Category: Church life

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

Why commitment to a local church matters

In conversation with one of the people who has decided to open up his church during lockdown, he was quick to talk about the positives because he was seeing growth during the past few weeks following the decision.  I asked him whether this growth was from hungry unbelievers desperate to find Gospel food, from discontent… Continue reading Why commitment to a local church matters

Is unity possible between church traditions?

This is the second part of my response to Moses’ guest article on denominations. A key part of Moses’ argument seems to be that an appeal to “Evangelical Unity” does not work because that pushes us down to the lowest common denominator and that people may have more in common with their non-evangelical colleagues within… Continue reading Is unity possible between church traditions?

Navigating the Denominations and Evangelical Unity

In yesterday’s guest blog, Moses Tutesigensi made a robust defence of denominations. Moses was responding to my argument that Evangelical Anglicans need to refocus their attention on relationships with other Evangelicals.  As it happens, I do not have particular issues with denominations per se.  My question is about where we set the right priorities in… Continue reading Navigating the Denominations and Evangelical Unity

Guest Post – In defence of Denominations

Yesterday I wrote about the relationship between evangelical Anglicans and evangelicals outside of the Church of England. I invited response and I’m delighted to share a guest post from Moses Tutesigensi. In his article, Moses focuses on a defence of denominations through interaction with my comments. Whilst the existence of denominations was not within my… Continue reading Guest Post – In defence of Denominations

Opening churches against lockdown rules

There have been further reports of churches defying the current lockdown regulations in England, including one in the Observer. Now, as I understand it, we have three possible options in terms of how we view the current regulations. We can accept that the regulations must be obeyed on the basis that this is the Law… Continue reading Opening churches against lockdown rules

Face mask experiments and asking the wrong question

A little while back I mentioned a study looking at cases of COVID-19 among families with children in the home. I observed that the study was being used by people to push conclusions that it did not and could not make. Something similar has been happening with a Danish study about mask wearing. The study… Continue reading Face mask experiments and asking the wrong question