I’m republishing some articles I wrote a little while back about training for urban ministry. I want to share a few thoughts here about the positives of formal theological education and why I recommend it.[1] There’s a temptation to see training as primarily academic and therefore irrelevant to the day to day life of ministry. … Continue reading How Theological College helped prepare me for Gospel ministry
Category: Preaching and Teaching
The Benefits of Wisdom (Proverbs 2 & 3)
The Treasure hunt I once took part in a treasure hunt. It was when I was at University. Someone left me a clue in my pigeon hole (post box). I followed it to the next clue which took me along the corridor, then to the next. Eventually I got to the laundry room. There was… Continue reading The Benefits of Wisdom (Proverbs 2 & 3)
Light and Beginnings – Matthew 4:1-17
Last year, the lady who lived next door but one to us died and her daughters sold the house to another family. They haven’t moved in yet. The house was quite dated in many ways and too small for them. They have ripped it apart, tearing out fixtures and fittings, replacing windows, knocking down an… Continue reading Light and Beginnings – Matthew 4:1-17
Hastening Christ’s Coming
Why do we get so frustrated when we see people breaking the lockdown rules? It’s the same reason that we used to get frustrated at school when the teacher said that we would be kept behind longer if people kept messing about. We just wanted everyone to behave so that the detention would end and… Continue reading Hastening Christ’s Coming
Listen very carefully
Here’s today’s Afternoon Tea discussion. As it is Sunday, we have a first look at the Sunday Night topic which this week is “Listen carefully” (Hebrews 2:1-4). Here are the key points: 1. The context is that Jesus is greater than the angels. 2. Although Jesus’ revelation is greater, it does not replace the OT… Continue reading Listen very carefully
Application Overload
Yesterday I wrote about attention spans and suggested that the important question was not to do with how we felt people were doing at staying with us for the duration of the sermon but three key questions. How much do they take in? How long are they able to retain it for? How are they… Continue reading Application Overload
Attention Span – three questions
During lockdown, one of the big questions for pastors and preachers has been about if and how to adapt our preaching. Can we just carry on as normal, preaching to a camera instead of a congregation, or do we need to adapt? A specific example of this, is sermon length. There is some suggestion that… Continue reading Attention Span – three questions
Coronavirus and the battle of three fridges
Here is the latest Government ad campaign in the battle of Coronavirus. You get the message don’t you. We are meant to keep our distance when out and about. We should be around about two metres apart from each other, that’s obviously not meant to be a precise measurement. It’s a rough distance. There are… Continue reading Coronavirus and the battle of three fridges
Preaching shorter sermons (Do we need to in lockdown online?)
One question that keeps coming up during lockdown is whether we can preach the same length of sermons during lockdown or whether we need to shorten them. At a recent FIEC webinar, research by educationalists was referenced suggesting that our attention span when viewing online content is about half that of when listening to or… Continue reading Preaching shorter sermons (Do we need to in lockdown online?)
Preaching longer passages
A recent FIEC webinar on church life during lockdown discussed preaching and one of the questions was around whether or not you can preach on longer passages online given the shorter attention span that online engagement causes. I am going to engage with the question of online preaching in my next article but in face… Continue reading Preaching longer passages
Faithroots 