What kind of church? – A united church ( 1 Corinthians 1:10-17)

Jesus calls us to be one. Our love for each other is meant to be a witness to others but so often we fail in this. Churches end up being characterised by division, factions & tribalism. Christians create their own heroes. These might be national/international celebrity Christians or the go to people in the local… Continue reading What kind of church? – A united church ( 1 Corinthians 1:10-17)

Are we learning the right lessons?

Controversial head teacher Katherine Birbalsingh has been making waves again.  This time by writing about how staff at her school start work at 7am, with a Senior Leadership Team meeting scheduled in for first thing. A lot of people have reacted angrily to this and there have been a lot of comments about the implications… Continue reading Are we learning the right lessons?

What kind of Church? A gifted Church (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

Introduction Packing for a journey – Who packs early? Who throws everything in the car at the last minute? Who just sets off thinking “it’ll all work out somehow?” Who is planning and checking to the last minute -double check the suitcase, making sure doors and windows are locked? Who is asking. “Will I have… Continue reading What kind of Church? A gifted Church (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

Jeremy Marshall

Yesterday, we received the news that Jeremy Marshall had died.  I had the privilege of interviewing Jeremy for one of our Afternoon Tea Facebook sessions during the COVID19 pandemic. Although we didn’t get to meet in person Jeremy became a friend, someone it was a privilege to know as a brother in the Lord.  He… Continue reading Jeremy Marshall

Foundational reading for urban ministry: Something from me

If you are contemplating Gospel work in the inner city or on an estate context, then I’d encourage you to have a read of this little e-book I wrote. Hope for the city is a look at applying the approach to missions and apologetics if JH Bavinck and, more recently, Dan Strange to reaching out… Continue reading Foundational reading for urban ministry: Something from me

Relearning our theological triage

One of the challenges that we all faced during COVID was that the intense pressure on health care meant that none urgent surgery and treatment had to be cancelled. There were two reasons for this. First, hospitals were at capacity treating virus patients. Second, we wanted to minimise face to face contact to reduce the… Continue reading Relearning our theological triage

Foundational reading for urban ministry … The most important book

This should perhaps be obvious and go without saying but the most important book you need to be reading if you are going to engage in urban pastoral ministry is the Bible. Still, it is worth repeating because sometimes although we know that in theory, we become too focused on the other tools we think… Continue reading Foundational reading for urban ministry … The most important book

Lessons from COVID: Fear and Control.

The COVID pandemic brought many of us into closer contact with mortality than we were used to.  With a high proportion of the population being at least significantly ill and high numbers going on to be hospitalised, intubated and even dying, it meant that lots of people knew at least of someone who had been… Continue reading Lessons from COVID: Fear and Control.