Haiti and The Radical Reformission

Radical Reformission, Mark Driscoll and Haiti Aid

 As the world watches in horror at the destruction and ongoing suffering in Haiti following the recent devastating earthquake, my heart goes out to these lovely people.  Twenty years ago I spent 4 months working in Cap Haitian in the north of the island and I wonder how anyone could survive in the fragile mud huts, already poorly nourished and with so little infrastructure to support.

 Mark Driscoll is rapidly becoming one of the most watched and listened to Christian preachers by both Reformed minded and Charismatic Christians around the world.  I too have been following his fan site on Facebook as he quickly mobilised a relief team to help Haitians and encourage practical mission on the ground.

Such an approach to mission is eloquently summarised when he argues that Christians should be neither syncretists nor separatists.  The former are useless in mission because they look exactly like the world and never call people to repent and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The latter are useless because they condemn the world from afar, thinking that their purity will be contaminated if they get too involved in the life of this world.

Driscoll detects such polarities in every culture right back to Jesus’ day.  Pharisees were guilty of separating from culture, Sadducees blended into the culture, Zealots ruled over culture and the Essenes ignored culture.

Sectarians love God but fail to love their neighbour.  Syncretists love their neighbour but fail to love God.  Jesus expects us to love him and our neighbour (including our enemies) and says that if we fail to do so we are no better than godless pagans who love their drinking and strip-poker buddies (Matthew 5:43-47).  To love our neighbours, we must meet them in their culture.  To love our neighbours, we must call them to repent of sin and be transformed by Jesus (The Radical Reformission, p.145).

Driscoll is provocative (particularly in the way he challenges the religious right and religious left in American church culture, e.g. the section on bars and drinking in this book).  Such bold talk can be populist and empty if action does not flow out of it.  But his presence in Haiti this week and obvious compassion on the ground has, for me, reinforced the genuineness of this provocative pastor.

Mark Driscoll is the preaching pastor of http://MarsHillChurch.org and the founder of http://theResurgence.com

Learning from Calvin, 500 years later

An edited version of this article will appear in The Church of England Newspaper in January 2010

John Calvin – preacher, thinker and theologian.

A model for theological education today?

2009 was the 500^th anniversary of the birth of the best known, and perhaps most misunderstood, voice of the Continental Reformation: John Calvin.  By the time you read this article the anniversary will have come and gone.  There have been many celebrations in Geneva and around the world to mark the birth of John Calvin.  The Guardian online (yes!) ran a series of 8 very instructive articles written by the philosopher Paul Helm which engendered a lot of comment.  There have been numerous new biographies on John Calvin and the helpful new book Engaging with Calvin emerging from the Moore College faculty

Reflecting upon this considerable focus on John Calvin let me offer three suggestions about what we might learn from his life and legacy:-

Calvin – a lifelong preacher

Mark Dever is recorded as saying: “If you are going to be a preacher, read Calvin”, and modern preachers would do well to heed his advice.

Over a twenty-five year period of ministry in Geneva Calvin would preach twice per Sunday and lecture a minimum of three times a week.

He believed that preaching was essential, because God’s presence is not mediated through a priestly office, but rather, through the faithful proclamation of the promises of God in his word.  His appeal to the literal meaning of the text and the communication of God’s truth in plain language was grounded in his conviction that God addresses the soul through the hearing and heeding of God’s word.  But in order for this message to penetrate the fallen human mind, alongside the preacher’s efforts to be clear, the Holy Spirit’s illuminating role is essential.

Wycliffe shares this wholehearted view of the transforming power of godly preaching – and not least when a minister of the Gospel stays in one location for some time, to preach the whole counsel of God and allow that message to seep into the fabric of society.  Along with Calvin we should ensure that grace and faith is the central theme our preaching.  We too believe that the faithful exposition of God’s word produces lasting fruit in the believer’s soul and in the transformed society around.

Calvin – an integrated thinker

Following in the line of Melanchthon and others, Calvin recognised the comprehensive nature of Paul’s epistle to the Romans in its treatment of the doctrine of God, human sinfulness and the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit resulting in the transformation of life.

