Do you remember that pointless bit of 'world news' a few years ago, when we were all informed what George Bush listened to on his ipod?
I listen to MP3s when I jog too, although I mainly listen to sermons and lectures, so it was interesting to hear Tim Keller say he does the same. Even if he jogs every day for 45min which puts me to shame.
He mentioned four preachers he particularly listened to, and in the spirit of the cult of Christian celebrity I thought I'd share:
Yes, they're all British. Jackman is 67, Lucas and Stott are well into their 80s, and MLJ would be 110 if he was still alive. And yet Keller commented that these British pastors have been great models for preaching to a postmodern New York congregation because the British culture is closer to New York than the rest of the States.
What lessons should us Brits draw from that?
Time to move to New York, or something? Might get a better hearing there? ['oh, I love your british accent!']
ReplyDelete:)
I've watched friends in the UK being won to Christ-centred preaching by Driscoll who got it from Keller who got it from Dick Lucas (and Ed Clowney). Can't help but think it'd have been easier to get it direct from London...
ReplyDeletePete, I think the US has enough British preachers already. Stop threatening to leave!
ReplyDeleteDave, I have you to thank for getting me into these lectures. I finally got round to them and they're brilliant. May blog more on them at some stage. Probably not though... so busy at the mo.
I was wondering whether British evangelicalism has the courage to really engage that this past generation had.
Our culture has surely moved on since this past generation, but has the church moved with it?
I remember a while back reading an article comparing top ten Christian bestsellers from 30/40 years ago in US and UK, compared with now. The UK then used to be a big exporter of ideas (Stott, Packer etc), now Americans read very little from the UK, and Christians in the UK read much more from the US. There is lots of great stuff being produced there, but what effect is it having on our ability to engage with our culture? Are we retreating into our ghettos?
Who should we be listening to now? If we are following Tim Keller's example on this, we should be listening to people who are neither from the US, nor from the previous generation of British ministers. But who? I could throw out a few ideas, but you probably know better.
Oh yes! Another lesson we should probably draw, as you say Dave, is that we should be more thankful for the teachers God has blessed the UK church with.
ReplyDeletei find his series on Mark extremely good, mainly for his integration of the kingdom and the cross, but I have noticed that a fair few of his illustrations were obscure references in John Stott's Cross of Christ!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've really got to stop joking about that haven't I - people with think I've got plans to move.
ReplyDeleteWho can teach us how to preach to our culture?
Good question.
Not sure I have many great answers.
But then I'm reminded that Piper's example is not so much to engage with the culture as to know the workings of his own heart really well, know his own people really well, and know the bible really well. That makes for relevant engaging transformative preaching. And it can all be done without ever having to turn the telly on.
Not sure that really gets at what you're asking, but it's a thought or two.