The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 4: Partnership Shaped by the Gospel

We have seen that for partnership to be 'gospel partnership' means three things. We have looked at how gospel partnership is, firstly, founded on the gospel and is, secondly, for the sake of the gospel, now we turn to our third aspect: partnership shaped by the gospel. Under this heading I want to address the fact that the way we relate to one another in gospel partnership must be shaped by the gospel.

This is a vital area, but one which is easily overlooked. Without it all of what has been discussed in the previous section will not happen. If we are not relating to one another as brothers and sisters for whom Christ has died, but instead letting something else (such as background or denomination etc) define how we relate to one another then gospel partnership will fall to pieces.

Under this heading I want to focus in on one specific area. It is a theme that runs through Paul’s letter to the Philippians: sacrificing ourselves for the sake of others. In chapter 2 of his letter he calls the Philippians to “…in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (v. 3-4). This is the mindset he wants them to have (v. 5), which they have as those who are in Christ. The way they ought to relate to one another is by seeking the good of others before their own. The foundation Paul gives for such an attitude is spelt out in v. 6-11. Jesus is the ultimate example of such an attitude. He is the ultimate example of sacrificing yourself for the sake of others. He set aside His rights to all the glory and riches of heaven, and humbled himself in giving himself up to the most shameful and cursed of deaths, death on a cross. He did not do this for His good, but for the good of His people. Therefore, if the way we relate to one another is to be gospel shaped, we must be giving up ourselves in sacrificial service of one another, not seeking after “our rights” but gladly giving them up in the service of the gospel. Instead of seeking to please ourselves we ought to be seeking the good of our brothers and sisters in Christ, because Christ did not seek to please Himself (Romans 15:2-3). Gospel partnership is not about me and how I can use the resources of others to serve me or to build my own empire. Rather, it means changing our mindset to think about how I can use the resources that God has given me to serve others for the glory of God.

May God give us grace to be those who humbly give up all of who we are, what we have and all we do for the sake of the gospel, to help us to be gospel shaped in the way that we relate to one another as we think through and grapple with what gospel partnership involves. It has been my prayer in writing this series that it might please God to use it for His glory’s sake, that we might be spurred on to strive together side by side to see Him glorified in the gospel being proclaimed throughout Ireland, knees bowing to the Lord Jesus, the church being built up and workers being sent out in to the harvest field to proclaim Christ both in Ireland and across the world. To Him alone be the glory in Christ Jesus.

Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Partnership Founded on the Gospel
• Partnership For the Sake of the Gospel (1)
• Partnership For the Sake of the Gospel (2)
• Partnership For the Sake of the Gospel (3)

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 3c: Partnership for the Sake of the Gospel (3)

In the two previous posts in this series on gospel partnership we have been examining what it means for our partnership to be for the sake of the gospel. We shall continue to explore this in this week's post. Two weeks ago we saw that partnership for the sake of the gospel means (1) defending the gospel and (2) proclaiming the gospel. Last week we saw that it means (3) training and deploying gospel workers and (4) supporting gospel workers. In this post we shall look at two final implications of partnership for the sake of the gospel:

5) Resourcing Gospel Work
The work of the gospel is costly. Not only in terms of the suffering and hardship that is the lot of the gospel worker, but also in terms of finances and other resources. I’m sure all of us are aware that gospel work cannot function without such resources. If there is no building, where shall people meet? If there is no money, how shall those set aside for the ministry of the word and prayer pay for food, shelter and clothing? How shall the expenses of the different ministries in churches be covered?

