Surviving and Growing Up in an Era of Change

Paul Barnett, NT scholar and former Bishop of North Sydney, discusses here how Christians can use the resources of the past to deal with the challenges of the present times.

These are turbulent times but that is true to a greater or lesser degree of all historical eras. It is the nature of life.  As in every age we face a twofold challenge.  On one hand, we are to ‘make disciples’ and, on the other, we are to ‘contend for the faith’, that is, defend and preserve it.  In our passion for the first we must not disregard the second.  The lessons the early Christians learned from the Jews are worth learning again.  There are practices and structures that have served us in the past and which, as we fill them with evangelical content, will help carry forward into the future.