Do you remember the film, “Braveheart”? There’s a scene in the film where the Scottish army are frightened by the English and suspicious of their own generals. They are about to desert. William Wallace rallies them with a stirring speech. He finishes with those now famous lines “They may take way our lives but they… Continue reading Free (Simeon’s Song – Luke 2:29-31)
Category: Preaching and Teaching
Finding Jesus and Finding God (Matthew 2)
Where do you expect to find God? Some people look to church buildings as special holy places where they feel closer to God, especially if the building is old and beautiful with lots of stained glass windows. For others, God is felt in the countryside as they enjoy the beauty of nature. But is that… Continue reading Finding Jesus and Finding God (Matthew 2)
The hermeneutical spiral
One of the things we’ve been exploring is the challenge that comes when reading Scripture. The problem is that although God’s Word is objectively true, infallible, inerrant and clearly revealed, we are finite, affected by The Fall, conditioned by our own culture and experience. The result is that we bring all of those things into… Continue reading The hermeneutical spiral
Pastor: Preach grace to yourself
It was just after I’d preached my first placement sermon whilst studying at Oak Hill and the pastor of the church, Joe Kapolyo came over to me to give me a little bit of feedback. “Well I’ve got some good news for you. It wasn’t perfect.” My initial mental response was “Well if that’s the… Continue reading Pastor: Preach grace to yourself
Is anyone thirsty? (John 4:1-25)
Were you there in the petrol queues panic buying fuel the other week? I wonder how you would have reacted if someone promised you access to a secret stash of petrol or diesel? What if they could guarantee that once you filled up, the fuel wouldn’t run out. It’s a relief that the crisis has… Continue reading Is anyone thirsty? (John 4:1-25)
When did you last hear a pastor talk about heterosexual ethics?
In my survey about what pastors talk about I asked when was the last time you heard a pastor address the matter of sexual ethics. I divided that into ethics concerning heterosexual relationships and same-sex relationships. The results are interesting because among those taking part, sexual ethics were highly likely to have been addressed in… Continue reading When did you last hear a pastor talk about heterosexual ethics?
When did you last hear a pastor talk about mental health issues?
In my recent survey about application and what pastors talked about, I asked respondents to indicate whether or not they’d heard pastors address particular issues within the last 5 years. One issue concerned mental health. This is such an important subject to address within our churches because as we preach and pastor we are so… Continue reading When did you last hear a pastor talk about mental health issues?
Who condemns?
Yesterday in his guest article, Ash Cunningham wrote: This week Karen Ingala Smith published research detailing the ‘Femicide’ statistics in the UK, including the 81 women killed by men since the brutal murder of Sarah Everard. As Ingala Smith herself points out, neither the police nor the government have analysed the data, it has taken,… Continue reading Who condemns?
When was the last time you heard a pastor tell their testimony?
This was one of the questions I asked in my survey about what pastors talk about. Here are the results. Now it could be that people have heard a pastor’s testimony, maybe not from the pulpit but for whatever reason its not registered. Yet that itself is a sign of salience. It matters that congregations… Continue reading When was the last time you heard a pastor tell their testimony?
When did you last hear a pastor addressing abortion?
I’m planning over the next week or so to look at how we as churches address some of the ethical and pastoral issues that matter to people in our congregations. Last week, I ran a twitter poll asking my followers about when they’d last heard a pastor talk about particular issues. The first issue was… Continue reading When did you last hear a pastor addressing abortion?
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