This means that one of the areas that gospel partnership must be addressing is that of where the finances and resources needed for the continuing and furthering of the work of the gospel are going to come from. It is very often the case that one of the areas that we are most reluctant to speak about is that of money. However, if the gospel affects every area of life and addresses every area of life then this means that we need to think and talk about how our wallets can be shaped by the gospel (whilst heeding Jesus’ warning about blowing trumpets when we give money). One of the great examples in the New Testament of such gospel shaped wallets is the Macedonian church (2 Corinthians 8) who “in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity…” (2 Corinthians 8:2). Even though they were extremely poor they begged to be able to serve their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem by giving financially (v. 3). All of this was God’s work in them (v. 1) Oh, that God might give such hearts to our churches. Generosity begets generosity, therefore the gospel of God’s generosity in Christ ought to lead to generosity in us and our churches.

As with all the other areas, there is so much more that could and needs to be said under this heading. But there is not the space to do it here. So I want to mention two brief areas to think about in this regard:

First, our local churches should not be focussed in on themselves financially. Rather, we want to foster an attitude of sacrifice. This means that, instead of using our resources in a way that is just serving our own congregation and merely seeking to build up our own churches, we want to see the finances that God has given our church being used to serve the work of the gospel elsewhere. A healthy, gospel shaped church will not be seeking to hoard all its resources to itself and only being concerned with building up and serving itself, instead it will be looking outward and sacrificing themselves for the sake of the work of the gospel elsewhere and giving to ministries that they will never directly benefit from. When a church is like this, we will find that, instead of struggling, people in the church will grow and mature because of such a gospel shaped mentality. The sacrificial service that is seen in giving to support work and workers elsewhere, shall rub off and lead to sacrificial service within the church which leads to the church growing and maturing. This could be worked out in practice by supporting an apprentice, women’s worker, youth worker or assistant minister at a church that cannot afford to support one. It could mean using the building that God has given your congregation for training events etc. One church I know of is committed to giving away over half of its income to support gospel work elsewhere, and they intend to increase that percentage when they are able. This is a great example of a gospel hearted mentality when it comes to the financial resources that God has given them.

Secondly, there is also space for thinking about something more formal being set up to fund the costs involved in training and supporting gospel workers. Theological training costs money, a lot of money needs to be raised in order to fund someone's time at theological college. Many of those who have been through such training will know the great uncertainty of not knowing where the funds for training are going to come from, or being sent by a church that are not able to support us financially. One of the ways to address this could be by setting up a gospel trust to support gospel workers. This would be a trust fund where churches and individuals are setting aside money that is to be used in support of people training at theological college and going into areas of ministry where there is not the financial support needed. Such a trust would be stewarded by a group of godly and discerning men and women, both those in full time gospel work and those serving the Lord in a secular job, who would make decisions about how the resources might be best used for the glory of God in the advancement of the gospel.

6) Praying for Gospel Work
It has been noted by many that the revivals of the eighteenth century came off the back of years of persevering prayer by faithful believers. The work of the gospel is not ultimately our work, it is God’s, it is not dependant ultimately on us, nor can it be done by our own strength or strategy. Therefore, if we want to see Ireland and the nations reached with the gospel and men and women bowing the knee in trusting submission to the Lord Jesus we must be committed to prayer. This is a vital, and often overlooked, part of gospel partnership.

Being partners in prayer, as with the above areas, is something that should be happening on many different levels. It will mean wrestling in prayer for one another and the work of the gospel in private prayer. It will mean that our churches ought not to be focussed solely on praying for needs within the congregation (as hugely important as this is); rather, we want to help our churches to lift their eyes to the work of the gospel further afield. We need churches that are committed to praying for other churches, mission organisations, and missionaries as well as the needs in their midst and local area. This could be done by a church committing to pray for a certain number of churches in their prayer meeting and setting aside time within the church’s regular prayer meeting for this purpose. It will mean that as pastors that we are committed to praying for, and with, each other. It could mean organising times to join together with other churches in a certain area to pray for the work of the gospel.

These are just a few suggestions to get us thinking. Whatever shape it takes, we must be committed to the joyful discipline of wrestling in prayer for the work of the gospel in Ireland and further afield. Prayer is so often the first thing to let slip in the business of gospel ministry and of gospel partnership, so we must do all we can to guard the persevering of the people of God in prayer for the work of the gospel. Seeking to go ahead in the work of the gospel without praying is arrogance, because it is says that we are sufficient for this work by ourselves, that our strength and strategy are sufficient.

