October 2020
Sharing the love of Jesus in a post-covid world – thoughts on how churches can reconnect with communities as we move out of lockdown
Can we protect the vulnerable and open up society again? thoughts on ways in which we can open up society without either isolating or putting the elderly and vulnerable at risk
When you want to prevent others from receiving forgiveness – the pharisees were more concerned with protecting their orthodoxy than seeing sinners forgiven.
Matters of conscience and matters of wisdom -too often issues are classified as conscience matters implying that they cannot be challenged
What is driving my views political ideology or theology? Some of the things that Christians have been speaking out on seem driven more than their politics than their faith
How we respond to asylum policies is likely to reflect our presuppositions – if we believe that asylum seekers are likely to be bogus we are more likely to support harsh measures
We can’t have British values if we want to be truly democratic, tolerant and pluralist – the so called British values are self-contradictory
On wishing politicians dead – how should we respond when people like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump get sick?
Urban church planting post covid-19
Is it time to rethink or even drop our ministry training schemes? – if we are serious about our desire to reach the UK with the Gospel, we may need to radically rethink our approaches to training. This may include another look at church based apprenticeships
Praying for Donald Trump and Boris Johnson -when it is okay to prefix our remarks. I normally would not start with “although I completely disagree with…” However there are exceptions
Death sympathy and distinguishing – is Donald Trump comparable to Osama Bin Ladin?
Urban planting needs generous partnerships
It’s time we got over our tribalism – what does it mean to be all one in Christ Jesus?
Failure – what happens when we experience disappointment?
Can you cope with the mess? So you want join an urban church plant?
Surviving the pandemic with anxiety and depression
Blocked – lessons from how disagreement is handled on social media about power and control in conversation
Wasting Time We were stuck on hold the other day. We though we were making progress up the call queue but in fact the call-centre staff had gone home…
Can we just sing in our hearts? -are Christians being asked to disobey God by not having singing in public worship services?
Comparing notes – which Gospel came first? Synoptics, Q and Marcan priority
Why does Jesus heal? A look at faith in Matthew 9
Keir and Boris -stop the politics over COVID-19
My Grandad’s testimony – leaving it late
It’s okay to be a socialist! … It’s even okay to be a right winger
The shaming of a precious woman – another look at the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak
Jesus and the shamed woman -now see the different way that Christ treats someone who is vulnerable but precious
Why are people still obsessing about lockdowns and circuit breaks?
You don’t have to be my Facebook friend
Depression tells you that you are weak – and that’s okay
Is it really unhelpful to say the Creeds?
This isn’t the pandemic we were expecting – where are the zombies?
You can’t stop a virus from spreading that has already spread
Sight for the blind (Matthew 9)
Ableism, society and the church
What drives false teachers and abusers?
Following the Science (Guest post from Michael Ots)
Following the science … or the scientists how much disagreement is there really about coronavirus?
Ableism and the church 2 The words we use
Slander and Gnosticism – how do Christians talk about each other? Do we use labels to insult that stop us listening?
Free School Meals – the elephant in the room. How sharp debate masks the agreement between left and right about the poor
The real problem with Gnosticism
A Different approach to poverty – how do/should Christians look at the problem of poverty differently to contemporary left and right wing approaches
Whose questions are we answering? –do people really care about Richard Dawkins and Jordan Peterson?
This Sunday we celebrate Why we celebrated Harvest Festival in the middle of a pandemic
Pastoral Apologetics – approaching evangelism from a practical point of view rather than an intellectual one
Inviting the wolves round for tea -false teachers and abusers should be confronted not entertained
Child Food Poverty – when will we stop to ask what the actual problem is?
John Piper is right- the US election is about character and pride first of all
We’re all in this together -another look at a Christian approach to poverty in the light of the book of Ruth
Is our approach to COVID-19 really that novel? -some libertarians have been arguing that the measures taken to combat the pandemic are unprecedented but what does history actually tell us?
The election that affects us all. Americans cannot think about the presidential election in a bubble. This particularly applies to international Bible teachers making parochial political statements
The current Evangelical scepticism about science and modelling could do long term harm
The US Presidential Election – How do you choose?
The shameful case of anti-Semitism in British politics – reflections on the day of the EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party
Why we still have an antisemitism problem – we would be foolish to assume that the problem was limited to a party or faction. It has not gone away.
The silence of the lambs – why are church leaders and bloggers so quiet on anti-semitism?
The deeper infection -contamination of the political system
You’re joking – not another one? Lockdown 2
