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WOMEN SPEAKERS

I’m a woman who occasionally preaches, but I was saddened to read Natalie Collins’ ‘In My Opinion’ article titled ‘Women on the Platform’ (April). It seems as if the aggressive feminist agenda of the world is seeping into the Church. Where does grace and humility come into vying for positions on platforms? If ever there was someone who could push himself forward to speak on conference platforms it would be Christ, yet instead he acted in humility.

There are a number of churches who still feel strongly from a theological perspective that women should not be in leadership roles or preaching. For a few years I attended a church which did not have women preaching; however, I was always treated with respect and I find that far more important than a token woman on a platform.

Why do we want more women on platforms preaching? Telling others what to do is the easy part. Living it out in our own lives is the challenge. Perhaps we should be focusing on our  own personal witness more than on whether we are on platforms.

Ruth Flanagan

STORMING THE STADIUMS

I’ve been rereading the interview with J.John (March) and I’ve been thrilled all over again. What a wonderfully wild and crazy idea to take the Emirates Stadium for a day to proclaim the wonder of the Jesus story. As a travelling evangelist I always carried that dream and prayed the day would come.

In April 1986, Gavin Reid wrote in Today (Premier Christianity’s predecessor): ‘I believe British Christianity is shot through with a negative and critical spirit. We think small. It is this spirit which has prevented any British evangelist from being a household name.’

Thirty years later, can we set aside our petty differences? In J.John we have a man of the scriptures with the gifts, faith, intelligence, joy and wit to make a national impact. Above all, he has God’s anointing. Let’s get behind him and by our faith release God to do something truly amazing in this moment, in this land.

Eric Delve

FIGHTING PERFECTIONISM

I’ve just enjoyed a few hours in the bath reading the March issue of Premier Christianity and I’m really impressed with both the articles on personality profiling and perfectionism. I have never really taken any time to consider the negatives to perfectionism. As a DJ, my aim is to pick the perfect music and make the perfect mixes. What really grabbed me in the article was the way we procrastinate in order to avoid missing out on a perfect result. 

Thank you so much for publishing articles that not only open up subjects we might usually avoid, but empower your readers to help themselves.

Daniel Widdison

BOOK REVIEWS

Thank you so much for the excellent book reviews in Premier Christianity. Over the past year I have bought and read four of your top rated books: Soul Keeping by John Ortberg, Simply Good News by Tom Wright, Can Man Live Without God by Ravi Zacharias, and Gerard Kelly’s The Prodigal Evangelical. They are all excellent and have really thrilled me. The reviews of these books were very accurate and I am sure that I would not have read them if they hadn’t been reviewed so well in your magazine.

Terry Smith

PRAISE FOR APRIL ISSUE

Congratulations on April’s issue, which fed my heart and mind. I was challenged spiritually by the distinction between the contemplative and calculating mind in your profile of Richard Rohr. ‘3 reasons why belief in God makes sense’ also refreshed my thinking on giving answers for my faith by pointing to ‘the cosmic fingerprints of God’ scattered across the universe.

John Twisleton