When we look at all of what we have covered under the heading of 'partnership for the sake of the gospel' over the last three posts, it becomes quite clear that any one church or ministry is going to struggle to carry out all of these areas. They may only have the resources or gifts to carry out work in one or two of these areas. This is why partnership is crucial. We need one another. We all have strengths in different areas and will able to provide resources for and serve in different areas. We will be serving in different churches and ministry contexts which will have different strengths and resources, and thus be able provide help in the areas in which they are rich.

Next week we shall,God willing, look at the third major implication of gospel partnership: partnership shaped by the gospel.



Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Partnership Founded on the Gospel
• Partnership For the Sake of the Gospel (1)
• Partnership For the Sake of the Gospel (2)

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 3b: Partnership for the Sake of the Gospel (2)

Gospel partnership is a partnership that is founded on the gospel, for the sake of the gospel, and shaped by the gospel. In the previous post in this series we began to examine what it means for our partnership to be for the sake of the gospel. We shall continue to explore this in this week's post and next week. last week we saw that partnership for the sake of the gospel means (1) defending the gospel and (2) proclaiming the gospel. In this post we shall look at two more implications of partnership for the sake of the gospel:

3) Training and Deploying Gospel Workers

Obviously, if we want to see the gospel proclaimed throughout our own nation and beyond, both now and in the future, this means that more workers for the harvest field will be needed. These workers are not going to come from nowhere, we will needing to be deliberate about training and deploying them.

There are two key areas that come under this heading:

i) Training the local church. Every member of the church is a partner in the gospel; they are all gospel workers with a unique part to play. We need, therefore, to be thinking about how we can be equipping the members of the churches we serve to serve faithfully as members of the body of Christ. This will mean training them as Sunday School teachers, Youth Group leaders and Bible Study leaders etc.

Again, this is something that we can better do together. Working together, we will be able to serve one another with the specific resources and experience and strengths that we have. This can take many shapes and forms. It could involve setting up a regular training scheme between churches in a local area to use our resources and gifts in different congregations to serve one another, so that as churches as a whole we are not committed just to the building up of our own churches but of those around us also. It will also help foster a mentality of sacrificial service in our churches as they see us committed to building up the ministries of others. On another front it could mean preparing and making available resources to help serve these different ministries in our churches (using, for example, a Sunday school curriculum that we have developed in our church to prepare materials that could serve many other Sunday school teachers in their minist

ries). On a larger level, it would be helpful to think how we could be doing such training on a country-wide level. Perhaps an annual conference for training members of the local church in the various ministries they are involved in their local church.

ii) Training full time gospel workers. As well as training those in our congregations to serve in our congregations, we also want to be training others to be sent out to serve in other parts of the harvest field. If we are to see Ireland and beyond reached with the gospel, both in our lifetime and beyond (if Christ has not come before then), then we will need to be working hard about raising up a new generation of gospel workers.

Whilst we must recognise that through the faithful exercising of the ministry of the word and prayer God, in His grace will be raising up men and women for this work (that is, such people will be one of the natural outcomes of a faithful ministry), we need also to recognise that it is something that we need also to be deliberate about. One way that this can be done is through some form of apprenticeship scheme. Such a scheme will involve looking out for those in our churches who are godly and show the appropriate gifting and ability for gospel work (however embryonic these might be), and giving them opportunities to serve in the work of prayer and the ministry of the word in different forms, and providing training and the opportunity to learn from an older Christian in full-time ministry. This can be done in individual churches. However, it will be much more effective if we work together to raise up and train such apprentices.

