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Stephen Jackson on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Sam Freney on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
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Mike Bull on Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia
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Recent posts
The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel! by Tony Payne (4 comments). Regular Sola Panel readers will no doubt have detected a little slowness and quietness over the past six weeks or so. … more
Kids’ culture watch spot: Facing fear by Gordon Cheng (3 comments). By popular demand (two people asked), here is my next script for a culture watch spot I did with the kids … more
Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia by Gordon Cheng (1 comment). It's a Sunday as I write this, and I'm speaking on Daniel 2 and 7 later this morning at a friend's … more
A constituent on same-sex marriage by Sandy Grant (34 comments). Last year, the Australian Parliament agreed that its Members of Parliament (MPs) should seek the … more
A tribute to John Stott by Sandy Grant (2 comments). Friends, I'm not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I opened up my computer on Thursday morning to read … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 3): On giants’ shoulders by Scott Newling (26 comments). This is the third post in this series; you can read part one, and more
Bible reading with kids by Sandy Grant (0 comments). I was asked for recommendations for resources that would encourage parents to read the Bible with their kids, especially … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 2): Stepping aside (not out) so others can step up (not in) by Scott Newling (3 comments). This is the second post in this series; you can read the first post, Unassuming … more
One more sip of the coffee by Tony Payne (8 comments). Sandy Grant is a man of integrity. Back in the early days of Sola Panel, I wrote a post … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 1): Unassuming generations by Scott Newling (30 comments). There is a model of ‘intergenerational theological decline’ that has been doing the rounds of late, and perhaps you … more
Tony Payne
Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
Sola Panellists
- Tony Payne (convenor)
- Jennie Baddeley
- Mark Baddeley
- Andrew Barry
- Peter Bolt
- Gordon Cheng
- a local church and a certain Christian publishing house. (Sometimes the latter vocations can happen without the first.) Many people call him a nerd, which he prefers to geek. He\'s keen on biblical studies, languages, great technology, science fiction, coffee, photography, frisbee, family, jazz, and hats. You could call his tastes eclectic. ");'>Sam Freney
- Sandy Grant
- Scott Newling
- Gavin Perkins
- Ben Pfahlert
- Peter Sholl
- Claire Smith
- Nicole Starling
- Jean Williams
- Lionel Windsor
Some other sites
we like (Why these?)
- Matthias Media
- The Briefing
- 9Marks
- Albert Mohler
- Anglican Church League
- challies
- David Ould
- ENTRUST
- EQUIP book club
- Girl Talk
- Gordon Cheng's Blog
- The Gospel Coalition
- Jean Williams's blog
- Justin Taylor
- Lionel Windsor
- Monergism
- Moore College
- MTS
- Nicole Starling's blog
- Phillip Jensen
- Pyromaniacs
- The Proclamation Trust
- Reformers' Bookshop
- The Simeon Trust
- The Ugley Vicar
But…but…surely getting 22 year olds to plant churches immediately is the answer? Why, I even heard a reliable witness, a year ago now, saying we had 300 of them ready to go.
Guess they’ve gone then?
PS 300 in Sydney, that is. If you’re reading this elsewhere, you probably have even more of these silver bullets ready to shoot.
Hi Sandy,
It sure is good to be reminded of sticking to the basics - and is a reminder that is needed. We’re in a situation now where the basics are being assumed, which I think means they are being lost and may well be forgotten by the following generation. In a context like that the basics seems so ‘boring, ho hum’ especially in light of the latest silver bullets (which fly at us regularly from north of the border!)
I think this excuse applies to those of us not in church leadership too - that is, the temptation to avoid a conference because “we’ll have heard it all before”. Maybe we will, but if our lives don’t look like we believe it, then we need to hear it again! And thanks for the encouragement to keep on teaching the Word. It’s not a new idea but it’s a needed reminder.
You make a compelling case Sandy, thanks for your observations…
Still…
In some ways I feel like I’m getting conflicting messages from the same group on this issue. On the one hand, I hear “Just preach the word”. Very good. On the other hand, the same group are actually ministry innovators and reformers. Also very good. But it seems to contradict the “no need for anything new” idea.
Now, you might say, “Our commitment to the Word leads us to innovate.” That’s a compelling statement. But it does seem a bit suspect if outside innovations are a sign that they don’t really trust “just the Word”, whereas local innovations are a sign that we really trust “just the Word”.
Anyway, I’ll be interested to watch how this debate develops over the next 5 years.
Thanks for the comments.
It’s important to say someone like me could easily get ‘snarkey’ at anyone who suggests a new idea or a new approach and write it off as another silver bullet or infatuation with the latest thing. That would be a form of immaturity too.
And, Craig, you are right that St Helen’s and 9Marks are both trying new ideas and are certainly not just stuck in the historic mud. (I think of some of the Christmas and Easter outreach videos St Helen’s have done). And I pick up new ideas from them (like Dever’s theology breakfast idea!).
Really I was just worrying about my friends and colleagues who never seem to come to these sort of basics conferences, and only go to the pragmatic-type ‘how to’ ones, and cite the reason I mentioned at the start - “already heard all that”.
Thanks for that mate. I agree too that we need to hear “the same things” again and again - we need to hear the gospel weekly at church. We never get beyond it. And ministers need to be constantly reminded to stay in the Word.
Regarding the larger “innovation” debate, I’m finding it very hard to come to a settled position. I imagine I’m not the only one.
Sandy & Craig,
I’m posting on this tradition v innovation issue tomorrow at sydneyanglicans.net
the great thing about the conference was how the ‘same old thing’ was just so stimulating - I know many people walked away with just the same response as Sandy
I for one did & will be there next year
Hi Sandy,
It all depends what topic is being repeated at the conference. I can never get enough of the gospel. But a couple of years ago it seemed that you couldn’t go near a men’s conference without hearing the obligatory special talk with the same two topics: avoid porn and be a godly father. Important topics, yes. But you’d think that there were no single men, or no other sins besetting Christian men.
Michael - Amen to your observation:
.
Roger - right on about men’s conventions, I need to hear the talk on avoiding pride and self-righteousness for example. And yep, single men should be better addressed.
I think I was particularly thinking of ministry conferences - which often focus on ‘how to’ and where the pull of the new and the desire for ‘results’ can make confidence in the old methods (ministry of the word) seem ‘old hat’.
That said, again I would go to some ‘new idea’ conferences and ‘how to’ conferences and hopefully exercise scriptural discernment.
Just not at the cost of never going to the sort of conference we just had with Dever and Taylor, where there isn’t anything new!
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