Church and Culture

Northern Ireland

Europe

• Protestant North,

• Catholic South

• Orthodox East.

• Islam, Communism, Secular Humanism. New Age.

Northern Ireland Today

• 1.8 million people • 30% attend Church – down from 45%

ten years ago –• Committed, Affiliated, Non-Affiliated.• 2020 – 21% non-religious. • PCI – Down from one third to one fifth.

Why?

1) Materialism

2) Secularisation

3) False Religion

4) Insipid Loveless Christianity.

5) Failure to pass on to the next generation

What?

• Circle the Wagons

• Concede

• Confront

• Change

Why persuasive evangelism?

• Our evangelism is stage one, not stage five evangelism

• Defeater Beliefs.

• Our Reasonable Faith

• The best product in the post modern marketplace of ideas

• Total apologetics – the whole gospel to the whole person by the whole church.

Origins of Solas

• The New Atheism

• The Da Vinci Code

• The Dawkins Letters

• Gordon Wilson, the BBC, Universities.

• Where can I find Jesus?

10 target areas of engagement

• Society• Science• Café• Music• Art• Medicine• History• Media• Philosophy• Church

1. SOLAS SOCIETY

• Road to Recovery• Family Support• Euthanasia• Pregnancy support• Christians in Politics• Constructive Engagement

with Politicians.• Pray for Kings and those in

authority.

2. SOLAS SCIENCE

• Science/Faith Interaction• The Apologetic of Science• Challenging claims of

scientism.• Christians in Science.

3. SOLAS CAFE

• Quench• The Marketplace• Public Forums• Street Evangelism

4. SOLAS MUSIC

• Atheists ain’t got no songs!

• The Apologetic of beauty.

• From Mozart to Metallica

5. SOLAS ART

• Can Artists be Atheists?

• Europe’s rich artistic heritage and it’s Christian roots and ethos

• Christians in art.

• The word through image.

• Contemporary media

6. SOLAS MEDICINE

• Christian Medical Fellowship

• Medical Ethics eg. Euthanasia

• Healing the Sick

7. SOLAS HISTORY

• History is His Story

• The Apologetic of History

• Where do we come from? Where are we going?

• Those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat it.

8. SOLAS MEDIA

• Christians in Media

• A contact point for the secular media

• Development of high quality Christian Media.

9. SOLAS PHILOSOPHY

• Greeks to Goths – we are what we think.

• Plantinga and Craig.

• Renewed Minds, Renewed Hearts

10. SOLAS CHURCH

• God’s instrument for outreach not self- preservation

• 1,000 Churches reaching 1,000 communities

• An Open Door? Church planting, re-potting, renewal.

• Contemporary Biblical Churches for 21st Century Ireland