It is surely no coincidence that in the same year Calvin published his first full edition of The Institutes he also published his commentary On the Epistle to the Romans (1539).

The Institutes were rigorously revised over the next 20 years with the final edition appearing in 1559.

In his introduction to Romans, Calvin argues that when any one gains a knowledge of this epistles, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture… the whole epistle is so methodological, that even from its very beginning it is framed according to the rules of art.

Just as in Romans, Calvin’s Institutes move from the knowledge of God the creator to the knowledge of God the redeemer, to the way of grace in Christ, to the means of grace.  The framework with which Calvin wrote and thought is simple in its profundity.  Knowledge of God (creator and redeemer); and knowledge of self (in his image; but fallen) is at the heart of Christian faith.

Calvin read the pagans and philosophical thinkers of his day, but applied his careful textual work to a framework of thought which would, through several revisions, become The Institutes of Religion.

The Calvinist stereotype, typified in the mealy mouthed, humourless, life-denying caricature illustrated in the Grant Woods picture American Gothic is far from the picture of John Calvin.  Actually it is very much to Calvin that we owe the idea that, though the whole created order is fallen, nevertheless we are to enjoy all that God has made and rejoice in his providence in every area.  He had a generous view of the value of civic order, of the wisdom of some philosophers, of the goodness of work and advances in medicine, all of which should lead us to thank and glorify God.

Wycliffe Hall is very glad that its alumni include not just godly preachers, but Christian thinkers and apologists, ethicists, politicians, writers, musicians to name a few.  This, it seems to me, is quite close to legacy of John Calvin.

Calvin – a heart for theological education

One area of particular interest for Wycliffe students and alumni was Calvin’s abiding influence on theological education and biblical scholarship.  He first arrived in Geneva in 1536, a small city at the crossroads between northern and southern Europe.  After tumultuous time in the city he left thinking would never return.  But, return he did, although not all was plain sailing.  Calvin, a frail and complicated man, was also, of course a flawed man.  His vision of a theocracy was never realised in Geneva.  But his passion to see Geneva transformed by a faithful presentation of the word of God with a dependence that God would do his miraculous work in souls is surely a message for modern pastors and preachers.

The establishment of the Academy of Geneva in 1559 led to sending out godly preachers who had regularly heard Calvin preach and lecture. He inculcated a vision for Europe with many students being sent off to martyrdom in France.

The English Puritan connection with Geneva in 16^th century is significant.  Many of the reformers went to Switzerland.  At the height of Calvin’s influence in Geneva Cranmer’s critical work on the Prayer Book was ongoing.  Subsequent generations of English preachers would be proud to look to Calvin as a key influence on their ministry: George Whitefield, John Newton and hymn writer Augustus Toplady, all Anglicans who thought of themselves as Calvinists.

Whilst Geneva in the 16^th Century and Oxford in the 21^st Century are notably different, Wycliffe Hall retains a vision to be both a part of the academy (of the University of Oxford) and a part of the Church (training men and women for preaching and many other ministries today).  Our twin hope is summed up in our strap line: we hope that our students will love the Lord; treasure his Word; serve his people; and proclaim his Gospel.  Calvin’s legacy motivates me afresh to train and mentor preachers, teachers, apologists and evangelists for the Church and the Academy.

Revd Dr Simon Vibert is Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall and Director of the School of Preaching

Preaching Survey – The results are in!

Many thanks to all who responded to my two questions:

1.  Who is your most favorite living preacher(s) to listen to?

 2.  Can you name what it is that they do that makes you listen?

I polled students and those on my email address book; I also received a number of results via my Facebook page.  So far, over 200 people have replied.  I do not intend to produce a “most favorite preacher” list (which would be unedifying).  Moreover, my survey was intended to give a “gut” reaction rather than a scientific survey.

The purpose of the survey is twofold

• It assists me in writing the book “Things which 12 popular preachers do well”;
•  The observations made about preaching and preachers will end up becoming part of a soon-to-be launched website on preaching and preachers.

