I would like to draw your attention to the review that the churches safeguarding body, 31:8 carried out following the high profile accusations of bullying and abuse relating to their senior leader and Acts29 CEO Steve Timmis. News — The Crowded House Final+Report+-+The+Crowded+House+Learning+Review+-+October+2020.pdf (squarespace.com) I think it would be helpful for any church leadership team… Continue reading Learning from Steve Timmis and the Crowded House (The 31:8 Report)
Category: Church life
“God has been so good to us”
We sat by the bed-side and leaned in close to listen. The lady was struggling to speak and it was hard to hear but the words came out oh so clearly “God has been so good to us.” It was hard to hold back the tears. We were visiting for a membership interview. The older… Continue reading “God has been so good to us”
Winding back the hyperbole
Between the 4th and 6th Century AD a controversy boke out particularly among the churches in North Africa concerning a group called the Donatists. They believed that priests in the church had to be perfect in order to serve effectively. The root cause of this was to do with persecution. Some Christians had found ways… Continue reading Winding back the hyperbole
“I think I’ve just shipwrecked the Church”
It was September 2012, we were a week or two away from moving from one Sunday morning service to two congregations and I was sat to the side in our main hall looking across the assembled church family. Since we had confirmed the decision to make the move I had noticed a drop off in… Continue reading “I think I’ve just shipwrecked the Church”
“Who are these people?” … “These are our neighbours”
It was meant to be the year of street parties and festival. We were celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee year. However as is often the case, plans were disrupted by a summer wash out as the heavens opened. Some events were scaled back others cancelled. But we persisted in our organisation of a “Chapel Street Party”… Continue reading “Who are these people?” … “These are our neighbours”
Pastors get depression too
I want to share with you the results of a little survey I did via twitter. It is important to emphasise that these twitter polls don’t count as scientific surveys with appropriate proportions of people and adjustments. Therefore, the percentages are a little meaningless. So, what I’d encourage you to do is to look past… Continue reading Pastors get depression too
It’s great that the Government are asking questions about faith and religion -but are they asking the right ones?
The Government have appointed Colin Bloom as an independent faith advisor. As part of his work, a survey has been commissioned to gather perspectives on faith, belief and religion in the UK today. It asks a whole range of questions including some about whether we think religion has a positive impact on society or not… Continue reading It’s great that the Government are asking questions about faith and religion -but are they asking the right ones?
Journey out of lockdown – return to the Church building with communion
Yesterday was our first opportunity to meet again physically after the second English lockdown. After the first lockdown, we kept things simple at the building. We decided not to recommence communion and we continued to stream a Facebook service from someone’s home which people could then opt to watch at the building. Yesterday we did… Continue reading Journey out of lockdown – return to the Church building with communion
If you are going to revitalise you need to be good pastors to the existing congregation
Something struck me the other day as I was talking with a friend who is involved in supporting church revitalisation. His love and care for existing church members shone through. He saw them as showing evidence of being baby Christians even though they were old in years and had been in the church for a… Continue reading If you are going to revitalise you need to be good pastors to the existing congregation
Being the local church in lockdown
I would like to pick up on a question asked in response to my post about committing to a local church the other day. The question was that if we are broadcasting our services on Facebook, Youtube and Zoom and people can join in from anywhere and everywhere then how can we still claim that… Continue reading Being the local church in lockdown
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