M., Higher Education in Liquid Modernity, New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2013.

“the teMptatIon to transforM learnIng coMMunItIes of DIscIples Into well luBrIcateD BusInesses that proDuce a healthy profIt anD to grow

accorDIng to carefully DesIgneD plans Must Be guarDeD agaInst. ”



FINDING GOD IN

SpaRTa



For me, movies used to be pretty one

dimensional. they had their purpose

and that was to entertain, and a movie

like 300 did just that. Appealing to

everything ‘manly’ within me the action

caused me to want to wrestle with any

other guy in the room, the feats of

strength sent me on a mission to the

gym and the sacrifice of King Leonidas

and his 300 lead me to dream of dying

for another and being remembered as a

hero . . . Then a couple of hours went

by and all those feelings were no more

than good memories of a movie I know to

get out whenever the lads are round

for the night.

Then my movie life got changed forever, along came God. Inevitably He decided to shake things up in my life. He started talking to me; a lot, in many different ways and I’ve come to realise that when He gets involved the dynamics of just about every situation change and you’re left asking what just happened? Soon enough movies were no longer mere entertainment but had become to me what I can only describe as modern day parables. Awesome modern day parables may I add. Now I am drawn to just about any and every movie going just to see what truth might be locked up within it, whether it may mind bender like ‘Cloud Atlas’ or a feel good picture like Disney’s ‘Up’. Whatever the movie is, it has now become a pretty hard challenge to not hear from God. When sitting down to watch 300 again, since this change in my movie habits, I was taken by surprise how God revealed His truth through a testosterone packed blockbuster, where rivers of blood are literally being spilled all over the screen. Never did I think I would be reduced to tears in the challenge and beauty of His truth whilst watching this bloodthirsty feature just as if I was in a deep personal encounter alone with God or in fellowship at Church. Yet that is what happened. At least twice I found myself welling up as the words and acts of the 300 found their landing not simply on my head but my heart.

What can we learn from 300? It is 480 BC and Sparta, along with the whole of Greece is threatened by a new order, a new age, a new kingdom. Persia has risen from the east headed by power hungry Xerxes who looks to impose his supposed divinity on all nations, and all that stands


between him and Greece is Sparta. King Leonidas has a decision to make, bow to Xerxes and surrender all to this advancing kingdom or stand against the madness of this man and his masses that shake the ground when they march. Seeking council with an Oracle and his wife He decides against the wishes of the corrupt Spartan council to advance against the coming darkness. Taking 300 of Sparta’s finest warriors they leave knowing that they may not return. The last words of his own wife declare this for their journey, “Come back with your shield – or on it”. So they march, leaving their beloved Sparta for possibly the last time.

So what did this modern day parable have to say to a guy looking to zone out to what seemed a pretty straight forward action movie? What grabbed hold of his heart bringing fresh life to the gospel like never before?

The SpaRTaN WayI don’t know about you but I find that reading the teachings of Jesus isn’t always a straightforward process. Even his quite clear teaching and commands can become a stumbling block in light of actually living them out. However that is exactly why I love the movie 300, because the way in which the 300 hold themselves during their 3 days of resilient fighting gives us an image of what it looks like to live for a ‘narrow roaded’ kingdom, without compromise even to the point of death.

I believe how we approach, confront and engage problems on whatever scale reveals where our faith lies. Now 300 men marching to take on the legions of Xerxes might seem to be a little more than a problem but nevertheless we can learn so much even from how they approached the battle. They go bearing the confidence of victory before they have even set eyes upon the hordes of Xerxes. They approach the unknown with sheer allegiance to what they do know; the Spartan Law. The manner in their approach reveals where their faith lies, it lies within. For within them has been placed the Spartan Law, the Spartan Way! It is this Way that dictates how they live and relate to their world. So rather than being dictated by the circumstances looming on the horizon they hold

to what they know is true and has always been true, and their inner reality takes the lead influencing their outer realities. If that’s not a bit of truth I don’t know what is!? Jeremiah Prophesised of a covenant where the Lord says, ‘I will put my laws in their heart, and I will write them on their minds.’ His ways have been made available to us, and with the help of the Holy Spirit our minds can be renewed and we can be lead into all truth and live from a place where His transforming power is the greatest influence upon us rather than outward circumstances. What a truth that is to live by where we hold close the ways of the Kingdom of God which is within us and allow it to flood out and change the landscape of our world just as the Spartans did. Lead by Leonidas they viewed the battle from a different perspective than certain members of Sparta who were corrupting the council. They viewed the Spartan Way to be greater than anything to come out of the mouth of Xerxes and had such faith in it that they believed thousands upon thousands of soldiers couldn’t stand against it.

