In Depth:  Vaughan Roberts

September 24 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Charles Simeon, a great man of God whose 54-year ministry at Holy Trinity, Cambridge (1782-1836) had such a remarkable impact on the work of the gospel in this country and much further afield.

At the time of his conversion as a first-year undergraduate, there was only a handful of evangelical ministers in the Church of England, but, by the time of his death, it is estimated that a third of Anglican pulpits were occupied by evangelicals, as many as 1,100 of whom had been profoundly influenced by Simeon at Cambridge. What can we learn today from his teaching and example?

This article by Vaughan Roberts of St. Ebbe’s Church, Oxford, is directed at his own congregation. Although a local issue for them, the article might be a model to others in Muslim areas.

You may have noticed in the local press that the Central Mosque in East Oxford is considering making a request to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer (adhan). How should Christians respond?

‘Describe Christmas in three words’.

That was the challenge put to various celebrities in a Marks & Spencer advert a few years ago.

‘Eating too much’, said the actress Honor Blackman.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples: ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ (Matthew 9.35-38)

People today are no different from those Jesus met in the first century; they are ‘harassed and helpless’. Can we see them as they really are, in all their desperate need? We are surrounded by those who are lost, separated from God and facing eternity without him, ‘like sheep without a shepherd’. Do we have compassion on them?

A young student was in despair. Her life was in turmoil and she felt a deep emptiness within.

Somehow she knew she needed God, but she had no idea where to find him. One Sunday, on the way to the supermarket, she saw crowds of young people going into a church and she began to wonder if she might find what she was looking for inside. But she did not go in. It was a frightening, unfamiliar place - she wouldn't know where to sit, when to stand or what to say; so she walked away.

I remember watching Blue Peter years ago. There was a man on the programme whose job was to look through thousands of bank notes every day to check for any fakes. The presenters asked him: 'How are you trained? Are you shown lots of fakes so you know what to look for?' 'No', he replied. 'The trick is to get to know the genuine note so well that you immediately spot when something isn't quite right'.

To spot the fake, you have got to know the genuine article. That is why Paul includes Colossians 1.24-29 in his letter. He is worried that the Colossians might be deceived and led astray by false teachers with 'fine-sounding arguments' (2.4). To help them spot the frauds, false teachers who are not true servants of Christ, he describes the genuine article - his own ministry. He is not boasting; his concern is pastoral. His description of his ministry points us to what genuine gospel ministry should look like. That should help us both to avoid the fake and also to spot the kind of ministry we should sit under and should practice ourselves.