M AG A Z I N E HELPING THE THINKER BELIEVE

AND THE BELIEVER THINK 2018

PA G E 18

W H AT HOPE AND CAN WE IS THE

EQ U I PPI N G YO U FO R
IS HELP FOR BELIEVE IN BIBLE
THE WORKPL ACE
APOLOGETICS? TRANSGENDERISM NOAH’S ARK? R ACIST?
PA G E S 3 6 - 41
PA G E 4 PA G E 8 PA G E 10 PA G E 14
 Welcome
to the
Zacharias
Trust
magazine
Zacharias Trust events. back cover
The Zacharias Trust is part of a global
organisation (RZIM) that seeks to reach
those who have objections about the
Christian faith. Our vision involves a
five-fold thrust of evangelism, apologetics,
spiritual disciplines, training and
humanitarian support. Th is magazine
showcases the work of RZIM in Europe,
the Middle East and Africa.

EDITOR
Simon Wenham Research Coordinator
EDITORIAL STAFF
Nancy Gifford Global Media Director
David Lloyd Director of Communications and Development
Youth apologetics in Scotland. p34 What is apologetics? p4
Emily Oakley Executive Assistant to the EMEA Director

EMEA SPEAKING TEAM* Gerson Mercadal (Spain)

(UK-based unless stated) Alanzo Paul
Sam Allberry
Max Baker-Hytch
Lara Buchanan
Mari Ovsepyan
Kyung Min (Ray) Ro
Luna (Wei) Wang
In this issue:
Vlad Criznic (Romania) * The Middle East team is not
Sharon Dirckx mentioned for security reasons
Simon Edwards E N G A G I N G C U LT U R E : H E L P I N G
OCCA ADJUNCTS WHO WE ARE
Julia Garschagen
(Austria, Germany and Switzerland)
Ibrahim Baidoo (Ghana) A N D W H AT W E D O THOSE WITH OBJECTIONS
Os Guinness (UK and USA) Raymond Bukenya (Uganda)
Christian Hofreiter David Fraser (South Africa)
(Austria, Germany and Switzerland) Hassan John (Nigeria) 2 Impacting a hostile and broken world 8 Hope and help for transgenderism
John Lennox Racheal Mutesi (Uganda)
The opportunities and challenges facing the Understanding and responding to questions
Mahlatse Mashua Gideon Odoma (Nigeria)
(South Africa) Justice Okoronkwo (Nigeria)
Zacharias Trust of identity
Kosta Milkov (Macedonia) Paulson Tumutegyereize Michael Ramsden Sam Allberry
Andy Moore (Uganda)

Amy Orr-Ewing 4 What is apologetics? 10 Noah’s ark: can we really believe it?
OCCA ASSOCIATES
Frog Orr-Ewing Is it a credible form of evangelism or a Did a global flood really happen in biblical
Callom Harkrader
Tom Price
Will Tant flawed exercise? times?
Michael Ramsden
Keith Small
Ben Thomas Simon Wenham Jo and Vince Vitale
Andrew Turnbull
Tanya Walker
Andy Wickham (Spain) 6 Journeying with us 14 Is the Bible racist?
COVER PHOTO
Ravi Zacharias (USA) Get more involved with apologetics Does scripture support discrimination along
Amy Orr-Ewing©John Cairns
PHOTOGRAPHERS David Lloyd ethnic lines?
OCCA FELLOWS*
(UK-based unless stated)
johncairns.co.uk Lara Buchanan
alexbakerphotography.com
David Bennett
hazelthompson.com
Gareth Black ciaramenzies.com
18 Is religion dangerous?
Mike Day (South Africa) DESIGNER karensawrey.com Is Christianity a force for good or evil in
Madeline Jackson PRINTER veritecm.com the world?
Simon Edwards

22 Debating atheists
RZIM Zacharias Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in Is it effective evangelism or simply partisan
England and Wales. Company No. 3449676. Charity No. 1067314.
Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) was founded by Ravi Zacharias in 1984
posturing?
and now comprises a global team of itinerant speakers with offices around the world. Simon Wenham
 “Always be
prepared to
give an answer
to everyone
who asks you
for the reason
for the
hope that
you have…”
Journeying with us. p6
(1 PETER 3:15)

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Interview with Julia Garschagen. p32 Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. p28 Is religion dangerous? p18

No one has an entirely

straightforward relationship
EQ U I PPI N G YO U
with their own body… And
RE ACHING OUT
FOR THE WORK PL ACE while it’s true that anyone can
see this problem, Christians
24 Global gospel 36 Evangelism in the workplace
Worldwide reports from around the region Five biblical principles for reaching can uniquely account for it.
colleagues
28 Oxford Centre for Sam Allberry p8
Max Jeganathan
Christian Apologetics
Training for evangelism 38 Festival of Thought
Hear about RZIM’s initiative to reach those in
29 Wellspring International the business world As a faithful narrative of
Learn about the humanitarian work of RZIM
40 A transformational time at OCCA human history, the Bible
30 Meet our new team members A student’s perspective of the OCCA
Find out about the latest additions to the Business Programme
records all manner of human
speaking team Jeff Johnson evils, including racism.
32 Correspondence from Cologne But just because something
An interview with Julia Garschagen about
evangelism in Germany
is described in the Bible does
34 Youth apologetics in Scotland
not mean that it is prescribed.
A report on Edinburgh’s first REBOOT youth Lara Buchanan p14
apologetics event

Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 1
W H O W E A R E A N D W H AT W E D O

Impacting
a hostile
and
broken
world
It was
Woody Allen
who asked,
‘How do you
expect me to
believe in God
when, only
last week,
I got my
tongue caught
in the rollers
of my electric
typewriter?’

Left: Michael Ramsden

2 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G

S ome questions, when asked, have the effect of
highlighting the absurdity of a situation and
so lead us to question something else at a much
deeper level. And the questions which fi ll our lives at
present are deep, desperate, and at times seemingly
absurd. Perhaps it is no surprise therefore that a poem
first penned by Yeats one hundred years ago has been
quoted more often by thinkers and writers than any
other in the last thirty:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
The observations that innocence is drowned, the
falcon no longer hears its master’s voice, the best lack
conviction, and the worst are simply full of passion,
results in a type of anarchy in which things fall apart
and the centre cannot hold. Every nation, corporation,
and family needs a core that holds things together and,
in its absence, there is no fulcrum of value or substance
for the rest of life to revolve around.
Perhaps this reason, more than any other, helps
explain the explosive opportunity our team have
experienced around the globe. The very next line of
Yeats’ poem, so often ignored by secular commentators,
is both a statement and a question: ‘Surely some
revelation is at hand.’ We are looking for some
revelation to make sense of what we see, and some
hope for whatever future we anticipate. Yeats’ poem
is famously ambiguous on this point: is the Second
Coming he foresaw like the first one, or merely the
spirit of man inserting itself in a godlike fashion?
The need to bring light when all seems dark is a
pressing one. We rejoice therefore that the Zacharias
Institute is up and running in Atlanta. Th is highly
networked space allows us not only to train and meet
with hundreds at a time, but address a far larger global
audience simultaneously. Quite literally, millions will
be blessed by its work.
What continues to drive the demand for training
is the impact we are seeing in our primary activity:
proclaiming the hope of the gospel in a hostile and
broken world. In every continent, we are at times
overwhelmed with joy at seeing people come to know
Christ for the first time. Sometimes the organisers
of the events at which we speak are also blessed in
W H O W E A R E A N D W H AT W E D O
“What
unexpected ways. When I was with Ravi Zacharias in
Dunedin, New Zealand, some of the event organisers’
children gave their lives to Christ in the meetings that
continues
they themselves had set up. The joy as we gathered to drive
together in prayer at the end of the visit was wonderful.
As I write this report, I am preparing for a repeat
the demand
visit to Asia to meet with political and business leaders. for training
We are seeing openness in these arenas that a few years
ago seemed scarcely credible. How long these doors will
is the
remain open we cannot tell. impact
The opportunities come at a cost, and not primarily
in financial terms. In some parts of the world in which
we are
we speak publicly about Christ, our lives are on the line. seeing in
Will you pray with us as we seek to minister in some of
the most challenging spiritual and physical conditions
our primary
imaginable? It is humbling to be part of a team that is activity”
not only eager to travel to places many would fear to
go, but also delights in working with those who have
chosen to live amidst a bloodstained chaos, in order to
be the hands and body of Christ to their neighbours.
Th is year, we are once again looking at some steep
increases in our global budget. One factor driving these
changes is our need to strengthen the administrative
and executive leadership of RZIM. Our speakers serve
so ably because they are supported faithfully by men
and women making things happen behind the scenes.
The speaking team has grown at an extraordinarily fast
pace and now we must strengthenImage:the administrative
Mahlatse Mashua
base that supports them. Your prayers and your
financial support help us do all we have been called to
and we are deeply grateful for your faithfulness to the
Lord’s call on your life to stand with us.
Lastly, we also have a unique opportunity to expand
the work of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics
this year. Th is is something the Board believes is a
priority, as the world needs a new generation of leaders
equipped to make the risen Christ known.
We hope you are strengthened and encouraged as you
read this magazine.
Michael Ramsden
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR
JOURNEYING WITH US
On page 7, you can read more about how you can get involved
with the Zacharias Trust and be part of the journey.
Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 3
W H O W E A R E A N D W H AT W E D O
What is
apologetics?
There is a great deal of confusion about what apologetics is. In this article, Simon Wenham addresses a
number of the misconceptions and explains why it can be an important part of evangelism.
G . K. Chesterton argued that you would come to
a very confusing picture of what Christianity is,
if you based your opinions on the confl icting claims
that people make about it.1 The same could be said of
apologetics, as there is a whole range of ideas about
both what it is and whether or not it is useful for
anything. Some Christians see it as an integral part of
evangelism that helps clear away people’s obstacles to
faith, whilst others see it as an ultimately futile exercise
of trying to ‘argue people into the kingdom’. Th is article
seeks to dispel some of the popular misconceptions
about apologetics and to explain why there is a place for
it in today’s church.2
‘It’s too apologetic’
The first obvious point to make is that the word is
not commonly used and therefore, unsurprisingly,
some people assume that it has something to do
with apologising. Such a connotation is unfortunate,
because even though some people may be quite fond
of apologising, it is generally seen as what you do in
response to something that is wrong. By contrast,
most people are naturally positive – not to mention
evangelistic – about things they particularly like or
strongly believe in. Indeed, you could have a much
wider discussion about whether or not believers should
be using any language (‘Christianese’ or otherwise)
that can easily be misunderstood, especially if it has
negative connotations but, at this point, the important
thing to realise is that the word is not associated with
contrition. On the contrary, it comes from apologia,
a Greek term, meaning to give a ‘reasoned defence’
for something.
‘It’s too academic’
Another perception of apologetics is that it is an
academic discipline that requires extensive training.
4 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
Image: John Lennox at the ‘Why?
Series’ in London. Watch online at
www.zachariastrust.org/training-day
“...all believers
In other words, it is essentially a sub-division of
philosophy and is therefore only for those who have
received enough education to be able to articulate
do apologetics
clever arguments for Christianity.3 when they
Such a notion is unsurprising, because not only does
the word sound quite technical, but there are some
talk about
people who do refer to it in that way. Whilst there is why they
no denying that, in some circumstances, its use in
conversation can pique someone’s interest and lead to a
believe,
fruitful discussion, it is also undoubtedly the case that, irrespective
in others, it can be a good way of ending any chances
of meaningful dialogue. Nevertheless, although it is
of whether
important to acknowledge the vital role that academic they are any
arguments have played in the defence of Christianity,
it is very unfortunate if people assume that that is all
good at it
that apologetics is. Indeed, if it is simply a discipline or not”
for intellectuals, then most people might as well forget
about it. Yet in 1 Peter 3:15-16, it says, ‘Always be
prepared to give an answer [apologia] to everyone who
asks you for the hope that you have’. In other words,
as C. S. Lewis pointed out, all believers do apologetics
when they talk about why they believe, irrespective of
whether they are any good at it or not.4 Whilst there is
definitely a place for academic engagement, most people
are not won over by particularly clever or technical
arguments for Christianity anyway.
‘It’s closed-minded’
Despite the lofty notion that many people have of
apologetics, some academics have the exact opposite
impression of it, because they associate it with
unthinking fundamentalism. 5 In other words, it
produces a false air of intellectual respectability, when
in reality its proponents are relatively unconcerned by
the evidence or counter-arguments, because they have
already come to their conclusions. Indeed, if someone
is described as an ‘apologist for’ something, it usually
 W H O W E A R E A N D W H AT W E D O

