Peter Saunders spoke on ‘Confidence in Christian Ethics’, outlining the hostility of the new atheism to Christianity and the moral ills that have resulted from the replacement of the biblical moral code with the values of personal peace and affluence, as Francis Schaeffer foresaw.

Solas – Centre for Public Christianity is an independent Christian ministry housed at St. Peters Free Church of Dundee, Scotland.

‘A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.’

This quotation from John Calvin summed up the aim of the third Solas-CPC ‘Out of the Silent Church’ conference held at St Peter’s Free Church, Dundee, on 24 November 2012. ‘Confident Christianity’ was the theme, as the four speakers encouraged an audience of more than 400 to have full trust in the gospel message and confidence in the biblical mandate to share it.

Chris Sinkinson, Lecturer in Apologetics at Moorlands College spoke on ‘Confident Christianity’, tracing the historical development of scepticism in the 19th century. He showed us how apologetics should inform all aspects of life and be a natural part of our witness, not an aggressive activity for a few specialists. In fact all Christians are an ‘apologia’ for the faith, but do we represent it well?

John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, spoke on ‘Confidence in Genesis’, affirming that we can have full trust in the early chapters of the Bible because Jesus quotes them as authoritative. Prof. Lennox reminded us that the laws of nature are descriptions not explanations, and that reason and revelation are in different categories: nature reveals information which human reason then interprets. The main battle in the issue of origins is between materialism and theism: is the universe a product of intelligence or does the universe itself create intelligence? We can be confident that ‘the meaning of the system won’t be found within it’, in the words of Wittgenstein, and it will be found in what God has revealed in the book of Genesis.

A generous lunchbreak gave people a chance to get to know each other, and time for Solas members to attend the AGM of Solas-CPC.

In the afternoon Peter Saunders, Chief Executive of Christian Medical Fellowship, spoke on ‘Confidence in Christian Ethics’, outlining the hostility of the new atheism to Christianity and the moral ills that have resulted from the replacement of the biblical moral code with the values of personal peace and affluence, as Francis Schaeffer foresaw. Christ-like ethics will be informed by a view of human dignity derived from our being made ‘in the image of God’. We should reflect the mind and character of Christ, obey his commands and be willing to carry his cross in making sacrifices for the weak. Dr Sanders’ blogs can be found through googling ‘Christian Medical Comment’.

David Robertson, Minister of St Peter’s Free Church, Dundee, spoke on ‘Confidence in Christ’ based on the Letter to the Hebrews, especially chapter 13, verse 6, which emphasises hope and confidence. Traditional Christian Scotland has gone, but Jesus and his gospel have not gone, so we should not throw away our grounds for confidence: Jesus will build his church and everything is subject to him, even if we don’t yet see it. David cited ‘The Book that Made your World’ by Vishal Mangalwadi as a plea to the West to recognise and preserve the uniqueness of its Bible-based civilisation.

There was time for a short Q & A session, with some interesting questions, for example ‘What if people don’t ask questions?’, to which the advice was given that we should ask or even provoke questions, because Jesus did.

In a packed program, there were presentations from Tear Fund and Compassion UK who sponsored the conference, and an art exhibition ‘Behind the Cloud of Unknowing’ organised by Morphē Arts. We heard about the development of the Edinburgh Solas Group who have organised 4 debates in the past year, and the ’20 Schemes’ church planting project that aims to plant churches in Scotland’s most deprived estates. We saw a video clip of a Dick Lucas sermon that has been adapted with a view to uploading online, and heard about the fruitful ‘Try Praying’ project. We were introduced to Tom Courtney, new European Director of Solas-CPC, Andy Robinson, UCCF worker in St Andrews, and Doki from Uganda, who told us about her experience of being sponsored in her education through Compassion UK. We were reminded that Malcolm Muggeridge had been won to Christ partly through witnessing the caring ministries of Christians, and he had commented ‘In all my travels I never came across a Fabian Society hospital or a Humanist Association leper clinic’.

Recordings of the conference will be available shortly; please contact the Solas office.

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