I want to pause and think about a type of comment that I’ve heard a few times over the years. It goes something along the lines of. “Perhaps the reason that God made me a pastor was to keep me in church.” Such comments are perhaps tongue in cheek but personally I’m not convinced they… Continue reading God did not make you a pastor to keep you going to church
Author: faithrootsdw
Warning … Danger! What was going on with Ananias and Saphira?
It’s one of the most shocking and disturbing events in the New Testament. Ananias and Saphira, two early Christians turn up to make a donation to the Jerusalem church coffers, neither return home alive. They are struck dead by the Holy Spirit. What is going on there? At one end of the spectrum are those… Continue reading Warning … Danger! What was going on with Ananias and Saphira?
Refreshing our vision for youth and children’s ministry
Two cheers for this tweet from Michael Bird. Bird is engaging with the problem about why young people too often walk out of church and Christianity as soon as they can. He correctly identifies some significant issues with age based ministry. His primary concern is that what we do with kids and teens can become… Continue reading Refreshing our vision for youth and children’s ministry
When the Holy Spirit breaks in
In Acts 2, when is seeking to explain what has happened, he quotes from the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even… Continue reading When the Holy Spirit breaks in
We can’t expect higher standards from politicians and then stick them on game shows
Matt Hancock, the disgraced former health secretary has been revealed as a contestant on “I’m a Celebrity, get me out of here.” He follows other politicians into reality TV prepared for ritual humiliation and hoping for a bit more name recognition and celebrity status. At the tamer end of things we’ve seen Ann Widdicombe, Ed… Continue reading We can’t expect higher standards from politicians and then stick them on game shows
What do you do with difficult Bible passages?
Our church have been working through Mark’s Gospel both in our Sunday morning services and at our midweek life group. Most of Mark feels like plain sailing (well, there is the occasional storm). However, there are a couple of more challenging texts. I suspect that the ones that stand out are Mark 10 which raises… Continue reading What do you do with difficult Bible passages?
Twenty-one
If you’ve been following along with Faithroots over the past few months, you’ll have got used to reading quite a few articles linked to Mark’s Gospel. That’s because I’ve been linking in the day to day articles with the teaching programme that our church are currently following. However, once a month, we take a break… Continue reading Twenty-one
Why I believe in preaching through whole books of the Bible
The other day, I wrote about how we engage with theology in the local church. In the current debate about this, some people are setting up the practice of systematic expository preaching in opposition to engaging with theology. In fact, the idea that we should preach through a whole book of the Bible has long… Continue reading Why I believe in preaching through whole books of the Bible
Where are the worship songs about gout?
Quite a few worship songs these days announce spiritual power to break strongholds with a particular focus on addictions, mental health and depression. Now there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact as someone who has suffered from depression I have appreciated heart felt songs that have spoke about God’s presence at the very point when… Continue reading Where are the worship songs about gout?
For all the Saints
What is today? For most people, it’s the day after Halloween. That’s true whether or not you’ve enthusiastically celebrated the event, attempted to create an alternative or desperately sought to avoid it. However, that’s quite ironic because Halloween is a contraction of “All Hallows’ Eve” or “All Saints’ Eve. We say “Happy Halloween” but not… Continue reading For all the Saints
