Newton’s pastoral heart comes out in this letter. He is straightforward, blunt, and biblical. At the same time, it is very evident that he simply wants his parishioners to hear the sermons for their own Christian good and growth in godliness. Newton certainly wasn’t a legalist looking to make people proud of their church attendance.

When we define evangelism we include comprehensiveness as well as contact. To have a five minute chat about the Gospel with every creature in the world is not to evangelize the world. That is contact alone. That is an introduction and such is valuable indeed, but evangelism is much more than that. Evangelism is comprehensive.

Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers, by T. David Gordon, P&R Publishing. Nineteen sixty-six saw the publication of a book titled Why Johnny Can’t Read. Its author, Rudolf Flesh, explained in it that societal changes were leading to illiteracy; children were increasingly unable to read, at least with the effectiveness of... Continue Reading