The strapline of Faithroots is “What we believe affects how we live.” This is because Faithroots is first of all, a theological website. One of my aims is to introduce readers to good, solid, rich and challenging theology. But Faithroots is also meant to be a practical, pastoral site and I don’t think those two… Continue reading Good news for the unsettled, uprooted and home sick
Category: pastoral-care
God did not make you a pastor to keep you going to church
I want to pause and think about a type of comment that I’ve heard a few times over the years. It goes something along the lines of. “Perhaps the reason that God made me a pastor was to keep me in church.” Such comments are perhaps tongue in cheek but personally I’m not convinced they… Continue reading God did not make you a pastor to keep you going to church
Refreshing our vision for youth and children’s ministry
Two cheers for this tweet from Michael Bird. Bird is engaging with the problem about why young people too often walk out of church and Christianity as soon as they can. He correctly identifies some significant issues with age based ministry. His primary concern is that what we do with kids and teens can become… Continue reading Refreshing our vision for youth and children’s ministry
Taking care about what you are singing
Christian song writers can certainly have a knack for finding the most bewildering and cringeworthy song lyrics. Sometimes, it ends up being silly and amusing. Sometimes, context just makes a hymn inappropriate and sometimes we suffer from the way that words and phrases have changed meaning and usage over time. For example, a few centuries… Continue reading Taking care about what you are singing
Curiosity is crucial
I think that often the difference between leaders who are able to change things and those that aren’t is often to do with curiosity. Some people are naturally curious. They are always wondering why things are the way they are, always asking questions, always considering different options, scenarios and reasons. They employ the famous “W”… Continue reading Curiosity is crucial
Serving with a limp – checking in on your mental health
We’re coming up to the third anniversary of my significant brush with anxiety and depression. It was back in November 2019 that I found myself signed off from work followed by quite a challenging and tumultuous period of time (and all of that before we hit COVID). I’ve told some of my story here and… Continue reading Serving with a limp – checking in on your mental health
Church PTSD – listening to outside voices
Over the past couple of days I’ve shared a couple of posts drawing on observations that psychologists make about trauma and suggesting some lessons for church leaders. Some of us might be a little bit nervous of seeing articles that appear to draw primarily from secular thinking. I mean, there’s huge scepticism about the ability… Continue reading Church PTSD – listening to outside voices
Blocked care and the church
Child psychologists working with families where the child has experienced significant trauma sometimes talk about a concept called “Blocked Care.” The concept is particular associated with Daniel Hughes.[1] Blocked care/parenting is a state parents can enter when prolonged stress suppresses their capacity to sustain loving and empathic feelings towards their child. Broadly, this happens almost… Continue reading Blocked care and the church
On younger pastors and preachers
I preached my first sermon when I was 19, I preached for a few years in our small Brethren Gospel Hall in Bradford and a couple of other local churches including a struggling AOG church which I helped out with getting my first experience of revitalisation/replanting. The elder there wanted to try and use some… Continue reading On younger pastors and preachers
It’s time we learned to talk about death and dying
I wanted to share some thoughts about how we approach death and dying. Our last church, Bearwood Chapel had the full range of ages with plenty of children and young people but also a significant number of people in their 80s and 90s. That meant we saw a fair few deaths and funerals for people… Continue reading It’s time we learned to talk about death and dying
Faithroots 