John Benton writes: “The truth is that there is now a marketplace of churches. This marketplace stretches across denominations and church ‘brands’. People are quite willing to switch and travel long distances. Churches are in competition for members. “Market forces are in play and that being the case, sadly, it seems that a number of those… Continue reading The Death of the local church?
Author: faithrootsdw
Scripture, sovereignty and suffering: Where might that conversation with a rabbi have gone?
Remember my aborted conversation with the Rabbi. The dilemma that was put to him was that if God had done the great deeds recounted in the rest of Torah building up to the point in Deuteronomy when the people are about to enter the land of Canaan, then why do does it fall onto the… Continue reading Scripture, sovereignty and suffering: Where might that conversation with a rabbi have gone?
Guilt, Grace and Forgiveness
I‘ve found, when I’m preaching, that when I touch upon the subject of guilt, something resonates. I pick up on it subjectively as I sense people’s attention being grabbed and as I watch body language and facial expressions. I pick up on it objectively as the level of feedback picks up! So guilt seems to… Continue reading Guilt, Grace and Forgiveness
Efficiency is not everything
The BBC reports that the NHS has been rated as top when it comes to efficiency. Now, that is perhaps a helpful qualifier for when you see those reports describing how the Health Service is underfunded compared to other countries. For example, this report argues that if our spending had kept pace with other European… Continue reading Efficiency is not everything
Preaching around
I mentioned the other day the debate about whether or not you should reuse sermons. The assumption there is that you will get a lot of your preaching experience from going to various different churches, perhaps a different church each month for six months and then visit the same churches again the following six months.… Continue reading Preaching around
If you know, then you know
The other day, I commented on this tweet about those training for ministry and the benefits of reading the Brontes, Austen and other literary classics. It’s probably worth me clarifying to avoid any doubt that my article wasn’t intended as a direct response to the specific argument the original tweet was making. Indeed, as I’ll… Continue reading If you know, then you know
Church and class
If we are all one in Christ Jesus, then this should mean a break down of all the social barriers in society when we come together as God’s people. We often focus on race and gender issues but also significant in churches is the matter of class. When we look at Galatians 3:28-29, we see… Continue reading Church and class
An attempted conversation with a rabbi about God and Scripture
The other day I attempted to respond on Twitter to some provocative comments from a Rabbi about God and suffering. The Rabbi in question, Mike Harvey, claims to have written a best seller book about conversing with Christians and to be a leading expert on interfaith relations. He didn’t seem too interested in conversations with… Continue reading An attempted conversation with a rabbi about God and Scripture
We need pastors who have never read the Brontes …and who never will
I saw this Tweet the other day. I think I get the point the tweet author is making. I can’t say for certain. I’ve watched a TV adaption of Jane Eyre as a child and seen trailers for similar adaptions of Pride and Prejudice but I’ve read neither book. I write as someone with post… Continue reading We need pastors who have never read the Brontes …and who never will
Discussion -how should men and women treat each other in a church?
I mentioned last week, a planned life group discussion on this topic. I thought it might be helpful to share the discussion outline/questions here. Feel free to make use of it in your own context. I’ve got a couple of articles planned that dig further into the topic. Set up for the discussion A slightly… Continue reading Discussion -how should men and women treat each other in a church?
Faithroots 