5 Organisations every Christian should know

In 2008 journalist Matthew Parris wrote this after visiting the work of Pump Aid in Malawi:

“Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.”

He’s writing specifically about the effect of Christian charities in Africa but I believe that the good that specifically Christian charities do extends beyond one continent. Without making conversion conditional for help they see the value of a person made in the image of God, the beauty and usefulness of the world God made and the desire to share God’s justice and mercy with everyone. So here are 5 Christian charities doing just that.

1. Wycliffe Bible Translators
   There are so many good Mission organisations out there it was hard to pick just one. I’m giving the shoutout to Wycliffe as they do they crucial job of making sure that every language group gets a Bible in their own heart language to learn about and hear from God in the way they understand best.

2. Hoveraid
   When was the last time you saw a hovercraft? There not a thing of the past instead they do the job of taking missionaries, Bible translators, school and medical equipment, technical supplies and so much more out to the hardest to reach places, where ther isn’t even enough room for a plane to land (if a plane can land MAF will probably also be there). Hoveraid’s aim is to reach the unreachable.

3. City to City
   Every Christian needs God’s word, the basic things of life, and the church. City to City is a church planting and resourcing network that aims to help local churches reach urban populations, which in 2050 will be nearly 70% of the world’s population. With their support new and existing churches will be equipped and trained to bring the gospel to workplaces, families, schools and universities in cities across the world.

4. Youth for Christ
   The scope of YFC is narrow in that they focus on teenagers but wide in that they run youth groups with local churches in juvenile halls, schools, communtiy centres and churches in more than 100 countries bringing the good news that Jesus is for them to millions of teens.

5. Mercy Ships
   The Africa Mercy is a floating hospital: able to bring highly qualified staff, the latest technology and practices to coastal regions of Africa. The ship is equipped with clean water, reliable electicity and easy communication across departments which isn’t true of many land-based hospitals in poorer communities. Much more than bringing medical help they also bring hope and a future to those rejected and stigmatised by their illness or injury.

Obviously this is only scraping the surface of all the charities who share the love of Jesus in word and action across the globe. In an attempt to capture the scope of the work I chose one from each of these categories: Mission, Aid, Church growth, Youth work and Medical Aid. They’re all worth your support and I’d love to hear about where else God is working, leave a comment and leet me know.

5 Podcasts You Should Listen To

I would not have described myself as a podcast person. My radio channels of choice have always been music based and I rarely listened to the radio. I have tried various e-readers but found they pale in comparison to an actual physical book.

So what converted me to the point where I not only listen to some but have 5 I want to share?
Washing the dishes.

Having something that is more than background but actively engages my mind while I scrub pans has meant I’ve been known to say ‘It’s not your turn to wash up, it’s mine’ just because I have a podcast lined up. So here is what’s been keeping my kitchen clean and my mind active:

1. The Bible Project
   I was already a fan of their videos when I started listening to this. It’s so good than when an episode outlast the time it takes me to do the dishes - which is often - I will continue to clean the house so that don’t have to press pause. I have a binge-y approach to podcasts so I like to look for a miniseries, on the wisdom books or the tree of life, and listen to all of those over a few weeks then wait a while and find a different theme. Their deep dives into the Biblical Theology that unlies the videos is well worth a listen however fast or slow you consume it.

2. Knowing Faith
   This is probably my favourite. I arrived late to the party and loved it so much I listened to 2 years worth in about 6 months and was devastated when I caught up and had to wait a week for the next episode to come out! Why is it so great? Well, the hosts (Jen Wilkin, JT English, Kyle Worley) love what they’re talking about, they’re not afraid to disagree with each other and stay friends, they have the best guests, they make big theological ideas accessible without talking down to you: they’re like real people!

3. 5 Minutes in Church History
   This is a fun one. They literally only take 5 minutes but they pack in all the info. They’re so short I will use them as an oven timer and listen to 5 or 6 while something bakes. There’s a lot of the reformation, so Calvin and Luther, but also the less famous including Lady Jane Gray (she’s just my fave), and Francis Grimké. It’s fascinating.

4. Pass the Mic
   Is the podcast arm (wing?) of The Witness. They cover a lot of current events, pop-culture and the church all from the perspective of Christians who want to hear Christ first on everything. They also have super interviewees - Leslie Odom Jr and Michael B Jordan so you know this is no lightweight podcast but something you can get your teeth into. They have other podcasts too that I haven’t listened to but I want to, maybe they’ll end up on a future top 5 list.

