Why I Wrote “The Grand Design” with a Leading UK Complementarian

It’s time to share something very exciting: in April 2016, I publish The Grand Design: Male and Female He Made Them (Christian Focus) with Gavin Peacock. Why did Gavin and I write this book?

We wrote it because our secular culture has lost sight of the beauty of manhood and womanhood. Instead of seeing the sexes as uniquely formed of God to display his creative intelligence, we’re trained today to downplay differences and ignore basic realities. This mindset bleeds over into the church, even, such that men and women can go years without hearing much about how their God-given sex shapes grace-powered discipleship.

Gavin is known across the world for his excellence as an athlete. He was a top football (soccer) player in the world’s best arena, the Premier League. In recent years, however, the Lord has done something even more significant in Gavin’s life. He has made him a leading British voice–albeit from the snowy peaks of Alberta–for complementarity, the teaching that God has made the sexes equal but distinct, with men called to leadership in the home and church. We at CBMW love having Gavin as Director of International Outreach, and we recognize that this new book will help us make many new inroads globally, a prospect we’re thrilled about. We so appreciate Christian Focus’s international footprint and sterling reputation.

Some will recall that in January 2015 Gavin drew major fire for tweeting out that wives should submit to their husbands. This was remarkable. Gavin did not put extra mustard in the sauce; he basically quoted Scripture (Eph. 5:22-33; 1 Peter 3:1-7). But the Bible is the ultimate banned book today, especially the parts that challenge a gender-neutral, design-blind culture. Although this environment tells Christians to go quiet on gender or else sit in the penalty box, Gavin refused. In doing so, two things happened: 1) he took a ton of flack, and 2) he became a leading complementarian. He suffered for Christ and his truth. This is the ultimate mark of leadership in the cruciform church.

I’m thrilled to have written The Grand Design with Gavin. In this book, we simply unpack the Bible’s teaching on manhood and womanhood, showing how it is true, good, and beautiful. The Grand Design will work great as a short, readable book. We don’t try to do anything fancy; we simply try to go to the Bible and present its teaching on complementarity. If this is controversial, then we are all controversialists, because to be a Christian is to submit oneself to the biblical mind, and the biblical will, in Christ Jesus (see James 4:7).

It is our prayer that this book will greatly help God’s people. There are a ton of books out there on the gospel and grace, and praise God for that (I’ve gotten to write one!). But there are few out there that show how the gospel of grace transforms us as men and women, enabling us to live as God intended. It’s our hope that The Grand Design will bring a spring wind of refreshing, unleashing biblical teaching that we are tempted to mute or downplay.

https://youtu.be/q7prl6TU93AI’m also excited that Gavin will be speaking at CBMW’s 2016 T4G pre-conference, “The Beauty of Complementarity.” His topic for April 11, 2016: “The Beauty of Submission.” This is a challenging assignment, because our culture likes few things less than the concept of submission (even as people submit left and right to ungodly ideas and practices). But hey, if you’ve faced down mighty Manchester United, and dispatched them both home and away, I’m pretty confident you’ve got some blood yet coursing through your veins, and you won’t flinch in the hour of decision!

I do hope you’ll pick up a copy of The Grand Design in a month’s time. Or, you can have your cake and eat it, too: all who register for the CBMW T4G pre-conference will get a free copy in April. Join us at the event if you can, and hear from complementarian leaders like John Piper, Alistair Begg, John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Kevin DeYoung, and many more. Beyond this, join us in spreading the fame of God’s name over all the earth as we celebrate his glorious design and great plan.