faithrootsdw

Are ethnic minorities to blame for COVID-19? (Panel discussion)

Yesterday, I took part in a panel discussion with Jose Galindes, pastor of Nueva Vida Con Cristo, the Spanish speaking church we helped plant a few years back. The starting question was “Are BAME communities to blame for the spread of COVID-19) in the UK? Jose also invited along some local councillors in Sandwell and… Continue reading Are ethnic minorities to blame for COVID-19? (Panel discussion)

Towards a theology of depression

Over the last few months, I’ve been involved with a few projects and numerous conversations relating to the experience of Christian workers with depression. One thing that has come out so often is the extent to which the sufferers and their churches simply were not ready for it when it hit. At theological college you… Continue reading Towards a theology of depression

Truth and lies about Creation

What we believe affects how we live. This includes what we believe about four key things: We are now going to take some time to look at what we believe about Creation. We’re going to do this in four parts: The story of Creation. We will start by looking at the first three chapters of… Continue reading Truth and lies about Creation

Sub Tweeting the Church

There is a tendency at the moment towards something quite unpleasant and potentially dangerous. The other day, I wrote about the problem when people resort to hyperbole attacking this or that Christian for heresy without much evidence and when in fact the debate is usually one within the boundaries of orthodoxy about how to most… Continue reading Sub Tweeting the Church

Breaking it down and finding the flow

I’ve been writing a few posts about how I study a passage in the Bible in order to give you a feel for how to go about the close textual analysis involved in exegesis. This should be helpful to anyone who is planning to preach, lead a Bible study, teach a youth group or even… Continue reading Breaking it down and finding the flow

The problem with porous boundaries

I’ve argued throughout COVID-19 that in a pandemic compliance and non-compliance matters. The nature of non-compliance is important too. It is actually better to have a self-contained 10% of the population failing to comply if the other 90% are complying at 100%. However, if 100% of the population comply with 90% of the measures or… Continue reading The problem with porous boundaries

New Horizons – January Update

As promised, I am endeavouring to keep you up to date about what our future plans involve. In the run up to Christmas, we began to listen, just to hear what possibilities are out there. We also wanted to be clear in our minds about the specific type of ministry we believe that God wants… Continue reading New Horizons – January Update

Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?

One of the graces in COVID is that it has pushed us hard to think about some key aspects of church life such as “What really is gathered worship?” and “What are the priority ministries of a church in the week?” There has also been quite a bit of discussion about when, how and why… Continue reading Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?

If you are going to troll Christians at least get some basics right!

Here is Professor Alice Roberts (Professor of Public Engagement with Science at Birmingham University) expressing her views on Christianity. She goes on in her thread to raise the typical humanist complaint about Christiasn engaging in education and public life. Now, leaving aside any major disagreements about theology or philosophy, here are the bigger concerns. First… Continue reading If you are going to troll Christians at least get some basics right!

Paul and the mysterious Jesus quote

I picked up on a discussion the other day about Paul’s relationship to the Gospels. The original questioner observed that there was a notorious issue with Paul’s lack of reference to the Gospel accounts in his letters and sermons. The usual assumption for this is that Paul wrote first with the Gospels coming much later… Continue reading Paul and the mysterious Jesus quote