May/June 2024

I was once almost squashed by a caravan. On a family holiday, my dad had missed the turn. We needed to turn around and go back up the hill to the campsite but the country lanes were too narrow to keep the caravan hitched. The car turned easily but with no power of its own, we needed to turn the caravan by hand, each of us taking a corner. During a brief break, the caravan somehow slipped off its brakes and rolled downhill, where I was stood. I jumped out of the way just before the caravan hit the wall that was behind me.

Our caravan had no power of its own. It relied on the power of another and that reminds me of the way we live the Christian life. On our own we have no ability to live a life that pleases God, but the gospel is the power that drives our lives forward. The end of Titus chapter 2 makes that point: we are trained to live godly lives by the salvation-offering grace which is the first appearing of Jesus. By giving his life, he redeems us to make us his purified people. The power is in what he has done, and as we are hitched up to him, so we are enabled to live for him.

Much of what we do as the Evangelical Magazine is to encourage you, our readers, in living the Christian life. This includes thinking about our current cultural context, as well as learning from our past. We produce articles to help us engage with the Bible, with church life and other Christian resources. We have stories from individuals and stories from around the world to inspire us. Yet, for all of these helps in living a godly Christian life, it is all devoid of power if it is unhitched from the gospel.

This edition has, I think, some wonderfully helpful articles for living our Christian lives. As you read, why not look out for ways in which they are connected to the gospel and how the gospel brings life and enables us to live godly lives? As always, our prayer is that it does you good.