'See in it a chance to die'

Lord Crucified, O mark Thy holy cross
On motive, preference, all fond desires;
On that which self in any form inspires
Set Thou that sign of loss.

And when the touch of death is here and there
Laid on a thing most precious in our eyes
Let us not wonder, let us recognise
The answer to this prayer.

Amy Carmichael, of Northern Ireland / India

Or as Ajith Fernando of Sri Lanka wrote, in Embracing suffering in service:

The biblical model of community life is Jesus’ command to love one another as he loved us — that is, for members to die for other members (John 15:12-13). The model of Christian leadership is that of the Good Shepherd dying for the sheep (John 10:11-15). We don’t discard people when they have problems and cannot do their job properly. 

As the cross is a basic aspect of discipleship, the Church must train Christian leaders to expect pain and hardship. When this perspective enters our minds, then pain will not touch our joy and contentment in Christ.  

In a world whose idols are physical health, appearance and convenience, God may be calling Christians to demonstrate the glory of the gospel by being joyfully contented while enduring pain and hardship. People pursuing unsatisfying things may be astonished when they see Christians who are joyful and content after depriving themselves of these, for the sake of the gospel.

[See also, An Authentic Servant: The Marks of a Spiritual Leader (Didasko Files).]

Patrick Fung, Singapore, director of OMF, in partnership - equilibrium vs diversity:

The cross is at the centre of reconciliation. The cross symbolises death in obedience to God. And therefore true biblical partnership requires of each of us something of a death to self. It may be death to our own ambition in order to see others succeed. It may be death to our own desire to be in key positions of influence or controlling power so that others can be in positions of leadership. It could be death to our own opinions or insisting on how ministries should be run, but trusting others to be used by God, for greater work. 

Having criticised the word equilibrium, I believe that we could have a new equilibrium, that is, a kingdom equilibrium which comes from the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. When members of God’s community contribute sacrificially for the sake of the Kingdom. Equilibrium is possible, when there is submission to Jesus Christ, when there is submission to one another, and there is death to self.

Quote of the day: passionate voices

This little man in dirty clothes, surrounded by fishermen and whores – if he is the Son of David who has come to deliver God’s people, then God help us all: he could not raise an army if he tried. God bless this man indeed, he is destined for the cross: listen to me – the words of this song will be the pathway to his grave and the crowd that loves him now will run from him as soon as they see he offers them nothing that they want. 

[Read more, by Andy Shudall]

The danger of Christian faith

"When I'm leading the campaign against Sharia law, for the abolition of the blasphemy law, speaking for the oppressed and marginalised, persecuted Christian and other minorities, these Taliban threaten me.

"But I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of the cross, and I'm following the cross. I'm ready to die for a cause, I'm living for minority community and suffering people, and I will die to defend their rights. So these threats and these warnings cannot change my opinions and principles. I prefer to die for my principles and for the justice of my community rather than to compromise on these threats."

Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistani Minorities Minister, shot dead today, speaking in January. Video interview.

 Some would say that religious belief is dangerous. It makes people fanatical. Ready to kill others for a cause. But anyone who has truly put their trust in the cross - the death - of Jesus Christ, becomes fanatical and dangerous in another way. He is ready to live for suffering people, and to die to defend them. This is a Christian, a 'little Christ'. A servant is not greater than his Master. 

Beneath the cross? No fear!

I love radio, and particularly at the moment BBC Radio 3, 4 and 2, depending on the mood and in that order. Earlier today BBC Radio 3 was playing various lamentations, judged appropriate for the Saturday of Easter. I switched over. I just can't keep myself mournful on the Saturday of Easter. I do find some aspects of the church calendar tradition very helpful to our corporate memory. And it is not that I don't consider it right to grieve over the ongoing presence, corruption and effect of sin and the curse: but death, hell and sin are now subdued - all grace is now to Jesus given; and so I plead the atoning blood, and by his grace receive his heaven! How can I be gloomy when that is the reality of the universe, and applied to me by the Spirit of God?

Of course, you may say that Christ's death was indeed a sorry affair, at that we await Easter Sunday. But we don't! We cannot view Christ's death without the resurrection - the cross is empty; it is finished! It is no longer gloomy, beneath the cross.

Rather this, which I discovered and sang on Friday, by Keith & Kristyn Getty (2005):

Beneath the cross of Jesus I find a place to stand,
And wonder at such mercy that calls me as I am,
For hands that should discard me hold wounds which tell me come.
Beneath the cross of Jesus my unworthy soul is won.

