Jeremy Hunt is rapidly giving the air of the classroom teacher who has had to step in to snatch back all the treats and prizes that the trainee teacher unwisely handed out. We now know that he is reversing two things. First, he is reversing most of the tax cuts from his predecessor’s mini budget.… Continue reading What Jeremy did next
Author: faithrootsdw
Provoked
In the Old Testament, the prophet Nathan tells a parable like story to king David about a rich farmer who takes and kills his poor neighbour’s lamb. David doesn’t realise at first but when it is pointed out to him that the story is about him, it provokes repentance. Jesus sometimes told stories that challenged… Continue reading Provoked
Looking for Utopia? Seeking the Good of the City as apologetics
We seek the good of the city not because we believe that we can achieve utopia but exactly because we know that we will not. What I mean by this is that some Christians have a confused and unhelpful view about the role of the church in public life and social action. Some people speak… Continue reading Looking for Utopia? Seeking the Good of the City as apologetics
Church PTSD – listening to outside voices
Over the past couple of days I’ve shared a couple of posts drawing on observations that psychologists make about trauma and suggesting some lessons for church leaders. Some of us might be a little bit nervous of seeing articles that appear to draw primarily from secular thinking. I mean, there’s huge scepticism about the ability… Continue reading Church PTSD – listening to outside voices
Taking on the religious guardians (Mark 12)
Jesus’ opponents were looking for an excuse to have Jesus arrested. Here in his last week, Mark puts the focus on their attempts to trap him. I guess that in a sense 12:1-12 forms a kind of invitation to “bring it on.” Jesus tells a parable which might also be seen as a figurative retelling… Continue reading Taking on the religious guardians (Mark 12)
An overflow of grace for the good of the city
One reason why I think it is right to say that a church exists for the good of the city is that if things are done right, then this simply is the case. Why do I say that? Well have a look at Hebrews 6:4-7 with me. It says: We tend to look at those… Continue reading An overflow of grace for the good of the city
Greed, taxes, values and vision
Yesterday I wrote about how Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng had got into trouble despite seemingly having a shared vision. To be absolutely clear, whilst I find politics and economics both very interesting discussions, my aim in that article and this isn’t to provoke debate on those two things but rather to try and suggest… Continue reading Greed, taxes, values and vision
Jesus for the good of the city
The other day I wrote a little bit about what it means to seek the good of the city. I was prompted to think about this because we’ve just had a week of prayer as a family of churches in Birmingham and on the Wednesday night, the theme was “For the good of the city”… Continue reading Jesus for the good of the city
Where did it all go wrong for Kwasi Kwarteng -and what can we learn from it?
o, Kwasi Kwarteng’s short and eventful time in office as Chancellor of the Exchequer is over. How did it go so wrong? Here was a man who was both a close friend of the Prime Minister and was united with her in a shared vision for how to take Britain forward economically. That vision was… Continue reading Where did it all go wrong for Kwasi Kwarteng -and what can we learn from it?
For the good of the city
Our church has a list of reasons that we exist. One of them is that we exist “for the good of the city.” Our church has been planted here in Birmingham with the conviction that we should not just become a “holy huddle.” A challenge is sometimes given to churches “If you ceased to exist… Continue reading For the good of the city
Faithroots 