I shared the following comments with my students recently:-

1.  Good preachers manifest Humanity (vulnerability, empathy, warmth), Humour (Story-telling, insight); Holiness (Spirit’s presence, unction, awe, Christ-centered); Heartiness (anointing, urgent, passion). As Jonathan Edwards put it: there is Heat & Light.  This is not the totality of things which good preachers do well, but they certainly feature highly in the congregations sense that the preacher has enabled them to meet with the living God through their sermon.

2. Whilst some of the top preachers include, in no particular order (although I now feel like one of X Factor judges!): John Piper, Simon Ponsonby, Mark Driscoll, Rico Tice, Christopher Ash, John Stott, Tim Keller, Dick Lucas (and there were many more!) – I agree with the comment that someone made:  “I would put down (…) as my favorite ‘big name’ preacher, but in fact, the faithful week-in-week out preaching of my local Vicar is what nourishes me as a Christian.”  I am not interested in starting a guru mentality or personality cult, but rather, I would like us to learn from those who preach well and understand why they connect with us.

3.  Finally, I think Tim Keller is spot on when he says to preachers:

If you put in too much time in your study on your sermon you put in too little time being out with people as a shepherd and a leader. Ironically, this will make you a poorer preacher. It is only through doing people-work that you become the preacher you need to be–someone who knows sin, how the heart works, what people’s struggles are, and so on. Pastoral care and leadership (along with private prayer) are to a great degree sermon preparation. More accurately, it is preparing the preacher, not just the sermon. Through pastoral care and leadership you grow from being a Bible commentator into a flesh and blood preacher.

I have much more to say in this topic, so watch this space!

Welcome to the Banquet!

I preached on Luke 14:15-24 in Wycliffe Chapel on Thursday. 

I was challenged afresh by two things:

- First, do Christians really give the impression that the Gospel invitation is to a party?  And is Church an anticipation of the heavenly banquet?

- Secondly, do we succeed in giving a Gospel welcome to those who are on the margins and periphery of society?  Do they hear the Gospel as good news to the poor?

If you want the full 25 minutes, please click on link to my website www.simonvibert.com

 

the blame culture

I do feel very sorry for Mrs Janes whose son Jamie was killed in Afghanistan recently and who received a rather shoddily written letter from Gordon Brown.

There are so many questions to be asked about this war, and answering them is beyond my expertise.  One can quite understand how a Mother would feel so aggrieved at the loss of her son, particularly when questions are being asked about the value of such a conflict.  And, to add insult to injury, to have a letter from the Prime Minister, intended to console her, but which gives the impression of being hastily and carelessly written (including spelling her son’s name wrong), must compound her already considerable grief.

But, I have to say, I do feel sorry for the Prime Minster, Gordon Brown too.  Leaving aside all the politicising of this war, for someone with the weight of government on his shoulder to have taken time to handwrite a letter to a grieving mother is surely worth something.  Much of the error in the letter is down to his appalling handwriting.  And, for sure, he would have done well to have proof read it before sending it.  But, give him a break.

This incident raises a number of issues in my mind: Who gave this letter to The Sun, and what mandate did The Sun feel they were fulfilling in publishing the letter?  The behaviour of the press is the shoddiest bit about the incident.  On what grounds do they claim the moral high ground in this debate?  And are we to believe that their wading into this issue is nothing to do with their decision to choose to support the Conservatives rather than Labour from now on?

This is a messy war, and there are all sorts of questions to be asked about it.  Moreover, Gordon Brown’s leadership is, probably quite rightly, being challenged in this regard.  But talk about kicking a man when he is down.  Leave him alone, he tried to do the right thing.  And if you are looking for perfect leaders in this regard, I am afraid they won’t be human…

Perhaps we could encourage all involved to remember Jesus’ words.  Here is a leader who took the bullet in order to buy us freedom and in whom the mourner may find consolation and hope:
John 14:1-6

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 

 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Update following up comments:

Thanks for all your comments – both here, Facebook and via email.  There has been a lot more in the Press includling an intersting article in the Guardian entitled “It’s not Brown’s spelling, it’s his sight” and further in the Times, comparing Gordon Brown’s letter with that written by Abraham Lincoln to a Mother who had lost 5 sons in the civil war:

“I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the replublic they died to save.  I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom”

90 second preaching survey

I am writing a book on what we can learn from good preachers and communicators.