Beneath the cross of Jesus, His family is my own.
Once strangers chasing selfish dreams; Now, one through grace alone.
How could I now dishonour the ones that You have loved?
Beneath the cross of Jesus, see the children called by God.

Beneath the cross of Jesus, the path before the crown,
We follow in His footsteps where promised hope is found.
How great the joy before us to be His perfect bride.
Beneath the cross of Jesus, we will gladly live our lives.

[Music here - clip of mp3 streamed or sample the whole score with Sibelius Scorch (free) here.]

Awe-inspiring irony

Tonight I had the privilege of hearing the CBSO, CBSO Chorus and soloists, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, perform Bach's St Matthew Passion. I'd been reading Carson's Scandalous on the way - here follow a few selections from the libretto, and then some verse by Carson.

The Saviour falls prostrate before his Father,
And so he raises me and all men from our fall
Up again to God's grace
He is ready
To drink the cup of bitter death
In which the sins of the world were infused, stinking;
Because it pleased God.

How awe-inspiring is this sentence:
The good shepherd suffers for the sheep.
The debt he pays: the Master;
he the righteous, for his servants.

Why, what evil has this man done?

He has so richly blessed us all:
To the blind he has given sight,
The lame he made to walk,
He told us his Father's word,
He drives the devil forth,
The humble he has lifted up,
He took the sinners to himself.
Else, my Jesus has done nothing.

Out of love,
For love now will my Saviour die:
He does not know a single sin.
That eternal condemnation
And the sentence of the court
Will not fall upon my soul.

Ah Golgotha, unhappy Golgotha!
The Lord of majesty must perish here, scorned,
The saving blessing of the world
Is placed as a curse upon the cross.
Creator of both earth and heaven
From earth and air must now be taken.
The guiltless must die guilty here.

See - Jesus has outstretched his hand
To capture us
Come! Where to? To Jesus' arms.
Seek redemption: take his mercy.
Where? In Jesus' arms.
Living, dying: rest here,
You forsaken little chicks:
Stay. Where? In Jesus' arms.

And, behold: the curtain of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. And the earth was filled with quaking, and the cliffs split asunder, and the graves themselves opened up, and there rose up the bodies of many saints who were sleeping, and they came out of the graves after his resurrection and came into the holy city and appeared to many. But the centurion and those who were with him and were watching over Jesus, when they witnessed the earthquake and all that there occurred, were terrified and said: Truly, this was the Son of God.

And Carson's verse, from Scandalous

On that wretched day the soldiers mocked him,
Raucous laughter in a barracks room,
'Hail the king!' they sneered, while spitting on him,
Brutal beatings on this day of gloom.
Though his crown was thorn, he was born a king -
Holy brilliance bathed in bleeding loss -
All the soldeiers blind to this stunning theme:
Jesus reigning from a cursed cross.

Awful weakness mars the battered God-man,
Far too broken now to hoist the beam.
Soldiers strip him bare and pound the nails in,
Watch him hanging on the cruel tree.
God's own temple's down! He has been destroyed!
Death's remains are laid in rock and sod.
But the temple rises in God's wise ploy:
Our great temple is the Son of God.

'Here's the One who says he cares for others.
One who says he came to save the lost.
How can we believe that he saves others
When he can't get off that bloody cross?
Let him save himself! Let him come down now!' -
Savage jeering at the King's disgrace.
But by hanging there is precisely how
Christ saves others as the King of grace.

Draped in darkness, utterly rejected,
Crying, 'Why have you forsake me?'
Jesus bears God's wrath alone, dejected -
Weeps the bitt'rest tears instead of me.
All the mockers cry, 'He has lost his trust!
Here's defeated by hypocrisy!'
But with faith's resolve, Jesus knows he must
Do God's will and swallow death for me.

The Cross and Christian ministry

This book is marvellous. Not that Carson has an inovative powerful thesis of his own; he merely preaches 1 Corinthians, on the cross and Christian ministry. But God's word is powerful. Nor is that merely for the professional Christian minister: this is a message for all Christians who would in any way minister to others. And I know of no Christ-ian who would not serve others, given that our Master came among us as one who serves. So then, get it and read it. Ask for it for Christmas. It may have a bad cover, but it's worth every penny, and it's short & easy to read, too - incredibly, for the riches of it. I've been fitting it in in lunchbreaks at work.

Quote of the day: God wants his picture back!

