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Knowing God Better

Social commentators frequently remind us of a paradox of our age.

Alongside the integration and cohesion of globalisation, there has been an accompanying and more troubling trend – the rise of nationalism and tribalism. Fracture lines are seen across nations, communities and eth-nicities. As Christians we joyfully affirm the counter-cultural unity which the gospel brings. But often we do not see this working as it should. A pastor was once asked if he had an active congregation. ‘Oh yes’, he replied. ‘Half of them are working with me, and half of them working against me’.

Knowing God Better

It was similar to working on the mains electricity of a house, but doing so with the electricity still switched on!

This was how the scholar-clergyman J.B. Phillips explained the experience of working on a paraphrase of the Bible some years ago.

Knowing God Better

I remember the evening vividly.

A frail old man, walking stick in hand and supported by a friend, slowly climbed the steps to the Keswick platform and onwards to the lectern. During his life, he had spoken on every continent of the world, to multiple thousands in baseball stadia, to hundreds in church buildings of every denomination, to congregations gathered under trees and at many student missions.

Knowing God Better

It spans 140 years and crosses cultures and continents.

It’s a remarkable story. It has revolutionised hundreds of thousands of lives. It has had a radical impact on churches and communities. It has launched new mission movements and pushed forward the frontiers of the gospel. And it continues to expand, not through formal organisation or slick marketing but, we believe, as a movement of the Spirit.