Do we live like that? Do we have a faith in a God that offers power, provision and protection for every problem or do we have faith in a theory of a God that offers that? Because people won’t lay down their life for a possible theory, but only for what they know to be true.

The NaRROW ROad/NO COmpROmISeAs we see, like Jesus, the Spartans held themselves to a different Kingdom, one in which defended itself when rightfully aligned with. Jesus spoke of a narrow gate and road and that is the path they took. Their strategic battle plan mirrored their inner reality taking their position at the Hot Gates. The wide plains would not be their grounds to fight upon, instead they knew where to find life; upon the narrow road, so the narrow road is where they shall fight. To go onto the wide plains would mean playing by the opposition’s rules; not a way found in their thinking. For to march to victory they had to stick to what they knew to be true, their Law, their narrow road. Compromise was not an option. Compromise would be their defeat and

“the way In whIch the 300 holD theMselves DurIng theIr 3 Days of resIlIent fIghtIng gIves us an IMage of what It looks lIke to lIve for a ‘narrow

roaDeD’ kIngDoM, wIthout coMproMIse even to the poInt of Death.”


destruction, not just to Sparta but to the whole of Greece and what they knew to be free men. Is this not the same for us? Did not Jesus call us to a narrow road? I believe without a doubt He did but sadly this narrow road often receives negative connotations, containing more ‘don’ts’ than ‘do’s’. Yet if 300 captures anything it captures what a life fully lived looks like right up until death.

In their journey, battle and death we see not simply mad soldiers but a devoted loving family, brothers, fathers and sons willing to die for the man next them. We see them experience joy in suffering, mourning and grief, and most importantly we see them live a life upon the wave of impossibility. What they did shouldn’t have happened. 300 against hundreds of thousands shouldn’t have been able to stand for 3 days, but they did. What they captured was the ‘greater things’ that Jesus speaks of in John 14. To all of us who have put our faith in Christ now take on a life where impossibility has been made available to us! And that impossibility is only found in Him on the narrow road. That’s the road they took, putting faith in something that would empower the impossible. And the same is for us; the narrow road of the Kingdom leads us on a life of walking in thrill and presence of impossibilities, that’s a road I want to walk on. Anything less than this and we live below the standard of life God has destined for us and our view of the narrow road becomes distorted and a burden rather than a joy and adventure.

death to lifeNow having seen the movie you might well say that actually they don’t do the impossible, after the 3 days they fall because of the betrayal of Ephialtes, an ex-Spartan. Doing the impossible would have been defeating the armies of Xerxes there and then. However, their perceived downfall actually unlocked their greatest weapon: death. Once surrounded King Leonidas is for the last time offered ‘salvation’ for Sparta along with promotion to the commanding War-Lord over all of the Persian forces, if only he bow to Xerxes and surrender his arms. But that is not the Spartan Way, from his own mouth the night before he had already proclaimed ‘No retreat. No surrender. That is Spartan Law. We will stand and fight and die.’ Many left his ranks the night before who didn’t see the truth in the perceived madness. He knew his death would mean the whole of Sparta and Greece would gather their armies and wage war against Xerxes. The death of 300 would usher in an army of 40,000. If they could only kill the 300 by a betrayal 40,000 would be an impossible feat for Persia. Death was embedded in their Spartan Law and what was challenging was they were ready for it. Death wasn’t a surprise for them it was their choice; in fact according

to their King it was an easy choice! Surrender would not equate to salvation but destruction: destruction of the Spartan Law. They would be surrendering to a lesser kingdom of the one in which they lived from. Xerxes kingdom bread selfishness and Sparta bread selflessness. Xerxes kingdom spoke of taking care of oneself and Sparta spoke of dying to self. At the forefront of Xerxes kingdom was a man making himself a god and at the front of Sparta was a man laying down his life.

Leonidas and his men practised dying to self daily knowing they fought not for themselves but for man next to them so that when the time would come to die for something greater than the man next to them the choice would be easy and the desire to do so would be great. This message of death is also the same for us according to Jesus who said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Like the Narrow Gate and Road this teaching often loses its power because of a lack of understanding but 300 captures what a beautiful death looks like, one where you live for another, one where the masses are mobilised and His Kingdom comes on earth as it is in Heaven.

