Dreams about war -what they do and don’t mean

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Christopher Wickland who identifies as one of the so called “patriot pastors” linked to Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom protest shared this claimed prophecy on Facebook today. I want to respond here for two reasons, first of all because I myself had a dream recently that seemed to touch on the same issue of “war”… Continue reading Dreams about war -what they do and don’t mean

Police intelligence and the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban

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I see that a rumour is doing the rounds which seems to have originated from an unnamed source in the Guardian, that the reason for the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ban at Aston Villa was not to do with the safety of Israeli and Jewish fans at the game but police intelligence that the fans… Continue reading Police intelligence and the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban

Christian Nationalism, National Christianity and Disestablishment

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I’ve written a bit recently about Christian Nationalism and I distinguished a contemporary form of Christian Nationalism which in effect simply christens/baptises ethno-cultural nationalism from what I referred as Christian nation-alism, the idea of the nation having a Christian identity. One form of the latter involves having a national/established church as is the case with… Continue reading Christian Nationalism, National Christianity and Disestablishment

We cannot just gloss over Christianity’s antisemitism problem

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Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern has written to the Spectator about antisemitism within Islam.  Dieppe is responding to an article which talks about the theological underpinning of antisemitism in Islam and Christianity. As you can see, Dieppe’s argument is that the Quran contains significant examples of antisemitism whereas the Bible does not.  I agree with… Continue reading We cannot just gloss over Christianity’s antisemitism problem

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Before you start citing Enoch Powell please actually read his “Rivers of blood” speech

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One of the rules of political debate on social media is that at some point, someone is going to mention Adolph Hitler.  However, there is an even more specific rule, specific to the UK and to debate about immigration and multiculturalism.  It’s that at some point, someone will announce that Enoch Powell was right and… Continue reading Before you start citing Enoch Powell please actually read his “Rivers of blood” speech

The deficient shepherd culture

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Back the other week, I was talking to some Evangelical Anglicans about the state of the CofE.  I explained to them the problem. With their “stay in” strategy that it leads to people thinking they have to stay when their evangelical vicar is inevitably replaced with a liberal. One response was to the effect that… Continue reading The deficient shepherd culture

Anti-Zionism, crowd safety -myths and the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban

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In this article, I want to deal with two types of response to the Aston  Villa decision to ban away fans for their game against Maccabi Tel Aviv. I’m dealing specifically with those responses here.  I believe that the original decision was wrong, gives space to and rewards antisemitism but I’m happy to believe that… Continue reading Anti-Zionism, crowd safety -myths and the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban

More discussion on ministry pathways and training

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Evangelicals Now have published two articles on ministry pathways and training recently.  There’s this one by Clive Bowsher, Provost at Union School of Theology and this one by Carrie Sandom of the Proclamation Trust. Each article offers some helpful thoughts and reflection but also there are questions I would like to ask and challenges to… Continue reading More discussion on ministry pathways and training

More thoughts on the football fan ban

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Since the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their game with Aston Villa, there has been much debate online. Some people have reacted strongly against the decision and even gone further, demanding that the communities in Birmingham linked to petitions and protests against the fans coming be deported.  I’ve responded to that argument… Continue reading More thoughts on the football fan ban

Training and practice for worship leaders and teams

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A lot of attention when it comes to both training people as worship leaders and when it comes to preparing and practicing as worship teams goes into making sure that the music is technically on point.  That matters of course. The best thing that musicians can do to serve our corporate worship is ensure that… Continue reading Training and practice for worship leaders and teams