Yesterday, I wrote responding to the criticism that opponents of the Government’s “Rwanda policy” haven’t come up with any proposals of their own. Well, it seems that having stated what some of those proposals are, the criticism switched back to “but in your article, you didn’t offer a critique of the Government’s policy.” It seems… Continue reading Why I consider the Rwanda policy immoral
Posts
Birmingham 2022 and the Gospel
The Commonwealth Games are coming to Birmingham. Whilst not up there with the Olympics, this is still a hugely significant event. It will bring together competitors from across the Commonwealth (the group of nations linked primarily through historically having been part of the British Empire and usually today with ties through the Queen). In fact,… Continue reading Birmingham 2022 and the Gospel
Is there really no alternative to the Rwanda policy for refugees?
It seems increasingly rare to hear supporters of the Government’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing defend the policy. Instead what you tend to get are comments along these lines: And … Now, first of all, a couple of preliminary responses. You will notice that the presumption is that anyone who opposes… Continue reading Is there really no alternative to the Rwanda policy for refugees?
What does your church value?
I’ve been writing a few articles on things like mission and vision statements. There is the risk that such things can feel corporate, slick and fluffy. However, if a mission statement is really simply “Matthew 28:19-20 with a date stamp and a postcode” then what we are doing is helping the church apply God’s word… Continue reading What does your church value?
Which came first – Scripture or culture?
Yesterday I wrote about God, gender, pronouns and the church. Now, the classic response of liberal theology is to argue that the language we use about God and the church with Christ as groom and church as bride is somewhat arbitrary so that we could reverse it. Then, it is further suggested that the reason… Continue reading Which came first – Scripture or culture?
God, gender, pronouns and the church
If you check someone’s social media profile these days, then you are likely to find that they’ll tell you their preferred pronouns. The point is that we are not to assume that they want to identify with a particular gender. It is considered respectful to allow another person to let you know how they want… Continue reading God, gender, pronouns and the church
A vision for your church?
The other day, I wrote about mission statements and value statements. I also mentioned that it can be helpful to draft out a slightly longer statement describing what you might call the vision for the church. This is not about arrogantly making grand claims about what you are going to achieve. Everything will be in… Continue reading A vision for your church?
The Chain
They say that moving house is in the top three stressful things that you can do though I’m not sure it has to be that stressful. I remember when we bought our first house that the process seemed fairly relaxed, mind you, we didn’t have to worry about selling too. This time around, we set… Continue reading The Chain
Too late? (Mark 5:21-43)
We’ve seen already how the story of Jairus’ daughter wraps around the healing of the woman with a discharge of blood. Here we see at first a contrast because Jesus is willing to pause for the one that no one else would notice even as he goes to help a man who is used to… Continue reading Too late? (Mark 5:21-43)
No Minister, my city is not “god awful”
Last week, Government minister Heather Wheeler was forced to apologise after commenting that she had just made a speech in “Birmingham or Blackpool or some god awful place.” It seems that politicians have trouble with the basic principle of not saying offensive things about the people they want to elect them. Remember Boris Johnson having… Continue reading No Minister, my city is not “god awful”
