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Lightening Others’ Loads: Lessons in Disciple-Making Leadership from Mt. 23:1-12

22 May 2023 | Jay Eastman

What is woe and warning to Pharisees is good news for servant-leaders. Honouring God and growing in Christ-likeness results in our own Gospel humility, spiritual maturity, and leadership as well as those we serve, lead, and disciple. In this talk, we look at Christ’s clear commands in Matthew 23 as well as helpful insights from wise Christian leaders.

Be Fruitful and Multiply: Raising Spiritual Sons and Daughters

24 May 2023 | Tuuli Platner

Perhaps the greatest need facing the church in Europe today is the need for more leaders. Quality leaders emerge rather than arrive. Training in a classroom context can be a significant component in the development of a leader. However, it is not enough on its own; something more relational is required. Can we learn from New Testament models of ministry development? Can we shape a culture where the multiplication of ministry occurs naturally?

Digital Evangelism: Effectively Using Digital Media for the Gospel

23 May 2023 | Andy Bannister

Today’s public square is largely a digital one, so it’s vital that Christians, ministries, and Churches think creatively and clearly about how to engage the world of media, social media, and other digital spaces. Andy Bannister, Director of Solas, a UK based evangelism ministry that specialises in digital content creation, helps us explore how we engage hearts, minds, and souls through the digital realm. How can we create content that will be read widely and shared? Do some things work better in digital spaces and others less effectively?

Scrutinising Claims Muslims Make About the Qur'an

22 May 2023 | Emil Shehadeh

While Christians believe the Bible to be the Word of God, we accept that the authors are human, but inspired by the Holy Spirit to write. Muslims believe the Qur’an was authored by Allah, who keeps an original copy in heaven. The Qur’an is apparently perfect in every respect, unchanged and unchangeable, miraculous, superior in its Arabic language and eloquence. Finally, they claim the Qur’an is Allah’s last message to humanity. In this talk, all these claims and more are put to scrutiny using logic, historical, geographical, arithmetic and manuscript evidence.

Consciousness and Reason: Naturalism’s Achilles Heel

22 May 2023 | Max Baker-Hytch

Much of the impetus for the worldview of naturalism comes from the apparent success of science in progressively edging out teleological explanations and replacing them with explanations that are framed exclusively in terms of physical mechanisms and forces. But what happens when naturalism attempts to take the final step in its journey, and explain consciousness and reason — which are the very conditions of our being able to do science — in purely physicalist terms?

Weathering the Storms: Spiritual Vitality over the Long Haul

21 May 2023 | Lindsay Olesberg

The author of Hebrews exhorts us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” But the storms of life, especially for those in ministry, threaten to throw us off course. Disappointments, opposition, and fatigue drain our spiritual vitality. This talk explores essential practices of holistic renewal for leaders at any stage of their race.

What is a Human? Different Views About Brains, Minds and Souls

21 May 2023 | Sharon Dirckx

Human identity is a topic for which many different kinds of answers are offered, from different spheres. What exactly are we? Are we merely advanced apes? Are we just machines? Do we have a soul? Some neuroscientists and philosophers hold the view that the brain drives everything about us. All of our thoughts, decisions, memories, even religious beliefs are traceable to the chemical and electrical activity of our brains. What shall we make of this view? What about the mind and soul?

What Does the News Media Want? Perspectives from the Political Sidelines

23 May 2023 | Ross Hendry

With over 20 years working in government, NGOs, and frontline politics, Ross shares reflections on how the news media is perceived to work (for good and bad) from the perspective of public affairs and considers what might be the Christian’s appropriate faithful response, whether politician, journalist, or public square influencer. The aim is to understand better a different perspective on the news media and practically discuss how to engage positively and effectively and get the most out of those working in politics and the wider public square.

Why Discipleship Is Crucial: The Biblical Vision of How We Change

23 May 2023 | Zefjan Nikolla

Why is it that so many Christians are not spiritually mature? What does a faithful disciple look like according to Scripture? What are some of the most common challenges to discipleship in our lives and ministries? This talk gives a practical strategy for how to grow to maturity in Christ and help others do the same.

 

How to Communicate the Christian Worldview in the Public Square

22 May 2023 | Espen Ottosen

For about twenty years Espen Ottosen has been participating regularly in debates in the secular/general media in Norway. In a country like Norway, which is very secularized, standing up for a Christian perspective on same-sex marriage, biotechnical issues, and questions related to sex and gender, is a big challenge. In this talk, Ottosen shares the lessons he’s learned on how to communicate to people in the public square with little knowledge and/or many prejudices about classical Christian belief.