ConclusionHow many of us will chose to die to ourselves? How many of us will see another in need and say I can live for them or see a cause greater than the needs ourselves and say I can give myself to that. Who will be a Wilberforce and give their life to end slavery? Who will be a Pullinger and give themselves to the addicted and homeless? Who will be a Leonidas and give themselves to a people, a nation, a Kingdom?

300 is now one of my favourite movies of all times. It has transformed my understanding of what it is to carry the Kingdom, live on its narrow road, ride the wave of impossibility and greater things, and die to self in order that His Kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven whether I see it in this lifetime or the next.

I leave you with the hope that the Holy Spirit will wreck your movie experiences forevermore and that like the 300 you hold to the narrow road without compromise and live no less than what you were created for: the impossible, Heaven on earth.

JAMeS HyDeLST Student - Theology


Recent surveys seem to demonstrate that of all church groupings and denominations, the fastest growing by some distance are the various Pentecostal churches. No surprise there. However, it has to be said that, despite

one or two notable exceptions, Pentecostals have been somewhat slow to make any major impact upon the field of academic scholarship. It is very good over more recent decades to see that lack being made good.

In this volume William Atkinson, Senior Lecturer in Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies at LST, addresses concerns, which are close to the core of our faith. True to his origins, and reflected in the title of the book, Atkinson begins with the logically prior experience of Pentecost. In so doing he consciously stands unsurprisingly upon the shoulders of another LST notable – Max Turner.

Perhaps inevitably the book begins with ground-clearing. Maybe Pentecostals feel a need to justify their distinctive approach to theology. For example, the role of experience is more important, perhaps, for them than for others. Equally, given the greater claims to alternative sources of revelation, the approaches to Scripture and to tradition have to be clarified. And the somewhat surprising views of ‘Oneness Pentecostalism’, which could be seen to be threatening orthodox trinitarian faith, have to be addressed.

The heart of the book lies in four main chapters – Pentecost and the Spirit, Pentecost and the Son, Pentecost and the Father and, finally, Pentecost and Trinity. In these chapters the reader will discover systematic engagement with all the main players in the world of scholarship concerning the Spirit. These chapters read like an advanced seminar in which Turner, Dunn, Yong and Fee, not to mention numerous others, are all able to contribute under the guiding chairmanship of the author. Would that all such discussions were so urbanely conducted. Not that the chairman lacks opinions or fails to draw things together, but rancour is absent. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable discussion.

The book is wonderfully clearly written and, for those who want a quick read, each section is lucidly summarized at its end. It is scholarly but not overburdened with lines and lines of footnotes. In this sense the learning is lightly worn. The bibliography and indices bare testimony to the depth of engagement. Finally, but not least, Trinity after Pentecost reads in a very personal way; the frequency of ‘I’ and ‘my’ press this upon the reader. The author is clearly not only on a personal mission to add to Pentecostal scholarship but is writing out of deeply felt and reflected personal experience. And all the better for that!

reviewed by robert Willoughby, Lecturer in New Testament, LST

TriniTy afTEr pEnTEcOsT WiLLiam p. aTkinsOn

Books



One Goal: Whatever the Cost, the autobiography of Gillie March, recounts the miracles, persecution and challenges that have marked her sixty-year ministry. The preacher in Gillie is never far from the surface, an art she learnt while

studying at LBC in Baker Street in 1955. She admits to ‘coasting’ her way through the one year course entitled ‘Certificate of Religious Knowledge,’ learning Preaching, Exegesis and the Doctrine of Scripture, much distracted by a handsome trainee-vicar at Oak Hill, Tony March, who was to become her husband.

Gillie includes many of her poems to illustrate different experiences or life lessons which some readers may find disrupting to the narrative flow. Others, however, will relish the breadth of Gillie’s life experience spanning eighty years of triumphs over adversity told with good-humour and succinct detail. These include significant ill-health from a motorbike accident aged 11 and brushes with violence, witchcraft, and even the law for the sake of the gospel. (The chapter on witchcraft does mention practices of occult torture, which while not graphic in detail, are not for the faint-hearted - but don’t let this put you off.) Above all, One Goal is a testimony of the presence and power of Jesus Christ in the life of an ordinary woman living for Him ‘whatever the cost’ and will encourage others questioning and confronting the challenges of church ministry and Christian living in an increasingly complex world.

reviewed by Lizzie Jakeman, LST Graduate

OnE gOaL: WHaTEvEr THE cOsTgiLLiE marcH


In his book Lane sets out to convey Bernard of Clairvaux’s (b.1090) teaching on the cross, which, as he evidences, has been long neglected by historical theology. Lane shows that Bernard’s peers are often

given precedence and attention on this subject, particularly so in the case of the contrastable christological celebrities Anselm of Canterbury (b.1033) and Peter Abelard (b.1079). Lane’s book thus provides 1) a challenge to traditionally held conceptions of Bernard’s teaching, and 2) the evidence to restore Bernard’s christological kudos.

