GREAT RESOURCES FOR TODAY’S CHALLENGES Pastor Tom

​ Being a Christian in contemporary society can be hard. The Christian Faith is routinely derided, the credibility of the Bible is undermined, and the dangers presented by technology derail believers and make believing parents wonder how they can ever raise their children to be followers of Christ. That is why I was so encouraged by a seminar Pastor Cris and I attended virtually last week. It offered great resources to respond to the challenges we are facing today.

The seminar was the “Q Ideas Annual Summit”. It was both fearless, and faithful. Featuring mostly younger Christian leaders, the summit boldly addressed relevant topics like sexuality, abuse in the church, Progressive Christianity, racial tensions, and technology. It did so from the solidly Biblical perspective.

Here are some of the resources, we learned about at the summit that may be of help to you:

• First of all “Q Ideas” itself is a great resource. Their aim is to make Christianity credible in every sector of society by intellectually engaging modern ideas from a Christian perspective. If you are in your 20’s or 30’s, or you just want to understand the challenges the younger generation is facing, check out “Q Ideas”.
  
• We were introduced to many younger communicators who are relevantly bringing the Gospel to our postmodern culture. These include John Mark Comer of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, Mark Sayers of Red Church in Melbourne, Australia and Jon of Trinity Grace Church in New York City. You may want to check out their books and podcasts. (Carl Truman, while not a younger person, has a great book explaining how our society has come to believe ideas that were unthinkable only a generation ago. He also has other books dealing with the challenges Christians face in today’s world.)
  
• The ministry START (https://www.westartnow.org/) is helping parents to cultivate a healthy screen / life balance in their children. It was highly recommended by Rachael Denhollander (a Christian, a lawyer, and the woman who came out publicly to expose Olympic gymnastics coach Larry Nassar as a sexual predator). If you are trying to navigate the opportunities and dangers of technology with your children, START may help.

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