I hope to include an online resource as part of the Wycliffe Hall School of Preaching with observations on some of the best preachers today.

Could you take a moment to answer these two simple questions? (use the comment tag below)

I’ll let you know the results in due course!
Simon

 

1.  Who is your most favourite living preacher(s) to listen to?

 

 

 

2.  Can you name what it is that they do that makes you listen?

 

 

How much does a man need?

How much money does a man need?

 Today we learn that the BBC are due to cut back on pay for their top executives and lose some posts.

 Director General, Mark Thompson was paid £834,000 last year while Caroline Thomson, the chief operating officer, received £413,000. Other top earners include the deputy director general, Mark Byford, who received £485,000; and Jana Bennett, the head of BBC Vision, who received £515,000.

 But, I wonder, how much money does a person really need?  According to Oil Baron and philanthropist John D Rockefeller, who became the world’s richest man and yet always gave a tithe of his income to his church, when asked how much a man needs, his candid response was “Just a little more”

The Christian novelist Leo Tolstoy, writing at a time of growing lust for wealth in Russia, was very perceptive in his analysis of the seductive nature of seeking fame and fortune.  His short story How much land does a man need? tells the story of a peasant who, to make a short story even shorter, takes the opportunity to stake his claim on as much land as he can get before sundown.  As he exhausts himself staking out as much land as he can, he gets more and more weary and more and more anxious about the approaching setting sun, and, eventually, just as the sun begins to dip, he expires.  Tolstoy concludes his short story as follows:

“What shall I do,” he thought again, “I have grasped too much, and ruined the whole affair. I can’t get there before the sun sets.”

And this fear made him still more breathless. Pahom went on running, his soaking shirt and trousers stuck to him, and his mouth was parched. His breast was working like a blacksmith’s bellows, his heart was beating like a hammer, and his legs were giving way as if they did not belong to him. Pahom was seized with terror lest he should die of the strain.

Though afraid of death, he could not stop. “After having run all that way they will call me a fool if I stop now,” thought he. And he ran on and on, and drew near and heard the Bashkirs yelling and shouting to him, and their cries inflamed his heart still more. He gathered his last strength and ran on.

The sun was close to the rim, and cloaked in mist looked large, and red as blood. Now, yes now, it was about to set! The sun was quite low, but he was also quite near his aim. Pahom could already see the people on the hillock waving their arms to hurry him up. He could see the fox-fur cap on the ground, and the money on it, and the Chief sitting on the ground holding his sides. And Pahom remembered his dream.

“There is plenty of land,” thought he, “but will God let me live on it? I have lost my life, I have lost my life! I shall never reach that spot!”

Pahom looked at the sun, which had reached the earth: one side of it had already disappeared. With all his remaining strength he rushed on, bending his body forward so that his legs could hardly follow fast enough to keep him from falling. Just as he reached the hillock it suddenly grew dark. He looked up—the sun had already set. He gave a cry: “All my labor has been in vain,” thought he, and was about to stop, but he heard the Bashkirs still shouting, and remembered that though to him, from below, the sun seemed to have set, they on the hillock could still see it. He took a long breath and ran up the hillock. It was still light there. He reached the top and saw the cap. Before it sat the Chief laughing and holding his sides. Again Pahom remembered his dream, and he uttered a cry: his legs gave way beneath him, he fell forward and reached the cap with his hands.

“Ah, what a fine fellow!” exclaimed the Chief. “He has gained much land!”

Pahom’s servant came running up and tried to raise him, but he saw that blood was flowing from his mouth. Pahom was dead!

The Bashkirs clicked their tongues to show their pity.

His servant picked up the spade and dug a grave long enough for Pahom to lie in, and buried him in it. Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed.

These were very perceptive words which are just as relevant today.

 My training incumbent wisely used to respond to the question asked about the recently deceased: “how much did he leave” Answer: “everything”.