The book is split into three parts.

Part one is unambiguously entitled ‘Preliminaries’; here Lane primes the reader in Anselm and Abelard’s teaching on the cross, and does so in a way which helpfully reduces their material into concise portions (a key read for those seeking to grasp Anselm & Abelard’s thinking). But Lane doesn’t just introduce these concepts, he unpacks them in a way that challenges traditional conceptions.

Part two focuses on the works of Bernard which contain teaching on the cross; relevant passages are given in extract and summary form. These provide a necessary pre-cursor to the critical examination of Bernard’s thinking which comes in part three. Perhaps the most amusing chapter of this section covers Bernard’s letter to Pope Innocent in which he seeks to highlight the errors of Abelard, whom he calls a “son of perdition!”

Part three is the deepest, and, in my opinion, most valuable part of the book. Here Lane systematically expounds Bernard’s teachings on the cross into appropriate sections and sub-sections, which include an enlightening section on Bernard’s critics. Lane demonstrates his mastery of the subject throughout, but most impressive is his use of his own index of almost 700 cross-related references from across Bernard’s works.

This book is a quality, concise, and thought through study of Bernard’s teaching on the cross, making it a valuable reference point for the subject.

reviewed by rob Brown. rob is a 2013 graduate of LST with a BA Hons in Theology. He is now employed at LST as the Project Support Administrator for their new MA beginning in 2014.

BErnard Of cLairvaux: THEOLOgian Of THE crOss anTHOny LanE


revIews : Books

This is a collection of reflections by Christians with connections to New Zealand who are lamenting in the aftermath of disasters, particularly

the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. There are seven contributions on Old Testament lament, two on lament in Christian liturgy and five on public expressions of lament.

Miriam’s contribution is based on her 2012 PhD on the book of Lamentations, and explores how Lamentations chapter 4 has been neglected in scholarly study of the book. Miriam shows that the chapter provides a crucial transition from individual lament in chapters 1 to 3 to

communal lament in chapter 5 and demonstrates that the downfall of one sector of society is the downfall of all.

Among the pieces on public lament I was struck by the analysis of U2’s 2010 concert in Auckland, New Zealand, where the names of 27 miners who had just died at Pike River Mine were displayed on a huge screen behind the band. Elizabeth Boase and Steve Taylor point out that U2 set an example of being willing to lament in public and of engaging in communal memory.

These contributions will help the Christian community to focus on appropriate ways to lament.

reviewed by Mark Beaumont, Senior Lecturer in Islam and Mission.

spiriTuaL cOmpLainT: THE THEOLOgy and pracTicE Of LamEnTEdiTEd By miriam J. BiEr & Tim BuLkELEy

“aMong the pIeces on puBlIc laMent I was struck By the analysIs of u2’s 2010 concert In aucklanD, new ZealanD.”


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i am mOunTaingungOr

Gungor have a special place in LST’s heart, having played an absolutely blinding set at our 70th anniversary celebrations - I’ve never seen quite so many LST musicians with their mouths open in joyous incredulity! But more than that, their ongoing musical eclecticism and honest theological wrestling resonate with many of us, and so this new album was eagerly awaited and will likely be much discussed around campus and beyond.

This new material is the furthest step away from the mainstream, singalong worship music that marked the beginnings of fame for Michael Gungor and co; beyond even the ‘liturgical postrock’ of 2011’s ‘Ghosts Upon the Earth’ to a place of mainstream artsy pop/rock. Musically it moves on from that album’s epic Sigur Ros influence and flourishes of instrumental virtuosity. Instead they have taken up more electronic instruments; vintage synths, drum machines, even heavy yet beautiful vocoding on the fourth - and so far my favourite - track, ‘Wandering’. It is great to hear Lisa given real space to show off her voice on this track and the similarly gorgeous ‘The Best Part’.

