A pair of Brits have a provocative book appearing in the States this month. Tim Chester and Steve Timmis published Total Church in the UK last year, and enough readers here have found it helpful to prompt Crossway Books and Mark Driscoll’s Resurgence ministry to pick up the title in the Re:Lit series. You can watch Tim Chester introduce the book at Crossway's blog.

Chester’s and Timmis’s refrain for what they are advocating in the book is “ordinary life with gospel intentionality.” They make a case for the church’s need to exercise “dual fidelity” to the content of the spoken gospel and the context of a relational community.

Tim Chester kindly agreed to answer a few questions below…

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Recently I wrote that we seldom know the micro reasons for our sufferings, but the Bible does give us faith-sustaining macro reasons. It is good to have a way to remember some of these so that when we are suddenly afflicted, or have a chance to help others in their affliction, we can recall some of the truths God has given us to help us not lose hope.

Here is one way to remember.  Five R’s (or if it helps, just pick three and try to remember them). The macro purposes of God in our sufferings include:

Repentance

Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God.

Luke 13:4-5 - Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell …

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Happy fifth anniversary Molly and Abraham!

You have brought great joy in to our lives. We pray that the next five years will be full of faith and fruitful fellowship with Jesus, and each other.

Count on our support.

We love you,

Daddy and Mom

I pray for the economy at all times, not just times of crisis, because as Christians we are to wish for and seek the welfare of others. There are few things that have more impact on the welfare of large groups of people, in the physical sense, than the state of the economy. Therefore, I believe that the command to “love your neighbor” implies that we desire, seek, and pray for the welfare of the economy.

A healthy economy serves people in multiple ways. Here are two.

First, it is better for people to be able to work for their living than to have to depend upon others to provide for their needs. For example, Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to work with their hands so that they “will …

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Several of us from DG were in one of the first cars to cross the new 35W bridge this morning. And all it took was getting up at 4 AM and then waiting for a little while.

At first when I told Mike Tong, our Customer Service Manager, that I wanted to be there for the opening, he thought I was crazy. But he came around pretty quick. David Mathis, my dad's assistant, was eager to join us. Then, at the last minute, Peter Melling, our IT guy, and his wife Jessica showed up.

So we all packed into Mike's Camry at half past 4 and drove off to be a part of history.

Now, we wouldn't ordinarily put this kind of effort into trying out a new road. But obviously this was different. It was def…

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The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience—except God.

By personal calling and Scripture, I am bound to the word of God and to the preaching of what the Bible says. There are few things that burden me more or refresh me more than saying what I see in the Bible. I love to see what God says in the Bible. I love to savor it. And I love to say it.

I believe with all my heart that this is the way God has appointed for me not to waste my life. His word is true. The Bible is the only completely true book in the world. It is inspired by God. Rightly understood and followed, it will lead u…

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In reading through the Book of Revelation recently, by the time I got to the end of chapter 19, the wars, rebellion, suffering, death and judgments were almost overwhelming. Oh how I wanted Jesus to wrap everything up and fully bring his kingdom of righteousness and justice and peace.

Finally, in the first three verses of chapter 20, Satan is bound with a chain and tossed into the pit so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.

I wanted to jump out of my seat and cheer with the saints!

And then I read the end of verse three:

After [the thousand years] he must be released for a little while.

Oh no. The worst murderer, liar, and ravager to ever ex…

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Today, 45 years ago, four little black girls were killed in the Birmingham church bombing.

Those were the days when black people could buy things at the stores, but they couldn’t use the restrooms, or sit at the lunch counters, or get a job at the cash register behind the counter, or drink from the push button drinking fountain. The ubiquitous signs said, “Whites Only.”

This was the South I grew up in. So I pause to think about it again. And pray and thank God for mercy.

In March, 1963, Bob Dylan’s song, "Blowin’ in the Wind," sung by Peter, Paul and Mary, bumped “Puppy Love” from the top of the charts.

How many years must a people exist,
before they’re allow…

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Taken from the August/September Ministry Opportunities booklet from Bethlehem Baptist Church, here is a taste of what globalization means for us:

In 2002, the Brookings Institute named the Twin Cities one of the top 10 “Gateway Cities” for new immigrants and refugees; in 2004, Minnesota was the #3 state for the same (and #1 per capita).

According to Dr. John Mayer, director of CityVision, Minneapolis/St. Paul is now home to the largest Somali and Hmong populations in the U.S., as well as the largest Chinese student population (University of Minnesota). The Phillips neighborhood, home to Bethlehem’s Downtown Campus, is the most diverse neighborhood in the country, …

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