means they are someone who defends the unreasonable
or controversial.
Whilst it is true that there is a great deal of overly
simplistic and unhelpful apologetics material out there,
that does not mean that it is all like that. There are lots
of intellectually robust arguments used at the highest
level of academia that have been communicated in a
much more accessible way. Moreover, if Christians are
interested in the truth, then they should be not only
open-minded, but very concerned about evidence.
Indeed, the best evangelists tend to be those who are
focused on listening to and honestly engaging with
the questions and objections that people have about
Christianity.
‘It’s not biblical’
Some believers would argue that it is pretty irrelevant
how apologetics is done, because it is not preaching the
gospel from the Bible and is therefore not a legitimate
form of evangelism. Similarly, others are wary of it,
because Christians are meant to be led by the Spirit,
rather than relying on their own formulaic arguments
based on the shifting sands of secular philosophy.6
Once again, these kinds of objections highlight
the fact that there are different views about what
apologetics is. Andrew Fellows offers a definition of
what he calls the ‘apologetics spectrum’, which involves
three types of activity:7
• Subversion: Raising cultural questions that open
doors, e.g. discussing themes around morality,
truth or suffering.
• Persuasion: Giving and sharing reasons for
believing, e.g. looking at evidence and using
logical arguments.
• Proclamation: Unpacking the Bible, e.g.
preaching the message of the cross.
Although others might categorise the first two steps
as ‘pre-evangelism’, that doesn’t detract from the fact
that all three often play a part in people coming to
faith. Moreover, as the steps make clear, it is not a case
of having to choose between the Bible and the Holy
Spirit, on the one hand, and reason and apologetics,
on the other. Discussions about God can be Bible-
based and spirit-led without having to overtly refer
to passages of scripture, just as much as preaching
can involve reasoning with people and using cultural
references, as Paul himself did when addressing the
Areopagus (Acts 17:22-31). Indeed, the Bible not only
encourages the use of the mind (Mark 12:30-31), but
the gospel writers were themselves trying to persuade
people to believe on the basis of the historical evidence
they had compiled (Luke 1:1-4).
Relational apologetics
Ravi Zacharias sums it up well when he points out
that apologetics tends to defend itself, as those who
oppose it often unwittingly affi rm it by using ‘argument
to denounce argument’. That is one of the reasons
why he affi rms that it is for everyone.8 It may not be an
absolute necessity for conversion, as many respond to
the gospel without ever hearing apologetic arguments,
but it can clearly be very important in many contexts,
especially in cultures that have little knowledge of
Christianity.
There is of course no ‘secret formula’ that works for
everyone, because people all have different reasons for
not believing and everyone goes through stages of life
when they become more open or closed to thinking
about the big questions of life. That is why the most
effective witness is usually done through relationships.
As Zacharias points out, ‘love is the most powerful
apologetic’,9 as evangelism is not just about what
someone says. Christians must come alongside others
and live out their faith in a way that demonstrates
God’s love for all. That is why spiritual disciplines are so
important, as the best evangelists tend to be those who
have a strong sense of what Jesus has done for them,
as well as sharing his heart for the lost. Furthermore,
those who are visibly transformed by Christ are
themselves a powerful witness, because people can
see a difference in them, which can often provoke
questions.
Lastly, it is very important to remember that
although it is clearly a good idea to practice
communicating about Christianity in a winsome way
that bears in mind people’s heartfelt objections, God’s
role in all of this should not be forgotten. As the human
heart is naturally hostile to the gospel and the mind
“...love is naturally blinded (Romans 1), those sharing the good
news should always pray for both divine insight and
the most assistance. Indeed, it is encouraging to remember that
powerful God has the power to break through any barriers to
belief, even in the most unlikely of situations. That is
apologetic” why it is so important to realise that he can achieve a
great deal through those who are willing to step out
in faith. With that in mind, it is perhaps fitting to
end with the encouragement that Zacharias gives to
Above from top to bottom: all believers: ‘Do not underestimate the role you may
Ravi Zacharias, play in clearing the obstacles in someone’s spiritual
Amy Orr-Ewing,
Tom Price,
journey’.10
Sharon Dirckx,
John Lennox.
Simon Wenham
RESEARCH COORDINATOR

1 G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (London, 1909), p. 158.

2 Many other authors have written good articles on apologetics, including Alister McGrath (www.rzim.org/just-thinking/the-heart-
of-apologetics/) and Greg Pritchard (www.bethinking.org/apologetics/what-is-apologetics-and-why-is-it-important).
3 John Lennox is someone who prefers not to use the term, as it reinforces the notion that it is a sub-division of philosophy.
4 See R. Zacharias ‘An Apologetic for Apologetics’, in R. Zacharias, Beyond Opinion (Nashville, 2007), p. xii.
5 For this attitude see M. Casey, Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths (London, 2014), p. 3. He is equally scathing about atheists who deny the existence of Jesus.
6 Karl Barth was someone who rejected any notion of trying to fi nd rational justification for God (see his Church Dogmatics).
7 See T. Price, ‘Evangelism and Apologetics Confusion: How the Apologetics Spectrum Can Help’, Lausanne Global Analysis, volume 5, issue 5 (September, 2016).
8 Zacharias, Beyond Opinion, pp. xvii-xix.
9 See page 29 of this magazine for more about some of the outworking of this statement (the work of Wellspring International).
10 Zacharias, Beyond Opinion, p. xvii. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 5
W H O W E A R E A N D W H AT W E D O

Image: David Bennett

Journeying with us
Every Christian is on a journey – seeking to know God and to make Him known. We very much want to
be part of your journey, as we focus on the part of the Great Commission that we believe God has called
us to: to make disciples of every nation, by ‘helping the thinker believe and the believer think’.

How people can get more involved with us is a question I am often to give you all of them, that email was the inspiration for this
asked. In fact, one couple did so and then proceeded to list twenty- article. There are many ways to enjoy the journey with us,
eight opportunities that they felt existed. Although I am not going and here are some of them.

6 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G

1 Be equipped
• Firstly, we believe that what we do is
essential for every Christian, because we
want to help you grasp the depth, beauty
and credibility of the gospel and, as a
result, enable you to grow in confidence
in sharing and defending your faith.
There really are credible answers to the
intellectual objections and heartfelt
concerns that people – work colleagues,
family, friends and others – have about
the gospel.
There are ways we can equip you – from
the comfort of your own home or
through our training around the UK.
Here are some of the options:
• Short courses: UK training days,
training weekends and the week-
long Oxford Summer School.
For further details, take a look at
www.zachariastrust.org/events.
• Through our Oxford Centre for
Christian Apologetics: a four-week
programme for senior professionals
(those working in business, government,
media and the arts), and a one-year and
two-year programme for those who sense
a calling to be part of an evangelistic
ministry. See
www.theocca.org/training-overview.
• If you prefer to study online,
please look at our RZIM Academy:
www.rzimacademy.org. More than
4,500 Christians from 99 different
countries have already studied and
completed the introductory course (26
lectures over 12 weeks). Enjoy being part
of an online community with guidance
from one of our moderators, too. The
introductory module is also available in
French and Spanish, and there are now
several advanced electives, if you want to
go deeper.
2 Be informed and be in touch
• If you haven’t already done so, sign up
(free) for our monthly e-newsletter at
www.zachariastrust.org/connect
to enjoy links to our apologists’ talks
and articles, information on our speaking
engagements, key events, and details on
new books and resources from our team.
• If you have received this annual
magazine through an event rather than
it being mailed to your home, do sign up
for future issues on the same link as the
e-newsletter.
W H O W E A R E A N D W H AT W E D O
• These resources will, of course, also help arenas, including government, media
equip you in sharing your faith. and business settings, universities and
schools. You can find out about some of
• We would love your feedback on how
our speaking engagements here:
we have helped you on your journey at
www.zachariastrust.org/events.
any time. Feel free to contact us for any
reason. You can use the email form here: • Please partner with us financially. We are
www.zachariastrust.org/contact-us. a UK registered charity, so you can give
tax efficiently. There are several ways you
3 Be active for us in your church
can do this:
and beyond
• Please help promote our events, > by donating online via our website
particularly our REBOOT youth www.zachariastrust.org/donate.
apologetics days for 12-18 year-olds
> by mailing a cheque made payable to
(in London, Edinburgh and Belfast in
RZIM Zacharias Trust, to our address,
2018). It’s critical we properly equip
76 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6JT.
our youth to defend their faith in the
classroom and on the playground. Please > by calling our team on reception to
tell your church leaders, youth workers make a credit card donation
and teens to make the most of these (direct tel: 01865 302900).
events. Encourage them to register or
> by setting up regular giving. There’s a
tune in as a group for the livestreaming.
Standing Order form on the donate page
Full details, previous REBOOT talks
of our website that you can print off and
and additional resources are available at
return to us. Of course, if you prefer,
www.rebootglobal.org. You can also
you can set up your monthly giving
read more about the event in Scotland
online directly with your bank, but
on page 34.
please let us know. Email us at
• Consider starting apologetics outreach office@zachariastrust.org.
events in your community (such as a
• We rely 100% on donations to carry out
book club, a café Q&A time, or breakfast
our work so, put simply, we cannot do
events) and also introduce apologetics
what we do without your support. Feel
into your church to help other Christians
free to be creative: as well as giving your
be better able to share and defend their
own support, do consider sponsored
faith. We are always happy to advise you
events or other ways to raise further
on resources, and our books are available
support for us.
to browse and buy at www.10ofthose.
com/partners/rzim. • There are many core projects that you
can support as well as our general fund,
• Do also please tell others about our
such as helping the Oxford Centre for
work. The link www.zachariastrust.
Christian Apologetics by providing
org/connect gives Christians a good
scholarships for the training of young
overview of ways to get more involved
evangelist-apologists, and helping to
with us. For seekers wanting to assess
underwrite REBOOT to reach and equip
the credibility of the gospel, we have
the next generation.
some videos and talks specifically to help
– see www.zachariastrust.org/explore. Conclusion
The scale of the challenge facing the
• Is there a strategic event you are
church today to properly communicate the
planning that our speakers might be able
beauty and credibility of the gospel has
to help with? Perhaps an open forum
arguably never been greater. Our team of
to enable seekers and sceptics to hear
speakers around the globe has grown in the
a talk and ask their tough questions,
last ten years from around ten to eighty,
complemented by a training opportunity
but we need your involvement more than
to equip Christians in your community.
ever – to be part of the mission to reach
You can request a speaker here: www.
and equip, and to champion our cause and
zachariastrust.org/request-speaker.
support us in every way you can, as we
4 Be a partner with us continue to ‘help the thinker believe and
• Please pray regularly for our team, the believer think’.
particularly our speakers, as they
travel into a variety of countries and David Lloyd
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT
Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 7
E N G A G I N G C U LT U R E : H E L P I N G T H O S E W I T H O B J E C T I O N S
Hope
and help for
transgenderism
Many Christians do not know how to respond to the challenge posed by
transgenderism. In this article, Sam Allberry explores the question of identity
and shows why Christianity offers something that is truly unique.
B arely a day passes without transgender issues
hitting the news. It might be a human interest
feature about someone transitioning from one sex to
another, and how they’ve been received (or not) by their
communities. It might concern the politics of rights for
transgender men and women, and which toilets should
be available to them. It might have to do with complex
discussions about the causes of and treatments
available for transgenderism. But one thing’s for sure:
this issue isn’t going away anytime soon, and we
Christians can’t afford to avoid it.
Yet many of us want to. We know we’re treading on
hugely sensitive ground. We know we’re dealing with
areas of deep personal pain for many men and women,
and we will be wary of saying things that might add to
that pain.
We might not know what we think about some of
the political debates raging all around us. We might
feel as though we simply don’t know enough about
transgenderism to say anything with confidence.
Try looking up ‘transgender’ in a Bible concordance;
you’re not likely to get far.
But the gospel is always good news – for everyone.
It strikes me that there are two particular insights the
gospel can offer that might form the starting point of
our response.
1. Unique Understanding
Gender dysphoria, the feeling of profound
discomfort with the sex of one’s own body, is often
hugely painful. For some it’s chronic, going back even
to early childhood. For many the emotional toll can feel
unbearable. No one can deny this pain. And Christians
can perhaps uniquely account for it.
Paul gives us a key insight into the world in which
we live:
8 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
“Bodily
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but
because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation
itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and
brokenness
obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. of any kind,
(Romans 8:20–21)
if we have
Creation isn’t right. The physical world has been eyes to see,
‘subjected to futility’ and to frustration. It doesn’t work
properly. It’s out of joint. It has been subjected to this
can point
frustration by God. The Bible’s wider narrative explains us to the
this. God cursed the ground as a judgment on human
sin (Genesis 3:17). In other words, the world isn’t right
broken body
as both a consequence and a demonstration of the fact of Christ”
that we’re not right.
What’s true of creation in general is true of our
bodies, too. They’re part of the physical order that’s
been subjected to this frustration. We see this
frustration in a variety of ways. Some face unremitting
health issues; others contend with a whole range of
body image struggles; still more experience body
dysphoria – feeling as though they’re trapped in the
wrong kind of body. The fact is, virtually no one has an
entirely straightforward relationship with their own
body. It’s the way of life in this world. And while it’s
true that anyone can see this problem, Christians can
uniquely account for it.
The Bible shows us that sin causes profound
alienation – first and foremost from God, with other
alienations ensuing. We’re alienated from one another.
And we’re alienated from ourselves. What was meant
to be whole and integrated – our mind, body, and
spirit – is now deeply fractured. We don’t feel aligned in
ourselves.
Knowing these things should make us compassionate.
While much of the thinking around transgender issues
today is fl awed, the pain experienced by those with
gender dysphoria is all too real. We of all people should