 Prov 28:11 – A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him.

 Jesus of course said, the well known words in Mark 8:36-37:

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?  Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

 He went on to say that people’s relationship with him is determined by whether they will turn their back on this world, shunning the lust and seduction of the glitter of wealth in order to follow him fully and wholeheartedly. 

 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels. (v38)

 As Bonheoffer said: “when Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die” – the life of the cross is a life of self-denial and Christ-focus.

 The more positive corollary of this theme is found in Jesus’ parable of the merchant who discovered a pearl of great price and sold everything in order to gain this one prize.  I wonder, will BBC executives, ever gain such riches?  But the message is not just for them, but for me too: I can so easily live by the motto: just a little more.  But I need to remember that riches in heaven are worth far more than the transient wealth of this world!

Robbie Williams and Jesus

I have just watched the ever-addictive X Factor.  Robbie Williams has sung his latest come-back single.

Having spoken this weekend at Christchurch Virginia Water Mens’ Breakfast on the subject of “The Truth about Heaven and Hell” my antenna was already up.  There is considerable popular interest in death and the after life, but rarely does the key issue of Jesus’ physical death and resurrection as a prototype for the Christian believer feature.  Tom Wright Surprised by Hope is a great counter to modern confusion.

But, I wonder, what do you make of these words from Robbie Williams’ new song?

God gave me the sunshine,
Then showed me my lifeline
I was told it was all mine,
Then I got laid on a ley line
What a day, what a day,
And your Jesus really died for me
Then Jesus really tried for me

UK and entropy,
I feel like its ****in’ me
Wanna feed off the energy,
Love living like a deity
What a day, one day,
And your Jesus really died for me
I guess Jesus really tried for me

Bodies in the Bodhi tree,
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be

All we’ve ever wanted
Is to look good naked
Hope that someone can take it
God save me rejection
From my reflection,
I want perfection

Praying for the rapture,
‘Cause it’s stranger getting stranger
And everything’s contagious
It’s the modern middle ages
All day every day
And if Jesus really died for me
Then Jesus really tried for me

Jesus didn’t die for you, what do you want?
(I want perfection)
Jesus didn’t die for you, what are you on?
Oh Lord
(Jesus really died for you) Ohh
(Jesus really died for you)
(Jesus really died for you) Ohh

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Not only does Jesus feature, but a specific reference to the efficacy of his atoning death.

- Is this a huge ego trip (rather like the oft quoted John Lennon quote about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus Christ);

- Is this a cynical attempt to appeal to the powerful religiously aware consumer?

- Is Robbie Williams genuinely seeking some spiritual awareness?

- Or is he nuts?

I for one, believe Jesus really died for me, and his saving, atoning death is what gives me real hope for this life and for the next.

What do you think?

Is my greatest need the thing I least want?

My greatest need is the thing I least want

This statement is true is it not?  It explains why the good news of the offer of new life in Christ is the very thing I am so reluctant to accept.

 Let me expand:  “my heart is restless until it finds its rest in God” (to paraphrase Augustine).  God has put “eternity in my heart” (Eccl 3:11).   

 If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.   (The Timeless Writings of C.S. Lewis: The Pilgrim’s Regress, Christian Reflections, & God in the Dock)

 But, following in the line of Adam, I would rather determine my own destiny, live my life my way, without reference to God, as the master of my own fate.

 I am a dissatisfied soul who refuses to seek the only true solace:

• I am restless.  Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28);
• I full of guilt.  Jesus says “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:29-30)
• I want life.  Jesus says “I have come that you might have life and life to the full” (John 10:10).  It is as Jesus said to the Pharisees in his day:  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40)

 If it is true for non-Christians that their greatest need is the thing which they least want, this is also true for my experience as a believer.  This is the conundrum of why I know the good but don’t do it.  I am living contradiction. 

  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good .  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 7:21-25)

 Dick Lucas once said in a sermon: ‘The pew cannot control the pulpit.  We cannot deliver “demand led” preaching because no one demands the Gospel’.  These are profoundly pertinent words.