There are many strengths that come from partnering together in apprenticeship schemes. We can share resources for training, so that the training that the apprentices receive is not merely dependent upon the pastor they’re under, instead there could be a shared central training for different apprentices in a certain area. Also, if we are working together we can provide opportunities for people to do apprenticeships in different churches other than their own so that they can gain experience of ministry in different contexts and be equipped to serve in different harvest fields in the future. It also means that those in larger churches can support smaller ones by sending apprentices out to do apprenticeships in smaller churches and thus support the work of the gospel there.

Another element to mention under this heading is more formal theological training. One of the things we that needs to be grappled with as we seek to raise up workers, is the question of how and where they shall receive faithful theological training after apprenticeships in order to equip them for a lifetime of gospel ministry. At present in Ireland there is a huge gap in this regard, many are heading abroad to receive this training and a large number of them end up not returning to Ireland. Therefore, we need to think about how we can be preparing the ground for, and taking the first steps towards providing more and more good quality theological training for the workers of the future.

4) Supporting Gospel Workers
The work of the gospel is not something that we can do, or should attempt to do, alone. We need the support and accountability of others. It has been said that ‘lone-rangers are dead-rangers’. The more and more we isolate ourselves the more danger we put ourselves in of making a shipwreck of our ministries, causing great damage to those we serve and bringing the gospel into disrepute. Therefore, it is essential that we are thinking carefully through how, not only can we raise up gospel workers, but also how we can give ongoing support and accountability to one another for the whole of the ministries that God has given us.
There are many ways that such support can happen. Here I want to mention just a few.

First, on a small scale, an accountability group or prayer triplet (or quadruplet etc) can be a great way of doing this. This would be a small group of gospel workers who meet together regularly to open the Bible together, pray for one another and ask each other the hard questions. It will mean being committed to each other in the group and committing to wrestling in prayer for them and their ministries, marriages and family life.

Secondly, on a slightly larger scale, in order to keep us fresh in our preaching and teaching, a local preacher’s workshop would be of great value. This would be where pastors in a local area come together on a regular basis to sharpen one another up by listening to and giving feedback on one another’s sermons. This could also include keeping one another fresh in our thinking by reading good meaty books and discussing them together.

Thirdly, on an even larger scale, another idea would be conferences of various kinds which would serve to continue to encourage and equip gospel workers in their ministries. This could be something like a large annual conference, but also having smaller, more generalised conferences throughout the year. There are many benefits that such conferences bring: they bring many gospel workers together so that they can encourage one another, they provide quality teaching to build up gospel workers and they help to promote a healthy mindset of being lifelong learners, always sitting under the Word, rather than thinking that once we’ve left theological college we’ve arrived and are the finished article.

Fourthly, printed resources can be a great support to gospel workers. There are many great magazines and periodicals available which are aimed at keeping gospel workers fresh. However, what about such a magazine written from and for an Irish context, aiming to keep us going and thinking through how we do gospel ministry in an Irish context?



Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Partnership Founded on the Gospel
• Partnership For the Sake of the Gospel (1)

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 3a: Partnership For The Sake of The Gospel (1)

In the previous post we saw that gospel partnership is a partnership founded on the gospel. A second implication of calling partnership 'gospel partnership' is that it is a partnership for the sake of the gospel. Over the next few posts I want to explore what it means to partner together for the sake of the gospel.

If we simply stayed at defining the boundaries, which is crucial, we would not have gospel partnership. Rather, we would have a gospel agreement, a group of people who agree on the gospel. This is different to gospel partnership. Gospel partnership has a purpose; it is a partnership for the sake of the gospel. That is, it is working together to see the gospel proclaimed and lived out.

But what will this working together for the sake of the gospel look like? There are a number of key areas involved in this, with much overlap between them. We shall look at the first two of these areas in this post, and shall examine the rest in the next couple of posts.

1) Defending the Gospel

Scripture is clear that in these last days, while we wait for Christ’s coming, there shall be false teachers, those who teach a different gospel. If we have clearly defined the gospel as the foundation for gospel partnership (discussed previously), we will be in a better position to discern false teaching and to hold one another accountable so that we are not led astray by it.

