Stop press!

Aiii, I know editors and their subs are wont to have a bad day or two, but the errors in this story are just too much!

I may allow for the editorializing attempt at interpretive journalism, but not some of the glaring factual errors of infidelity to such rules of conventional story-telling as accuracy.

That bit about David and Jacob’s family was plain journalistic laziness, possibly arising from unexamined cheerleading.

And the Kenya Times are not alone in this; the country’s Big Two also have their moments of mindless folly.

I want to hope their in-house editorial colleges will be a little more watchful, particularly as we head towards the next General Elections.

Scribes for Jesus?

One of the most profound memories I have of my student days across the pond was – while there – to have interacted with Gegrapha, a fellowship of Christian journalists under the leadership of celebrated American journalist David Aikman.

It was there that the joy of the feeble but growing Christian fellowship that I had experienced at one of Kenya’s leading media houses got a shot in the arm.

The media world is not easy for anyone, let alone Christians, all the more why I remained eager to stand with anyone who would be joining me in the trade for as long as the Lord lends me breath.

Some 11 years since I began writing, I can thank the Lord for some of the lives in and outside the media world that I have been priveledged to touch for His glory in some ways.

I also thank Him for other people in and outside the media world whose lives He has continued to use to influence my priorities and concerns in His world.
One of the most exciting things along the way has been to see the Lord remaining faithful despite my faithlessness and unfaithfulness.

It is in this context that I laud the start of a blog by my brothers and sisters in the Fourth Estate, – I pray all goes well with it.

I’m excited that here are a people who will be wanting to explore the interplay between what they believe in and the challenging work they do each day.

It does also seem to me as though there has been a progressive move towards increased spiritual introspection in the KBW family lately, – not a bad thing if you asked me:-)

Working for eternity?

Via the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

Does our work have a future in eternity? This question often causes Christians to fall back into an unbiblical dualism, giving the impression that only ‘Christian work,’ particularly evangelism, ‘survives’ into the new creation.

I was shocked to hear a preacher refer to his previous job at a newspaper, saying, ‘What’s that got to do with the kingdom of God?’ Jesus taught that the reign of God is in the world, in the mustard seeds of truth, integrity, justice, compassion and all the values that we are to embody in precisely such places as the world of media, not merely for evangelistic dividends, but as salt and light in society.

‘Work is part of what God redeems when he saves us in Christ’

For, in the end, what does God intend to redeem? Just souls? No, whole human persons – including all that they have become and accomplished in and through their work. We are not saved as body- less, work-less souls, but in every dimension of our identity as working human beings. Of course, work is also fallen. But work is part of what God redeems when he saves us in Christ. Just for ‘heaven?’ No, God’s mission is the redemption of the whole creation – indeed that is the scope of the reconciling work of the cross (Col. 1:20). ‘All things…on earth,’ says Paul. But all things on earth are not what they were in Genesis 1 and 2. The creation now bears the marks of human work over countless generations. And all of that is under God’s restoration order – not just for demolition and obliteration, but for purging and renewal.

Revelation pictures all the accomplishments of human work – and the resultant wealth, glory, and culture – being brought into the eternal city of God – the new creation. Purged of sin and evil, yes, but not dropped in some cosmic trash-can.

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it… The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful. (Rev 21:24-27).

This is a perspective that gives value to all honest work. The splendour of kings and the glory of nations are built on the work of countless millions of nameless ordinary people. That’s why I greet, thank and encourage the man who sweeps the streets around our house. His work matters to me, and I believe it matters to God and is a tiny part of what will one day be the splendour of the city of God.

Chris Wright
International Director

This just has to be the quote of the year:-)

“But in many senses, the World Cup is now over for me.” – Mama Mia.