A few days ago, I republished an article I wrote sometime back about whether or not our churches should focus on reaching specific cultural groups based on things like ethnicity nd class. In the article, I argue that we should aim to grow churches which are culturally diverse. I argue against the Homogenous Unit Principle… Continue reading Why I changed my mind about diversity and church
Category: Opinion
Assumptions, Lockdown and the urban church
A lot of the assumptions I hear made about Coronavirus, the lockdown and life ahead assume a middle-class, suburban perspective on things. Those might sound like provocative words but let me explain why I am saying this. First of all, there is a tendency to talk about the virus not discriminating. I understand the sentiments… Continue reading Assumptions, Lockdown and the urban church
Coronavirus in our care homes – why does sorry seem to be the hardest word?
Special Agent Gibbs is the hero of NCIS. A man of few words with his own traumatic past, he leads a team of agents with a passionate commitment to justice. One of the unique things about Gibbs is that he has a rule for everything, a code to live by. One of his best known… Continue reading Coronavirus in our care homes – why does sorry seem to be the hardest word?
The Care home scandal we cannot ignore
For a little while, I have been arguing that the one true scandal of the Coronavirus pandemic is that we allowed the virus to get into our care homes. The one place where you did not want the virus to run riot was also the one place we could have protected. I think that in… Continue reading The Care home scandal we cannot ignore
Suppression
A significant conversation at the start of the coronavirus was about the distinction between seeking to manage the virus and seeking to suppress the virus. Along with most other governments, the UK took the suppression route because of the expected higher death tolls from management only,] It is therefore important to think carefully about what… Continue reading Suppression
An open letter to Boris Johnson
Dear Boris, First of all, I want to let you know that we are encouraged by your own recovery from the COVID-19 virus. Many Christians around the country were praying for you each day as well as for Carrie and your baby boy. We continue to pray for you, for your ongoing recovery and for… Continue reading An open letter to Boris Johnson
Curiosity and the crisis in our care homes
I’ve mentioned before that one of the challenges we have as a society is the lack of curiosity we have when seeking to understand what is going on. It means that we often stay at a level of safety which enables us to have emotional reports that express pain, hurt, outrage even but never get… Continue reading Curiosity and the crisis in our care homes
When Tragedy Comes
It was about quarter to five on Saturday 11th May and we had just switched on Grandstand to get the final scores. I wasn’t yet attending football games but I had followed my football team, Bradford City’s fortunes with pride that season as they had stormed to the old Division 3 title. It was the… Continue reading When Tragedy Comes
Learning the right lessons – it is possible to engage
Early in the Coronavirus pandemic I shared a few articles about the dangers of learning the wrong lessons from the data that was being thrown at us about how different countries were doing. I want to follow that up with some articles about what we can learn about the virus. My reason for saying this… Continue reading Learning the right lessons – it is possible to engage
VE Day -should we celebrate it?
Today is VE Day and it is a particularly significant milestone as we commemorate 75 years since Churchill announced victory in Europe. National pride, culture and cross-cultural mission Like others, I have been struck by the number of Union Jack flags going up around our Estate. Not everyone is happy about such signs and I… Continue reading VE Day -should we celebrate it?
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