Category: Church life

Would you baptise someone who didn’t want to become a member of your church

The following scenario was recently put forward: Someone becomes a Christian. They come to your church and they ask to be baptised. However, they make it clear that they do not want to formally become a church member. They simply want to attend for a bit. I appreciate that not every church will have something… Continue reading Would you baptise someone who didn’t want to become a member of your church

How do we make sure that we are not spreading ourselves too thinly?

The morning, I preached on the feeding of the Five Thousand and I asked two questions. One important, practical question that came out of the sermon application was  “How do we know when to keep going with things and/or to take new things on and when to say no? Can we end up spreading ourselves… Continue reading How do we make sure that we are not spreading ourselves too thinly?

How’s the post COVID replanting going?

For many years, my wife had an orchid plant I had bought her. Neither of us are particularly green fingered but out of all the plants we ever tried to grow, this one seemed to survive and thrive. Each year we would have to repot it to allow for new growth.   Having spent some time… Continue reading How’s the post COVID replanting going?

If I stopped being a complementarian, what would I lose?

A friend asked this searching question the other day – not specifically of me. Rather, they asked men who hold to complementarianism what they would lose if they walked away from that position. It’s an interesting one. In a sense, there might be something to lose.  You see, for some pastors/leaders, it would involve losing… Continue reading If I stopped being a complementarian, what would I lose?

On not being weirder than you have to be

One of the perennial discussions amongst Christians is around weirdness.  Christians are seen as weird.  We don’t fit in with the culture around us.  We are often mocked for our peculiarities.  Is there anything we can do about that? I would suggest that there are basically three camps in responding,  Weird it out This approach… Continue reading On not being weirder than you have to be

You are always saying no to something

I remember someone giving me a bit of advice once to the effect that for every request you say yes to, you should say no to an equivalent request.  It’s good advice but I would push it further.  The reality that that every time you say yes to something or someone, you are at the… Continue reading You are always saying no to something

Don’t forget Pentecost

Today, is a day of great celebration.  We are marking an important anniversary in our history.  Today is Pentecost Sunday.  This marks the anniversary of the day described in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came. Pentecost has sometimes been described as the birthday of the church – where it all began.  At the same… Continue reading Don’t forget Pentecost

The Cost of Living Crisis – what should the church be doing?

I started writing this little series about the Cost-of-Living Crisis back in February and I began by observing that this is something that will affect the church so it isn’t something we can just ignore. Since then, we’ve talked about the political and economic challenges of responding to the crisis. We’ve also seen what the… Continue reading The Cost of Living Crisis – what should the church be doing?