Category: Church life

On singing when I don’t enjoy it

This week, Steve Kneale answered the question “If I don’t enjoy the songs at church, is it okay not to sing?”  I broadly agree with much of what he has to say in his article.  We live in an individualistic age where we believe that our desires and preferences come first. If we see church… Continue reading On singing when I don’t enjoy it

Building myths

This article is a guest article from Bob Sharples.  Following on from my article recently about the myths around assuming that getting a building is a solution to your long term problems, Bob highlights to further myths that churches can believe about owning their buildings. This is not a case for or against owning your… Continue reading Building myths

Further reflections on men, women, training and the church

The other day I mentioned a little bit of controversy around the question of whether women should go to seminary.  John Steven’s, the National Director of the FIEC and a staunch complementarian has added his voice in support of women training at seminary sharing an article from Michael Bird who happens to be an egalitarian.… Continue reading Further reflections on men, women, training and the church

Letter to Premier Christianity

Yesterday I wrote an article in response to an article in Christianity Magazine. I’ve also written to the editor asking him to act urgently to remove the article and to hold an internal review to understand how their magazine has ended up publishing false and toxic material. Here’s my letter Dear Sam, I was deeply… Continue reading Letter to Premier Christianity

If you can’t hypothetically consider taking a break from something then you may well have dependency issues

The other week, I proposed in this article that the different Christian festivals should agree to take a two year sabbatical.  Now, you may or may not have agreed with my assessment of particular Christian holiday weeks.  To be clear, when I write about our own love-hate relationship with them I know that I don’t… Continue reading If you can’t hypothetically consider taking a break from something then you may well have dependency issues

Some problems with Tim Keller’s comments about passing on a megachurch

Tim Keller has recently made comments on social media about why he and the leaders of Redeemer, New York chose to split the church into different churches rather than hand it on to a single successor as one entity. These reasons have been gathered together into one article by Outreach magazine. Now, before I go… Continue reading Some problems with Tim Keller’s comments about passing on a megachurch

Why I’m in no rush to get back to the big events

I grew up attending one of the prominent Christian convention/holiday weeks of that time. It was an annual highlight until the event closed in the late 1980s.  Then on and off I (later we) booked in a holiday at another of the big-name events. Sarah had also spent much of her teens at one of… Continue reading Why I’m in no rush to get back to the big events