appreciate why, for we of all people understand the true
depth of what’s wrong with this world. Our churches
should be the places people feel most safe trying to
articulate their own sense of not being right.
2. Unique Hope
But the Bible never ends with diagnosis. As well as
offering a uniquely deep understanding, we can point
people to a uniquely solid hope. We all experience
the curse of the fall in bodily ways. But the answer
to the problems in our body – along with the answer
to any of our problems – is never going to be found
in ourselves. Whatever we might do to our bodies to
overcome perceived problems, we’ll never be able to fi x
what truly lies beneath our self-alienation. We can alter
our appearance; we can correct much of what we think
to be wrong. But we will never find the real freedom we
so deeply crave. Nothing we can do to our bodies will
help us to feel that we’re our true selves – at least not in
a lasting way.
No, the only answer to our experience of brokenness
in our bodies is found in the ultimate brokenness of
Christ’s body. He experienced the ultimate affl iction.
His was the body most reviled by others. And the
ultimate dysphoria ever experienced was when he
‘who had no sin’ was ‘made sin for us’ (2 Corinthians
5:21). Talk about being in the wrong flesh. Yet he went
through all of that for us. He experienced ultimate
brokenness, so that we would never have to.
The issue with our bodies turns out to be the issue
with every part of us. They manifest brokenness in a
way that points to the brokenness within every single
one of us. We’ve turned from God, so nothing is as it
should be. The starting place for the Christian faith is
recognising this. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ Jesus
told us (Matthew 5:3), not ‘Blessed are those who think
they’ve got everything pretty much together.’
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Bodily brokenness of any kind, if we have eyes to
see, can point us to the broken body of Christ – and
through that brokenness, to the eventual restoration
and healing that comes through him. Embracing Christ
doesn’t guarantee resolution in this life to the bodily
brokenness we experience, but it does give us a sure and
confident hope that we will have a perfect relationship
with our body in the world to come. Above: Sam Allberry
Sam Allberry
ZACHARIAS TRUST SPEAKER
Sam Allberry is also a founding editor of Living Out, a Christian
ministry that focuses on same-sex attraction (www.livingout.org).
He is the author of a number of books (see below), including Is God
Anti-Gay?, Connected, James for You and Why Bother with Church?
Transgender: further reading
For more information on this topic, see the Christian
Medical Fellowship’s article on gender dysphoria
(available from www.cmf.org.uk).
90 Days in John 14-
17, Romans, James
by Tim Keller and
Sam Allberry
Sam Allberry’s latest book
(co-written with Tim
Keller), 90 Days in John 14-
17, Romans, James, opens
up the treasures of three
enriching parts of God’s
Word. It contains ninety
devotionals from John 14-
17, Romans and James, and is designed to help readers go
deeper into the riches of Scripture, in order to draw closer
to the Lord and gain a fresh appreciation for His love.
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10 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
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Image: OurPersonalPhotographer@iStock
A flood of biblical
proportions: can
we really believe
in Noah’s ark?
The story of Noah’s ark may be a child’s favourite,
but can an adult really take it seriously? In this
article, Jo and Vince Vitale take a look at how
Christians have understood the account and
what attitude they should have towards those
who hold different perspectives.
A mongst the many objections brought against the biblical
account of the genesis of our world, there are three questions
in particular that audiences like to ask time and again: ‘Did Adam
and Eve exist?’, ‘What about the dinosaurs?!’ and, perhaps most
frequently of all, ‘Are we really supposed to believe in Noah’s flood?’
Concerning this third question, part of the difficulty we face today
is discerning exactly what it is that we are being asked to believe.
For although the majority of Christians throughout history have
accepted that the flood narrative of Genesis (chapters six to eight)
recounts an historical event, there are some today who argue that
this story ought to be read as mythology or metaphor.
Those who take the latter view often draw attention to the close
parallels between Genesis 6-8 and the flood narratives found in
other ancient Near Eastern texts, such as the Akkadian Atrahasis
epic or the Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish. Placing these
ancient flood stories side-by-side, scholars often argue that Genesis
6-8 is simply a retelling of a popular myth of the ancient world.
However, although certain literary parallels exist between these
ancient flood stories, their differences are far greater than their
similarities. In particular, the way in which the book of Genesis
presents the nature, the character, and the motivation of God is
utterly distinctive. It is also problematic to assume, as some
scholars do, that the biblical account is contingent upon other
ancient Near Eastern myths, rather than vice versa. In fact, instead>
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of disproving an historic flood, the prominence of these
ancient flood narratives in this region of the world
could be taken as evidence in support of the occurrence
of a flood of great enough magnitude that it left a
lasting impression in the memory of these ancient
writers.
Reading the narrative historically not only makes
sense of the genealogical material – which presents
Noah and his family as real figures in the lineage of
Israel – but it also aligns with the New Testament
references to ‘the days of Noah’ as an actual, rather
than mythological, era (Luke 17:26-28; Hebrews
11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). Consequently, instead
of presuming that literary parallels point towards a
metaphorical interpretation, we believe that the format
and the positioning of the account, coupled with its
historical and theological implications, point towards
an actual flood event.
However, even amongst those who take this
narrative ‘literally’ a question remains as to the scale
of the judgment, and whether it was a local event or a
flood of global proportions. On the one side, you can
find a very thorough and thoughtful case made by
Christian theologians and scientists who are convinced
that the flood was global in scope. On the other side,
you may encounter Christian scholars who are equally
committed to the flood being a localised event. Here is a
brief overview of the key points of contention:
1. ‘Whole earth’ or ‘whole land’? Those who support
a global flood argue that throughout Genesis
6-8 the repeated Hebrew expression kol eretz
is rightly translated in our English Bibles to
read that the flood covered the ‘whole earth’,
or ‘all the world’. Those who take the counter-
perspective, however, argue that the expression
conveys a range of meanings throughout the Old
Testament. Sometimes it means the ‘whole world’,
but it can also mean ‘all the people’, signifying
the population, and most frequently of all, it is
used to refer to ‘all the land’, specifying a local
geographical region. Consequently, some argue
that in the context of the localised events of
Genesis 2-11, the early Jewish community would
have intuitively understood that in this case kol
12 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
“Christians eretz referred to the flooding of ‘all the land’,
rather than ‘all the world’. Those holding this
might disagree position also argue that if the intention had been
over this to refer to a global flood, then there is another
Hebrew word that could have been used which
topic, but we would have unambiguously stated that this was
can still be indeed a flooding of the entire planet.
united in our 2. Another linguistic debate occurs over whether the
flood covered ‘the mountains’ or ‘the hills’, both of
reverence for which are referred to by the same word in Hebrew.
God’s Word, Those taking a global perspective argue that the
right reading of Genesis 7:20 is that the water was
our love 15 cubits (7 metres) higher than the mountains.
for Christ, Those who understand this to be a localised
flood argue that the word translated as ‘higher’
and our actually just means ‘upward’ in Hebrew, implying
commitment that the water was 15 cubits high in general,
thereby covering small hills rather than towering
to sharing mountains.
the gospel” 3. One crucial question raised by those who argue
for a global flood is this: if these events were only
regional, why would God bother commanding
Noah to build a giant boat? To do so seems like a
pointless and time-consuming task, considering
that it would have been far easier for his family
to simply depart from the region! The counter-
perspective, however, is that God frequently
asks His Old Testament prophets to perform
public, symbolic acts as a warning to the people
of impending judgment. Therefore, those who see
this as a local flood class the building of the ark
as one of these prophetic sign-acts, by means of
which Noah is ultimately vindicated in the sight
of the people who mocked him when the judgment
of God is brought against them.
4. If the flood was indeed just a local event, then
critics of this view question why such a strong
emphasis is placed on God’s promise at the end
of the narrative (along with the accompanying
rainbow in the sky as a sign): ‘I establish my
Above left: Olga_Anourina@ covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh
iStock be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never
Above right: Jaap2@iStock again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth

[or land]’ (Genesis 9:11). They also point out that
if this passage simply refers to a local flood, then
it would make a liar out of God, as there have
been countless regional floods since! In response
to this critique, however, others argue that the
intent behind God’s promise is not that there will
never again be regional floods, but rather that
never again will He bring about the universal
judgment of all the people via means of a flood.
Notably, many of those who argue against a global
flood are not denying the scope of the flood when
it comes to judgment. Rather, they would claim
that, in ‘the days of Noah’, all the people were still
living in a specific region, and therefore a regional
flood is all that is needed to judge them. From
this perspective, it is the scale of the geographical
events that they challenge, not the scale of the
judgment against humanity.
There is much more that could be offered in support
of either side (e.g. arguments concerning the size and
the construction of the ark, the gathering and the
caretaking of the animals, the length of the flood
and the receding of the waters, etc.), but enough has
been outlined to give you the gist of the debate. Given
that thoughtful arguments have been made on both
sides, you may be wondering why Christians dispute
this issue so hotly. The reason for this is because
whether the flood was local or global in scale actually
has implications for a much larger debate within
Christianity than just the correct interpretation of
Genesis 6-8.
For those who believe in a ‘young-earth’ creation, for
example, it is the worldwide flood that anchors their
understanding of the earth’s scientific history, as they
believe that such a cataclysmic event best accounts for
the geological and fossil records that we have today.
For ‘old-earth’ creationists or theistic-evolutionists,
on the other hand, our geological records not only
point towards a far more ancient age of the earth, but
they are seen as contradicting evidence used in support
of a global flood.
Although we’ve summarised both positions, what
we haven’t done is argue for the truth or faithfulness
of one reading above the other. To do so would require
a much more thorough review of the biblical text and
the interpretative arguments than we have space for
here! What we hope to have done, however, is to show
that reasonable people who revere the Word of God and
who desire to interpret it faithfully can still come to
different conclusions about Genesis 6-8.
Often as Christians, we can be incredibly wary of
those within the family of God who think differently
from us. So, for example, those who believe in a global
flood have sometimes accused those who disagree
with them of subverting the original meaning of the
text in order to ‘exalt science over Scripture’, while
the other side will counter that their ‘opponents’ have
misrepresented science to conform to a misinformed
reading of Scripture.
1 Christ, The Ark of Safety: A Message by Billy Graham.
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What is notable about both these two well-defended
positions, however, is that each side is offering a robust
biblical and scientific account as evidence for their
position. In neither case do the proponents of these
two positions consider themselves to be setting science
over Scripture, or intentionally forsaking scientific
evidence for the sake of Scripture. Rather, each side
is saying that you can take God’s Word seriously,
receiving it as the ultimate and inspired source of all
truth, and yet still come out with a view that is not
only consistent with, but that makes the most sense of
the scientific records.
All this to say, while it remains an important topic
for us to grapple with, we shouldn’t allow the debates
surrounding Genesis 6-8 to become a stumbling-block
Above: Vince Vitale
either to our own faith, or to the faith of another. and Jo Vitale
Faithful, Bible-believing Christians might disagree over
this topic, but we can still be united in our reverence for
God’s Word, our love for Christ, and our commitment
to sharing the gospel.
Nor is this a topic that need undermine our
evangelistic efforts, if it happens to come up in a
conversation with sceptics. For whatever an individual
comes to think about Genesis 6-8, nobody’s salvation
will be determined by their specific beliefs concerning
the flood narrative, but only by whether they have
put their faith in Jesus Christ. In the words of Billy
Graham, it is Jesus who is our ‘Ark of Safety...The storm
of judgment can break; but it will never touch you,
because you are in Christ Jesus.’
Jo and Vince Vitale
VINCE AND JO WORK AT THE ZACHARIAS INSTITUTE IN ATLANTA
AS DIRECTOR AND DEAN OF STUDIES RESPECTIVELY. THEY ARE ALSO
ITINERANT SPEAKERS FOR RZIM.
The Flood: further reading
If you are interested in reading more about Christian
views on the flood, including perspectives from non-
evangelicals, see Davis Young’s The Biblical Flood: A Case
Study of the Church’s Response to Extrabiblical Evidence
IS GOD IN CONTROL?
The biblical flood raises wider questions
about God’s involvement on earth and
how people are saved. Christians all
know that salvation comes from Jesus’
death on the cross, but what role, if any,
do humans play in the process?
As John Lennox points out, how
you answer that question has huge
ramifications for how you view the
character of God. In his latest book,
Determined to Believe, he takes a
fresh look at the theological debate
surrounding the sovereignty of God,
freedom, faith and human responsibility.
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14 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
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Is the
Bible racist?
Scripture has been used to justify
all kinds of human behaviour,
including racial oppression.
In this article, Lara Buchanan
looks at what the Bible says about
race and how it provides the
foundation for ethnic equality.

“...the Bible
records T he question of racial equality and prejudice has
increasingly taken a central place in the public
square. Thankfully, many Christians are recognising
all manner that this conversation is long overdue, as it is no secret
that the Bible has been used to justify systems of
of human racial oppression. While today many Christians claim
evils, to oppose racism, there is a need to truly own the
devastating effects it has had in the past and further
including grapple with its continued presence today in society
racism” and in the church. There are a number of important
questions which the church urgently needs to consider.
One such question concerns the biblical text itself.
Given that many racially-motivated movements
appealed to the words of the Bible to gain credibility
and support, one naturally asks: ‘Does the Bible
support racist prejudices? Is the Bible racist?’ Along
with centuries of other Christians, I believe the Bible is
clear: God is unequivocally and vehemently opposed to
racism – he ‘upholds the cause of the oppressed.’1
If the question was, ‘Does the Bible contain racism?’
the answer would be a resounding ‘yes!’. As a faithful
narrative of human history the Bible records all manner
of human evils, including racism. But just because
something is described in the Bible does not mean that
Left: Lara Buchanan it is prescribed. In order to see the Bible’s overarching
answers the question message on this issue, we are going to do a lightning
‘Is the Bible sexist and racist?’
at the ‘Why? Series’
tour of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, looking
in London. Watch online: both at the positive case for racial equality, and the >
www.zachariastrust.org/
training-day
1 Psalm 146:7.