5. The Bible Recap
   This podcast is designed to accompany your daily Bible reading, they have a plan in their show notes. So, I’m not actually following it at the moment - it’s waiting until I’ve finished my current reading plan. At the moment I’m listening to the odd episode that covers whatever book I’m psyching myself up to write a study on. The episodes are short (about 8 minutes) which is the perfect length for when you’ve finished reading the Bible passage, but also means that when you just dip in and out you haven’t had the study prepared for you but you’ve got enough to give you momentum to look deeper into the passage. There are some intro episodes you should listen to before you start - a kind of top tips and enthusiasm builder for the not undaunting task ahead. And a high mark of quality is the acknowlegement that you need to find your best fit - which is what you get here.

These are my top 5 and, since I’m now a podcast person, what else should I be adding to my list? Let me know in the comments below

5 Helpful Apps for Christian Living

I have a love/hate relationship with my smartphone.
It doesn’t fit in any of my pockets but Whatsapp is by far the easiest way to contact my friends and family (we live in different countries so tradional calling is expensive). It is far too easy for me to waste time on fb or youtube, but its addictive nature and Duolingo have definitely helped me to learn German. None of these things are sponsored; simply things I personally have found helpful.
So here are 5 apps that have helped me embrace the blessings of the smartphone.

1. Read Scripture
   There are many Bible Reading apps out there: I like this one as you can choose your plan and if you’d like to read everyday or go at your own pace, choose what time you want to be reminded and select a font size. I love it because at the beginnin of each book they have the relevant Bible overview video from the Bible Project and for the longer books they’ve also included some of the theme videos. This is super helpful for me as it helps me to not just read (most days) but to engage with the passage and the God behind it as well. Check it out for yourself here.

2. Prayermate
   As the name suggests this app is here to help you pray. I find it an easy way to organise, when I tell someone I’ll pray for them I can add them to a list of my choosing and set how often I want them to come up in my rotation. I don’t use it every day but on the days where we don’t have somthing specific on our hearts it’s really helpful. You can also add prayer requests from organisations like Open Doors and Christians in Sport; individual churches can even share their prayer lists via this app.

3. Verse Locker
   One of my failures in children’s ministery is that I put less effort into learning memory verses than the kids teaching do. Verse Locker helps with this by somewhat gamifying the process: I can unlock badges for when I have memorised >10 or >50 verses or five verses from the Pentateuch or Wisdom books or the Gospels. And I love me an app that can put my overly competative spirit to good use.

4. Logos
   Even on the free version they have a ridiculously large numer of books available, modern releases from NT Wright, classic christian lit like Augustine’s Confessions, numerous translations of the Bible, RC Sproul’s Crucial Questions booklets, making this a super useful teaching-preparation tool. A mobile phone is a little small for this amount of reading so downloading the app on a tablet or laptop is probably easier (either that or I’m showing my age).

5. A Podcast App
   I don’t have a strong preference for which one you use. I use Podbean which gives me access to my top 5 Podcasts every Christian should listen to… The subject of my next top 5 list.

5 Black Christians You Should Know

One of the joys of being part of God’s family is that our brothers and sisters come from all over the world and from all throughout time. Hearing from those that are from a variety of cultures enriches how we see them, see ourselves and see God too!
As I write people all over the world are marching in support of the Black Lives Matter movement so, I’ve chosen to highlight 5 Black Christians whose lives, voices and theology matter to God and should matter to us too.

1. The Witness
   In their own words they’re a ‘Black Christian collective that engages issues of religion, race, justice and culture from a biblical perspective.’ Because there are many contributors, its perspective is as wide as it is deep and you can read about current events, the arts, church leadership and the family. If you’re on the lookout for excellent Christian blogs then you need to subscribe here: https://thewitnessbcc.com

2. Augustine of Hippo
   Augustine probably makes it on to most lists of Christians you should know, and he absolutely should; he’s so formative to how the church has discussed theology and Christian living. I wanted him on this list because we tend to look back on church history and only see white men. Augustine is a reminder that North Africa and the Middle East were the cultures where the creeds were formed and where the earliest matyrs and theologians lived. (And yes, despite what most paintings of him would have you believe, he’s from Algeria, of Berber ancestry and was certainly black.) Even if you can’t face the entirety of his Confessions it’s long been public domain and is worth dipping into. Or grab a biography - there are literally tons!

