Don't stop!

It was lunchtime. I had just finished teaching for a morning in central Asia. (My sincere apologies to the church for not formally telling you face to face about the trip in advance. Somehow in the busyness of Easter it crept up on me. I will tell you a few more details on Sunday, but for security reasons I will not put them in this communication.) I was in central Asia to help pastors, and other bible teachers to teach the bible more effectively. We had spent the morning wrestling with how to teach in such a way that people did not so much hear a message which was focused on the preacher, as a message which let the bible speak. When the bible is read, and understood and proclaimed, then God's voice is heard.

As lunchtime approached, I was summing up. We had been looking at the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4) and were struck by the penetrating analysis of the corrupting influence of envy (Genesis 4:4-5) which leads to anger and misery. We had been delighted by God's gracious intervention with Cain (Genesis 4:6-7) both reassuring him that he is not capricious, but also warning him of the pervasive, and enslaving power of sin. And we had been sobered by the way in which that warning was ignored, and so Cain's anger careered on like an out of control train until Abel lay dead (Genesis 4:8).

We had also been rejoicing in Isaiah's vision of God, seated on a throne and infinitely holy (Isaiah 6:1-8). We saw how that vision led in turn to deep conviction of sin (Isaiah 6:5), to reassurance of God's costly sacrificial forgiveness (Isaiah 6:6-7) and then amazingly not so much to a commission, but an open invitation "Whom shall I send?" (Isaiah 6:8) A person who truly knows God and the incredible eternity-changing message of Easter cannot help but say "Here am I! Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

"Now it is lunchtime" I said, but a pastor in the classroom shouted "Don't stop!"

Central Asia, at least the small corner of that great region that I saw, is a wonderful place. The spring sunshine had brought out the flowers, high snow capped mountains peeped out of the clouds. At this time of year the fruit trees are laden with so much promise that the locals cannot resist eating sour green apricots. But soon they will sweet.

And the people! They are a rich mixture of east and west, of Mongol and Caucasian. It is a land of ancient horseriding tribes - the Scythians who terrified Assyria, Babylon, Egypt and even mighty Rome (Colossians 3:11) were here. It is also the region of the ancient Silk Route along which Christians travelled and brought Christianity as far as China, probably before 100 AD. Today it is a land of gentle pastoralists and young cities barely 150 years old, built by Russia with grand soviet buildings, and decaying factories.

Most churches are less than 20 years old. There was an explosion of spiritual interest in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, but today that has declined. The churches are now settling down for the long hard task of reaching out with the gospel to all who will hear, and of making strong, godly, bible-saturated disciples of Christ who will endure in good times and bad, and provide a foundation for the long term. There is a growing hunger to learn to teach the bible well, so that Christians receive solid food, and churches are built up.

So a small team of three of us spent the week helping about 40 Christian leaders to teach the bible better. It was a deep privilege. One delegate testified "something came alive in me this week". Another spoke of coming to the end of a period of longing to return to his former life, but now he was determined that the rest of his life must be spent teaching the bible. We were only the tiniest part of the great picture of what God is doing in that region, but there was a sense that it was a vital part.

And I return with a new determination to teach the bible well in Magdalen Road Church and a renewed confidence in the resurrection power of God, who brings life (Ephesians 2:4-5), by the power of the Spirit through hearing his word (Ephesians 1:13-14). I want to thank the elders and the church for your generosity in letting me slip away occasionally to teach in other parts of the world, but I want you to know that you are at the centre of my heart, and the focus of my labours.

A voice cried out "don't stop" but we did. We stopped for lunch, and I packed my bags at the end of the week and joyfully returned home. But they will not stop, and I am seeking God for the strength to respond to that cry for the rest of my life. To keep learning from and teaching the bible so that the living and active word of God (Hebrews 4:12) can do it's extraordinary world-changing, life-changing work among us (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

Peter Comont, 02/05/2011