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parts which have been used to deny it.
In the book of Genesis, we are given a picture of
God’s original design before sin enters the world. It is
a beautiful world of goodness and relational harmony
devoid of any sexism, racism, hatred or murder.
While all creation is celebrated as ‘good’, we are told
that Adam and Eve are distinct as they uniquely bear
God’s image.2 The reason this is important is that,
throughout the Bible, Adam and Eve are referred to as
representatives of the whole human race (eg Acts 17:26).
Their unique status as ‘image bearers’ is conferred on
all people everywhere. In Christian theology, this is
seen as laying the foundation for social, ethnic and
gender equality. It is interesting to compare the biblical
text with other ancient creation accounts. In Egyptian
mythology, for example, Egyptians alone are depicted
as being created fully ‘human’ while all other people
groups are portrayed as having descended from the
enemies of God. 3 Conversely, the Bible clearly confers
inherent worth on all humanity, because they all
bear God’s image.
Despite this clear affi rmation of racial equality there
are four sections in the Old Testament which, over the
centuries, have been used to try and make the case for
racial inequality: Israel as God’s ‘chosen’ race, God’s
judgment of the people of Canaan, God’s laws against
inter-marriage, and the (supposed) ‘Curse of Ham’.
In Genesis 12, we are told that Abraham was ‘chosen’
and that God was going to make him into a great
nation. Some have wondered whether this shows racial
prejudice or divine favouritism. However, it simply
cannot be read that way. We are told explicitly that
Abraham was not chosen because he was more valuable
or loved, but because God had a purpose for him. This
purpose was to be a blessing to ‘all the families of the
earth…’4 God wanted all the peoples of the earth to
know Him. He wanted Israel to be His messengers.
The whole plot of the story is based on God’s love for
all the peoples of the earth. We see that this love for all
people is absolutely central to the message of the Bible.
To twist this is to twist the core point!
But someone might ask, if God loved all people
groups equally then why did he send Israel to conquer
the people of Canaan? Does that point to racial
prejudice, even ethnic cleansing? Whatever we make of
God’s use of one nation to bring judgment on another,
the reason for this judgment is clear: moral failure, not
ethnic identity! Th is is no genocide or ethnic cleansing.
We are told this explicitly in the scripture, but we can
also see this because twice God uses other nations to
bring a similar judgment on the Israelites for their
spiritual and moral failure. Finally, when it comes to
the Canaanites in particular, of all the surrounding
nations they would have been the most ethnically
similar to the Israelites. Whatever other questions
are raised by this text, racism has to be ruled out as
an issue.
So what about the prohibition of inter-racial
marriage recorded in Deuteronomy 7:3 and Ezra 10:11?
Even a cursory glance at the text shows the reason
16 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
for the prohibition: it is about marrying outside of “In the book
the faith. By contrast, leaders like Joseph and Moses
marry non-Semitic, African women. Joseph marries
of Genesis,
Asenath, daughter of an African Egyptian priest,5 and we are given
out of their union come Ephraim and Manasseh, two
of the twelve tribes of Israel.6 Not only are such unions
a picture
blessed by God, but we see him actively opposing those of God’s
(like Aaron and Miriam) who stood against them.7 The
marriage prohibition is about spiritual compatibility,
original
it is not a question of ethnicity at all.8 The New design before
Testament teaching on marriage reiterates this. There
is no mention of race or ethnicity whatsoever, rather it
sin enters
teaches that it is prudent for those who follow Christ to the world.
marry within the faith.9
Lastly, what about the supposed ‘Curse of Ham’? In
It is a
the sixteenth century, a theory that linked the ‘Hamite’ beautiful
to dark-skinned African people began to gain currency
as a rationale for slavery.10 It claimed that the scripture
world of
in Genesis 9:25 describes dark-skinned people as goodness and
natural-born slaves or savages. Theologian Daniel Hays
has argued that this is the most grossly misinterpreted
relational
text in the whole Bible.11 Certainly, the consequences of harmony
the abuse of that text echo through history. So what is
actually happening in this scripture? Well, Noah’s son
devoid of
Ham wrongs his father, and Noah responds, ‘Cursed any sexism,
be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his
brothers.’ However, the curse is uttered not to Ham,
racism,
but to his son, Canaan. In Genesis 10:15-19, we are told hatred
that the descendants of Canaan moved to the region of
modern Palestine. Theologians understand the curse to
or murder”
be a natural consequence of Ham’s sin on his progeny,
but the Bible makes no link whatsoever between
Canaan and dark-skinned people. The claim that in this
text God irrevocably curses an entire ethnic group is an
unfounded piece of conjecture – it simply isn’t there in
the text. While the question of the Bible and slavery is
another whole topic, outside the scope of this article,
2 Genesis 1:27. 5 Genesis 41:50.
3 A. Ehrman, Life in Ancient Egypt 6 Genesis 41:51-52.
(London, 1894), p. 32. 7 Numbers 12:1-9.
4 Genesis 12:3. 8 Deuteronomy 7:1-2; Ezra 9:1-2, 11, 14.
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Above: The African team at Makerere

University, the top ranking university in Uganda

Far left: peeterv@iStock

Left: Lara Buchanan

for our purposes it is imperative to note that when the “...the true
practice of ancient slavery is mentioned in the Bible, it And after this I looked up and behold, a great multitude that
has nothing to do with racial discrimination. In fact,
expression no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and
biblically-motived Christians played a critical role in of church peoples and languages standing before the throne and crying
the abolition movements in both the United States and with a loud voice ‘Salvation belongs to our God’.17
the United Kingdom.
is unity
In the New Testament, the theme of racial equality is in diversity” Celebrating diversity and being united in our
central. In a context where racial tensions were running diversity is not a peripheral theme of the Bible. It is at
high, Jesus shocked his contemporaries by challenging the very heart of who God is. Within his own being
their prejudices, both through his teaching and actions. God is three-in-one – unique and distinct beings utterly
His teaching about the Good Samaritan, arguably his unified. It is in knowing this mystery in our own lives
most famous parable,12 cuts right to the heart of this that we enter into God’s life and understand the depths
issue, as it was intended, at least in part, to reveal the and majesty of truly loving another.
ethnic prejudice of his own people towards another. In this short article, I have presented the reasons
A major theme of the New Testament writings is the why I have become convinced that the message of the
outworking of Jesus’ fi nal words and commission to Bible is not only fundamentally opposed to racism of all
his disciples, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’.13 kinds, but provides a firm ethical foundation for racial
The disciples begin to realise what has always been and ethnic equality.
God’s purposes from the beginning: that all the people
of the earth would be blessed! In Galatians, Paul urges Lara Buchanan
the early church towards total unity, arguing ‘there is ZACHARIAS TRUST SPEAKER
no longer Jew nor Greek…for you are all one in Christ
Jesus’.14 In his letter to the Ephesians, he takes this
further. Picking up the picture of ‘celebrated diversity’
in Genesis’ creation account, Paul describes how
GENOCIDE
Jesus broke down dividing walls of hostility between IN THE OLD
different people groups.15 He goes on to say that the TESTAMENT?
true expression of church is unity in diversity! In If you want to read
this way, we reflect the manifold (polipoikilos: diverse,
more on this topic,
multifaceted) wisdom of God.16
do look out for a new
In the last pages of the Bible, as the writer of
Revelation looks forward to a time when once again academic book by
the world will know the freedom of God’s perfect and Christian Hofreiter,
loving rule, we are given a beautiful picture of diversity: Director of RZIM Germany, Austria and
Switzerland, entitled Making Sense of Old
Testament Genocide.
9 1 Corinthians 7:39; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. 12 Luke 10:25-27.
10 L. M. Alexander and W. C. Rucker (eds), 13 Matthew 28:19, cf Acts 1:8.
Encyclopedia of African American History 14 Galatians 3:28.
(Santa Barbara, 2010), p. 86.
11 J. D. Hays, From Every People and Nation: 15 Ephesians 2:14.
A Biblical Theology of Race 16 Ephesians 3:10. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 17
(Downers Grove, 2002), p. 55. 17 Revelation 4:1.
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Is religion dangerous?
Many people would agree with the suggestion that religion causes a lot of problems in the
world today. In this article, Simon Edwards examines the legacy of Christianity and shows
why Jesus is not the source of the troubles we see around us, but is the answer to them.

H ave you ever been to a dinner party with people you don’t
know when the topic of religion has come up in conversation?
If you have, you will probably have come across the argument
that it is the main cause of confl ict in the world today. Christopher
Hitchens argued that ‘religion poisons everything’, whilst Richard
Dawkins suggests that faith is ‘one of the world’s great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus, but harder to eradicate’. Isn’t it
obvious, as John Lennon expressed in his song ‘Imagine’, that the
world would be a much better place without religion? No terrorist
attacks, no confl icts in the Middle East, no troubles in Northern
Ireland and no violent disputes over what is written in ancient holy
books. It is no wonder that a recent survey showed that more than
half of Britons believe that religion does more harm than good.
If you are a Christian, how does this make you feel? If you are at
a dinner party like that, do you keep your head down and hope that
no one asks you about it? Or maybe, deep down, you feel confl icted,
because you think that they might have a point. Perhaps the world
would be a safer place without religion.
But are they right? Th is is one of the most significant questions
of our time. In order to address this topic, it is important to ask two
clarifying questions: is religion really the cause of confl ict in the
world, and, when violence is committed in the name of religion, is it
really the main cause or are other factors at play?
Causes of violence in the world
Just over a decade ago, Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod
produced a three-volume Encyclopaedia of Wars in which they argued
that only 123 of the 1,763 (7%) wars they identified had a religious

18 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
 E N G A G I N G C U LT U R E : H E L P I N G T H O S E W I T H O B J E C T I O N S
cause. In terms of casualties, they accounted for less than 2% of
those killed in warfare. By contrast, history is clear that irreligion
has caused hundreds of millions more deaths than religion. Sixty
million people were killed in China alone under Mao Zedong’s
Marxism, fifteen million in Russia under Stalinist communism,
and perhaps over two million under Pol Pot. In each of these cases,
the official government policy was to try to wipe out religion.
Whilst those killed by atheistic regimes are often underestimated,
the numbers of those killed for religious reasons are often vastly
overestimated in public consciousness. The infamous Spanish
Inquisition, for example, killed an estimated 5,000 people over
the course of three and a half centuries. That is fewer than Stalin’s
regime claimed per week.
Moreover, as historian John Wolffe points out, in situations
Image: A woman walks near a house in the city of Homs destroyed in the fighting
between the rebels of the Syrian National Army. ©bwb-studio@iStock
where religion is a factor, its influence is often overstated. It is a bit
like the joke about the American tourist who walks into a bar in
Belfast only to be confronted by a group of burly men demanding
to know whether he is a Protestant or a Catholic. The confused
tourist exclaims that he is actually an atheist, at which point the
leader of the group looks him in the eye and says, ‘Yes, but are you
a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist?’ Underlying the humour
is an important point: that often religion is just the veneer, as
there are other factors going on beneath the surface. With the so-
called ‘religious wars’ of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
for example, other factors, such as dynastic influence, power,
nationalism and economics were at play.
In short, history shows us that only a tiny fraction of human
confl icts were caused by religion and, even when religion is a cause,>
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E N G A G I N G C U LT U R E : H E L P I N G T H O S E W I T H O B J E C T I O N S
many other factors were often involved. Therefore,
the historical data simply does not support the new
atheist’s claim that religion is the primary cause of
human confl ict, nor does it support their claim that
getting rid of religion would bring about peace.
It is not clear how you would get rid of it anyway,
given that cognitive scientists tell us that we are
naturally hardwired to be religious. You could outlaw
it, but governments that have attempted to do so have
always been oppressive ones.
Violence in the name of religion
If you read new atheist literature, you would be
forgiven for concluding that all religious beliefs must
be the same. Very little effort is made to make any type
of rational or moral distinction between one type of
religious belief and another. Yet, I don’t know many
thoughtful people who would say that Osama Bin
Laden and Mother Theresa belong in the same moral
category, simply because they were both religious. One
was dedicated to violence and terrorism and the other
to a life of self-sacrificial love.
Why do the new atheists appear unable to
distinguish between different religions, when they
expect people to do so for atheists? Whenever one
speaks of the evils committed under the irreligious
regimes of Stalin or Mao or Pol Pot, atheists are quick
to make the point that not all atheists are like that.
All atheists are not the same and neither are all
religions. The better question, therefore, is not ‘is
religion dangerous?’ but ‘is this particular religion in its
current form dangerous?’ Each religion has to answer
that question for itself.
I can only speak for Christianity and, unfortunately,
our record is not without blemish. We should be
the first to put up our hands and say the church has
not always done a great job of representing Christ,
particularly whenever it has sought to impose belief or
doctrine by threat or violence. Even today, some of the
vitriol you read online from people who call themselves
believers aimed at those who disagree with them can
be pretty awful. It can be petty, tribal, unloving and
un-Christlike.
And that’s the point. It’s un-Christlike. It’s unlike
Christ. Whenever such things have been done in the
name of Christianity, they have been done in violation
of the teachings of Jesus himself. We must be careful
not to judge any worldview by its abuse. In order
to determine, in any given scenario, whether the
particular religion itself really is the chief cause of the
violence we need to ask – is the person or people who
are causing the violence acting in keeping with their
worldview or in violation of their worldview?
In Christ’s very fi rst sermon, he declared that the
poor in spirit, the meek, the persecuted and the
peacemakers are blessed. Moreover, he not only taught
his disciples not to repay violence with violence, but
he exhorted them to love their enemies. Jesus never
used political or military power to enforce his views
and, when he was arrested, he not only went willingly
20 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
“The opium but he showed outrageous love by healing the ear of
one of those who had come to hurt him. His example
of modernity has inspired millions of Christians throughout history
is the belief to love their neighbours and even their enemies,
sometimes in the most trying of circumstances.
that there A reality check is clearly in order because, as history
is no God, demonstrates, those motivated by Christ have made
a vast global contribution to champion reconciliation,
so that combat slavery, injustice, genocide and infanticide,
humans are promote access to education, science, the arts, political
freedom and social justice, and pioneer hospitals,
free to do orphanages, charitable societies, and law reform. And
precisely as yet the new atheists can scarcely bring themselves to
concede that a single human benefit has flowed from
they please.” the Christian faith and that, instead, religion is, as Sam
Harris suggested, the world’s greatest evil.
(CZESLAW MILOSZ)
Where does evil fit in?
But you see there’s an uncomfortable tension here
for the atheist, because the term ‘evil’ loses any real
meaning if God is removed from the picture. As
Richard Dawkins famously put it, ‘If there is no God,
then the universe in which we live, has at bottom, no
design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but
blind, pitiless indifference’ [emphasis added]. As the
atheist philosopher Nietzsche pointed out long ago, if
we remove God from the picture there is no longer any
objective moral reference point for deciding what is
right and wrong. Without the transcendent, we are left
with moral relativism, but that goes completely against
the grain of every human instinct, because it means
that horrendous things like racism, sexism, rape or
genocide are not objectively wrong.
One cannot visit the former concentration camp of
Auschwitz without being deeply affected by the sense
that what happened there was not only objectively
wrong, it was evil. Though few people today are
aware of it, Nietzsche’s atheistic philosophy had a
profound influence upon Hitler, providing him with
the conceptual framework for his systematic regime of
obliterating those he considered weak and inferior.
Keith Ward points out that it is when people feel
that life is pointless or that existence is some kind of
cruel joke or accident, that they can often surrender
to sadistic and destructive impulses. In other words, it
is not faith, but lack of faith, in the value of existence
and in the possibility of goodness, that is likely to
lead to pure evil. The Nobel Prize-winning poet
Czeslaw Milosz, who experienced both Nazi and Soviet
oppression, argued that it was not religion, but the
denial of accountability in the sight of God that lay at
the root of the century’s most oppressive violence and
cruelty. He wrote:
A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after
death, the huge solace of thinking that for all our betrayals,
greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.
The opium of modernity is the belief that there is no God,
so that humans are free to do precisely as they please.

