Sometimes’ a football team’s strategy is to hit the ball long, consistently bouncing it between defenders and strikers so that the midfielders become passive observers. The middle of the pitch is excluded. There are ways in which we can exclude the middle too. There is a tendency I think for churches to think in terms… Continue reading Prophecy and the excluded middle
Category: Church life
The difference
So, that was that, for all the talk of England’s date with destiny, it turned out to be Spain that had the invite after all. The Three Lions managed to pull back level after going a goal behind and only lost 2-1 in the late stages of the game. However, the narrow scoreline and late… Continue reading The difference
Should we make our church harder to join?
“Yes and no” The question is raised by Tim Suffield here. Or rather, Tim answers the question from his perspective with a hard “yes”. He argues that we shouldn’t be too easy to join, that “welcome requires walls” and that this means a church should be clear in communicating what makes it distinctive and what… Continue reading Should we make our church harder to join?
How accurate are our memories?
England are in the Euros’ semi-finals. Apologies to Scottish and Welsh readers but I cannot help but link today’s blog with that fact. Of course, England being England, they’ve not made their route this far easy. Southgate and the team have come under heavy pressure particularly about their performances. Pundits who never made it to… Continue reading How accurate are our memories?
Revitalisation
My first real experience of Christian ministry was in the context of church revitalisation. A little Pentecostal Church between Bradford and Leeds had fallen on hard times, suffered a split and was down to its last half a dozen elderly members. My dad had preached there regularly after they first approached a larger church for… Continue reading Revitalisation
The cost
Jesus famously said that those considering following him should first count the cost. His point was that they were going to face persecution and have to be willing to give up their life. They would lose friends and influence for the sake of the Gospel but the Gospel is worth it. Jesus’ words were not… Continue reading The cost
What is a church? Sacraments and the marks revisited.
The other day, I responded to an article giving three reasons for why a small; group is not a church. One of the reasons I identified as a red herring was to do with whether or not a small group has the sacraments. Some people seem to have struggled a little with this argument and… Continue reading What is a church? Sacraments and the marks revisited.
Why your small group is probably not a church: Three red herrings and the real reason
This article has been circulating around conservative-evangelical circles in the last couple of weeks. I’m not sure whether or not there is a serious issue anywhere with anyone really thinking that their home group/life group is a church. So first of all, I would be intrigued as to what prompted the article. It looks like… Continue reading Why your small group is probably not a church: Three red herrings and the real reason
The Church United
If Ephesians is about God’s purpose for his people, then this means that a central focus is on the church. In fact one of the ways that we might express Paul’s overall theme is that God’s people should be united together in love to Christ first and then to one another as his beautiful body.… Continue reading The Church United
On the frequency of dreams and visions in the early church
I wanted to pick up on something I saw in a recent article looking at the question of dreams and visions. I’m not going to unpack the whole question of dreams and visions here except to say that I believe that these are available for Christians today. As I’ve mentioned previously, we talk about God… Continue reading On the frequency of dreams and visions in the early church
Faithroots 