The sacrificial system addressed the negative aspect of the problem, the penalty of sin; the prophetic system speaks of the positive, atoning element. Let us look at how these two work together. Suppose a painting is stolen from a private collection. The police track down the thief who is sent for trial, found guilty, and put in prison. The penalty is exacted for his crime. But this does not put matters right. The art collector says, ‘I want my picture back’. And only when it is returned can the matter rest. For full atonement two things are involved: the punishment of the crime and the repair of the injury.

Christ paid the penalty for our sin, but God, as it were, wants his picture back - the image of himself in human beings, before that image became marred by sin. In Christ’s life of grace and beauty, God had the picture returned. Full atonement.

- James Philip, The Glory of the Cross

Quote of the day: blasphemy & treason!

But why a trial at all? Was it only a pretext to get rid of Jesus? Why not hire a hit man, or arrange a secret poisoning? Surely this would have achieved the same result? But God decreed otherwise. As Christ stood on trial in our place, these particular charges had to be brought. In Revelation 20:11-15 we see the great white throne at the final judgment; here the books are opened. This is the trial which awaits all who have not put their trust in Jesus Christ, as their substitute and sin-bearer, all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
The two charges against Christ, blasphemy and treason, are the very charges against the whole human race. In every sense, he stood in for us, and bore what was ours, and gave us what was his.

- The Glory of the Cross, by James Philip

The News of the Cross

Christ on the cross - simply with us in our suffering, or achieving for us an eternal hope of new life? Art speaks powerfully - and in this instance, the old debate is reheated: to fix our eyes on Jesus, crucified perpetually, or the symbol of his death and resurrection? I tend to think that seeing the empty cross reminds us, as Krish says, of the reality that we worship a God who died, but who also was raised to life, reigns, gives eternal life knowing the Father, and will return to judge the living and dead.

The argument runs that it is with a crucifix that one comforts the one facing death - that they see Christ with them in their suffering, his arms outstretched in love. Now that is true. But it is not the whole truth. What point is there in a good man who suffered alongside: even a supremely loving, welcoming man who suffered alongside, if that was all he did - if he stayed there? No, he came and suffered for us and for our salvation, and to all of us facing death, he holds out life. The cross is empty - he announced his task accomplished, and gave up his spirit to the Father. His tomb is no memorial, but empty - never needed again. Our tombs, and our sufferings? Merely borrowed, merely granted for a little time. For he was delivered up for our trespasses, and raised for our justification. [Rom 4.25]

[HT: Krish, who participated in the debate]

The Gospel Music Revolution

Some have been amused by the Reformation Polka on YouTube (ok, so it is amusing). But much better, is Luther & the Reformation to the tune of Bach - a fascinating & melodious documentary in the BBC's Sacred Music series - Bach and the Lutheran Legacy. I remember when I first heard the St John's Passion live, in Warwick, back when I was a relay worker. Despite not buying a programme, with some small knowledge of German and more knowledge of John's gospel, it was a spine-tingling, heart-warming experience, lifting my eyes to Christ. And what struck me most was the brilliant protestantism of the libretto! Granted, Bach didn't write the words - but since then, it's been my personal opinion that Bach's St John's Passion is possibly the best worship music yet written. Have an listen / watch: the Reformation celebrated to the music of Bach (more Luther in the first part of the programme).

[Alto]
It is finished,
O rest for all afflicted souls!
This night of woe
makes me ponder my own my last hour.
Judah's hero triumphs now,
and ends the fight,
It is finished!

[Evangelist]
And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

[Bass]
Beloved Saviour, wilt Thou answer,
as Thou has now the cross endured,
and Thyself hast said: It is finished!
Am I from death delivered?
Can I, through Thy pain and death,
the heavenly realm inherit?
Shall all the world redemption see?
Thou canst for anguish now saw nothing,
yet Thou dost bow Thy head
and say, in silence: yes!

[Chorale]
Jesus, Thou who knowest death,
art alive for ever;
when I yield my dying breath,
I turn to no other
but to Thee, who hast redeemed me,
O Thou dearest master!
Give me what Thou hast won,
For more I cannot ask.

[Evangelist]
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

[Tenor]
My heart, behold how all the world
at Jesus' sufferings likewise suffers;
the sun his beams in sorrow shrouds,
the veil divides, rocks are rent,
the earth quakes, graves are opened,
while they behold the Creator die;
and for thy part, what wilt thou do?

...

