April 2019

Iron sharpens Iron: Fifty Questions for Radical Disciples

Posted by Mark Roques in RealityBites blog on Tuesday 30th April 2019

Here are fifty questions that I have crafted to help Christians in mission and discipleship. Can you think of any others?     

1) How does the Bible begin and how does it end?

2) Can you summarise the biblical story in one sentence?

3) What is the cultural or creation mandate?

4) Did God want humans to build cities, invent helicopters and play football?

5) How did Adam and Eve's rebellion plunge the creation into ruin and futility?

6) What were the six relationships twisted by sin and idolatry?

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questions

Review: Christianity and the University Experience

Posted by Richard Gunton in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Tuesday 23rd April 2019

Christianity and the University Experience should be read by everyone concerned with ministry to students.  It's the outcome of a project in 2009–2012 across thirteen English universities, investigating patterns of religious commitment among undergraduates identifying themselves as Christian.  And perhaps the most striking finding of all was that 51% of all respondents identified

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book reviews
Christian postgrad groups

The vine and the branches

Posted by Mark Hutchinson in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Wednesday 17th April 2019
Purple grapes on a grapevine

As we approach the most significant point in the Christian calendar – the weekend where we remember the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Jesus, our saviour – it is good to return to some of the core truths that he taught about himself whilst on earth. I've been struck recently in particular by one of the last things Jesus says to his disciples as he prepares for death, in John 15:

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theological reflections
devotion

Tudor History and Evangelism

Posted by Mark Roques in RealityBites blog on Monday 15th April 2019

Tudor History is a gold mine for evangelism. Porcine, flatulent Henry the 8th is on the throne. You are a prisoner in one of his foul-smelling dungeons and the vicious torturer is placing heavier and heavier stones on your chest. You are suffocating and the pain is unbearable. Suddenly Jesus comes into the prison, disarms the torturer and throws him against the wall. He takes off the heavy stones. He washes your rank, rancid body and He heals all your wounds and then He leads you out of the malodorous prison. You emerge into the warm summer's day.

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mission

Catalysing Postgraduate Ministry: a special conference

Posted by Faith-in-Scholarship in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Monday 8th April 2019
Catalysing Postgraduate Ministry: group photo

On 15-17 March 2019, about ten invited delegations of academics, postgrads and postgraduate ministry leaders gathered in New College, Oxford for the first Catalysing Postgraduate Ministry conference organised by the Oxford Pastorate as a spin-off of the Developing a Christian Mind conference. Both conferences took place in parallel, which fuelled exchange between the groups.

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events
Christian postgrad groups

The secret society of Christian postgrads

Posted by Richard Gunton in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Tuesday 2nd April 2019

When God's Spirit brings about a movement of change, it often seems to begin in disparate places and diverse ways through people who don't know each other.  For example, a remarkable number of broadly Evangelical organisations for cultural engagement seem to have sprung up in England in the 1980s – of which Thinking Faith Network (originally WYSOCS) is one.  Now in our own time, I believe God is doing something important for Christian engagement in academia in Europe – starting with Christian doctoral students.

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Christian postgrad groups
resources