Further, we will need to defend against it. It is much easier to do this in the context of a partnership of brothers and sisters who are committed to the gospel, than on our own (especially if there are many who are being blown by this wind of new doctrine). Partnering together to defend the gospel will mean continually reminding one another of the gospel and helping one another to grown into a deeper knowledge of it, as well as helping one another to grapple with the issues that are thrown up by new winds of doctrine and articulating a clear biblical response to it. Not only that, but also helping the churches we serve to stand firm in the gospel and not to be swept away by any new teaching, whether it be through helping each other address it in our preaching and teaching or by producing resources for the average Christian in the churches we are serving.

This means that as we think together through gospel partnership we need to be asking how, practically, we are going to do this. What structures do we need to put in place? What can we be doing to help us continually to be clearly articulating the gospel and growing in our understanding of it? What can we be doing to guard the church in oue country against being swept away by new winds of teaching? What resources would help in doing this?

The best way to defend the gospel is to proclaim it. This moves us on to a second key area: Proclaiming the gospel.

2) Proclaiming the Gospel
Under this heading come a number of things. This is a broad category which encompasses proclaiming the gospel locally, nationally and globally. The faithful, clear and prayerful proclamation of the biblical gospel is the heart of gospel partnership. It is what will shape the rest of gospel partnership.

Partnering together for the sake of the gospel will mean being committed to the prayerful proclamation of the gospel. This takes place on many levels:

i) Locally it will mean that we are committed to the faithful persevering work of prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4), continually teaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) as revealed in the Bible both publicly and from house to house (Acts 20:20) in unceasing commitment (Acts 20:31). This is not something that can be sustained in isolation. Therefore we need to be partnering together to support and encourage this, and to hold one another accountable in this.

Further, on a local level it will mean a commitment to reaching our local area with the gospel. Gospel partnership sees that this is not just the concern of one congregation but of us all. We ought to be helping one another to reach our local areas. This can take many forms (e.g. sending a team to help the church in another local area during a mission week). The mindset behind this is not ‘I’ll mind my own business and let you get on with your work in your corner while I busy myself in mine’. Rather, it is taking an active concern, interest in, and commitment to one another’s ministries and seeing ourselves as partners together in one overall ministry. Therefore, doing all we can to see the work of the gospel continue in someone else’s sphere of ministry through actively supporting and encouraging them in their ministry.

ii) Nationally it will mean thinking, working and praying together about how we see the whole of our country (across any borders or boundaries there might be) brought under the sound of the gospel. This will mean that we are doing the above in supporting one another in different local areas across the country. It will involve working together to send out mission teams to different areas of the country. It will involve working together to see churches planted in areas where there are none presently. It will mean going or people to go to these unreached areas.

This will not be easy. It will be costly. It will involve being sacrificial, not holding the best resources or people for ourselves but actively sending them out to proclaim Christ where He has not yet been named (Romans 15:20), as we see Paul doing throughout the New Testament. Further, because in our country it may be a day of small things, and we are few, it will also mean the difficult task of working together across denominational and cultural boundaries. This is why it is so essential that we see ourselves as primarily identified by the gospel. We need to think hard and work hard together about how we do this.

iii) Globally. We do not want to restrict our working together in the proclamation to be restricted to our own land. It would be unhealthy if we are focussed solely on our own country and holding all of our resources and people to ourselves, instead of lifting our eyes to the vast harvest fields of the world in need of workers. An Irish gospel partnership must not have its aim as seeing Ireland reached with the gospel, we want to see this happen globally (This article has been written with an Irish context in mind). It might be helpful to describe our focus as seeking to see the gospel proclaimed throughout Ireland so that it might be proclaimed throughout the world. Or, to use Jesus’ terms, to make disciples of Ireland so that we can make disciples of all nations.

