This little story caught my eye. Now, there are a few little details to be aware of. First of all, I understand that the church in question aligns with the Exclusive Brethren which tend to be regarded as a sect and that will potentially affect some of their expectations. Secondly, whilst there seem to be… Continue reading Does the world have more faith than us?
Category: Church life
What prophecy is not … Just Bible study
Conservative Evangelicals struggle with the idea of prophecy, particularly if they are non cessationists. It’s not too much of a problem for cessationists. They take the simple approach that the more spectacular gifts, seen as sign gifts ceased with the close of the apostolic age and completion of the canon of Scripture. This means that… Continue reading What prophecy is not … Just Bible study
Christians awake …
We are often being told that we need to wake up. Various events have been described as “wake up calls” including atrocities we have witnessed this year such as the Manchester synagogue attack and the Bondi Beach massacre. We’ve been told at various times that we need to wake up to the danger our nation… Continue reading Christians awake …
Evangelical unity … What it is and what it isn’t
I thought it would be helpful following the recent announcement of TGC UK (The Gospel Coalition) to say a little bit more about what Evsngelical Unity is and isn’t. I’m not intending to comment specifically about TGC, my concerns were well documented when it was first set up as has been my more recent response… Continue reading Evangelical unity … What it is and what it isn’t
Home for Christmas Dinner
You can’t talk about “Home for Christmas” without talking about food can you? I associated Christmas growing up with home baking. Mum always protested that shop bought mince pies tasted too sweet whereas she could control the amount of filling that went into the ones she made. So home made mince pies were a tradition,… Continue reading Home for Christmas Dinner
An open letter to Evangelical Times concerning their deeply inappropriate article about TGC UK
Dear Evangelical Times My own views on the proposal for a UK version of The Gospel Coalition are on the record here. I was disappointed at the time that those proposing the new institution made it clear that they weren’t really interested in feedback or discussion from those who had reservations and concerns. However, I… Continue reading An open letter to Evangelical Times concerning their deeply inappropriate article about TGC UK
Leaning into advent
My friend, Steve Kneale, argues here that we should not give over every Sunday to Advent. His argument is that whilst it is not sinful to celebrate Christmas as a cultural festival, we are not required to, it’s not a Biblical command and nor is Advent a Biblical thing. So, he argues, to give up… Continue reading Leaning into advent
Home and grief
It’s now 3 years since we said goodbye to my mum and Sarah’s dad within the space of a few weeks. In both cases, there was an unexpectedness although we were aware of serious health conditions. In mum’s case, she had gone into hospital for surgery on a hiatus hernia but didn’t recover from the… Continue reading Home and grief
Home For Christmas
I wonder what you think of when you hear that title. You might just have the lyrics of one of Cliff Richard’s Christmas numbers in mind where he croons into an imaginary phone about using whatever has been invented: planes, trains, cars and apparently stars to get home for a romantic Christmas rendezvous. There was… Continue reading Home For Christmas
The pipelines that might be broken and why it probably does not affect many of us directly
I’ve just written some thoughts in response to an article that GYD shared about perceptions of a break in the ministry pipeline. In conversation with them, they talked about being involved in conversations about recruitment and there was an indication that they were also talking about the pipeline of youth workers into the church. So… Continue reading The pipelines that might be broken and why it probably does not affect many of us directly