Two Ways News

I wrote about being a ‘conservative’ a few weeks ago, and now the evil Anglican conservatives are at it again. Forming breakaway ‘churches’. Causing material harm and distress to LGBT people by blatantly refusing to agree with them. Engaging in schismatic actions that miscellaneous bishops sadly shake their heads at, and purport not to really understand (which would be hilarious if it weren’t so d...

There is a time for every matter under heaven, Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us. But is there a time for Ecclesiastes itself? We’ve been studying and preaching our way through Ecclesiastes recently at church, and that old question has arisen more than once. Is its pessimistic view of the world limited in some way to its pre-Christian time? Or is its sobering message about the vacuousness of life just as...

Rummaging around through my digital files last week, I discovered this paragraph:  The very experience of 21st century living, with its utterly bewildering array of nearly limitless choice—in knowledge, information, entertainment, commodities, interests, lifestyles, and so on—has the psychological effect of fragmenting our lives, and destroying any illusion that there might be one overarching trut...

The painful truth this week is that this is a rather bitsy Payneful Truth ; a series of short bites rather than a single vaguely coherent article: about reading Christian books, explaining the gospel powerfully, and defending the truth of the Bible. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.twoways.news/subscribe

Before we get to the subject of why Christian books are so vital, a follow up from last week’s post about being a ‘conservative’ . Geoff Robson, who has taken over much of the editorial work I used to do at Matthias Media, got in touch to share a great quote from Peter Jensen. Geoff writes: You reminded me of when PFJ became Archbishop (when I’d been working at Anglican Media for just over a year)...

Before we get into today’s topic, some exciting news. Learn the Gospel (part one of the new Two ways to live training framework) has finally arrived, and is available for purchase. (In Australia, that is. It will be a few more weeks before the books find their way through the US ports and land in our American warehouse.) I know many of you have been wondering and waiting for it to be available, an...

I was doing some teaching on apologetics recently on Campus, and as we milled around outside afterwards, one of the students asked a thoughtful question. Why is it that contemporary apologetics mostly focuses on the two approaches that enjoy the least biblical support and have the most risks attached? To understand the question, some background. My presentation had been based on the ‘Seven types o...

In one of the many memorable scenes in Chariots of Fire, the two old Cambridge dons look out the window on the departing Harold Abrahams and lament that his attitude is just not that of an English Christian gentleman. “Well”, says John Gielgud as the Master of Trinity College, “there goes your Semite, Hugh. A different God; a different mountaintop.” It’s not often that the contrast between the two...

Hi everyone Before getting onto this week’s topic, another ‘uncommonly good’ prayer to share with you from The Book of Common Prayer . James wrote in to mention two of his favourites: I do quite like the collect for peace, and especially the phrase ‘whose service is perfect freedom’. It’s a refreshing reminder of how God’s call to freedom and our world’s modern conception of freedom aren’t the sam...

I suppose I should have expected it, but quite a few of you got in touch after my recent brief comments about singing and music , and some foolishly asked for more on this subject.  There’s certainly plenty to discuss, but I’ve been pondering what I could say in this brief space that would be encouraging, constructive, non-ranty and generally sensitive to the fact that if there’s a subject that ot...

I’ve been using the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) recently to structure my personal prayer and Bible times. I fudge my way around a bit—alternating between the Morning and Evening prayer services, the ‘word’ section of the Communion service, the Litany, and so on. It’s been enriching and edifying in a number of ways, not least because of the power, precision and depth of so many of the prayers. Here...

In last week’s follow-up post about community (‘ Can we just hang out? ’), I mentioned the advantages of doing the obvious—that is, actually teaching our people about the nature of membership and community. But how well do we do this kind of thing? I said this: I am often struck by how meagrely and haphazardly we teach about such subjects in our churches. We do the essential work of expounding the...

“I think you are a purist”, a friend said to me after I’d just given a presentation on ‘community and belonging’ at last week’s Reach Australia conference. “Who me?” I lamely chuckled, but then immediately wished I’d said something more witty, like: “What would you prefer? An impurist?” My talk at Reach was an expanded version of last week’s post, and majored on the same point—that Christian ‘comm...