But what will this look like on the ground? For a start it will mean partnering with gospel workers and churches in different parts of the world in the ways that we have already outlined (obviously being adjusted to make allowances for the geographic limitations).

Further, it will mean that as partners together in the work of the gospel in our own country, we are working together to send missionaries out to all peoples. As well as raising up workers to send to various parts of our land, we are committed to raising them up to go even further afield and providing the resources to do so (training and resources will be discussed in a later post). This will involve working with existing missionary organisations, and thinking through how we ought to relate to them. But it does not mean assuming that this is the job of the missionary organisations, and that our churches need not play too much a part. The church is the primary means for the sending out of missionaries, and we must not abdicate our role. We need to be active in preparing and sending workers into the harvest field.

With the busy slog of regular pastoral ministry it will be hard to keep global missions on the agenda in our churches, there will be plenty of other things to distract us. Therefore we need one another, not only in sending, but also to keep one another accountable, and to lift one another’s eyes to the harvest fields again and again.

Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Partnership Founded on The Gospel

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 2: Partnership Founded on the Gospel

In the last post in this series we saw that there are three major implications to speaking about partnership as 'gospel partnership'. First, it means that it is a partnership that is founded on the gospel. Secondly, it is a partnership that is for the sake of the gospel. Thirdly, the way in which we conduct this partnership must be shaped by the gospel. In this post we are going to examine the first of these implications: Partnership founded on the gospel.

In thinking through partnering together in the work of the gospel, two of the crucial questions we need to ask are ‘who can we work with?’ and ‘who has the authority to decide this?’

We do not have the authority to decide who we are partners with in the gospel. Only God has that authority. If it was up to us to decide, we would gradually whittle it down until we get to the stage where ‘it’s just me and you, and I’m not too sure about you.’ We do not decide who is part of the church and who isn’t, Jesus does.

Now this does not mean that we simply  throw our lot in with anyone who calls themselves by the name of Christian, not all genuinely are. That is why we need to ask ‘who can we work with?’ Neither does it mean that we can partner to the same extent with all who are genuinely believers. There is a place for wisdom and discernment in answering this question. There will be those who are genuinely converted, yet who may hold to unhelpful teaching or practice that would hinder the work of the gospel. Whilst not wanting to say they are not believers, we would want to exercise caution in the way we deal with them, which may mean that we cannot partner with them to the same extent as we could with others.

Because God decides who we can and cannot partner with this means we must look to what He has revealed to define the boundaries in which gospel partnership can take place. This means that we must let the gospel, as revealed in Scripture, define these boundaries. It is not denominations (as important as some of their distinctives may be), nor pragmatics, nor cultural identity that marks out who we can work with, but the gospel. One of the implications of this is that we must see our identity primarily as found in the gospel, rather than as being bound up with denominations, cultural background or anything else which shapes who we are.

This will mean that we need to think and work hard about articulating the biblical gospel and what are the things (both doctrinally and in practice) that have direct implications on the gospel. We need to work together on defining these gospel boundaries and articulating what we must not compromise on at any costs, and what areas we are free to be flexible in. This is the basis for partnership.

We are not the first to have to face up to this issue, the historic creeds and confessions of the church down the ages have been formulated partly to serve this purpose, and the statements of faith of more recent times have been doing the same.


Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 1: Introduction

What is ‘gospel partnership’? It is a phrase that many of us will be very familiar with. We hear it used in sermons, at conferences, in books, articles and other Christian literature. No doubt we will have used it ourselves many times in different contexts. But what is ‘gospel partnership’ and what does it involve? This is what I want to tease out in a series of posts. It is worth doing this because ‘gospel partnership’ may be in danger of becoming simply a trendy ‘buzz-word’ or ‘Christian jargon’ that we use, but have not thought through what it means.