[Chorale]
O Lord, send Thy dear angels
at mine end, to gather my soul
to Abraham's bosom,
my body in his chamber
softly laid, without pain or sorrow,
until the last day.
Then wake me from death
that mine eyes may see Thee
in fullest joy, O Son of God,
my Saviour and my Throne of Grace!
Lord Jesus Christ, hear Thou me,
I will praise Thee eternally.

(Translation of selection of the St John's Passion libretto, my emphasis.)

The Ordinary Hero

Tim Chester's latest book from IVP looks great as usual - The Ordinary Hero: Living the Cross and Resurrection

I look forward to getting it - [edit] summer '09.

[HT: Ant]

Just victory

Mike Reeves talks with Mike Ovey and Andrew Sach about the cross of Christ in the latest Theology Network tabletalk including how Christ is victor - justly.

I need an alien...

...righteousness. I've been looking with some student ladies at Mahaney's Living the Cross-centred life and today was on battling our inherent tendency to legalism. Is my faith enough? Am I disciplined enough? Is God pleased with me now? The answers are all in Christ. It's alien to me - because God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him I might become the righteousness of God. "Our righteousness consists in Christ's obedience imputed to me because I am unified with Him - I am in Him." (Piper, from Theology Network's latest tabletalk podcast.) Or Bunyan:

"One day as I was passing into the field . . . this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And methought, withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he wants [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before [in front of] him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, "The same yesterday, today and, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God."

Jesus said to His Father, of those who would believe in Him through the word of the apostles: "...you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." You've failed today? Of course. But will the Father reject the sacrifice of His Son? Will he reject the perfect righteousness of the Son of Man? Will he not delight in Him eternally? Will he not fulfil every promise in Him? Do not be so arrogant as to think that your guilt can get in the way of what Christ has done.

Quote of the day: personal relationship

R.C.Sproul, on White Horse Inn:

Atonement is a non-negotiable concept. What do you put in its place? What happens is that the gospel becomes, "I can have a personal relationship with Jesus." The devil has a personal relationship with Jesus. But what kind of personal relationship? And what is the ground of that personal relationship? Obviously, being a Christian involves having a personal relationship with Jesus, but there's content to that relationship that defines that relationship, and to just call it a "personal relationship" I don't think's very helpful.

And now for some hilarious illustration of what the good news most certainly isn't:

[Extra points for spotting full-blown Pelagianism and Holiness teaching. And it just gets creepier.] Ah, it'd even lead me to sign up to Blanchard & Lucarini, but not for their reasons...

The dogma is the drama

Sayers, again:

"[T]he history and the theology of Christ are one thing: His life is theology in action, and the drama of His life is dogma shown as dramatic action.

"For Jesus Christ is unique - unique among gods and men. There have been incarnate gods a-plenty, and slain-and-resurrected gods not a few; but He is the only God who has a date in history. And plenty of founders of religions have had dates, and some of them have been prophets or avatars of the Divine; but only this one of them was personally God. There is no more astonishing collocation of phrases than that which, in the Nicene Creed, sets these two statements flatly side by side: "Very God of very God. ... He suffered under Pontius Pilate." All over the world, thousands of times a day, Christians recite the name of a rather undistinguished Roman pro-consul - not in execration (Judas and Caiaphas, more guilty, get off with fewer reminders of their iniquities), but merely because that name fixes within a few years the date of the death of God. ...

[We are inclined to think of the history as:]

"The characters are not men and women: they are all 'sacred personages', standing about in symbolic attitudes, and self-consciously awaiting the fulfilment of prophecies. ... Sacred personages, living in a far-off land and time, using dignified rhythms of speech, making from time to time restrained gestures symbolic of brutality. They mocked and railed on Him and smote Him, they scourged and crucified Him. Well, they were people very remote from ourselves, and no doubt it was all done in the noblest and most beautiful manner. We should not like to think otherwise.

"Unhappily, if we think about it at all, we must think otherwise. God was executed by people painfully like us, in a society very similar to our own - in the over-ripeness of the most splendid and sophisticated Empire the world has ever seen. In a nation famous for its religious genius and under a goverment renowned for its efficiency, He was executed by a corrupt church, a timid politician, and a fickle proletariat led by professional agitators. His executioners made vulgar jokes about Him, called Him filthy names, taunted Him, smacked Him in the face, flogged Him with the cat, and hanged Him on the common gibbet - a bloody, dusty, sweaty, and sordid business.

