What's it all about?
The articles which appear here have been written primarily as my monthly contribution to the ‘Faith Matters’ column as presented each week in the Birmingham Mail (and prior to that the Solihull News). For many years the column was called ‘Christian Comment’ but when a new editor took up his post in the early part of this century he discontinued it. An influx of complaints from readers was received and he quickly reintroduced it in the guise of ‘Faith Matters’. Authors of other ‘faiths’ were invited to give their input. I had no problem with this fresh concept because it would potentially broaden the readership of those who would not otherwise read the Christian content. I have confidence that the Christian Gospel is singularly powerful and therefore capable of standing any perceived challenge.
I commenced my contributions in 1994 and these now number more than 370. As a writer of a newspaper column, I seek, whenever possible, to be topical. I hope to engage the simple browser, the religious and the converted with something that will bring them face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ by showing his relevance. This is rather a challenge with the column being limited to barely 400 words.
Who am I?
In January 1979 I was brought to a point of placing my personal trust in Jesus Christ as the one who could and would bring me to the true God. Over the ensuing decades I have had experience of various styles of church and expressions of corporate worship. For the first 15 years of my Christian faith I was in churches of a more charismatic persuasion than has been the case in the years which have followed.
I am of the conviction that a systematic theology which requires a good grasp of both the Old and New Testaments is essential for the maturing of the individual Christian. A coherent theology is, I believe, God honouring when evangelising and growing Christians in their faith. I understand that God is Sovereign and his Spirit may use the sincere Christian’s feeblest understanding to bear witness to Jesus Christ. This graciousness of the Lord, however, should never encourage us to be careless when sharing his message.