 Of course there is a demand-led kind of preaching, but it won’t do your soul any good The same was true in Paul’s day.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. 2 Tim 4:3.

 So, it would seem to me there are two prayers which Gospel minded people might want to pray:

1. Lord, so immerse me in your word that I think your thoughts and know your mind.  May your agenda, your message, your life-giving Gospel be what emanates from my lips, not the wants and desires of a restless entertainment oriented audience.
2. Lord, help me to want what I most need.  Change my desires so that the attractiveness of the glory of God is my greatest desire, and incite a holy appetite for you in my deepest being.

 Perhaps, with these thoughts in mind, my greatest desires will end up matching my greatest needs, and I will want what a need most.

Wycliffe Hall and the “posh college” debate

What should we expect of a theological college?

 There has been considerable discussion recently surrounding the issue of “value for money” and “fitness for purpose” of full time theological education.  I have my own views on the immense value of full time theological residential training (see http://www.simonvibert.com/writing/articles/CEN%20article_on_full_time_training.doc).  But I think we would agree that the goal of all such training is to equip and train godly ministers for Gospel ministry.

 Julian Mann has publically challenged me to defend Wycliffe Hall in the light of his article in the EN and the subsequent letter from one of our students Matthew Swires Hennessy (see http://cranmercurate.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-are-we-paying-for-in-thelogical.html).  If I have understood him correctly, Julian’s main contention is that Oak Hill is best placed to train ordinands because it is not “as posh” as Oxbridge colleges and provides a more useful practical theology.

 I have no intention of being drawn into a debate over the relative strengths and weaknesses of Wycliffe versus Oak Hill.  Apart from anything else, I was a student at Oak Hill, for which I am most grateful, and am now Vice Principal at Wycliffe Hall and wish to see both institutions prosper!

 There are several reasons why I was appreciative, and ultimately accepted, Richard Turnbull’s invitation to teach at Wycliffe Hall, which in no particular order, include the following:-

1.  I am absolutely committed to evangelical parochial ministry in the Church of England.  Since Ordination in 1989 I have served as a Curate in Carlisle, been the minister-in-charge of a church in the small market town of Buxton in Derbyshire, and been incumbent of a leafy suburban parish in Wimbledon.  These varied environments have led me to conclude that England is unlikely to be revived unless Gospel new-life penetrates urban, suburban, rural, wealthy, poor and every other demography across the land.  Parochial ministry, despite its limitations for Church planting etc., is still a great gift to the national church.  It is a major goal of our training mindset that we seek to bolster the faithful ongoing witness of Gospel ministry in local communities through high calibre preparation of men and women for ministry.

2.  The particular focus to Wycliffe’s training was another great attraction for me:  We have sought to concentrate on 3-4 main ends or goals.  For sure, we cover the core curriculum in biblical studies, doctrine, church history, ethics etc.  But to what end?  The answer is that we seek to train: leaders, preachers, evangelists, church planters and apologists.  This requires practical and pastoral focus.  Hence, alongside the rigorous academic demands of being a PPH of Oxford University, Pastor-teachers such as myself seek to bring grass-roots ministry experience to earth the teaching in real ministry goals.

3.  Wycliffe Hall has a marvellous academic and ecclesiastic heritage.  For sure, not everyone at Wycliffe will study on the demanding 2-year BA course or do post graduate study.  Of course for some this also means many other opportunities to excel in sports, debate, church life, etc.  But Wycliffe seeks to make the most of the excellent resources which a university town offers:  rigorous academic scholarship and the marvellous heritage of a university which, after all has the Scriptural words “The Lord is my Light” as its foundational motto.  I do not want to forget, either, that the vision of the founders of Wycliffe Hall, under the leadership of the great JC Ryle, was in part that Wycliffe Hall would be a witness to the University, reminding them that the learned mind is a humble mind which first bows its head before its maker before bowing over its books.

 There is much more, but for now, I do hope Julian and others, that you will pray for Wycliffe and Oak Hill, as well as the other evangelical colleges.  We are not in competition with each other.  We need your support and encouragement and prayer in order that we may, under God, do our utmost to form godly ministers for Gospel work up and down our land.