What hope is there for humanity?
Getting rid of God is not the answer to getting rid of
evil. To paraphrase the great thinker GK Chesterton, if
there is one thing that is morally certain, it is that the
world would be much more violent without belief in
God, than it ever was with belief in God.
Is religion a problem? Well, sometimes it is, but it
is not the root of the problem. We could argue that
money is dangerous and poisons everything, because
it causes crime, so we should get rid of money, or
politics is dangerous, because it causes division, or
science is dangerous because it causes weapons.
Clearly, the answer is not to do away with money or
politics or science or religion, even though people can
and have used these things to cause damage.
Our biggest problem lies much deeper. What is it?
It’s us. We are the common factor in every problem.
The poison is actually within. As Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn wrote:
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously
committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to
separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the
line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every
human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his
own heart?
In other words, ‘the heart of the human problem is
the problem of the human heart’.
Evil is very real and Christianity takes it seriously.
That’s why at the centre of Christianity there is a cross.
Jesus experienced the reality of human evil on the
cross and he defeated it. He did this, not by returning
evil with evil, but by laying down his life on that cross,
for you and for me.
My friend and mentor, Tom Tarrants, was once a Ku
Klux Klan terrorist whose bombing campaign helped
E N G A G I N G C U LT U R E : H E L P I N G T H O S E W I T H O B J E C T I O N S
Above left: Maher Samuel
speaks at ‘One Thing’ 2017 in
him to become known as ‘the most dangerous man in
the Middle East Mississippi’. Yet after being imprisoned, he read the
Above right: stevenallan@ Bible and this led to an encounter that changed his life.
iStock He recalled that, ‘The light came on…I found myself
knowing I needed the grace of God and the forgiveness
of my sins. For the first time, what Jesus did on the
cross became really precious and personally important
to me.’ His conversion was so dramatic the FBI agent
who had arrested him also became a Christian, as
Tom’s life was undeniable evidence that born-again
experiences could happen. Today, he is the gentlest,
most caring person in the world and it is incredible
to think that a few decades ago he was a hate-fi lled
terrorist.
“...the heart Conclusion
Is all religion dangerous? No, not all religion is
of the dangerous. But just about any ideology, including
human atheism, has the potential to be dangerous, because
every single human heart has the potential to be
problem is bigoted, to be arrogant, to be superior, to be violent
the problem and to be obsessed with power.
But what Tom’s story so clearly demonstrates is that
of the God is in the business of transforming human hearts.
human It is his love and forgiveness offered to us through the
cross, through Jesus Christ, that has the power to
heart” radically transform even the most hate-fi lled hearts
into hearts of compassion, forgiveness and love.
Jesus is not the cause of the world’s problems, he is
the answer to them.
Simon Edwards
UK TEAM LEADER
Above: Simon Edwards
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Image: John Lennox and Richard Dawkins in 2008.

Courtesy of Fixed Point Foundation©Matthew Morgan

Debating atheists: partisan

posturing or effective evangelism?
Public debates can be feisty affairs, which is one of the reasons why they are so popular.
In this article, Simon Wenham reports on two recent exchanges and explains why this
type of engagement can be an effective form of evangelism.

“...it is vital
T wo of our speaking team recently went ‘toe-to-toe’
in public debates with a couple of the country’s most
prominent atheists. Max Jeganathan debated Andrew
some of the best-known Christian speakers don’t take
part in them. It is not hard to see why, as they can
not only be overly adversarial, but they can also play
that debates
Copson, President of the British Humanist Association, into the hands of those who do them more frequently. like this occur,
at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School on the proposition Unfortunately, they can also be:
that ‘The future of Britain belongs to humanism’, whilst
because the
• 1. Non-debates: As both sides don’t always listen
Max Baker-Hytch debated fellow philosopher, Stephen
to each other and they can resort to cheap ‘point
stakes for
Law, at Durham University on the question of ‘Does God
exist?’ This article looks at some of the arguments that
scoring’. humanity
• 2. ‘Style over substance’: As the best orator
they used, as well as the wider question of whether it is
often ‘wins’, irrespective of how good their
could hardly
worthwhile for Christians to get involved in this kind of
engagement.
arguments are. be higher”
• 3. One-sided: As a debater’s academic background
What’s the point? or the wording of the motion can give a
Public debates are clearly not for everyone, as even participant an advantage.

22 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G

• 4. Publicity for opponents: As they give
recognition and a voice to an adversary.
• 5. Time-consuming: As participants must
prepare their own work, as well as anticipating
what their opponent might say.
• 6. Unproductive: As a speaker can say much more
on their own without a challenger.
Yet despite the potential pitfalls, there are various
reasons why they can be a useful form of engagement.
As Jeganathan points out, if you are concerned about
the truth, then you can significantly benefit from a
‘fruitful combat of opposing ideas’, as that is the way in
which our legal and political institutions were formed.
Nevertheless, you have to avoid arguing for argument’s
sake and, instead, remember that a believer’s objective
is to win people to Christ. It is not, therefore, a question
of choosing between graciousness and love, on the one
hand, and strategy and assertiveness, on the other,
because all are needed for effective Christian witness
in this setting. Indeed, when debates are done in the
correct spirit, they can be a good way to:
• 1. Reach new audiences: As they ensure partisan
supporters hear different perspectives.
• 2. Engage people: As they are hugely popular
and many people watch them.
• 3. Refine ideas: As they can help to illuminate
the strengths and weaknesses of truth claims.
• 4. Foster mutual understanding: As they
(usually) force participants to interact fairly
with their opponents.
• 5. Establish the credibility of an argument:
As they can show what ideas are intellectually
robust.
Does God exist?
To tackle the question of whether God exists,
Stephen Law deployed what he has called the ‘evil god
challenge’. Th is involves using the arguments theists
give to justify why a good God might allow evil to occur
and then inverting them, so they become justifications
for why an evil god might allow goodness in the world.
An evil god might allow free will, for example, because
it would be good (from an evil god’s perspective) to have
creatures freely choosing evil, even if the price was that
they might sometimes choose to do good. The thought
experiment is supposed to demonstrate that you would
not accept the arguments when applied to an evil god,
and therefore you should not accept them for a good
God either.
Baker-Hytch’s response was to show that, despite
appearances, the two hypotheses are not on par with
each other, because the very notion of an evil god is
logically incoherent and there is no parallel incoherence
with the notion of an all-good God. As a positive case
for God’s existence, he used the fine-tuning argument,
which refers to the physical constants that govern our
universe being within such a miniscule range needed
to permit life, that they seem to point to the existence
E N G A G I N G C U LT U R E : H E L P I N G T H O S E W I T H O B J E C T I O N S
of an intelligent creator. Furthermore, he added that
the ability of human beings to investigate matters that
are far removed from mundane survival needs is also
better explained by theism than atheism.
Does the future of Britain belong to humanism?
When discussing the country’s future, Andrew
Copson’s main approach was to refer to demographic
Above: Max Baker-Hytch
data showing the decline of the Church of England,
whilst also pointing to the atrocities carried out by
religious believers historically (e.g. ISIS, the Crusades,
etc). Whilst some of the statistics speak for themselves,
he did not, however, include any of those showing
growth among non-Anglican churches, nor was there
any nuance shown in relation to non-theists, many of
whom are agnostic, rather than defining themselves as
atheists. Furthermore, whilst demographic trends may
Above: Max Jeganathan provide an indication of people’s beliefs, they don’t help
you decide the bigger and more pertinent question of
whether humanism should own the future.
To answer that, you have to look at what is true, as
if you are commending any worldview you have to be
able to justify it. Indeed, Jeganathan stressed that
you can’t have objective notions of good and evil at
all, for example, without an objective reference point
(i.e. God). By contrast, Copson did not accept his
opponent’s suggestion that secular humanist values
were necessarily subjective, utilitarian and relativistic.
Jeganathan ended the debate by encouraging the
audience to actively explore the truth claims of
Christianity, as they should do with any worldview.
Conclusion
Public debates may not be for everyone, but if done
in the right spirit, there is certainly value to them,
as there remains a real interest in how opposing
viewpoints interact with each other in the global
marketplace of ideas. Furthermore, there are many
examples of people becoming believers partly as a result
of hearing a well-reasoned case for Christianity in such
a setting. In a world where there is so much polarisation
and intolerance, it is clearly healthy for a society if
those from divergent perspectives can come together
to engage in civil public discussion. Indeed, when
“Public assessing ideas, it is also important to see what attitude
proponents of a worldview have towards those who
debates may disagree with them. Moreover, you could argue that it is
not be for vital that debates like this occur, because the stakes for
humanity could hardly be higher.
everyone, Ultimately, the outcome of discussions like this will
but if not only influence how individuals view themselves,
but will be absolutely critical in shaping what our world
done in the will look like in the future – whether that be for better
right spirit, or for worse.
there is Simon Wenham
certainly RESEARCH COORDINATOR
value
to them”
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RE ACHING OUT

Image: Mustello@iStock

Global gospel:
the work of the EMEA team
EUROPE
E urope, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are home to
over two billion people. As a region within the global RZIM
itinerant team, we are seeking to proclaim the good news of
The work of RZIM continues to grow
in Europe, both through the expanding
Jesus in this vibrant and diverse part of the world. Despite the
reach of OCCA, as well as the work of the
challenges posed by secularism, Islam, tribalism and hedonism,
team members in many countries across
God is at work in miraculous and powerful ways. We are
the continent. One key initiative is RZIM
blessed with a gifted team who live, speak, travel and minister
Spain’s Proclama training programme to
powerfully in the languages and cultures of EMEA, as RZIM Above: Amy Orr-Ewing
raise up emerging evangelists, which is now
seeks to reach the culture shapers in universities, businesses,
being launched in the DACH region and
parliaments and creative spaces.
Romania.
The region is also home to the Oxford Centre for Christian
Another important part of mission work
Apologetics (OCCA), where people come from all over the world
is the creation of evangelistic resources in
to learn how to become evangelists and this continues to act as “We are other languages, so that more people can
an important pipeline for adding speakers to our global team
(see page 28). It is an absolute privilege for me to lead this
blessed with be reached, not only in Europe, but in other
countries on other continents. The RZIM
growing team of apologist-evangelists based in EMEA, whose a gifted team online Academy, for example, is already in
minds and hearts are on fire for Christ, as we play our part in
the wider global vision of RZIM.
who live, English, Spanish and French, and is being
launched in German in 2018.
speak, travel
Amy Orr-Ewing
EMEA REGIONAL DIRECTOR AND CO-DIRECTOR OF THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR
and minister
CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS powerfully”

24 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
 RE ACHING OUT

Top left: Andy Wickham at REBOOT Madrid, 2017

Above: Spanish Proclama students with Andy
Wickham and Tom Price
Far left: Julia Garschagen at JesusHouse
Left: Os Guinness and Kosta Milkov with
Macedonian government officials
Right: Luna Wang, OCCA Fellow, at the University
of Sussex, 2017

Spain spoke at a prayer breakfast in southern on-going ‘Oxford Connections’ programme,

