abuse – Faithroots

Can we talk about sex and relationships? The pastoral challenges and pitfalls

I’m returning to the themes coming out of The Gospel Coalition’s controversial article “Sex is not your saviour but it points to the one who is” which provided an excerpt from Josh Butler’s forthcoming book, Beautiful Unnion. As promised, I want to deal here with some of the challenges and pitfalls around talking theologically and… Continue reading Can we talk about sex and relationships? The pastoral challenges and pitfalls

The sheep with a broken leg? The danger of embellishing Scripture

I’ve only heard the claim once from a pulpit but perhaps that was already one time too many. I’ve since come across other people who have heard the claim. A preacher talking about the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 claimed that after finding the sheep, the shepherd would then break one of its legs. The… Continue reading The sheep with a broken leg? The danger of embellishing Scripture

Is narcissism the problem?

The Gospel Coalition have just published this article offering further engagement with Chuck De Groat’s book “When narcissism comes to church.” The writer, Dan Doriani, is positive towards Chuck’s work but has some concerns, particularly with the thesis that: narcissism is especially common among pastors because they often enjoy a high profile. Narcissists crave power,… Continue reading Is narcissism the problem?

Helping one another worship – why we chose our words carefully

I thought I’d add a little bit more to my comments the other day about how we handle worship song and hymn lyrics. It’s worth me emphasising here that I’m personally very cautious about changing and adapting things not least because it’s often been done badly. However, I believe there is a case for adapting… Continue reading Helping one another worship – why we chose our words carefully

Taking care about what you are singing

Christian song writers can certainly have a knack for finding the most bewildering and cringeworthy song lyrics. Sometimes, it ends up being silly and amusing. Sometimes, context just makes a hymn inappropriate and sometimes we suffer from the way that words and phrases have changed meaning and usage over time. For example, a few centuries… Continue reading Taking care about what you are singing

We shouldn’t be throwing anyone under the social media bus

The other day, I shared this Gospel Coalition article urging people not to throw their pastor under the bus. The article was specifically about how Christians engage on social media. I thought it might be helpful to say a little bit more about the specific subject. By social media we mean internet sites and phone/tablet… Continue reading We shouldn’t be throwing anyone under the social media bus

On not throwing people under the bus -why you need to give that TGC article a second look

The other day, this article was posted on The Gospel Coalition website. The article drew quite some ire. In fact, some of the responses on twitter may even ironically have been of the exact kind that the article has in its sights. I understand that there are some reasons why some people may have struggled… Continue reading On not throwing people under the bus -why you need to give that TGC article a second look

Do we owe sympathy and gratitude?

This is a follow on to my article the other day about how we respond when leaders fall and fail. My article then was specifically focused on our response to Liz Truss’s fall from power. That’s the starting point today and so I want first to share a tweet from the Archbishop of Canterbury that… Continue reading Do we owe sympathy and gratitude?

What was David’s sin with Bathsheba?

Over the past few years, a little debate has kept cropping up about whether it is right to suggest that David committed adultery with Bathsheba or whether in fact we need to say that he raped her. I wrote a guest post for Steve Kneale here when the debate first came up but it has… Continue reading What was David’s sin with Bathsheba?