Here’s our latest “Afternoon Tea discussion” and as usual, I’m going to give some summary notes here but the best thing to do is to watch it through. There’s some intro stuff including a book review and conversation about increased wild-life sightings but you can skip through the appetisers and get into the main content… Continue reading Will God heal me? (Part 1)
Category: pastoral-care
Love is not
Last week I started writing some articles about what a healthy church looks like and I argued that the one most neglected mark is the one that Jesus and the New Testament argues is of first importance, Love. But there is a risk if we just talk about “love” without thinking carefully about what it… Continue reading Love is not
What does the Bible say about giving?
The Prosperity Gospel deal is that if you give the right amount of money to the right pastor and he gives it the right blessing then you will be blessed in your personal finances. In other words you should tithe. I think that well-meaning Evangelicals come unstuck on the question of tithing. Or to go… Continue reading What does the Bible say about giving?
The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart
In 1994, Mark Knoll wrote “The scandal of the Evangelical Mind” in which he protested at what he perceived as a lack of willingness to think deeply and carefully among evangelicals. He identified an anti-intellectualism within our movement. Rachel Held Evans became a notable doubter/sceptic of evangelical faith and in 2013, she wrote: The questions… Continue reading The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart
Does the Bible talk about money more than it talks about love, heaven and hell?
The short answer is “No.” If it did, then you would notice it as a recurring theme when you are part of a church where expository preaching is practiced. You would either notice that the preacher kept, accurately and transparently showing how the text applied to your wallet, or you would wonder why the preacher… Continue reading Does the Bible talk about money more than it talks about love, heaven and hell?
The Prosperity Problem
We know there’s something bad out there called “The Prosperity Gospel.” We know it’s bad because most preachers and pastors will quickly tell us that it’s wrong and that they don’t teach it. However, I’m not sure that we quite grasp exactly what the problem is. The risk then is that we can end up… Continue reading The Prosperity Problem
Meeting “The One”
The other day as part of #AfternoonTea, we talked about relationships and the question of “Is there the one?” In other words, does God have one specific and ideal partner in mind for you who will complete you in every way. In classic style, I responded with the good old “No and yes.” Now that… Continue reading Meeting “The One”
The greater risk
Whenever I was involved in a major project such as an IT systems implementation, one of the important things we had to do was to put together a risk management plan. There were a number of stages to this. Stage 1 identify the potential risks by listing everything that would possibly go wrong Stage 2… Continue reading The greater risk
Facing Depression (The videos)
A lot of people struggle with emotional health issues. There is a good chance that either you or someone close to you has, or is going to face depression at some point. I wanted to share some helps for those who are either struggling with anxiety depression or are walking with someone who is depressed.… Continue reading Facing Depression (The videos)
Foxes in the garden #SummerIsComing
This morning as I was making breakfast I spotted our local family of foxes out on our law. WE had seen a glimpse of one heading over the fence a few days ago, then on Saturday night there had been a banging on the patio door window as one of them tried to get in… Continue reading Foxes in the garden #SummerIsComing
Faithroots 