By Mark Johnston
Christian Focus. 192 pages. £5.99
ISBN 1 8572 1188 7
In reaching the increasingly rootless and lost population of divorce-crazy techno-Britain, the biblical doctrine of adoption is magnificently relevant. Christ takes the broken and rejected, and makes them children of the King of Kings.
This book, by the minister of Grove Chapel, Camberwell in London, is a lucid exposition of the statements in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, highlighting this aspect of the good news in Christ. We are taken through the theological side of what it means to be a child of God: we know God as our Father, Jesus as our elder brother, and the Spirit of God comforting and animating our very souls. The book then opens up what this means for us practically. God pities, protects and provides for us. His faithfulness as a father inspires our faith in him. We are called away from the corruption and individualism of the present world to purity and participation in the church, God's family. For the future we have the wonderful prospect of heaven our home before us.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …