Compassionate Witness: Being Hope-filled Pointers to Christ (Julius Kim, TGCA Victoria)
From ‘Reviving Gospel Confidence in a Secular Age’ a TGCA Victoria event in July 2025.
From ‘Reviving Gospel Confidence in a Secular Age’ a TGCA Victoria event in July 2025.
It’s striking to me how prolific Christians of previous ages have been, even in times of turmoil or cultural collapse. We write and talk and sing and think our way through challenging times.
Contextualisation needs to consider not merely questions of faithfulness to gospel truth and persuasiveness. We also need to assess which patterns of life, modes of communication and styles of rhetoric are fitting for the gospel of the crucified Christ.
From my limited vantage point there seems to be growing consensus around the proper evangelical response to our current cultural context, and a shift in some major points of discussion.
Another Australian cricket captain has been sent to the pavilion. Sandgate has given way to a sexting scandal. News reported this week that in 2017, Tim Paine sent lewd text messages to a female colleague. The following year Tim Paine took over Australia’s second most important job, following Steve Smith’s disgrace. The various criticisms of Paine and even the decision to stand down tell us something about sex and our culture: we no longer know what to think about sex. The reactions have been revealing. Almost everyone agrees that Tim Paine’s messages were wrong (in some sense), and certainly foolish. ...