Lyrically, the album is full of more questions than answers, more parables than psalms. You’ve only reached track 2 and Gungor have immersed you into the story of Orpheus and Eurydice as a cautionary tale about love, mistrust and regret. And the whole album

sirEns and OTHEr mysTEriEs HELEn sandErsOn WHiTE

Helen’s fifth studio recorded album shows off her untainted and soothing voice in a collection of songs that lyrically expresses the joys and sorrows of life, lived in the security of an unwavering and deep faith in God. The opening song Without You captures the listener with its repetitive lyrics. Instrumentally well-rounded arrangements would have benefitted with some vocal harmony.

Helen’s love for music and her ability to express life’s mysteries through her gift of songwriting comes across strongly in this contemporary but ageless sounding album. Personally, I loved the song ‘If That’s the Way’ co-written with Andy Baker. The authenticity of her writing about deeply sad experiences in life with a sound that gives hope is wonderfully liberating to the listener. Although most tracks seem to dwell on the higher register, her vocal range is showed off in ‘I’ll Be With You’ (The Wedding Song). Helen is a graduate of Theology from LST (1999) and Music from Middlesex University (2005), but seems to have just missed the first intake of the LST’s pioneering combined degree of Theology, Music and Worship! Where Next? A Masters in Theology, Music & the Arts, perhaps!

reviewed by ruwani Gunawardene, Administrator - Music & Worship, LST

revIews : MusIc



ends in a fuzzy, messy meltdown, after asking “do you see us? Do you hear us?” But this album is all the better for its loose ends.

The lyrics on ‘Long Way Off’ are ones of humbling ourselves to realise that our own perspective is so limited - whether that be scientific, technological, academic or religious. In this way it resonates with Cinematic Orchestra’s ‘Familiar Ground’, with the refrain that I have longed to hear from a Christian artist; “so near, yet so far”, or the King’s X song Pleiades which reminds us “how many times have we been wrong before?” Judging the reaction to Michael Gungor’s blog about this song on the band’s website, I am not the only person who is relieved to hear a Christian express so poetically our limitations. The theme of our humanity and that we ‘are but dust‘ weaves its way through the album, and the sparseness of the arrangement on this and a number of other tracks really aids reflection on these issues.

In other places a rather odd Spaghetti Western influence kicks in - whipcracks and all on ‘God and Country’(!) This

is clearly a critique of America’s military intervention overseas, and I can’t imagine how the religious right in the US has taken to it (in particular the gun lobby, when you listen to the song’s sobering coda; “live by the gun, die by the gun”.) But Gungor seem happy to burn these bridges for the sake of saying something meaningful. Musically I’m not sure how well this track and the previous one, the bluesy ‘Wayward and Torn’, fit on the album - I’m tempted to make a playlist that skips them. But you can’t help thinking that they’ll go down a storm live.

Once again Gungor have kicked down the boundaries, torn up the envelope and otherwise rendered various cliches about Christian music moot. I am fascinated to see whether this will inspire a new generation of Christian musicians to forsake easy answers and musical safe-ground for the path less travelled - we can only hope. If nothing else, they have given us another album which will only reveal further depths with repeated listens.

reviewed by Sam Hargreaves, LST Music & Worship Programme Leader and Lecturer

“once agaIn gungor have kIckeD Down the BounDarIes, torn up the envelope anD otherwIse renDereD

varIous clIches aBout chrIstIan MusIc Moot.”


THE digiTaL agEEvEning : mOrningHave you entered The Digital Age? Stop right there, erase that thought from your head. No, this isn’t another article on social networking, about how everyone is now on Facebook or Twitter, and how this “digital revolution” is changing the way people see and experience the world and their relations in it. Though, that may have some part to play in this piece.

I’m here to tell you about the first album by the band The Digital Age, which is a must have. If you’ve heard of The David Crowder Band (DCB) then, it’s safe to say, that in a way, you know The Digital Age, as the band is composed of four of the six members, who continued making music together after their amicable split in January 2012. The band line-up as it stands is: Jeremy “B-Wack” Bush, Mike “Mike D” Dodson, Jack Parker and Mark “The Shark” Waldrop. I had the opportunity to catch up with Mark, and get an insight into the group, starting with their name: “Well, the David Crowderless Band was our first choice, but then we decided to go in another direction! Haha. Actually, we feel like with the rise of social media and the whole internet generation, we’re living in uncharted waters. All of a sudden, our “neighbour” is everyone, not just the person who is physically next door to us. You can interact easily with anyone on the planet

in this age we live in, and while that’s really cool for us as people, it’s really important for us as Christians. We have to learn how to use technology to further the gospel, and we’re trying to do that with our music.”