It has been a groundbreaking year
for RZIM in Spain (Fundación RZ), as
the ministry moved into a new office,
experienced considerable growth in
training programmes and resources, and
hosted the first-ever REBOOT in Spanish.
Over the last twelve months, Fundación
RZ has spoken and engaged on eleven
university campuses, assisted by our
Proclama students. It has also seen
considerable growth in its social media
presence and has worked on co-publishing
¿Por qué?, Sharon Dirckx’s book Why?
Looking at God, Evil, and Personal Suffering.
The team has also been developing more
modules for the RZIM Academy in Spanish.
DACH (Germany, Austria and
Switzerland)
The work of RZIM in the DACH region
has been greatly enhanced by the addition
of Julia Garschagen, our first apologist
based in Germany (see page 32). She joins
Christian Hofreiter, who oversees the
ministry in the German-speaking world
through the Zacharias Institute for
Science, Faith, and Culture, which is
based in Vienna.
Over the year a number of people have
come to faith during different events. One
particular highlight was Julia helping lead
a huge youth mission, called JesusHouse,
which was organised by ProChrist and had
a remarkable 825 church youth groups
taking part with outreach in 275 locations
to over 85,000 people across Germany,
Austria and Croatia. Another was Julia,
Michael Ramsden, Kosta Milkov and OCCA
Fellow Mari Ovsepyan visiting Germany
for an IFES (International Fellowship of
Evangelical Students) conference to train
2,000 students from over 40 different
countries in reaching universities across
Europe with the gospel. Christian also
Estonia attended by politicians, civic
leaders, and church leaders and an event at
Tartu University.
Romania
Th is year, RZIM Romania experienced
breakthroughs in the business community,
as well as in invitations from a wide array
of churches and conferences, as more
people in the Christian community grasp
the importance of evangelistic outreach
undergirded by apologetics.
RZIM Romania Director Vlad Criznic
spoke at a conference for 600 students
and at a number of summer camps. Other
highlights were RZIM’s ‘Th ink, Ask,
Ponder’ conference in Cluj, an evangelistic
event that attracted over 200 business
leaders, and Amy Orr-Ewing’s talk to 400
students at the University of Cluj, which
was not only the largest evangelistic
meeting in recent years, but also the fi rst to
have a woman as the main speaker. RZIM
Romania has also participated in several
gatherings in Moldova and Vlad will be
teaching at one of its universities, as well
as to its extension sites in Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.
Macedonia
Despite considerable geopolitical
turmoil, God continues to open exciting
doors for RZIM to reach the influencers in
Macedonia, through the Balkan Institute
for Faith and Culture, which Kosta and
Nada Milkov pioneered and established.
One of the most significant events was
the visit of Os Guinness, who was able
to speak at a round table forum on the
migrant crisis, organised in conjunction
with the Office of the President of the
Republic of Macedonia.
One of the main ways for reaching
academic circles has been through the
where Christian academics from Oxford
University speak to students and faculty at
leading institutions in Macedonia. Kosta
has also been working on an initiative with
the Academy of Sciences and Arts, and with
student movements in Slovenia, Ukraine
and Belarus.
United Kingdom
The UK team continues to act as a
global hub for many of RZIM’s initiatives
in the EMEA region and the Oxford
Centre for Christian Apologetics remains
an important pipeline for training new
evangelists (see page 28). The office has
also pioneered and expanded the REBOOT
youth apologetics events (see page 34) and
the Festival of Thought initiative (see page
38), both of which are now running in a
number of other countries.
The team has been involved with a
number of collaborative events throughout
Europe, often in conjunction with speakers
from other RZIM countries and other
ministries. There have also been increasing
opportunities to speak to young people
through the expansion of REBOOT,
and invitations to speak to students in
a number of notable schools, as well as
opportunities to reach those in positions
of political power with Amy Orr-Ewing
and John Lennox both doing events for
Christians in Parliament. The Zacharias
Trust is also expanding its work in the
business community with a number of new
initiatives, including growing the Festival
of Thought. >

Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 25
RE ACHING OUT

Image: Mahlatse Mashua, African Team Director,

speaks at Reboot George 2017 to 400 young people

Image: Wassim Sabry, Middle East Team

Director, speaks at ‘One Thing’ 2017

Above and left: Maher Samuel speaks

to crowds at ‘One Thing’ 2017
Above right: Mahlatse Mashua
Right: Amy Orr-Ewing and Racheal Mutesi
Below: Middle East Summer School

MIDDLE EAST
Over the past several years, the RZIM
team has been cultivating strategic
relationships in the region, encouraging
church leaders to embrace apologetics,
and speaking to diverse audiences. Even
amid tremendous geopolitical change,
God is opening exciting doors for the
team to impact key arenas with the truth
of the gospel. ‘The question in the hearts
of millions in the Middle East is, “Does
Christianity have something different
to offer than what we are seeing in this
region?”’ said Maher Samuel, RZIM Senior
Middle East Apologist, based in Alexandria,
Egypt.
Egypt
One country the Egyptian team has been
focusing on is Iraq, with Maher Samuel
speaking in a number of different settings.
He also spoke to over 100 leaders from
19 countries in Lebanon, the majority of
whom had Islamic backgrounds. Wassim
Sabry was also able to travel to Thailand
to speak to Chinese students preparing
to be missionaries around the world.
Together, Maher and Wassim preached at
the ‘One Th ing’ conference at the end of
2017, a livestreamed event held in Egypt for
over 8,000 people.
A key part of the ministry is running
training schools in Egypt and the
surrounding countries for those engaged
in evangelism in the region. The new Cairo
office is also focusing on producing more
apologetics material online through the
Credologos portal.
Turkey
For over a year, Turkey has been in an
official state of emergency with all kinds of
ramifications for the daily life and ministry
of the churches and mission organisations.
Internet and media evangelism have
become one of the most effective tools
and one new initiative is RZIM Turkey’s
online quarterly magazine, Rhema. RZIM
Turkey Director Senem Ekener was also
interviewed by CBN’s Isik Abla on a
programme that is widely watched by
Muslims around the world. She continues
to teach in a variety of settings, including at
a local Bible school.
AFRICA
RZIM’s ministry has grown considerably
in Africa under the leadership of RZIM
Africa Director Mahlatse Mashua. The
team has recently been enlarged with John
Njoroge moving to Kenya and a number
of new Africa Adjuncts. Th is network of
evangelists includes speakers in South
Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. The
opportunities for sharing the gospel are

26 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
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Left: Racheal Mutesi, Below: OCCA Adjunct, Gideon Odoma,

OCCA Adjunct in Uganda speaks at Makerere University, Uganda

Left: The African team

from left to right: Mahlatse
Mashua, African Team
Director; Justice Okoronkwo,
OCCA Adjunct, Nigeria;
Raymond Bukenya, OCCA
Adjunct, Uganda; Ian Smith,
EMEA Executive Director;
Hassan John, OCCA Adjunct,
Nigeria; John Njoroge,
RZIM Speaker, Kenya; Mike
Day, OCCA Fellow, South
Africa; Amy Orr-Ewing, EMEA
Director; Lara Buchanan,
Zacharias Trust Speaker;
Racheal Mutesi, OCCA
Adjunct, Uganda;
Frog Orr-Ewing, OCCA
Chaplain and Missioner

Far left: Amy Orr-Ewing

Left: Amy and
Frog Orr-Ewing
Right: REBOOT
South Africa team

great, as are some of the challenges in this
large and diverse continent. One hope is
that the Africa team will hold missions on
every one of the top 25 universities on the
continent by 2025.
South Africa
Mahlatse has had a number of
opportunities to speak on the hot topics of
racism, justice and the role of the church in
reconciliation. One of his planned talks in
Rhodes University was met by protestors,
who were fired on by the police with rubber
bullets. The tent, which was supposed to
be the venue for the talk, became a refuge
for the injured. Although the event did not
occur, the team was able to demonstrate
God’s love by caring for the activists,
which was particularly poignant, as a
common accusation against the church
is that it has done little in the face of
systematic injustice.
Mahlatse also spoke on the topic at
the largest social justice conference in
the country and another particular
highlight was commending Christianity
on a radio debate with a prominent
university professor and a well-known
social commentator.
The team is also focusing on training
church leaders to build authentic and
diverse faith communities, and to use the
tough questions that arise from hard social
narratives to preach the gospel and validate
the truth claims of Jesus.
Kenya
John Njoroge moved to Nairobi in 2016,
partly to be closer to Valley Light Home,
the orphanage he and his wife, Leah,
began, with many ministry opportunities
arising. At the end of last year, John was
one of the keynote speakers at a conference
organised by the Fellowship of Christian
Unions (FOCUS), which was attended
by over 2,000 people. More recently, the
amazing story of God’s providence in his
life was featured in the second largest
newspaper in the East African region,
which has encouraged many people and led
to further invitations.
John is continuing to look for more
opportunities to do youth evangelism and
he is also working on an apologetics fi lm
project for God TV.
We give thanks in the EMEA region for
the tremendous impact of the gospel. The
RZIM team has worked with energy, loyalty
and commitment sometimes in danger
or facing significant challenges. We look
forward to another year of opportunity.
Events: You can see where and when our global
team are speaking at www.zachariastrust.org.

Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 27
RE ACHING OUT

Oxford Centre for

Christian Apologetics
The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA) plays a crucial role as a global training institution,
not only for identifying, mentoring and training the next generation of evangelists for the wider RZIM
team, but also for supporting the worldwide church.

T he centre is a community of scholars who benefit

from the teaching of world-class thinkers, such as
John Lennox, Os Guinness, Michael Ramsden, Amy
In the East End of London the varied forms of
outreach included business talks, an assembly in a local
school, ministering to prisoners, speaking at a drug and
Orr-Ewing, Ravi Zacharias and many others. Tanya alcohol abuse recovery centre, and a Q & A event at an
Walker plays a key role in shaping the global mission arts café in a Muslim-dense area. A number of people
strategy for the centre, as the new Dean of OCCA.
Effective prayed for salvation and one student, Alanzo Paul,
evangelism, described the experience as one of the greatest nights
OCCA Missions of his life. He added, ‘I’ve lost count of how many people
A highlight of studying at OCCA is taking part in
academic I’ve got to pray for. The city of London is so open.
a number of missions in conjunction with Christian excellence It was just such a privilege to go out there and serve
ministries and churches. These not only allow students people until we had nothing left in us. We left it all in
to participate in different forms of evangelism, but
and spiritual East London’.
they also provide the opportunity to see God’s work in formation OCCA offers the following courses for those with a
action. Last academic year, they were held in the cities passion to make Christ known:
of London, Buckingham and Östersund (Sweden), the
• One-year Programme
universities of Bath, Leicester, De Montfort and Sussex,
• Programme for Masters Students
as well as in schools in High Wycombe and Cranleigh. Top left: OCCA students
from the 2017/8 cohort • Four-week Business Programme (see page 40)
In each setting, there were first-time commitments
• Doctoral Fellows Programme (see page 30)
made to God, people expressing a desire to fi nd out Top right: Tanya Walker,
more about Christianity, as well as local ministries Dean of OCCA
www.theocca.org
being encouraged and supported. Above right: Andy Moore

A community EVENT OF Belief-mapping

of scholars THE YEAR 2017
You can read more about the One resource that OCCA tutor Tom Price is continuing to
The Christian Union Events Week that OCCA
wider community of students develop for use in university settings is a belief-mapping tool
was involved with at De Montfort University
connected with OCCA on designed to open up conversations about worldview and God.
was named the ‘Event of the Year 2017’ by its
page 30. This has already been translated into a number of different
Students’ Union.
languages, including Mandarin.

28 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
 RE ACHING OUT

Images: Some of
the people helped by
Wellspring International

“Wellspring PROJECTS
is ‘practical The individual projects cannot be listed for security
reasons, but below is a snapshot of some of the global
apologetics’. initiatives Wellspring International is involved with.
Love is the North America
most powerful Child bereavement and hospice services for over
30 families.
apologetic. It
Wellspring is the essential
component
South America
Outreach and support to sex workers and at-risk

International
children.
in reaching Asia
Support for over 800 victims of violence from burning,
the whole educational scholarships for over 400 children from
person in a
W ellspring International is the humanitarian
arm of RZIM. It was established in 2004, as an
extension of the central focus of the ministry, where
fragmented
slum areas, flood relief for the vulnerable, and medical
services for exploited sex workers in the continent’s
largest red light district.
we live out what we preach and defend. The vision of world. The Europe
Wellspring is to identify and financially equip existing
organisations aiding women and children at risk, as
need is vast, Recovery services and personal outreach programmes
to men and women in prostitution and victims of
well as to provide individual scholarships to support but it is also human trafficking.
education, healthcare, and basic living needs.
Support is given to aid organisations that embody
imperative Middle East
four principle areas that are vital for this work: that we be Providing food coupons for over 1,000 refugee families
and services and support for over 200 children with
• RESCUE: Liberating individuals from destructive
willing to special needs (and over 1,000 family members).
environments. follow the Africa
• REHABILITATION: Offering programmes that example of Support for over 200 children who have special needs
provide treatment and healing for physical and or have been abandoned or orphaned (many of whom
emotional needs.
Jesus and have HIV).

• RESTORATION: Providing respite and renewal to

meet the
All donations made to Wellspring International
enable new hope, confidence and independence. need.” go directly to the projects described above, as the
• RE-ENTRY: Supplying homes, vocational training (RAVI ZACHARIAS) administrative costs of the ministry are covered
and job opportunities. by RZIM.

Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 29
RE ACHING OUT

IMAGE: LARA BUCHANAN SPEAKER IMAGE: MAX JEGANATHAN SPEAKER

KASEY LEANDER MATTHEW MITTELBERG KYUNG MIN RO ALANZO PAUL IBRAHIM BAIDOO PAULSON TUMUTEGYEREIZE
OCCA FELLOW OCCA FELLOW OCCA FELLOW OCCA FELLOW AFRICA ADJUNCT AFRICA ADJUNCT

Meet our new team members

The OCCA is a community of scholars that not only is an important pipeline
for the RZIM speaking team, but also supports the wider church by training people
who are called to evangelism in different settings.