3. Thabiti Anyabwile
   From theologians of long ago to those of today: Anyabwile caught my attention as a writer on the Gospel Coalition. I find his blogs very easy to read without being emotionally or spiritually light; which I guess comes from being a pastor and very grounded in the practicalities of theology. While his books are still on my reading list, the titles fill my heart with joy. If you’d like to join the ones on my list are ‘Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus Death and Resurrection’ and ‘The Life of God in the Soul of the Church’

4. Conrad Mbewe
   We’re returning to Africa now but in the modern day. Mbewe shares his life and experience as a pastor, university director, lecturer, father and birdwatcher in Zambia on his blog: A letter from Kabwata. It’s a great thing to hear the experiences of someone who’s life is so different to mine but also so encouraging that those experiences are soaked in biblical worldview, yes, even the birdwatching.

5. Rosa Parks
   A list like this wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention the US Civil Rights movement. I would recommend King’s ‘Why we can’t wait’ to anyone who wants to understand the historic and current struggles of black people in the US. But Rosa Parks’ book ‘Quiet Strength’ resonnated with me more. It introduced me to someone who was fairly ordinary and yet did extraordinary things, not limited to her involvement with the NAACP but also in her work with young people - something close to my heart.

This is only a short top 5 so there isn’t room for more than an honrable mention for H.B Charles Jr, Desmond Tutu, Harriet Tubman, Kirk Franklin, Sojourner Truth and so many others. Who would have made it into your top five? Let us know in the comments below.

5 free Bible-based resources for kids at home

A ‘normal’ Sunday School probably involves singing, sharing for prayer, a craft, maybe a game and at the very least a Bible Story with a chance to ask questions about what it means for us. Church services have often moved to some kind of streaming which works great for sermons but less well for small group situations.

That all becomes very tricky when you’re stuck at home with kids who might normal be split by age into different groups and with only the crafting implements you would normally have. Leave a comment with any resources you’ve found useful.

So here we have 5 resources that can help you to do Sunday School at home.

Let’s start by blowing my own trumpet: On this very website there’s a series of Digital Sunday School lessons which include a story, questions to link it to our lives today, memory verses, links to youtube videos for singing together and some crafty, and less crafty, activities you can try throughout the day or week.
At the moment there are four available and producing two more a week seems like a sustainable pace to keep up with so you could do a midweek Bible lesson if you wanted. The series will be 20 lessons long and each lesson is based on God healing someone - wonder where I got that idea!

1. Digital Sunday School

Ages 5-10

2. Big Picture Bible Crafts

Ages 3-10

If you’re looking for craft resources my friend Gail Schoonmaker, illustrator of the Big Picture Story Bible, has written a book, Big Picture Bible Crafts that takes you through the major plotpoints in craft form. The book is excellent and Crossway Publishers have made it available free on PDF (although I would definitely recommend buying it for the long haul if, like me, you’re a Bible teacher who isn’t strong on the craft side). Each craft comes with a resource list, a Bible passage a memory verse and how you can adjust it for different ages and abilities!

My go-to videos for Bible Stories are Crossroads Kids Club. The God’s Story series are short, thoughtful, with high quality animation and designed to show how this individual story fits in to God’s greater rescue plan. They’ve made loads of them, I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find one that fits in with any other material you are or have been using.

3. Crossroads Kids Club

Ages 3-12

4. Olly Knight Worship Music

All ages

If you want some family friendly music Olly Knight and family are producing regular worship sessions live on Facebook (they also post the lyrics) - they’re chatty, they’ll read the comments and praise Jesus. So why not grab whatever instruments you have and your dancing feet and join in.

The Village Church is super committed to Bible Education run by the church and has a massive selction of resources you should check out. Including a podcast for kids! Originally designed to be something you could play on a car journey they’d be great for younger kids at home as well. They are very American so come with a healthy dollop of cheese, but when that dollop is on a serving of easy to understand, well grounded Bible stories form John, then it’s very stomachable. They even include original songs. Search for God’s Big Story wherever you get your podcasts from.

5. God’s Big Story Podcast

Ages 3-8

The Re(dis)organised Sunday School Blog

I’ve reorganised!
It’s a new site with updated pictures to get a whole new look. The content is the same as what you’ve always been used to - Bible based lessons for pre-schoolers, children and youth - where you can choose the activities, games, songs and teaching that best suits your group.

We also have helpful ‘How to…' list on a wide range of important topics.

New material will be added regularly (and if anything is missing; just leave a comment) - watch this space!

Have a look round

and see what’s new