Let us begin by thinking about partnership. The word partnership in the Bible can also be translated as ‘fellowship’(See Philippians 1:5). Fellowship does not mean merely a nice chat over a cup of tea (with some “wee buns”!) after a Christian meeting as it has often come to mean. It’s a lot stronger than that. It is a sharing together in something, and indicates a very close relationship. In Philippians it is closely tied with the sacrificial, costly, energetic, wholehearted, persevering striving together for the sake of a common goal of project (Philippians 1:27-30). It is something that happens together with others. It is something that we have a share in, sharing joys and sorrows in. In Paul’s language it is having “one spirit” and “with one mind striving side by side” (Philippians 1:27). Partnership is not easy, it is hard, costly, demanding work; but it is worthwhile.

When we speak about partnership as ‘gospel partnership’, this has three major implications. First, it means that it is a partnership that is founded on the gospel. Secondly, it is a partnership that is for the sake of the gospel. Thirdly, the way in which we conduct this partnership must be shaped by the gospel. All of these areas are vital for us to be getting to grips with as we think about gospel partnership and the shape it ought to take.

In this series of posts I intend to outline each of these three areas in turn. First up, in our next post we shall look at what it means for our partnesrship to be founded on the gospel.

"It was all the Gift of God": St. Patrick in His Own Words

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Patrick was one of the greatest missionaries that ever lived. He sacrificed his life to bring the gospel to Ireland. To celebrate Paddy's day here are some words from the man himself.

In a letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus he said these words about his mission to the Irish people:

I have traded in my homeland, my family, and my very life for them - even if it means my death. If I am worthy, I will devote the rest of my days to teaching the Irish - even if some of you beyond this island despise me.

At the end of his Confession, which recounts his conversion, life and ministry, he says these words about all that he had accomplished:

My final prayer is that all of you who believe in God and respect him - whoever you may be who read this letter that Patrick the unlearned sinner wrote from Ireland - that none of you will ever say that I in my ignorance did anything for God. You must understand - because it is the truth - that it was all the gift of God.

Yes, Patrick! May God be gracious to us and raise up more men and women like this, those who do not care about their own comfort, reputation and even lives, but who are willing to throw them away in the costly service of the gospel. May he give us more sacrificial gospel workers who are willing to die to bring life to Ireland. May He grant us those who at the end of it all say, "I did nothing for God, it was all of His grace."

If you want to read more on Patrick check out Mark Driscoll's article over at the Resurgence and Eddie Coulter's article over at the Irish Church Missions website.

"Do your utmost for the preaching of the Gospel in Ireland"

The English Puritan John Owen had a great concern that the gospel be spread and be adorned with holiness. This was a concern he held, not just for his own nation of England, but for the work of the gospel abroad also. In 1650 he returned from a trip to Ireland, where he had seen Cromwell's forces decimate the Irish. Upon his return he preached to the English parliament and pleaded with them for a different sort of warfare. This is what he said:

How is it that Jesus Christ is in Ireland only as a lion staining all his garments with the blood of his enemies; and none to hold him out as a Lamb sprinkled with his own blood to his friends? ... Is this to deal fairly with the Lord Jesus?—call him out to do battle and then keep away his crown? God hath been faithful in doing great things for you; be faithful in this one—do your utmost for the preaching of the Gospel in Ireland.

"The World's Forgotten Mission Field"

Do you read church history? Perhaps the very thought of spending your time in books, reading about things that happened long ago, is enough to make the eyelids droop. However, that shouldn't be the case. After all, if we are Christians, then church history is our history. It is important that we grasp our spiritual family history, because it is only as we look back that we understand more clearly who we are. Also, reading of Christian brothers and sisters of the past can be both a great encouragement and challenge to us in the present. There are innumerable lessons to be learnt from the history books.