If I had to classify the bands music, I’d say it’s Christian/Electronic Rock Worship. Doesn’t seem to make sense does it? The thing is, The Digital Age manage to do something very special with their debut album Evening: Morning as they fully embody a worship album, while incorporating so much more. The album brings Blink182 meets Owl City, mashed in with some epic Cold Play-esque atmospherics, with some Mumford and Sons and The Polyphonic Spree thrown in there to change it up a bit. While this isn’t your typical Sunday morning worship, there is truly no reason why it couldn’t be, as that’s the way this whole thing started as explained by Mark: “The DCB was the worship team at our church in Waco, TX. The church was founded by Crowder and a friend in the 90s, and when David transitioned away from the church to Atlanta a few years ago, the rest of us really felt like we needed to keep being a part of the church and the worship team there. The Digital Age is essentially a continuation of what the UBC (University Baptist Church) worship team was and is

about. We’re writing the same kind of music for the same congregation.”

The Digital Age are a must follow band. In this writer’s opinion, they are true to the meaning of worship. Let me encourage you to pick up their album, as it won’t disappoint. I am not ashamed to say that I have listened to very little else since

popping their album on my phone, and know this is a band I will be

following for much time to come.

If you’re into the rating thing, I’d give it five out of five stars, or two thumbs up, or whatever it is that works for you. Don’t believe me? Pick up the album, and judge for yourself.

reviewed bu Adrian Semerene, LST Student - part-time Theology

Find out more about the band, future gigs, videos, etc.http://www.thedigitalagemusic.com/https://www.facebook.com/TheDigitalAge https://twitter.com/the_digital_agehttp://www.youtube.com/thedigitalagemusic

revIews : MusIc

WIN a COpy OF eVeNING : mORNING Cd

We have 5 copies to give to INSIGHT readers, simply email

[email protected] with your contact details by 01 March

2014 – winners will be picked at random.

The best way to get true insight about the band and the album, it’s best to hear it from them directly. The following are Mark’s responses to some questions I posed to him:

At LST we have many Music/Worship students who would be very interested to know what your creative process is? How do you go about creating? How does the writing process work for y’all? We built a recording studio in our hometown that we use as our creative home. When we’re not on the road, we treat music like a full time job. We’re at the studio 9-5 most days, and we just sit around and kick around ideas. We’ve learned that forced boredom creates lots of cool opportunities to be creative. When we song write, it’s very collaborative. First we come up with an idea for the record, a theme if you will. Then we all work on ideas individually, and then bring all the ideas together at the studio where we listen to each others and start putting pieces together. Sometimes I’ll hear a chorus of someone else’s song and go “Oh! I have the perfect verse for that!” It’s really different for every song though, which really helps keep things fresh and fun. What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands/make a career of music in the Christian world? We might not be the best people to ask that. Haha. We’re all just students who stumbled upon stage at our church by volunteering. Eventually that church worship team became a touring band. So my advice would be to volunteer at church and love doing it!

Who and what inspires you? Musically right now I’m loving The 1975, Bastille, Sigur Ros, Atoms for Peace, Avicii, and Volcano Choir. As far as people, I really have been inspired by Malcolm Gladwell lately. I love how his brain works and think his ideas are really cool and can be applied to the church easily. What is the origin of the album name? The album is a concept record that takes place from the evening to the morning. Each song corresponds to an hour of the night starting at 7pm and going to 7am. (Captured, track one, goes from “7pm” to “8pm”). Since the last DCB record was a requiem mass about death, we wanted our first record as the digital age to be about life and creation. It tells the story of going from this time of darkness and uncertainty to light. It’s fun writing into a story that mirrors your personal journey as a band. What motivates you to live the life He’s given and called you to? I was going to be a doctor before I joined the band, and it’s crazy to think of my life going in that totally different direction. However, I wake up every day thrilled to see how God will use me and my music, so that’s the best thing in the whole world. I’m very thankful that God has allowed me to use my passion for music to help lead others in worship.

We INTervIeWeD THe DIGITAL AGe AND yOu CAN reAD THe WHOLe INTervIeW ON THe LST STuDeNT BLOG ‘ILLuMINATe’ - WWW.LSTILLuMInATE.Co.uK


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