Posts

Pints, cake and retrospective justice

#Partygate is the scandal that keeps on giving.  In a bid to distract from their own troubles, the Tories have tried to put the focus on an incident during the local elections last year where Keir Starmer was videoed drinking beer in Durham.  Their claim is that the leader of the opposition was also in… Continue reading Pints, cake and retrospective justice

Nouthetic Counselling and Depression

Several of Jay Adam’s counselling case studies concern mental health and depression. Let’s have a look at a couple of them. First of all, we have Violet, a 54 year old lady who is suffering from depression and also has an undisclosed problem which she can tell only to God.  Have a look at the… Continue reading Nouthetic Counselling and Depression

Planter speed up – the core team isn’t coming

Dan Steel has written on the Acts29 site encouraging church planters to slow down and work more on building a healthy core team before they plant.  I’m loath to disagree with Dan, he’s an experienced pastor and planter who knows what he’s talking about. I also think that there is much in his article to… Continue reading Planter speed up – the core team isn’t coming

Jay E Adams and nouthetic counselling

I mentioned in recent posts that I’ve been looking at Jay E Adams’ The Christian Counsellor’s Casebook. Adams is considered the founding father of the Biblical Counselling movement.  So, it is worth saying at this stage three things. I’m in favour of Biblical counselling in that I believe pastors are able to offer counsel and… Continue reading Jay E Adams and nouthetic counselling

Letter to Premier Christianity

Yesterday I wrote an article in response to an article in Christianity Magazine. I’ve also written to the editor asking him to act urgently to remove the article and to hold an internal review to understand how their magazine has ended up publishing false and toxic material. Here’s my letter Dear Sam, I was deeply… Continue reading Letter to Premier Christianity

Divorce and re-marriage in domestic abuse cases

** From time to time I touch on pastoral issues around abuse and bullying. I try to avoid detailed descriptions. However, some readers may find that the discussion as here may have a trigger effect in terms of provoking past memories.** Yesterday I began to talk about marriage and divorce where there has been domestic… Continue reading Divorce and re-marriage in domestic abuse cases

Was Jesus married?

This is the question posed by Premier Christianity in a recent article.  Not only that but their editor Sam Hailes lays credence to the claim in this tweet. It is concerning that the editors of a mainstream, Christian publication which was traditionally considered at least broadly evangelical could even consider such a piece worthy of… Continue reading Was Jesus married?

Marriage counselling where there has been abuse

I’ve been planning to write something about divorce and re-marriage in the context of abuse cases for the past couple of weeks. It arises out of some of the discussion following on from the case of church discipline reported from Grace Community Church. One question that has been raised is whether the Bible permits separation… Continue reading Marriage counselling where there has been abuse