A good church history book is one that calls us to action in the present. In this regard Crawford Gribben's book, The Irish Puritans, is an excellent little volume. Gribben gives an great introduction to the history of Christ's church in Ireland, as he turns his attention to perhaps the most turbulent period of Irish church history, James Ussher's fight for a reformation in Ireland. However, he doesn't leave us in the seventeenth century, he closes the book with an urgent challenge to us today. The troubled history of the Irish church has valuable lessons that we need to listen to today. His challenge well worth heeding, not only for Irish christians, but for many others also. Listen to what he says:

In the view of the European Missionary Fellowship, there are more people in Europe who have never heard the gospel than there are in Africa. Europe is the world's forgotten mission-field. But of all Europe, surely nowhere has been neglected to the same extent as Ireland...Today, as never before Ireland needs the gospel. It needs Christians who will stand, only as Christians, for the gospel, and only the gospel. It needs Christians who will come to bring the gospel, and only the gospel, who will be prepared to abandon the importation of their home cultures if they find that those cultures present any kind of barrier at all to the spread of the Word. It needs Christians who will be prepared to die on a daily basis in order to bring life to Ireland.

John G. Paton and the Gospel in Ireland

Sometime between 1884 and 1885 John G. Paton, Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), visited Northern Ireland as part of an eighteen month visit to the UK and Ireland to raise support for the pioneering missionary work in the New Hebrides. In his autobiography he reflects on his short stay in Ireland. What he has to say is a great insight to the situation in Ireland at the time, but also has much to say to those of us involved in, or preparing for, the work of the gospel in Ireland today. Here is the last paragraph of his reflections on his time in Ireland:

No man, however dissevered from the party politics of the day, can see and live amongst the Irish of the North, without having forced on his soul the conviction that the Protestant faith and life, with its grit and backbone and self-dependance, has made them what they are. Romanism, on the other hand, with its blind faith and its peculiar type of life, has been at least one, if not the main, degrading influence amongst the Irish of the South and West, who are naturally a warm-hearted and generous and gifted people. And let Christian Churches, and our Statesmen who love Christ, remember - that no mere outward changes of Government or Order, however good and defensible in themselves, can ever heal the miseries of the people, without a change of Religion. Ireland needs the pure and true Gospel, proclaimed, taught, and recieved, in the South as it now is in the North; and no other gift, that Britain ever can bestow, will make up for the lack of Christ's Evangel. Jesus holds the key to all problems, in this as in every land.

This extract is taken from Paton's autobiorgaphy: 'John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu)', which is published by Banner of Truth.

The Shape of Gospel Partnership

What is gospel partnership? Gospel partnership is...

1. Partnership Founded on the Gospel


2. Partnership for the Sake of the Gospel


3. Partnership Shaped by the Gospel

John G. Paton and the Gospel in Ireland

Sometime between 1884 and 1885 John G. Paton, Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), visited Northern Ireland as part of an eighteen month visit to the UK and Ireland to raise support for the pioneering missionary work in the New Hebrides. In his autobiography he reflects on his short stay in Ireland. What he has to say is a great insight to the situation in Ireland at the time, but also has much to say to those of us involved in, or preparing for, the work of the gospel in Ireland today. Here is the last paragraph of his reflections on his time in Ireland:

No man, however dissevered from the party politics of the day, can see and live amongst the Irish of the North, without having forced on his soul the conviction that the Protestant faith and life, with its grit and backbone and self-dependance, has made them what they are. Romanism, on the other hand, with its blind faith and its peculiar type of life, has been at least one, if not the main, degrading influence amongst the Irish of the South and West, who are naturally a warm-hearted and generous and gifted people. And let Christian Churches, and our Statesmen who love Christ, remember - that no mere outward changes of Government or Order, however good and defensible in themselves, can ever heal the miseries of the people, without a change of Religion. Ireland needs the pure and true Gospel, proclaimed, taught, and recieved, in the South as it now is in the North; and no other gift, that Britain ever can bestow, will make up for the lack of Christ's Evangel. Jesus holds the key to all problems, in this as in every land.

This extract is taken from Paton's autobiorgaphy: 'John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu)', which is published by Banner of Truth.