The Christian Mind

“And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promisemade by God to our fathers. To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?” Acts 26.6-8

The Christian Mind
Harry Blamires (1916-)
“An important contributory factor to the loss of mental morale by the Church has been a misguided conception of Christian charity. It has been assumed that the charitable man suppresses his views in the same way he subordinates personal interest. A wild fantasy has taken hold of many Christians. They have come to imagine that just as the unselfish man restrains himself from snatching another piece of cake, so too he restrains himself from putting forward his point of view. And just as it is bad form to boast about your private possessions, or loudly recapitulate your personal achievements, so too it is bad form to announce what your convictions are.”

The effect of this “wild fantasy” is that, no matter the conversation or discussion in which we become engaged, outside the safe confines of church, we Christians have nothing particularly Christian to say about anything. We may think to ourselves, when issues of culture, morality, or politics are on the table, or when we’re considering new policies for the workplace or the local schools – we may think that it would be really swell if Christian ideas and convictions could somehow make an impact here. But we don’t dare say anything, because we have come to believe it to be “bad form” to express our views and beliefs. The result of this reticence, of course, is to reinforce secularists in their hegemonic approach to life, and ourselves concerning the irrelevance of our Christian worldview for life in the real world. Can we imagine the Apostle Paul hesitating at such opportunities? We are our own worst enemies.

Start a list of Scriptures that have a bearing on contemporary issues or culture. For example: What can today’s text teach us about having our testimony at the ready, whenever opportunity to share it arises? Begin to develop your thinking about such issues, and look for some Christian friends with whom you can begin to talk about them.

Recovering Christian communication
Our Missions Partner Outreach program is designed as a life-based training curriculum, to help church members identify and begin working their Personal Mission Fields for the purpose of making disciples and advancing Christ’s Kingdom. I’m looking for some men to lead through this training program, and to help you see how our Missions Outreach Partners programcan help your church overcome its failure to communicate. If you’re interested, drop me a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Introduction to Christian Worldview
Our course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview, uses twelve diagrams to provide a comprehensive framework for thinking and living Christianly in the world. It’s free, online, and available for you to study by yourself or with your leadership team, at your own pace and on your own schedule. For more information and to register, click here.

Does the Lord want to use you to help support The Fellowship of Ailbe? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from The Christian Mind are from Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind (Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1963, 1978).