Evangelicals Now
Christian news worldwide
magnifying glass Search archives
home Home check the archives Archives Subscribe Subscriptions Advertising Information & booking of classifieds Adverts Find a local evangelical Church Find a church for the search engines and extremely curious! About us Contact us Site Map
Printable
Version

The Third Degree

UCCF's new online theological centre

Do you ever find yourself missing the old-fashioned sweetie shop of yore: all those rows of big glass jars that were crammed with toffees, fudges, bonbons, flying saucers?

Well, now there’s something with all of the thrill and none of the sugar — a theological sweetie shop: http://www.theologynetwork.org, UCCF’s new online theological centre. Here you can listen to why Luther’s wife hid in a fish barrel and how Muslims pray; read about the depth of God’s grace and what our resurrection bodies will be like.

Website

Here we are developing a whole host of articles and downloads on theological themes and doctrines, books of the Bible, key theologians, Church history, world religions and theologies of different subjects from music to maths, as well as interviews, follow-up reading, relevant links, FAQ and Q&A sections.

Having all this at three levels (introductory, intermediate and advanced) means we can cater for everyone, from theology students to young Christians.

Calvin’s inspiration

But it’s not just a fun sweetie shop: www.theologynetwork.org is also a key weapon in our mission. It’s how John Calvin did it: in 1555, based in Geneva, he established a top secret programme for the evangelisation of his native France. Using an underground network, with safe houses and hiding places, he slipped agents of the gospel across the border into France to plant new (sometimes literally) underground churches. Its success was astounding: the evangelical faith exploded in both numbers and influence in France. More than 10% of the entire population became Protestant, including something like a third of the nobility. The total reformation of France looked possible to Calvin. More than that: under Calvin, Geneva became a nerve-centre for world evangelisation as missionaries were dispatched from Geneva to Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, and even South America.

The question is: how could one small city become an international centre for the propagation of the gospel? The answer: theological resources. Calvin amassed and distributed such an array of theological artillery in Geneva that Christians came from all over Europe to be armed, fuelled and inspired to change the world. Such is the vision of http://www.theologynetwork.org: to unleash the best biblical teaching so that students and all users might come to know and love the Lord Jesus in deeper, life-changing, mission-igniting ways.

Mature CUs

We need to feed our troops. Practically, CUs will never grow in either numbers or maturity if they have only the thin gruel of a shallow gospel to feed off. With this website, term programmes will be richer, meetings smarter, and personal evangelism will pack more punch when minds are transformed and hearts gripped by the knowledge of the living God. Imagine a CU where the joy of the gospel, personal assurance and a spontaneous passion to share the gospel has come from a clear understanding of how God justifies us by his grace alone. This is what we want to inject directly into the bloodstream of the CUs. Without this teaching, being made freely and easily accessible to all CUs, our students and our mission will wither. With it, who knows what fruit could follow?

To develop this, and to make sure that we get the right materials into the right hands, we are going to need all the prayer support and financial support we can get. Will you help us build this little ‘Geneva’?

Mike Reeves,
Theological Adviser, UCCF