Speakers OCCA Fellows

We are pleased to announce that former
OCCA Fellows, Max Jeganathan and Lara
Buchanan, have taken up posts as full
itinerant speakers for RZIM in Singapore
and Oxford respectively.
“This growing network
Five former OCCA students have joined
the team as new OCCA Fellows. Kasey
of evangelists supports
Leander and Matthew Mittelberg, from the church and
America, will be based in Washington
DC, Kyung Min Ro, from South Korea,
the global RZIM team”
and David Bennett, from Australia,
will be studying at St Andrew’s
University, whilst Alanzo Paul, from
Canada, will be continuing his education
at Oxford University.

30 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
 RE ACHING OUT

IMAGE: MARI OVSEPYAN OCCA FELLOW

DANIEL TRACEY

Daniel is an Australian
researching the self-assembly
of certain particles through
computer simulations.

IMAGE: DAVID BENNETT OCCA FELLOW

ANNA HUTCHINSON BLAKE TRIMBLE

Africa Adjuncts
Anna is a British scholar Blake is an American
exploring the relationship exploring the role
Former OCCA students, Ibrahim Baidoo
between Scriptural ontology that belief plays in how
and Paulson Tumutegyereize have joined and interpretation in the we relate to cultural
the team as Africa Adjuncts and will be church. phenomena.
serving in Ghana and Uganda respectively.
Th is growing network of evangelists
supports the church and the global RZIM
ANDREW NEWELL
team in a number of countries across OCCA Research Associates
Andrew is a British student
the continent. examining the eighteenth- The OCCA Research Associateship is a
century poet and hymn-
writer, William Cowper.
new group within the OCCA community
OCCA Doctoral Fellows
of individuals at an advanced stage in their
The OCCA is also pleased to welcome a doctoral studies:
new cohort of Doctoral Fellows, who are a
group of PhD students who we hope will
BEN PAGE DEJAN AZDAJIC
play a crucial role in communicating the
Ben is a British scholar Dejan is an ordained
credibility of the Christian worldview in researching the philosophy minister from Slovenia
serious academic circles for many years. of mind from a Neo- whose ethnographic
The cohort of nine includes three former Aristotelian standpoint. research on Sufi Islam was
conducted whilst living
or current staff members (Ben Page, amongst Muslims.
Anna Hutchinson and Martin Smith):

OLIVIA ANDERSON JAHDIEL PEREZ KIRSTEN MACKERRAS

Olivia is an American
examining religious
persecution in the
late seventeenth
century England.
Jahdiel is an American Kirsten is an Australian who
exploring CS Lewis’ literary is examining how the early
imagination to construct a church defended the faith
‘hermeneutic of humour’. from its persecutors.

TIMOTHY GLOVER MARTIN SMITH CALUM MILLER

Timothy is a British student
researching the late medieval
devotional literature of
Richard Rolle.
Martin is a British student Calum is a British doctor who
examining the potential does research on a range of
for a new type of moral issues as a Visiting Research
argument for God’s Scholar of the Uehiro Centre
existence. for Practical Ethics.

Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 31
RE ACHING OUT

Image: University mission at Karlsruhe

©Immanuel Steiner

Correspondence
from Cologne: We caught up with our newest German
team member, Julia Garschagen, to
introducing talk about her path to faith, the latest
initiatives of RZIM, and the challenges
Julia Garschagen for evangelism in the country.

32 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G

“Unto this SIMON WENHAM: Could you start by telling us
a little bit about yourself and how you got involved
day, I am with RZIM?
thankful
JULIA GARSCHAGEN: I was born and raised in
for people Cologne, Germany. Invited by a friend from primary
who allowed school, I got involved in the local church and came
to know and love Jesus. My environment was quite
room for sceptical so, as a teenager, I wrestled with questions
my questions about the credibility of the Bible and the relationship
between science and faith. Unto this day, I am thankful
and showed for people who allowed room for my questions and
me that showed me that there is good reason to have faith in
Jesus.
there is After finishing High School, I worked for a year in the
good reason slums of Lima (Peru), which was a time that left a deep
impression on me. It showed me that following Jesus
to have faith does not only involve heart and mind, but also our
in Jesus” hands, as we are called to serve the poor, just as He did.
Feeling a strong sense of calling, I studied theology in
Germany and afterwards did ministry, mainly working
with High School students. As teenagers are asking big
questions of identity and meaning, they are much more
open to Jesus´ love than any other age group. I realised
how many of them didn´t have what I had: someone
who was not afraid of their questions, would take them
seriously and would accompany them on their way
to finding solid answers. For many of them faith is
blind faith, and once they go to university, they don´t
have the tools to question and deal with the different
worldviews they encounter.
In order to sharpen myself, I went back to university
and did an MA in Theology at King´s College, London.
Afterwards, I was invited by a small charity to work as
a university evangelist for a year, both in the UK and in
Europe. Through this ministry, I got to know RZIM and
was thrilled to hear about their new office focusing on
the German-speaking countries (based in Austria).
Due to our church history, apologetics is not very
developed in the German-speaking world, but there is a
growing need for it, which makes the presence of RZIM
very strategic. I stayed connected with them and it was
a great privilege for me to join the team in October
2016 as the first itinerant based in Germany.
What are the specific challenges to being an
evangelist in the German-speaking world?
My experience is that the soil in the region is much
harder than in the UK, for example, for a number of
reasons. One is that fewer people are asking about the
question of truth. The new atheism that is so concerned
with this issue never really took off in the German-
speaking world, because postmodernity, with its denial
of truth, is very much ingrained in people´s thought.
So, their questions are not about whether something is
true, but rather whether it is helpful. We therefore need
to learn to show the power of the gospel in a new way.
Above left:
Julia Garschagen at Jesus
As in many countries in the West, ethical objections
House©Immanuel Steiner relating to exclusiveness, arrogance and hypocrisy have
RE ACHING OUT
become the strongest objections against Christianity.
People question the morality of God and of those who
follow him. For some, this is very real and personal, so
sometimes the best apologetic is an apology. But we also
need to tell the positive story, to show how Christianity
can influence our society for the better, and how it
makes a life-changing difference to the individual. The
gospel message is not only powerful, it is also beautiful.
Another challenge comes from history. Due to the
communist regime in the former DDR, East Germany
is today the most unchurched region in Europe. In
many families, there hasn´t been a Christian for two
generations and many have no knowledge of the
Bible whatsoever. They have forgotten that they have
forgotten God. To them, Christianity doesn´t seem to
be relevant at all.
Here, relationship and friendship are key: the
apologetics of a life lived with Christ. At the same time,
we need to show all three of the power, the beauty and
the truth of the gospel.
What projects are you currently working on and
how can we pray for you?
My ministry with RZIM has three main focuses:
one is evangelism and apologetics at the universities in
the German-speaking region. Although we have seen a
number of universities banning Christian witness from
their campuses, the number of mission weeks is also
growing and we rejoice over people coming to Jesus
during them. It might not (yet) be many, but we believe
that God counts fruit, not success, and growing fruit
needs time. Students are becoming more creative in
how to reach out to their friends and there is a strong
eagerness to be trained in evangelism. We are starting
a training programme called Proclama with a core group
of twelve students. Over the course of two years, we
will train and equip them in evangelism, apologetics
and spiritual life. Our prayer is that they may become
future public evangelists for our region.
Another focus is evangelism among young people. I
am a key leader, organiser and speaker at JesusHouse,
the biggest German youth mission, which is organised
by ProChrist. Th is spring, we trained 150 evangelists
and did 400 missions, including live-broadcasting from
two cities and several countries. We know of 9,000
young people who responded to the gospel. I have
now taken over leadership of this project and we are
planning ahead for 2020.
There is also a growing openness for training in
apologetics among pastors and youth workers, who see
the need to strengthen this rather neglected field. I
have the opportunity to teach apologetics at one of the
most important theological seminaries in Germany.
Also please pray for a book project on apologetics that
I´m hoping to write in the coming year.
If you would like to know more about Julia and the work of RZIM in
the German-speaking world, visit www.zachariasinstitut.org (a
German language website).
Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 33
RE ACHING OUT

Top: Amy Orr-Ewing at

REBOOT Edinburgh
Above left and centre:
REBOOT audience
Centre left: Daniel Rangel,
Max Jeganathan and Mike Day
Bottom left: Max Jeganathan
and Gareth Black

34 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
 RE ACHING OUT

Youth apologetics in Scotland

In March 2017, 400 young adults and youth leaders came through the doors of Central Hall,
Edinburgh for the launch of the first REBOOT in Scotland.

F illing the venue with this number was already

testimony to God’s providence and faithfulness, as
local church and youth leaders had said that anything
“I found
this day
invited by her Catholic boyfriend and although she
had never felt the need for God, was unexpectedly
overcome by emotion during the worship. Lara was
above 200 would be surprising! Evidently, REBOOT able to explain that that is sometimes the way God gets
was scratching a very present itch.
amazing as our attention. After asking her whether she wanted to
The day began with the team racing through some it answered invite Jesus into her life, she said that she did, but was
hot apologetics questions, before Amy Orr-Ewing not sure how to do it. Lara had the privilege of being
tackled the question of ‘Why Trust the Bible?’ She
the really able to pray with her, as she started her journey of
was followed by Andy Moore exploring reasons for tough following God.
God, Lara Buchanan on the cross and suffering, and At the end of the day, thirty people ticked ‘count me
Daniel Rangel on sex and relationships. There were also
questions in’ on their feedback cards, meaning they had either
seminars on mental health, other religions, ‘apologetics and made a first-time commitment to follow Jesus or a
in real life’ and one tailored for youth leaders, as well as significant re-commitment to their faith.
an interview with Ben Thomas, a Christian medic who
explained What a privilege it was to empower the next
is same-sex attracted. things so generation of Christians in Scotland with a refreshed
An open environment was encouraged by the sense of urgency, relevance and courage for the gospel!
interactive question and answer sessions in which
clearly.
people could ask any question anonymously via their Loved it! Helen Downey
own smartphones. Th is allowed sensitive questions to PROGRAMMES MANAGER
surface. A stark and recurring theme was legalism and
I came with
REBOOT youth apologetics events are held in major cities across the
what Christians were ‘allowed’ or ‘not allowed’ to do. questions globe (see below)
By explaining about God’s grace, the team were able to
help many in the audience feel the burden lifted from
and feel
them. much more
Many teens came forward for prayer at the end to
ask God for greater boldness in being true Christians
confident
in their schools, whilst others came forward for prayer now with
about sexual guilt or shame. Lara Buchanan felt that REBOOT Edinburgh was livestreamed
one of the most significant moments for her was
my faith. and has since attracted over 6,000
views online.
praying with a seventeen-year-old girl who asked about Thank you If you’re interested in looking back at the day, you can
learning the type of speaking that had been used at the do so here: www.rebootglobal.org/edinburgh/
event, which she had not come across before. Lara felt
for
a strong sense of the presence of God as they talked transforming REBOOT is held in a number of locations
about the kinds of resources that could help her go across the world and the UK events are:
deeper in her faith and become better equipped for
me.” • Edinburgh, 10 March 2018
evangelism. The conversation was perhaps a fulfi lment (REBOOT ATTENDEE) • Belfast, 10 March 2018
of the picture Lara had had months before about suits
• London, 22 September 2018
of armour hanging up in the hall, waiting there for
young people to come and step into them at REBOOT. For more information see
Another who came forward was a girl who was www.rebootglobal.org.
attending her first ever Christian event. She had been

Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 35
EQ U I PPI N G YO U FO R T H E WO R K PL ACE
Evangelism in the workplace
Christians know they are called to tell others about their faith, but not necessarily how to do it.
In this article, Max Jeganathan shares five biblical principles to help believers be more effective and
obedient disciples within their working environments.
A s believers, we fi nd ourselves as lawyers, doctors,
engineers, artists, waiters and waitresses,
IT professionals, nurses, tradespeople and, of course,
every other profession under the sun. What does this
tell us? Amongst other things, it reflects the undeniable
reality that Christians, while united in their love for
Christ and identity in Him, can be very different.
Different interests, personality-types, hobbies,
pastimes and friendship groups separate us.
However, when it comes to a workplace setting
– wherever it may be – it is reasonable to assume
that some of these differences will in fact become
similarities, in relation to the people with whom we
work. While not all lawyers like chocolate ice-cream,
most enjoy a contested-space and a rigorous battle of
ideas. Not all investment bankers like the same kinds
of pizza, but most appreciate a good financial model
or a reliable equities algorithm. Not all artists like
basketball, but most appreciate the richness of a poem
36 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
by Whitman, Wordsworth or Yeats.
What can we learn from these observations? How can
we utilise these overlapping professional tendencies for
“...the
workplace
God’s glory?
As we search for guidance in our approach to effective
undoubtedly
and obedient discipleship in the workplace, it is the offers a
Word of God itself, as ever, that gives us our starting
point. There is no better place to begin than with Luke’s
unique setting
account of Paul in Greece. In Acts 17, Paul goes to through which
Thessalonica – to a synagogue – and reasons from the
Jewish scriptures. He has some success and meets some
authentic
resistance. He then moves on to Berea and does the friendships
same again (evoking a similar reaction). He then goes to
Athens. For a third time, he goes to a Jewish synagogue.
can be
He then goes to the Areopagus – arguably, then the built and
global centre for academic, philosophical and political
discourse – where he reasons from their philosophers,
invested in”
beliefs and customs. In every instance, we see the
following:

