CONNECTED CHRISTIANITY
Engaging culture without compromise
By Arturo G. Azurdia III. Christian Focus with Bryntirion Press. 86 pages. £5.99
ISBN 978-1-84550-468-7
This book consists of four sermons on the subject of Christian worldliness, originally delivered to the crowds at the Evangelical Movement of Wales Conference in Aberystwyth. The author contends, on the authority of Christ in John 17, that every Christian is in this world to declare to the world the saving benefits of the cross of Christ.
It is the work of a man who has felt deeply the burden he expresses. And he conveys his vital message with all the warmth, enthusiasm and seriousness that is characteristic of him as a man. No Christian who reads these messages can be in any doubt of the Lord’s demand for his or her life, nor of the provision made for him or her in Christ.
There are lots of really helpful things here that need to be heard in our churches. He spells out the difference between morality and holiness. He stresses the need for the Spirit as well as the Word. He stresses the need for divine sanctification if we are to live effectively for Christ in this world. And he speaks humbly of his own journey to a fuller understanding of the need to engage with the people of the world.
Yet this reviewer is left wondering whether it would not have been much better if Mr. Azurdia had been encouraged to expand his material further so as to provide in truth what the subtitle seems to promise, namely detailed practical help to enable the reader to ‘engage culture without compromise’. In truth, that vital subject is only covered in the barest principles, helpful though the expression of the principles is.
Graham Heaps,
Dewsbury Evangelical Church, West Yorkshire
