I recently spent some sabbatical time in Bangkok with 130 Christian leaders from 26 countries in Asia all looking to do church planting. 

I was deeply inspired at their commitment to sharing the good news of Jesus to their communities, some of which are openly hostile to the Christian faith. I now have more brothers and sisters to pray for doing difficult ministry in Pakistan, Iraq, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Bhutan.

We were there to engage with the Gospel Renewal material by Tim Keller, something that has also been available to leaders in this diocese during 2024 – we called it Transforming Ministry. Recently Cameron Munro of City to City Australia concluded the course that is based on Keller’s book Center Church. 

What has been lost

There was a moment in the course when I recognised God’s whisper of wisdom. 

We were digging into the parable of the prodigal son when I heard a gentle question, “What have we lost in the diocese that God is seeking to restore?” 

Having spent much time on the Revitalisation project, an answer came almost immediately. We have lost four things:

1. We have lost conviction that witness to the good news of Jesus actually does bring transformation to the world around us.
2. We have lost sight of the Biblical vision that Christian faith communities are places for transformative discipleship and evangelism.
3. We have lost meaningful connection to the community / society around us.
4. We have lost energy – we are tired and we are weary of doing ministry in an increasingly uncertain and sceptical society.

D.A. Carson points out that “in a fast changing culture that seems alien to many Christians it is easy for us to throw up our hands in despair and adopt a purely defensive mode.”¹ But that’s not a posture of hope in the good news of Jesus! 

The restoration business

God, in Christ, is in the restoration business – and chooses to do it through human transformation.

Church ministry and mission is all about change, through the power of the gospel, to the hearts of ordinary people, every day.

Me included. I have discovered a new hope and a deeper layer to faith on my journey of discovery through the Gospel Renewal course. 

I’ll share one small example. 

Stop trying to please God with your faith and hard work! The truth of the gospel is that when we believe in Christ, there is now “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Putting our faith in Christ is not about trying harder, it means transferring our trust away from ourselves and resting in him. It means saying, “Father, accept me not because of what I have done or ever will do but because of what Jesus has done in my place.” When we do that, we are adopted into God's family and given the right to his eternal, fatherly love (John 1: 12-13). Secondly, it is not the quality of our faith that saves us, but rather the object. Saving faith isn’t a level of psychological certainty, it is an act of the will in which we rest in Jesus, surrendering our whole selves because Jesus gave himself wholly for us (Mark 8:34, Rev 3:20). 

“So what?” you might ask. 

The truth that I was unwilling to see is that, for too long, I have not understood the grace of God in Christ. I have been trying to please God through the value of my work and the quality of my faith. I’ve had it the wrong way round. 

Hope needs to come from the value of Christ’s work and the quality of his selfless love. The restoration that God is keen to do in the world can only come through the renewal of the heart through the grace of God. The alternative is that I trust my own work and try harder to impress God with my faith – in effect I become my own saviour and that’s not good news for anyone!