Do you want your church to be a place where people feel like they belong? Where there is a close sense of mutual dependence and love, and where there is a genuine experience of Christian community? Who doesn’t? (Well, there are times when I don’t, and wish that everyone on the planet would just leave me alone, but let’s not get into my problems.) How could we pursue or promote this kind of communi...

Well, I’m back in the land of vegemite, budgie-smugglers and drop-bears, after two busy but invigorating weeks in the US. I never quite managed that second ‘Postcard from America’, reality having collided viciously with my optimism. This week’s post is the next best thing: a postcard from a weary but happy returned traveller, with some brief reflections on his sojourn in a strange land. I don’t sa...

Well, as promised, here is a little something from your roving correspondent. I’ve been here in Ohio for the last several days, working with Marty Sweeney (director of Matthias Media USA) and running a workshop for pastors on ‘Gospel Clarity and Growing the Vine’. The workshop was hugely worthwhile—certainly for me, and I think for those who attended (if their positivity and thoughtful contributio...

Last week’s post on the nature of small group leading prompted some excellent responses and questions that are worth addressing. The first question was asked by a couple of different people. In summary: What are the implications of this ‘tour guide’ approach for complementarian leadership in small groups?  How does ‘tour guide’ leading work in mixed groups with male and female leaders? Some big is...

Before we get started, some news to share: you can now read The Payneful Truth in the new Substack app for iPhone. With the app, you’ll have a dedicated Inbox for my newsletter and any others you subscribe to. New posts will never get lost in your email filters, or stuck in spam. Longer posts will never be cut-off by your email app. Comments and rich media will all work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a...

It’s funny how the big puzzle in a Bible passage can often distract you from seeing the smaller enigma. For example, in 1 Cor 14, the question I immediately want answered is about prophecy. It’s the gift I should pursue, says Paul, because it is the best way to edify others in love. But what prophecy it exactly? This is a big question. (And for those who are interested, I came up with a big, long...

I was speaking at a church camp this last weekend on the familiar topic (for me at least) of why the one-another speech of the Christian community is so vital to our spiritual health, as individuals and as churches. I was warming to my theme, and explaining that as we speak the word to each other in love in a whole range of ways—encouraging, exhorting, teaching, admonishing, comforting, reminding,...

As promised, here is the next instalment in the gospel book you’re helping me write. I felt a bit excited and daunted at the same time working on this draft. There’s nothing more bracing than writing about the death of Jesus, but I also couldn’t escape the feeling of not wanting to muck this up. We’re getting to the heart of things; this has to be good! I’m not sure whether it is yet, but I’m sure...

As small groups get started for another year (in my part of the world) I thought it might be useful to write something on ‘How to be a small group member’. But then I thought better of it. I remembered something from a management book that I once read in a moment of weakness. It was called Start With Why , and I can save you the trouble of wading through its 250 padded-out pages of case studies, p...

Here’s the next chapter of the evangelistic book you’re helping me write . It’s a bit longer than the earlier chapters—more like 3000 words than 2000—so I’m sending it out in two chunks (starting with the first half this week). The chapter is based on Point 4 of Two ways to live, which in the latest revised version says: Because of his love, God sent his Son into the world: the man Jesus Christ. J...

For our first Q&A interview for 2022, I figured it was time to sit down with Phillip Jensen and have a chin wag. As is usually the case when we get together, the conversation bounced here and there, covering everything from why the resurrection is the climax of the gospel, to why our preaching should be more like an exposé than an apology. The audio version of the conversation goes for about 40 mi...

Well, we finished off last year with a merry little Christmas post about sin, and we start the New Year full of zip and optimism with 2000 words about judgement! Here’s the next chapter in the ‘Two ways to live’ evangelistic book. It’s based on box 3 of the outline, and tries to do that difficult thing of speaking plainly, persuasively and winsomely about the most awful subject—that we’re all faci...