"If you show people that, they are shocked. So they should be. If that does not shock them, nothing can. If the mere representation of it has an air of irreverence, what is to be said about the deed? It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation whenever a cat kills a sparrow can hear that story of the killing of God told Sunday after Sunday and not experience any shock at all."

Quote of the day: Preaching as Worship

Marcus Honeysett is blogging at Digital H2O, and has posted his talks from the Biblical Evangelism Conference 2003. I heard these given, and recommend reading them!

Preaching as Worship - Preaching (or, as he said, any Bible handling in whatever situation - think evangelistic Bible study, small group talk, CU meeting,...) is, in the words of Cotton Mather, "restoring the throne and dominion of God in the hearts of men."

Preaching that Speaks to Suffering and Evil - let "our preaching combine heart-wrenching weeping with unbreakable confidence in the sovereignty of God" (Piper)

Preaching the Cross -

"Lots of people would like you to not preach the cross. Non-Christians find it offensive. Some Christians think it is dull, or the basics that they have gone on from and grown out of. Some think that its just an old message with little contemporary excitement because they’ve heard it all before.

But I tell you that there is no glory in Christianity without the cross. There is no glorious message for us to proclaim without the cross. There is no power to save those who believe, no grace, no work of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 3 says that you grow as a Christian having the Holy Spirit and knowing him working miracles among you because you believe the message of Christ crucified. And without the message of the cross the gentiles are nor brought as a fragrant offering to God for his praise."

Quote of the day: ode to joy

A triple-bill of excellent talks by Mike Reeves on the cross, on theologynetwork.org. In the third talk, applying this, he says:

Isaiah 61.10: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;my soul shall exult in my God,for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,...

So the next time you're asked how you're doing in the Christian life, you can say, "How am I doing? I know that in me lives nothing good at all. But I was crucified with Christ. The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God." That's Paul in Galatians 2. No self-confidence at all does he have. A righteousness we will never have in our hearts covers, clothes, surrounds, envelopes us. And we simply trust Christ.

So, we do not look to our hearts, our feelings or our performance to know how we stand before the Lord. Your heart will lie to you. We don't even look to ourselves to see how much we trust in Christ! You ever done that? You say, "Oh ok, so it's all about trusting Christ - am I trusting him enough?" What's the problem with that? You've just turned faith into the one thing you've got to do! So you're asking, "Am I doing faith enough?" Totally irrelevant! Faith is not a thing you do which pleases God on the basis of which He saves you! It is God's blood, it is Jesus shed blood on the cross alone which saves you, and you simply receive that - that's faith. Accepting that free gift. Not looking to my heart to see, "Am I trusting enough?"; looking to Christ: there is all our righteousness. Now doesn't that bring a smile to your face?

What is the fastest killer of joy? It's not hard times. It's introspection. We live in the most self-obsessed, introspective age I think the world has ever seen. And I believe it's the culture of morbid introspection that is fuelling the spreading problem of depression. The cross is the Christian's ode to joy. And when the darkness comes for you, here in the cross is music so joyous it has the power to drive away every gloom. So when your heart feels cold, when your body closes you down, when your emotions imprison you, what do you do? You fight with God's word for perspective. That whatever I face, whatever I feel, this is the bigger picture. I do NOT depend on myself, I do not trust my heart. I have been taken utterly unworthy from the pit to the throne of heaven. Joy is something you cultivate. And if you can so shape your daily perspective that you know this before anything else, you will have a joy that can overcome death.

Week of thankfulness

1 - My cousin's wedding in Stirling brought my family together from Belfast, Inverness and Birmingham - first time the 5 of us were togther for several years. The joy of seeing my cousin, recently recommitted to Christ following years drifting, marrying her newly converted and lovely bloke. The beautiful highlands: lochs and mountains. Snow. I wanted to bring a little loch (just a wee one!) and mountain back to Brummieland (not even a Munro: just a little one), but my sister wouldn't let me. Sigh.

2) Listening to more of Piper on Romans on the way up on the train, and Haydn's Creation, Saint-Saëns 'organ' symphony, and the Barber and Korngold violin concertos. There's something about watching the highlands go past while listening to such a soundtrack that beats television hands down into the mud every time.

3) Interviewing final year students for the Relay programme - hearing them testify to God's work in their lives, in building character, teaching them his truth, and using them in serving his Church. Joy.

