Category: Discipleship

When you pray

Prayer is a wonderful privilege for believers in Christ. How wonderful to be able to talk to God, to know him, to have a relationship with him. Yet often, just as some peopel end up with an unhealthy relationship with food, we can end up with an unhealthy relationship with prayer. It becomes a legalistic… Continue reading When you pray

Kindness – the undervalued evidence of knowing God

In Hosea 4:1, Yahweh brings his charge against Israel: There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,    and no knowledge of God in the land; Notice that God identifies three things missing from Israel: Faithfulness Knowledge of God Steadfast love (or kindness – NLT). The description here suggests a complete absence, not I think to suggest that no-one… Continue reading Kindness – the undervalued evidence of knowing God

After COVID – let’s not forget about evangelism

During COVID-19 lockdowns, churches were forced to make greater use of online provision. Most saw significant engagement with their output beyond their regular congregations. Of course, early figures may have eld to false optimism, once we had accounted for people clicking on and off links and other Christians “church surfing” the numbers weren’t as huge… Continue reading After COVID – let’s not forget about evangelism

“I don’t just want you to survive ….”

The other day, I talked about how the stand out thing I’d learnt from Mike Ovey was to allow God to disagree with me through his word. Well, one way that God disagreed with me came through Mike’s teaching, though in this case posthumously. After Mike’s untimely death, I remember one former student sharing that… Continue reading “I don’t just want you to survive ….”

Gifted and Talented

What does that phrase make you think of?  It’s frequently used to describe stand out students at school. The Gifted and talented are to be separated out for special attention at one end of the educational spectrum in order to maximise Grade 9s, A*s and Oxbridge places.  Of course at the other end of the… Continue reading Gifted and Talented

Changing the culture: What is the mission and purpose of the church?

I’ve begun to share some thoughts about how we change and reform the culture of our churches in order to see churches where the doctrines of grace affect our life together so that there is a culture of grace. Here are some of the things I’ve suggested already: We need our church life to be… Continue reading Changing the culture: What is the mission and purpose of the church?

Don’t be presumptuous about the future

Do you know what today is the anniversary of? It’s probably not a biggy in most people’s calendars but today marks the anniversary of John Major’s return to Downing Street having narrowly won the 1992 General Election contested on the 9th April.  It was an election he was expected to lose and even up until… Continue reading Don’t be presumptuous about the future