Category: Church life

A receiving church (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

Having discerned that it is God’s Holy Spirit at work and not an evil Spirit, we can move to see what the Spirit is doing and saying.  One of the key things that the Holy Spirit does is to give gifts to the Church. Prioritise the giver (v4-6) We can become focused on the gifts… Continue reading A receiving church (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

Learning from the Brethren

I read this article with interest and some sadness the other day.  I’ve a personal connection to the Brethren Assemblies as, whilst I was at University, I started attending a fairly traditional Gospel Hall when back home in Bradford. It was there that I really began to cut my teeth, preaching and teaching.   Later, when… Continue reading Learning from the Brethren

Why I believe in believers’ baptism

I wrote recently about a specific problem with infant or paedobaptism. I thought it might be helpful to say a little more about baptism and why I believe that believers’ baptism matters.  It’s worth saying at the start that we are talking about believers’ baptism, not “adult baptism” as is sometimes is assumed. To all… Continue reading Why I believe in believers’ baptism

Why we are still meeting at the usual time this Sunday.  -even with the small matter of a football game

The Lionesses go into battle at 11am, UK time this Sunday. This means the televised women’s World Cup final will clash with a lot of church services.  Should we move or cancel our church gatherings so that people can watch the match? If we don’t does this reflect a problem with sexism? What would we… Continue reading Why we are still meeting at the usual time this Sunday.  -even with the small matter of a football game

Relearning our theological triage

One of the challenges that we all faced during COVID was that the intense pressure on health care meant that none urgent surgery and treatment had to be cancelled. There were two reasons for this. First, hospitals were at capacity treating virus patients. Second, we wanted to minimise face to face contact to reduce the… Continue reading Relearning our theological triage

Lessons from COVID: Fear and Control.

The COVID pandemic brought many of us into closer contact with mortality than we were used to.  With a high proportion of the population being at least significantly ill and high numbers going on to be hospitalised, intubated and even dying, it meant that lots of people knew at least of someone who had been… Continue reading Lessons from COVID: Fear and Control.

It’s high time that western conservative evangelicals started learning from non-western Christians

I have just had the privilege of visiting a conference held for Nigerian Christians who have settled in the UK.  What a blessing it was to worship with brothers and sisters and to sit under passionate preaching.  It prompted me to reflect on my experience of worship with non-western Christians.  Over the years, I’ve had… Continue reading It’s high time that western conservative evangelicals started learning from non-western Christians

Making things harder than they need to be

Yesterday I spent a few hours attempting to sort out my National Insurance (NI) payments.  NI is usually paid, like tax as a percentage of your salary to the Government and used to cover things like the State Pension and for some other benefits.  If you are not in paid employment, you can make voluntary… Continue reading Making things harder than they need to be