Over the years, in addition to reading, I’ve enjoyed listening to the Bible in audio format and to various sermons, talks, and audiobooks. Way back in 1981, I ordered a Christian teaching tape from the UK to rent, 😀 and it was stopped by Cork customs on some technicality.

Nowadays, the web is full of resources, but it’s often said that you can find all sorts of weird, extreme teaching. But there’s good stuff too. It’s healthy to examine a range of viewpoints.

Here, I’ll list 10 sites that include free resources, and then I’ll also list some Audible audiobooks that I’ve found helpful in the last few years.

Note that each heading is a link.

At the Castle

These are archived talks from a half-yearly weekend retreat for young adults held in Castlewellan County Down, Northern Ireland. You can search by speaker or by Bible book.

The Sermon Library of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This will give you a taste of Welsh preaching in the 20th Century. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was hugely influential in evangelicalism.

St Helen’s Resource Library

This is the resource library of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, in the city of London. St Helen’s was the parish church of William Shakespeare. It’s the largest surviving parish church in the City of London. And unusually, it’s a conservative evangelical church.

All Souls Resource Library

Again, this is an evangelical Anglican church, near Oxford Circus in central London. It’s where John Stott, one of the most influential modern evangelicals, ministered. It’s also the home of the All Souls Orchestra, and it’s where Christianity Explored was developed.

Llanelli Free Evangelical Church

I list this because I used to watch the live services from this church during the Covid lockdown. They do such a great job of broadcasting. I’m trying to list resources from a variety of denominations here, but this would be very much my kind of church; conservative, reformed, independent, but not old fashioned or anti-intellectual. For me, Wales used to be the slightly boring place that you went through to get to England, but in the early 1990s I started getting to know it and love it. The Evangelical Movement of Wales provides some excellent resources.

Wayne Grudem

Back in the 1980s, my ‘go to’ book for theology was Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhoff. In the mid 1990s, someone introduced me to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, which had just been published. Some didn’t like the fact that he was charismatic, but he’s not extreme, and I found it great to have the issues addressed from the Scripture rather than from anecdotes. Over the years, I’ve purchased it in a few different formats. The link in the heading takes you to a series of free lectures based on the book, along with questions and answers from the audience.

David Pawson

I was a big fan of David Pawson for the first few years of my Christian life, but then I moved on. At times, for me, he comes across as a little dogmatic or naive, and some of his views are controversial. Now, I just eat the nice bits and spit out the pips 😀. This site consists of his old sermons from when he was pastor of Guildford Baptist Church, and some newer material, such as his Unlocking the Bible series. One lesson I learned from my David Pawson years is that just because a preacher is a joy to listen to, that doesn’t mean that he’s right about everything. Ultimately, all preachers should point you to Christ, as John the Baptist did. Whether you’re listening locally or online, always test or discuss everything you hear.

Peter Masters

I don’t imagine that Peter Masters would be happy to be on the same page as the other resources that I’ve listed (apart perhaps from Martyn Lloyd Jones). He’s very critical of charismatics, of modern Christian music and of many aspects of modern evangelicalism. But I’ve enjoyed his preaching over the years, and I attended some conferences held at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which was C.H. Spurgeons church. I would count him as a big influence. Without him, the Metropolitan Tabernacle could have gone the way of many historic churches in London – many went modernist/liberal, were turned into something else or demolished.

9Marks Leadership Interviews

I discovered this site back around 2007. It features interviews with well-known Christian leaders from various parts of the world.

Unbelievable

I got into this way back around the time of Richard Dawkin’s book, The God Delusion. I’d listen to weekly debates while taking a nap at Saturday lunchtime. So, I wouldn’t hear it all, but I’d listen to it again later. And I still occasionally re-listen to the episodes. This mightn’t be suitable for everyone. For some, it might just be confusing. Justin Brierley hosted it for many years, and wrote an excellent book about the impact it had on him; Unbelievable – Why after ten years of talking with atheists, I’m still a Christian.

In the area of apologetics, sometimes those defending the Christian faith, might not be very conservative evangelicals, or might not move in the same circles as I do, but I still value their work. It’s good to come to conclusions and have views, but it’s also important to comprehend other points of view and to see the weak points of your own arguments. Justin Brierley now has a new podcast – The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief In God.

Audible

As the years go by, I find I don’t have the same appetite for reading, but I do enjoy audiobooks. You can often get the first month free on Audible, and when you take a break, they’ll generally give you a good deal to get you back. You can even buy one book every two months, instead of one every month, and still have access to a free library. With the free library, which changes from time to time, you can listen to books without buying them. Audible has many Christian books. My favourite is Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem

Other General Resources

• Gospel Coalition
• BeThinking
• Theology Network
• BibleProject
• DesiringGod
• Association of Irish Baptist Churches
• Irish Baptist Historical Society
• What’s the Story

Postscript

Of course, the Irish and UK evangelical scene is very different, but these are covered in other books, such as Evangelicals in Ireland and Evangelicalism in Modern Britain.