Our latest Afternoon Discussion looked at how we support and care for those suffering chronic conditions including emotional health issues. What should I not say? I want to be helpful but I don’t want to put my foot in it either. You can watch the discussion below and here are some quick notes. Often the… Continue reading What not to say when someone is suffering
Category: pastoral-care
Praying for healing (Will God heal me? part 3)
How should we go about praying for healing? Do we need to go to a special healing service and follow a set process? Here’s some notes and then the #AfternoonTea conversation on praying for healing and also our response when the prayer is answered. Anyone can pray for healing for themselves and for others. The… Continue reading Praying for healing (Will God heal me? part 3)
When God doesn’t heal (Will God heal me part 2)
This is part two in our look at the question “Will God heal me?” You can find the first discussion here. What do we do when we long for healing, have prayed for healing and it doesn’t seem to happen? Here are some notes from the discussion which you can watch below. This can be… Continue reading When God doesn’t heal (Will God heal me part 2)
Marks of a healthy Church – Humility
I’ve also suggested that a number of other marks will flow out from this one. The first I want to look at is humility. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says that love builds up others whilst knowledge (without love) puffs up, in other words it leads to arrogance and complacency on the part of the speaker whilst… Continue reading Marks of a healthy Church – Humility
Love is not an excuse to tolerate and cover up abuse
Yesterday, I wrote about what love is not. This is because sometimes people use the concept of love to manipulate victims to continue living with abuse and without justice. I want to explore that a bit further today because one of the arguments used is that this is part of a wife’s responsibility to submit… Continue reading Love is not an excuse to tolerate and cover up abuse
Will God heal me? (Part 1)
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)
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?
