34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) I’ve been called a few names in the past year. I’ve bene told that… Continue reading Family or politics?
Category: Church life
The Fragile Task Ahead
A little while back, I noted that I believe one of the biggest challenges ahead is for medium sized churches in urban areas. I think there will be a lot of excitement and a lot of opportunities for church plants the other side of COVID and I think that larger churches will in the end… Continue reading The Fragile Task Ahead
Whatever happened to the local church? A response to John Benton
I hope I can cheer John Benton up a little here. In his latest Evangelicals Now column he asks what has happened to the local church. The answer is that is is alive and kicking. That’s because Jesus is Lord of his church. To be fair, we’ve seen our share of the big city centre… Continue reading Whatever happened to the local church? A response to John Benton
Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?
One of the graces in COVID is that it has pushed us hard to think about some key aspects of church life such as “What really is gathered worship?” and “What are the priority ministries of a church in the week?” There has also been quite a bit of discussion about when, how and why… Continue reading Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?
Be careful little lips what you say -the heresy bar
“Wayne Grudem is a heretic, I know so cos my dad is an elder and he says so!” I’m paraphrasing a little but not by much. The conversation was not with a youngster but with someone claiming to lead a ministry. It was a brief twitter conversation. Readers here will hopefully be up to date… Continue reading Be careful little lips what you say -the heresy bar
Why I believe that NDAs have no place in church relationships
Yesterday, Steve Kneale led with an article looking at Non-Disclosure Agreements in christian organisations. The basis of his article was a report in the Times about a Tearfund employee acting as a whistle blower. Now, my gut reaction was that when someone heads off to talk to The Times and The Times leads with an… Continue reading Why I believe that NDAs have no place in church relationships
Fear or hope – how to spot a conspiracy theory
How do you spot a conspiracy theory/theorist? I’ve been thinking about this over the past few day as I’ve done a bit of digging into the anatomy of conspiracy theories. You will have seen on my YouTube videos and my articles here that my view is there is primarily one conspiracy theory, a spine running… Continue reading Fear or hope – how to spot a conspiracy theory
Investigating Church Planting
This is the second part of a look at how pastors move to new posts. It’s partly for those of you who are interested in how I’m spending my days at the moment but also I hope these two articles will be helpful for those who are considering a call to the pastorate or calling… Continue reading Investigating Church Planting
Testing a calling – how decisions are made
As you know, we are in a bit of a transitional phase, on the 31st December, I left my previous pastorate and we are now taking a little bit of time to look at different possibilities to see where God is leading us next. The possibilities really divide into two categories. On the one hand,… Continue reading Testing a calling – how decisions are made
Pandemic or Tsunami proofing Gospel multiplication
The other day, I talked about things that can prove obstacles to Gospel multiplication. At the end, I mentioned something specific to our current circumstance. I do not think that we were Tsunami proof. We were not ready for the crisis of the pandemic. There has been multiplication but it was vulnerable and fragile. Of… Continue reading Pandemic or Tsunami proofing Gospel multiplication
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