Category: Opinion

Anglican Evangelicals, The CofE and church unity

Stephen Kneale has started a mini-series of articles on whether or not evangelicals should remain in the Church of England. You can read his own article arguing that evangelicals should leave, here.  You will also see that he is providing space for guest posts in response over the next few days.  To me, this feels… Continue reading Anglican Evangelicals, The CofE and church unity

Invisible racism is still racism -including anti-semitism

My maternal Grandpa was from Belfast.  There would be very little to give that away among his children and grandchildren though. Obviously my uncles and cousins carry the Magee surname but none of us have a Northern Irish accent and there are no other characteristics to give away our origins. Meanwhile my Great Grandfather was… Continue reading Invisible racism is still racism -including anti-semitism

Beware of using experiments to support your argument

I am a firm believing in the helpfulness of both empirical evidence and forecasting models to help us make decisions. However, during COVID19, we seem to have run into problems whenever results are shared and there hasn’t been great care to understand what they are meant to be telling us. So, for example we get… Continue reading Beware of using experiments to support your argument

Bounced

Too often we can feel bounced into announcing and taking action before we are ready to. I’ve seen it in church life where someone suddenly pushes a major decision to a vote well before all of the information is on the table and before people are ready, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually to make a discernment. … Continue reading Bounced

Welcoming Refugees – The extra mile

There were about 35,000 asylum seekers who came to the UK last year. Some of them will have ended up at churches, some because they were Christians, whether nominally or as heart believers. Others will have come looking for help, advice, practical support  and ESOL classes. Some will have been avoided to kids clubs Toddlers… Continue reading Welcoming Refugees – The extra mile

The problem with Christian Exceptionalism and the distinction between submit and support

From this Sunday, church buildings in England will be closed again for public worship due to a second lockdown.  I expect that most church leaders will comply with this, all with a heavy heart.  Some will do this quietly. Others will have raised objections through blog posts, letters to MPs, petitions and possibly a legal… Continue reading The problem with Christian Exceptionalism and the distinction between submit and support

What does not change

This is based on an article I wrote just after the Brexit vote. Today the US goes to the polls in the US Presidential election. For good or bad the election will affect most of us in some way, all around the world. However, we should keep the result in perspective If the Gospel is… Continue reading What does not change

An open letter to Boris Johnson: Please reconsider the impact of lockdown 2 on churches, businesses and community groups

Dear Boris, I know that what I’m about to say will go against the grain in terms of where the pressure on you is coming from. I understand as well that your decision to move to another national lockdown will have been taken reluctantly. However, I am writing even at this late stage to ask… Continue reading An open letter to Boris Johnson: Please reconsider the impact of lockdown 2 on churches, businesses and community groups

lockdown scepticism v COVID scepticism

You may increasingly be hearing people described as, or even describing themselves as lockdown sceptics. These are people likely to be disagreeing with the Government not (as seems to be the majority case) for doing too little too late about the virus but for doing too much.  A lot of the suspicion comes from a… Continue reading lockdown scepticism v COVID scepticism