Image: Black and White London shot ©Samuel Zeller, Tate Modern Museum, London, United Kingdom
1. Paul speaks to the people where they are,
physically.
2. He speaks to the people where they are,
intellectually.
3. He is neither judgmental, nor condescending.
4. He finds common-ground for the gospel in their
worldview and channels the gospel through that
common ground.
Of course, these principles are not confi ned to
evangelism in the workplace. They are, arguably,
universal handy hints for sharing our faith anywhere
and with anyone. However, the workplace undoubtedly
offers a unique setting through which authentic
friendships can be built and invested in. These
relationships can then form the backdrop against which
all four of Paul’s principles can be brought into practical
effect. Th is backdrop is underpinned by the fifth and,
arguably, most important principle:
5. Our demonstration of the love of Christ in how
we behave in our workplaces is our most powerful
apologetic platform for evangelism (John 13:35).
Our workplaces offer us the unique opportunity to
bring all five of these principles together. To engage
with colleagues where they are, we must actively and
genuinely engage with who they are – their lives, their
hopes, their dreams, their fears, their questions. As
Francis Schaeffer famously said, given one hour with
an individual in an evangelistic conversation, he would
spend fifty-five minutes asking them questions and
then would respond and share the gospel in the last five
minutes. We must be patient and responsive – never in
a hurry. A believer who thinks of their colleagues and
friends as ‘evangelism projects’ is about as obvious as
EQ U I PPI N G YO U FO R T H E WO R K PL ACE
a door-to-door salesman and as likely to succeed as a
salad bar in a KFC restaurant.
Of course, it must also be said that evangelism in
the workplace needs to be done sensitively and with
respect to regulations and guidelines of your employing
organisation and any other relevant laws and ethical
boundaries. While it is up to each of us to be appraised
of these, the conversations I have alluded to thus far
are best done ‘in the margins’ – at work social events,
a beer at the pub, a dinner-party, a weekend brunch –
and we must especially be respectful of any perceived
or actual impropriety that may arise when we share
our faith with those whom we directly manage or lead
professionally.
That being said, all five principles need not be
watered down in how they are made real in our
working lives. As Paul was, we must be strategic and
yet genuine, tactical and yet authentic, intentional
and yet loving.
As a great preacher said, the gospel is like a beautiful
diamond and it shines in different ways depending on
the angle at which you hold it. The workplace offers
us the opportunity to share our faith-story, answer
“As a great questions and invite people to Christ – all the while
praying for the Spirit to lead us in how best to hold up
preacher said, the gospel, so its unstoppable light shines into people’s
the gospel is lives in a relevant way.
Yes, being carefully vocal with our faith in the
like a beautiful workplace may seem difficult. And yes, we may
diamond and come up against social, emotional and professional
adversity. However, we know what Shakespeare’s
it shines in Duke Senior said about adversity: it’s ugly and
different ways venomous, like a toad, but it holds a precious jewel in
its head! The only place that our colleagues can find
depending the fulfi lment, satisfaction, peace and flourishing
on the angle they have always looked for, is in the love of Jesus
Christ. So let us build authentic relationships at work.
at which Let us channel the gospel graciously, respectfully (1
you hold it” Peter 3:15), strategically and thoughtfully (Acts 17).
Let our workplaces be a place where our faith is lived
out – where God’s glory is proclaimed and where His
Kingdom is advanced.
Max Jeganathan
SENIOR ITINERANT SPEAKER, RZIM ASIA
TRAINING FOR EVANGELISM
Above: Max Jeganathan
Do you want to be better at communicating
Above far left: People at
lunch from above © Daria
your faith to others? If so, the Zacharias
Shevtsova. London Sky Trust offers a range of training options and
Gardens 2016
you can read about these on the back page
Far left: Michael Ramsden
of this magazine. There is also a specific
speaking at Canary Wharf
Business Programme for those who want
Centre: John Lennox
teaching senior business to reach others within their workplaces and
owners and executives you can read about that on page 40.
Left: Evangelistic talk in
Canary Wharf in 2015
Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 37
EQ U I PPI N G YO U FO R T H E WO R K PL ACE
Festival of Thought
Across the world, RZIM is engaging with questions of truth and purpose in business.
F estival of Thought emerged from a series of events in 2015,
when RZIM partnered with a number of Christian networks
within banking and financial institutions in London to discuss the
Christian perspective on issues relating to business. Since then,
Festivals have taken place in other global business centres and the
next is planned for South Africa in 2018. An RZIM team will speak
in a variety of corporate settings across both Johannesburg and
Cape Town.
Tackling questions such as ‘Does integrity matter at work?’,
‘How can I get results and preserve relationships?’, ‘Do the markets
need morality?’ and ‘How can I lead in an honourable way?’, RZIM’s
world-class thinkers and speakers offer the Christian perspective in
a way that brings new insight.
38 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G
The Festival is designed for those of any faith or none and has
been viewed by corporates as an incredible learning opportunity,
a way of enhancing understanding of company values and
as a contribution to Continuing Professional Development
for attendees.
Looking towards 2018, Mahlatse Mashua, Director of RZIM
South Africa, explains that there is an incredible opportunity to
reach people in the fast-paced and dynamic world of business,
because there is already a vibrant intersection of ideas taking place.
The questions that are being raised relate to, on the one side, the
broader and deeper issues of morality, meaning, purpose, integrity,
trust and faith, and, on the other, those emanating from societal
pressures that revolve around the hot topics of justice, freedom
and inequality.
 EQ U I PPI N G YO U FO R T H E WO R K PL ACE

Top far left: 360 Chicago © Kevin Rajaram. Chicago 2017

Top: Taller than the trees © Sean Pollock. London 2017

Above left: Concrete Jungle © Andi Rizal. Singapore 2017

Above right and left: Andy Moore

Former financial adviser, Andy Moore, who leads the Festival some of these topics, but also a forum in which workers can ask
of Thought globally, points out that whilst it is very common for questions, give their own points of view, and hopefully come to
employees to be encouraged to be good corporate citizens – in some conclusions about the Christian faith.
keeping with the ethical language that is often written large across The Festival of Thought in Cape Town and Johannesburg runs
the walls of offices – it often isn’t clear whether anyone really knows from 15-22 April 2018.
what those words mean.
Th is is where Festival of Thought makes a unique contribution. For further information see: www.festivalofthought.buzz.
It provides an opportunity for those in business to consider the
big questions of life, in a way that makes sense in their vocational If you have any questions about Festival of Thought contact
setting. As Michael Ramsden explains, it allows people to explore, andrew.moore@zachariastrust.org
at a much deeper level, the kinds of topics that many people wish
were raised and addressed within the workplace. Moreover, as Amy
Orr-Ewing points out, the week-long Festival provides not only the
opportunity to hear cutting-edge speakers and thinkers address

Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 39
EQ U I PPI N G YO U FO R T H E WO R K PL ACE

A transformational time at OCCA:

taking apologetics into the
business world
Oxford is a long way from Chariton, Iowa. So you might ask what I was doing, packing up my wife and
four children and heading to England to spend the summer of 2016 doing the Business Programme at
the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA).

Image: OCCA Business Programme students and members of staff 2016

Far left: Jeff Johnson

Left: Oxford
Above: Eagle and Child
pub, Oxford
Top right: Tom Price, Ian Smith,
Michael Ramsden, Os Guinness
and David Lloyd
Right: Houses of Parliament visit

40 W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T. O R G

I t’s a fair question – one that I asked myself several
times. But since I know God is good – very good – I
trust him in all things, particularly big adventures. So
off we went. And none of us have been the same since.
Here’s a little about me. I am the fourth-generation
owner and operator of a 200,000-square-foot steel
fabrication plant in the Midwest with approximately
100 employees. The business has been quite successful
and there’s a larger story to tell about how God has
guided and directed our business but, for now, let me
just tell you what led me to Oxford.
As President of a small family-owned business, I am
afforded the fellowship of other Presidents and CEOs
in different business groups and organizations. As I
would share with them the amazing things God has
been doing with my family, my business, and my life,
they began to have questions. And I felt more and more
compelled to have an answer for them.
As God would have it, I bumped into a friend from
Florida who had previously attended the OCCA
Business Programme. He explained how the teaching
was second to none, as was his overall experience of
the course. In fact, he said it was one of the greatest
experiences of his life. So my wife and I prayed about
the matter and after applying, to our delight, I was
accepted and admitted into the OCCA Business
Programme for 2016.
For my part, I met ten classmates from around the
world that quickly became my dearest friends. I’ll
never forget the first class I attended, when another
student joined us: Os Guinness. He simply sat down on
a seat alongside the students, pulled out a notepad and
began taking notes just like the rest of us. His humility
and hunger for continued learning made a lasting
impression on me.
If my intention in going to Oxford was to be well-
equipped, I was equipped and then some. During the
programme we were given access to some of the finest
scholars in the world. Among those who taught us were
Michael Ramsden, Tom Price, Amy Orr-Ewing, Tanya
Walker, John Lennox, Sam Allberry, Sharon Dirckx,
Jo Vitale, Vince Vitale, and Os Guinness, to name a
few. Under Tom Tarrants, we studied the importance
of spiritual formation, grace, and humility. We learned
about profi les of leadership, questions concerning the
Bible, handling tough questions and other religions.
We toured the British Museum, the British Library
and were exposed to art and culture through various
tours around Oxford, as well as London. We even
visited the Houses of Parliament and spoke with
one of its members, Baroness Cox, about how her
faith had influenced her governance and other
charitable endeavours.
Overall, the experience far exceeded my
expectations. I have binders full of notes that, now
more than a year later, I pore over almost daily, as I
grow stronger and deeper in my faith.
When I got back to Iowa, many friends and colleagues
wanted to hear what I had learned in England. It was
a tremendous joy to share not only specific lessons to
EQ U I PPI N G YO U FO R T H E WO R K PL ACE
“I enrolled in
the OCCA
different groups, but the overall blessing of what I had
experienced. One friend in particular, a local physician,
was interested in helping me carry the message to other
Business people in our area. So we started a programme called
Crossroads Apologetics (www.crossroadsapologetics.
Programme so com).
I would have We rented a facility and hosted talks once a month to
share what we had learned. It has been amazing to see
an answer the encouragement in the fellowship arise out of just a
for those who simple discussion. We are moving the event to our local
universities and are developing partnerships with CRU
asked about (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) as well as some
my faith. Not local churches to take similar talks to students and
faculty.
only did I gain I enrolled in the OCCA Business Programme so I
the knowledge would have an answer for those who asked about my
faith. Not only did I gain the knowledge I sought, but
I sought, but my faith grew as well. I have a revitalized desire to read
my faith grew my Bible and spend time in prayer. I am more open to
seeing God move in my life. At the same time, the world
as well.” has gotten smaller for me. I have stayed in contact
with my fellow students from around the world. We
chat frequently, and it is amazing to see how they have
all gone on to carry the message in their own spheres
of influence, whether in their businesses, families, or
places of worship.
Our God is indeed good!
Jeff Johnson
CEO OF JOHNSON MACHINE WORKS INC.
The OCCA
Business Programme
Are you a business leader with a passion to
make Christ known in the marketplace?
If so, the OCCA Business Programme will equip you
with the necessary tools to do this in a credible,
culturally-engaging and relevant way.
Designed for senior business people and
professionals, this intensive four-week programme
will re-invigorate and envision you, ready for your
return to serve God in your work environment.
OTHER TRAINING
The OCCA also offers other training options
and you can read about them on page 28 of
Above: Jeff Johnson with his this magazine.
OCCA Business Programme
certificate
Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T M A G A Z I N E 2 018 41
 #NOQUESTIONOFFLIMITS

The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics is a study

centre that offers courses for those with a passion to
make Christ known (see page 28).

• Four-week Business Programme

• One-year Programme REBOOT is a fun and interactive youth event designed to help
• Programme for Masters Students young people of any background to investigate the RG
A L .O
• Doctoral Fellows Programme claims of the Christian faith and to find T G LO B
OO
REB
answers to the difficult questions they W W W.
\\
E FFE C T I V E E VA N G E L I S M , face today (see page 34).
AC A D E M I C E XC E L L E N C E & S P I R I T UA L F O R M AT I O N
10 MARCH 2018, EDINBURGH AND BELFAST
www.theocca.org 22 SEPTEMBER 2018, LONDON

Zacharias Trust
Training Weekends
The Zacharias Trust Training Weekends
provide in-depth and interactive teaching to help
participants become dynamic witnesses in
whatever context God has placed them.
Why Truth?
The ʻWhy? Seriesʼ is an annual training event that
provides answers to some of the most difficult topics believers
face today, as well as giving practical guidance for those
wanting to communicate their faith more effectively.

FORMAT: 3 WEEKENDS OF TR AINING

(HELD T WICE A YEAR IN OXFORD) S A T U R D AY 12 M AY 2 0 18
S T M A R Y ʼ S C H U R C H B R YA N S T O N S Q UA R E , LO N D O N

SEE W W W. ZACHARIASTRUST.ORG/TRAINING -WEEKENDS W W W. Z A C H A R I A S T R U S T . O R G / T R A I N I N G - D A Y

OXFORD SUMMER SCHOOL

The RZIM Academy is an online NOW
The Oxford Summer School is an annual week-long training curriculum designed to AVAILABLE
residential event that helps believers not only share help individuals become better IN SPANISH
and defend the Christian faith more effectively, but also equipped to give an answer to & FRENCH
deal with people’s heartfelt objections to the gospel. anyone who asks them to give (and German from 2018)

a reason for the hope that they

have in Jesus.
8-13 JULY 2018 | MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD

SEE W W W. ZACHARIASTRUST.ORG/SUMMERSCHOOL
W W W.RZIMACADEMY.ORG