Are you a good news person?

Nicola: Today, you are here to talk about your new book, Good News People: Hopeful Evangelicals Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Gavin, in short, what’s the premise of the book? 

Gavin: The premise of the book is that we are gospel people; we are good news people in a bad news world, and throughout our history, we have been people who have proclaimed that hope in our culture. In our current, we want to continue to do that and into the future we do too. We are also owning the fact that that ​‘evangelical’ term is not redundant, but it might need redeeming a little. So, we have tried to take it back to the core of what it is, express what it is biblically, express what that term is historically and set a posture for today. 

Nicola: You have many endorsements of the book, describing it as ​“challenging”, ​“stimulating”, ​“joyful”, ​“humbling”, ​“contemporary”, ​“refreshing” and ​“honest”– that’s quite an impressive cosign! So, with that in mind, who is this book for? 

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Phil: This book primarily, is for people who identify as evangelicals and evangelical Christians. If you think you are a Christian who wants to understand the word evangelical better, it’s for you… We [also] hope this is for leaders as they lean into what it is for the future of the church but also this is for any Christian who wants to be encouraged by what God is doing across the UK… Every Sunday, Gav and I text each other and ask what is going on and what we have seen, and it’s almost always just an amazing picture of what God is doing. We want to enthuse people with those good news stories. 

Nicola: You talk about the fact that we are living in a state of ​‘permacrisis’, which is characterised as a period of instability and insecurity. So, how can we be good news people in a bad news world? 

Phil: ​‘Permacrisis’ was the Collins dictionary word of the year for 2022, which I think sums up for so many the way the world has been creaking at the minute as we lurched from a global pandemic to a cost of living crisis, global wars all over the place… I think where we are now is that this is beginning to have an impact on the generations. As we scroll down bad news feeds and as we look at how people are coming to faith, many people are saying they are struggling with life, there is personal pain, and the global picture is impacting people’s worldview… We don’t just have good news, we have the best news, and we have a hope that surpasses all others. Many people and media outlets and business and products have tried to offer hope, but none can do so like the gospel, and that is the unique offering of the church at this time. 

Gavin: Church has been given the opportunity every day to show what’s different when you have Jesus. I think we don’t make enough of this. What’s different when you face the same stuff, but you have Jesus?… and so I think when you stand on the Rock of Ages, the Unchanging One, whilst everything around changes, there must be something profound that people encounter that’s different – we must be people of hope!

Nicola: What’s the most encouraging thing you are seeing from the pulpit and in the mission field at this time in the UK?

Gavin: I’m just seeing fruit, like I’ve not seen for a long time… The Lord is moving. There is an openness… I’m not sure if we are in a revival, but there is a spiritual awakening that I’ve not seen before.

Nicola: I love in the book, where you talk about serving the length and breadth of the membership at the Evangelical Alliance and the different contexts that you serve in. Every Sunday you are somewhere different, talking to people in a different way. What is the thing you most enjoy about working at the Evangelical Alliance?

Gavin: I think for me there are two things: what you’ve just said, and also the gospel heart of this thing; the fact that we stand on the shoulders of giants who for 180 years have done all they can to make Jesus known and to do it alongside others. But then diversity is amazing… You don’t know until the first worship song where you are,; is it hands in the air? or is it hands in the pockets? Is the service going to be an hour, because it’s never gone over that? Or is it hopefully going to end today? Am I going to be translated today, or am I not? Occasionally, am I young in this environment,; often am I old? The diversity is amazing. And what I love about the Evangelical Alliance is it’s not uniformity, it’s unity, but it’s unity with a purpose – that we may go together and make Jesus known. What a joy to be a part of!

For the extended video interview, including conversations around Gavin and Phil’s Guinness World Record, a mandate for the church on changing style not substance and practical advice on how we can all apply the principles of the book to our own lives, visit: eauk​.it/​m​e​e​t​-​t​h​e​-​autho…