So, how do we develop a culture of grace within the church where one another love is witnessed and experienced? In this post, I want to make a couple of suggestions. First of all, it has to be modelled by pastors and leaders. This means that we need to prioritise choosing elders and appointing pastors… Continue reading Learning to love one another (changing our culture)
Posts
Gifted and Talented
What does that phrase make you think of? It’s frequently used to describe stand out students at school. The Gifted and talented are to be separated out for special attention at one end of the educational spectrum in order to maximise Grade 9s, A*s and Oxbridge places. Of course at the other end of the… Continue reading Gifted and Talented
Recovering our first love
I’ve been writing over the past week or two about how we encourage reform that affects church culture so that what we believe about grace affects how we live. We’ve seen that central to that is seeing the importance of love as central to the mission of the church. Today, I want to talk a… Continue reading Recovering our first love
Live your new life (Colossians 2:6-15)
What have you got up to this week? Who has: Visited a pub or café for an outdoor drink and meal? Been to the barbers/hairdressers? Done a bit of non-essential shopping? Stayed away overnight somewhere? Gone to the zoo? These are things that would have seemed commonplace and normal back in 2019 and yet we… Continue reading Live your new life (Colossians 2:6-15)
Changing the culture: What is the mission and purpose of the church?
I’ve begun to share some thoughts about how we change and reform the culture of our churches in order to see churches where the doctrines of grace affect our life together so that there is a culture of grace. Here are some of the things I’ve suggested already: We need our church life to be… Continue reading Changing the culture: What is the mission and purpose of the church?
Getting out of lockdown: Between idealism and pragmatism
Followers of Faithroots will know that I’ve been pushing hard at the question “Is there a way of helping us get back to full in person corporate worship sooner rather than later.” That is the context for any discussion on the proposed vaccine/immunity passporting scheme. Now, I want to be clear here that my long… Continue reading Getting out of lockdown: Between idealism and pragmatism
Cancel Culture and the death of academia
I’m continuing to reflect and write about culture in the light of recent abuse scandals and I want to pick up on something that has come up in social media conversations. As we begin to consider the question of healthy church culture, our attention is drawn to examples of leaders, speakers and writers who have… Continue reading Cancel Culture and the death of academia
Fathers and mothers – implications of family models for the church
In my posts about church culture and in my recent article about complementarianism, I’ve argued that we need to seek a church culture that functions more like a family and less like a club, institution or business. In that context, I want to suggest that elders in the church function a bit like the fathers… Continue reading Fathers and mothers – implications of family models for the church
Made for each other
If Genesis 1 introduces us to the creation of humanity, chapter 2 fleshes it out giving us a bit more detail about the creation of man and woman. At this stage we are told that there was no bushes and small plants of the field, a reference here I believe to cultivated plant life because… Continue reading Made for each other
The Both and of Mission
One of my personal passions and priorities is to see people get involved in urban mission, making disciples who make disciples in communities where there is practically no gospel witness at the moment. That urban focus means that we have a particular concern for poor/deprived neighbourhoods and working-class people. It means that we have a… Continue reading The Both and of Mission
Faithroots 