June

Re: Reaching the 'third audience' 
We need to give them a voice at home and in church to empower them with our encouragement and supportive guidance. We need to remember some times it's children who are untainted by the world who hear Jesus more clearly. Thankfully the church we go to does support this. My kids 6 and 8 join me at the front in the worship band and as a parent I actively encourage them raise issues to church meetings and prayer points etc. I encourage others to think how their home and church encourages the voices of their children. We need to listen in order to encourage them to speak. Children are part of the body of the church of today not only the church of tomorrow. God bless
Tracy Pike (via Facebook)

Open the Book is a fantastic and fun way for Christians to get involved in collective worship / assemblies in primary schools. Ofsted endorse it, staff welcome it and the children just love it.
Dorothy Wagstaff (via Facebook)

Re: Can our prayers change God’s mind? 
Grateful for Chris's thoughtful article although it doesn't reflect another reading of the Scriptures at these crucial junctures. Rather than be drawn into a discussion of the relation between the divine sovereignty and human freedom and the ensuing discussion about the possibility/impossibility of changing God's purpose, it would see God's purpose in the outcome of the dialectical process God initiated with an Abraham, Moses or Jonah. In other words, these are read as episodic, revelatory encounters that signally advance apprehension of God's nature, ways and work at the level of of the original individual, of the Scripture writers, and of the whole people of God. These can be read as 'Your God is Too Small' moments - to cite the oft-quoted title of JB Phillips' little-large book. I find this reading encourages my prayers more than, say, the often-repeated 'Prayer Changes Things'. The signpost examples of Abraham, Moses and Jonah remind me of John Newton's 'Come, my soul, your soul prepare' and the verse,
'Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with Thee bring;
For his grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much.

Years ago, John White's book 'People in Prayer' pointed me in very helpful directions. I found his chapter on Abraham's intercession for Sodom joyously liberating and soul-enlarging. Chris mentions God's unwavering and ultimate purpose that we be conformed to the image of the Son and I'd have liked to see Chris amplify this and apply it to the Abraham, Moses and Jonah moments.
Paul Holmes

Rather than enter into a long dialogue, may I recommend Greg Boyd's books, 'Satan and the Problem of Evil' and his latest magnum opus 'The Crucifixion of the Warrior God', which is truly a gift to the church and will help us return to a pre-Constantinian application of Jesus' work and message.
Mark

open theism. A God who changes His mind is a God who can't quite see what the future might need so keeps His options open
@baldy_hodges (Via Twitter)


Re: 'An attack on one is an attack on all'
We must all reject revenge attacks on Islamic terrorists; and this one was against a seemingly innocent group who are not responsible for any jihadist movements at at Finsbury Mosque. We stand with you.
Kieran Webster (via Facebook)

Re: 'Christians are the new heretics' - Tim Farron resignation
Some of us have been calling on the 'affirming Baptists' to put down the weapons of the pagans and to stop standing by whilst their brothers and sisters are increasingly persecuted. (via Facebook)
Kieran Webster (via Facebook)

I read the Tim Farron article with interest then later the CEA article. I clicked on the CEA website address and found it blocked by the BT light parental controls. 
Perhaps Chris Goswami has a point, Christians are the new heretics and young people must be protected from their influence. 
David Shaw 


A poem for publication about Brexit

Trigger Point
Foreign criminals, your time is up
From today, your humanity disappear
No more hanging on threads of Article 8
No more insulting British common sense
Today, you stand no more chances
As common sense stand a chance
 
Blame your law-breaking appetite not Brexit
As the exit route never axed your sanity
Right now, make your way to departure lounge
Where lunch will milk you appetite to remain
Brexit on migrants, Brexit on foreign prisoners
Now discord of Brexit disco is dominating common sense
 
Handsen Chikowore