4) Meeting my current Relay worker, considering the humility part of "Humble Orthodoxy" with a talk from Nathan Smith. "Pride is seeking to ungod God." (Thomas Watson)

5) Good Friday with church, swimming in the grace of the cross. The privilege of leading cross-centred worship from the piano in the morning, and serving similarly in outreach services in residential homes in the afternoon. I love doing services in residential homes: these dear people need Christ so much, are mostly only too thrilled to come to a service and talk about the gospel, and yet so few seem to reach out to them.

6) Enjoying the cross with help from Mike Reeves, courtesy of theologynetwork.org

7) Surprising a friend in church with a 50th birthday party this evening - fun!

The reverse psychology of preaching the gospel

At least in certain ages subjects like God’s wrath, divine justice and human culpability received far more positive air time from the pulpit and elsewhere. Christians knew they were divinely, gloriously created but also profoundly and radically fallen. And God both loved and judged. And Christians then seemed to cope. I also do a great deal of listening to the voices of 2007. Many of these are Christian voices, evangelical Christian voices. And their churches are ones which rarely if ever preach on sin, hell and judgement – those topics are so antiquated and negative, after all! - and yet the people I listen to now have never felt so judged, flawed, inadequate or profoundly bad about themselves. Most are encumbered with dysfunctionalities of various forms. It is almost as if reverse psychology is at work here. It seems to me that the less we speak honestly of the human condition in all its splendour and all its squalour, the more we actually disservice those we are trying to help. The truth, the whole truth, does set us free, that is, if we have the courage to embrace it.

This from a Dr Lisa Severine Nolland offering a pastoral response to Bishop Tom Wright following his tirade against the writers of Pierced For Our Transgressions. (The writers themselves have responded here, albeit in the tiny text size of their website.)

UCCF Press Release

Response from UCCF to the SPRING HARVEST decision to end the World Alive Bible teaching week after 14 years

FOR the past 14 years, the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship and Keswick Ministries have been delighted to partner Spring Harvest in organising Word Alive, one of Europe's top Bible Study weeks with a vibrant student track aimed at young people. Widely recognised, orthodox Bible teaching has been the hallmark of the event.

In 2003, the Revd Steve Chalke, one of the Spring Harvest Event Leadership Team, and a member of their Council of Management (trustees), wrote The Lost Message of Jesus. In it, he promoted unorthodox views over the nature of the Atonement, and hit national media headlines over his controversial and graphic description of Penal Substitution.

The Word Alive committee, of which UCCF is a part, believed such views to be contrary to orthodox Biblical teaching and as such, decided that the Revd Steve Chalke could not teach from a Word Alive platform.

The Evangelical Alliance (EA) held a Theological Forum at which various theologians debated with the Revd Steve Chalke. As a result, that organisation decided to change its constitution to clarify where the EA Council of Management stood on the issue. In May 2006 Spring Harvest advised the leadership of Word Alive that the Revd Steve Chalke was able to sign up to the new and revised EA constitution and therefore requested he be allowed to preach from the Word Alive platform in 2007. This request was refused as Mr Chalke had publicly confirmed he had not changed his personal theological views.

In September 2006 the Word Alive Committee were called to a meeting by Spring Harvest and told that as they would not include the Revd Steve Chalke, the 14-year partnership was at an end. Spring Harvest said they regretted they were putting a personality ahead of partnership. Spring Harvest announced it would be promoting its own student-based week at Minehead in 'week one', resourced by Fusion, of which the Revd Steve Chalke is on the Council of Reference.

Our decision to allow only orthodox Christian teaching from Word Alive platforms, and Spring Harvest's subsequent decision has caused enormous pain and regret. However, UCCF believes it can no longer work with those whose understanding of the nature of the gospel and the distinctive of the atonement is so different to theirs, and mainstream evangelicals in the UK and across the world.

There comes a point when loyalty to the gospel, as we believe it to be clearly set out in Scripture, and the drive for unity with others can come into conflict, and we have reached that point.

Meanwhile, a new 'Word Alive' event, organised jointly by Keswick Ministries and UCCF has been planned for 7-11 April 2008 at Pwllheli, where speakers already confirmed include John Piper, Terry Virgo and Don Carson. There will be an increased capacity and further details will be released shortly.

Rumours circulating that the break-up of the partnership was down to Word Alive's refusal to accept women speakers is totally refuted. UCCF regularly has women speakers on its platforms, and it is a matter of public fact that Keswick does too. The key issue is Spring Harvest's corporate support for one of its own trustees, the Revd Steve Chalke, over Biblical orthodoxy on such a central issue as Atonement.

- Rev Richard Cunningham, director of UCCF: The Christian Unions