In this audio podcast, I talk about some of the prominent causes of depression including physical/medical causes, the direct consequences of others’ words and actions, and spiritual causes of depression Video versions of these talks are all available on YouTube
Tag: church abuse
Church Discipline and Church abuse
There’s been some recent discussion on social media about the use of church discipline and whether or not it can be harmful and lead to examples of abuse. The discussion was prompted by this article by Steve Kneale which was then shared by John Stevens – you can read the thread below John’s tweet to… Continue reading Church Discipline and Church abuse
How we respond to concerns about abusive and bullying culture matters for the culture
There have been a range of responses to the recent scandals and reviews concerning abuse in the church. On the one hand there are those who I think wish it would all just go away. We’ve identified a few rotten apples, they’ve been dealt with so let’s move on. There have been others however who… Continue reading How we respond to concerns about abusive and bullying culture matters for the culture
Does Doug Wilson endorse marital rape?
Is Doug Wilson an apologist for rape, specifically marital rape? A particular quote from him has been doing the rounds for some time: “When we quarrel with the way the world is, we find that the world has ways of getting back at us. In other words, however we try, the sexual act cannot be… Continue reading Does Doug Wilson endorse marital rape?
You are not meant to be autonomous.
Out of recent conversations about church culture in the light of recent abuse scandals we’ve seen a renewed debate about complementarianism. It’s a little confusing as to how this has happened because in the cases primarily linked to complementarian leaning churches the victims of abuse tended to be young men whereas in at least one… Continue reading You are not meant to be autonomous.
Big Family of God?
I’ve written a few articles recently where I’ve talked about the importance of revisiting how we think about and talk about God if we are to see significant cultural change. I’ve suggested that we need to try and get away from corporate/business imagery and start to talk about the church as body and as family.… Continue reading Big Family of God?
Learning to love one another (changing our culture)
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)
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
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?
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
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