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‘The fruit of the Spirit is joy.’

If a Christian is defined as someone in whom God’s Spirit lives, then a joyless Christian is a contradiction in terms. Yet we all know that much of life is not characterised by joy, and so we either tend to feel guilty, because clearly we are not ‘spiritual’ enough, or we sigh briefly and then get on with things. But there are those nagging Bible commands. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice’ (Philippians 4.4). What’s it all about?

More than happiness

The first thing to realise is that joy is not the same thing as happiness. Often people say that joy is much deeper, which has led to the observation that some Christians’ joy is so deep it never seems to surface! The difference is not so much in depth as in duration. Happiness happens — it comes and goes and is largely the response of our emotions and feelings to external events. Nobody can be permanently happy; indeed you only have to set out determined to ‘be happy’ to soon feel quite miserable. So what is the joy that Christians have which is not experienced by those who do not share our faith?

School’s out and holidays are here!

For many of us August is still the month in which we can get away from it all and enjoy a well-deserved break — a bit of rest and relaxation. The month to switch off; put the tent up, put your feet up and hope that there won’t be too much rain to make the sandwiches soggy.

But should Christians have holidays? If we take time off, shouldn’t that become ‘time on’ for Christian activities, like Bible clubs and beach missions, camps, conventions and mission trips? In a world which so much needs the gospel, can we ever really justify taking time out? Well, yes and no!

Among the many distinctive traits of 21st-century global culture is our confidence in technology.

To every problem there must be a solution which technology can supply, if only the science is advanced enough and there is money enough to apply it. And in many areas of our human experience that has been proved to be true, so that we can all be profoundly thankful for the benefits of scientific research in making us healthier, more comfortable and (perhaps) happier than our forebears.

THE GREAT GIVEAWAY
Reclaiming the Mission of the Church
By David E Fitch. Baker Books. 263 pages. £5.41 (Amazon)
ISBN 0 80106 483 X

Written out of frustration with the North American church scene, the thesis of this book is that evangelicalism has ‘given away being the church in North America’.

The fourth conference of 'Essentially Evangelical' met at High Leigh in mid-June, attended by a wide range of evangelicals. Here is a summary of the vision-setting address given by David Jackman, Director of the Cornhill Training Course, at the end of the consultation.

'Essentially Evangelical' was born in 1997, at a conference in Bawtry Hall, which drew together a number of leaders across the spectrum.