“Oh we have x number of people coming to our church” boasted one of the group of people walking towards the convention tent. Then they turned to me “oh Dave, how many people are at your church now”. I wasn’t keen on the numbers feel to the conversation and I didn’t actually know the person… Continue reading Reputations, assumptions and missing the important questions
Category: Church life
Church on holiday
Tim Wilson writes here about attending church when away on holiday. It provoked a few thoughts in my mind which I’m going to share below. So, as always it’s important to emphasise that I’m not disagreeing with Tim. These were thoughts prompted, not disagreement prompted, although we may not agree on everything. I would encourage… Continue reading Church on holiday
Misrepresentation
In Galatians 2, Paul talks about the circumcision party who had previously caused trouble in Antioch as those who “came from James.” The implication there may have been that James himself was endorsing their position. However, that isn’t necessarily the case. In 5:11, Paul is himself compelled, to deny and refute that he was a… Continue reading Misrepresentation
How not to do Church Discipline
Geoff Chang has offered a “primer” on church discipline on the 9 Marks website. He defines “Church Discipline” as “the process by which members of a church guard one another from the deceitfulness of sin and uphold the truth of the gospel.” He then goes on to recommend the following process, based on Matthew 18… Continue reading How not to do Church Discipline
The Death of the local church?
John Benton writes: “The truth is that there is now a marketplace of churches. This marketplace stretches across denominations and church ‘brands’. People are quite willing to switch and travel long distances. Churches are in competition for members. “Market forces are in play and that being the case, sadly, it seems that a number of those… Continue reading The Death of the local church?
Discussion -how should men and women treat each other in a church?
I mentioned last week, a planned life group discussion on this topic. I thought it might be helpful to share the discussion outline/questions here. Feel free to make use of it in your own context. I’ve got a couple of articles planned that dig further into the topic. Set up for the discussion A slightly… Continue reading Discussion -how should men and women treat each other in a church?
Social Media: the good, the bad and the ugly
The big cultural change of my adult life has been the explosion of social media. It is likely that most of my readers will have at least one, if not more, of the following accounts: Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, TikTok. In fact, there’s a good chance, if you are reading this blog and don’t know… Continue reading Social Media: the good, the bad and the ugly
No -small groups are not a replacement for the church but Sam Allberry’s reasoning is wrong
For some reason, this 2016 article from The Gospel Coaltion cropped up on my timeline recentlyam Allberry writes that small groups are not a direct replacement for the church. I must admit that I’m a little confused about the target of his article. I’m not sure who is claiming that they are. The result is… Continue reading No -small groups are not a replacement for the church but Sam Allberry’s reasoning is wrong
Another reason why I might not talk about the thing you want me to talk about
Steve Kneale has written an excellent article here about how you can come under pressure on social media to give your opinion on a whole host of issues and why he has not given his opinion on a range of issues. His reasons include, that he doesn’t know enough about the issue and that he… Continue reading Another reason why I might not talk about the thing you want me to talk about
For those who cannot attend in person church
I believe that Christians should seek to gather as best and as maximally as possible. This means that when the pandemic happened and many churches relied on things like Zoom and Facebook, I argued that this counted as the church gathering. I do believe that where possible, we should seek to meet in person, embodied,… Continue reading For those who cannot attend in person church
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